He's there, plugging away

Julien opened the door to James' lab carefully as always, but he wasn't at all surprised to see his brother bent over the large table looking at one of the many different encrypted ciphers. He wore one of the loose white linen shirt with laces at the broad cuffs that he favored because the sleeves didn't drag through wet ink as he worked.

James' brown hair was pulled back off his face a tied carelessly with a utilitarian strip of rawhide and his face broke into a boyish smile when he saw Marna with the tray.

“Boy are you two a sight for sore eyes!” He looked over the breakfast tray eagerly “Especially if that is coffee.”

“Take a break, little brother.” Julien told his brother who was actually a dozen minutes older than him if ten centimeters shorter and 30 kilos lighter. “Have some coffee with Marna, I think she has something she'd like to talk about.” He watched the two lovers step out of James' workroom into the gardens and he sat at his brother's seat looking over the progress he had made. The passage was more than half-way decoded, it was labeled 'Puzzle Four' and it seemed to be a riddle about the best way to carry chickens, ears of corn, a dog and a Dor-lynx across a series of adjacent islands. Julien remembered solving a simpler variation of this riddle sitting on Grandpa's lap when he was only about six.

Through the glass doors he saw James suddenly swing Marna into his arms, James seemed happy about the news. Julien smiled although he wondered how Marna's pregnancy would change his twin's ambition to become a vault-hunter. Returning his attention to the puzzle he was able to decode two of the puzzle's conditions “2: The dor-lynx and chickens could not be left alone.” And “3: The chickens and corn could not be left alone.” Julien could have guessed both those conditions, but it was nice to be able to work out the message.

The final cluster of symbols seemed to be a hint to help find the location of Puzzle Five, and Julien was working on that when James and Marna walked back into the workspace.

“Congratulations.” Julien slapped his brother fondly on his shoulder and then winked at Marna. “Once you get married you'll be pretty damn close to the gentleman farmer Grandma Gemma always wanted.”

“Not so fast, you big oaf.” Marna pushed Julien off his chair and studied the papers spread out on the table. “I want to hear more about this secret message that Grandpa Wilhelm left for you.” Julien showed James and Marna what he got done while they were talking and the three of them worked out the riddle together laughing as they each took on the role of one of the riddle's animals.

“That was fun!” Marna exclaimed happily when they finally worked out the correct order “So where is this Riddle Number Five?”

“According to this it must be this one.” James said as he picked up another encrypted message. After just a few minutes he shook his head sadly, but this one is using a different key, so it will take me a while to break it.

“Too bad.” Marna looked at the handmade wooden clock that hung on the wall. “It's just as well. I promised my sister I'd be back by ten.” She turned to James and kissed him softly and then wagged a finger in his face. “You had better figure out how to tell your Grandma Gemma soon, or she's going to figure it out on her own.” Marna pantomimed the waddling shuffle of a pregnant mother close to her due date as she headed for the door.