Somehow, everything came back to that mountain. Belgrieve stared out the window again. It was right around this season too... Contrary to the chill autumnal breeze, the forest was ablaze with red leaves. That fall, on that mountain... If I hadn’t found Angeline back then...
“I’m sure something changed for me the moment I found Ange. Life has been all surprises for me... But I loved every moment of it, and I’m grateful to her for it all.”
“I could say the same. It really was my good fortune that I came to know everyone in Turnera,” Seren said.
They both sat there in contemplative silence for a while at that table. Their teacups were still warm enough for hot vapor to trail off into the air before vanishing.
The distant sound of a rooster’s crowing roused Belgrieve. “Now then, it’s about time I head out to work.”
“Yes, sorry for holding you up. I’m looking forward to when Angeline returns. I’m sure she has plenty of new stories to tell.”
“Yes, I’m sure—and she’ll be thrilled to share them with all of us, no doubt.”
Belgrieve was smiling unreservedly when he left the office.
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“Dad, look! There’s so many of them!” Angeline raced over with a handbasket overfilled with cowberries. She didn’t even seem to care when a few of them tumbled over the edge and scattered at her feet.
Belgrieve smiled and patted his daughter on the head. “Now, now... There’s no need for hurrying.”
She held aloft her basket triumphantly, proudly sniffing and puffing herself up. Judging from the red splotches of juice around her mouth, she had already done some snacking.
Belgrieve teasingly prodded her forehead. “You ate a few, didn’t you?”
“Nooo!” Angeline protested, but she was clearly mirthful as she held up her basket. “We’ll eat well tonight!”
“Hey now, you’re not going to eat all of those, are you?”
“I can’t get enough of them!”
“You’ll make your tummy upset if you eat too many at once. Enjoy them in moderation.”
“Ugh... Fine.” Angeline grumbled, a bit discontented, but didn’t complain as she pushed the basket onto her father and rushed back into the thicket with an empty basket. This grove of cowberries was in the middle of the forest, but in a rocky, sloping clearing with ample sunlight thanks to the lack of tall trees around, which also accounted for the ample autumn sunlight that made the red fruits glisten like gemstones.
Angeline stooped down without a word to pluck the berries and toss them into her basket. There were far too many of them strewn about for this to qualify as a treasure hunt, but it was the sort of work that a child could enjoy. Perhaps it didn’t hurt her enthusiasm that she could eat a couple of the berries whenever she wanted, her face glowing every time.
Belgrieve ate one of the cowberries, popping it between his teeth and enjoying the sensation of chewing the small seeds within. The initial wave of potent sourness instantly gave way to mellow sweetness urging him to have another. This was one of the season’s greatest treats for good reason.
Unlike Belgrieve, who needed to exercise caution when navigating the brush with his peg leg, Angeline could get around nimbly and fill a basket far faster than he could, a fact that seemed to delight her. Sometimes she would compare her own basket to Belgrieve’s and laugh triumphantly.
“Are we going to make jam?”
“We could. We dried them out last time.”
“We’re going to need a lot of jars, then.”
Canning was an effective way to preserve the berries through the winter. Aside from jams, they would also store boiled vegetables and mushrooms pickled in oil this way. Most of this was done in earthenware pots, but sometimes, they would use glass bottles bought from peddlers. The sight of all those jars and pots of preserved foods lined up on the shelf made Angeline feel practically affluent.
As evening drew nearer, they transferred the cowberries from their handbaskets to the larger one slung over Belgrieve’s shoulder. And with that, they made their way back down the mountain. The sun was setting before them, casting long shadows along the trail behind.
Angeline was swinging around a stick she had picked up along the way as she marched on ahead of her father, who was slowly following her. They had climbed the mountain together so many times before that Angeline knew the path well enough.
“Ah, Ange. Not that way.”
Even so, she made occasional mistakes. Belgrieve’s warning stopped Angeline from wandering down an animal trail.
“Really?” she asked, turning to him.
“Really. That path was made by wild animals.” Angeline looked back and forth between the animal trail and the one they ought to take before running back to Belgrieve’s side and clutching his hand.
Crimson boughs loomed overhead, and it was fast growing dim out. The forest’s atmosphere was changing from what it was when they had arrived earlier in the day, and it was making her feel a bit anxious.
Belgrieve smiled. “We might get lost if we’re not careful. Now let’s go.”
“Yeah...” Angeline squeezed his hand and looked up at him. “Will we make jam when we get home?”
“Sure. We’ll need to make a whole lot, or we’ll gobble it all up before spring.”
“Do you think the first snow will come soon?”
“I’m not sure about that.”
Whenever the first snowfall of the season happened, Angeline would have fun scooping up a layer of the soft, topmost layer of frost into a bowl, which she would then drizzle with cowberry jam to eat. Even so, she still loved fresh cowberries more than anything.
Before long, they had come down from the mountain. The sky had turned purple, and there were no longer any shadows at their feet. The cold descended upon them from the sky, and the wind made her skin feel prickly. Not far off ahead of them, she could see columns of smoke drifting lazily into the air from chimneys all over the village as they approached.
The autumn festival was coming soon, and not long after, winter would be upon them.