Charlotte spent the rest of the day at the excavation site trying to learn something from Dad about his passion: Archaeology. She followed Dad around as he spoke in almost without pause, explaining to her the various findings they had dug out so far from the two sites. Shards of pottery, kitchen utensils, remains of cloths, as well as some remnants of weapons like the tip of arrows and knives were also found.

"Look at these weapons, Charlotte—" Dad patted the tip of arrows and half piece of a knife that were laid on a makeshift table in the tent. Charlotte looked at the darkened pieces of artefacts. "We don't know who used them. Did they kill with these? Did they protect their family?" Dad sighed. "Weapons are only as good as their handlers. The ones who wield them. They can be for good, for guarding or protecting, or for bad, for robbing and killing." Dad paused like he was in deep thought about the weapons found.

After a few seconds, Dad spoke again and changed the topic of his talk."It seemed to be a community that had within it its own hierarchical chain of command, also a burial ground. We have to dig further to see where the burials were. Look at those pottery, it showed some paintings, possible some animals that they had hunted—a bit hard to decipher, but we'll see what's left of it," Dad wiped the sweats on his forehead while Charlotte smiled and nodded. "Wow, Dad. Coming here is the best vacation decision I have ever made."

"I hope I don't bore you too much, Doctor Charlotte Lee!"

"Nope. All's good, Father!" she teased Dad back. She saw Ellie busy writing on her journal in one the tents. She seemed better now and that helped lift up Dad's mood too.

Then she played with Emily after the little girl took a power nap in the tent.

It was a fun day for her, and at the end of the day, she went across the forest again with Dad and Ellie to go back to their cottage. This time she did not feel like she was being watched, and that helped her feel much better.

She looked forward to the next day at the excavation site. She already thought of a few simple games to play with Emily.

Ellie got better and was much more talkative and laughed a lot too. Charlotte decided that she liked Ellie, and she was glad Dad and Ellie found each other.

<<<>>>

The next day, the sun shone and temperarture felt warmer because the spring inched closer to summer. Dad and Ellie were excited by the perfect spring-summer weather, they even talked about a possible picnic.

Charlotte decided to wear her spring dress, a spaghetti-strapped yellow cotton dress and a navy blue wool cardigan to handle the cool wind. Her sneakers were muddy but that did not bother her. Her slingbag slung across her body, and she was ready.

Emily was already at the site when she got there, and the girl was already bored. Since it was Saturday, there was only one other person working there at the site: Michelle, Emily's mom, who would just work for a couple hours because she really wanted to finish taking some notes so she could work on it in her spare time back at the place where she stayed.

Emily started whining, and MissCharLee and her red clown nose came to the rescue, while Dad and Ellie were busy discussing something in the tent with Michelle.

<<<>>>

Arran grasped the jute bag in his right hand. He watched Charlotte from behind a tree at the edge of the forest. His heart thumped hard. He wanted to back away, Sylve and her followers were in their deep rest again, but how about if they were awake earlier today?

This is crazy, Arran! How are you going to let Charlotte have the bag of berries without being seen? How?! And do not forget, your blood is tainted. You do not deserve happiness, kindness, all that is good. You are dispensable. Leave a gentle, kind soul like Charlotte alone. Back off now. Go back to the shadow, to the prison of scarlet fence and scarlet bracelet where you belong.

Arran reprimanded himself in his mind, and he hesitated more and more.

His doubt won. With his head bowed, he turned around, the jute bag hung limp from his hand, and he started walking back to the enchanted castle of Sylve. He had to stop dreaming, he promised himself that.

Suddenly a loud whooshing sound came from above him.

Arran thought that was the sound of the wind, but it got closer.

And closer.

He turned around, looked up, and saw a golden eagle. The same golden eagle as yesterday, the one with a tuft of reddish feather right on top of its head. Its strong wings flapped fast and it swooped down.

"You—" was all Arran could say when the eagle swooped so close to him that he jumped back a couple steps, dropped his jute bag, and the eagle grabbed the bag before it hit the ground.

"You! No!" Arran tried to grab the bag, which was a futile effort because the eagle had flown high with it. Arran stared above in disbelief, then he paused and nodded. "Fine. Take it. Take it, Sir. Share it with your friends. I have no use for it anyway."

Arran took a deep breath and was ready to continue his journey back to the castle when he saw what the eagle did.

His eyes widened in shock. The eagle kept flying to where Charlotte was sitting alone on the grass plain.

Then the eagle swooped down to Charlotte, and she looked up in shock and flailed her arms.

"No, no! Please do not hurt her—" Arran shook his head in worry, his feet were ready to spring up and get out of his hiding spot to chase away the eagle from Charlotte.

But the eagle did not hurt Charlotte, instead it swooped just low enough to gently dropped the jute bag with berries in it on Charlotte's lap. After completing the drop, the regal bird simply flew away.

Arran could not believe his eyes, and he slowly stepped into the shadow of a massive oak tree to see what would happen now.

<<<>>>

MissCharLee worked for a bit then Emily wanted to read a book. She ran to her mom to get a book from her mom's backpack.

Charlotte sat on the grass plain not far from the excavation site, waiting for Emily and staring at the forest far at the other side.

This feeling again. Is someone watching me now from the forest? Charlotte took a deep breath.

Who are you? Why don't you come here and introduce yourself to me? She asked again in her mind because she simply could not shake off that feeling: The feeling that she was being watched. She did not feel scared or anything, it was more like a curiosity. It was like her gut feeling knew she was being watched, but nothing dangerous about it.

If you are awkward, don't worry. Me too. Like, super awkward. I'm just a nerdy girl who clown around to entertain kids. No boyfriend! Don't think I'll ever have one at this point. Charlotte chuckled at her own internal dialogue.

Then she heard something. Like wind whooshing from above her.

She looked up. "What the f—" she whispered when she saw a large eagle swooping down at her.

She flailed her arms to try to scare off the eagle, but the eagle kept flying down, slower now, and it dropped something on her lap before flying away.

A small jute bag tied wih a red jute rope was now on her lap.

Charlotte froze for a few seconds.

An eagle just dropped a jute bag on her lap.

Charlotte decided to have a look inside the jute bag, so she opened the red rope, and looked inside the bag.

"Berries. Strawberries, blueberries ... they all look so plump and delicious," she whispered to herself. She took one strawberry, looked up to see if the eagle would come back.

No sign of the eagle.

"There must be a family somewhere, doing picnic, and the eagle snatched their picnic fruits ... and ... and dropped it on my lap," Charlotte put together a weird-but-likely scenario. "Weird, but hey, these berries look so good!" she examined the content of the bag again.

"There is no way I can find out to whom these berries belong to—" she thought, looked around again, then she took a bite of the strawberry on her hand.

Sweet, slightly tart, with a nice chew. Sun-ripened. Fresh. Juicy.

Delicious.

She plopped the rest in her mouth, and started eating more ...

<<<>>>

Arran nodded in satisfaction when he saw Charlotte busy eating the berries from his garden.

"It seems like you like the berries. Good," he whispered to himself, he almost smiled though the smile was swallowed back when he remembered who he was.

"Eagle, Sir, thank you," he whispered to the sky before turning around and starting his walk back to the castle of Sylve.

He decided this would be the last time he ever did something like this. It did feel good, it did feel like—for a fleeting moment when he saw Charlotte enjoy the berries—that he was capable of happiness.

But that was not meant to be.

He shut his eyes, pressed his left palm against his facial tattoo—a tattoo, a reminder for him that love was not for him.

He was raised with the knowledge that his life was dispensable, he was the untouchable, he ranked below human beings. He was a warrior that had to go into battle when Rogh became strong enough to come all the way up here, to this beautiful green earth.

For her safety and protection, Charlotte should and would remain a distant dream for him.

I wish you happiness, Charlotte. I do not know who you are other than your name, but I believe you deserve all the goodness in this world. He was quiet for a few seconds, then he nodded his head, trying to convince himself that he had to go far away from Charlotte, from the world of warmth and light and laughter and dancing and singing.

When his heart was finally convinced, he walked home to his prison, his abode in the shadow of the scarlet fence.