"Ah thought so, ye spend near damn every day wi' her for tha past two years...if that ain't some kinda love I'll be buggard by a damn harse," Errol gave Randy a rough pat.

Randy smiled a bit at that. "She is a wonderful girl. I do pray that this life doesn't kill her wild spirit, hard though it may try."

"Nah, That one's got fire, she'll be a'richt," said Errol, "gonna be an awful dull year fer us though,"

"That is true." Randy's brow furrowed. "But a year goes by quickly enough." His expression changed with the thought that, while he may not have Alissa's company, he would still have the others to speak to, including Ellen...

It was a relatively nice year, save for the visits with Winston, Ellen made sure to keep Randy company and Hans even approached him one day with a request to learn better English from him.

While his own knowledge of English was not complete in every way and was sometimes sprinkled with guesses or substitutions from older languages, Randy's ability to understand and convey what was being meant without direct translation came in handy. And despite not being a native speaker, his grasp of the language was indeed as good as if not better than that of many who were. Still it felt strange to have such a thing asked of him, given what seemed such a short time ago that he had been in a similar position. All things considered, he was confident in his ability to help. He would teach Hans in much the same way he'd learned it, himself.

Hans was a quick learner and it was clear that the young man was exceptionally intelligent and cunning, as his English vocabulary grew he revealed himself to be surprisingly clever and insightful and even at times, poetic.

Randy found that he enjoyed Hans' company the more he got to know him. He said as much one day, noting how glad he was that the man seemed to have opened up to him since their initial meeting.

Hans beamed and presented Randy with a small potted plant, "This is for you, to thank you for your help!"

Randy thanked him with a grin. "I have never kept a plant... What is it?"

"It's a tulip, I brought some over from Holland," explained Hans.

Randy gave the flower a sniff. "Well, it's lovely."

Hans smiled, "Just give it a little water every day, and some sunlight!"

"I can and I shall. Thank you again," said Randy. This time he held the plant close to his face, examining it from all angles and carefully tracing a finger across the leaves. He was very tempted to taste it, but thought better of that.

Hans smiled and went to do his chores, and so the year passed and the day came for Alissa to return to the manor....

As promised, Randy was eagerly awaiting her arrival with open arms.