Lalli didn't care much, and Emil knew he shouldn't since he had seen lots of farms both in Sweden and in Finland, but there was something different about the Madsen farm. To begin with, it was big, with large fields that laid barren for the winter. Cows were grazing in one field, getting what fresh grass they could before the first snow would fall. And in the middle of the whole place there was four buildings, all looking like they had been built by different people, and even those different people hadn't been able to agree about how their own house should look. Even though it looked like a place to try out new explosives there was still something tranquil, something warm, over the place. It felt like home, even though Emil had never seen it before.

"It's a beauty, isn't it?" Malthe said with a laugh.

Emil wasn't sure how to answer, so he nodded. Malthe led them towards the houses and Lalli started pulling at Emil's backpack as they walked, handing Emil the three presents they had gotten for Mikkel. As they got closer Emil spotted someone near one of the buildings, trying to get a cow to go inside it. Malthe waved to the person.

"Yo, Mikkel!"

"Ah, the lost son returns", Mikkel answered and gave up his attempts with the cow. "And he brought company! You should have warned us."

"Hi Mikkel", Emil said, smiling stupidly at the older man.

Mikkel hadn't changed much during the years. A little bit thinner, but barely noticeable, still sporting the sideburns and his shoulder-lenght hair. As he came up to them Emil noticed the wrinkles in his face and as the man smiled at them he saw that there was something different over Mikkel's eyes that age alone couldn't explain.

"Sorry for not warning you", Emil said, "but I wasn't entirely sure if I'd even find you."

Mikkel nodded towards what seemed to be the main building, told them to get inside and Malthe led them to the building. Mikkel joined them after ten minutes.

"Michael, we have guests! Prepare some food for them, they look like they're starving!"

He sank down in an armchair, gestured for Emil, Lalli and Malthe to settle down, which they did, and then Mikkel asked what had brought them there. Emil explained that he had wanted to visit the first people he could actually call friends and Lalli had been kind enough to offer to tag along. He told Mikkel a little about how life had been in Sweden, and then Michael came inside to tell them that food had been prepared. Emil's jaw dropped a little when he saw the second Mikkel entering the room, and Michael laughed, held out his hand to the Swede.

"I'm Michael, Mikkel's older brother."

"Older only by about thirty minutes."

"It's still older."

Emil decided that Michael was a person he liked. He got up from the couch and was reminded about the gifts he was still holding and offered them to Mikkel. Mikkel raised an eyebrow, but thanked him and opened them. He laughed when he saw the potatoes and his laughter increased when he unwrapped the two books. They all went to the dining room, settled down and ate dinner. Malthe told his brothers about what he had done in Sweden and how Emil had stumbled over him on the boat, followed by Mikkel and Michael telling stories about farm-work during the summer. Emil did his best to keep Lalli part of the conversation, but after a while Lalli patted his arm and told him to enjoy the conversation without translating. Emil smiled thankfully.

"So you've mastered Finnish now?" Mikkel asked.

"Only took me like 8 years", Emil said, proud over his achievement. "I decided to finish studying it when I got back home since I had already started. Was pretty good to have in work as well, made the Finns feel more welcome when they came over."

"How about Danish?"

"Still sounds like gibberish", Emil answered with a smile. "So what have you been up to these years?"

"Little brother here is inbetween jobs again", Michael said, "so he dcided to help me and the wife out here. He's also bravely declining all attempts from the ladies who wants to court him."

"I am too old to get married and have kids, Michael."

"Don't try that one on me, you've been like this for twenty years."

"Was that the reason you came to the Silent World with us?"

"They needed someone to keep an eye on you kids and since I was momentarily between jobs at that time I decided that I could just as well follow along."

Michael leaned closer to Emil.

"Don't listen to him, it was his revenge for getting kicked off from the reclamation attempt."

Emil laughed, but tried to hide it behind a cough. Mikkel glared at the two of them and they fell quiet as they finished eating up. Michael took care of the dishes while the other four continued talking. Malthe left when Michael came back and the four of them played some boardgames and kept talking for another two hours. Mikkel offered Emil and Lalli room on the farm while they stayed in Denmark, but warned them that there would be early mornings and that he had lots of work to do and wouldn't be able to entertain them much. Emil ensured him that it wouldn't be any problem, he and Lalli were able to entertain themselves.

Emil helped Mikkel with the cows the next day, with Lalli sitting on the fence to watch them work. Mikkel had to show him how everything worked, and he admitted that he was impressed that Emil was interested in learning it. Emil wasn't sure what to answer and instead asked Mikkel about what he had done since the expedition. Mikkel told the younger man that he had worked in Iceland for a couple of years, then returned to the Danish military, and was sent to Norway to work in Sigrun's division. A year later he returned to the farm as his mother had gotten ill, had found work in the town, but after six months she had passed away and Mikkel moved back to the farm to help his father, who was also getting worse.

"Michael and his wife inherited the farm, so I rejoined the Danish army", Mikkel continued. There was a new attempt to reclaim former Denmark and..."

"Were you relocated again?"

Mikkel hook his head.

"I was in the first wave. We got further this time, but then... We got overrun. I almost died that day and when I was finally better Michael had gotten his first kid, so I moved back to the farm. I have been helping out here since then, I take care of the animals with Maiken, Michael's wife, while Michael handles the crops."

Mikkel showed Emil once more how to grab the cow while milking it. Lalli also gave it a try, but the cow moved away from his cold hands, and Mikkel took over. Emil helped leading a few of the cows into the barn and at lunchtime Maiken came with food. She looked tiny next to Mikkel, almost a head shorter than Emil and very round.

"Eighth month", she answered to Emil's unspoken question.

"And you shouldn't be out working", Mikkel said and patted her head.

"I know, but I can't trust you two with the cooking."

She settled down on a bench and Mikkel wrapped a blanket around her before he settled down to eat. Maiken told Emil about life on the farm and all the trouble Mikkel and Michael had given their parents when they were young. Maiken had lived in the farm next to the Madsen family and often snuck over to be with the twins.

"I had an older brother, but he was ten years older and me and didn't want to drag a kid along while he helped our parents. Michael and Mikkel let me tag along", she looked at Mikkel, "even though I didn't enjoy when they lured me into the bull's pen."

"He wouldn't have hurt a fly", Mikkel said in defense.

"Yes, but how would you expect a five year old girl to understand that? My parents forbid me to come over after that, so of course they found me here more often. Did you two have any pets?"

Both Emil and Lalli shook their heads, but Emil told her about the dog his family had owned when he was a child. Lalli had never had a pet, but Emil happily shared his plans about maybe getting a cat or something. Mikkel laughed, commented that Lalli should be quite enough for that and Emil shook his head.

"You can't own Lalli."

Maiken gathered the bowls again and went back to the house, Lalli followed her and Emil continued helping Mikkel get the cows inside the barn. It seemed to go well, but when almost all of them were inside half of them escaped again and they had to start over. Gathering them took almost the whole day and when it was time to head to bed Emil fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.