The 48th day of Spring, 256 (Zymorday) 

"Well, well, well. Look who is already here?" asked Kroth Lemor after seeing the lumberjacks arrive in his yard, and a big smile appeared on his face. 'Maybe I was too lenient to them before. I should have threatened the old man sooner.'

"My Lord, we have brought the trees," Gan said while making a small bow.

"Good. For the last thirty days, you always brought the logs in time. I can see that your fear towards the beasts encourages you to work faster." The Village Lord laughed, then threw a pouch, which contained the men's wages, to his most trusted worker.

Gan looked into the money bag, and he was just about to divide its content when he realized that the tiny sack was much lighter than yesterday or the previous days. But before he could say anything, Kroth Lemor stated, "Give everyone seventy copper coins... Since there are eighteen of you and not fifteen, that is needed for the job, you get less. If someone does not like it, then he does not need to come tomorrow."

No one liked the Village Lord's words, but no man dared to disagree with him. All of them were afraid that they would end up with the same fate as Peryl. They didn't do anything. With their hands clenched into a fist, the lumberjacks stood in the yard helplessly, just like the oak trees did before they were cut down.

Since Kroth Lemor didn't see anyone objecting, he turned around and went into his house.

Right after the Village Lord disappeared from their sight, Gan gave everyone his daily wage with a sad face. Then the workers slowly walked out of the gentry's yard.

Zan was also amongst the workers, and with a bitter expression, he was looking at the dirt tait as he was heading home. 'Three tenths ago the Village Lord's problem was that there weren't enough workers, and now there are too many? As if he wasn't the one who threatened Uncle Peryl,' he thought to himself. However, even he wouldn't think that six villagers would come to the old man's aid and would hire themselves as lumberjacks.

He was even more surprised that after that particular afternoon, Mylk no longer came to work. In the village, people were saying that the mustached man went to a city to try his luck. Zan didn't care about what was going to happen to that annoying fellow. However, he was quite happy that Mylk left Lemor, as he no longer had to listen to the man's mocking.

"Zan!" a thin voice suddenly broke his train of thoughts.

Zan looked up and saw a girl waving her hand towards him. From time to time, the spring breeze lifted her red skirt, showing her thin legs, and because her white baggy shirt was loose on her, the wind highlighted her young feminine shape. She had to hold down her reddish curly hair so that it wouldn't dance in the air, and when Zan looked at her, a wide smile appeared on her ruddy face.

"Liria? What are you doing here?" Zan was surprised.

"Aunty Arilia asked me to tell you that she had to go to the town for some medicine. But she prepared lunch for us and asked me to bring it to you on your way home," Liria said as she raised the basket in her right hand. "Let's go to the Giant Tree and eat it there."

"All right," Zan nodded. Right now, Liria looked so adorable in her new clothes that he couldn't say no to her.

A few hundred yards to the east of Lemor, there was a 130 feet tall old oak standing alone in the field. On Feastdays, which were the last day of the tenth, most of the families consumed their lunch under the big tree, in the fresh air. In the summer only under the oak's large branches, could someone feel pleasant as its huge foliage gave shelter from the burning sunlight. Children usually spend their time playing under the huge there. Young couples also went there to escape from their parents' watchful eyes, and in its shadow, many of them even shared their first kiss. Having all of these thoughts swirl in her head, Liria was blushing from head to toe and couldn't say anything to Zan on their way to the big oak tree.

Once the pair got there, they laid down a brown plaid on the grass, sat down on it, and started eating their lunch. Arilia made peach jam sandwiches for them, which was Liria's favorite meal. The little beauty liked everything sweet, but she especially loved the peach jam that Zan's mother made from the tree in their backyard. As the fruit's flesh was soft, juicy, and very sweet, it was easy to understand why she liked it so much.

While they ate their meal, Zan told Liria about his day, that how hard the lumberjacks worked, that they even finished the job in time, yet the Village Lord still reduced their wages. She listened carefully to his story, and sympathy could be seen in her eyes; however, she couldn't comfort him with any words.

"Do you still remember when we first met?" Liria asked after a little while.

"Of course," Zan smiled. "If I remember it correctly, then this summer will be the seventh year since I first saw you here, under the Giant Tree. Both of us were so little, and if I remember it well, then even at that time, I ate a jam sandwich."

"Yes," she laughed. "That time, you really should have been eating it, but you only licked the jam off the bread slices and smeared it all over your face. Aunty Arilia was scolding you because of that, and everyone was laughing at you."

"Everyone except you, because you wanted to take my lunch."

"That's not true."

"Oh, yes, it is. I know it well because that was the first time I saw you. At that time, you were licking your lips and were drooling for my sandwich."

"If it bothered you that much, then why did you give me one?"

"Because I saw that you have already eaten your lunch, and it was written all over your face that you wanted to eat more," he said with a smile on his face. "But as I see it, ever since then, our jam has been your favorite food."

Liria did not respond to the boy's teasing but continued her meal with a reddened face. Meanwhile, she thought that after that day, how much easier it had become to get up early in the morning and doing the housework.