Chapter Text
Till took a deep breath and leaned his chin down, it almost touched his chest and gave a quick look: everything seemed to be alright; but Till wasn’t stupid and he knew that he had to be extra careful and he had to go home as soon as possible – nobody had to find out that he had disobeyed the orders and he had entered the Forest.
The thing between Till’s arms was little, and it wasn’t shaking anymore thanks to Till’s body warmth – that realisation made Till smile, he didn’t want to let this thing die – he would do everything he could in order to keep it alive.
Even hiding it at his place, and that was going to be an interesting challenge, but he didn’t care: saving a life was always the right thing, and it didn’t matter to him if the Elders of his village didn’t approve it. He could ignore them, take care of the thing and once it will be healed, he would gladly help it going back to the Forest – where it belonged.
Yet, he had to reach his home and it seemed it was his first challenge – Till could sense that something was following him, but he didn’t know what and he didn’t want to know it, too.
The thing moved a little bit, and Till pull it closer to him, keeping it safe against his chest and then whispered “Don’t worry, you’re okay” and then started walking faster, and tried his best to avoid every potential danger.
Funny, because he had no idea of what a potential danger looked like. He had no clue.
He normally didn’t care if he fell down, it wasn’t a big deal – but since now he was holding something fragile, he didn’t want to hurt the thing.
Till hoped that the Elders didn’t notice that he hadn’t been at work that day, and nobody would appear at his place asking questions. Normally nobody would get closer to his place, only his friends Oliver and Paul, but they were different from the rest of the inhabitants, so, it wasn’t exactly a big deal.
Yet, Till wondered if someone had noticed his absence that day and he kind of wished he could leave the village and live in the Forest, but he couldn’t.
It was against the rules – and Till hated it. He wanted to break the law and do whatever he pleased, but unfortunately for him, he couldn’t do it yet.
And most importantly, he hoped that the little thing would survive – he could feel it breathing against his chest and that was indeed positive. Still, it was now shivering for some odd reasons that Till didn’t know, and he had no idea about what to do, he didn’t have anything to cover it, besides his own shirt.
With a sigh, Till stopped walking and sat down next to a tree – he immediately looked around to be sure that nobody was approaching them, and gently moved away the thing from his chest and carefully looked at it.
The thing was small, and Till could see that it was surprisingly thin, and it didn’t look healthy. There were several bruises on its body, and there was some dried blood on the thing’s back – and Till didn’t like seeing it.
“Come here” he whispered and tried to put his long shirt on the thing, but it wasn’t exactly easy because the thing was curled against itself, protecting its belly and most precious organs in order to survive. That sight made Till worry, he had no idea why the little creature was this scared, and he hoped he wasn’t hurting it in any way – he simply wanted to help.
Since the thing was clearly scared and injured, Till didn’t want to lose time – he needed to go back home and help the little creature. He had to clean it, and make sure it was warm enough to rest and eat something so it could heal in no time.
He hoped.
Till’s long shirt was now surrounding the thing, and it seemed it worked a little bit: the shivering had stopped, and Till sighed in relief: he could move and go back home now, and he didn’t care that now his whole torso was naked.
Luckily, nobody was there and no one would see the scars on his back and make comments on them. Normally, Till wasn’t bothered by his own scars, but at the same time he didn’t like seeing people’s gaze observing his skin like he was a strange creature as well.
Those were the result of his father’s anger – and luckily Till was free now. Nobody could harm him anymore; he was strong enough to fight and win. Everyone knew that, and he was glad about it: it meant that nobody wanted to deal with him and he liked staying alone.
It was a win-win situation.
Not to mention that Till’s father had drowned in the river, and Till had celebrated his death afterwards – he had thanked the creatures of the nature, and he had thanked the Forest itself, even if it was deadly forbidden from the Elders of the village. He didn’t care: he was finally free; nobody could harm him anymore and that was enough to be happy and celebrate.
The thing between his arms whined softly, again, and Till walked even faster and sighed in relief when he saw the end of the Forest – he could already see his own place, which was a bit far away from the rest of the village, and closer to the forest, on the other hand.
“We are almost at home” he whispered, and dared to caress the thing, who whined softly again – and Till widened his eyes when he felt his hand being wet.
That wasn’t a good sign.
~~~
The thing was peacefully asleep – it was now clean, and Till bandaged the injuries, after having cleaned them. Those injuries weren’t that bad, luckily, but still Till didn’t like those: he couldn’t recognise which kind of weapon could make this damage – and that wasn’t helpful.
What if he did something wrong?
Till wasn’t a medic but he knew how to do some stuff, because his grandmother taught him how to do several things, and Till had never felt that grateful like in that moment. Thanks to her, now Till knew how to read and write, and even how to use natural remedies for every situation, like this one.
The thing was now snoring, and Till smiled at that sight: he didn’t know that magical creatures could be so similar to humans.
Yes, because Till was sure that the thing was indeed magical, there was no room for doubts. He didn’t know which kind of creature the thing was, because he wasn’t sure he had enough knowledge to recognise them.
There were fairies, shapeshifters, mermaids, gnomes, goblins and many others, as once Till’s grandmother told him, and she tried to teach him how to recognise them, saying that none of them were bad creatures, but Till’s father didn’t want to and didn’t allow his son to go visit his grandmother after that meeting.
Till was so disappointed, he wished he could recognise the creature in his bed: only because he wanted to be sure he was doing the right thing and he didn’t want to disrespect the creature. His grandmother once told him that magical creature are generally nice, but they were extremely proud and didn’t allow being disrespected from unknown people, especially humans.
The thing was still asleep, and Till allowed himself to relax a little bit. He had to think about what to do. He didn’t want to disturb the sleeping creature, but at the same time he was kind of worried: did he put the bandages correctly? Were they too tight? Too loose? Was the creature uncomfortable with those things around their body? Was the thing hungry?
Too many questions.
The only thing Till could do was patiently waiting and see what was going to happen later.
~~~
Oliver was a morning person by nature, and this side of his character actually helped him dealing with his life, since he had to wake up early in the morning every day – and he was never bothered by that.
“Do we really have to?” asked a voice that Oliver could recognise everywhere. There was just one person in the world that would approach him with such a sleepy face, and yet stubborn energy at that time of the day.
Paul.
“Yes, we do” Oliver replied and gave a piece of bread to his friend “Eat this” and Paul gave him a big smile as a reply.
The two of them were studying to become medics for their own villages, and the main problem was that Paul wasn’t exactly interested into that, but unfortunately, he had no choice: the Elders of his village had decided, and he was forced to do it.
Same went for Oliver, who had been sorted by the Elders as well. To be fair, Oliver was kind of glad that he had been chosen, because he truly wanted to learn something useful and he didn’t want to end up like the rest of his family members.
Becoming a medic was indeed his only way to save himself as well, before saving other peoples’ lives. So, he had embraced his fate and he ended up liking what the old medic was willing to teach them.
“I don’t want to” Paul whispered and gave Oliver a sad look “You know I’m going to puke if see another… sick body” he sighed “Sometimes I wish I could do another job, but then I remember I’m unlucky and this is the best thing that could happen to me” another sigh, this time louder “And obviously, I don’t like it”
Oliver sighed and put a hand on Paul’s shoulder, gently caressing it “I know” then he squeezed it “It’s not your fault”
“It’s… just, disgusting?” Paul tried again “It feels so wrong” he scratched the back of his neck and sighed, again “I mean, it’s fantastic being able to help people, but… there’s something wrong with their bodies”
“Try to ignore it” Oliver replied – he had no idea how to cheer his friend up, so he gave him the most logical suggestion his mind could think.
“It’s not going to be easy, and you know me” was the not-so-happy reply that Paul gave him, his hair was still a bit messy and he clearly didn’t want to look like a medic already, so he kept his hair in this way.
That was so silly of Paul – especially because the old medic would scold him, again and again, because he had already lectured him about the importance of a certain look.
“Yes” Oliver admitted “Let’s try this way: behave and we’ll meet Till, when we’ll be free later”
A huge smile appeared on Paul’s face “That’s a deal” and Oliver nodded, happy to see that his friend had finally agreed to behave in a proper manner.
“And brush your hair, don’t piss the medic off this morning, so we can leave earlier than our usual”
Paul pouted, but then did as he had been asked. With his fingers, he tried to comb his hair, and once Oliver approved his effort, they started walking again.
They were headed to the medic’s office, which was at the opposite side of the village they had just entered.
~~~
A little whine broke the silence and Till immediately opened his eyes – he had fallen asleep after cleaning the wounds of the little magical creature in his bed. Once he made sure that everything was alright, his eyes started closing and Till knew it was a lost battle: he had to sleep a little bit.
Since he didn’t want to leave the creature’s side, he had slept with his head on the mattress – he wasn’t scared of sleeping next to the thing.
Fully awake, Till carefully observed the thing: something was happening and he didn’t know what to do.
Another whine – it was definitely a painful one, and the thing slowly opened it eyes and it began to panic.
“You’re safe” Till tried to say, he didn’t know what to do or say in order to calm the thing down, who was trying to remove the bandages from its waist “Don’t” Till tried to stop it gently putting his hand on the thing’s shoulder “You’re hurt, and those bandages are helping you”
The thing stopped moving and observed Till – better saying, the two of them observed the other one, and Till could tell that the creature was still trying to understand if he was a potential danger for him or if it could trust him somehow.
“W-where am I?” the creature managed to ask after a while, its voice sounded uncertain, like it wasn’t used to talking, or something similar. Or maybe it was because it was scared.
Till blinked twice – he didn’t expect that, and so he tried his best to explain everything in the easier way he knew “That’s my home” he replied “I found you in the Forest, and… you were injured”
The creature widened his eyes and Till noticed that the colour of those eyes reminded him the colour of the sky in summer – especially the summer he had spent with his grandmother; when she taught him how to be independent. The woman didn’t trust her son-in-law and she wanted her grandson to be ready to live without the help of any adult around him.
She knew.
And she couldn’t say it out loud.
“R-really? W-what happened?” the creature asked again, and then a perplexed expression appeared on its face when he moved his hands closer to his face; his big eyes were carefully observing his hands, that were covered by little cuts and they were a bit swollen as well.
“I have no idea” Till explained “I found you on the grass under a big tree” he sighed “And I simply couldn’t let you die there”
The creature kept observing him, analysing every aspect of him and then he stated “Are you one of us?”
“I’m a human” Till replied and he immediately regretted it as the creature widened his eyes in alarm and tried to move away “No, please! Don’t” he gestured “You have to say still, you need to rest and I promise you I won’t harm you”
The creature was now shivering in fear, and his big eyes were now full of tears “Don’t hurt me”
“I won’t” Till tried again, he didn’t know what to say to calm the thing down “My… grandmother taught me about magical creatures that live in the Forest” he began, and it seemed it was the right way because the creature was now carefully listening to him, even if it still looked a bit scared of him.
“… And she told me that we humans shouldn’t be afraid of the Forest, and we have to respect every inhabitant.” Till was now saying, trying to remember which were the exact words his grandmother used “And I trust her” he added with a soft smile “Plus, I simply can’t ignore when someone is hurt”
The creature slowly nodded – and his eyes looked tired already. It seemed it was too tired to keep talking, but at the same time it was indeed scared. Till could tell it from the body language of the little thing: it was tensed, and it seemed it was afraid of him and didn’t want to be vulnerable around him.
“Can I ask you what kind of magical creature are you?” Till asked gently – he hoped he would get an answer, so he could read one of his grandmother’s books and see if he could find any helpful information about it.
The thing was almost asleep, and then it whispered “I’m a fairy”
~~~
Fairies – according to Till’s grandmother – were the nicest creatures in the Forest. Normally, they would look like tiny humans with wings, but they could turn themselves in human shape, too.
They always had wings – those were beautiful, and they allowed fairies to fly around without any problem. Fairies were well-known for their eccentric taste, and they liked to decorate their wings with floral details.
But the thing in his bed didn’t have any wings on its back – and Till could tell it, since he had cleaned the wounds, and there weren’t any wings. Just… wounds.
When Till cleaned the wounds, he had seen the back of the fairy: it was covered by bruises, cuts and it seemed it had tried to fight back, but it didn’t win.
Then, a thought popped in Till’s mind, and it made sense – and Till hated it. He had understood what had happened to the thing and gasped in horror.
Someone had cut the wings of the creature – that was why he felt his hand wet when he had caressed the thing’s back. It was still bleeding, probably because Till had moved the fairy and the broken skin reacted and bleed again.
Now, the dried blood made sense to him, and Till wanted to puke – but at the same time he didn’t want to leave the thing alone.
He needed to know how to deal with an injured fairy, and he hoped he would find something in one of his grandmother’s books.
The old woman was one of the smartest people Till had ever met in his life, and he could tell that because she was able to ignore her son-in-law ideas and she did whatever she pleased. Till had always admired her, and he missed her so much.
Till stood up and carefully moved away from the bed, yet he still kept an eye on the creature sleeping and once he was sure that nothing odd was happening, he finally allowed himself to look at his book shelf and tried to see if he could find the book his grandmother had written when she was younger.
The creature whined, and Till immediately turned to see what was happening: the fairy was crying in its sleep. Till didn’t know what to do, he wasn’t sure how to look after an injured magical creature, and he hoped he was doing the right thing.
The young man sat again on the chair and carefully observed the thing in his bed – it was too pale for its liking, it looked unhealthy and then another thought popped in his mind.
Till gently grabbed one of the hands of the creature and once he noticed that the body temperature was too low – the creature was freezing – Till immediately put a warm blanket on the bed and carefully cocooned the fairy “Don’t die, please” he whispered.
The fairy kept sleeping, and Till smiled in relief: it wasn’t shivering anymore, and the body temperature wasn’t that bad anymore. It was still looking unhealthy, and Till was afraid it was due to the bad cuts on the creature’s back.
Still, Till needed answers and stood up again, the book he needed was on the last shelf and once he saw it, it made him think of his grandmother. He wished she were with him; she would have known what to do and he was sure she would have known how to save the fairy’s life.
But Till was completely alone – with an injured fairy in his bed.
~~~
“What do you mean he’s not there?” asked a voice, and it sounded concerned “What happened to him?”
“He was kidnapped” another voice replied “By the humans”
The other voice didn’t reply immediately, then a loud whine broke the silence.
“We need to find him” the second voice added – it sounded scared, but yet determinate.
~~~
Water was boiling, and Till carefully added some leaves – he was trying to prepare a herbal tea, that was supposed to help the fairy healing its wounds.
Or, at least, that was Till’s grandmother wrote in the book, and Till trusted her with his life. She taught him so many things, and he kept doing everything he had learned from her, and it worked.
The herbal medicine was almost ready, Till blended it another time – the smell was great, and it reminded him the Forest, and he thought that was indeed a good sign.
The fairy was no longer asleep – his eyes were open and big, carefully observing the room around it and it looked somehow less scared than before. The creature had noticed that Till was nowhere to be seen, and that realization hit it harder than it expected.
Being afraid of the humans was the first rule it learned when it was a baby fairy – humans were bad, they wanted to harm magical creatures and that was the reason why no magical inhabitant was supposed to leave the Forest. They weren’t allowed to have any contact with the human world.
But now, the fairy had met this gentle human, who had taken care of its wounds and had put a warm blanket on the bed as he hard its whines during the sleep.
Still covered by the blanket Till had put on it, the fairy tried to sit on the bad, but groaned in pain as the wounds on his back were hurting so bad – and Till heard the noise from the kitchen.
In no time, Till was back there in the room, and he looked concerned “Don’t move” then put the cup he was holding on the night stand “Let me help you”
The fairy froze – the human was really close to its body, and he was so scared right now. What if the human changed his mind and hurt it? Why was there a cup that smelled like the Forest?
“Can I?” Till asked, and slowly approached the creature, showing his palms in order to allow the fairy to see them and be sure he wasn’t going to harm it in any way.
The fairy nodded and closed its eyes, scared to see what was going to happen – and a surprised sound escaped from its lips as it felt Till’s warm hands helping him sitting on the bed – it was quick, and it didn’t hurt.
The fairy opened its eyes again and blinked – that was extremely confusing, and he still wondered if it was a good idea trusting the human, who was looking at him with a friendly smile on his face, and his green eyes were full of concern, and they didn’t look disgusted.
Which was an interesting thing to know, as the fairy had been told that humans didn’t like magical creatures and they were afraid and disgusted by them.
“I made… this” Till began, and grabbed again the cup from the night stand “It’s for you”
The fairy smelled it, and its heart started beating faster – the herbal tea smelled exactly like the ones it used to drink with its friends in the Forest when they were sick.
Why a human knew how to make it? No magical creature would inform humans about their lifestyles.
Till carefully looked at the fairy, who was now slowly sipping the medical tea and smiled when he saw the relaxed expression on the creature’s face – it wasn’t looking unhealthy anymore.
“T-thank you” murmured the fairy, and Till immediately grabbed the mug from the shaking hands of the tired creature in front of him.
“You’re welcome” Till gently replied “Do you mind… if I clean your wounds, now?” then he gestured awkwardly at the bandages.
The creature fell silent and Till wondered if he had said something wrong, but then the fairy spoke again “Does it hurt?”
“Just a tiny bit” Till admitted “But I’m not hurting you on purpose” he explained “I just want to help you, so you can heal and go back to the Forest” he sighed “I know that… magical creatures don’t like humans, and I don’t want to force to stay here more than necessary”
“Okay” the creature nodded “Don’t hurt me” it added – it seemed it was a sort of a pattern, Till noticed. It broke his heart, as he was used to be perceived as a potential danger from the people of the village, but at the same time he didn’t want to be one for magical creatures.
“I won’t” Till said and then he stood up, so he could bring the items he needed to clean the wounds of the creature. It wasn’t an easy task, because the fairy wasn’t in its human shape, but it looked like a tiny human.
“Can… could…” Till began hesitantly – he didn’t know how to ask, mostly because he didn’t want to make it like an order, since that was another thing that magical creatures didn’t like: receiving orders from humans.
The fairy blinked twice and gave him a perplexed face “W-what?” the voice unsure and somehow concerned – it didn’t fully trust the human yet, because for its whole life everyone kept telling it that they had to stay away from the humans because they were enemies – and now there was this human who was being incredibly nice to it and it didn’t know what to believe.
“What’s your name?” Till asked and carefully moved closer to the bed, making sure that he wasn’t doing any quick or odd movement “My name is Till” he introduced himself and then started removing the bandages on the fairy’s left wrist. He didn’t want to scare the little creature.
“Flake” the fairy replied and somehow relaxed under Till’s touch – it was gentle, warm and Flake could sense that the human wasn’t going to harm him.
“Can you turn into a human shape, please?” Till asked once he had removed all the old bandages, that were stinky and covered by red spots of dry blood.
“W-why?” Flake suddenly felt unsure – he never liked being tall like a human, and he wasn’t exactly uncomfortable in that shape. Plus, it had been a while since the last time he did, and he wasn’t sure he was going to remember how to do it.
“I just want to be sure that your wounds are healing in the right way” Till tried to explain “If… If you’re bigger, I can see them better and the healing process will be faster”
That wasn’t a lie – he had read that information on his grandmother’s book and Till wasn’t exactly sure it worked, but he was ready to try every possible remedy.
The fairy didn’t reply – Till was ready to apologise, but then Flake started growing: it didn’t look a tiny human anymore. Now there was a boy of his age in his bed, with big blue eyes and ash blond hair “Please, be quick” he looked scared, and Till could see all the concern in those eyes.
Till nodded, and started cleaning Flake’s chest – the wounds there had started healing and they weren’t as bad as before. It seemed that since Flake was a fairy, the healing process was indeed quicker than the human ones. Yet, it wasn’t enough: some dry blood was still there.
“Do you remember what happened?” Till asked and furrowed his eyebrows – he had to ask Flake to turn around, so he could take care of his back as well.
He had to tell him about his wings.
“I… I was supposed to meet with my friends” Flake began and then hissed when Till put a cold unguent on his skin and started spreading it over his back – and the fairy immediately noticed that something was wrong.
He couldn’t feel his wings.
That wasn’t something that was supposed to happen.
“Where are my wings?” Flake’s voice was full of anxiety “Why can’t I feel them?”
Till swallowed – he didn’t know what to say, he had no idea. Flake was now in distress and he was shaking, clearly scared “What happened to my wings?”
Till slowly removed his hands from Flake’s back and deeply inhaled “The person who hurt you in the Forest… that bastard cut your wings”
Then, it happened: what Till feared the most and he had no idea how to deal with it.
Flake started sobbing, his face hidden between his arms and his body was violently shaking and Till tried to calm him down, but Flake didn’t want to be touched.
“Please” Till begged “I know you’re angry and you probably hate the human world and you have the right of doing it” he tried to put a hand on Flake’s shoulder – and hesitated a bit “I’m not a bad person, I promise you” then he slightly touched Flake’s skin, and the fairy didn’t move “I want to help”
Flake didn’t reply, but moved a bit so Till could easily put the unguent on his wounds.
None of them said a single word – Flake kept crying and Till’s heart broke a little every time he gave a look at the fairy’s face. The painful and scared expression on his face was something that Till didn’t want to see.
“Is it okay if I give you some of my old clothes?” Till asked once he helped Flake to sit again on the bed “They are old, but they are clean” and added “And they can keep you warm” he attempted to smile “I know you’re not comfortable in this shape, but I promise you it won’t be long”
Flake slowly nodded – his eyes were still wet, and a bit red – same went for his cheeks.
“Why are you helping me?”
~~~
Paul was waiting for Oliver, who was still with the medic inside his house.
Paul had been kicked out of the medic’s house after a couple of hours, because he was too distracted, apparently.
It wasn’t his fault – he didn’t want to be there in the first place.
The truth was that Paul wasn’t interested into that career, and he hated the Elders: they had chosen for him, and Paul couldn’t accept it. He knew it was how their society worked, but still, he wasn’t happy with their decision.
And now he was forced to visit the medic, listening to him rambling about medical stuff that didn’t catch his attention.
Paul sighed, and ruffled his hair in a quick gesture – he wanted to go to Till’s place, and talk to him, enjoying their time with Oliver. They were his only friends since nobody in his own village wanted to become friend with him.
He had no idea why – his suspects were related to his family, and their status. Surely, there was something hidden and Paul didn’t know. The result was that the inhabitants of his village avoided him and his family – and they were forced to live in a small house close to the border of the village itself.
“There you are”
Paul lifted his head and saw the tired smile on Oliver’s face, who gestured him to follow him immediately – Olli didn’t like the medic, too, but he respected his role. Yet, he wanted to run away from that house because he didn’t like the smell and the medic was everything but friendly.
He hated him.
Yet, Oliver wanted to know as much as possible in order to became a good doctor and help people. He desperately wanted to have a chance and show the inhabitants that he wasn’t like his parents, or any other family member.
“Can we go to Till’s?” Paul asked, and Oliver nodded – visiting Till was the best solution, always.
~~~
The little house was surprisingly silent – which was indeed strange, since Till liked to quietly sing while he was at home alone. It kept him company, even though he was the only inhabitant after his father’s death.
Till wasn’t singing because he didn’t want to disturb the fairy, Flake, who was now sleeping after the medication he had given him. It seemed magical creatures and humans had something in common: sleeping helped the healing process.
Alone, Till was cleaning the items he had used to prepare the herbal tea for his guest – he had made enough, so he just had to re-heat it, and not actually make it again.
That was another trick from his grandmother – how dearly he missed her!
Till kept cleaning – he wasn’t exactly relaxed, totally the opposite. He knew he was doing something illegal, and he hoped nobody would notice the presence of a fairy in his house.
Till’s grandmother had explained a lot of things to him when he was a little boy, and he remembered perfectly what she had told him. For example, he couldn’t forget the time when his grandmother told him that fairies and magical creatures weren’t bad. She told him that a long time ago humans and fairies used to live in the same place, everyone could go in and out the Forest and they all lived together happily.
Then, something had happened – but his grandmother never told him what made things changing. And Till wanted to know, because in his opinion all the rules the Elders forced them to follow sucked, and he wanted to be able to visit the Forest whenever he wanted.
That was the reason why he had spent a couple of hours there – because he wanted to see what he could discover just visiting the Forest – he wasn’t scared of it, quite the opposite. He wanted to see the fairies, and maybe asked if they ever met his grandmother.
Because his grandmother said she did – in her book was written that she had met some magical creature and she had a lot of fun, talking to them, enjoying their presence. She claimed that fairies were funnier and nicer than the people from the village.
And Till believed her – he hated the Elders, and he couldn’t understand why they were so important for the village.
They were a bunch of old people deciding the future of the inhabitants, making them follow some odd rules and prevent them from getting close to the Forest.
Then, he heard someone knocking on the door – and Till froze.
He wasn’t expecting visitors at that hour.
Till swallowed his saliva, then gave a quick look: the door of his room wasn’t locked because he didn’t want to scare the fairy. Plus, he felt more comfortable knowing he could keep an eye on Flake if he needed help.
Another knock.
tbc