Gramps’s wrinkly fingers touched the arm of her trusty rocking chair affectionately.  Barry had made this for her seventieth birthday last year.  Now he was gone.  But at least, Victor was still with her and had helped made life a bit easier to bear.

As if in affirmation to her thoughts, the front door creaked open and a voice called out, “Gramps, I’m back!”.

“Victor, my dear, you’re back.”  She got up from her rocking chair and walked carefully with her walking stick towards him 

“Did you manage to buy the thread I wanted to mend your shoes with?” 

“Sure I did, Gramps,”  Gabriel smiled at her, “and more.”

He brought out a piece of candy from his pouch and handed it over to her.

“My sweety, you love me so much.  Thank you but you shouldn’t have spent money on this candy for me.”

Gabriel knew Gramps had a sweet tooth.  That was the least he could do to make her happy after the traumatic experience she had gone through.

Gramps gazed lovingly at her grandson as they sat down for dinner.  A lock of dark hair fell across his forehead as he bent his head over his plate. 

Life had been tough on him, on us.  It was hell losing Barry in the sea but Victor was taking it rather well.  Too small to lose another parent after losing his mother at birth.  Yes, he seemed so much emotionally stronger than I.  Without him, I would have wasted away in tears and sorrow.  God cannot be fair as life is never fair.

Her attention returned to Gabriel who was talking to her.  ”Sorry, Victor, my mind wandered.  Please do tell me again about the kind fruit seller who gave you this apple.”

After tucking Gramps to bed later that night, Gabriel sat by his window.  The moon was full and bright.  The grass patch in the garden bathed in its light.  A cricket sang somewhere from the row of small bushes lining the stoned path leading to the door.  It sent his thoughts to his visit to the cove.  He smiled as he remembered Princess’s playful antics.

He noticed something fluttering at the extreme left of the garden, near the wooden fence he had helped Gramps mend two days ago.  It looked like some sort of a huge bug with long transparent wings.  A cool breeze brushed his face bringing memories of Princess’s voice with it, “I’ll get Eller and Elsie to get their people to work faster.  They’re already flying their wings off to reach more areas.  Then, we can soon be united again.” 

He let out a long sigh and spoke softly to the wind, “Winged creasures, please, please find Victor quick.”

Somewhere in a water lily pond, Elsie’s tiny ears twitched as if they had picked up Gabriel’s plea.  She and Eller were sitting on a leaf, resting their feet and wings after a tough day of seeking.  Elsie dipped her feet into the water to cool them.  She looked at Eller in silence, her eyes asking how the other troops were doing.

Somewhere in another part of the world, something ran across a rice field at lightning speed.  It dug into the muddy water and burrowed a tunnel to the shed at the end of the field.  It emerged from the floor board and its eyes scanned the room for movement.  Its ears tuned in to pick every sound within audible distance.  There was no one there except some mice peeping out from a crack in the wooden wall, nervously checking out the intruder.  It left as quicky as it came, to other areas to seek what the world was seeking now.