Wow, that was great. I really liked the way you got me into the guy's head - how much he likes nature and all. The descriptions were excellent without being overly wordy. I guess my favorite part was where he was thinking about the butterflies and the cats... ah, so nicely written.

I can't think of any particular criticisms, save one. "weregild". I mean, a wide vocabulary is beneficial, but I think you might be distracting at least some of your audience a little with words like that. Or maybe I'm just ignorant! Could be.

Anyways... good stuff. Best thing I've read on this site so far.