Later that day, Sarah turned to Alfred and took him to the town hall where they were going to meet Adam. Adam was already waiting at the door of the church with a smile. "You ready for your first meeting?" he asked Alfred without expecting an answer. Alfred nodded excitedly. "You said there were other kids my age? Everyone is going to be here?" he asked. Adam blinked and looked at Sarah. "Did I miss something? He speaks perfect English," he said, astonished. "He speaks English. He was just shy because he was a bit rusty. He has a lot of questions about everything. You can tell he's been away from the settlement for quite a bit of time. But he's happy to be here," Sarah said cheerfully, holding Alfred's hands. "Sarah says that you're a farmer. What's that?" asked Alfred as Adam got down so he could talk to Alfred at his level. "I grow plants. The kind of plants that people eat or use for medicine. Granted, I've not done much of a good job lately but I'm trying," said Adam. "Maybe I can help!" said Alfred excitedly. Adam smiled. "I don't see why not. But it's winter time now so not much is going to be growing unfortunately. Unless you know of some sturdy plants we don't have back in England," said Adam. Alfred shook his head. "Not many plants last after the snow falls but I can help! I'm sure I can figure out a way to help!" he said insistantly, excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet. Adam laughed and ruffled his hair. "I'm sure you can champ. We better get inside before they think we're not coming," he said. Alfred held Sarah's hand as they walked into the church. He blinked when he saw only ten other people Sarah and Adam's ages or younger. There was only two other children, a boy about his age and a sick looking baby. He looked at his adopted parents, giving them a 'this is it?' look. "It's hard to have a large and healthy settlement without crops or help. But I'm sure the other boy would be ecstatic to play with you. His name is Benjamin," said Adam before turning to talk to some older men. Sarah had already turned to go and talk to some women who appeared exteremely curious about Alfred, so Alfred slowly made his way to the other little boy. Benjamin looked up from the wooden figure he was playing with, blinking. "Who are you? I thought I was the only boy left here?" he said. Alfred panicked and immediately puffed out his chest. "Nope! I used to live in the forest before Adam and Sarah brought me here! My name's Alfred! What's yours?" he asked. "Benjamin...How do you do?" he asked. "How do I do what?" asked Alfred, looking confused. Benjamin just stared at him. "Um...Okay. You're a strange one aren't you? You lived in the forest? Where's your parents?" asked Benjamin. "My parents are gone...I haven't seen them in forever...My brother left me too.." said Alfred sadly. Benjamin frowned. "How did they go away? Are they coming back? Why did they leave you all alone? Did they not like you anymore? Is that why they left?" asked Benjamin. Alfred teared up at that, bottom lip trembling. Benjamin's mother seemed to notice and immediately scolded her son. "He's Martha and James's son. You know they died. Why would you bring that up and hurt him like that? He's the only other boy your age. That's it. Double chores for you. I'm so sorry he did that," said the woman before pulling the boy away. Benjamin glared at Alfred as he was dragged away, making him think he may have just made an enemy. Alfred rubbed his eyes fiercely and went to a dark corner to sulk as the adults started to gather. One of the women put him in charge of watching one of the toddlers. He played peek-a-boo with it before looking around and leaning down to the baby. "Want to see somethign cool?" he asked the baby. The child nodded, unable to speak. Alfred looked around and cupped his hands before opening them, revealing a flower The baby blinked before giggling and clapping her hands together. "I'm not very good at it...but I like plants. I'm good with plants...Do you think I'll be able to help them?" asked Alfred quietly. The baby simply giggled and Alfred smiled before continuing their game of peek-a-boo. He looked up when the town meeting became an angry mob of angry, hissing poeple. He shrank back in fear, taking the baby into his arms just in case the adults became violent. "What do you mean we don't have any food? We put some in storage! Where did it all go?!" shouted a man. "Listen folks, there's no reason to be upset...well there is but no reason to point fingers. Yes, we had some grain in storage but we have since then used it all up. We're down to what we all have in our homes. We may need to ask people to start bringing in food from their homes to help sustain those who may be low or running out. Let's try to help out our neighbors," said a balding old man in the front of the room. "What food? All of our food is gone because you didn't tell us we needed to ration it more carefully than we already have been! There was months worth of food in that bin, if it's gone it's because someone has been dipping into it!" shouted a woman, angrily waving a pair of knitting needles into the air. Alfred turned the baby so it couldn't see any of the angry people and tried to hum softly to drown out the yelling. Why hadn't the baby's mother come looking for it? "N-Now now...No one's stole anything. There's no reason to get so angry. Remember folks, there are children afoot. We wouldn't want to give them a bad example now, would we?" he asked, raising his hand as if trying to calm an angry animal. "Children who will starve because of your negligence! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DOUBLE DIPPED, WEREN'T YOU?!" shouted an older woman. That sent the other settlers into a frenzy. Alfred whimpered, the baby started crying at the shouting. Once the baby started crying, a man turned and frowned at the crying baby and tearing up child holding her. "STOP! STOP THIS INSTANT! ARGUING IS GETTING US NOWHERE!" he shouted, standing up on a pew. The room died down to where only the baby's cries and Alfred's sniffling could be heard. Sarah frowned and rushed over to Alfred with the baby's mother, each one taking their child and immediately comforting them. "You're right. This isn't going anywhere. Arguing won't bring the food back," said Adam. "Then what do you suggest we do? We're going to starve if we keep going like this. We have no help. Let's face it, England isn't going to look for us. Why would they give two shits about a group of poor settlers? We're collateral damage. If we come back, they get money. If we don't, well at least they can brag that they tried it first. We can't just sit here with our thumbs under our legs waiting for someone to come rescue us. We can't fight about what could've been. We need to take action and we need to take action right now," said another man. "And what do you suggest?" asked Sarah, rubbing Alfred's back gently. "I know we are all scared of the natives...but what if they really can help us? They've lived here for who knows how long and they do not go hungry. They prosper and help each other out. Perhaps our common human nature is enough to enlist them of their help. We must try something. I for one believe if we do not reach out, my heart would die that much more burdened than if I actually tried something," said the pastor. "How do we communicate with people who speak a language of which we've never heard? What if they attack us instead? What then? It seems risky," said a man. "The language thing is not a problem...Alfred can speak their language. I've heard him do so before and he has lived with them for some time. If he is willing, I believe we can figure out a way for him to get their help. If not, he may know some way to restore our crops or find food in the forest. We have to try something," said Adam. The pastor looked at Alfred with a slight frown. "But why...he's just a boy. You think we should leave the task of saving the settlement to a small child?" he asked in an astonished voice. "He's a smart boy. He survived where and when none other has. He has lost everything and manages to come back to not only live with his own kind but to also offer his help. Alfred, you asked if you could help last night, yes?" asked Adam. Alfred nodded eagerly. "You guys are my people, my family. I wanna help!" he said happily. "Are you willing to return to the Indians? To face them again? We'll be asking the closest tribe for help. I need to know you'll be willing to listen to us and follow all of the instructions we give you. If we do this wrong, we might make thing work, understood?" said the man Alfred decided must be the town leader. Alfred hesitantly nodded. "I can do that! And they're not that bad. They can be a bit mean but they helped me out before! Chowanoke even let me stay in her hut once when it rained really bad," said Alfred. The men didn't seem to know how to take this but Adam smiled. "See? He is quite capable of helping us. He even knows their people well. We can do this. We'll get help. We'll find away to make it until the next supply ship comes to check up on us in the spring. Perhaps even Sir Kirkland will be with them. The light at the end of the tunnel is quickly approaching," said Adam. Alfred nodded eagerly. "I don't mind helping! It's why I came back!" he said happily. Sarah chuckled. "As long as you're certain the boy will be able to help without interferring too much. We don't want to make things worse or start any problems with them. We can only take one thing at a time," said the pastor, running a hand through his hair. Adam nodded. "It'll be fine. I'm sure Alfie will be a big help," he said, taking the boy from Sarah with a slight smile. "But he might be one of them. One of the savages. You said he was with them for a long time. What if this is all just a set up for a huge trap? What if they were the ones who stole the grain?" asked another man, face turning purple from held back rage and dickitry. "Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now? The child is not even five years old and you're accussing him of treason. Right after he volunteered to help us all!" said Sarah, looking like she was ready to hit the man. "We're all scared but pointing fingers, as I keep having to explain, won't solve anything. In fact, right now it just might make everything worse for us. You risk chasing off the one person who will be capable of doing a decent job of keeping us all safe," said the town leader from before. "Shove it Jefferson. If this doesn't work, you're the first person who goes," grumbled Mr. Angry-eyes. "It's decided. A group of five men will go with the boy and negotiate with them. Don't take any weapons with you except knives. We don't want them getting the wrong idea about why we're here. I sugges the five men to go would be Adam, myself, the pastor, Jeremiah, and Issac," said the group leader, ignoring Angry-eyes. "We leave tomorrow at noon. As for right now, we should probably get back to our homes. It sounds like the storm outside is starting to pick up," said Adam, wrapping his coat around Alfred. The other men nodded and people started going home. "I'm sorry you had to hear all the fighting Alfred. Normally our town halls are a lot more civil. There should be a pot of broth waiting for us at home. I hope you don't mind squirrel too much...it's what our traps had in them this morning," said Sarah. "Squirrel is better than chipmunks," said Alfred with a slight shrug. Adam raised an eyebrow at that but rubbed the boy's back. "You sure you want to help us with the Indians?" asked Adam. Alfred nodded. "I know Chowanoke pretty well. She's nice. Her brother is mean. They change places every now and again so it might take some time to find them," he sighed, sleepily rubbing his eyes as he rested his cheek on Adam's shoulder. Adam looked confused but continued rubbing the boy's back. "You can tell me all about that tomorrow. You look like you're ready to hit the hay. It's been a long day for you now, hasn't it?" he asked. "It's been a fun day," corrected Alfred, losing the battle against his drooping eyelids. Alfred woke the next day, surprised to find himself in his bed. He jumped out of bed and walked down to the kitchen, smelling something cooking in the kitchen. "Good morning Alfred. I'm sorry, it's not the biggest breakfast. We're having squirrel patties...Too bad none of the rabbits get stuck in my traps. They seem to be too smart for that," said Sarah. Alfred gasped, silently being glad he warned the rabbits to not come into town. He didn't want anyone accidentally hurting any of them. "It's fine. I don't like eating rabbits. They're too cute," he said, digging into the plate of food placed before him. "Right, I forgot your little bunny friends. Well don't worry sweetie, I don't think they'll be coming anywhere near the town. They're probably sleeping in the trees and bushes now that winter is here. The men will be here in a few hours to pick you up. Adam is arranging things with them right now. Until then, would you be willing to help me do more laundry?" she asked. Noon seemed to take an eternity to come around, at least that's what it felt like to Alfred. He couldn't stop squirming as he passed Sarah various articles of clothing. Sarah smirked. "You must be very excited. I think you've lost the complete ability to sit still," she smirked, teasingly poking him in his pudgy tummy. Alfred giggled, completely and utterly ticklish. "Yeah! I get to see one of my adopted siblings again! Maybe she will even make me her stew!" said Alfred with a smile. Sarah smiled. "Well I do hope she's cordial with you. Tell me more about her...Do you have other adopted siblings?" she asked. "I guess you can call them that. Some of them can be really nice but some of the other ones don't like us because of our adopted mom. She doesn't really like me and she didn't like Mattie. She only took us in because our real mom made her. She felt too guilty to let Mattie and I die...Sometimes she could be nice. Sometimes she wasn't," said Alfred. Sarah ran a hand through Alfred's hair. The boy's excitement seemed to make him more willing to talk about what happened. "So Mattie was with you when you lived with the Indians? What happened to him?" she asked gently, watching him carefully for any alarm the question may bring the child. Alfred's chin wobbled as he looked down at his feet. "H-He left me...We were going to come home and look for our Daddy...and Mattie left. He won't ever be coming back," he whimpered. Sarah frowned and pulled the child close. From what she gathered, James died in the forest and Martha shielded the children from the death. She guided the children to the closest source of people, asked them for help, and died in their camp. The chiefstess or a tribeswoman must have took pity on the children and took them in, though the children weren't used to the way the Indians raised their children. The children then left to find the settlement, but Matthew died. "I'm so sorry to hear that Alfred...I'm sure your sister would be happy to see you. Just make sure you and Adam get back safe, okay? I don't want to have to fix any boo boos. And I'm sure your family is in a better place. We'll take care of you here," she said, rubbing his back. Alfred wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that but leaned into her touch. "I might be able to see Mattie and my Dad someday...and I still have my mother with me," he said quietly. "I know dear. We'll all see the ones we lost someday. And your mother is with you in your heart," said Sarah with a smile, gently tickling him again. Alfred giggled and was still fighting in the tickle war when Adam came back. The man smiled when he saw his wife and adopted son playing. "Alfred, are you ready to go? We'll be leaving in twenty minutes," he said. Alfred nodded eagerly and ran to his bed where he had hidden the box of his things under. Adam kissed Sarah and said his goodbye as Alfred quickly changed back into his furs and animal skins. The two settlers blinked when they turned and found him all dressed up. "This way they recognize me! Besides it's warmer than the nightgown!" declared Alfred before marching up to Adam. "Do you really need the knife lad?" he asked gently. "It's just in case we find some animals! Or berries. That, and it's my lucky knife. I don't go anywhere without it," said Alfred confidently. Sarah looked like she disapproved but Adam smirked. "Well we're definitely going to need the luck. Alright Alfred, we're going to the town center then you can lead the way," he said. Let me know what you guys think and what historical events you really hope to see included in the story! Reviews accepted!