An Explanation is in Order

The kiss Wanda gave you was a little clumsy. Not that you fault her for it. It was her first kiss but how well she did it was clearly not in her mind. "Welcome back," she whispers after breaking the kiss.

The women bring you to the nearest well-kept house. The house, as to be expected from commoners, wasn't all that big. It certainly wasn't big enough to occupy all the women. Some remained outside trying to catch a glimpse through the uncleaned windows. One of the senior women, a woman with brown yet graying hair seemingly in her fifties, has you sit on one of the chairs. You carefully set yourself on it, fearing it may collapse with you on top of it.

"Gretel," you called to the graying woman, "what is going on?" You demand kindly. Gretel smiles at you before she tells the others to leave and resume their daily routines and duties. "You'll all get your turns." She announces. Most of the women disperse reluctantly leaving only about six women in the house with you. Notably being Lucinda, Wanda and Gretel.

"It is as if it was only yesterday you were but a boy studying to become a priest, to succeed those old men in the monastery." Gretel says, taking a seat close to you. "My King, it's good to have back with us."

"You have no idea how joyful we were when Brother Herman told us you were here stopping by." The glee in Lucinda's voice conveyed that joy.

"Do you remember, my King?" begins Gertrude, the daughter of Gretel. She had the same brown hair as her mother minus the graying strands. She was a few years older than you. Holding her hand was her own daughter, a girl younger than ten years. All three generations bore the same blue eyes. "Do you remember what you did for us when you were a boy of the tender age of ten." Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts. She leaned against one of the wooden support beams of the house.

You frown, "Of course, I remember." It wasn't a memory you ever want to bring up. You sigh as you try to rid the frown in your brows. "Why do you bring that up?"

"My king," then speaks the last and the oldest of the women with you: Mila. She is the oldest women in the town. Like Gretel, she seats down on a chair. But unlike Gretel, she does so because her old bones tire too easily. She could not walk for too long and not without the assistance of her cane. "I know it does not please you to talk of the past but the situation demands it." You do not know for sure how old she is but she was already an old woman when you originally came here as a little boy. She has always served as a grandmother figure to all in town even back then.