36

Your grandmother blinks. For a moment, she sits there frozen with a teacup in her hand.

"Save—what do you mean, 'save the forest'?"

"You know—stop it from getting torn down. The same thing as you've been doing this whole time."

Your grandma stares at you. The shock on her face is palpable—but you're not sure if it's fear or anger or something else that's behind it.

"Huknock," she manages eventually, a rasp in her voice. "That's—you weren't—you know that that was never supposed to be your responsibility, don't you? I never would have expected you to have the burden of trying to save the forest."

You open your mouth, a flurry of words running through your mind—but your grandma stops you with a shake of her head.

"I'm not angry, Huknock; please don't think that. I'm just…to be honest, part of me understands why you would try to do something like that. I can't blame you for it in the slightest. But…I wish I could have told you just to leave it to me. You're far too young to have this on your shoulders."

She gives you a sad look—but after a moment, she manages to turn it into a sympathetic smile.

With that, she drains the rest of her cup and sets it aside. You get the feeling she wants to get down to business.

"I don't know how much you know about what's happening right now—but you must have heard that they're going through with the plans to tear down part of the forest," she begins in a grim tone. "Of course, since you left, I've been working on the assumption that this would be the eventual outcome; it just didn't seem wise not to expect the worst. So, to cut a long story short, I've been doing my best to prepare for this situation we find ourselves in. Today…I think those preparations might be ready to be put into practice."

Next