New Feather season.

[ Joshua gives a frustrated sigh, and there's the sound of sipping as he takes a drink from a cup of coffee. Dammit, Hanekoma, your nervous habits have finally worn off on him two years after the fact. ]

If any of you were wondering, I've been gone for at least a week and a half. And if anyone cares to give me a date, I can give you a more precise duration than that.

[ Not that Joshua is too terribly fond of being in the village, but at least talking to people is good for taking his mind off of things. Being held captive by his lonesome gives him a little too much time to think, and being poked and prodded is almost preferable. As long as things never get as bad as they did his first kidnapping. He'd take a month of solitary confinement over that. ]

They tend to give us an experiment right before the New Feathers come, don't they? Cause or effect, which do you think? [ He takes another sip of coffee. ] And while I'm asking, what did I miss this time?