It was one of those reading nights, when Tthor discovered that the back cover of the book that Murk had given him was much thicker than the cover. With a quick inspection, he saw that there was something inside, so he carefully peeled off the last sheet of the hard cover and discovered a yellowish envelope filled with seeds of different shapes and colors. There was also a sheet, written in a stylized handwriting with comments and suggestions for planting, accompanied by simple drawings of the different phases of the moon.

   Tthor suddenly woke up when he made such a discovery and read the instructions so many times that he ended up learning them by heart.

   He slept very little that night, and as soon as he heard Darius get up and prepare for the morning's chores, he dressed and went with him to the kitchen. He was determined to start a garden, following the instructions he had found. Warghost needed a garden, mainly because they depended on the air potato and Tthor was allergic to it. And he had very little variety of other things to eat. That, Tthor thought, was the way to improve his situation. The moon that night was auspicious so he told Darius about his discovery and asked him where the best place would be to do his experiment.

   Darius didn't seem convinced. He looked closely at the handful of seeds that Tthor showed him and said:

   " I don't know, Tthor, it seems like these seeds are old. I'm not sure they will germinate..."

   " I don't lose anything by trying. Also, I have the instructions here and they say that the first step is to hydrate them in a stone vessel. It occurred to me to ask Asmodeus to borrow the plate, but the problem is that I need a plot of land - not a very large one - of course, to start the garden."

   "Tthor, for a hundred years or more, Warghost's main and almost exclusive plantation has been the air potato. I don't know if you can change that tradition."

   "What if I talk to Mr. Blumber?"

   "And what would you say to him? That you want to plant some seeds that you found in a book that Murk gave you. You know that he, like his people, are not welcome here," Darius explained. But upon seeing the boy's disappointed face, he added. "The only thing I can think of is that you do your experiment on lands that do not belong to Warghost, to avoid problems and so you don't have to give explanations."

   "That's what I'll do!" Tthor exclaimed gratefully.

   Darius was moved by the renewed energy the boy displayed. He had noticed him sad since his arrival at the abbey. So he added excitedly:

   "Count on me for whatever you need and I'm sure Noel and Lee-Won will have no problem joining you on this crusade. But for no reason, abandon your chores. Avoid the problems..."

   Tthor smiled satisfied and ran to meet Lee-Won to tell him the news. But he was a little disappointed to see that Lee-Won rejected his offer of adventure, listing all the assignments they had in those days.

   In quite a bad mood, due to the rejection of his friend, he looked for Noel in the shoe store. The young girl did not hesitate to show interest in that new project. But, faced with Tthor's bad mood, she wanted to know what was happening to him.

   "Lee- Won he practically hasn't spoken to me for days. And I do not know why…"

"He hasn't told you anything..."

   Tthor sighed.

   "He always has the same excuse... that he has errands to do..."

   "And it surely is like that," Noel said as if passing by.

   "Don't know...sounds like excuses to me. I am increasingly convinced that he no longer wants to be my friend."

   Noel shook his head.

   "Nothing of that. It's your idea. He is busy. They have it from here to there. Same as you."

   Tthor looked at her seriously.

   "If you want, I'll talk to him...as my thing," she proposed.

   "No, thank you," Tthor said resolutely. "If he doesn't want to be my friend anymore, let him not be."

   "I didn't know you were so proud," Noel snapped.

   Tthor shrugged his shoulders in response.

   That same morning, after work and while having breakfast at the Kabanor stone fountain, Tthor and Noel thought about what would be the perfect place for the garden.

   After the first alternatives proposed and quickly discarded, the young woman proposed a small valley that overlooked a pond half-hidden by a group of young fir trees, quite far from prying eyes. She was only a half hour walk away. No one used to go there because, as Noel related with quite a bit of mystery in his voice, they didn't want to meet the grumpy old man, whose last name was Yalfom. Tthor wanted to know more, but she could only tell him that no one approached him because the grumpy old man didn't like people. Tthor accepted immediately but the young girl tried to propose other places and, although she spent a couple of days thinking about other options, she had to give in and reluctantly accepted.

   The next morning, Noel locked himself in the stables for several hours, with Lee-Won, while Tthor had gone to town with Darius.

   " You can't keep treating him like this. He is not stupid. He knows something is wrong with you."

   "What did you tell him?"

   "Nothing...you were very busy and that's why you couldn't spend as much time with him as before."

   Lee-Won looked down, blushing.

   " I can't stand being away from him anymore. I have thought that I prefer to be with him, even knowing that he doesn't love me the same way I love him. You can't imagine how much I miss him... so much so that I thought I'd settle for his friendship, if I haven't already lost it forever, with my attitude."

   "Nothing of that. He has been very sad these days. The only thing he talks to me about is you. But, Lee-Won, I don't want you to get your hopes up again with this."

   Lee-Won smiled sadly.

   "Don't worry. If Tthor wants me only as a friend, that's more than enough for me. I haven't slept well for days, I can't concentrate. And he's always been so good to me. He doesn't deserve my indifference. And I don't want him to be sad because of me."

   "Well said," said Noel, satisfied. "Shall we start the garden tomorrow? The three?"

   Lee-Won smiled, this time with a brighter face. Just thinking about her seeing Tthor and spending time with him made him feel alive again. And he received that warm feeling as a sign that he was making the right decision.

   Lee-Won spoke to Tthor that same afternoon and asked him if he could still be part of that project. Tthor did not hesitate and welcomed him with open arms, happy that, finally, his best friend in his world was with him again.

   And so, they got to work. And by the end of February, the soil was prepared, the seeds hydrated, and a rustic but efficient canal had been dug from the pond to the plot, forming an irrigation system that followed all the specifications that were written, to the letter.

   On the first waning moon of February, the three planted the seeds as carefully as if they were performing a fragile and very important task. They were so solemn at the end that none of them said anything. They stood looking at their work for long minutes. Tthor went over the instructions again, to make sure they had done everything correctly. And he felt very satisfied.

   "The garden of the three friends," said Noel, smiling.

   The other two accepted the proposed name, also with smiles.

   That night, Tthor dreamed that everyone was congratulating him on his garden, which in the dream was much larger and full of vegetables of various kinds and sizes and in sufficient quantity to feed all of Meaghdose. He woke up in the middle of the night feeling an emotion that overflowed his chest. And he couldn't sleep anymore. He lit a candle and began to do what he always did when he couldn't sleep: write a long and loving letter to his cousin Wilgenyna.

   But the happiness of the three young men was frustrated the next day, when after work, they ran to their garden with bags, rakes and a couple of sandwiches in their pockets like every lunch.

   The panorama was quite bleak. The entire plot that they had prepared with so much care was now a jumbled heap of scattered earth, muddy and full of footprints that shot up to the lake. The three youngsters looked desperately towards the reflecting pool. They didn't have to wait long to find out who had caused all that disaster: a huge white dog, with long, curly fur, with big ears and bulging eyes was looking at them from the rocks that bordered the lagoon. He wagged his tail excitedly and stuck out his tongue, tired and amused.

   Tthor ran towards him, leaving behind the watering can and the small shovel he had carried from the abbey. The dog seemed to realize the situation because he gave Tthor a happy bark and wagged his tail more vigorously. Another bark, this one louder, and he began to run up the hill. Thor spun just in time, onto his feet to cross his path. The dog dodged him with great skill and with a last bark he disappeared behind some young trees. In all the commotion, Noel had started a race against the dog, but he did not have enough skill to deviate in time, due to the dog's abrupt change of direction and ended up falling down the slippery stones into the lagoon.

   Lee-Won covered his face with both hands, stifling a laugh. He ran towards Noel, who was now sitting, in the pond, waist-deep in mud and an amused smile on her face. Tthor, seeing that he had lost sight of the dog, headed quickly towards the lagoon, but he was too fast and when he tried to stop, it was too late. He crashed into the back of Lee-Won, who was holding Noel's hands and trying to lift her up. Tthor slipped in the mud and fell face down on the arrows of water that filled that entire part of the lagoon. Lee-Won took the worst of it, falling on his side and scraping her arm on the edge of a coarse green grass blade.

   Tthor only had the strength to straighten up and sit close to Noel. Lee-Won was smiling, despite the scratches on his arm, which were bleeding, turning the water a deep pink color.

   "Well," said Tthor, half an hour later, while he wrung his shirt and pulled out some arrowroots from his hair, "maybe today it was my turn to take a bath..."

   The three young men returned to the abbey, still amused by what had happened.

   " I have more seeds. But we'll have to do something about that dog... By the way, where did he come from?"

   "He is the grumpy old man's dog. His name is Byddo," Noel said, as they said goodbye at the main entrance of Warghost.

   Darius found himself in the courtyard with the two young men who were leaving puddles of water and mud everywhere.

   "Did you have fun?" He asked with a smile.

   Lee-Won and Tthor nodded.

   "Well," said Darius, standing between them and wrapping his arms around them, "nothing that a good bath won't fix!"