The heat rises as the sun reaches its apex, the cold breeze of the wind has now become hotter and more dry, slowly burning away Julius' overly sensitive skin and urging him to return to his home even more. He throws away what is left of the apple and makes a quick sprint toward the small hill in front of him. On top of the hill is a small farm.

A clump of five to six old houses built conveniently contiguously to each other with the spaces between them being filled by the barns of sheep and horses, and in the middle of that cluster lies a windmill no taller than 20 meters.

Contrary to the stuffy and claustrophobic feeling of the clump, circumventing it is a field of fresh green grass and clean puddles, all confined by a wooden fence that elongates out for more than 600 meters.

Julius steps on the hill as time slowly approaches high noon. In the corner of his eyes, he can see an old farm worker arching his back to finish his job quickly. The man seems to be out of breath as he tries to lead his flock of sheep back into their barn and clean the mess they created on the field.

It's quite an uncomfortable sight for Julius, seeing a man in the age of rest working his hardest for his "over the hill" life. However, that is what life in this world is, it's hard and unforgiving. What he feels is just the mindset of his previous life dragging him down, and because of that he pushes forward and ignores the man.

As he runs and runs, Julius can feel his home getting closer and closer. The smell of ammonia, a bunch of dirty gutters, the stained wood grain reeking due to age, all of that formed a rundown horse's barn which he called home.

Opposite of the old age vibe from the barn is the beautiful sight comparable to the morning sun in Julius' s eyes. Sitting on top of the fences near the barn is a middle-aged woman with long blond hair and dark blue eyes, accompanied by a blue dress, Holding tightly onto her all bruised hands is a pair of knitting sticks and a half-done sweater.

The woman slowly but surely weaves the sticks through the holes of the sweater, fusing the strings of wool into each other and creating a soothing sound that blocks away all of the distractions. She was so focused on the sweater that it took her a few seconds to recognize that something is blocking her view.

"Guess who it is?" Julius giggles as he places his hand on her eyes.

Stella quickly put down the knitting kit on her lap and firmly placed her hand onto Julius's pouches and swished them like rubber, forcing Julius to back off a bit out of surprise and embarrassment.

"Look like my dear son Julius."

Stella turns around to meet his eyes, placing the kit on the ground as she slowly stands up from the fence. She reaches out her arm for him and brushes off all the dirt on his clothes and lets out a gentle smile for him.

"So how was the new year market?."

"There are lots of new things there. I almost lost myself there. By the way, were you knitting a sweater?."

"Yes, I was."

"During spring?."

"Well, Mrs. Lown just gave me her leftover ball of yarn, so I figured I could knit a sweater for you to wear during the winter. You were shaking a lot during it after all."

"Oh, thanks mom." Julius quickly digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out an apple.

"Here, I saved this one for you!." He says as he hands over the apple to his mother. Stella hesitates, she picks up the apple and inspects it a bit.

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The dark red shade, the almost perfectly round body, she can know just from these fractures alone that this apple isn't from this place but instead brought here from another land.

"Where did you get this?" She asks only to see Julius fumbles a bit.

"Oh...There is an apple tree near the market, so I picked some for us, you should enjoy it."

Julius says it while fidgeting his fingers, a small quirk he gave out when he is nervous. Stella knows that he is lying and continues to push on.

"You stole this at the market, didn't you?". She asks why holding the apple right in front of his face is a way to intimidate him.

"N…o…no, I didn't!". He panics.

"Julius, lying won't help you now, it's better for you just to admit your deed."

Julius is silent, shocked, and doesn't know what to do. He turns down his head and looks onto the ground, unable to call out the will to look into his mother's eyes. Julius knows that she is right, and he should admit it rather than to face her wrath. He takes a deep breath and slowly raises his head to meet her gaze.

"I… I admit it. I did steal that apple." He says with a shaking voice.

"Why did you do it? I told you it was bad to steal from someone!". She raised her voice at him.

"I… I know it's a bad thing, but I couldn't help myself. The vendor that sold this apple beat up a child to near death in front of my eyes…So I thought it was a good thing to teach her a lesson."

The nervousness in his voice struck at Stella. She knows her son is scared, afraid that she will be mad at him for being a thief. But the truth is, she is happy. Happy that he didn't steal out of selfishness but because of others and has the strength to admit it himself, that alone ceases any anger inside of her heart. However, as his mother, she must correct him and steer him away from the wrongs.

"You stole this apple because you felt pity for that boy?". She asks him with a gentle voice to have Julius lower his guard.

"Yes…". He whispers.

"Then it's okay, I forgive you".

Her words surprised Julius, just a moment ago he thought he would be at the receiving end of her tantrum. But now he was forgiven so easily, it's strange for him to say the least.

"Aren't you mad"? He asks.

"A little, yes. However, I do understand that what you did is out of compassion and not out of greed, I cannot be mad at you. But I want you to understand... ". She crouches down and places her bruised hand on his shivering shoulder.

"No matter what the reason is, stealing is still an indignity thing to do. I want you to promise me not to do it ever again." Stella tucks out her pinky for Julius.

"Promise me?".

"I do". Julius wraps his pinky around his mother's and clenches it tight to prove his point.

"Good". Stella takes the apple and places it on Julius's right palm.

"I'm not really hungry right now. You should go and give this to Alex; she was waiting for you this entire morning."

"I understand."

Julius grabs the apple tightly into his hand and runs straight into the barn. Inside the barn is straws and dirt with only ten horses housed by some brittle stables.

As Julius steps into the barn, the screeching sound pounds on his ears.

In the corner of the barn, is a small golden horse squealing in excitement to Julius as he walks toward it.

"Yo Alex, did you miss me?."

Julius tips his foot up over the staple and brushes his tiny fingers through Alex's fur. The horse begins to squeal even louder, tapping its front legs into the ground as Julius laughs. He hands out the apple to it, moving back and forth to make the horse follow his movement.

"This is an apple; you want this, girl?" Julius asks with a sarcastic tone.

"Neigh!". Alex responds.

So just with that, Julius flicks the apple toward her, after which she catches it with her mouth and chows it down quickly in a matter of seconds.

"Good girl, good girl," Julius said as he pats her head.

"She truly is fond of you, isn't she?."

Julius turns around and sees that his mother is already in the barn with the knitting kit in her hands, smiling at both.

"Maybe because of my handsomeness." Julius laughs.

Stella chuckles at his joke. She put the half-done sweater and the kit down on an old blanket placed between the entrance and the stable, serving as their bed.

"By the way Julius, the farm owner asked us to cut down some trees near the side of the forest."

"He wants us to cut down some trees? For what?". Julius asks with an irritated tone.

"He said he wanted to expand the farm."

"That bastard,expects a fragile woman and a kid to do such a task?". Julius raises his voice.

"Well…He is the one who gave us a place to stay, the least we could do is help him out." Stella's face turns grim as she utters out those words like she is forcing herself to say them.

"...Fine. I will do it, how long did he give us?".

"Four days from now."

"I will finish it before lunch," Julius says with absolute certainty in his voice.

"Julius, I know you are strong but that is ridiculous!".

"It's alright mom…".

Julius stepped toward her with a confident look on his face.

"I just learned a few tricks, and I'm gonna put them to the test with this".