After the debacle had died down, the villagers left, disappointed that the proposal wasn't going to happen and angry at Leon for rejecting and humiliating Amandine, the belle of the village and the last surviving relative of their beloved hero Gaston (even though she came from his less-talented and idiotic brother).

Something was seriously wrong with that boy if he couldn't see what a lovely beauty she was and that she was the perfect wife for him. The boys swore that if Leon came back to the village, he was going to pay for what he did to their beloved goddess dearly, using their fists if necessary (which it was).

Elsewhere, Martine, still sitting in the pond, saw the Etienne triplets walking over to her, which meant that they wanted payment.

'Hey, Martine, aren't you going to pay us for our services?' said Thomas, which made her groan.

'You said that you were doing this for free, since it was a special occasion! You didn't mention anything about getting paid!' Martine protested.

'We never said that!' Aurelien said.

'We don't do this for free, you know,' said Kyle, dryly.

'And we're not leaving until we get paid!' said Thomas, 'We get five hundred coins just for playing that one song!'

'Five hundred coins for that?' Martine said, 'That's daylight robbery and you played it very badly! That's totally not worth it!'

'What you get is what you pay for, frog-face,' said Aurelien, 'Now hurry up and fork out the money you owe us, as we are due to play in the tavern soon. Open up your pouch and let the moths out,'

Martine sighed as she opened up her pouch and counted out the coins she needed to pay the talentless band. She had been saving up for a nice dress for Amandine's wedding and was unhappy that she had to pay for a wedding gift that had been cruelly rejected at such a high price.

'Fine, here's your money,' she said, reluctantly handing it over to Thomas, 'You know, I was actually saving it for my maid of honour dress.'

'So what, you can save up again, it's not that hard,' said Kyle.

'Thank you very much, mademoiselle,' said Thomas, putting the money in his pouch, 'It was a pleasure doing business with you even if the plan didn't go as you wanted to. Do come by the tavern later if you want to hear us again.'

'Sure,' Martine said, as the men left and she got out of the pond.

'Why did you call her 'frog-face', Aurelien you dope?' hissed Thomas as they walked towards the tavern.

'Because she has a face like a frog! Duh!' Aurelien said, like his brother was an idiot.

'She's Amandine's sidekick, you know better to call her names like that!' Thomas said.

Picking up his book, which Amandine had carelessly kicked off the sofa and landed on the floor and scanning the pages for any signs of damage, Leon saw the picture of the hero and the beast-princess in the garden enjoying a picnic and reading a book together. He read the passage underneath it

In just a few weeks, the relationship between man and beast had gone from prisoner and captor to friends. He was becoming more comfortable in her presence, as was she, as they nuzzled their noses together, their new sign of friendship.

He had found something in her that wasn't there before. Yes, she may not be the princess from his stories, but having softened her cold, hard iron heart, he had..'

Leon was soon jolted out of the hero and beast's picnic when there was another knock at the door. He cautiously approached it, hoping that it wasn't Amandine baying for his blood or her many admirers out to beat him to a pulp because he wouldn't have put it past them if anything had happened to her or if someone had humiliated her.

He looked through the binoculars and to his relief, it was Jean-Luc, who he knew wouldn't beat him up (or anyone for that matter) and opened the door for him.

'Jean-Luc, it's nice to see you,' Leon said, 'I thought that you were one of Amandine's admirers here to seek vengeance and beat me up.'

'Leon, we need to talk,' Jean-Luc said, 'It's about what happened to Amandine,'

'Listen, I'm sorry that I did what I did to her. It wasn't out of malice, I just wanted to let her know I wasn't interested in proposing to her and to get her to leave, I had no idea that she landed in the mud pond.' Leon said.

'Oh, don't apologise, I thought it was brilliant!' Jean-Luc said, with a huge grin on his face, which surprised Leon.

'It was?' he said.

'Of course! It was about time someone needed to take that spoilt brat down a peg or two! I was getting fed up with her constant whining, crying, brattiness and stupid behaviour! She needed a good slap and a push in the mud and you were just the boy to do it! Way to go!' Jean-Luc said, giving Leon a friendly pat on the back.

'But Jean-Luc, I thought that you loved and admired Amandine like everyone else does because I've seen you do it, so why do you think it's great that I rejected and humiliated her?' said Leon.

'Oh, please, do you actually think I like that drama queen?' said Jean-Luc, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I don't! I hate her just as much as you do! But under the watchful eye of the villagers and the guys' influence, I have to act like I do love and admire her!

At the village green, I feigned tears to make it look like I was really upset that she was going to marry you and had to sarcastically say 'Why marry Leon when you could have me instead', once Henri hit me on the arm as he saw that I didn't care about what was going on.' Jean-Luc said.

'I knew that what you do to me or your affections towards Amandine aren't genuine,' said Leon.

'Yes, Leon, you know that when I insult you, tease you about kissing Cecile and act rude and mean to you, I don't really mean it, since I like you. It's just that, well, I have to keep up appearances.

If anyone were to see that I'm actually nice to you instead of being mean and not swooning over Amandine, they'll turn on me and I'll be shunned and picked on as well. You know what they're like…'

'They're like sheep, always following the shepherd, not thinking for themselves, believing anything that they're told and if one were to stray, they would be shunned and picked on.' Leon said, while Jean-Luc stared at him like he had just explained the meaning of life.

'Sorry, I was over-analysing again, wasn't I?' Leon said.

'No, it's very true,' said Jean-Luc, ushering Leon to come outside, 'Come take a walk with me, it'll do you good to clear your head and get away from everyone because I can tell you now, the boys aren't going to take to you kindly after that fiasco and their fists will do the talking for them.'

'Indeed,' said Leon, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the boys' retaliation, closing the door behind him and the two boys walked along the path to the meadow, like the friends they could've been.

'So if you don't like Amandine at all, then who do you like?' Leon said, as they walked.

'Promise you won't laugh?' Jean-Luc said. Leon nodded.

'It's Martine,' he said.

'Martine?' said Leon, surprised that Jean-Luc preferred her over all the other girls, yet realised that he never paid attention to them other than Martine.

'Yes, I like her for who she is- kind, sweet and generous, not because of her looks because I don't care if some people say she looks like a frog and is plain behind her back or that she's Amandine's lackey. But it's sad that people only respect her as long as she's with her and that she and I aren't allowed to talk to each other.

Doesn't Martine even realise that Amandine isn't letting her be her own person?' said Jean-Luc sadly.

'The same could be said for you, you know,' Leon said, which earned him a confused look from Jean-Luc, 'I mean, what Amandine is doing to Martine is the same as what Henri, Pierre and Francois are doing to you,'

'You're right, Leon, I never actually realised that. To be honest with you, I think that they only reason that they let me in their group that idolises a boorish, narcissist buffoon, is that I'm good at hunting and fishing and they thought that it'll rub off on them. Well it hasn't, let me tell you that!

Henri claims to idolise and be a good hunter like Gaston, but he is terrible at hunting and fishing and sports! Pierre spends the whole time looking at himself in his mirror, seeing how handsome he is and runs away at the slightest animal sound and can't handle one beer! Just one sip and he passes out!

When we were out hunting the other day, a squirrel made a squeak in a tree and sissy boy ran away screaming! How pathetic is that?'

Both boys laughed at that.

'Francois, well, he's as thick as horse manure and eats and drinks too much! And whenever we toss our beers in our toast, he drinks it all and is sick as a dog for the rest of the night!

Also, since I came third in the Games this year, they're taking advantage of the fact that I got free beer for a year as part of my prize and I'm always the one to get it for them!' Jean-Luc said.

'How come you only got third place, Jean-Luc?' said Leon.

'I did well in all the events and came first in Hunting, but the last two events, Egg Eating and Beer Drinking tripped me up. I only managed to eat twelve eggs before getting sick, since I hate eggs and you have to understand that they are raw ones we have to eat so I wasn't able to do the beer drinking, but my scores in the other events were good enough to come in third.'

'And do you think that Beauden cheated to win?'

'I don't know for sure, that had never been proved and there was lack of evidence, so he was allowed to keep his title but I think that Stephane just made that up because he was bitter about coming second and losing to Beauden, his most hated rival. Besides, how could he possibly cheat in Beer Drinking?'

'Maybe he drank two glasses at once or tipped the beer out of them discreetly, so that no one would notice,' said Leon.

'Could be,' Jean-Luc replied as they approached the meadow and sat down on the grass, staring at the mountains, which were capped with snow and the river was flowing.

'Looks like winter will soon be on its way,' said Leon, 'you can tell by the snow on the mountains.'

'Yes, it's pretty to look at, but an unwelcome reminder that I and all the boys need to gather supplies and hunt for food that will last us for the whole winter.' Jean-Luc said.

'But the whole meadow is such a nice place, especially in the spring, summer and autumn. I come here to do my studies when it's a nice day, away from the hustle and bustle of the village and looking at the wonderful view, while I read literature and fairy tales, do mathematics, learn science, memorise dates, read maps and do sketches. I find it very relaxing and content.' Leon said.

'I've always found it impressive that you taught yourself how to read, write and learnt all those subjects. I wouldn't have the willpower and motivation to do that, not to mention I wouldn't have the time , since I have to hunt, fish and train for the Games.' Jean-Luc said, 'I envy you for having leisure time even if it's only for a few hours.'

'Thanks,' Leon said, 'it's great we were able to have this talk together, it's a shame we have to do it when we're away from everyone.'

'Yeah, you're good to talk to and a good listener,' said Jean-Luc, but the two knew while they were friendly to each other, they couldn't really consider themselves close friends, just casual ones when away from the pressures and the ever staring eyes of the villagers.

'Also, while I'm here, I often..' Leon faltered, 'Oh, never mind, I shouldn't say it,'

'Go on,' Jean-Luc urged, ' I promise I'll keep it a secret. You're amongst a trusting person.'

'Alright I'll tell you. You may think that this is silly, but when I look out into the valley and the mountains, I dream of leading a different life, going on adventures to faraway places, using the foreign languages I've learnt and to leave the village.

I just want to be more than they want me to be, that I don't have to compete in the Games, shoot an animal and show off its head like a trophy to be respected and to find a wife for the sake of it or to be the butt of people's jokes.' Leon said.

Jean-Luc looked sympathetically at Leon and felt terrible and regretted having to join in the teasing, jokes and bullying of him, not being able to speak up for fear of being seen as an outcast too.

He never realised how much it had hurt him, though Leon himself had never shown it, but had to pretend not to care and have fun doing it.

'I don't think it's silly, considering what has happened to you and having Amandine give you unwanted attention. I do hope that you find your happiness and adventures, Leon, you deserve it as I feel that you will go far and achieve your goals unlike the rest of us who will probably be stuck in the village for the rest of our lives.' Jean-Luc said.

'I think that you will go far too, Jean-Luc and I hope that'll happen one day,' said Leon, 'anyway, it's not like it'll suddenly appear right in front of me.'

As he said it, a loud noise pierced the quiet air. Jean-Luc whipped out his pistol from his belt, believing it to be a wolf or any dangerous animal who may have escaped from the forest.

Leon listened closely and realised that the noise sounded much like a horse's whinny. As the noise got closer, he instantly recognised a very familiar, yet strange sounding whinny. It could only be..

'Sabine!' he said, as the horse approached him exhausted, panting heavily, wide-eyed and frightened. It was very unusual to see the brave, strong horse in such a state and even more for her to have come home by herself, as she never did that.

'What happened to you, girl? Why are you agitated and frightened? This isn't like you at all!' Leon said, as he calmed her down.

'What's wrong with your horse, Leon?' said Jean-Luc, concerned.

'I don't know but something must be seriously wrong since she never acts like this and never comes home by herself!'

'Well, where did she go and what made her scared and come running back to you?' said Jean-Luc, 'For all we know, she just might have gotten loose and used her homing instincts to find you.'

Leon thought for a moment and then the awful truth dawned on him.

Mama! She and Sabine must have got lost on the way to Molyneaux and then were separated somewhere! How could this have happened? How could Mama get herself lost, especially after what she had said?

'Mama,' Leon said, 'She went to Molyneaux to get imported Chinese silk for the Beauforts' dresses and must have got lost …' he gulped, not wanting to think the worst. There was no time to dwell on what might have happened to her. He had to go and find her.

'Sorry, Jean-Luc, I must go and find Mama! She could be in great danger or even worse..' he said, as he put on his cape since it was starting to get dark and the air was getting colder, so the chances were he would spend all night looking for his mother.

Not wanting to waste another second, he mounted Sabine.

'Leon, it's not safe to travel on your own, especially to the dark forest,' said Jean-Luc, 'it's getting dark, the wolves will be out looking for food and you could get lost yourself.'

'But I have to find Mama before it's too late!' Leon said, flicking the reins to make Sabine move.

'At least let me go with you!' said Jean-Luc.

'I appreciate your help, Jean-Luc, but this is something I have to do myself.' Leon said, as he and Sabine trotted down the path, every second counting against them in their desperate bid to find Madeleine.

'Just be careful, Leon,' said Jean-Luc, watching both horse and rider disappear into the dusk and turned back into the village.

So it looks like Irena's prophecy is about to come true. Will Leon find his mother and what will he do to save her? Stay tuned!