James made a face at the mention of homework. Somehow, he hadn't given that part of school much thought. Probably because it was an awful damper to the otherwise very exciting prospect of going to school. If he started thinking about practical things like homework, it was a slippery slope into thinking about other practical things, like how much he was going to miss home and his parents and Gran, and then he would be sad not excited.

"Probably," he agreed. He looked down at the dwindling pile of stones between them, then picked one up and held it out to Ella. "One more each?"

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