When Jon woke up, he realized that he wasn’t used to looking at the bottom of his top bunk. The ceiling was the first thing he had seen when he woke up always.

Now, it wasn't.

He sat up and looked out from the bed. Mercy was leaning out of the window.

“Now that there isn’t a whole bunch of caiman chewing on everything in sight,” Mercy said, “I can see how beautiful everything is. In fact..."

She turned to Jon with a sorry smile.

"It was even beautiful then too. I just…”

She sighed as she cast her gaze back out of the window.

Jon suddenly felt hungry.

“...I think I’m hungry,” Jon said. This was weird. He wasn’t used to having anyone to tell."

“We all ate breakfast already,” she said. “You slept in late."

Oh… Jon was mystified. He hadn't woken up late in a while.

"It was a little alarming," Mercy explained, "but your mother said to let you sleep in, so we did.”

“Hmmm…” Jon would have preferred to be at breakfast in the morning. Still, he needed to eat something now.

Suddenly, Hector burst into the room.

“Jon!” He said. “You need to get ready! The council is meeting soon!”

“Maaaannn…” Mallory walked into the room calmly. “Don't you know that farmers take forever to get ready?"

“I’m just trying to make sure Jon’s ready for the consulate,” Hector explained. He pointed to Mercy. “It’s not like she’s doing it any better.”

“Oh, I was doing so much better before you decided to show your ugly face around here,” she said, turning sharply from the window.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You should have made sure he was awake earlier!" Hector gestured wildly as he talked. "You shared the same room as him!”

“He needed to rest,” Mercy said.

“He needed to be ready!”

Jon didn’t know why they were arguing so much, but he needed to get some food.

He made his way past Mallory and Hector and walked downstairs.

His mother already had a plate of food ready for him.

“I heard all the rambling up there, so I assumed that you would be awake,” she said.

Before Jon knew it, he had sat down and begun eating everything on his plate.

He ate for a few minutes before he realized that he hadn’t had really tasted any of the food in his mouth.

He looked up at his mother with a sad face.

She laughed.

“It’s alright, Jon!” she said. “It’s fine! Mallory warned me this would happen. I’m just glad that it’s my cooking you're scarfing down!”

Jon grimaced.

“Do you want another plate?” she asked.

Jon nodded.

Jon had nearly finished his second plate when there was knocking on the door.

“It’s open!” Vel called.

Genevieve opened the door.

“We’re leaving, and we just wanted to say bye,” she said softly

Everyone had made their way outside to send Hestatham and Genevieve off.

“Thank you for the excess supply,” Hestatham said to Vel. “And the extra recipes. I’ll be glad to pay you for them.”

“Don’t worry, just promise you’ll come back and tell me how you like it,” she responded. “Especially the yellow.”

“Indeed.” he nodded.

Genevieve was giving her the last round of hugs.

Mallory embraced her wholeheartedly.

“See you when we get back,” he said.

“Don’t take too long,’ she responded.

She moved to Mercy, who turned away, embarrassed.

“Well, don’t be shy, hun,” she said. “We dun won a battle together. I don’t care who you are, we’re teammates.”

“...Yeah…” Mercy finally opened up and gave her a hug.

“Don’t let Hector get to you,” she said. “He just worries about everyone.”

“We’ll see,” Mercy responded.

Now, it was Jon’s turn.

He wasn't’ used to getting hugs from anyone who wasn’t his mother, but it felt nice.

“You were so brave, Jon,” Genevieve said. “You did a good job. Maybe we’ll see each other on the fields again, as equals.”

Jon nodded.

Finally, Genevieve approached Hector.

“Will you be okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he grunted.

He had his arms crossed, but Genevieve hugged him anyway.

She also kissed Hector on the cheek, causing him to hold his cheek in shock.

“Keep leading like that, and you’ll be in charge in no time!” she said.

She ran over to Hestatham’s side. They both saluted, they shot up into the air, a red trail following behind.

“Did we miss the send off?” Jon turned around and saw Dan and Jassiter in Dan's large wagon.

“I think we did, Jassiter,” Dan said. “It’ll be alright. They were in a rush.”

“It’s time, Jon,” Jassiter said, looking to his son.

Jon grimaced. It was time.