Note-Sorry it's been a while! I've had far too much going on. But, hey, I'm back now! This chapter is dedicated to the lovely Demactica, my soon-to-be partner-in-Boosh-releated-crime!

"Thea! Hullo!"

Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it…

"Thea! Hey, wait for me!"

Pay no notice. It's just some stupid boy. He'll go away eventually…

"Thea? Can you hear me? Thea! Thea!"

"What?"

Thea turned; ready to give whoever it was an ear-bashing. She was certainly not in the best of moods. Her father had just told her off for getting mud on her dress. Well, obviously! She'd had to walk through the woods to get back! Stupid adults. Stupid men! Well, apart from one man. Apart from one man who happened to be standing in front of her, looking a little taken aback at her ferocity.

"Ernst!" she choked, her mouth agape. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were…I mean…"

He smiled, and her heart fainted with relief. "That's quite alright. I do pity the poor fool who has enraged you so, however. Care to divulge?"

That was the thing about Ernst, Thea thought, feeling her cheeks go red. He could take such a dull sentence and make it into something clever and lovely and just…Mmm!

"Oh, just my father" she said with a giggle. She began to walk, slowly, noticing how he matched her steps. "It's nothing important. But enough about me. How are you, Ernst?"

"I am as fine now as I was yesterday"

"Oh! Of course" What a stupid question! Silly girl! "I mean, it's not like you would have come down with something overnight, is it?" But then she would have a chance to look after him, to show her devotion and make him realise that all along…

"I suppose not. But, who knows. It is spring, after all, and this town is known for having bad things happen in springtime. Remember Melchior Gabor?"

Thea coughed awkwardly.

"Yes. Poor boy"

"Not to mention Wendla Bergmann. Were you close to her?"

Thea shifted. This was not a subject she was used to. Her friends never brought it up, fearing, she supposed, of sending her into a hysterical frenzy. Or maybe they thought they were protecting her by helping her not to remember. For a moment, she considered changing the subject – it would be easier. But then she looked up, meeting his deep muddy eyes, and remembered that this was Ernst, and she had to tell someone…

"Yes. Yes, we were close" she said. "We were very close. She was my best friend"

"I'm sorry, Thay"

"Don't be. I do miss her, though. All the time. It's something you can't really imagine until you've been there…it's like you losing Hanschen Rilow or somebody"

Ernst gave her a reassuring, if lopsided, smile. Then, he took her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze before letting it drop back to her side. Thea had to mentally slap herself to stop herself from keeling over in a dead faint.

"You'll be fine, Thea. It's a big old world, this we live in, and a funny one at that. But it's a test, and God will show you his gratitude for passing it, even if it's not in a way you expect…" he trailed off, and bit his lip. "But it will happen, eventually. Good things happen to everybody. You'll be fine. I promise you"

Suddenly, Thea remembered who she was talking to, and she let her bottom lip stick out in a pout that she prayed was appealing, and batted her eyelashes at the young man.

"Thank you, Ernst. You're so kind…not like the other boys"

He laughed, abashedly, his cheeks flushing at the compliment and she felt her heart begin to rattle in her chest.

"I wouldn't say that…" he muttered. Oh, modest too. How perfect!

"I would" she replied. "I can't ever talk to any of them – they're always so crass, so callous. But you are very kind to me, and you always say such intelligent things"

"I am not intelligent" he rebuffed playfully. "I like literature, and the arts, but I am the bottom in my class in everything"

"Surely not!"

"It is true. At least…" he stopped. His eyes blinked heavily. "I am now"

Thea didn't say anything. She clasped her hands behind her back, and waited.

"Moritz Steifel…" he mused. "Used to be. Nobody took any notice of it until our exams came up. And then there was that horrible incident, of course…" he took a breath. "Poor fellow. The funny thing was, I was only a few marks above him in Latin, and those few marks made so much difference. Sometimes I think to myself, if only he had got those few marks rather than me, maybe there would be another soul in the world"

"Oh, Ernst" Thea muttered, more for a need to fill the empty ache that suddenly seemed to fill the air than anything else. Ernst turned to her, and smiled.

"But, in a way, it changed so many things" he concluded. "People are so much closer together now. I suppose something as hard-hitting as that makes you realise how precious time is…makes you realise that now is as good a time as any"

"Yes!" Thea cried, and then, realising she was being a little too eager, coughed a more subdued affirmative.

They carried on, now in silence, pondering on very different things. Thea was thinking deeply about what her companion had just said. He was right, of course. Time was a very precious thing. It slipped away too quickly, like sand between your fingers.

"Ernst…" she started, widening her eyes slightly in order to look innocent. Her older sister had taught her all the tricks of the trade. The young man turned to her with a smile.

"Yes?"

"Is there anyone who you…" she swallowed. "Who you might want to…" Third time lucky. "Who you like?"

Ernst furrowed his brows, misunderstanding the question. "Lots of people. I like you and Hanschen and Otto and-"

"I mean…romantically" she ventured again.

"Oh. Oh!" he said, grinning. "That, my dear, is for me to know and for you to find out"

Thea huffed, before realising that it was most un-ladylike and turning it into a genteel cough. "Oh, tell me Ernst, do! Aren't I your friend?"

"Of course you are. But some secrets are meant to be kept"

"And some are meant to be told, so I may now have to tell you mine" Thea took a deep breath in. "Ernst, you have been such a good friend to me recently, and I have found in you someone who I never thought I would find in any man. You are thoughtful, and kind, and trustworthy, and it is for all those reasons that I…I like you"

Ernst laughed. "You are such a sweet girl, Thea. I like you too, very much"

Thea thought her heart would explode from her chest.

"Y-you do?"

"Of course, silly. You are such a dear friend to me. Why, I cherish you as I would a younger sister, had I one"

Thea felt like someone had whacked her in the chest with an iron bar. All the breath had been knocked out of her. Friend? Younger sister? Oh, damn it all…

"Oh, may God damn you to Hell, Ernst Robel, for your total and utter obliviousness!" Thea cried, and then in one fluid motion she leant up and pressed her lips to his. Then she turned, her arm over her face, and began to run down the road towards her home.

***

Anna was collecting bluebells from the woods, and although she had only been picking them for about an hour, her basket was almost full. She was lucky she was so close to the vineyard; the soil was so rich around her that almost every plant grew in abundance. She used to come down here with Ilse and Thea and Martha and Wendla when they were all younger, and the woods were so full of bluebells you couldn't take a step for treading on them – Wendla always used to get so upset if she did. Ilse used to say that the wood was purple, and so they'd spend long purple summers down here, in the old days.

She was near the vineyard now. The hedges that ran round the edge of it were only a few metres in front of her, as was the huge oak tree where the boys used to play their games in. Was it possible to be so nostalgic at seventeen?

"Oh, don't be so silly…"

A voice came from behind the bushed, and Anna looked up, startled. There was someone in the vineyard, and judging from the sentence, it wasn't one but two people. She edged forward carefully, making sure not to tread on any leaves and upset the peace of the forest.

"I am not being silly. How dare you accuse me of being so" came the other voice. A mans. Both men. They were talking gently, in hushed whispers.

"Because you are!" came the first voice. This one was teasing, kinder than the mosquito-whine of the other. "You're being completely irrational about all of this"

"Oh, so when that little saumensch kisses you it's being irrational, is it?" said the second voice, and Anna almost burst out laughing. An over-protective brother, maybe? Or a friend jealous of a lover? Either way, how sweet.

"Are you jealous…?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh, you are. I can see it in your eyes"

The second voice sighed, and came again, quieter, and Anna had to strain to hear it: "You know me too well"

"Yes, I do. Look, there is no need to act to envious about this. It means nothing, I promise you. Anyway, I knew what she was doing. I tried to put her off, you know"

"You sneaky devil!" came the second voice, suddenly approving and surprised. "You really knew all along? And here I am, considering you so innocent and naïve"

"Exactly. So, you see, it means nothing. It's you, it's always been you"

"It's always been you, too"

"No it hasn't! I see the looks you give Mahlor! Oh, Bobby, let me carry your books for you. Oh, Bobby, you are so charming and hilarious!" the first voice mocked.

"Oh, shut up. A pretty face is all. Nothing compared to you"

"You really mean that?"

"Of course I do. I love you, Ernst"

Ernst? Anna started. Ernst Robel? She took a few more hesitant steps towards the hedges, standing on tiptoe just in time to see Hanschen Rilow stoop down and place a very non-platonic kiss onto Ernst Robel's lips. Ernst let out a low sound, snaking his arms around Hanschen's neck. Suddenly, there was a snap, and both boys drew apart quickly, masks of shock plastered to their faces.

"Who goes there?" Hanschen called, but Anna was already running off back through the forest, leaving the basket of bluebells upturned on the ground.