Chapter 8“Are you packed and ready to go?” Gerulf asked his children.
“I am,” Niko replied, gesturing to the over-stuffed backpack sitting on his bed. “Dacia…” He shook his head.
“I tried,” his sister whined. “Honest, Daddy. But there isn’t room for everything.” The open backpack on the bed was filled with what, to Cailean, looked like enough homemade stuffed animals to satisfy every young girl in the village. Beside it, in relatively neat piles, were her clothes.
Ylva appeared with an empty box, giving her granddaughter an amused if somewhat frustrated look. “You don’t need to take every one of your toys, child.”
“But Grandma…”
“I know, they’re important, the same as Niko’s books are, which he will come back for later, once you’re settled in. Gerulf, Cailean, Ludolf would like a word
