Farewells

The next few days Haruki and the others were kept busy with cleaning up after the Michaelmas festival and doing the usual farm chores.

Soon planting for the winter wheat would begin, so that their crops would be able to create strong roots before going dormant until the spring. However, this wasn’t quite as labor intensive, and Johannes had only agreed to keep Haruki around through the harvest.

It was doubtful they would keep him much longer, he knew his time on the farm was running short.

He tried thinking of a plan for what to do after leaving the farm, but kept drawing up blanks. His only idea was to go around begging random farmers to let him work in exchange for room and board, but he wasn’t sure how far he could get with that.

He had no savings or wilderness survival skills to rely on. Unless he got lucky soon after leaving, he might just end up starving to death.

At last, the inevitable day of departure finally arrived.

That morning he heard a knocking on his bedroom door.

“Yes?” Haruki asked, making his way to the door.

When he opened the door, he saw Lillianna standing before him, teary-eyed. She came running in and hugged him, pushing her sobbing face into his chest.

Haruki was startled and didn’t know what to do in the situation. He carefully placed his arms around her to comfort her.

“Un…c-ccle sa-... h-hic…you gotta g-g-... sniff… b-b-but I don- sniffle wanna… I’m… sniff… gonna miss…”

Haruki couldn’t make out much of what she was saying between her sobs, but he could easily guess what she was crying about.

“C-come on… it’s alright. There’s no need to cry, it’s not that big a deal,” he assured her, trying to calm her down. “I’m just going on my way, I can’t stay here forever.”

“B-but…!” She hesitated. “O…o-okay.”

She grabbed a wad of Haruki’s shirt and blew her nose into it, like a tissue.

Did she really have to do that?

“S-sorry,” she said, looking at him with watery eyes. He couldn’t help but forgive that face.

Haruki changed into another shirt. I’ll have to make sure to wash that off before I leave.

They both headed down to the kitchen table where Johannes was waiting for him.

“Unfortunately, I’ll have to ask you to leave today. I hope you can understand, Haruki,” he said.

“Yeah, I understand,” Haruki solemnly replied. “I know I’ve already overstayed my welcome, and I’m ready to leave. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me these past couple months.”

“Here, boy. Before you leave, I want you to have these.” He placed two cloth bags on the table. “In this bag is some bread and other dry food; in the smaller bag there’s a couple coins. This should be enough to get you by for at least a week.”

“I don’t really deserve all that, you’ve already given me more than enough.”

“Listen, son. I need you to take these. It ain’t much, but it’s the least I can do for you now that you’re leavin’,” Johannes said.

“But…”

“You helped out a lot durin’ the harvest, your work was worth more than your keep. I’d feel bad if I didn’t give you at least this much, you’ve earned it.”

Haruki took the two bags hesitantly, emotions welling up inside of him.

Haruki bowed to Johannes. “Thank you so much, sir! You both have been far too kind to me, you’ve given me more than I could ever ask for.”

A couple drops of tears fell to the floor. He squeezed his eyes shut to hold back the rest, before raising his head back up again.

“I-I’m going to miss you, Haruki,” Lilliana said.

“I’m going to miss you both a lot, too,” he replied. “I promise I won’t ever forget you two.”

“Alright you two, there’s no need to make this any harder than it already is,” Johannes interjected. “Haruki, go ready your things and tell me when you’re ready. I asked around the other day at Michaelmas, but none of the farms around here are lookin’ for any extra hands, so I’ll cart you a couple villages over.”

Haruki went and gathered what little clothes and items he’d been given together, and also washed his shirt out at the well.

The three of them got into Johannes’ farm cart together, which was pulled by a horse-like beast called a Chevald.

As they rode off, Haruki spotted Rudolph a distance down the road, waving at them. He waved back, remembering that he may never see his big friend again either.

***

They arrived at their destination several villages over, in the farms surrounding a town called Marigeld.

Haruki hopped down from the carriage and began to walk off.

“Good luck out there, son!” Johannes yelled.

Haruki turned and waved one last goodbye.

“I’ll give it my best shot!” he yelled back. “Oh, and Lillianna, don’t forget your promise about the book!”

She just sat there and waved, looking like she was on the verge of tears again, as they headed off.

He walked from farmhouse to farmhouse, no matter how much he was turned down his spirit radiated with hope.

He had become a completely reinvigorated man in the past two months since Johannes found him in the mud. Life hadn’t become any easier for him since then, but for some reason now he felt as if he could handle it.

The kindness of Johannes and his love for Lillianna fueled his heart.

I’m all on my own again. From now on, I’ll have to learn to stand on my own two feet. In a couple weeks I may be dead in a ditch again somewhere, but this time I swear: as long as I’m still breathing, I won’t give up. I’ll try my very best until my last breath.

It doesn’t matter how long fate lets me live. As long as I give 100% to living, I can die without any regrets.