My parents got down from the wagon and my father took the horse that had been pulling us and hitched her to a nearby tree. “Well done Mildred. You’ve done good, girl.” He said, producing a sugar cube from his pocket and feeding it to the elderly shire horse. 

“I’ll get started on dinner, would you mind filling the waterskins and getting any kindling you find on the way back?” My mother said as she climbed into the rear of the wagon alongside me and started opening a sack and producing a few root vegetables. 

“Of course, I’ll take the herb kit in case I come across any medicinals for you and Gwynn.”

“That’s a great idea, let me grab it for you from the bag.” Mother moved over to a beaten rucksack and pulled out a small leather-bound pouch as well as a waterskin on a rope before leaning out the back of the wagon and passing them to my father. She was still clearly shaken and in dire need of a good rest and probably some healing but she was smiling even if it was forced it was still a miracle with what she’d been through. My father reached out to brush her hair out of her face and she flinched, the two shared an awkward look, unsure of what to say before parting. “Oh Malcolm, if you see any mushrooms too please pick them for the stew!” My mother shouted after my father, to who I was finally able to put a name to instead of referring to him internally as the babbling man. Dad nodded and put a thumbs up in the air as he wandered off into the forest. Looking past my mother I could see the trees here were much greener than where we had been earlier. We must have travelled quite some distance as there was practically no snow in this area apart from the odd lump on the ground, one of which seemed to move… wait? “Oh my god! Is that thing still following us? Shoo! Go on, get!” My mother had too spotted the moving white mound and was attempting to scare it off. No! No Mum, don’t! I tried to formulate a sentence but even to my ears, all I heard was varying volumes of garbled noises. Clearly, despite the ingestion of the information I hadn’t quite mastered my control over my vocal cords and mouth. “Huh? Oh darling did I wake you up! I’m sorry- Oh gods!” The white shape had dashed past my mother as she had turned to look at me. My mother’s screams turned slowly to confusion as she tried to rationalise the sight in front of her. The white shape had sprinted as fast as it could over to me and collapsed in an exhausted heap, curling up near my head as not to put any added weight on me and began quietly napping next to me. Jack! I can’t believe it! My happy squeals and yelps seemed to put my mother only slightly at ease. She pulled out a knife and began preparing the vegetables while keeping a firm eye on Jack and me the whole time. She was in no state to try and fight off Jack so the best she could do in her mind was to wait for Dad to return and see what he made of it. With the warm and soft Jack curled up by my head, I couldn’t help but drift off too. I faintly recalled being partially woken and fed some mushed up carrot but my gods I had never been more delirious than I was at this moment and sleep kept a firm grasp on my mind and soul. Not even the cold wind of the night’s air on my bare bottom could wake me as I was changed and cleaned.