Part IV: Morning
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	Steph opened his eyes, and stretched and yawned. As usual for a
Thursday, he got up an hour early. Why he did this he was never sure, but
it felt good. Steph recalled the events of the day before. The crossing,
the crow, the loneliness. He felt the world close in remembering this. What
the hell was it all for? He'd come back to a place that seemed to be his
home - nothing indicated this should be otherwise, yet - he'd crossed a
very wide fjord. That had taken a good few hours, yet he was back here
after half an hour due to that damn crow.

	Steph stopped suddenly. He cocked his head on one side as he tried
to make out a sound. Or at least, he thought he had heard something. He
made his way to the window and looked outside. Steph blinked and rubbed his
eyes. Up in the sky there were a few birds. He stood there watching them.
For two weeks it had been as if Death himself had paid a visit, yet now
life seemed to have returned. He turned around back into the hut, got
himself washed and dressed, and headed out to the edge of the fjord.
Sitting down on a rock he watched. He saw a movement under the water.
Looking down, he saw the fish had returned. Mother Nature seemed to have
come back from holiday. The fjord was living. As Steph listened, he could
hear the change. Not just the wildlife, but there was a different sound
that gave the place atmosphere again.
	"I told you it was on the opposite side."
	Steph spun round. There was the Dicken's man again.
	"The other side? But surely this is where I left," replied Steph.
	The man smiled. "You have many things that you have yet to learn.
One of them is that you shouldn't think in terms of space alone."
	Steph blinked. "I don't understand."
	"Do you remember? I asked you if you had explored the other side of
this lake? You corrected me by telling me it was a fjord."
	Steph nodded.
	"And you replied that you hadn't?", the man asked
	Steph nodded again.
	"What is 'the other side'?" the man asked.
	"Well it's over there", Steph replied and pointed across to the
other bank.
	"I see. So there aren't any others?"
	"In what way?"
	"Well another side of this lake is the history, stories, folklore
that have built up around it. Another side is the fishing and the boating."
	"I see. I think."
	"You limited yourself to thinking the other side was, quite
literally 'the other side'. That's why I decided to bring you back".
	"Eh?"
	"Since I left you, I stayed, watching you. You took the shed and
built a boat. The boat went onto the water and you sailed away. Once I saw
your aim was the opposite bank, I turned you around and led you back to the
hit."
	"I don't understand"
	"You won't. You never will. I was, what you would probably call
your guardian angel, for the past two weeks."
	"I see..." replied Steph. This was getting strange. He just wanted
this man to leave, but..."so what does all this have to do with the
wildlife?"
	"I was testing you. Find out how determined you really were."
	"Now I'm totally lost."
	"Just consider yourself to have passed. You do fit in here. You
were going to cross to the other bank to be with the wildlife. You care for
them, or at the very least, you care enough to want to know what happened
to them."
	"So what was the other side?"
	"You have to find that for yourself. But don't take nautre for
granted, else one day you will find this will be gone."
	The man turned to leave.
	"Oh, just one more thing," he said, "Your boat is over there."
	Steph looked to where the man pointed. "I thought it had sunk!"
	"You've just seen 'another side'" said the man, and with that, he
left, just as quietly as he had arrived.

	Steph looked back over the fjord, and though. He'd spent two weeks
preparing and sailing to end up back where he'd started, as well as a
warning. He shrugged and walked over to his boat. It was definately the
same one. He could see where it had leaked, but it was now repaired and it
floated quite happily, totally oblivious to what it had been through. He
walked on and started to take his old walk. Two weeks of silence, then
everything returns. Steph smiled to himself. Despite the very strange
events, he now felt happy. He knew where he was, and he knew the fjord had
returned to normal. Normality had returned and he was very, very, grateful
and happy.

END--PT_IV--STEPH STORY