Author's Note: Part 3 of Chapter 17.
"In the garden of the heart, Love sings." ~ Laura Jaworski.
"Cheers, everyone!"
Peter lifted his coffee mug in the air. The others did likewise (the two teens had cups of herbal tea). They all clinked together and drank.
"So, y'all like each other, hmm?"
The teenagers gaped at the parents. Evelyn half-raised her coffee to her lips for another sip. Peter perched his elbows on the table, chin resting on his dorsals, half-smirking.
Jared glanced at Larina. She stared straight back. Then they turned to the parents in unison.
"Oo, yes, we like each other…"
"No, you're not getting grandchildren anytime soon."
Their eyes met again. Each agreeing on the same exact thought.
"Not at our age, at least." Jared tacked on to clarify.
"Aw, come own now. Of course we weren't gonna ask about that." Evelyn laughed between sips of coffee. "Peter was just pickin' wid ya."
"He's just messing with us," Larina translated and rested a paw on his arm to comfort him.
"Now, Jared." Peter took a quick sip of his own coffee. "The question ah'm sure you've been dreading."
Jared shuddered inwardly. An icy chill coursed down his spine. His heart all but stopped beating for a split second.
"What exactly are your intentions with our daughter?"
To say the question took him by legitimate surprise would be the understatement of the season. The inquiry struck him like a hard Wungkan punch to his heart. It sank in his chest from the question he'd rightly dreaded, yet for which never considered the right-the honest-answer. He opened his mouth, but grasped in vain at the right words to say. But the moment he met Larina's eyes, sparkling like hazel gems in the morning sunlight, that's when he knew.
"Nothing but the best." He couldn't stop the warm, fond, beaming smile breaking across his face.
"And you already know of your intentions with this boy, Rina?" Evelyn turned to her daughter, before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Exactly the same." Larina took Jared's paw in hers. Her fingers interlaced with his. "Nothing less than his own happiness."
"See?" Peter separated his paws in a mock shrug, grinning. "Was that so hard, you two? Easy as pumpkin pie." He lifted his coffee to his mouth for another drink.
"So I have your blessing?" asked his younger counterpart.
"Yes," Evelyn nodded, smiling. "Indeed you do, Jared." Peter winked from behind his coffee.
"Now, as for Larina asking for your parents' blessing to date you…"
A sudden darkness fell over Jared's face. He gulped and lowered his gaze, scratching an idle, distracted claw on the tabletop. Larina flicked her eyes at him, worried.
"What's the matter, Jared?" Peter put down his cup, looking concerned. "Was it something we said?"
"Are your parents not here, Jared?" Evelyn reached out a paw of sympathetic worry. "Do they not live at Redwall Abbey? Or in Mossflower? Are they in the Eastern Islands?"
"No," Jared blurted out. He cleared his throat. He still would not meet their eyes.
"My parents are…gone. As in…no longer with us."
Their faces fell in an instant. Evelyn's paw flopped onto the table like dead weight. They both glanced at each other, letting the words sink in. Larina squeezed Jared's paw to comfort him. No one spoke for a long time.
"Jared…" Evelyn broke the silence at length. "Ah'm so sorry…We didn't know…"
"Ayos lang." He held up a paw to reassure her. "It's okay; it's not your fault. I'll be alright." He took a long albeit pained deep breath, followed by a heavy exhale.
"Why don't we start with the harvest right now?" Evelyn jumped to her feet, palms planted on the table.
"Aye, good idea, Lyn." Peter finished his coffee and likewise stood up. "Sooner we start, the sooner we can finish." They walked off side by side in the direction of the garden.
"You'll have to excuse them," Larina comforted Jared, as they too left the table. "They don't know about your family like we do at Redwall. They don't know about Deathblade…"
"I'd rather not tempt fate, Rina." Jared put his paws in his pockets. "And don't worry about me; I'll manage."
"If you ever want to talk about it…"
"I'll know just who to go to."
"Let's git the carrots first." Peter calling from across the garden snapped them to attention. They hurried over to his side as fast as their feet would carry them.
"So…I've just got to pull it out by the greens, right?" Jared dropped to his knees in front of a bunch of carrots, sitting on his ankles. Peter passed him a pair of leather gloves, which he donned. He grasped the greens of the one nearest to himself, and pulled with all his strength.
Larina giggled as she too knelt beside him. "Harvesting crops isn't like fighting with Wungkan, Jared. You're gonna have to do this legit!"
"Wungkan?" Peter cocked his head to one side, baffled but curious. "Is that some kind of Eastern Islands cuisine?"
"Yeah," Jared muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Larina. "A cuisine of knuckle sandwiches." Larina gasped and giggled behind her gloves.
"Here, dear, you'll need this." Evelyn came on Larina's other side to pass him a trowel. "You've gotta loosen the soil around it first."
He did so, then gripped the greens once more. Feet dug into the ground. Strength channeled into his arm and wrist muscles, and-
Pop!
The carrot popped right out of the ground. His effort threw him flat onto his back. Legs and rear in the air.
"O sige! Lahat tama!" He held the carrot aloft, triumphant as if it were the grand prize of some gardening contest. "All right!"
"Butter my biscuit, he did it!" Peter guffawed. He took the freshly-harvested carrot from the younger squirrel.
"Look at you go, Jared!" Evelyn chuckled as Jared threw himself back onto his knees. "Well done! We'll make a gardener outta you yet!"
They continued on until every last one of the ripe carrots had been taken out. Then they each went their separate ways, further inward into the disks.
Jared had never seen Larina in such higher spirits. She softly hummed or sang aloud little woodland ditties to herself. Every time she passed by him, she did something different. Stroking his cheeks, tapping his nose, playing with his paws. Blowing a kiss. Brushing back his unkempt headfur. Even tracing the shapes of his pectorals. Teasingly tugging at the collar strings or hem of his sleeveless tunic shirt.
Back turned, she rubbed up against him. One arm wrapped around his neck. With the other she laid his palm over her heart. And still singing with that same velvety, melodic, heavenly contralto. Enchanting, adoring, lighthearted crooning. True music to his ears.
She spun round to face front. Took his paws to twirl him around in a dance. Swinging from side to side. Or pulling in and out towards and away from her. All in the perfect rhythm of her song.
She pulled in close to stroke the underside of his chin. He stared transfixed, paws on her hips. Their eyes locked for just a moment.
But then she pulled away with a giggle. Jared let out a sigh of pretend disappointment. She winked and blew a final kiss at him, and walked away towards the pumpkin patch. Grinning, he rolled his eyes and tailed after her.
"Okay, let's see here…" Larina knelt down by the pumpkins. Grasshook in paw, she severed one pumpkin from its vine, leaving about six inches of stem attached. She pulled with all her strength from the bottom, grunting and groaning from the effort.
"May I help?" Jared got down on all fours behind and beside her. "Maybe if we tried pulling from the back instead…"
He turned to face her. She turned to face him. Their eyes locked together once more.
"...We…might be able…to…force it…free…" He half-stumbled over his words.
They closed their eyes and drew into each other. For a fraction of a second, their lips met…
"How's everything coming along over here?"
They both yelped in surprise and split apart. Peter strolled by, holding armfuls of fresh beets.
"Daddy!" Larina scolded him over her shoulder. Jared too was blushing furiously. "Do you mind? We were having a moment!"
Peter snorted and chuckled, then nodded. "Sorry, my bad. Carry on, you two." He walked away with his collection of beets.
Larina sighed and shook her head. "Sorry about that."
"Hindi, it's all right." Jared cleared his throat and turned his attention back onto the pumpkin. "We…both got distracted." He helped clear away the dirt, then gripped the back of the pumpkin. Larina did the same on the sides.
"Ready, Jared? One, two, three, pull!"
They grunted and wrenched in unison, then-Rrrip! The pumpkin pulled free and fell clean into Larina's arms. The sheer force of effort and weight of the pumpkin knocked them both flat onto their backs.
"We did it, Jared!"
"Yeah! Way to go, Larina!"
"Thanks! Oh, I can't wait to give some of these to Smackpaw!"
They each pulled out a pumpkin of their own. Then Larina left to help her mother with the cabbages and lettuce. Jared met Peter over by the mushrooms.
"Ahhh…" Peter exhaled blissfully from sniffing the fresh button fungi. "Ah do adore the smell of mushrooms. Do you eat mushrooms, Jared?"
"Not really, sir," Jared admitted with a shrug. "Maddie loves them, though."
"Eh, to each their own." Peter shrugged. "Different creatures, different tastes." He plucked them, broke off the dirty ends, then tossed them into a basket.
"Does it matter whether you cut or pick them?"
"Don't make no difference either way. As long as they're ripe and edible, that's what matters most."
Jared watched closely to learn his elder's technique. Pluck, clean, and toss. He helped when invited to do so, and they managed to gather all of the mushrooms within minutes. Peter took the mushrooms to the house. Evelyn called Jared to show him how to harvest tomatoes.
"Now you can harvest these one of two ways," she explained to him. "Either with these here garden shears," she snipped a pair of miniature, paw-sized shears. "Or with your bare paws, like this."
She demonstrated twisting a tomato from side to side, until it came clean and free from its vine. "You want to avoid actually pulling on the fruit when picking it. The branches are awful tender and will break easily."
He followed her lead to liberate the tomatoes from their vines. These he added to her basket.
"Oh, Mama," Larina came up to them from the eastern side. She had a basket of cabbages and lettuce around one wrist. "Can we set some crops aside to bring back to Redwall? So that Friar Reylia and her chefs can use them?"
"Of course, dahlin'!" Evelyn nodded with a genuine smile. "Ah daresay we've got too much! We should also be sure we make our usual delivery to the Guosim, too."
"Thanks, Mama!"
Larina left to take her harvests to the house. Evelyn and Jared moved further into the garden.
"Pretty straightforward, these two." Evelyn withdrew a small knife from her apron pocket. "To get the broccoli out, you'll want to leave about two to three inches of the stalk below the crown. Watch me demonstrate first."
She pressed it to the stem of the broccoli while Jared watched attentively. "Cut the head of the broccoli off the plant, about five or so inches below the head. Simply cut at an angle and-"
Shing! She made a swift cut; the head came clean off. "Et voilà!" She held up the perfectly-harvested broccoli.
"Would you like to give it a try?" She twirled the blade into her palm and held it out flat to the younger squirrel. Jared sat down and took the knife.
"Yes, angle the blade, dear…Tad bit higher, you don't want to saw at the stem; it'll damage the plant."
"Should I try to get these smaller shoots, too?"
"Ah can get those myself later. We only need the big one for now."
"Five or more inches below the head…" Shing!
The clean severing of the broccoli from its steam made him gape in wide-eyed, open-mouthed awe.
"Wonderful work, Jared!" Evelyn giggled and clapped her paws together. "You're becoming a gardener more and more! Let's get the rest of the broccoli, and then we'll move on! Would you like to try your paws on the leeks next?"
They put the broccoli aside and moved on to the leeks. Larina was already kneeling there.
"With leeks, you'll want to sort of do the inverse of the broccoli." She took a garden fork out of her apron. "To prepare it, we simply have to cut a few of the leaves, like so." She severed three of the small leaves from the plant. "Loosen the soil first, not unlike with the carrots. Then reach under the roots and-"
She grunted with the effort of wrenching the leek with her fork. "Lift!"
It came free of its soil without a hitch. Larina showed Jared a fully intact and healthy leek, resting horizontally across her palm. She shook and brushed off any residual soil. Then, using her knife, cut it in half lengthwise and removed the last of the dirt.
Jared tried his luck, following the same sequence of steps she had used. He reached deep into the dirt, feeling around for the roots, and pulled with all his might. The leek practically slipped free of its soil and up into the sunlight.
Larina squealed and applauded his effort. Jared held out the leek to her, upright like a flower bouquet.
"For you, milady Larina."
"Oh, you big dork!" She giggled and happily took it, blushing bright pink.
Later back at the picnic table, Jared and Peter filled two gift boxes with crops.
"There you go, Jared." Peter tied the lid with twine and passed it to him. "Fruits and vegetables for your Friar and her chefs to cook with. Fresh from the Skyleaf garden."
"Maraming salamat po, Peter." Jared took the box and tucked it under one arm. "Thank you so much. I'll make sure this gets to them."
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
Suddenly, the cries of birds filled the air. Without warning, a flock of no less than thirteen ravens swarmed into the garden. They circled around above the treeline for a minute. Before settling within the branches of the fruit trees. "Kraa! Kraa! Kraa!" they squawked and cawed.
"Ravens?" Peter stared at them. "They don't usually come out flying this far."
"What do you think they want, Peter?" Jared could not tear his eyes away from them.
"Dunno, but I wouldn't provoke them if I's you. Best keep your tongue to yourself, boy."
"'Twin Paws Support the Sky…'"
In the shade of the maple tree, Larina held her paws up over her head. Palms and gaze turned skyward. She inhaled and exhaled, her hangaw flowing through her.
"What in tarnation is our daughter doing?" Evelyn watched from the symmetrical porch situated beneath the awning. She leaned on the hardwood balustrade. "She looks about as lost in her mind as a butterfly in a weed garden."
"Oh, the stretches?" Jared, standing at the porch railing, looked over in Larina's direction. "I taught her that. It's part of the Eastern Islands martial arts." He watched as she moved into "Drawing the Bow to Shoot the Jungle Crow".
"Martial arts?!" At this, Evelyn rounded on the youngster. Jared flinched inwardly but swiftly composed himself.
"Have you been teaching our dahlin' daughter to fight, Jared Sandeye?"
"Only the meditative varieties, ma'am!" Jared held up his palms to defend himself and pacify the elder Skyleaf.
"Lyn, what's gotten into you?" Peter looked up from his coffee and bread at the mahogany teapoy opposite them.
"Evelyn, I swear on my ancestors." Jared lowered his paws to show the Skyleaf mother he meant no harm. "I've only taught Larina meditation styles of martial arts, to help her keep her cool during this tense time. With a vermin horde about in Mossflower, I felt it prudent to teach her ways to maintain a rational and clear mind amidst this conflict."
"And Ah suppose you're handling the actual close combat stuff yourself, eh?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him. He couldn't tell whether she was suspicious or inquisitive.
"Lyn, for season's sake, please don't fly off the handle!" Peter practically begged his wife, reaching out a paw to pacify her.
"Trained in it since I was a child, actually. Barely taller than your waist." Jared stood a tad bit straighter and puffed out his chest. "4th Kyu purple belt proficient in three forms of the Akret Branch."
"Well, Ah suppose that's as good a reason as any." Evelyn dropped her eyebrow, and Jared deflated in relief. "Ah wouldn't want my little girl to live a life of violence." She turned to watch Larina work through the "Parting Skies and Earth" exercise. "There's enough of that in the world already, and Ah fear what might happen should she get herself entangled in it all. Like a poor Abbey Dibbun amidst the thorny brambles."
"Well," Jared scoffed. "You won't hear me disagreeing with that."
"Just promise me, Jared…" Evelyn drew close to him to take his paws in her own. "You'll keep our daughter out of danger as best you can."
Jared mulled over his words carefully. He turned over his shoulder: already Larina was in the "Wise Eagle-Owl Peers Backwards" Through Time stance, staring at the maple tree, eyes flitting left and right about the garden.
"I wish I could promise you, Evelyn; I really do. But I'm not the type to go looking for danger. Danger…usually finds me first."
"Whether it finds you first or not," Evelyn squeezed his fingers, and Jared could not find in himself to deny the anxious energy coursing through her fingers into his own. Like sparks leaping from a fire onto a red sandstone Abbey floor. "Just keep Larina out of it. The last thing Ah'd ever want for my dahlin' little girl-"
"-is for her to get hurt, I know." Jared nodded to show he understood. "I would want the same thing for her, too."
"You haven't actually brought Larina into any real trouble lately, have you?" Now it was Peter's turn to give him a side-eye.
"Even if I had, you think I wouldn't have protected her?" Jared wheeled around to him. "I told you, I've been trained in combat my entire life."
"What exactly do you mean by that, though?" Evelyn now stared white-faced at him.
"There are things about Madeline and I which Larina never told you." Jared pivoted to her. He extended his paws in front of himself for emphasis, waist level with palms up facing the porch awning. "Either because she didn't know at the time until we told her; or it just wasn't the right time to tell her. For our safety-and especially, for yours." He pointed a finger at each of them.
"All you need to know is that that vermin horde out there," he pointed a thumb over his shoulder, in the direction of the Forest. "Is in Mossflower for a reason. But right now just isn't the time to tell you-yet," he hastily added at their skeptical stares.
"What reason?" Peter stood up from the table to approach his younger male counterpart.
"Are you and Madeline involved in something that we don't know about?" Evelyn withdrew her paws from Jared's to place on her hips. "That Larina doesn't know about?"
"Oh, Rina knows, don't worry." Jared held his ground with a serious, hard-edged stare. "And what reason do you have to be suspicious? Especially after you gave me your blessing to pursue Rina romantically? I just don't know if we can trust you to understand yet. I can tell you in all confidence," he glanced between the two parents. "That it isn't anything that would shake your faith and trust in me as the proper partner for Larina."
"Ah dunno if Ah like a beast who keeps secrets." Evelyn narrowed her eyes and leaned over him. "Ah'll figure out what you and Madeline are hiding. Ah'll get to the bottom of it, one way or another."
"With all due respect, Evelyn." Again Jared held firm. "This is far bigger and deeper than anything you and Peter could ever imagine. And unfortunately…"
He too placed his paws on his hips and heaved a large sigh. "Redwall Abbey and Mossflower are caught right in the middle of it. It's…complicated, okay?" His expression softened; empathetic, pleading, compassionate. "That's all you need to know right now."
"Don't see no point in pressing the issue, Lyn." Peter nodded at his wife. Evelyn deflated with a shrug of agreement.
"I hope I haven't done anything wrong, sir," Jared wondered aloud.
"You haven't, Jared, don't worry." Peter squeezed the younger squirrel's shoulder to reassure him. "You ain't in no trouble. You don't have to tell us what this is all about if you aren't yet comfortable. When you do feel ready, we promise…we'll listen." He finished with a warm, beaming smile.
Thank Martin for that, thought Jared to himself.
"Here's an idea." Peter ushered him towards the front door of the house. "Why don't we show you around the house?"
"Yes, sir!" Jared nodded with earnest enthusiasm. "I'd love to see your family home!"
He glanced at Evelyn over his shoulder; she merely shrugged but said nothing.
"Well, you've already seen the porch." Peter gestured with wide arms at the wraparound porch they stood on. "About twenty-some-odd seasons ago, that there very teapoy-" he pointed to the samesaid tea table he'd vacated. "-was given to Evelyn and I by her older sister, Angeline, 'bout a week before we moved to this part of Mossflower."
"Was falling apart a bit when Angeline gave it to us," Evelyn chuckled. She sat down on a cushioned porch swing on the opposite end of the porch. "But we fixed and cleaned it up good as new, with the help of dear Malgumm Wegendell." She began swinging back and forth, watching her daughter continue through her meditations.
"And this porch extends all around the house." Peter illustrated a rectangle in the air for Jared's reference. "Come rain or shine, you can guarantee you'll have scenery and comfort on any side of the house. My favorite rocking chair is even in the back. Come, Jared, into the Skyleaf family home."
With a dramatic flourish, Peter pushed open the arched double doors and beckoned Jared inside.
The first thing Jared noticed when he'd crossed the threshold was the humble look of the farmhouse. Nothing much like the bahay na bato--houses of stone-he knew in the commoner villages of the Islands. Nor like the bahay kubo, the country houses, found out in the wilderness backwoods of the far provinces.
And most especially a vast cry from the colonial castle he'd grown up in…
The vaulted ceilings caught his eye first: captivating haint blue mingled with hardwood's natural brown to cast a day and night ambience over the house. Floorboards creaked under his feet as he followed Peter through the foyer. He couldn't help but laugh. Spotless, not a single dusty pawprint in sight. No doubt warded off by the wearing of socks or clean sandals indoors.
"Lyn's always loved the more rustic kind of look." Peter ran a paw over the red sandstone mingled with the wood in the walls. "So Elrion Hackadale helped us with these. Me, Ah've wanted to remain as close to nature as possible." He watched Jared, out of curiosity, pick up a circular embroidery from a dining chair. Stitched upon it was the image of an open sunflower.
Jared turned his back to Peter to hide the frown of nostalgia causing his face to fall; the sudden tugs at his heartstrings.
Just like the ones Mom used to make…
Peter watered a small terracotta flowerpot hung from a wrought iron hanger, from which short strands of ivy vine spread. He then drew Jared's attention to a cabinet display of fine china and silver. The teenager put the embroidery back on the round dining table: chairs, dishes, and silverware set for three.
"My dear grandparents, rest their souls, gifted this to me and Evelyn on our wedding night. Some seventeen seasons ago now." He tucked his paws in his pockets and smiled at the fond memory.
"Yeah, we've got something like that in the Islands, too." Jared nodded, the picturesque nature patterns starkly contrasting the plain alabaster bone china his parents used to cook and serve with. The smell of his mother's fresh champorado, a delectable chocolate rice porridge, in the mornings; or his father's warm and crunchy spring rolls for lunch, with steamed white rice and fresh vegetables. And of course, a dinner of fried eggplant adobo and sinigang soup…
He brute-forced the memories to the back of his mind, and fell back into step beside Peter. They passed through the sitting room into the kitchen.
"What are those?" He pointed to a collage of colorful pictures hanging on the double doors of a four-feet larder.
"Wouldn't you know?" Peter chuckled and folded his arms, leaning to one side. "Those are Larina's pictures, drawn in her own paws."
"Larina's an artist?" Jared stared sideways at his elder. "I never knew that about her before."
"You oughta ask her about it sometime; she'll talk your ears off for sure."
He pointed to the drawing on the leftmost side of the larder. "Look, there's the good old Redwall Abbey."
For sure it was Redwall, illuminated in sandstone red. Every gate, tower, battlement, and spire accounted for. Its upper levels bulged at the sides to suggest the balconies. The weathervane pointed southwards as if turned by a hypothetical wind. Little sprinklings of trees and water and logs and flowers here and there indicated the Lawns, Orchard, and Pond.
"And that's our garden and house, of course." Peter directed Jared to a second illustration of the very house in which they stood, with the disklike garden and its majestic maple tree dominating the foreground. A row of trees stood in military-like formation behind the family home.
"That's St. Ninian's Church, and Brockhall, and the ruins of old Loamhedge." Peter pointed at each one in turn. "And these two, I think you'll find mighty familiar."
Jared stepped up to get a closer look at-
"Madeline's greenhouse? And my blacksmith's forge?"
"Darn right." Peter nodded with solemnity.
Indeed they were. The outlines of the greenhouse's tilt-and-turn windows, and its glass door on the south side. Little sticks with abstract lines of color represented Madeline and Fanistra's various flowers and their boxes and flowerpots. Of his forge, the chimney stood regal on the eastern corner, belching little puffs of gray-blackish smoke peppered with orange sparks. The forge's only window and its stable door were wide open. Its anvil sat upright in the center while its furnace blazed with a fresh amber fire.
"Rina really knows us, doesn't she?" he found himself whispering in awe.
"And why wouldn't she?" Peter smiled warmly at him. "You are her best friends, after all."
They spun round at the sound of the front door. Larina entered the foyer, followed by her mother.
"Oh! Jared!" Larina stopped with a surprised laugh at the sight of her friend returning into the sitting room. She rapidly composed herself, then, "Daddy's been showing you around the house, I see."
"Yes, he has." Jared nodded with an earnest smile. Though Larina thought she saw a certain wistfulness in his eyes. "And I love it…"
His voice trailed off, his eyes flitting around the sitting room. The perfectly symmetrical hardwood fireplace mantel with the carved image of a pineapple as the centerpiece. Autumn leaves and vines draped and weaved with elegance over a stone fireplace. Greeneries and florals littered the space to add vibrant lively color. An antique rectangular ironbound oak chest looking like it had been passed down through many generations; worn down by handling, storage, and age.
Peter cleared his throat from behind. "Larina, why don't you show Jared your bedroom? Ah'm gonna go back outside and water the flowers."
"Great idea!" Larina suddenly grabbing his paw pulled him back to reality. Before he could react, she was pulling him down to the end of a short hallway.
"Leave the door open, you two!" Evelyn called after them, to which her husband guffawed heartily.
They stopped at a small door tucked into the corner. Larina left her sandals on the cotton rug outside; Jared did the same.
"It isn't much, four walls and a ceiling," she admitted, opening the door and helping Jared inside. "The dormitories at the Abbey dwarf it in comparison."
Jared roved around the room while she watched. Diagonal beams of golden sunlight peeked through hickory brocade window curtains. He pulled them apart to poke his curious head through: Mossflower Forest yawned before him for yards beyond.
"Only room for one beast on my bed, I'm afraid." Larina sat down on the side of her canopy bed. Jared brushed a soft paw over her monochromatic beige blanket. A trio of pillows in white, gold, and blue sat at its head. The daylight illuminated her initials, "LRS", cursively monogrammed onto her mahogany headboard.
Claws walked over a yellow pine end table. Books, drawing utensils, and floral embroideries adorned a walnut work desk, complete with a cushioned rocking chair. Sun's rays illuminated paintings of flowers and vines and forest trees that lavished all four walls.
He opened her rich hardwood armoire wardrobe. Dresses in many different colors dangled from hooks. Along with the occasional shirt and trousers, winter scarves and coats, and plenty of spare undergarments. Each folded nice and neat in their own individual shelf.
"Your dad showed me your drawings on the larder." Jared nodded to her, shutting the wardrobe.
"He did? Oh, my." Larina turned bright red and brushed her headfur back behind her ears. "I guess my secret's out. You caught me." She shrugged with a sheepish laugh. "I'm an artist."
"That's nothing to be ashamed of!" He held up his palms to comfort her. "Your art is gorgeous! Redwall Abbey, your family garden! St. Ninian's! Brockhall! Loamhedge! Madeline's greenhouse! My forge! They're all brilliant! And this!" He spread his arms wide to account for the breadth of the painted room. "This is a masterpiece!"
"Oh, Jared…" Larina turned from red to pink. "Th-thank you. That really means a lot to me, to hear you say that. Anyway…Brown's kind of my color, if it wasn't already obvious," she let out a sheepish giggle, shrugging her shoulders. Jared beamed at her in response. Larina bashfully adjusted the pink peony behind her ear. She looked Jared over head to toe and nodded approvingly, biting her lip with a teasing expression. Jared could've sworn he saw her pupils dilating. His cheeks turned deep red.
"I think it's lovely, Larina. 'LRS?'" He indicated the initials upon her headboard.
"My full name." Larina held a paw to her heart. "Larina Rachel Skyleaf. And of course, I know yours, too: Jared Eolin Sandeye." She spoke it with a rather dramatically admiring tone.
Jared chuckled, the red on his cheeks lightening a bit. "Yours is a beautiful name, Larina."
"Oh, thank you, Jared," Larina blushed and stroked the back of her head. "Rolls off the tongue smoothly, if you ask me. Like Tinarandel." She smiled and winked at him.
"Who's Tinarandel?" Evelyn, who'd been passing by on her way to her room, stopped in her tracks.
"Just a special nickname Jared has in the Islands," Larina hurried to explain herself.
Evelyn eyed Jared, trying to let her daughter's words sink in. Mouth agape but speechless. "Huh." Then she shrugged and disappeared into the master bedroom.
"Whew, that was a close one," Larina exhaled when she turned back to her friend.
"Tell me about it." Jared snorted. "You know, technically, you're not wrong to call it a 'special nickname'". He made air quotes with his fingers. "Easier than having to explain the whole thing being my true Eastern name."
"When the time is right," Larina nodded in the direction of her parents' bedroom. "You and Madeline can tell them yourselves."
"And you'll be there to support us?"
"Every step of the way."
They later broke for lunch, then continued their harvest late into the afternoon. A substantial amount of crops had also been set aside for a future delivery to the Guosim. The ravens remained talking noisily away the entire time. Jared thought he heard some familiar tones in their imitative voices. Vermin voices.
He relaxed now under the central maple tree. One knee pulled up to his chest, the other leg sprawled out in front of him.
"Seasons, I'm beat." Larina staggered over and plopped down on his left. She draped his arm over her shoulders. On instinct, he cuddled her close. She leaned her head on his shoulder. Her paw roved over his upper body, while he tenderly stroked her headfur. Maple leaves drifted and spun around them to the ground.
"What a bountiful harvest!" Larina exclaimed. She caressed his stomach from side to side.
"I'll say!" Jared chuckled and rubbed her shoulder. "We were ridiculously productive. And just with the four of us!"
"That's us Southerners for you, Jared. We work mighty hard."
"And as an Easterner who's dedicated to helping out around his village, that's something I can admire."
Rustle.
A rustling of the brush to their left perked them up. Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle. More rustlings on the opposite side. Jared stopped and focused his ears.
"Hold up, Rina. We're not alone."
"Caw! Caw! Caw!" The thirteen ravens suddenly flew away into the coming sunset. The squirrels watched them disappear. "Kraa! Kraa! Kraa!" Larina clung to his side; the squirrelmaid was noticeably shivering.
He peered deep into the brush. From within the growing evening shadows, he thought he saw-
Oh, no.
Larina gasped at the sounds of pawsteps creeping towards the gate. She gripped him tighter; he wrapped his arms around her.
Creeeaak! The garden gate creaked open. Larina flinched and hid her face in his shoulder. Before either of them could react, five figures entered through the open gateway. Jared's heart jumped in his chest at the sudden sight of-
"Deathblade!"
"Well, well, well!"
Fully armed and armored, Nagrig Deathblade himself stepped into the afternoon sunlight. Expression-wise, he looked contorted somewhere between profound relief and frustrated stress.
"Prince Tinarandel." Nagrig stepped through the garden towards the tree. The other four figures followed close behind. Zakrul, Lieutenant Gurutharc, Captain Krodnal, and an unfamiliar wearat clad in iron and gripping a tall spear of the same metal. Immediately, Jared released Larina and climbed to his feet.
"Deathblade," he hissed.
"Tinarandel." Nagrig stopped short of the tree, in between the leeks and the mushrooms. "For somebeast of your reputation and nobility, you're frustratingly difficult to find. Thankfully, though," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Your little pleasure trip through Mossflower left good evidence behind."
"So you were tracking me!" Jared snapped at him. "I knew it! I was right to be vigilant at first!"
"Come now, Tinar-Andelle…" Nagrig perched his fingers together, pacing around Jared and the maple tree. Zakrul and the others stopped at the edges of the disks. "Did you really think I would just let you take a day off from me? I had hoped that that other set of pawprints might've been Isidith's. But it's all well; I can make do with one half."
Jared spun round to see the rat appearing from the other side of the tree.
"A true hunter never rests."
"Leave him alone!" Larina hopped to her feet. In one swift motion, she pushed her walking stick up into her paws with her feet. She threw herself right in front of Jared.
"Larina, what are you doing?!" Jared whispered. "Don't!"
"Oh, would you look at that, mates!" Gurutharc chuckled and indicated Larina with a finger to the others. "Jared Sandeye's taken a blushing belle!"
"So it would seem," Nagrig chuckled, and he didn't hold back his contemptuous smirk. "Aye, I remember you from Brockhall. Stand aside, squirrelmaid. My quarrel is not with you. Give me Tinarandel, and you shall not be harmed. On my honor as High Lord of Morringtat."
"I don't give a crabgrass who you are, rat!" Larina gripped her stick tight and held it out towards Nagrig. "I won't let you take Jared! You turn around right now and leave my family's garden! Unless you want more of what you got at Brockhall!"
Nagrig broke into a sardonic laugh in response that sent a chill down Larina's spine. "And I take it you'll be the one delivering that to me, squirrelmaid? Not a chance. You don't look like the Wungkan type. I doubt you even know how to use that walking stick like a staff. No matter."
He pushed the stick aside and held out his paw to Larina. Jared placed his paws on her shoulders from behind. "Surely you agree that this entire pursuit has grown tiresome. We don't have all autumn, and neither do you, I'm sure. You've got crops to grow, flowers to cultivate, deliveries to make. So, we can end all of this right now…if you just give me Tinarandel."
He insistently pushed his paw towards her. "No more hunting. No more wasted time. No more bloodshed. Surrender Tinarandel, and you and your parents can live another day in your…"
He took a moment to gaze around the estate and scoffed. "...silly little garden."
"No!" Larina wrenched herself out of Jared's grip and advanced on Nagrig. "I'm not backing down! I helped fight at Brockhall; I can fight again here!"
"A maiden standing up to a male?" Krodnal let out a scornful laugh. "Where we come from, maidens know their place! Beneath the heels of the males! About time you learned yours, you wench!" he spat bitterly at her.
"I am not a wench!" Larina shot back from between gritted teeth.
"Are you sure about that?" Nagrig snorted, and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I have a certain orange fox in my ranks who might disagree with you."
"For Mossflower!" Larina moved to swing her stick right at Nagrig. Jared dashed to stop her-
Shiinng! Clatter! "Larina!"
An unsheathed blade carved an arc through the air. An inch off the end of Larina's stick came flying clean off. It landed to her left with a noisy clatter. Larina stared dumbfounded at the end of her severed stick. Nagrig held his falchion off to his right side.
"Last mistake, squirrelmaid." He had dropped his voice to a low growl. "Nobeast threatens the Lord of Morringtat and lives to tell the tale! Now learn your place!"
Slap! "Aaah!"
"Larina!"
Nagrig had backpawed Larina across the face. She spun to her left and collapsed in the dirt. Her walking stick fell from her grip and landed beside her.
"Run, Jared!"
"I'm not leaving you, Rina!"
Too late. The other vermin were already closing in on him.
"No!" Jared hurried to help her, but-
"Blackwhisker! Krodnal! Seize him!"
Krodnal and the wearat took hold of Jared's shoulders and wrenched him backwards.
"No! Please!" Larina lifted her face from the dirt and reached out a feeble paw.
"Let go of me-uh-hugh!"
Nagrig had punched him hard in the gut. He bent over, breathless and winded. Zakrul and Gurutharc each swung a leg out from underneath him. He flopped to the ground onto his knees.
"I weary of this hunt!" Nagrig shouted in Jared's face. He watched while Blackwhisker tied a rope around the squirrel's wrists. "This ends tonight, Tinarandel!"
"What in blazes is going on out here?!"
"Oh, my soul!"
Peter and Evelyn came sprinting out of the house, only to freeze on the porch.
"Vermin? In our garden?!" Evelyn clapped her paws to her mouth.
"What are you doing with Jared Sandeye?!" Peter pulled his gardening tools out of his apron. "Let him go this instant!" He brandished them like weapons at the vermin.
"Mama!" Larina pushed herself onto her paws and knees.
"Larina, dahlin'!" Evelyn bolted straight to her daughter's side. She was rubbing her cheek where Nagrig had struck her. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you? What is the meaning of this?!" she pleaded with the vermin. "Why are you hurting Jared?!"
"He's done nothing to wrong you vermin!" Peter hurried towards his family. "As head of this property, I command that you release him!"
"And as Lord of the land of Morringtat, I command you that you let him leave with us!" Nagrig gritted his fangs and barked back. "Jared Sandeye is not the squirrel you think he is!" He pointed the blade of his falchion at Peter. "You harbor a fugitive from justice within your home! A practice forbidden by Morringtat law! And justice and the law demand that he be exposed, tried, and judged!"
"Well, I do declare!" Evelyn put a paw to her heart, utterly scandalized.
"You savage heathens!"
"Daddy, no!" "Peter!"
Peter charged straight at Nagrig wielding his trowel and garden knife. Nagrig stepped back.
"Oh, no, ya don't!" Krodnal grabbed Peter's wrists and pulled his arms aside. Whoomph! He threw a hard kick into the elder squirrel's diaphragm.
"Hurk!" Peter sailed backwards and crumpled into the dirt. His tools flopped onto the ground.
"Darn good kickin', Krodnal!" Blackwhisker praised, and even Zakrul and Gurutharc nodded in approval, impressed.
"Thanks, Blackwhisker!" Krodnal grinned from ear to ear and made an elaborate bow. "I've been practicing ever since our vermin conscripts wrecked our poor camp!"
"Larina, get inside the house, and bolt the doors!" Evelyn helped her daughter to her feet. Together they hurried back to the house.
"Oh, would you all shut up already?!" Krodnal bellowed and tailed after them.
Evelyn and Larina cleared the picnic table. Krodnal threw himself at them but only slumped onto the surface. His impact knocked the boxes from the tabletop. They split open on the ground, spilling their contents everywhere.
"Not our crops!" Evelyn shouted in terror behind her.
"Those crops are the property of the Skyleaf family!" Jared protested, struggling against his bonds. "I planned on taking those back to Redwall! And some of them are for the Guosim!"
"Enough!" Nagrig spread out his arms to hold the others back. "We've overstayed our welcome and wasted sufficient time. We have what we want," he nodded over his shoulder at Jared. "And now we may take our leave."
He turned back round to smirk at the other squirrels. "A pleasure meeting all of you. Enjoy the rest of your day! Let's get out of here! We can be back at camp in time for dinner!" He sheathed his falchion, pivoted on his heels, and led the way out of the garden.
"Stand up, Tinarandel, and walk!" Zakrul and Blackwhisker forced Jared to his feet.
"Larina, run!" Jared begged Larina as the vermin pulled him around by his rope. "Mmff!" Gurutharc forced a cloth gag around his mouth. They marched him towards the gate.
"No, Jared!" "Hold on, Jared, we're coming!" Evelyn and Peter rushed to their feet after them. Larina could only watch in horror from the porch.
"My lord!" Krodnal called Nagrig. "The squirrels seek to interfere!"
"Take them with us, then! We cannot afford any further obstructions of justice!"
"No! They're my parents!" Larina left the porch and bolted over. Krodnal and Blackwhisker were already tying their wrists together with rope. "Don't take them, please!"
"Silence!" Slap! Another slap from Nagrig across her other cheek.
"Rina, get out of here!" Peter cried to his falling daughter. "Save yourself!"
"Run to Redwall, Larina!" Evelyn called over her shoulder. "Tell them what happened! Take the trees!"
"Noooooooooo!" Larina dashed as fast her feet would carry her. But-
Slam! The garden gate slammed shut in her face.
She slumped onto it, shutting her eyes tight to try to halt the stinging tears welling in her eyes. Beyond, the cries and protests of her parents and Jared pierced her ears.
"Leave the girl be!" Nagrig was commanding the others. "She's done us no harm. Hopefully now she'll learn her lesson about preventing proper justice!"
Her eyes snapped open. The tears burned her cheeks as they streamed down. But nothing burned more than the anger boiling in her heart.
A desperate, terrified, but righteous anger.
Adrenaline shot through her blood. She scaled the garden wall and leaped into Mossflower proper.
"Redwaaaaaaaaaaallllll!"