The morning came but the children slept on. They didn't want to face the horrors of reality. It was pleasanter to stay in the sweet world of dreams. However, they woke up when they heard the farmer's wife clatter with the porridge caldron. They could stand the depressing weather and the cold of winter, but they cried when they thought about the cruel situation in their country and the farmers being made to live like animals. Most of all they were sad about the coming separation from Elona. They were tearful whenever they saw her. Luna was almost as sad as when her parents were executed but she felt that she could live on as long as she had her brother.

The farmer's son chopped wood in the farmyard; he used the same axe as his father had used to kill a soldier. To toil as a serf didn't scare his as he had always done so however free he had been, but he was really afraid to lose his wife. If the soldiers harmed Elona he would be compelled to defend her even if the position was hopeless. Otherwise, he had given up all thoughts of an uprising; it was pointless to fight with over fifty imperial soldiers in the village. However, his father thought differently. He was prepared to act as long as he had a knife and an axe under his belt. A night's sleep hadn't improved his temper.

"I am going to that governor in the neighboring village", he said to his family.