After we had made our way out of the dungeons, and taken a moment to appreciate the new levels that we had gained (three for each of us, as seemed to be the rule so far), the two of us began to stroll through the large, open farmlands, which stood between us and the town of Westfall. It was just about the middle of the day, and quite a few of the farmers seemed to be on break at the time, as they sat drinking at long, wooden tables, and laughed and chatted, and ate their meals, as they enjoyed a bit of a break in the warm, spring-like weather.

When the two of us made our way past them, a few of the workers from one of the farms called out to us, and asked us if we’d like to have a bit to eat after our labors in the dungeons. There was a real amiability about their request, and the whole scene seemed quite inviting. So, we accepted their offer at once, and made our way over to join them.

For about half an hour after that, all of us ate our food together, and drank a bit, and talked, as we enjoyed the chance to relax together. The whole gathering had a great degree of cheer to it – it felt quite a bit like how I imagined that a good college party must have felt – and it was easy to get lost in the conversation, and to slip into a relaxed, playful state, as we joked together, and took our meals.

After talking for a little while, one of the female farmers asked quite innocently if Praxa and I were a couple. In response, the young guardswoman had turned a bit red, and hadn’t been able to say all that much in reply. But for my own part, I had said that right now, the two of us were nothing more than good friends. That seemed like the best way to phrase things, and I hoped that it wouldn’t be saying too much, or too little. But, I noticed that right afterwards, Praxa had turned to look at me, and had given me a warm, contented smile… and after that, she had seemed quite a bit more cheerful, and affectionate towards me.

At any rate, after we had eaten and chatted with the farmers for a while, the two of us at last said our goodbyes, and continued to make our way back along the path, and towards the town of Westfall. For the whole remainder of the walk, Praxa seemed very quiet, but very happy, too. She was walking quite near towards my side, and she was pointing out a few of the yellow birds that were just gently flying above the tops of the little farm houses, flitting through the air, as they sung sweetly beneath the soft light of the sun.

Just as before, the things that we talked about as we made our way through the farmland could hardly have been more simple. But, I would have had a hard time thinking of a single moment in my life that had ever been that happy, in such a deep, and radiant sort of way.

Eventually, we made our way back out towards the town, where we decided that we would go our separate ways for now. But we also decided that we would meet up again to explore the dungeons sometime early in the morning the day after tomorrow, when she was free – with a big, packed lunch this time, so that we could go for a little longer – and with the full intention of getting up to the 15th floor, if we were able.

Then, after more than a moment’s hesitation, we waved farewell. Afterwards, I made my way through the little forest, towards my temporary home; and after a brief knock, I saw the door swinging open in front of me, as Aaron and Lily greeted me, and welcomed me inside.

Each of the children seemed quite glad to see me, and they seemed eager to learn what I had been up to, and how my day had gone. So, I told them as much as I really could, though I was a little too bashful to really go into all that much detail about Praxa. Still, even from the little bit that I did say, they seemed to be able to piece together the rest, and both of them seemed to be eager to meet her, if she was going to be around.

So I decided that maybe I’d invite her over in a couple of days, if she was interested to meet them. It was a lot to ask of a girl that I had just met, of course. But given my situation, it made sense, and she seemed like someone who would understand, and who wouldn’t find it to be too much to deal with.

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After that, we talked for quite some time about what we wanted to do next.

That conversation ended up being a lot more serious than I had been expecting, and it marked the first time that the children and I had really discussed what they wanted to do with their lives.

It seemed that each of them had lost most of their hopes for the future when they had become slaves, and that they had really ceased to have any faith that they might be anything more than farmers or laborers for the rest of their existence. And it wasn’t until their collars had been removed that their original, youthful excitement had started to come back to them, and that they had begun to think about what they wanted to do going forward.

And now that they had started to think about that, they had a lot of questions for me, and a lot of things that they were curious about.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really know quite what to say right then. I was still pretty inexperienced about careers in this world, and I had no idea at all of what you were supposed to study here when you were young. At the same time though, I realized that those questions were too important to put off, and that I would need to start to figure out these kinds of things if I wanted to give them the assistance that they would need. So I decided that I would ask Roger about that as soon as he returned, and that I would think about that as well, over the next few days.

Of course, I knew that they wouldn’t have to start working anytime too soon. But at the same time, I really didn’t want to treat the two of them like “children,” either. From the days that we had spent together, I could tell how intelligent both of them were, and how thoughtful they had already become. And so it felt wrong to me to treat them like lesser beings, or to give them idle entertainments to distract them, rather than letting them work towards building a life that they could love, and be proud of. I remembered how I had been treated as a child, too – how little anyone had really respected my own thoughts and feelings, and how rarely anyone had acted as if I had any agency or power – and I absolutely didn’t want them to have to go through that same experience, if they didn’t have to.

So I decided it was going to be really important to introduce them to as much as I possibly could – as much of the best parts of this world as I could find – in order that they could start to develop their faculties, and to discover what they might like to become once they were older.

I had already noticed that Aaron seemed to have a real knack for board games, and for strategy. So, I thought that I might pick him up a few more complicated games, and perhaps enroll him in some sort of a club for a session or two. I also wondered if he might be interested in more intellectually challenging subjects, like mathematics or philosophy, and I thought about broaching those things with him at some point in the next few days, if he was interested.

As for Lily, I had seen her drawing quite a bit at Roger’s table, and it was clear that she had a real gift for creating simple and elegant sketches, and miniature paintings. She seemed to get really absorbed in that activity, too, and I’d often seen whistling quietly while she sketched the lines of her figures. And so I decided that I would buy her a couple of books on drawing, and that I would have a long conversation with Roger about his own time as a painter once he had returned from his trip.

But probably what was going to be most important would be to let them explore, and to figure out what was appealing to them. I didn’t know either of them that well yet, and from the sound of it, neither of them had seen very much of this world for themselves. So I wanted to be sure to let them have a range of experiences, in order that they could discover what they took a liking to, and what they might wish to do with their futures. I also wanted to make sure that they had the chance to explore the town a bit too, and I thought it might also be good to let them socialize with the children there, if that was possible. So I decided that I would take them into Westfall in the morning tomorrow, and to start to figure out some things from there.

For now, however, there was nothing more that needed to be done. So, after finishing up our conversation for the time being, the three of us played another round of the board game that we’d enjoyed, cooked up a bit of dinner, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Even though that was our first day together after the conversation that I’d had with Roger, it really felt like any other day… and I felt in that moment just how glad I was to be with them, and to be able to spend this sort of simple time together, after all that I had endured. But, after some more time spent in that sort of way, and a very enjoyable, and sweet kind of evening, the three of us at last grew quite tired. And so after relaxing together for a little while longer, we each drifted off to sleep, as we prepared ourselves for our day out in the town tomorrow, and for all that still lay ahead.