Wendy Elisabeth looked at the sky. The sun had turned
bright orange and was soon to disappear behind the mountains. They had made
more progress today than they did yesterday, partly because Justin carried the
poor, heavily protesting mouse a few miles on his back. Thorn Valley must only
be one or two miles away from here now....

‘Wow, it's beautiful, isn't it?' Justin's voice
sounded near; he was whispering. He sat right next her. ‘Though it's nothing
compared to your beauty.' He softly added.

Wendy blushed and wondered if she could ever get used
to Justin's everlasting compliments. She gazed at him and gave him a kiss on
his nose. ‘Now, what did you mean by getting rid of Mr. Ages?' She softly
asked.

‘I meant that we'll be cutting ourselves loose from
Ages soon. I'd say... in an hour or so.'

‘And leave him here, all alone, in the middle of the
dark?'

‘Nope, I never said anything about leaving him all by
himself....' Justin said as he pulled a small wooden something out of his bag.

‘What's that?' Wendy wondered.

‘That my love, is our ticket to freedom.' He said and
he stuck the wooden thing between his lips. There was no sound, but Wendy
understood what it was; it was a whistle.

‘And now we wait.' Justin said proudly.

Wendy shook her head and relaxed a bit. ‘Ok, Justin.
Who have you been bribing?'

‘Bribing! Me? Nah, I'm just calling an old friend.'

A few minutes later Wendy heard a sound. She didn't
quite know where the soft sound came from but soon learned that the sound was
coming from above; it was Jeremy the crow!

‘What you don't know yet, is that Jeremy has given us
a han... eh wing in Thorn
Valley. He lives with us
temporary until all the hard work is done. And right now, he's within our
range, so that he can hear the whistle. See, I would have done this a LOT
sooner if the whistle would have worked a couple of miles back.'

‘Jeremy! Here we are! Could you do us a huge favor?'
Justin asked, but the crow was far too interested in the lady-rat who he had
met briefly at the day Mrs. Brisby was saved from the cat. ‘Hey, you are that
rat who saved Mrs. B!' Jeremy shouted.

‘Yes, that's me... It's good to see you again, Jeremy.'
Wendy said.

‘Jeremy, may I have your attention please?' Justin
tried again.

‘Hey! What is this all about? Mr. Ages muttered as he
came limping to the place where Jeremy was at. ‘What is this? A crow?' He
asked, while he checked his glasses.

‘Yes, sir! I'm a crow. My name is Jeremy, and I'm your
Captain today.' Jeremy said with a polite bow. ‘Captain...?' Mr. Ages wondered.

‘Yep, he's your Captain for he's going to transport
you to Thorn Valley, through the air.' Justin said with a growing grin on his
face.

‘I'm not going anywhere! Especially not through the
air, birdbrain!'

‘Who did you mean by birdbrain, mister?' Jeremy asked.

‘I guess he's referring to me.' Justin added casually.

‘Mr. Ages, don't you just think this is a great idea?
I mean, your limping has gotten worse, and I'm doing much better so... I mean,
wouldn't you just love to travel through air, feeling as light as a feather?'
Wendy said, trying to stand by Justin.

‘Well, my limping is getting worse, I hate the forest
by night and all the love-bird stuff... oh, sorry about that Jeremy.' Mr. Ages
said, while rubbing his chin.

Justin softly gave Wendy a punch and gave her a wink.
She smiled, but also got nervous. If Mr. Ages wasn't here... what will happen
between Justin and her? Oh God! What if... Oh dear, she couldn't even think about
that!

‘Oh all right, I think I'll give it a shot. I mean,
what harm could it do?' Mr. Ages said.

‘Great! Let me help you up there.' Justin said and
with a smooth movement he took the mouse by it's armpits and placed it on top
of Jeremy's back.

‘Okay Jeremy! Off you go!' Justin yelled to the crow
and totally ignored Ages' angry words.

Within seconds they were off into the air.

‘Alone at last.' Justin said and he turned towards
Wendy. When he saw the concerned look on her face, he stroke his hand through
her neck-fur.

‘Don't worry Sweetness, he'll be okay.' And he softly
kissed her.

He knew she wasn't worried about Ages, he knew she was
afraid of what would happen between the two of them. He was scared to death
about ‘the first time' as well, for he was as green as she was. She had nothing
to worry about, he wasn't planning on doing anything. All he wanted was kissing
her, giving her a great time and asking to marry her. A shiver ran through his
body. ‘Come on, let's walk a bit further. I have a surprise for you.' Justin
said, and he took her by the hand.

So off they went, this time without Mr. Ages, moving a
lot faster than the days before. ‘So, are you really okay?' Justin asked.

‘Justin, you've been asking that every fifteen minutes
these past three days!'

‘I know, I just want to be sure that you are okay,
okay?'

‘I'm okay... Justin, did I really die out there?'

‘Yes, you did... You died in my arms. I thought I was
losing my mind! It felt as if my heart was ripped out of chest and stepped on
over and over again.' Justin took a deep breath. ‘I wanted to die that very
instant, hoping to catch up with you on the way to heaven.' He softly smiled
and looked at Wendy.

‘What happened after that?' Wendy asked as she stared
right into his eyes.

‘Mrs. Brisby returned from her adventure in Porky's cage.
She overheard an alarming conversation between the farmer and NIMH. They were
planning on removing the Rosebush the next morning. Jenner was the one she ran
into first. Of course he refused to hear her story, so he attacked her. Ages
called me to safe her from Jenner. I wasn't armed, so I grabbed a stick and
went after him. That's how he injured my arm. Then the Stone, you know, the one
Nicodemus gave to Mrs. Brisby, started to glow. When he saw it he went crazy!
He jumped on top of Mrs. Brisby, trying to grab the necklace... I guess he's got
a thing for necklaces, hehe... Well, Sullivan threw his sword at me, so I kicked
Jenner off of Mrs. Brisby and then the fight began.'

‘Wow... you're so brave.' Wendy said and she gently
touched Justin's arm. ‘Did Jenner say anything during the fight?'

Justin's heart missed a beat as he heard her question.
He couldn't tell her what he said, he just couldn't! Jenner was dead, so there
was no need for her to know.

‘No, he said nothing, nothing at all.' Justin said and
quickly added; ‘Well, he was distracted for some reason, so I had the chance to
push my sword's blade into his stomach, I pulled it out, turned around and
threw it away. I thought he was going to die, but he got up, and he attacked me
from behind. Sullivan was the one who ended it. Then he died as well.

We all thought it was over, but then the Brisby home
started sinking. We tried what we could, but the lines weren't strong enough.
The Stone is the one who pulled the block out of the mud. After that, the Stone
kind of ‘flew' towards you. It landed on your chest and you started breathing
again! I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw that you were alive!' Justin
smiled and he softly touched her head and neck. He removed some of her neck-fur
to see her scar. He was amazed; the scar was so small! He could hardly believe
that so much blood could come out of such a small cut.

She gazed into his eyes. ‘You are so brave... Mr.
Leader.'

‘Oh Wendy, never call me that. Nothing has or will
change for us... well not because of the title.' Justin said and he embraced her
firmly.

‘I promise... I was afraid that things would change
between us... I'm so happy that it won't.'

‘Never.' Justin added. And they moved on again,
heading towards the waterfall.

They reached the waterfall right before dusk. The
setting sun changed the sky from blue to red and was just breathtaking. ‘Oh
Justin, this place is beautiful!' Wendy said and she gazed at the area with her
mouth slightly opened. Justin enjoyed the look on her face.

‘What do you think? Would you like to crash here?'
Justin asked.

‘Oh yes! I would love to sleep here!' Wendy answered
grinning. She was getting used to Justin's American ‘slang' more and more.

‘Oh my Lord, look at you. You're so handsome in that
dark suit.'

‘Hey, what is that look on your face?' Justin teased
when he noticed Wendy staring at him.

‘I... eh, I was just wondering... where's your blue suit?'

‘It's completely ruined. Irreversible damage, Nanny
called it.'

‘Oh, well... this color looks great on you, too.' Wendy said
with a blush.

‘Yeah, sometimes ‘change' isn't too bad.'

‘No I guess not... So, what is it like in Thorn Valley?
Do you like being the leader?'

‘Eh... Thorn Valley is great. It's beautiful, it's
safe.' Justin said, partly overwhelmed by Wendy's question.

‘And...' Wendy said, trying to push Justin into
answering more satisfying.

‘I... hate being the leader.' Justin said determent.

‘You what?' Wendy asked in astonishment.

‘I hate it. And I blew it. I admit it, I'm a loser.'
Justin said and he started walking towards the water. He kneeled down and drank
some water. He wasn't at all thirsty, he was just unsure of what to do next.

‘Justin...' Wendy sat next to him. ‘Please, don't walk
away.'

‘I'm not walking away, I'm just thirsty.' Justin lied.

‘Don't lie to me. What happened?'

‘Nothing quite happened, that's the point. I... passed
out on the way to Thorn Valley because of the arm.'

‘Oh Justin, I'm so sorry.'

‘It got infected... But I didn't pay enough attention to
it. I cut it open, a couple of miles back, but I guess the knife that I used
wasn't too clean, either. Gabriel later told me that I was suffering from
severe blood-poisoning. Brutus had to carry me up the rocks we'll be entering
in a couple of feet. The rats are now doubting the fact if I'm good enough to
being the leader, I overheard some conversations. Besides that, they are still
going to Nicodemus for answers... Like I said; I'm a loser. I need a miracle to
be accepted as a leader.' He sighed.

‘You're not a loser!' Wendy said and she wrapped her
arms around him.

‘You couldn't help getting hurt! You couldn't help the
blood-poisoning! You were terribly ill! Nobody could have dealt with that!'

Justin sadly smiled and said; ‘No, I guess not, but
they don't buy that. And then there is Thorn Valley, the world's safest place.
I will never able to prove that I deserve the title! I'm doomed.'

‘Doomed?' Wendy said, and she started to grin. ‘You're
so silly!' She gave him a push.

‘Hey, stop that! This is a serious conversation!'
Justin said, but he started grinning as well.

‘Oh Mr. Grumpy...' Wendy teased and she got up, for she
was risking a tickle-attack.

‘Mr. Grumpy? Wendy Elisabeth Victoria Emma Kenmare,
come over here!' Justin said, he got up and started chasing her.

Wendy was running like crazy, trying to keep out of
Justin's claws. Gosh, he was so fast! There was no way she was going to outrun
him!

She took a turn and hid behind a tree. For a while the
tree was a shield between Justin and Wendy. She thought she could beat him by
suddenly running away, but he must have thought about the same thing and he
suddenly grabbed her, lifted her and threw her into the lake.

‘Justin!' She screamed in astonishment, but she
admitted that it was quite funny. Justin didn't hesitate and jumped in right
behind her. They both started to laugh and started plashing water at each
other. A while later they were both resting on the side of the lake. They took
their clothes off so that they could dry. Wendy slightly hesitated when Justin
asked her why it took her so long to get her wet clothes off. She told herself
not to be silly; she had been naked in front of Justin many times before, not
even too long ago. She remembered the very first time she met Justin. It was at
NIMH. She had seen his escape-attempt and was quite impressed by the young
male. She also overheard his conversations with Nicodemus at the laboratory.
Her cage was on top of Nicodemus'. She hesitated back then to get out of her
cage. It was Justin who came by to tell her the good news. She was naked back
then, as was he. She remembered that he had approached her carefully. She was
scared, all curled up at the back corner of her cage. He convinced her of
leaving her cage and jumping into adventure with him. She knew back then that
Justin was special. She fell in love with him that very moment. Now, she was
curled up again, this time with her head placed on his chest. The sound of his
heartbeat was so reassuring that she almost dozed off to sleep. ‘Are you
asleep?' Justin softly asked. Wendy only answered with a soft moan. ‘Allow
yourself to fall into that deep sleep, Sweetness.' Justin softly whispered, but
she didn't even hear those words; she was already sound asleep.