(Author's Note: I'm going to try to get another chapter uploaded today. Thanks for those who have stuck with the story hitherto. I hope these next two chapters incite your interest!)

The message said to go to the shop, so they went past Ebgin's house and straight on to the shop. He had expected his mother to come out and greet them. When she didn't he peered in through the kitchen window. It didn't look like anyone was in. Mother would probably have been in the garden anyway, if she were home. She had these pretty Morning Glory plants growing, which must have been Ebgin's favorite plant.

"No one's here," Ebgin said, turning toward the path. "They're probably at the shop."

They continued on down the familiar path toward the shop. Ebgin looked at Nancy as they past Billows Field. She didn't seem to be reacting in any kind of special way. Maybe she got a bit quieter. Or maybe it was his imagination. Well, he wasn't saying anything either.

"Here it is," Ebgin said when they reached the little wooden store. He was suddenly aware of some nervousness at her reaction. It wasn't his shop personally, but it was his parents and he had worked there for a long time. He wanted her to have a positive reaction.

"This is lovely," she said, casting her eyes about the building.

Ebgin gave her a pleased smile. "Yeah?"

"I don't know why I've never been here before. Let's go in!"

"Yeah!"

Ebgin held the door open for Nancy and they entered.

"Mamma? Pop?"

The back door opened and Pop stuck his head out. "Ebgin, come get-oh, I see you have a friend with you." He came out of the back room and leaned across the counter, extending his hand. "Hello, young lady. I'm Ebgin's father, you can call me Mr. Edward."

Nancy took his hand, which he shook gently. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Edward. I love your shop."

"Thank you. I put my heart and soul into this, me and Gina did."

Ebgin tried not to cringe. His father was going to get poetic, he could sense it.

"We came here to settle away from our old lives, to leave our parents and that life behind, and create something worth having, something we could be proud of." He looked fondly at Ebgin. "We believe we have succeeded."

Ebgin lifted his foot and scratched the back of his other leg with his shoe. Why did Pop have to get this way sometimes? And in front of Nancy.

"Ebgin and I have dreams, too," Nancy replied enthusiastically, seeming completely unbothered by his father's speech.

"And what are those dreams?"

Oh, no. Don't say anything, Nancy. Ebgin looked at her in horror. If she said anything about him being a Pokemon trainer, he resolved to just dart right out of there.

"I want to be a tutor, a public speaker and a motivational speaker. I'm going to learn all about all kinds of things. Oh," she added as if she had just had an idea, "I could be a detective!"

A detective? Ebgin thought. Since when?

"A detective?" Father said. "That seems like a fine occupation, although I wonder if you'll have to give up your dresses in exchange for pants. If the villain goes on the run, you'll need to chase him down."

"Oh, I can run really fast even in my sundress!"

She said it with such enthusiasm that Ebgin worried she would demonstrate right there in the store.

"Ebgin, don't worry about the store today, you just go enjoy yourself."

He reached underneath the counter and pulled out one of those fancy chocolate bars from behind the glass and set it on the counter. "Here you go, Nancy. No, no, put that away." She had gone for her purse. "This one will come out of Ebgin's allowance." He threw a grin at Ebgin.

"That's fine by me!" And he meant it, too. He'd have gladly given every cent of his allowance to her if she had asked.

Nancy was blushing as she took the candy bar and placed it into her purse. "Thank you, Mr. Edward." She looked at Ebgin, saying quietly, "And thank you, Ebgin."

Ebgin nearly exploded with embarrassment.

"Alright, kids, you run along. I'll take care of this."

"Thanks, Pop," Ebgin said as they made their way to the door. He held the door open again and Nancy gave a little curtsy before going out.

Pop was leaning his hip on the counter, watching. "Son."

"Yes, sir?" He was still holding the door open.

"You treat her right."

"Yes, sir."

Pop nodded, a simple move that Ebgin knew was a sign of permission to go.

Ebgin smiled as he slid his back off of the door and exited.

"I like your father."

"Yeah, he's a good person." Ebgin was beginning to realize that he liked his father more than he had even realized. There was a strength there, a foundation that Ebgin knew he could rely on. Then there was the trust and understanding. It was enough to make him emotional.

"I'm excited to meet your mother."

"Me, too!"

"Let's run," Nancy suggested, and Ebgin was hesitant at first, but she took off and he happily took up her trail. It was easy to overtake her and would have been easy to pass her, but he came abreast and they jogged together. She had to hold her hat on with one hand, though, and clutched her purse near her ribs.

It was long before they reached the house that they had slowed to a walk, silently trying to catch their breath and laughing at the fun they were having.

At home, Ebgin was uncertain how to proceed. Should he wait outside? Knock? Ask Nancy to wait while he fetched Mother? A dozen possibilities went through his mind but he just did what seemed obvious: He opened the door and went in while Nancy hung back to slap the dust off of her skirt.

"Mamma? You here?"

Mamma was sitting at the table holding a glass of iced tea, still wearing her gardening gloves. The glass pitcher, half-full, was on the table.

"Hey, Ebgin. Did you go see Daddy?"

"Yeah, he said he didn't need me."

She looked puzzled. "He didn't need you? I know that isn't true, because-" Nancy came round the corner and it cut her sentence short. "Oh, well," she floundered for a second before she could get her mind adjusted. "Hello, there. Is this your friend, Ebgin?" She looked at Ebgin with a look that

Ebgin understood to mean, "Are you going to introduce us?"

"Yes, Ma'am, this is Nancy. We've been friends for a few weeks. Nancy, this is my mother, Miss Gina."

Nancy curtsied politely. Ebgin liked it when she did that, it was pretty. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Gina."

"So how did you two meet?"

Ebgin and Nancy exchanged a glance. What should he say? Fortunately, Nancy made the decision for him.

"At school. I had a lot of books to carry that day and Ebgin helped me out."

Mamma gave Ebgin a sly look, "Oh, did he? Well, we did raise our little man to be a gentleman."

"I'd like to think so," Ebgin said.

"I do think so," Nancy replied.

Ebgin suddenly felt nature calling. "Excuse me." He went toward the staircase. The bathroom was just to the right of it. He went in and shut the door. As he relieved himself, he hung his head back and stared at the ceiling. His nerves were alight. He was not anxious or tense, but being emotionally engaged was wearing him out. He was glad for a few moments to himself. After zipping up and washing up, he opened the door to see his mother stand, saying something he couldn't hear to Nancy, and then coming this way. He shut the bathroom door and waited.

"Ebgin," Mamma said softly as she leaned in close, putting herself between Nancy and Ebgin, and pressed something into his hand.

He looked down to see a good amount of money. Looking up, he started to protest, but Mamma was not going to have an argument.

"You take this and you treat her right."

"That's what Pop said."

"Good, he knows what he's talking about."

Ebgin found it interesting that his father had taken money from him for the sake of Nancy, while Mother was giving him money for the same reason. What did that mean? Probably nothing. Ebgin just nodded and stuffed the money into his pocket.

"Thanks, Mamma."

She grinned and stepped aside. "Go on and play."

Nancy was waiting with a glass of tea in her hands. Ebgin took Mamma's glass and drained it before they left. When the outer door closed he squatted abruptly, sighing. Glad that was over. He didn't think he could spend another moment in his parent's presence while with Nancy. He heard her stifling laughter and looked up.

"Are you alright?" She asked, grinning.

"Yeah, it's just that I never know what they're going to do."

"It's fun. I'm glad I met them."

"Me, too." He smiled back at her.

"What shall we do now?"

"I suppose can just walk back toward the square. The weather's nice."

"I like that idea. Especially if I can have your arm again."

Ebgin tried not to let his expression show how pleased he was to hear that. He stood and held out his elbow, which she took. As they walked, she grabbed the crook of his elbow with her other hand, too, and walked close. Ebgin's heart raced. He wasn't sure if it was healthy to be so nervous, but if his heart beat right out of his chest and he died, he'd have considered it worth it.

They walked. It was late afternoon and the sun began to descend from its apex. With the changing light, the winds too began to shift, coming in gusts of varying strength. Ebgin offered to hold Nancy's hat for her, an offer which she gratefully accepted. Her short brown hair, not curling forward quite as much as before, bobbed and bowed in the winds. Some strands came loose, but she must have used some kind of gel or something in it because it mostly stayed together, particularly on the bottom. Ebgin resisted the urge to touch it.

The weather often made Ebgin wistful, and soon his embarrassment from before faded to some dull thing in the back of his mind. He gazed into the cool wind, felt it nip at the pinnacles of his cheeks and tip of his nose. He watched the trees out in the distance waving their branches about. A dead leaf scratched and bounced its way over the trail, leaving small trenches of dirt behind.

"Nancy."

"Yes?"

"Would you hurt someone?"

Ebgin paused, considering his next words, and in that time, Nancy must have had no idea that he wasn't finished. "What do you mean? Whatever," she added, "do you mean?" Her expression was absolutely shocked. Ebgin scrambled to catch some words to give her.

"I, that is, I wasn't done yet! What I meant is, would you hurt someone if it was for a dream? Or risk hurting someone?" The words began to sound lame as he said them and he immediately regretted them.

"Well," Nancy said, putting a finger to her lower lip contemplatively. They walked, hand-on-arm, for a time. Ebgin silently allowed her to consider. "I wouldn't want to," she said after a while. "I've made mistakes before, though. Even with you."

They looked at one another, remembering when she had cried before him. Ebgin pulled his elbow in, pressing her hand firmly against his side, trying to tell her that he was there to support her. She squeezed his arm in response.

"I might, depending upon how badly it would hurt the other person. If the wounds I created would heal, and if I could. . . ."

"If you could live with the consequences?" Ebgin offered.

"Yes." She replied firmly. "I think that now, though, without being in the situation, I would like to be able to say that I would never do such a thing. I want you to think I'm perfect, but I can't lie to you, Ebgin." Her words suddenly did not sound conversational and casual as before, but pointed. Ebgin listened intently, silently.

"You asked me about Tarah."

Ebgin's brows came up with interest.

"I want to tell you what I know about her, about how I lost my precious Spark."

Ebgin felt that pang stab into his gut. He surely winced. When he spoke, his voice was strained. "Go ahead."

She cleared her throat, looked up toward the sky, and spoke as if she were plucking each word from a canvas in her mind's eye. She told him all he could have wanted to know.