Day Fifty-Eight, second day of the third month.

I woke with a start, a sharp noise confusing my senses. Was I being attacked?

There was the sound of footsteps outside. Had one of the cows gotten loose? Had a monster gotten in?

The high noise continued, the tones random and rather jarring.

I pause, trying to recollect my mind. I stand, stretching, and peer out the door.

Greenie-beanie whatever-his-name-will-be was wandering aimlessly, eating an apple. The awful noise I could hear was him whistling.

Good gods, is that boy deaf? Or does he just have no sense of tone at all?

"Greenie-beanie, can you please shut up? Your moaning is unappreciated."

He breaks off to exclaim "OI!"

Blessed silence! "If you're going to make music, make it musical."

He sounds offended. "I am musical!"

Yeah, right. In your dreams. "Doesn't sound like it."

Even more offended. "Hey!"

I smile. "At least if you're arguing with me, you aren't making that godawful tone-deaf yowling."

He retaliates. "Tone-deaf? I'm not tone deaf! And I don't 'yowl'! Besides, how could I ever compete with your voice for godawfulness?"

I snort. "Easily."

As we continue to bicker, I notice how nice it is to have company. How much I have missed having someone to talk to about meaningless subjects.

After I have eaten, I take Greenie to the garden, and set him to work watering plants. Truly, his strength is not gardening, but anyone can lift a bucket and water a bean bush. Or so I thought, before I saw how he held the bucket up high and eroded the soil where the water hit.

Once I'd shown him how, he worked well, and I was soon teaching him how to divide up my young potato plants, checking for small potatoes that can be planted for more plants.

By lunch time, my work was going well. Having two people around really helps, and although he was unskilled, he was able to work to my instructions well, although I think he liked being in charge better.

I think he would make a good leader in a group, and I think most people would follow him. He just needs to find something he's good at, and I think he will be an excellent member of my glade.

So far I've had no problems with him wanting to explore outside the walls, but he throws the doors glances from time to time. So as we eat lunch, I broach the subject.

"After we eat, would you like me to show you the maze outside the doors? So far it's been safe during the day, so we can collect some ivy for more fencing while we're out there."

He agrees, and we each take a knife and set out. I show him how to collect the vines, and he seems competent at it.

"Why don't you make a map of the corridors, instead of counting lefts and rights? You could memorise a path and follow it each day, and not get lost..."

I frown. "It's a nice idea, but unfortunately it won't work."

"Why not?"

I look back at him. "Because the walls move each night."

"What? First the giant stone doors move, and now the walls do too? What is this place?" He exclaims.

I smile. "You tell me, and then we'll both know."

Back in the glade, I then set him to collecting brush and sticks for fencing. He's better at that than me, because he's taller. Meanwhile, I take my saw and pick out some small trees for firewood, because I need to increase the firewood pile I've been making.

Firewood burns best when it is dry, having sat a long time since being cut. So I need to create a large pile, so that I'll get to have some good firewood later, and still use some green wood now.

When Greenie returns, he has a large armful of sticks in his hand, and he makes several trips back into the forest and then out as he brings all that he cut. Then I show him how I make my fences, and he mentions that square paddocks would fit together better for rotational grazing.

"Unfortunately, Greenie, I have no way of making a strong corner." I reply.

He then shows me a way of making the fence, where several paddocks are made at once. There's a large circle around the outside, but with internal fences that simply weave through each other for corners and keep going.

I honestly am amazed by the way he makes it work in his example, and leave him to make it. I think he's better at fencing than me, and I have a bunch of orange seeds, which I need to check and see if any have sprouted yet.

With a bunch of new trees planted, I then weed my garden for a while, and then return to where Greenie is working. He's made some progress, and I tell him it's time to stop work and make dinner. I light the fire, which I let burn out each night, and bring out some potatoes. Trimming off the eyes for planting, I spear them on sticks and show Greenie how to roast them in the flames.

While they are cooking, I collect a bunch of carrots and beans form the garden, plus some dried meat from a crate, and bring them back to the fireplace for our dinner.

By the time the potatoes are done, we've eaten the rest of the meal, and they are perfect inside, hot and crispy on the outside. I had to rescue them from being burned a few times, but the few blackened edges are easily scraped off.

As we eat them, Greenie turns to me, and speaks quietly. "My name is Nick."

I smile. "Nice to meet you, Nick."

I take him to the wall, and in the fading light I watch him scratch his name beneath Robin's crossed out name. I close my eyes and hope that I'll never need to strike a line through his, too.