Braeland

Chapter 41. The Feast

Two weeks after the Battle of South Braeland, as it came to be called, a celebratory feast was held in Consensus Hall in Middle Town, Braeland.  Representatives from all parts of the nation were there.  Never was there such a feast in living memory.  Meats and preserves of all kinds, fresh fruit, and the very oldest wine from the cellars of Consensus Hall.  

At the place of honor, the head table, were the military heroes.  Mortimer of course was there.  Next to him, on an elevated chair and with the best selection of cheese the nation could offer on a platter before him, was Parsnips.  Also at the table were Prudence, openly wearing the medallion, Peter, sitting closely to Charlotte, Martin, with Siegfried on his shoulder eyeing the meat, Jim who wore a beaming smile throughout, Rula, who seemed shocked at the expense of the feast.  Sitting at the second table among the chief councillors were Lara, Anne and Mary, who blushed when Jim winked at her.  

Many stories of the recent battles had to be told and retold.  Parsnips had one of the most interesting of these tales.  He told of how shrews and mice sneaked into the corrals where the Troken horses were held and how they tried to persuade them to change sides.  Some horses simply wouldn't listen because they were loyal to their masters and they tried to stamp on these little intruders.  But others listened and admitted that their masters treated them cruelly, and then the word got around by the horses themselves.  

Parsnips said, of the bears, "We needed those big fellows because we knew about the wolves.  But have you ever tried to round up a pack of bears?  We finally convinced some of them by saying that the Trokens chop down berry trees. Some we got out of hibernation and I have never personally experienced any animal as grouchy as a bear woken up from his deep sleep.  That's why it took us so long to get organized.  However, the big fellows came through for us and I now count many of them as personal friends.  Here's to the bears and all the other animals!"

And a loud, laughing toast was made to the animals. Toasts had already been made to all the people sitting at the front table.

At long last the feast was over and the friends from both worlds returned to the archives.  

"Now it is time for our friends from the other world to return and resume a normal life.  If so, you are always welcome to return here but you need have no concern about us now.  With the gifts you brought to us, we can secure our borders for many a year," said Mortimer.

"I shall miss you, even though we will return for short visits.  It will not be the same," said Prudence.  Mortimer looked sad but did not speak.

"Mary, I understand that you and your daughters have decided to stay here in Braeland.  You know you are welcome to return to our house," said Jim.

"Oh, we would be too much trouble," replied Mary.

"Never," replied Jim.

"Perhaps someday, one of us may come to stay but it is too soon for that," said Mary softly, looking at Charlotte and then at Jim.

"Perhaps more than one of you," sighed Jim.  

"I would like lots of holidays there.  Thanks for the computer though," said Anne.

"Rula?" asked Jim.

"No, I've got my work cut out for me here.  I will miss you all so much.  Come and see me sometime and stay in the house they're going to make for me here," Rula said.

"Ahh. . . so it is just us Jamiesons and General Parsnips that will be going back to the humdrum of our city lives.  Martin, does that include you?" said Jim

"No, I'll have to be a regular visitor but I need to stay here to carry on with the archives project."

"Grandfather, how long will that last?" asked Peter.

"I don't see an ending in sight my boy, and that is the truth.  Don't worry.  In a sense, I am much closer to you than I used to be in Africa."

They were all exhausted and emotionally drained.  Jim suggested that there was no time like the present for them to make their departure.  There were hugs and kisses all around.  Peter delayed for rather a long time in his hug with Charlotte.

"Before we go, I have an announcement to make," Prudence said, surprising them all.

She continued, "This part of the quest is over and I have had both the pleasure and the burden of wearing the medallion.  It was Peter who did the work of putting the medallion together and he was the original one to wear it.  I wish now to return it to Peter, as rightfully his."

No one spoke.  Peter had tears in his eyes.

Prudence took off the medallion and held it out before Peter, saying, "I give this medallion to you freely."  

Slowly Peter took it in his hands and placed it over his head.

"And now brother, get us home.  We've got a lot of excuses to make for being absent from school and a great mountain of homework," Prudence said.