"Stop squirming and maybe I'll be able to get it out," snapped Garten, prodding his brother's arm.

Whittle paused for a moment, inspecting the splinter embedded in his finger. "Don't you need tweezers for this?"

"No," Garten said. "I am perfectly capable of doing it myself. Stop moving."

Garten quickly pinched the edge of the splinter and wiggled it out, eliciting a small wince from his younger brother. "There. Wasn't so hard."

Whittle rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have gotten one in the first place if you hadn't dared me to climb Old Driver's shed."

"Your fault for accepting the dare," Wilfred said from a few feet away. "I told you it was a bad idea."

"You're lucky he didn't see you," added Jupiter from his perch . "When Garten did it, he got pelted with rocks."

"Thank you for that lovely reminder," Garten muttered.

He hopped down from the porch. "What should we do now?" Wilfred asked. "I doubt anyone wants to climb Driver's shed again."

"Nah," Jupiter said. "We could head over to the lake."

"The lake?" the Longtreader brothers said unison in an almost deadpan voice.

"The very same lake Garten almost drowned in?" Whittle said, peering at Jupiter.

"The lake where the ice cracked and I almost fell in?" Wilfred said, narrowing his eyes.

"The lake that's a totally normal and safe place?" Garten added, glancing at his brothers with an annoyed expression.

Jupiter raised an eyebrow. "I've only heard of the ice incident with Wilfred, but I never heard the Garten-almost-drowned story."

"It was a while ago," Garten said with a shrug. "I fell in, panicked for a few seconds, and that's the entire reason why I can swim now."

"Nice," Jupiter said. "Why'd I assume you didn't know how to swim?"

"Because you never asked," Garten said. "Back to the topic. D'you think we have time before Mom drags us back inside to help us with chores?"

Wilfred shrugged. "I'd say a few hours. Let's go to the lake."

The four of them started walking down the road, silence falling upon them as they retreated to their own thoughts. They had been friends ever since a certain fight between Garten and a student back at the school, which prompted Jupiter to step in, backed up by Perkin.

"How's Perkin, by the way? Is his cold better?" Garten asked Jupiter. Perkin had been in bed for the past few days, caught up in his horrible hay fever and his pollen allergies, something that struck him every year and 'put him out of action' as Jupiter accurately described.

"According to Father, he's doing better," Jupiter said. "Kinda sad he can't join us."

They continued walking, Wilfred and Whittle beginning a game to see who could throw rocks the furthest into fields on their right and left. Wilfred was so far winning, even though Whittle was not really paying attention to where he was throwing his rocks. For all Garten knew, one of the rocks landed on one of the farmer's heads.

They arrived at the lake within a few minutes. Usually, it would be fairly busy, families picnicking, swimming, or playing, but it was later in the sticky summer afternoon and everyone had returned to their houses. Now, it was only the four friends and some artist hunched over a reluctant frog, studiously sketching. She barely glanced up when the Wilfred and Whittle immediately began wrestling in the water.

Jupiter and Garten opted to go the bridge, a rickety structure that had been there as long as Garten could remember, and even the older folks in his community couldn't remember when it was first built.

Garten leaned on the railing of the bridge, staring at the sky, trying to ignore the shouts from his younger brothers trying to throw each other deeper and deeper into the water without hurting each other.

And then the railing snapped.

In hindsight, it was probably not a good idea to lean on who-knows-how-old structure, but Garten barely had time to think about as he broke the calm water with a huge splash. The first shock of cold hit him hard.

It was just his luck he fell in the deepest part of the lake.

He could faintly hear Jupiter's shouting.

He frantically kicked upward, his head breaking through the surface. He floundered for a few seconds, before gripping one of the poles that upheld the bridge. The artist that had been drawing was leaning on the edge, extending her hand. Garten grasped at it and she, along with Jupiter's help, pulled him up.

He painfully hacked out some water, spitting it out in an attempt to clear his lungs. The doe backed up to give him space.

"You good?" Jupiter said worriedly.

"Yeah, totally fine," Garten coughed out, taking big gasps of air.

The doe crossed her arms. "Good," she said when Garten finally stood up, dripping wet. "Don't lean on the railing like that, idiot. It's ancient."

"I figured," Garten said with an eyeroll, coughing again.

The doe glared at him, already retreating back to retrieve her sketchbook.

"Girls are weird," proclaimed Wilfred from the bank, holding Whittle in a headlock.


Garten could pinpoint the exact moment the words hit Picket in their full force.

"WHAT?!"

Helmer had a slightly satisfied look on his face (Garten really needed to punch him at one point) as he walked back to his tree.

"I was going to tell you," Garten quickly said, forestalling Picket's torrent of accusations. "I was waiting for the right time, and for your sister to be present."

"Why didn't you tell us when we first met?" Picket said, glaring at his new-found uncle. "Why didn't Wilfred tell us?"

"He's been busy," defended Garten. "Also, you barely knew me. It would be weird for me to come up and say, hey, by the way, I'm your uncle."

"I barely know you now," Picket retorted. "And walking up to us and saying 'hey, I'm your uncle' is exactly what Uncle Wilfred said! I was fine with it!"

"I do things differently than my brother, alright?" Garten said, hands on his hips. "We're polar opposites."

"You still could've told me!" Picket muttered. "Garten Longtreader, our uncle. How ridiculous is that?"

Garten then immediately remembered the initiate's law. "Hey!" he snapped, as Picket's face morphed into one that told Garten all he needed to know. "Stop thinking! Stop putting the pieces in place!"

Picket stared up at Garten. "Too late," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to throttle Helmer if it's the last thing I do," Garten said under his breath, throwing his hands in the air.

"What's going on here?"

Rake's voice broke through Garten's angry muttering and Picket's staring contest with his uncle. He was accompanied by Heather and Emma.

"Nothing," Picket said, immediately going back to his angry, sullen mood upon seeing Heather and Emma's smiling faces.

"I don't know, ask Helmer," grumbled Garten. He crossed his arms, glaring at the black buck leaning against the maple tree.

Rake began to move towards Helmer, his face already set into a scowl and an accusation brewing, before Picket intervened.

"It's fine. These two were just showing me some moves," Picket said quickly, stopping Rake in his tracks.

Garten blinked at the sudden white lie. Excuse me?

Rake glanced disbelievingly at Garten.

"What really happened?" began Heather, eyes sharpening. Emma glared at Helmer from her position behind her friend.

Picket rolled his eyes and started walking away. Then, Helmer spoke up.

"I accept you," he said in a raspy voice.

Garten glanced wildly at him, disbelief and shock in his eyes. Helmer barely glanced at him.

"I am accepted," Picket said, hand already on his heart, tears starting in his eyes.

"I bind you with all honor to release you better after," Helmer said, ignoring Rake's growing disbelief and anger.

"I am bound, by honor and fealty to serve you," Picket recited, stumbling over a few words.

Garten sighed in defeat and backed up, flanking Rake. "Is this a good idea?" he whispered to Rake, when Helmer shouted a word of warning to Picket and walked back to his tree.

Rake didn't answer, but started walking away, followed by a surprised Emma, an annoyed Heather, and a happy Picket. Garten glanced back at the black buck, raising an eyebrow in a teasing away.

Helmer rolled his eyes.

Garten started walking to catch up with Rake and the three friends, mind already forming a plan to break the news to Heather. With Picket taking the news so well, he wanted to believe that Heather would remain calm-but she seemed to have inherited Sween's temper and Whittle's sharp way with words.

He sighed. He had no doubt he would be invited to the Lighthall Ceremony, seeing as he was kin. There, he would have to explain everything.

Everything.


muahahahahaha

sorry this took a while guys, i had some infections in my hand (ingrown nail + some random cuts from messing around with my brother's carpentry set lol) and that prevented me from writing without it being really painful, but im better now :)

heather still doesnt know :D

LIGHTHALL CEREMONY COMinG UP