Alexei's sweat had reached to his brow as he leaned into his hoe as he reached into his pockets. He pulled his hand out to have a hand-made snack ready to eat. As he bit into his nutrient bar, his first thought came into his nutrient bar-filled mouth. "I need a horse." The idea was not one based on the experience of a cavalry officer, but that of a farmer. It was tiresome to gather materials on his farm and bring it somewhere else. Then he thought about that money hidden underneath his cabin and considered his options.

The sounds of Joja cans rang in the distance and the farmer grabbed his hoe and walked back towards his home. He looked closer and saw a boy in blue clothes waving towards him from afar. What did Sam want after the incident in the mines? It was strange, but the former cavalry officer felt that he was reminded by someone else. He could not describe it other than a strange sense of deja vu.

When he returned from his farm work, the young man slipped his hands into his pockets while the farmer finished up his snack. There was some sense of nervousness in his eyes, but he could see that he genuinely wanted a conversation. "I am sorry for bothering you. It looked like you were busy there."

He nodded his head as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Sam, is that right?"

"Yeah!" Sam was glad that his name was recognized, "I'm sorry we couldn't get introduced properly."

"It's nothing to worry about. Sooner or later I would have stumbled upon you," Alexei replied, "So what brings you to the farm?"

The young man scratched the back of his head. "I personally wanted to thank you for the rescue. Abigail and I wouldn't have gotten out of there if you hadn't stumbled upon us."

News of his appreciation brought a smile on his face. "You're welcome."

"Well, my mom wanted to invite you over to the house and is making an excellent breakfast in the process."

"Your mom doesn't need to make me breakfast. It's a nice gesture, I highly recommend you come over to the house. Just do it for her, visitors are a rarity ever since dad got deployed."

The mention of his father had perked his attention. "Your father is in the military? What unit?"

Sam was quick to reply. "He's in the 13th Infantry Division… Leah said you were in the military as well just not from Ferngill."

"She is right," Alexei answered as he tossed his hoe aside. Old memories flickered, but he had stumbled upon that division before, "I've met men from that unit while others were different."

"So… are you going to come?"

It had been a long morning, but Alexei didn't find the problem in having a warm meal as a reward. "Sure, give some time to clean up."

. . .

The scent of sweat and labor was gone from this world as Alexei had a fresh brown shirt to wear for the day. His homeland had a knack for producing more than just enough. It had its downsides, but he did not mind it. As he walked out of his farm, there was a strange detail that caught his attention as he looked to his left. There was a black car parked in behind a bus, it was occupied and running as he noticed the black windows hiding anything and anyone inside. He was being watched, but he expected that the moment he entered this country.

Two footsteps kept out from behind his back, causing Alexei to turn around, only to find a man in a suit. "Good morning, Alexei. How was your stay in the Bakersfield farm?"

The facade couldn't be kept up forever. "I am doing fine, Agent Kaevink Caullinski, if that is your real name in the first place."

"You know how it is. No one in our line of work ever reveals our true identities, not even to our closest friends," He replied, "So what brings a former cavalry officer into this small town in the middle of nowhere?"

"Reminds me of my home, which was torn down after the government discovered some precious resources that they wanted to get their hands on."

"I just wanted to check up on you. It seems like you found a happy place to be despite what happened to you and your company."

Alexei grimaced at the brief hint of his past and the painful memory involved. "What are you going to do now?"

The agent reached into his jacket and pulled out a letter. "Your father misses you, Alexei, here's a letter for you," After the letter exchanged hands, he continued, "When he heard you finally got here, he sent a little care package, which just so happens to be in my car. You better get going to that breakfast of yours, we can handle the deliveries later."

"Why is that plural?" He noted the detail in the sentence.

"Perks of having a caring father."

. . .

Pancakes, eggs, toast - there was just so much to the meal that made the farmer full, but he kept his silence about having more when Sam's mom mentioned something about giving him the leftovers for the Bakersfield house. He would be damned if his superior caught him eating that much before his very eyes. Thankfully, her son was able to bring his attention away from the food and more personal matters.

The duo walked into the hallways to be off elsewhere as Alexei passed by a room where Jas was playing with his toys. "Where are you bringing me?"

Sam spoke. "My dad's room. You might find something interesting and check out something for yourself."

When they entered the room, the former cavalry officer remained silent as he looked at his surroundings. There were shelves of books about military-related subjects while he could see awards and certificates placed into the frames hanging from the walls.

"What do you think?"

He was about to speak the moment his stomach felt queasy. "My superior would not be pleased with my current state, but I would prefer your mother's cooking over C&E Meals."

"What's a C&E Meals?" Asked the perplexed teenager.

"Cookable and Edible Meals," Alexei answered as he walked behind the desk to see one of the pictures, "It's something my country scrounged together to torture its troops. If you wanted war with the Gotorrans to go smoothly, just replace their food with this and we'll be declared war criminals."

Sam shook his head at the thought. "Military food cannot be that bad. My dad told me that our armed forces do their best to eat well."

He scoffed at the thought. "Maybe it's because it has actual food. Whatever we use is worth less than a pile of-"

Those words were not completed when the mom of the house entered the room. "What are you two doing in this room? Sam, I told you that your dad's office is off-limits."

"I'm sorry, but Alexei mentioned he met some people from the same unit he's from."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to showcase his room like that. You know how he likes his privacy," Then she glanced at the foreigner, "Forgive me for kicking you out like that. He has some habits that I want to respect."

He nodded his head in understanding. "Of course, I'll be on my way…" His words trailed off as he saw a frame with a picture on it. There was someone whom he recognized when he was a cavalry officer before he came to the town, "Wait a minute, may I take a closer look at that?"

Sam was perplexed by what was going on. "Hey, did you see something? What's wrong?"

Alexei strode towards the frame on the wall for further inspection, but his memory did not fail him in this instance. "I know this man. We have met before."

When he turned around, the duo expressed their shock at his revelation. Then Sam's mom spoke up, "How do you know my Kent?"

"I…" There was not really a good way to say it without sounding negative, "My men and I stumbled upon him and his comrades."

The mother appeared reluctant, but she took the risk to reply. "If you don't mind, Sam and I would like to know as much as we can about him. I know you have a farm and all that, but there is much we want to know about him."

He acknowledged their desire and slipped his hands into his pockets. "I have more than enough time to talk about it."

. . .

The rest of the day had passed as Leah finished a piece of her sculpture. Ever since she got acquainted with Alexei, he allowed her to pick up whatever pieces of wood he had lying around on his farm. He still had plenty of land coverage to clean up, but the more she visited the place the more it was less cluttered. Before she could continue, Leah's thoughts drifted over to her ex-boyfriend before she came to Pelican Town. The memories of a demanding soulmate were stressful back in those days and now she could relax from the pressure contained after all that time.

Someone knocked on her door and the artist stopped her work and strode forward to open it. As Leah looked through the opening, she found her friend waiting for her and immediately swung it open and let her guest inside. "Penny, what brings you to my house? Don't you have a class to teach?"

The teacher smiled. "No, Jodi decided to let me have the day off and it felt wrong to only teach Jas all by herself."

"What do you intend to do with all that time?" She asked as she closed the door.

"I don't know," Penny replied, "It's not like I have any plans to do anything outside of helping my mom," Then she paused for a moment, it was not easy for her to talk about her relationship with her family, "Did you hear about what happened in the mines? I'm glad that Abigail is okay."

Leah remembered when she heard the news. Of course, the cavalry officer knew a thing or two about fighting so it would work well against the creatures that lurked inside. She walked over to her desk to take a seat. "I heard, but I haven't talked to Alexei about it. I think he would be in his element down there." Then she realized the simple mistake in her wording.

"In his element? You're saying that he did something like that before?"

Well, the cat is out of the bag. "He told me awhile ago, but Alexei said he used to be a cavalry officer in his country."

Penny's eyebrows were raised with surprise. "A cavalry officer, you're kidding."

She shook her head. "I swear to tell the truth, he said he was a cavalry officer?"

The teacher was surprised by the implication of his background. "That would make a lot of sense if he was in the military and that would explain the explosions at the beach," Then she glanced at her, "There is still cavalry today?"

"Where he is from? Yes." She was reminded a lot about her conversation with him, "I think he expected a lot of skepticism given how rare they are."

"Wow, I never thought I would see a cavalry officer in person. Did he say anything about where he's from?"

"No," She never considered that he didn't mention where exactly he came from, "He never really mention it."

"I suppose there is something for me to do. We can talk about this at the saloon."

The young girl walked over to her sculpture as a thought occurred to her. Both of them could work together. "See what you can find about a country that still runs around with cavalry, I'm going to work on this sculpture for a bit, but how about we meet earlier than usual?"

Penny nodded her head. "We can do that. I'll see you there." Then she was quick to leave Leah's house just as soon as she came.

. . .

The conversation was a long one with Sam and his mom - Jodi. They were happy to learn about the news of a man who was both a father and a husband in their family, especially since he told them about his imprisonment… and his rescue. Alexei was reluctant to talk about what had happened afterward, the events that followed only boiled his blood at the thoughts about his former superior. No commander should ever be spiteful to their own men, but he existed. Thankfully, a mixture of luck and perseverance of others were able to overcome the problems of incompetence.

Now that the sun was setting, he had to talk with the Ferngill agent who had his belongings. As he crossed the road that led back to the bus stop, he glanced to his right to see Kaevink looking inside of his trunk with his hands pinching his nose. When he walked over, Agent Caullinski turned his head and looked at him with fright. "Alexei, you're back. It's a good thing that you did because I might need your help."

The farmer approached him, perplexed by his behavior. "Is there something wron-" A familiar stench of decay and found its way into his nose as he was taken aback by the intensity of the smell. "What the hell is going on?!" He stood beside the agent and found a body in the back of the trunk. "Is this the care package you were talking about?"

"Not really," He answered, "I was busy on an assignment earlier and just so happened to be passing by. I didn't think the body would smell would come in for a while. Agh, I will have to clean this shit up after we get rid of the body."

Why did he mention that? "We? What makes you think I'm going to help you after you came around with a dead guy in your trunk?"

"Look, I know its bad, but if you want your stuff I want you to help me bury this guy in your farm."

Bury a dead man on his farm? Was he out of his mind? "No, I won't allow it. What happens when somebody finds out? They might think I'm a murderer."

Kaevink laughed at the idea. "Hey, that might make things interesting in this dainty town."

"That is not funny." He stated.

The duo heard a pair of footsteps approaching them as the agent immediately closed his trunk as the newcomer arrived. "Hey, is there something wrong?"

Alexei took a closer look to find a man in glasses. "Harvey, what are you doing out here?"

He glanced at the village. "I was taking inventory of the clinic and closing up but heard a commotion around here. Who's this?"

"My friend, Kaevink Caullinski, is someone who came from my country. He's passing by with some gifts from home."

"Oh, that's nice," Harvey added, "I heard you were having problems. Do you want a schedule an appointment later?"

"Yes, I would appreciate it." Good, he doesn't know that both men were hiding a body before his very eyes.

"Alright, have a good night." The doctor said as he walked back into the village.

Kaevink stole a glance from him as he expressed his relief. "I'm glad he didn't catch the smell. That would have been awkward."

Alexei was not pleased with his handling of matters. "Next time we meet, don't show up with a body."

"What? I am a busy man."

He sighed in defeat. "Get in the car, I'll get my shovel."