When the sun was up completely, the party-of-three
decided to sleep a little. Walking during the night and sleeping at daytime was
a lot safer than the other way around.

They found a nice hidden spot right under a big oak.
Apart from the safety, the oak also provided a nice view over the forest. And
as the forest awakened, the traveling rats and mouse fell sound asleep. A few
hours later, Justin opened his bag and pulled out some bread, corn and...
chocolate!

Wendy had to take a closer look to recognize the big
piece of chocolate Justin proudly shown. ‘But... that's chocolate! Where did you
get that?' She said, pleasantly surprised to see it. She knew chocolate, she
had tasted it once before. She thought it was the best thing she ever tasted in
her entire life. ‘That's the correct answer! You have just won a big piece of
it! Our dear Nanny has discovered the recipe by accident. She wanted to make
that yukkie bean-soup she always makes.' Justin said grinning. ‘What? She
wanted to make bean-soup and ended up making chocolate?' Wendy asked frowning.
‘Hehe, yeah, can you believe it! She was really pissed when she thought she
ruined the soup, but Arthur wanted to try anyway. He was amazed by the taste of
it. She added cocoa beans instead of normal beans. Everyone is addicted to the
stuff. She started experimenting with it to transform it into... a more solid
something, like this here.' Justin said, and he started to break the chocolate
to pieces.

‘Ok now, close you eyes and open up... that's it.'
Justin softly said while he gave Wendy a small piece of chocolate. She wanted
to reply but before she knew it, Justin's lips were already onto hers. She
welcomed his kiss intensely.

‘What in the... Justin! What are you....' Mr. Ages
stumbled when he found the two kissing rats.

Justin slowly ended the kiss and said: ‘I was just
tasting chocolate'.

‘Just tasting chocolate....' the old medicine-mouse
repeated angrily. But he saw this romance coming for several years. For as far
as he knew, they had a crush on each other ever since they first laid eyes on
each other. He was happy for them all right, but he'd rather not under his own
nose; he simply despised romantic stuff.

‘Are you two love-birds ready for a few extra miles?'

‘Miles? He means a couple of feet'. Justin whispered
to Wendy.

‘I heard that!' Mr. Ages said and the small group
moved on, as slowly as before.

A while later, the group passed the lake where Justin
re-opened his injury a few weeks before. He knew they were half-way now.
Half-way... and they were already traveling for two days already. And he hadn't
forgotten about the question he wanted to ask Wendy. The nervous feeling he had
before struck him again, but much more powerful now. He shook his head; this
was not the time to think about that now, he had to get rid of Ages first. But
that was a walk in the park compared to the Big Question.

Justin decided to ask Wendy another question first.
Something he wanted very badly. ‘Eh, Wendy?' He stumbled.

‘Yes, Justin, what is it?' She replied as she looked
over her shoulder to check on the muttering Mr. Ages who was limping about
three feet behind them.

‘I wanted to ask you something.' Justin continued.

‘I figured that out already.' Wendy said grinning.

‘You did?' Justin asked rather puzzled.

‘Well, yes... otherwise you wouldn't have started with
‘Eh... Wendy'?' She answered frowning.

‘Oh... yeah, of course. Sorry....' Justin said smiling,
but his heart was beating like crazy; he thought she knew about the Big
Question.

‘Well, there won't be a Council anymore in Thorn
Valley.' He continued.

‘No Council? But what about...'

‘Your job? Well, that was just the thing I wanted to
discuss with you... You see... I want to offer you another job.'

‘You mean a real job?'

‘Yep, as real as can be. I want you to be my Personal
Assistant. Don't worry now, I don't want you to bring me drinks, make my bed
and you to go to the bathroom for me, hehe, just... you know, administrative
things, consulting me, being my boxing-ball from time to time, (he gave her a
reassuring wink) just being my right hand, that's about it.'

‘Oh, well... apart from the boxing-ball thing... I think
it sounds great!' She said and she gave him a hug. ‘Thank you, Justin. I really
appreciate it....' She said, when she finally released him go. They smiled at
each other, totally ignoring the angry looks of the old mouse. Justin looked
over his shoulder, wrapped his arm around Wendy, pulled her near to him and
whispered softly in her ear; ‘I have a plan to get rid of the old
mutter-mouse.'

Wendy looked right into his naughty eyes; she knew he
wasn't joking.