(Let's see... It's been six chapters and I've been relatively on-theme, so I think I'll begin this one with a semi-emotional opening moment on Miro's behaf. Its only those two small paragraphs right there in the beginning, so bear with me, I didn't know how to start this chapter.)

After sneaking out the window in order to avoid Nami's detection, Miro makes good with his headstart and exits town immediately. At the top of the hill overlooking the Valley, he stops, and turns around. He takes a look at the tiny town he grew up in, and wonders if he'll return to it a succesful man or just a kid who ran away from home and got caught. He wonders other things, too.

"Dad's not gonna find me, not alone, anyway. Mom just might, but hopefully not. But... I know who will." He thinks to himself, or perhaps he said it aloud, he couldn't tell. "I know who'll come looking as soon as word passes that I've gone. It's almost impossible, that I'll ever really leave behind..." He stops and sighs, lowering his head, slowly turning his back to the Valley and beginning to walk.

"I hope..."

(There, emotional moment over. Now on to something far more interesting.)

"...You WHAT?" Nami's voice echoes in the little house, rattling the windows and startling the animals outside. Jack had been backed into a corner at this point and had his hands held out to shield himself from the blows that he was most likely going to suffer.

"Well, y-you said yourself that he should sh-shape his own future, Honey, and I thought th-that this was a perfect opportunity for him." Jack stammers, sinking down into the corner in fear.

"Oh, then I guess this is my own fault... no, no wait, IT'S YOURS!" Nami says, kicking Jack's shin quite hard. "What were you thinking?! He's only fourteen-"

"Fifteen. His birthday was a few days back, we had cake, it was tasty. In fact-"

"Don't change the subject!" Nami says, kicking his other shin. "He's out there wandering aimlessly for some sort of destiny, how stupid do you have to be-"

"Nami, you... kinda... did that, too. Before. To get to the Valley. Remember?" Jack says, praying that she dosen't find another spot to kick him in. Nami's face loosens up slightly and she thinks for a moment.

"You have a point, Jack." She says finally. "But I was older when I-"

"Not by much, probably." Jack says, slightly bold for his current situation. "You were some kind of world traveller, right? Well, you probably didn't start at eighteen, that would mean you were only travelling for about a year. You must've been younger."

"Yeah, I guess, but..." Nami starts, for once actually at a loss of things to say. "But... we need him here at the farm. He's the next gener..." A light suddenly came on in her head. A question that she automatically answered as soon as she thought of it: Why did Jack let Miro go if he was the only continuation of the family line?

If Nami's face had softened at all, it went back to being as cold and hard as a cliff in that exact moment.

"Oh, so you think that if Miro leaves, we'll need to get him a new brother who will stay at the farm, huh?" She asks. Suddenly her disposition changed, this time for the better. She gives a wry smile and turns her body away from him in a tantalizing manner, pacing away slowly. "Well..." She begins. Jack, thinking that things had turned for the better, left his corner and approached Nami. As soon as Jack was in range, Nami finished her scentence.

"...you're DEAD WRONG!" She yells, throwing a deadly backhanded right hook at Jack at a velocity powerful enough to slam his body into a wall, leaving a very visible imprint of himself on it.

"You said you gave him 24 hours? Well we're cutting that short, we leave at first light tomorrow!"

"Umm... that's not a huge change, maybe a couple of hours' difference but not really-"

"I wonder how much your life insurance is worth...?"

"Err, shutting up."

Meanwhile, Miro was walking down the path he hoped would lead to whatever he was looking for. He had a gut feeling that he would find something soon, but what it was he had no idea. He just followed his instincts.

A small sound was heard, just off the path. Miro looks over to see what the source of the noise was, but couldn't see anything. He decides to investigate, and walks off the trail to where he thought he had heard it. There was nothing in sight, but- Miro heard it again, closer to him. It sounded like leaves rustling. He couldn't tell where it came from, though. He shuts his eyes and tries to focus on where the sound was coming from. He could hear it, but just barely. It didn't seem to be an animal, it was too large or not large enough. Quickly, Miro dashed in it's direction and punched his fist into a bush, which is where he heard the rustling from.

There was nothing, whatever had been there somehow snuck away. Miro then noticed something much more important; he had just punched through a thorn bush.

"Ahhhh, ooooowwwwwww..." He says as he slowly pulled his hand out of the bush, eyes squinting in pain. Once he had released himself from the plant, Miro looked at his badly scratched hand. It was cut and bleeding a bit everywhere, but he was pretty sure it didn't need much bandaging.

"Excellent start to my day..." He mumbles to himself. He suddenly notices a prescence behind him and whips around, staring eyeball-to-eyeball with the sneak.

"Hello." He says. Miro gives him a look, but the other didn't seem to care. He simply steps back a reasonable distance.

"Well, nice to meet you again, too." The boy says sarcastically. He stood at Miro's height and seemed to be his age. He had jet-black hair mostly concealled under a cap, which also covered one of his eyes. Miro suddenly recognized him.

"Matthew?" He says in surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's none of your concern." Matthew says. "Yourself?"

"None of your concern." Miro says in equal ignorance. "But can you at least tell me how you did that thing with the bush?"

"You just need good reflexes." Matthew says. "It's a gift."

"I see... you're a gifted sneak, then. Be proud." Miro says in mock admiration. "But seriously, what did you say to make your parents agree to let you so far out?"

"Not much." Matthew says. "Mom was busy with her books, so she just nodded along with what I said, and Dad agreed that I should get out and see the world, instead of rotting my youth away in the blacksmith. He gave me-"

"24 hours," Miro finishes for him. "to get as far away as possible before the mother figures out, right?"

"Uhh... well, yes." Matthew says, slightly surprised. "How did you..."

"Same here." Miro explains. "But I have to be going now. If you're not going to tell me why you're doing this in the first place, I have no need for you to be around." He begins to walk.

"Hold up." Matthew says. Miro stops and looks at him.

"I'll tell you, if you're that interested, just as long as you tell me your reason." He finishes.

"Okay, agreed." Miro says. "Let's hear it."

"You see..." Matthew begins. "It's a bit of a combination. I want to find myself a life outside of town, just to see if I can. Y'know, see what I can do."

"Hmm... jee, you're reading me." Miro says. "That's... exactly why I'm here, too. Huh."

"And also..." Matthew continues. "The second reason's because, well... I'm sorta trying to get away from... someone. Or maybe get someone to me, I can't really tell..."

"Same... I guess..." Miro says. "Well, I'm outta here. You can follow, but I really don't have a direction."

"Well, I don't see why not." Matthew says, shrugging. "There's better odds if there's more of us. Let's get going-"

"Shh," Miro says suddenly, holding a hand out to silence him. "I heard something..."

Miro had developed acceptional hearing skills over the years, due to both being in his small, silent room for the majority of his life and to the necessity of not having 'certain' people sneak up on him. For a moment he shut his eyes and focused on small noises, but couldn't seem to hear it anymore. Suddenly, something that sounded like someone moving quickly. Miro opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound, Matthew doing the same since he had also heard it. There was nothing. Miro walked forward slowly, pushing away branches and looking around. Suddenly, he sees something on the ground. He kneels down and picks it up.

A ribbon. A blue ribbon. Miro's eyes widen slightly.

"But... I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid..." He mumbles to himself.

"What? Man, you can find those things everywhere!" Matthew says. "Convienience stores, gas stations, truck stops, lying around in ditches and on trees and-"

"That's not what I meant!" Miro snaps, shutting him up. "Firstly, when have you last seen a truck stop or a gas station in these parts?"

"...Hey, yeah..." Matthew says, realising this for the first time. "Jee, this whole part of the countryside is in the Feudal Era..."

"Anyway," Miro continues. "Secondly, it's not simply any blue ribbon, but THIS one specifically that I haven't seen in years."

"How can you tell? It looks just like any blue ribbon to me."

"I just can, okay? I've spent a pretty long time staring at the hair this ribbon used to tie back in my youth, I know what I'm talking about. But that means... Matthew, we have to travel faster."

"How much faster?" Matthew asks.

"Sprinting." Miro replies. "Now, go!"

Back at the farm, Nami had quickly strung together a small work force to take care of the farm, and was now briefing them on their jobs as they lined up in front of her. The force consisted of the Sprites, Rock, Lumina, Daryll and... Murrey.

"I've thrown you bunch together since... well, you obviously have nothing better to do with your lives." Nami says. "You three," She points to Nik, Nak, and Flak. "You're small and weak, so you'll be in charge of chickens and the feeding thereof. And you," She looks specifically at Flak. "If I see one grain of feed eaten by you, I'm getting it back with plyers."

"We won't let you down!" Nik says.

"We won't let you down!" Nak says.

"Errumm... I'll do my best!" Flak says, slightly nervously.

"Good, now for you." Nami says, looking over to Rock. Rock smiles, but Nami stares at him coldly.

"I don't like you," Nami says plainly. "I spent two years in a room next to yours and you're not a quiet sleeper, since you don't sleep so much as just play loud music and break things all night. Therefore, you're in charge of plants."

"Oh. Well, that's not so bad." Rock says, shrugging.

"You'll be using this." Nami continues, handing him the Weird Watering Can. "It only holds one plant's worth of water at a time, and..." She waves her hand out to the nearly-full fields of the farm. Rock stares at them, and then to the tiny watering can. He looks almost ready to cry.

Satisfied, Nami moves over to the next in line, Lumina.

"You're getting an easier job." Nami reassures her. "Since I heard you saved my son's life at one point, I'll give you milking duty."

"Great!" Lumina says enthusiastically. "This'll be so much fun! I can't believe I'm going to touch the same udders that Jack did!"

Nami's eyes narrow. Jack, in the background, put his hands behind his back and whistled.

"Look, kid," Nami says. "Jack's mine, he's been mine for fifteen years, and he'll be mine untill one of us is dead. You had a crush on him when you were ten. GET. OVER. IT. Maybe if you're incredibly lucky you can marry our son."

Lumina, looking slightly downcast, sighed and nodded. Nami moved over to the next laborer.

"Hmm..." Nami says, looking at Daryll. "What are you good for?"

"I'm a genius with solid grit, great knowledge, and manly determination!" Daryll announces, flexing his pencil-arm muscles.

"I see..." Nami says. "Ah, I know. You can cut the grass."

"WHAT?" Daryll yells.

"Okay, okay, fair enough." Nami says calmly. "You can... feed the cat and dog too, how's that sound?"

"Ugh. Oh, fine." Daryll says, grumbling.

"As for you..." Nami says, moving over to Murrey and holding a hand over her nose. "Ugh. I have a perfect job for you."

"Moi." Murrey says. "Is it f-fun?"

"Very." Nami says. "Since you look and smell the part, you can... clean up after the animals. And here's the best part, you can keep everything you shovel."

"All right!" Murrey says happily. "I won't let you d-down! Moi."

"You'd better not." Nami warns him. "Or you're in for a beard-swinging once we get back. Now, if everyone knows what they'll be doing, Jack and I have to get ready." She walks away from the group and to the house, motioning for Jack to follow.

In the house, Nami rummages through the closet/shelf/dresser that she had brought to the house when she moved in with Jack.

"What're you looking for?" Jack asks curiously.

"Remember, I was born to travel like this, and so was Miro." Nami begins, still looking through the shelves. "He has my blood in his veins, he has my instincts, so he'll be tough to find. Not to mention, you'll probably be slowing me down a huge amount."

"Hey!"

"I'm just telling the truth here. Anyway, we do have one advantage over him."

"What's that?"

"Supplies." Nami says. "Jack, what did Miro use to carry his things with?"

"He had a hand-me-down rucksack that I used to use." Jack says. "It's small, but strangely enough it can carry up to 99 of everything that's either worth money or I can cook with."

"Well, I'm afraid he's in trouble, then." Nami says, finding what she was looking for. She pulls out a massive bag that she had kept throughout her travels and flung it effortlessly over her shoulder.

"Whoa..." Jack says plainly. "Is that the thing you had in the corner of your room when you were still at the Inn?"

"Yep."

"I thought that that was a couch!"

"Well, of course you did. You were too busy looking at my diary to notice!" Nami reminds him.

"Oh... heheh, yeah..." Jack says, remembering an incident that had put him into a three-day coma. "Those were the days..."

"Hmph, well, we have until next morning, and those idiots are running the farm." Nami says. "What do you want to do?"

"Well... we could try for that new kid." Jack offers. Nami refuses, not by saying no, but by giving Jack the meanest purse-slapping anyone had ever experienced.

"That's a no..." Jack says while peeling himself from the wall a few seconds later.

"Don't make me have to hurt you too much, I don't need a limping, bleeding farmer to slow me down." Nami reminds him.

"Oh, well I'm sorry for youhaving to hurt me." Jack says in a sarcastic tone.

"Apology accepted."

"What- I didn't mean... ugh, forget it."