Cury took a deep breath as he woke up in his bed. The sun was shining outside his window.

He estimated that it should be about lunch time, based on how a tree in his backyard cast its shade.

He was still confused because of what had happened early this morning. Pete had offered Mike, Stella, and Sun to sleep in his bed and they had gladly accepted his offer.

The old woman stayed in the guest room, while Pete decided to stay awake for another day.

“I have lots of thoughts and hypotheses about my research, also I need to double check with some books that I borrowed from The Great Library” is what he said.

Cury sat up and yawned as he stretched his arms upwards.

“Meow”

Cury looked towards the window. The yellow cat from yesterday was sitting on the window ledge.

“Hey little cat, how did you get in here?” He said with a happy voice as he stood up from his bed and walked slowly towards the cat.

The cat meowed once more and allowed Cury to pet it. Being this close to the cat, he noticed that all its paws looked like white socks.

“You are so cute little cat! I’m sure father will let you stay if we ask nicely!” He said.

The cat purred and pushed its head into his palm, then it turned around and scratched at the window.

“Oh, I see. You want to go outside! Of course!” Cury said and let the cat leave.

Then he looked at his bed table and a red glass met his gaze.

“I forgot about that! I need to tell father right now!”

Cury got dressed and left his room in a hurry. The door to his father’s study room was slightly opened and that meant that his father was still in there.

He pushed the door gently and entered the study room.

Pete was sitting at his desk, writing with deep focus. He probably did not realize that Cury had entered the room.

Cury cleared his throat and Pete jumped in shock.

“I didn’t hear you enter, good morning Cury!” He said as he fumbled with his papers.

Cury smiled, his father’s eyes were glowing bright yellow, which usually meant that he was excited or overly interested about some topic. Then he answered, “Good morning!”

His father stared at him, waiting for something. That is when Cury remembered why he entered the room in the first place. “Right!” He said as he smacked his forehead with his palm and pulled out the red vial from his pocket. “I wanted to show you this, it’s how I ended up with my clothes torn!”

Pete stared at the vial for a second before he said, “My red sand vial?”

Then he took another look. There was something inside the vial.

“Cury, what did you do?” He asked hesitantly.

“Research of course! A field-study!” Cury joyfully explained.

Cury looked at his father’s expression, he was speechless.

“And what did you do with my vial?” Pete asked.

Cury thought for a second, how was he supposed to word this without getting scolded?

Then he decided to be honest about it because that is what his mother always told him. Honesty always lasts longer than lies.

“I borrowed your red sand vial and I had some theories based on your previous experiments with plants and their leaves. Those that died because all their leaves suddenly fell off. I drew the conclusion that what made them fail was a property in red sand that blocks what mother used to call magic. I tested my theories by capturing this bloody Queen ant!”

Pete stared at the vial. That thing inside, it was an ant. A bloody ant at that. What is worse, it was a Queen.

“Cury, you know damn well that the Bloody soldier ants don’t give up once someone has taken their Queen. They can track you down for miles, running home with that wouldn’t save you!” Pete said.

He took the vial from Cury’s hands and spoke again, “We need to release her, or we’ll have an infestation.”

“The Bloody ants won’t come for us” A voice said from behind them. It came from Sun, who was standing right outside the door.

“They will! It is in their nature!” Pete retorted

“They won’t! They have a new Queen!” Sun insisted.

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Pete shook his head. There was no helping it, this child refused to listen.

“Sun, a Bloody ant doesn’t just get a new Queen on a whim. That is unheard of!” Pete said and looked at Cury for help convincing her.

But Cury only shook his head back and told him, “It is the truth, as soon as I had captured the Queen, the rest of them let go off me!”

Pete pondered for a moment, thoughts racing through his head. He played with the idea, what if they were right? What if this was the truth?

“Let’s pretend that what you are saying is correct, do you know what that implies?” Pete finally asked.

Cury shook his head and answered, “No, but it would be really cool! Besides, they attacked each other before the new Queen was in charge.”

’They attacked each other?’ Pete thought to himself.

That could only mean one thing.

“Cury, Bloody ants don’t attack each other without a reason. That only happens when there is a power struggle for leadership, only the strongest of them takes the throne. The Bloody ants are alone with this behaviour, which is why rich lords try to get their hands on them. A special organism with a rare behaviour, collectors would go crazy if they knew you could capture a Bloody Queen ant without having to ruin their entire colony!” Pete said in shock. He now believed every word that he and Sun had spoken.

Cury smiled, his father believed him. Moreover, he did not seem to mind the fact that Cury had borrowed his red sand vial.

Sun bounced up and down, she was also happy that they had convinced Pete that they were telling the truth. Then she rushed into the study room, grabbed one of Pete’s hands, and one of Cury’s. Then she pulled them out from the room with confidence and said, “Now that we have solved this, let’s eat lunch!”

The Seer welcomed them to the table.

It seemed that she did not sleep this morning, because she had baked some sort of mushroom bread. “Please, taste! It is my specialty. Even Lords would sing high praise for a piece of this bread!” She said.

Mike took a piece, eager to taste this amazing bread. Cury, Pete, Sun and Stella all looked with high expectations as he bit down on the bread.

As Mike’s teeth touched the bread however, Cury noticed a sly smile emerging on the Seer’s old face.

“What in Hosgrund’s….” He said as he immediately spat out what he had bit off.

“I feel sick, that taste! Such a disgrace to bread!” Mike blurted out.

Stella was shocked, her beloved man was never this rude. What exactly was in that bread?

Pete looked amused at Mike’s face of disgust, then he took a glance at the Seer and he suddenly realized what was about to happen.

“This is going to be good” He said, as he put his arms behind his head and leaned back on the chair.

The old woman stood up from her chair and marched like a storm around the table to where Mike was sitting.

“Such a pity, this grown up man has the taste buds of a worm. He would not know if he was eating boar ribs or rotten meat!” She said and huffed some air.

Cury and Pete both looked at each other with a smile on their faces. They had both been through the treatment that Mike was about to experience.

“Taste buds of a worm! Have you tasted this bread yourself!?” Mike said flustered.

Stella stood up and put a hand on Mike’s shoulder and said, “Mike, apologize. This is not like your usual self.”

“Thank you, Stella, but this is a matter between me and him. He has disrespected my skills!” The Seer said, as she pulled out a stick from within her robe’s arm.

Mike shook his head.

“No, I will not apologize. Taste this bread for yourself Stella and tell me what you think!” He said.

“Can I have some too? I want some of the bread!” Sun shouted.

Stella was angry, angry at Mike. She did not hesitate and went straight for the bread. She took a big bite and.

And?

Her face paled of shock.

‘what was this taste? How can bread tastes like gravel mixed with poison ivy?’ she thought. Although, she had never tasted either, she was quite sure that this is what the bread was made of.

“See what I’m talking about now, Stella?” Mike said seriously and nodded.

Stella gulped, thanked the Seer for the bread and walked outside.

Shocked by the departure of his wife, Mike could not help but be dumbfounded.

Then, the Seer readied her stick for some exercising and launched a strike towards Mike.

Mike stared with his eyes wide open at the stick that was approaching him fast.

“All right! Okay, thank you for the bread! I take back what I said!” Mike exclaimed.

Pete fell off the chair laughing. “Mike you tool, she is just messing with you. This is but a harmless prank!”

Mike had closed his eyes, ready for impact. But the strike never came.

He opened his eyes again and looked at the Seer who was standing in front of him with a large smile plastered on her face.

“It seems like I accidentally picked the wrong mushrooms for my bread. Surely you would not hold a grudge towards your elder?” She said mockingly as she pulled out another loaf of bread.

“This is the real deal. I know for a fact that this is the bread I was talking about earlier.” She claimed.

“Have a taste!” she added.

Mike stared at her with a suspicious look, eyed the loaf in her hands but abruptly denied her offer.

“No thank you, I am full.” He said.

In hindsight, this joke was funny if he was to be honest. He liked it when people had the courage to pull a prank on him if it was well intended.

“I’ll have some!” Sun almost shouted. She could not contain her excitement and jumped off her chair and took a slice of the bread in the Seer’s hand.

Then she pushed the entire slice into her mouth and bit down on.

Mike covered his mouth with a hand. He was still wary of whatever this woman in front of him had to offer.

But the face of disgust did not appear on Sun’s face.

It was a face of joy.

Sun put a hand on her cheek and smiled.

“This bread is what dreams are made of.” She said with her eyes closed.

Cury smiled as well and took a slice for himself. Pete followed close behind and grabbed one.

Mike simply stared at these people. Were they in on it? Was this an elaborate plan to fool him and Stella? If he took a piece now, there was nothing to say that they were not simply acting like this one was better than the other torment, he thought to himself.

Then he looked at his beautiful daughter’s face. She seemed so happy, from a piece of bread.

Surely his little fox would not make such a face for no reason.

He decided to trust his daughter and reached for the bread in the Seer’s hand.

But when he should have touched the bread, he felt a stinging pain in his hand instead!

“No thank you, I am full I believe you said just now” The Seer said, almost taunting him.

Mike hesitated, but decided to play along and answered, “I must have been mistaken, may I please have some?”

Pete slapped his knee. This was too good! This Seer managed to embarrass his old friend with such ease. Well, if he was to be honest, he might have acted differently if Stella and Sun were somewhere else.

“Well if you ask so kindly, how can I refuse? My heart would not allow it!” the Seer said with an innocent tone.

Mike took a bite, then he felt it. It felt as if he travelled to the deep forests. He could hear the songbirds sing. This bread truly was what dreams were made of.

Soon after, Stella entered the house again. She looked better than before she ran out, but she was still slightly shaking. She saw her husband, sitting with such a calm and happy expression on his face.

She had heard their conversation from outside, and decided to taste the bread as well.