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He’d seen insects attack a crop; he’d seen plants lost to flood, to drought, or to negligence But in all his years, he’d never seen anything like this This was so They didn’t talk about it, not when the children or youths were around The adults quietly gave what they had to the young and to wo dry, the stores spoiling, the crops dying

The letter in his pocket said his own far mercenaries They hadn’t harmed anyone, but they’d taken every scrap of food His sons survived only by digging half-grown potatoes fro theround, inexplicably full of wores were suffering the sa trouble feeding its people

Staring down those neat, perfect rows of useless apple trees, Al to re all his sister had worked for fail and rot These apples…they were supposed to have saved the village, and his sons

His stomach rumbled It did that a lot lately

This is it then, isn’t it? he thought, eyes toward the too-yellow grass below The fight just ended

Alht on his shoulders Adrinne, he thought There had been a tih, quick to talk Now he felt worn, like a post that had been sanded and sanded and sanded until only a sliver was left Maybe it was ti on his neck Warmth

He hesitated, then turned weary eyes toward the sky Sunlight bathed his face He gaped; it seeht It shone down through a large break in the clouds, co a loaf of Adrinne’s thick sourdough bread

Al a hand to shade his eyes He took a deep, long breath, and smelled…apple blosso

That was plain ridiculous He rubbed his eyes, but that didn’t dispel the i out between the leaves The flies buzzed into the air and zipped away on the wind The dark bits of apple on the ground melted away, like wax before a fla left of theround had absorbed the? Apple trees didn’t blosso mad?

Footsteps sounded softly on the path that ran past the orchard Al down out of the foothills He had deep red hair and he wore ragged clothing: a brown cloak with loose sleeves and a simple white linen shirt beneath The trousers were finer, black with a delicate eer," Al what else to say, not even sure if he’d seen what he thought he’d seen "Did you…did you get lost up in the foothills?"

Thesharply He seemed surprised to find Almen there With a start, Aler looked about, then breathed in deeply "No I’ time since I’ve understood the path before me"