When night came, Darryl went to his kitchen to cook some food for him. When he was rummaging around the stuff that he brought from the village, he found a familiar bottle filled with little liquid.

It was the wild gin that Chieftain Enoch bought for Baruk Tam. He remembered seeing it earlier when he woke up in the Baruk's household and because both the Chieftain and the Baruk seemed to have forgotten about it, he took it with him, afraid that the servants would see it and might be curious what type of wine it was.

​​

So Darryl went on with his cooking and a little later, sat and ate alone. There was no company that kept the dinner table busy, only little insects that had been playing around the oil lamp, attracted by fire. Although Darryl had taught the Somer people about solar energy previously they were still not using it as they had no equipment for it. Darryl planned that after his irrigation project with the other villagers, he might push onto using solar energy as a source of electricity and share it with everyone else in the archipelago.

When night deepened and Darryl was finished with her night routine. He went back to the kitchen and decided to finish off the wild gin. So he took the bottle and poured the remaining liquid into a glass and retreated to his bedroom. With the help of gin, he was able to snooze off earlier than he used to.

***

The next morning, Darryl woke up to the sound of humming birds, celebrating the brand new morning and the fresh dew. For some reasons, probably because of his exhaustion the day before, his body refused to get up in bed and knowing he had no important tasks to finish that day, he stayed in bed long.

He was just there, lying topless as he used to and entertained himself with the usual sound of waves crashing the shore from a nearby sea and of course the morning animals and insects. He too heard a bell being rang, probably the one that the Oak School had. After a few minutes, he closed his eyes again, determined to sleep further but for some reason he heard something unusual.

He opened his eyes again as his head formed a line. He then dragged his eyes to the door of his room, wondering what was going on outside because right then he heard someone rummaging through the kitchen. Did Princess Song come back?

Perhaps she did. She might have decided to stay for a while knowing that Princess Lana was gone. She might be there in the kitchen preparing food for breakfast. Perhaps he should go and check on her.

Darryl then got up, went to the shower and after, grabbed a fresh set of clothes. He was still in the process of changing when he heard some shrieking.

"This is beautiful!"

"It is!"

"This is all mine!"

"We have to share!"

Darryl's head formed lines. Are those children? Did Princess Song bring children from the village? Judging from the sound, it looked like they were in the tree house and so Darryl went to check. He headed straight to the tree house hastily wanting to check whatever commotion was there. As he climbed onto the tree, he could hear them laughing and running around like they owned the place. Darryl only smiled. It was rather unusual to have children visiting his place this early, however, their laughter brought warmth to his house so he didn't mind. However he was curious as to who they were and also wanted to join the fun.

When Darryl reached the top and the voices of the children became clearer to her, his heart stopped. Was that his children—Willow and Wolfe? He paused for a moment at the door wanting to be certain. Their little voices rang in his ears and hit right through his heart that he didn't want to push the door open anymore, afraid that he might just be frustrated if it turned out it wasn't them. He dearly missed his children so much and perhaps such longing made him hear unreal things.

"Hush sissy, you'll wake up Appa!" One of the children chided the other and the call Appa broke all Darryl's doubts. If all this was unreal, then perhaps he can pretend it to be real for a time until his longing would be gone. And so, with some courage, he pushed the door open.

The room was bright as the rays of sun managed to peak in through the open windows. The ambiance in the room too was so alive but Darryl's heart sank when he saw no one in the room, not even the shadow of Willow and Wolfe. Indeed he was just imagining things. His children weren't there. How could they? They were in the mainland and enjoying a good life with their mother. Besides if ever they come, it wouldn't be that easy as not all people are allowed to enter the island, more so children like them.

Darryl held a frustrated sight before he decided to leave. Even when the room was bright and welcoming, he couldn't stand being there anymore, especially because of what just happened. He turned and stepped back toward the door but as he was about to something fell on his head and it went rolling down the floor. It was a small red thing and when Darryl picked it up, his brow's ceased.

"Strawberry?" He wondered why there's a strawberry in there when Princess Song didn't plant one in his garden. He was about to stand and dismiss the thought when another strawberry fell right through his head again. Wondering where all this was coming from, he looked up only to find a little girl, sitting on the top of the cabinet, trying to hold her laugh. Her once long caramel was not cut short and her eyes glowed the same mischievousness and curiosity she always has.

"You found me Appa!" Willow exclaimed.