Jonathan:
I'd never been to Thorn Valley before, but I'd seen maps, drawings, and reports aplenty of the place, but none of it did justice to the valley's beauty. That cool mourning with the sun glinting off the ponds and lake with their borders of dark trees and tumbled stones, it was so inviting that I was hard-pressed not to give in to the desire to descend and explore.
Physically the valley is about five miles long by almost two miles wide. There are two ponds on its north end and one small lake in the south that drains into a deeper valley with shear rock walls. The two ponds are a few hundred feet across and only about six to eight feet deep. The lake has an irregular shape that covers about nine acres and Arthur's survey reported it about thirty feet deep near the middle. As far as we could tell, it and the stream that supplies it never went dry, and were plentifully supplied with fish. The ponds however are fed by several small seasonal streams that come from springs that tended to slow to a trickle in the dry days of summer, and the ponds could lose up to half their volume during a dry spell as we could easily see. A large stream or small river depending on the time of year is what feeds the lake in the south. It meanders from a small falls in the north end of the valley till it empties into the lake, but mostly it stays to the west of the valley. Likely that stream was responsible for carving the valley a few thousand years back when it was filled with runoff from the glaciers as they retreated.
Most of the valley floor is covered in a variety of hardwoods, but there are several meadows and pine thickets, likely the result of lightning strikes in past years. One of the meadows on the north end of the valley was quite fertile and it was to be the target of our first farms, and Arthur had even rerouted one of the small streams that ran past the meadow into cleverly hidden irrigation canals.
The east wall of the valley was made up of granite and sandstone set down in almost horizontal layers. In many places the sandstone had been eroded away, forming natural caverns of various sizes and one section of this closest to the meadow had been picked for the Plan.
From where Justin and I lay watching the valley from its north-east end we could just make out the section of wall where the plans called for community to be built. There wasn't much to see if you didn't know what you were looking for, but we knew the floor plan. Where we expected to see the entrance there was what looked like a natural cave about two feet high by four wide. Originally it went back about six feet into the cliff face and ended, but Arthur had cut into the sandstone in the back and now a short ramped corridor with a ninety degree turn lead up to a set of large wooden doors that closed the main entrance to the community.
The community itself was roughly four levels high, but it followed the sandstone layers and that made the north end higher than the top level in the south, and a few of the rooms took up more than one level.
The corridors were arched and on average about sixteen inches tall and one to two feet wide. Two main north/south corridors had been cut so far per level; one on the outside served the few rooms with irregular shaped windows and balconies that looked like natural weathering of the sandstone, and a second that paralleled it cut two rooms back into the cliff face so the community was four to six rooms deep in most places.
Nestled tight against the side of the cliff on the north side of the colony was the only manufactured object visible from a distance, the green house. Ten feet long, six wide, and four feet high, it had been built out of window glass salvaged from abandoned buildings in a closed fishing camp on the edge of the forest. Nicodemus had fought hard not to include it in the Plan saying it would be far too easy to spot from a distance, but had been overruled by the Council at the time as being useful in providing bedding plants should there be a late spring and medicinal plants year round. It was however easily covered by rolling down grass mats that could be dropped with a moment's notice should the lookouts give the alarm.
During construction, we had found many large natural caves and caverns deep in the stone, and three larger caverns near the front we had decided to block off from the natural cave complex and take advantage of in the Plan.
One was to be a huge storage room for food and finished goods. It was roughly forty feet by fifteen, and six feet high. Arthur had leveled out the floors and ceiling, closed off several natural exits, and walled it so that a twenty by ten section of it could be used as a kitchen and dining room. He had provided ventilation heated by the kitchen flues to keep the air dry and the goods stored there from spoiling.
The second cave was the power room and workshop complex. It was only about two feet high, but was nearly thirty feet long by four feet wide. Arthur had widened out the end of this room and diverted part of a stream from the rocks above to provide drinking and sanitation water, and power. He had planned to install a three-foot overshot wheel to provide power for a ventilation system and heavy tools, forced air for a kiln for firing terracotta, and some limited metal fabrication, among other industries he wanted to startup, but it sounded like Nicodemus had shut down most if not all of that project.
Arthur had planned to leave the final cave almost natural. It was a deep grotto about forty by eighty and some ten feet tall at the highest point and flooded where it dropped into the depths. The only changes that Arthur had planned were to clear out the fallen stone and cut in steps down to a natural stone stage set before the horseshoe shaped pool in the back, after blocking off the original passages. He also added a few creature comforts in the form of wooden benches, a few side rooms, and oil lamps. The grotto was planned to be used as a community meeting hall and would easily hold up to about a thousand rats. The pool was to be stocked with minnows for the kitchen, and could also be used as a reserve water supply.
Altogether the community could hold about four hundred rats without crowding the way Arthur had planned it, but it could be expanded using natural and ratmade tunnels and rooms to hold several thousand. The only limiting factor on the communities' size would be how much food could be grown in the valley.
But all that was the original Plan. I had no idea how much could have been changed over the last few months. All I could say for sure at this point was that the greenhouse was still there and apparently in use as the mats were rolled back.
As we watched the entrance, we saw several groups of rats carrying gardening tools exit shortly after we arrived. We also could see five of the six guard towers that had been constructed from stone quarried from the construction of the community. They had been camouflaged to look like six-foot tall tree stumps with jagged tops and covered with vines. The top floor of each tower under its false stump cover was an open battlement commanding a 360 view of the surroundings, and concealing a crossbow with enough power to discourage a black bear.
The farm was just what we expected, so that much of the Plan had been carried out as well. The crops were in irregular patches and set to blend in a much as possible with the surroundings. Likely from the air you wouldn't see them for what they were, and the wheat, corn, rice, sunflowers, and barley looked nothing like the illicit crops that the DEA would be looking for. The freeform irrigation ditches were all covered so they would not give away their artificial origins.
As we lay there counting and watching the rats as they came and went, we noticed that every party that went out into the long grass from the cave was accompanied by at least one armed rat in the blue tunic of a guard.
After about an hour Justin said with a sigh, "Jonathan, this is foolish. We should just go down there and talk to them. They are our people and you know they won't hurt us."
I glanced over at him and sighed "And what do you think Nicodemus would do without you and Arthur there stepping up to bat for me? You know what he warned when I asked for help to go back to NIMH? And what do you think he would do to Jenner, and Rachel's group? I, for one, do not want to end up locked in a room making paper with Arthur, or worse.
"I also have to worry about how he would treat the non rats in our party" I continued. "He could order them driven off or killed."
He snorted and rolled his eyes saying, "Listen to yourself Jonathan! Do you honestly believe he would do something like that?"
I shrugged and sighed before replying sadly "Look Justin, I know how you feel about Nicodemus. Hell, he was like a dad to me too when we were wandering after NIMH, but he's just a rat. He's as prone to errors of judgment as any of us, and when he lost his eye I think it robbed him of more than just his ability to see the world. I think it robbed him of his ability to think boldly. Years of battling Jenner and his rash ideas didn't help that either.
"You know as well as I do that when we really got rolling on the Plan he was always for getting up here and hiding away. All the bold ideas that went along with this place like the fishing boats, the green house, and the water diversion came from you and Arthur. If he had been allowed his way he would have had us dig in deep and subsisted on mushrooms till we all became Morlocks."
Justin looked uneasy as if my words were hitting too close to the mark for his comfort so I went ruthlessly on "Now that he has total control, I think that's just what he has done, and I don't think he would take kindly to outsiders showing up on his doorstep. I also don't think he would look kindly on the return of a council member that didn't always agree with him and perhaps could ask for his seat back. You know you'd have popular public support if you did and with Nicodemus having just gotten total control…. I doubt he would be thrilled" I said looking at him in a meaningful way.
He snorted "And what do you think he would do, deny me my seat when he finds out I'm alive?"
I nodded "Yes. I doubt he has forgotten the row you had with him over developing the outside of the nest for people to use and enjoy."
"We worked that out" he growled, and I wasn't sure if the growl was about my brining up a sore spot or the memory of the fight.
Forging ahead, I gestured to the valley below and asked, "So, where is everyone then? Why are their so few people going outside, and all of them with a guard like they were prisoners? Why are the children not out playing in the sun like we use to dream of when we were talking about setting this place up? Why are there no boats out fishing on the lake?"
Justin shook his head and said, "I don't know, they could be having problems with hawks or something, but I think we should just go down there as a group and confront them. What harm could there be?"
"None, as long as we stay together and stay armed" I replied with a sigh.
Rolling to my side so I could see him, I said "Humor me for a moment Justin. Let's just say that things are as bad as the rest think they are. Would you stand with us?" I asked.
"What do you mean by stand with you?" he growled, anger crossing his face.
"I mean just that. If they send the Guard after us and try to disarm and arrest us, will you side with them or us?"
Justin's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth for a denial, but then slowly closed it and looked at me intently before saying "Just for the sake of argument then, let's say they do demand we disarm and allow ourselves to be questioned. Would you actually turn your weapons against our friends to stop it? Could you actually put a spear into Brutus if he's ordered to disarm you?"
I slowly nodded saying sadly "Yes, if the matter were forced. Could I kill him? I don't think so, unless he was trying to hurt my family, but I could disable him to protect the others."
Justin lay there just looking at me for a while, then he shook his head and sighed "I don't think I could. It's one thing to kill an animal if it's trying to kill you, but to purposely harm one of our own….."
I sighed, "If you won't fight for an idea, would you fight for a person? Say it was Lora that he was threatening with a spear? Would you just stand back and let it happen? And what about Elizabeth? Would you stand back and let Nicodemus take control of the last of the serum and keep it from her?"
Justin looked shocked and gave an indignant snort saying "That would never happen!"
"How about me Justin? Would you just stand back and let me stand alone if the Guard had spears leveled at me and my family?" I asked softly.
Justin just lay there with an agony of indecision playing over his face, then he looked back at the valley for a long moment, ears and whiskers drooping. Finally, not shifting his gaze he said softly "No Johnny Mouse. I wouldn't let you stand alone. Not again."
I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder saying, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that, Brother Rat."
XXXX
Elizabeth:
Jeremy and I had been the second of the teams of two that watched the comings and goings in the valley that day, and had counted only about forty rats. All were on business, tending the farm, gathering plants and deadfall wood, and during mid afternoon we'd seen a single, well camouflaged, boat hugging the edge of the lake in the distance, apparently fishing. We never saw any young, never saw anyone out without a mission, and all the people that were out and about had one or more members of the Guard with them.
On a lighter note, I'm not sure what happened between Jonathan and Justin as they had watched, but it seemed that they had come to some sort of understanding. I was pleased to hear them cracking jokes and laughing as we returned to report on our afternoon watch.
I was surprised to find that the popping and ticking of the fire in the little depression where we were camping was a sound I found comforting. I'd only seldom seen fire when the Fitzgibbons cleared land, and never got close to or used it till now.
As we sat around the fire in the gathering evening talking and making plans, we also made the small pile of blackberries, blueberries, and muscadines we'd collected disappear. Our cat friends were also enjoying a meal of roasted minnows and crayfish from the nearby stream. Around us the twilight was alive with the sound of insects and birds going about their business of bedding down for the coming night.
Thankfully Jonathan and I had lost much of our fragrance over the intervening days, so we could again sit with the others without spoiling their appetites. It was only when we were wet or the sun heated our fur that we would find the others giving us a wider berth.
Jenner grumbled as he spat a seed into the fire "I think you would have to be mad just to walk in down there Justin."
Jonathan had called them both down a few times as the discussion between the two became heated, but he was letting this one go for some reason.
Justin countered waving a berry-stained paw "Then what would you suggest? Storm the front gates while waving the tricolor and screaming Vive la REVOLOTION!?"
Leana chuckled and cut in saying "Actually that's not a bad idea."
Both of the verbal combatants stopped and looked at her like she had lost her mind and Jenner grumbled "We wouldn't stand a chance. You heard the report about the Guard."
She grinned and said "I did, and that's what gives me hope that we can do something of the sort. The question is would Mora and Arthur join us in our little revolt?"
Rachel nodded "I think if we could get to him, Arthur would listen and be inclined to support us if we promised to return his vision of the Plan to him. Mora, who knows."
Leana nodded and added "She may not even be on the Council now for all we know. As I understand the bylaws the rats setup, it requires a supermajority to remove a member, and Nicodemus had that the moment he removed Arthur."
Looking around at us, she said "Your observation reports indicated that the Guard was in most cases moving with the people as an escort, not really observing or guarding the exterior of the colony. To me that sounds like they are guarding against predators, and making sure they have no more desertions as Rachel and her friends managed. That had to hurt Nicodemus' prestige to have more people abandon his utopia, and when you rule by a cult of personality, you can't afford to lose face. I'm guessing that he will do anything to be sure that doesn't happen again, including having most of his Guard outside of the nest.
"What I propose is that we take advantage of this to slip inside the nest, rescue Arthur, and sound out Mora. If we can get them both to side with us, we have four former council members, a super majority, and the mediator standing with us. If we were to offer a better brighter vision for the future as offered in your original Plan, and if the colony is half as disgruntled as Rachel says, that would be a hard hurtle for Nicodemus to pass without resorting to using the Guard to suppress the entire nest."
Looking at Justin she asked "How would your Brutus respond to such a quandary as having four former Council members and the mediator come to the doorstep of the colony and request his loyalty to the vision of the original Plan in the face of popular anger?"
Justin blinked, then started looking thoughtful "Um, I don't know. I guess if we had the people behind us….." He shook his head and asked "If, if mind you, I were to go along with this, what would happen to Nicodemus? He's done too much good for me to see him just swept aside, or trampled under someone else's ambition."
She grinned "I think he should be reseated in the new Council to play the part of the loyal opposition, eventually. We just request that Brutus help us restore the legitimate Council members to their rightful place so they can help guide the colony back to its original course."
Justin just sat there staring at Leana with a mix of anger and respect playing over his face as Jenner gave a papery laugh.
When I looked at my mate I saw him nod slightly to Leana and she winked back.
XXXX
Jonathan:
Having decided on a course of action, we considered the best way of carrying it out that evening, even though Brother Rat was still reluctant. We finally decided that the doorstep was not the place to have our confrontation. Appearing at the doorstep gave Nicodemus the position of standing to defend the colony against outsiders. After much consideration we decided the proper place would be the meeting hall, and for that we had to get most if not all of us into the colony undetected.
Getting in wouldn't be as simple as I'd hoped it would be, but was still quite easy. Security for the colony as we had originally planned it was setup to keep out animals and to reduce its visibility from aircraft and humans on foot, not to keep out other intelligent mice and rats.
There were a number of points we could use to enter. The front doors, kitchen door, warehouse doors, or a number of vents or chimneys, but our choice of entry points was the door to the power room that Rachel and her group had used to leave. It was isolated and any noise at this door was not likely to attract attention, but it was on the opposite side of the colony from the meeting hall. Normally the door would be used by technicians to adjust the diverter that set the volume of water coming to the power room for the overshot wheel. However from what Rachel has said, the diverter currently just set the volume and pressure in the water system so the tolerance for flow was much higher than it would have been otherwise. Likely adjustments would only be needed for rain or drought, so the equipment should be unguarded.
The door had originally been secured with a simple string latch to keep out animals. Normally the string would be slipped through the hole in the door so that it could be opened from the outside by maintenance crews going back and forth to set the water flow, and pulled back inside when not in use, but likely that would have been changed after the escape. While it was unlikely that the door would have been sealed, it wasn't impossible.
On the positive side, Jeremy reported after an over flight of the colony that there was no guard on the outside of the door, and the path leading to it looked unused.
XXXX
The next morning was bright and sunny when we left for our appointment with destiny, and it didn't take long to strike the winding trail that paralleled the stream Arthur had diverted.
It was little more than a footpath and partly overgrown where we hit it, but it widened out and was paved where Arthur had worked to change the stream's original course, then cut back into the hillside along the smaller channel leading from the diverter. The diverter itself was a single piece of stone about two feet long, four inches wide by eight inches high that hinged against the bank where Arthur had started his channel, and was controlled by a windlass housed in a small hut. The windlass could be turned by three rats to adjust chains bolted to the stone's far end pushing it farther into the stream when more water was needed, or pulled closer to the bank when the flow was too high.
We found the hut with the windlass deserted and the small stone plaza around it covered with fallen leaves when we passed it and headed down the cut in the embankment Arthur had made to house the trail and the channel.
To our left the diverted water ran fast and noisy in its sandstone channel about six inches wide by eight inches deep. The path we followed was about a foot wide, made of stone cut from the channel, and was starting to get choked by grass growing up through the cracks and dead leaves.
The path ended at the wooden door in a stone wall, and the water disappeared into a tunnel cut into the stone next to it that acted like a drain. With the water flowing, only something with gills could use that way to get in.
As expected, the string was not dangling through the hole in the eight inch wide arched door when we arrived. On the positive side, from the leaves and weeds before it, the door seemed not to have been opened for some time and it also didn't appear to have been bricked up.
After listening at the door for a bit, Justin pulled out his blade and slipped the tip into the crack between the boards below the hole, having to widen it a bit to do so. When he had done this, he tried to pull the blade up to open the latch, but it wouldn't move.
I looked back at Rachel where she and the others crowded the path behind us and asked over the burbling of the water "Had they done anything to the lock when you were here last?"
She shrugged before saying "No, just the simple drop latch."
Sullivan said as he rubbed his chin "I bet they put a bar across the top of it.
"Hey Justin," he called "try above the hole and see if you hit something."
Justin nodded and used the tip of the blade as a probe. As he did he found a bar across the door that was about half an inch wide that seemed to be soft enough for the sharp blade to cut.
Looking back up to where Leana was perched on Shamoo's shoulder, he asked "You want me to cut it?"
She nodded and replied "Just try to be as quiet as you can."
He nodded and started working the bladed back and forth in the crack, the muscles in his arms and shoulders bulging as he worked.
The blade was sharp and it didn't take long to cut through the bar and the latch. One moment Justin was straining to push the blade down, the next the blade was halfway to the bottom of the door and there was the clunk of seasoned lumber falling to stone on the other side of the door!
The door opened into an arched tunnel eight inches wide and tall at the top that dropped off into darkness at about a twenty degree angle down. Being a service tunnel, comfort had not been the objective when it was cut so the walls were rough and unfinished.
We'd made a few torches soaked in pine pitch that morning and after lighting one, Sullivan, Rachel and her two friends took the lead scouting down the tunnel, while we got back into marching order.
Elizabeth and Cynthia gathered around as I settled my pack.
Cynthia bounced up on her toes and kissed me on the cheek saying "Be careful papa."
"You too" I said kissing her on top of the head.
Turning to Elizabeth I took her into my arms and gave her a hug saying "You know you don't need to do this. You could go back to the camp and wait with the others." Jeremy, Ter, Toora and her pups were unfit to aid us, and Teresa and Merriest would be staying back as well.
She shook her head saying softly "No. I just got you back, so I'm not letting you do this on your own.
"Besides, if any of our children are going, I'll be going too. Someone has to watch them after all."
Cynthia chimed in "And I'm not letting Mom go on her own! My brothers are just about worthless right now."
I gave a chuckle at her statement and the circular logic and nodded as I watched Timothy, Sassy, and Amanda as they were preparing. It had been all but war the previous night when we tried leaving all the kids at the camp. Finally we'd agreed to let them come when Sassy said she would watch out for them. I could still hardly believe that having a cat watching my children made me more comfortable!
Finally I turned back to Elizabeth saying "Keep them as safe as you can. We shouldn't be separated for more than thirty minutes or so."
She nodded as she watched Martin and Lora talking quietly to Justin while he hitched up his pack.
Teresa and Merriest wanted to come as well, but Ter and the pups needed someone to watch out for them as well as guard for the cooler a bit less flighty than Jeremy and more fit than Toora. So Merriest swallowed his pride and agreed that Amanda was better suited to help with her friend than he was and stayed with his father.
Teresa, seeing how he had matured since the loss of his mother and how it was eating him to stay behind, took pity on the poor mouse and agreed to stay behind too. She had taken some good natured ribbing for this from her siblings, but not nearly as much as she would have a few weeks ago. It seemed they had all grown up quite a bit over these fall days, and she seemed delighted to help watch Toora's pups.
Martin and Justin tried to talk Lora into staying at the camp too, but she'd have none of it. She told Justin "You promised to get me back home if I didn't like it here, so I'm going to see what I think of the place and make sure you live through it." Turning to Martin, she smiled slightly and said softly "As for you, do you really think I'd be left behind?" Before he could answer, she gave him a little peck on the cheek, and that silenced his objections, and seem almost send him into a coma while Justin chuckled and shook his head.
Rachel reappeared in the doorway a few moments later saying "There's a guard at the far end of the power room. She's sleeping next to the barred door to the lower floors, so we haven't messed with her yet.
"Be quiet as you come down" she added needlessly as she ducked back into the tunnel carrying her torch before her.
The tunnel was a strait cut running down at a constant angle with a smooth floor. As we went down into the darkness with a gentle current of air blowing into our faces, the sound of water faded till the scuffling of our feet seemed deafening, then the roar of falling water picked up as we approached the lower door where Sullivan was waiting for us.
When we had all assembled, he pushed the door open and we padded out into the deep darkness of the power room, the sound of our movements masked by the sound of the falling water behind us. In the light of the lamp over her head, we could see the figure of a dark brown rat in a blue tunic sitting in a chair at the far end of the room. Rachel was standing quietly behind her. As we approached we could see her chin was resting on her chest, rising and falling in time with her deep breaths.
We walked the length of the room as quietly as we could past stacks of wood, terracotta tiles and shelves of goods and equipment.
Gathering around the sleeping guard should she wake, Justin disarmed her by simply picked up her pike were it leaned against the wall. Sullivan opened the door a crack and watched and listened for a moment. Finally he closed the door and said in a whisper "All clear."
Justin then shook the young rat's shoulder and said softly "Alma, wake up."
She gave a snort and her eyes flew open. For a moment she looked up into Justin's face without comprehension of who he was, then as the fuzziness of sleep slowly left her she asked unsurely "Justin?" Then her expression went to wonder as she looked around and finally horror as she saw the two cats crouched behind us.
Justin said softly "Quietly now, why are you here Alma?"
The young rat swallowed hard and tried to still her shaking before saying "I, I'm on guard."
"What are you guarding, an empty room?" he asked gently.
She blinked "Um, the door. I'm supposed to keep people out of here."
"Ask her why" grumbled Rachel.
Alma's eyes widened as she glanced back at the sound of the voice and she asked with some animation "Rachel, Fay, Glenn? You're alive? We thought you all died out there!"
Rachel gave a brittle smile as she stepped up to the seated rat saying "Nicodemus will be disappointed to discover that not all of us died."
The seated rat nodded, saying "You are right about that. He's been telling anyone that would listen that leaving was not just suicide, but an attack on the safety of the nest."
Alma frowned, then turned back to Justin asking "How is it you are still alive, Sir. Brutus said that he was the last rat out of the nest and the gas almost got him too. We all thought you and Sullivan must have been killed."
Justin smiled "The rumor of our deaths was somewhat exaggerated. The gas was not cyanide, it just knocked us out."
"We are wasting time here Justin" called Leana.
"A mouse? Mice, and cats? Who are these people?" Alma asked softly as the fear of moments before was replaced by wonder.
Justin glanced back and said "Maybe not Leana. Give me a minute."
Putting a finger under Alma's jaw, he turned her face to his again and said "I'll tell you when we have time, but for now will you help us to get to Arthur? We could really use your aid."
She raked her lower lip with her teeth, a troubled expression on her face as she slowly said "I'd be leaving my post. Brutus would be angry with me."
Justin grinned "If things work out, Brutus may be returning control of the Guard to me by the end of the day.
"All we need is for you to lead us to Arthur and maybe Mora."
Slowly she nodded, her mood slowly brightening, before she said "I can show you the way, but" she glanced at the rest of us "they will cause a riot if they are seen."
Justin nodded saying "Fay and Glenn will be taking most of them to the meeting hall by way of the blocked off caves while we go see Arthur. It will just be Rachel, Sullivan, Jonathan, and I going with you."
She nodded "That should work for Arthur, but Mora's rooms are down in officer's territory next door to Nicodemus' offices and quarters. We'll be passing a lot of people to get there and you will likely be recognized."
Justin nodded "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Leana grinned and said "Fay, if you would please lead us, I think it's time to get underway."
Looking back to Justin she said "I expect to see you in twenty minutes in the meeting hall. If you are over forty minutes, I'll consider your mission a washout and get our people out of here, if I can."
Justin nodded again and said "Luck to you."
Leana chuckled "Thanks. Luck to you as well" before patting Shamoo on the head and saying "Don't forget I'm up here big guy."
Shamoo laughed as he turned away to follow the others.
I watched them as they went to another door that closed off the natural cave system and started passing through. Elizabeth was the last to pass that doorway just behind Ages, but before she did, she turned, smiled, and waved to me, and I thought my heart would explode in my chest with pride and love as I waved back.
End Chapter 14