A year and half went by fast and nothing had changed much in Princess Song"s household aside from the fact that the ration comes smoothly every month and the smell of fresh strawberries that Xhemin and handmaid Lin harvested from the backyard. Princess Song"s health had improved too but she stayed on bed most of the time and refused to step out as if nothing fun was waiting for her at the outside world."This is our second harvest ever since you planted the strawberries," Handmaid Lin uttered as she was was.h.i.+ng the fruits in the kitchen. For the past two years, she had learned a couple of skills from Xhemin like cooking and farming. Nevertheless, even though there were always food on their table these days, living in the mountains with Xhemin and Princess Song burdened her heart especially that Princess Song was still acting sick. She might not be sick physically now yet, she was very weak emotionally.
"Yes, Professor Owens was right. The soil here in Manggan Island is good for planting strawberries. I wonder then why no strawberries grew here" Xhemin replied while helping the handmaid. The Little Miss had been accustomed to living with two, Handmaid Lin and Princess Song. Professor Owens and Bitbit came to visit them regularly too since the road was now safe and ever since the Chieftain"s heir came back alive, the Highest Princess stopped plotting bad things against princess Song. However, the Chieftain"s heir did not come to visit them even once and that made Princess Song lonelier.
"We do grow strawberries before. I think," Handmaid Lin recalled.
Xhemin turned to her with a frown, "This is the first time you told me that"
"Well I"m not sure with it the first time I saw the strawberries you brought but during our first harvest and I tasted a fresh ripe strawberry, I knew by then that I had tasted it before," The handmaid explained. Indeed, if her memory served her right, she had tasted strawberries before when she was young.
"Before?" The handmaid got Xhemin"s all attention by then.
"Yes. I remember before I was sent to the palace to become a handmaid, my grandmother used to give me strawberries. This fruit had been banned after few years" Handmaid Lin continued further.
"Banned? By whom? You mean its not allowed to grow strawberries anymore?" Xhemin asked worriedly.
"Not as I know of. Before I become a handmaid, I had studied all rules in the Manggan Island, and I don"t remember a rule banning planting strawberries. Perhaps it was never been banned at all, but the farmers and growers stopped planting it and that"s why it was lost in the market" Handmaid Lin completed her story that brought much curiosity on Xhemin.
"Are you certain about that?" Xhemin confirmed.
"Yes. When I first tasted it again after few years, I know I was talking about the right fruit. If you let the elders in the village have a taste, then they will tell you the same as I"m sure they too had tasted it decades ago." Handmaid Lin a.s.sured her and turned to get a new basket of strawberries only to find that some baskets were missing "Where are the others?"
"Oh, its in the backyard. I forgot about them," Xhemin scratched her head when she remembered the thing. "I"ll go and get them a now,"
Xhemin exited out from the kitchen and went to backyard to get the basket she left out. She was whistling happily to the birds when she stepped into the sun, but she halted few meters away from the strawberry field, bewildered on what she found.
"Hey!" She shouted surprised to find someone eating the strawberries she left. Xhemin"s expression darkened with what she saw as it took them half morning to harvest those fruits and the culprit, she captured was eating a handful mercilessly as if there"s no more tomorrow.
"Thief! Thief!" Xhemin shouted again, she picked up a fallen branch with the intention of using it against their unwelcomed visitor who seemed to be oblivious of her presence. Xhemin ran to the person"s side and raised the branch into the air to beat the thief.
"That is not yours! You thie—" Xhemin halted her attack when she realized something odd about the culprit. He was an old man, he had the long white beard that hang on his face, but he was clean and neat as if he had been regularly grooming himself. Xhemin also noticed that his feet had dried mud and were dusty that one can tell immediately that he had walked a long journey before coming here. To the top it all, the man was eating the fruit rapidly, stuffing his mouth too full as if it he had not eaten his entire life.
"Mister, you"ll choke yourself," Xhemin"s expression smoothened upon the view that surprised him. She threw the branch away as the man seemed very harmless "Eat slowly, there"s a plenty of it. It will not run out"
The man"s head c.o.c.ked to the side and his eyes s.h.i.+fted from the basket to Xhemin. A surprise expression registered to his face as if it was only then that he realized he had a company but a minute after, his eyes dug deep into Xhemin"s face as if he was trying to recall a memory deep inside him.
Xhemin"s head frowned upon the old man"s reaction. "Are you okay? Your tummy probably is sick right now since you had been eating to much strawberries" The Little Miss added as she sat on her knees to level with the man and checked the basket he had stolen.
"Child," The man uttered slowly as his once expressionless eyes suddenly turned watery. He was about to cry and yet a big smiled erupted from his face as he reached a hand to touch Xhemin"s face.
Xhemin for the nth time was astounded to how the man"s expression changed and when he started caressing her face as if she was someone very familiar and dear to him. However, what came after that made Xhemin more surprised than what she previously was.
"My child," The old man said as tears fell from his eyes completely.