After receiving medical attention, Gretilde had changed into a clean set of clothes and used her cosmetics to cover the bruise on her cheek. In the midst of fixing herself, Drystan had treated his own wounds and Helmut had watched for any upcoming intruders. Soon, they had all finished packing up their things and began biking towards their next destination.
Meanwhile, a man with light green irises walked towards a familiar farmhouse while grasping upon the handle of a suitcase. As he treaded further amongst fields of wheat and vegetation, he finally arrived at the front of the farmhouse's door. Knocking on the door, he did not need to wait long- as the door was quickly opened. There, he saw a woman with short, long brown hair with a distinctive determination in her irises. Still, looked at him an amicable expression that masked her feeling of suspicion.
"Oh? Who would you be?" she asked.
"I'm sure Eloise has told you about me." he began. "I go by Sigurd."
She became less suspicious upon hearing that familiar codename as she extended her hand for a handshake.
"It is good to meet you!" she exclaimed as they shook hands. "Come on in!"
"Thank you." Sigurd responded as he walked into the farmhouse. "May I ask for your codename?"
"It is Yvonne." she responded as she closed the door behind them.
As the agent observed his surroundings, he observed a teenage boy and a middle-aged man sitting by a table- eating slices of roasted Jerusalem artichoke and other assorted vegetables.
"We were just in the middle of dinner." Yvonne stated. "Feel free to join us, I'll get you a bowl and pour you a cup of coffee."
Sigurd accepted the invitation as he took a seat by the table. The teenage boy looked at him with unsheltered suspicion, while the middle-aged man seemed curious of his presence.
"Who would you be?" the young boy asked crudely.
The middle-aged man hit the boy's leg with his own before whispering. "Be more respectful, François."
François, regardless with his annoyance with his warning- ultimately complied.
"Could you introduce yourself, sir?"
"Sigurd is my codename, what about you two gentlemen?"
"Lucien." the middle-aged man stated as he shook Sigurd's hand. "The young man's name is François- as you've heard. Since Yvonne has invited you inside, I'm assuming you are an ally of ours."
"Yes, I am sure you are familiar with Eloise. She is my fellow colleague and I've come here to assist you on receiving the supplies from the RAF that she previously informed you about."
"How will the RAF send in these supplies?" Yvonne questioned as she served Sigurd a bowl of sliced roasted artichoke and sliced vegetables along with a cup of coffee (made with chicory instead of coffee beans).
"Thank you." Sigurd responded as he picked up his utensils and stabbed a slice of artichoke. "The RAF will parachute these supplies during night time."
Yvonne sat down to the chair next to him and picked up her fork and continued to listen intently for his next explanation.
"You won't achieve much from myself simply telling you. After we have finish our lunch, I'll show you three the implications outside." Sigurd proclaimed after he digested a piece of vegetable.
The three farmers were perplexed on his method of instruction; as it contradicted with Eloise's methodical and verbal discourse.
Accepting this, Yvonne asked a question. "What types of supplies are being dropped to us?"
"Firearms, food, ammunition- the sort." he responded with a remissive fashion before he digested his food.
Yvonne decided to wait for the agent and the rest of the farmers to their lunch before asking the agent any questions. Surely, after he was done- he would provide them the details. However, she was curious on the whereabouts of her friend and her fellow associates.
"How is Klara and the others doing?" she asked.
"Quite well, actually." Sigurd stated after he swallowed his slice of artichoke. "It seems that they haven't encountered any hindrance of significance through their journey towards Saint-Jean-de-Luz."
"That's a relief." she commented.
"I could say the same. Klara is a bright, young woman." Lucien added. "It would be a shame to see any of them meet misfortune- they're all valiant and young fellows."
"Hopefully, their trip continues to go smoothly." Sigurd asserted.
Yvonne and Lucien nodded in agreement.
Sigurd took the last sip of his coffee before placing the cup down upon the table. This action had also synchronized with the other farmers; as they were also done eating. Yvonne had got up from her chair and picked up the plates and utensils before stacking them and placing them into the sink.
"I appreciate you all inviting me to lunch." Sigurd spoke before getting up from his chair. "Shall we go outside?"
The three farmers nodded in agreement as they exited the farmhouse with the agent. As they stepped upon the natural ground, Sigurd observed the seemingly endless plains of wheat and vegetation occupying the land.
"Is there anywhere where you don't have any crops on your land?" he questioned as he continued to look around.
"Oh yes!" Yvonne responded to his question. "Come now, we'll lead you to it."
The agent trailed behind the three farmers as they walked across the fields. The air was warm, as the sunlight and wind had created the conditions for the pleasant temperature. The leaves and stems of their crops swayed in the wind in tranquility- basked under the sunlight. As they continued walking, they soon stopped in front of the empty field. Sigurd walked around within the vicinity of the field, inspecting the size and location of it.
"This should work." he uttered quietly before he turned to look at the farmers. "You have lights of some sort- a lantern perhaps, yes?"
"We should have some lanterns." Lucien disclosed.
"May I ask one of you to bring at least 5 of them?" Sigurd asked as he grinned optimistically. "The lanterns will act as the lights for a reception for the planes."
"I'll-"
François interrupted Lucien. "I'll go get them."
François took a step backwards, but stopped to look at Lucien for approval. "May I?"
Lucien nodded and François began to run quickly towards the farmhouse. Yvonne and Lucien resumed to turn back towards Sigurd. The agent circled around specific spots and marked them with a stick on the empty field.
"The lights will go these areas so the pilot will see our signal clearly."
The two farmers continued to listen intently to his explanation while carefully watching where he made markings upon the field. Sigurd soon quickly finished his demonstration on the layout of the lanterns upon the field. The three proceeded to look back towards the farmhouse where they saw François carrying a couple of lanterns- whether they were placed on his arms or within his hands. Lucien quickly walked towards the young man, offering to take some of the weight off his hands. François complied and gave Lucien some of the lanterns.
The two men walked back towards the field and put down the numerous amount of lanterns onto the ground.
"Where do we put these?" the young man asked.
"Sigurd made some markings upon the soil to indicate where we should put them. It's like an X, you see?" Yvonne responded as she picked up a lantern. "Let's get started, shall we?"
Upon hearing this, all four of them started to pick up a lantern and placed them upon the markings that Sigurd made on the ground.
"When do we turn the lights on?" she asked once she placed another lantern on the ground.
"My assumption is that the RAF will arrive at around 8 P.M. However, regardless of when the plane arrives- I must flash a Morse code letter using this device." the agent said as he pulled the aforementioned device from his pocket before putting it back inside. "After I have done that, the aircraft will flash an identification light corresponding to the letter I have shown. After that process is over, all of you will rush in to turn on the lights to indicate the drop target."
"I see, but that's past the curfew!" Lucien remarked. "If we're caught out by that time- we'll be captured by the Germans."
"I'm well aware of that." Sigurd stated in a relaxed fashion. "We'll have to silently hide within the bushes when night falls and wait until the plane drops the supplies."
The farmers nodded in response.
"I suppose we should bring some food while we are waiting." Yvonne suggested.
"That would be a good idea." the agent commented. "We might have to wait longer than usual as the weather may prove to be our adversary."
"The weather? But, the weather is wonderful today." Lucien stated, hinting at the wind's breeze and the warmness of sunlight.
"France may have the ideal the weather- but England may not be so fortunate." Sigurd responded as he picked up another lantern.
"If it's to kick out those Nazi bastards from our country- then we'll wait for several hours for those supplies to come." François inquired boldly.
Sigurd and the farmers were amused by his audacious words, but nevertheless agreed with its sentiment.
Eventually, all four of them had finished placing the last lanterns intended to serve as reception for the RAF.
With darkness befalling the sky, the stars occupying it was the only source of faint, natural illumination. Upon seeing the absence of the day, the agent and the farmers had quietly walked outside towards the empty field. Yvonne had grasped a bag filled with foodstuffs while her fellow associates carried a firearm with them. They soon arrived nearby the field and rushed for the evergreen bushes. The agent and the farmers hid amongst the bushes, using the twilight and leaves to cover their presence.
They put down their firearms on the ground as they waited for the sound of the aircraft to come. The breeze of the daylight had shifted into one of a frigid gusts. Although they were dressed appropriately for the weather, their shivering; spurred from the cold could only be somewhat quelled with the close proximity of their body temperatures. Still, their burning desire to crush the Nazis served as a warming fire- where they could ignore the cold wind that brought the apathetic night. Yvonne opened up the bag containing a variety of foodstuffs and offered it to her fellow companions.
Each one of them took a piece of food, whether it be cheese or bread- which was taken from their reserves. They took a bite and chewed while they patiently waited for the aircraft to come by. Tedium crawled upon their senses as many minutes had passed by. They could not converse regularly as it could jeopardize the mission at hand. They had finished eating some of their reserved foodstuffs while waiting to somehow cope with their boredom and the feeling of ice.
Eventually, the subtle sound of an upcoming plane had penetrated the silence and their boredom. Sigurd immediately got up and quietly escaped the leaves of the bushes. Lucien handed Yvonne a firearm of her own after he and François had picked up their own from the ground. As Sigurd silently ran onto the plain, he flashed the Morse code letter towards the plane. Within a short period of time, the aircraft had flashed an identification light with the corresponding letter to the initial letter in response.
Upon seeing this, the farmers- along with their firearms had ran towards the field. They quickly turned on the lanterns that they had previously placed on the ground, showing an illumination shaped as an X. Upon seeing the lanterns, the aircraft had flown at a lower altitude and slower speed before parachuting the supplies upon the illuminated X. The aircraft quickly flew back up and left the field while the farmers quickly turned off and gathered the lanterns. Sigurd and the rest of the farmers rushed towards the dropped supplies and grabbed them.
Grasping onto the supplies, they had put the lanterns and supplies into a farm cart that was stationed on the farmland. Lucien quickly grabbed the farm cart and moved it near the farmhouse- being sure to conceal it within the wheat. Once he had released his grasp upon the cart, the rest of them had successfully scurried inside the farmhouse- their rush of adrenaline eventually fading away.