The Blythes were all gathered at Ingleside once again for their annual reunion. Everyone was happy to hear about each other's lives: the adults discussed Jerry's latest political triumph; Ken's novel, soon to be published; Una's adventures with baby Katy; Di's trip to England, and so forth. The young folk, meanwhile, were just as busy telling about their lives over the past year. Anna and Ally described in enthralling detail their tenth birthday party, to which it seemed everyone in Toronto had come. Polly gushed to Lily about how charming Pierre was, and how unpleasant Paulette had been at first, but how she'd miraculously changed before they left; Blythe boasted about his latest accomplishments at school; Dee confided in strictest confidence to all her girl cousins—individually—that aboy had asked her to a school party, but her father had refused …

Meggie, though always happy to see her family, soon wearied of all the noise, and fled to Rainbow Valley for some peace. There she found Matty and Johnny sitting in companionable silence under the Tree Lovers. Matty grinned up at his twin.

"You got tired of all the fuss, too?"

Meggie seated herself beside Johnny. "I couldn't take any more of Polly and Lily talking about Pierre," she said in a rare burst of annoyance. "Or Dee going on about all the boys at school who like her. Sorry, Johnny," she added belatedly.

"Don't apologize to me, I have to listen to it all the time!" he exclaimed. "I'm just glad she has other girls to talk to now. What do I care about how many boys like her?"

"Just wait," chimed in Peter, coming unexpectedly around the corner. "In a few years you and Blythe will have to beat them off with a stick, just like Bran and I have to do with Polly. Meggie," he continued, "do you have time for a walk?"

"Of course," Meggie agreed with alacrity. Peter was only home for a short time this summer before going back to Redmond for summer classes. And then … Meggie sighed. He had decided to go to Cambridge in the fall. Peter in England was a very different thing from Peter in Kingsport. Meggie was eager to soak up as much time with her cousin as possible before he left.

They strolled down the harbour road hand-in-hand, two children at heart still, though one considered himself a man. In truth, Peter hadn't really thought of himself as a child since the day he and Polly arrived in Canada, alone and forsaken. Yet in his heart and mind, he was still a boy, with a boy's dreams and ambitions. Immersed in his beloved histories, he had experienced very little of Life, and in some ways Meggie, who participated in the world rather than merely observing it, was older and wiser than he.

"I'm glad my break fell during the family reunion," Peter said. "Although it would have been nice to spend it quietly at home, sitting in the garden, strolling down to Echo Lodge in the evenings for a little chat with the fairies, running over to Green Gables for a visit with my best chum … But I'm glad to have a chance to say goodbye to everyone, too."

"We'll all miss you awfully," Meggie said wistfully.

"I'll miss you, too," Peter said, but he couldn't keep his excitement from his face. "It's such a grand opportunity, though. Did I tell you about old Mr. Reed?"

Meggie shook her head.

"He's Jocelyn's father—the old squire of the village. He hired me to work on the grounds of his estate for the year. Between what I earn from him, the little I've saved up, and the scholarship I won this spring at Redmond, I'll be able to afford school for this year, at least. After that, we'll see, but at least it's a start."

"I'm very happy for you," Meggie said, more as a conventionality than out of true joy, but Peter didn't even seem to hear her.

"Of course, I'm sure he only did it because Jocelyn asked him. According to Freddie, since her mother died, Jocelyn really runs the family affairs in all but name. Old Mr. Reed does whatever she suggests." He mused for a moment before continuing. "Freddie would say it's demeaning to work as a groundskeeper for my living, especially when I could be living off him, but I'll respect myself more if I earn my own way, especially by hard physical labour. It will be more satisfactory, somehow. Does that make sense?"

"Of course," Meggie answered, but again, Peter wasn't listening.

"I think Jocelyn understood that. That's why she had her father offer me the position. She has a remarkably keen insight into human nature—rather like you, faun."

Meggie warmed to the use of her old pet name, but inside she was feeling a bit dull. Peter had grown away from her this year—ever since he had decided to go to Cambridge, in fact. She supposed it was to be expected to a certain extent; he was starting a new life, with new goals and dreams, while she was simply going on the way she always had. The age gap between twelve and twenty had never seemed so large.

They walked in silence for a bit longer—Peter dreaming great dreams, Meggie trying to not feel glum—before Peter spoke again.

"And what are your plans for this next year, Meggie?"

Meggie shrugged. "The same," she answered simply. "Miss Craig is moving to Winnipeg to live with her sister, so Matty, Polly and I are going back to school this fall. Other than that … no changes."

"Don't you ever get tired of things staying the same, little one?" Peter asked her, looking down into her placid face.

"No," Meggie answered thoughtfully. "Because each day is different in itself, without anything else needed. Besides, most changes are always bad."

"Not always," Peter countered. "Look at Baby Katy. You wouldn't call her bad, would you? Yet she was a great change. And you and the rest being able to go back to school! That's a change, but a good one. Or take me being able to go to England …" he trailed off happily.

"That may be a good change for you," Meggie told him honestly. "But not for me."

Peter laughed and tugged one of her curls lightly. "It won't be that bad. I'll still write to you faithfully. It won't be all that different from me being at Redmond."

"Except you won't come home for breaks," Meggie pointed out.

Peter twisted his mouth wryly. "True. But it won't be forever. I'll be home again sometime."

Meggie sighed. Peter looked at her curiously. "Why so blue, little chum? It's not like you to be so down."

"I don't know," Meggie answered, stopping on the road to think it out. "It's just—you're leaving soon, and Polly is growing up and away from me, and sometimes I think Matty likes Johnny better than me …"

The truth was that Meggie herself was starting to change a bit, and she neither understood nor liked the adjustment. Had she a mother to explain things and help her comprehend it might have been better, but as it was, she could only struggle through on her own.

Peter, being but a boy, couldn't recognize all this, but he remembered vaguely some of the changes that Polly went through when she was twelve, and he tried to be sensitive.

"You're being a little goose, you know," he said in a tone of friendly chaff, designed to lighten her mood. "There's no one in the world Matty likes better than you—everyone knows that. There might be things he can talk about better with Johnny, since they're both boys, but Johnny could never replace you in Matty's heart. As for Polly, I think you'll find as you both grow older you'll grow closer again. She's going through what Dad calls the 'silly stage,' and once she's over that, you'll find you have more in common. And me—why faun, distance won't change our friendship! We're connected at the heart; that's something no amount of miles can sever."

"You don't like Jocelyn better than me?" Meggie asked wistfully.

Peter's face grew grave. "I admire and respect Jocelyn more than almost any woman I know," he admitted. "But she is Freddie's fiancée, and even if she weren't … she could never be to me what you are. You're my confidant, my little mentor, my best chum. Nobody will ever change that, I promise you."

Meggie made no reply but to squeeze his hand, suddenly feeling much better about life in general. It had been hard when she had felt herself superfluous to all those she loved most.

They had turned around by now and were nearly back at Rainbow Valley. "Good heavens, what is that?" Peter asked, his head tilted.

Meggie also heard the wild cries and unpleasant noise of flesh hitting flesh. "I don't know," she said, feeling worried.

They quickened their pace and followed their ears to where Johnny and Walt were on the ground beneath a large oak tree, each doing their best to pound the other into a pulp.

"Here now, what's all this?" Peter said sharply, striding forward and wrenching them apart. Walt hung limply in his grasp; he had obviously been getting the worst of the fight. His left eye was swollen almost completely shut, blood was streaming from both his mouth and nose, and his battered hands clutched at his stomach.

Johnny, on the other hand, snarled and struggled to get free from Peter's iron grip, oblivious to the blood that dripped down his face from a cut above his eye.

"Let me go," he muttered. "I'll show him."

"I take … it all … back," Walt wheezed. "I'm sorry … I said anything … about Dee."

"I'll make you sorrier!" Johnny spat, lunging forward and nearly choking as Peter's hand tightened around his collar.

"Enough of this," Peter said authoritatively. "Meggie, see if you can talk some sense into this cousin of yours."

As she had done once before, Meggie took hold of Johnny's hands and stood before his face, forcing him to see her with his furious eyes. "Johnny," she said quietly but clearly, "Let it go."

His breathing slowed, his flushed face returned to its normal colourless hue, and finally he stood calm. Peter relaxed his grip and let both boys stand free, though Walt had to lean up against the oak for support.

"Now," Peter said calmly. "Who wants to tell me what this was all about?"

Walt was clearly in no shape to talk about anything, so Johnny answered, speaking in a low voice, with his eyes fixed on the ground. "He called Dee a stuck-up puss because she talked so much about all the boys who like her. I told him he'd better not say anything like that about my sister, but he wouldn't take it back, so I made him."

"But Johnny," Meggie said in bewilderment, "You were complaining about Dee yourself earlier!"

"That's different," Johnny said defiantly, throwing his head back. "She's my sister. Nobody else had better say anything bad about her, or I'll pound them."

"Well," Peter said, now sounding amused, "since you've upheld your family honour, do you think you and Walt can make up? And we'd better figure out an explanation for why you two look the way you do—unless you want the aunts to know you've been fighting."

They both looked horrified at the thought. "Let's take them to the manse," Meggie suggested. "Aunt Betsy won't scold, and she can help clean them up and help think up a good excuse for them."

"Excellent," Peter agreed. "Come on, you two, let's get a move on before anybody else sees you."

They walked off together, Peter leading the way, followed by Johnny, whose aggressive attitude still showed clearly in his strut and the way he held his head cocked proudly. Meggie helped Walt finish the small parade, as he was still unsteady on his feet.

"He called me a sissy for writing poetry, and a fool, and a dreamer, and a whole host of other bad names," Walt told her, staring bitterly at Johnny's back. "I'll never forgive him, not ever. I could forgive him beating me for Dee's honour, but the things he said … never, never!"

His passion startled Meggie. She reflected uneasily that she didn't know Walt as well as she used to. His love for beauty and obsession with poetry consumed all his time, and he had little or no interest in Meggie anymore except as an audience when no one else would listen. With most of the other boy cousins, she knew that this would pass, and he and Johnny would feel the same way toward each other in a week. With Walt, though … his sensitive nature and passionate spirit combined to make him equally stubborn in his loves and hates. She feared he meant everything he said, and he and Johnny would never be on good terms again.

Author's note: This chapter gave me fits to try and write. Oh well, here it is, flawed though it may be. Laura, this one is for you, because Lis told me you've been waiting for an update. Hopefully the next one won't be as long in coming, since the baby is starting to sleep more and be happier when she is awake, giving me more time to write!