Changeling-Earth 2: Freehold Earth - The Hedge

[Dawn OOC]

The long, dark nights on this planet were particularly hard on the new inhabitants from Earth. They were used to far shorter nights, to the reprieve from the darkness. Here, the darkness lingered far longer than they were used to, until the mind began to wonder if sunlight would ever come. And the cold - the loss of the warming sun was keenly felt in the early hours before dawn, when the sun had turned his face away for the longest time.

Within the woods, the sun never completely reached the floor, even at the height of the day. The stars, the pale reflections of the moon - they had no chance to pierce the foliage, the thick impediment of the Hedge, the thickest part of the Deep Woods.

It was in this complete darkness, where even the stars and moons were blocked, that a lonely group trudged. Cold and tired, they were eager to keep moving, driven by the memory of an unearthly cry behind them.

It wasn't until the ogre stopped and set down the chest he carried that they realized how far they had come. Panting, Orderly asked, "Can we stop for a time?"

[Rorx]

Billy glances around the small clearing they have ended up in, swivelling his ears and sniffing for the slightest sign of pursuit he comes up thankfully empty.

"Ok, people, we seem to be in the clear for now, and hopefully any pursuit will go after the bigger bunch rather than us. Grab something to eat and drink and rest for a while. Tim, Fingers, Saffron, did any of you manage to grab any goblin fruits on your way through the food section? Anyone grab some clothes we can try to fit to Roach and Gabe?"

Moving to the middle of the clearing he digs in his satchel and produces a sack in which he puts a couple of loaves and the one goblin fruit he had sntached up as he jogged through the fallen stalls in the market. Tim comes over with a jug of weak beer and a slab of meat that proves to be dry cured venison. Fingers contributes a couple of bags of nuts, a chunk of cheese and another loaf.

Billy catches Tim as the others move forward to add their contributions.

"Go back down the trail for about 15 minutes then see what you can do to conceal our tracks back to this point, take the shotgun, I'll come running at the first shot, so you better keep your senses open so you get that shot off."

With a nod and arm clasp Tim disappears into the dark woods, shotgun held at the ready and head scanning his surroundings.

"Fingers, come here. Lets look at that map you found. Hmmm not a lot to go on from here. Josef, Saffron, do either of you have any writing materials, we could do with copying this map that Fingers found so that most of us have a copy in the event we get separated."

[SalmonMax]

"What should I do?" Rochelle asks nervously hopping from one foot to the other with nervous, idiot energy. She felt completely useless...too small to carry much, and her skills weren't much good outside of an engine room.

[Rorx]

Billy turns at the sound of her voice.

"You did well to keep up over such a long trek, well done Roach. First you should go through those odds and ends from the clothing stall and see waht you can put together for yourself. Then when you have done that, take a break, try to get Saffron's story out of her and Josef, and get some food and water in you. We don't know when we are stopping next."

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle's expression darkens until it becomes positively thunderous at Billy's words. Her cheeks flush with anger and shame, and she finally whirls around and stalks off towards wherever the clothing stuff is without another word or glance at him.

Once there, the first thing Roach does is look for shoes that fit her teeny feet, though is hampered by her furiousness as she searches through the cloth pile.

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Khalid/Josef's first action is to take off his mask. He looks like he wants to smash it to the ground and grind it underfoot, but he stops himself. He gently places it down. His next action is to go over to Orderly and check on him.

"How are you holding up?" he asks the ogre. "Does it hurt anywere?"

He then checks the box to make sure it is still ... functional. Nodding in satisfaction, he turns to the Gabe, checking him out then Slasher and finally Roach.

"I don't have anything to write with me right now," he tells Billy while making his rounds. "I hope to get something soon when we get back. I want to record what happened to us once we get back to the Manifest."

[Rorx]

Given Josef's lack of paper Billy just spends a minute studying and trying to memorize the map of the area around the Manifest that Fingers had found back at the Market before returning it to her.

Moving into the middle of the group, he talks loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"Gabe, Saffron, how are you two holding up? I was worried that Tim and I might have been pushing the pace to much for the rest of you for a while, you all did well to keep up. Gabe, you better join Roach in trying to sort yourself out some clothes, neither of you are going to last long running around these cold woods in just a hospital gown like that. Everybody rest as much as you can and get something to eat and drink, we may have to move again soon so take advantage of this break while we have it."

Then leaning close to Josef he asks, "Josef, could I have a word?" Before leading him away to the edge of the clearing.

"I think I need some answers to a few questions, but my intention is not to cause anymore offence then I may already have done. Who is Saffron, what is her connection to you, and what is in the cabinet that is so vital to briing with us?"

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Khalid bites his lower lip as he mulls over his reply. He sighs and looks down when it is clear he has little choice in his answer. He looks up into Billy's eyes and starts whispering to him.

"It, the box, is her lungs. No shitting you, its her lungs. They breath just as her chest rises and falls. Our Gentry removed them for no offense that I know of. It is a devious means of control. Anyway, when we find a place we can hold up for a bit, I am going to do the surgery to re-attach them. Only then will she be truly free."

"As for her story, I don't know much of it. She is the one who bought me in the market some time ago. She's been my friend pretty much since then."

[Rorx]

"You're right, that is a nasty method of control. Ok, so she was high up ish in order to be going out buying slaves/people like that, so she should have some useful information hopefully when we get back. From the sounds of it that's not an operation you're going to want to do anywhere but back at one of the ships, so we better make sure we all get there."

He claps Josef on the back/shoulder and returns to the group in the main part of the clearing. Cutting a chunk off a loaf of bread he asks for someone to pass the cheese and a drink, but his eyes are on the edge of the clearing where Tim went out, and his ears are twitching to catch any stray sound from outside the clearing.

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle looked mournfully at the pants she was cinching around her waist with a bit of rope. They'd probably been meant to end above the knees...sort of Renfest cargo shorts. Maybe you were supposed to wear tights with them. What were those called? Pantaloons? Doublets? She had no idea.

But on her they were pants. Ankle-length and really waaaay too wide. But with the rope...they'd work. And in fairness, the smallest shirt she'd found hung so loose on her that you wouldn't see much of the pants anyway. Similarly, the shoes she found were too big, but they were basically just wooden boards wrapped in leather with lots of leather thongs to tie them to your feet. This meant they were easily adjustable for foot size, though it looked as if she were wearing snowshoes or something, the soles were so big on her.

It beat being in a drafty 'hospital gown' and barefoot though.

Having gotten dressed, Rochelle made her way back around to where most of the others were grouped. Some of them were almost as freakish as she'd become. Most of them, considerably less so. Her mind shied away from that though...she didn't want to cry again.

"There's something I don't get," she said as she reached the gathering. Something? Try everything!

"The people at that...place we left. Were they servants of the 'gentry,' or were they refugees like us? Because if they were servants, why did they panic and run away? And if they're refugees, then why were they doing those awful things? Plus, the woman in my dreams was definitely a servant...that's how I got her."

[Dawn OOC]

Saffron looked away from the fire, it's light turning her mask yellow-orange. "Servants or refugee - it doesn't matter. You do what they want, or you suffer," she said, her voice tense. "But some do serve willingly - those who hope for a reward, or those who have forgotten that there was anything before their Keepers." Gabriel shuddered, subtly and quietly. "But some may have been freed from their masters, while some may have simply feared a Gentry not their own. A Keeper on the hunt is something that every Changeling should fear."

[Rorx]

Billy nodded thoughtfully at Saffron's description.

"I suppose they have to hae some mechanism fr trading things between each other, ad I don't get the impression that they are a particularly community oriented bunch. Stab each other in the back more often than not I'd have thought. In which case those tat escape or are freed could have a useul place in forming a grey market that they tap into through their more trusted servants. But as Saffron also said no-one in their right minds wants to be caught by a Keeper when he/she decides to go on a hunt."

He gives a slight shudder, or perhaps it's just the cold of the woods.

"Generally, the front runners in the hunt would be hounds and hobhounds, followed by changed like me and Tim were, or more bestial in appearance, finally might be some loyal goblin guards or soldiers and then the Gentry. At least that's what I've been able to piece together from my very hazy memories of that time."

[SalmonMax]

"At least you HAVE memories," Rochelle pouts. "Real ones, I mean. I never even met my 'keeper.' The one controlling the dreams was just a flunky."

She frowns. "And even then, I can barely remember. Even the dreams...it's all gone, except for the very end."

[Rorx]

Billy turns with an obvious flash of anger as his ears prick up and his eyes turn to those of a wolf, with an effort he closes his eyes and clenches his clawed hands into fists. As he turns away from Rochelle he can be heard to say in a thick, growly voice unlike his normal one.

"Yes, I have memories, thankfully hazy, indistinct and timewarped though they be, and I would never wish them upon my worst enemy. We can debate who had the easier change another time."

He turns back having recovered himself.

"For now, I'm starting to get concerned that Tim isn't back. Until he returns we won't know whether or not we may be safe enough here to spend the rest of the night. I'll give him another 5 minutes."

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Khalid steps up.

"This is a problem and there is always hope we can find a cure for it - a way to heal our minds so that we know what has really happened to us and how to dampen that blow."

"Until that glorious day, I for one can't wait until we exit this Hedge and see the Manifest once more. Then I will be Khalid Al-Jamari once more and I can confidently lay my slave name behind - as well as much of what's happened to me."

"I may have been changed, but so what? I am still a living, thinking being. I've survived and I've never given up hope that one day I would be free again. I don't think any of us have," he says looking at Rochelle. "Right now, we aren't done with this place and its not done with us. Let's concentrate on that."

Looking around, he adds,

"Tim is a bit late, isn't he."

[Dawn OOC]

"I'll be the judge of that," Tim said boldly, stepping out of the shadows. He hadn't come straight back to camp, since he was on the far side of the camp. He immediately grew somber and added, "I didn't see anything trailing us and I circled us a few times to make sure nothing was looking for us. But we probably shouldn't linger too long. Ya know. Just in case."

Orderly sighed and glanced at the chest he'd lugged all this way. But all he said was, "I sleep now." And pulling his coat tight around him, he propped himself against a tree and closed his eyes.

[Rorx]

"I think you'll find that some of us don't want our memories back. Better to draw veil over it and move on than to draw on that poisoned well."

Billy nods in agreement with Josef.

"Well, hopefully we can try to start our journey back to the Manifest in the morning."

"Yeah, he's overdue to be back now, but I only suggested he be out for quarter of an hour, perhaps he felt he needed to go further to be sure, or it is taking longer than expected in the dark of the woods. I'll give him 5 minutes more, then I'll think about going after him."

Billy steps over to the edge of the clearing near where Tim left, thinking Come on Tim, get your arse back here. I don't know if I can shepherd this lot on my own, anyway you've got the shotgun, so you better get back.

The sounds of the others in the centre of the clearing fade away. Things seem to drift into a daydream-like quality as Billy turns at a faint rustle in the trees on the other side of the clearing. A large owl, of a type Billy doesn't recognise, glides towards him across the empty clearing, without thinking Billy lifts his arm to make a perch for it. It lands lightly on his arm and turns its head to face Billy.

'What would you have of me this night fellow Hunter?'

'I seek my packbrother, lost in the dark. For this I would seek a boon, the gift of your vision.'

The Owl slowly puts it's head from side to side, examining Billy with a piercing stare,'This could be done, but what do we gain in return?'

'The same as I owe the wolf-kin whose form I have been changed towards, no more and no less.'

Standing more upright on his arm the Owl seems to look slowly around the clearing, then bobs it's head at him once.

'Agreed, but you will bear our mark to show our Contract as well.'

So saying it snapped it's head forward twice before he could react, leaving a small bite just below each eye.

The pain in his face snaps Billy from his trance-like state. gingerly touching his face with his hands he is not surprised when they come away with a small amount of blood. Well I wasn't expecting that tonight, but it might help if I have to go out there after him. Billy turns away from the woods and back in to the clearing towards the others, drawing a clean cloth from his bag to wipe the blood away.

[Rorx]

As he looks up from wiping his face Billy spots the returned Tim.

"You sneaky dog, came in a different way yeah? Are we clear?"

Once Tim had brought him up to date, Billy concurred with his assssment.

"Ok you lot get some sleep, it will only be for a couple of hours so don't waste it. Tim, you take the first sleep, I'll wake you in about an hour and we'll swap over. Then we'll have a think about which way might be best for getting to the Msnifest."

[SalmonMax]

Roach shudders and finds a sheltered spot to sit down in.

"I don't know if I really want to sleep," she confesses. "I feel like I've been doing too much of that as it is."

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Khalid is half way to finding his own sleeping space when he remembers somebody. He stops and takes off his jacket. Looking to Saffron, the young doctor lays it out on the ground near the trunk of a tree.

Smiling at her, he says,

"Madam, your bed awaits."

He waits for her to come over and plans to snuggle down with her - their second real intimate moment and this one without its share of heart-rending terror to go along with it.

[Rorx]

Billy quietly walks over to Rochelle's location as the others start settling down around the clearing. he squats down next to her, but facing out across the clearing, ears and eyes constantly on the move straining for signs of danger.

"Can't say I blame you Roach", he whispers to avoid distrurbing the others, "Tim and I still take turns in sleeping in case our mind has submerged again when we awaken, so that the other could try to bring us out of it. I suppose over time we'll get over the fear, but we've only be ourselves again for a couple of days, and our nightmare is still too close for comfort. If you want to stay awake then by all means do so, it can't hurt to have another set of eyes and ears watching while the others sleep."

"I don't remember you saying back on the manifest, but have you ever spent any time outdoors before?"

[Dawn OOC]

Saffron smiled at Khalid before settling in next to him. She sighed a little as she rested her head against his chest and it was completely natural for Khalid to put his arms around her. After a moment, she whispered, "I can hear the air in your lungs." She didn't have to say why that brought out a reverant tone in her voice.

Gabriel, quiet and miserable, put himself against a tree and put two blankets over himself. And it wasn't greediness, it was impossible for him to cover with one blanket.

Slowly, the camp fell into silence, save for the whispered conversations. Each pocket of sound was its own world, with its own concerns.

[SalmonMax]

"Before crashing?" Rochelle shrugs. "Not really. Training for the voyage, a little. But before all this I lived on Luna. We don't get out much there."

She looks over at Gabriel.

"He was in the dream too...but he didn't look like that."

After a second she adds, "Of course, I didn't look like this."

[Rorx]

"Well, we've all been changed by experiences, physically as well as mentally, or had you somehow missed my new look in ears?" Billy asks with a wry grin.

"I know its difficult to come to terms with, and perhaps it always will, but I think the folks back at the ship will cope better with a Rochelle who is the same, only smaller than they will with Tim or I."

[SalmonMax]

Roach shakes her head glumly.

"What makes you think they'll even take us back?" she asks. "How do they know who, or even what, we are? After seeing what these aliens can do, I'd be surprised if they didn't gun us down before we got anywhere near them."

[Rorx]

"Well that is one possible response they might have. All we can do is to hope that those that are least changed, like you and Khalid can get to be heard and explain enough for the rest of us to be tolerated."

Billy to shakes his head.

"It wouldn't surprise me if we end up being on the edges of the actual colony, on the fringes of the Hedge, acting as a buffer between the main colony and the deizens of the Hedge, trying to blunt the worst effects of the Gentry."

"But first we have to find our way back at all, and that may not be easy in the Hedge. I have a way of trying to work out what may be close in the Hedge, another of those tricks or glamours. It's a bit like going into a trance or daydream to feel what is nearby. I'm hoping that it might reveal a path to the Manifest or some features that on the map that Fingers found so we can find our way back. Given what you have been through with that dream device you might be able to tap into similar or even greater abilities."

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle looks at her hands. Her teeny, teeny hands.

"I think I just want to sleep for now," she says...completely contradicting herself. "I don't want to think about any of this right now."

[Rorx]

"You do that, you've had a rough time, and no matter what else has happened, sleep will let your body at least recuperate."

With that Billy will stand and start his patrols of the clearing and area for the hour or so until it is time to wake Tim up for his shift. Squatting down beside the sleeping, form of Tim, he watches as he twitches slightly in his sleep. Not for the first time Billy wonders what might be going on in a persons dreams, the highs, the lows, the nightmares that would help understand another person. However, having seen the exploitation that the Gentry would make of even this most private area of humanity he shakes his head ruefully at his earlier thoughts. Keeping his hand above the corner of Tim's shoulder he gently calls his name several times before starting to gently shake him awake. Tim wakes suddenly at the hand on his shoulder with a growl and snap at the hand that touched him. Billy was expecting it however, and keeps his hand clear of the bite and holds Tim down for the second or two it takes for the animal to fade from his eyes and his humanity to return.

"You ok, Tim?"

"Grr, yeah. Yeah, I'm good Billy. Sorry for the snap, man."

"No worries, everyday we can keep our heads it should get a little easier. Anyway, your turn on watch, give everyone about another hour and a half or maybe two hours then we'll get them up and fed again before we try to figure out the best way to go."

"Sure."

With that Tim starts off on his watch, plucking a Thorn from a nearby bush, careless of the blood he spills in the process other than to suck the wound briefly.

Billy shakes his head as he walks over to a nearby tree, pulls himself up into the branches and wraps a blanket from his satchel around himself. Tieing himself to the main limb he lies upon, he also plucks a Hedge thorn, pricking the back of his hand, and getting as comfortable as he can he sets himself to explore the local Hedge before nodding off.

(OOC Pathfinder to find route towards the Manifest, 5 dice + 1 Willpower = 8 dice

(16:09:02) ChatBot: (Rorx) rolls 8d10 and gets 6,2,5,6,5,4,3,4 = Failure!)

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle looks over at Gabriel and feels a stab of...something. Guilt? Remorse? As if she were somehow at fault for his condition, or had contributed to it. Or...something.

She couldn't remember now.

Billy's words about trances and hedges follow her down the spiral to unconsciousness.

It's always the same, she thinks to herself in that no-man's land between sleep and awake. In dreams or in reality, the hedge is always the same. Where had she learned that?

Then she was asleep.

(OOC - Using Pathfinder, 6 dice, to 'explore' the Hedge in her dream.)

[Dawn OOC]

Billy found himself Dreaming. Dreams had taken on a strange quality since The Change. There was an unnerving sense of reality in them now, or maybe there was an unnerving inability to tell where the Dream ended and the woods began. No, not the woods, The Hedge - that all-too-thin barrier that saved them from their Keepers.

The Dream was never comforting, but it could be informative. But this Dream was not. Billy knew he had to find a way, choose a direction - the Manifest was out there somewhere - but he couldn't see the way. The Hedge had formed a barricade on all sides of him, and no matter how he turned, he met interlocking vines of green thorns. The more he looked, the less clear it became, until the Thorns pressed on around him and he was trapped, deep in the Hedge!

Khalid Dreamed, Dreamed of a house on a hill in the bright sunlight, well away from the Hedge, away from Darkness and Keepers. He Dreamed of his sister and niece, smiling as he brought Evan home to them, safe and unchanged. And then HE came for them, masks swinging from his hands.

But Rochelle Dreamed of a green way, of the Thorns parting for her. On and on through the Dreaming, she was drawn down a path, until she came to a waterfall. The waterfall poured down a short cliff into a valley of broken earth, and at the end of the valley, the twisted metal remains of a ship rested. Rochelle could easily discern the lines of the Manifest. Then the Dream reeled her backwards and threw her into her own skin, and let her finish her night.

[Rorx]

Billy did not wake up quietly. With a growling howl he lashed out at the air and branches about him, clawed fingernails scoring several of them, ears laying flat and eyes a wolf's yellowy/orange. Doing so off-balances him were he had lain up in the tree for his sleep and he soon found himself dangling under the main branch. The shock of the rope on his belly, was enough to snap him out of it and he gratefully sagged against the rope, just dangling for a long, deep breath. At the end of which his eyes had returned to normal, and with a rueful chuckle he twisted around and started clambering back up onto the branch.

A minute or two later he was back on the ground, and starting to check on the others as Tim stepped oout of the darkness from his latest check of the perimeter.

"All secure out there?"

"Yeah, and quiet until you woke up. Nevermind, I doubt anyone would think it something other than an animal."

"Under the circumstances I'll take that as a compliment. Lets start getting people up and fed again, then hit the road as soon as we can."

"Suits me."

"Ok, I'll start with Josef and Rochelle, you start with Gabriel and Fingers."

So saying Billy walks over to where Rochelle had been sleeping and crouches down beside her.

"Rochelle, time to get up."

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle sucks in a startled breath and opens her eyes, instantly and completely awakening. It's hard to tell if this is from Billy's words, or if she woke up from something in her dream or sleep, and the timing was just coincidental.

For a moment she looks around, re-orienting herself...then she sits up.

"Waterfall," the technician gasps. "I -saw- it. The ship! It's not far from a waterfall!"

She throws off the old coat she'd pulled over herself...almost as good as a blanket on her tiny form...and gets nimbly to her feet to run to the edge of the Hedge and look around for some sign, some clue that would lead her on the path her dream had shown her.

"I saw it!"

[Rorx]

Billy stands and follows the excited Rochelle to the edge of the clearing.

"I'm glad someone managed to get some information, I came up blank this time, despite my best efforts. However, the Hedge can be contrary like that. So Rochelle two things. One, do you believe me now about the strange things that we seem to be able to do sometimes now? And two, can you clarify what you found anymore than just near a waterfall? How big was the river or stream it flowed from? Any idea of a direction from here or perhaps distance? Did you get any impression about the Manifest or the colony there?"

"Actually, forget all those questions. Let's just start with you telling us as much as you can remember about the dream you had, then we'll try to prise more details from it as best we can."

All through his questions he had been leading her back over towards the others and signalling Tim to come over to hear whatever information Rochelle was able to give them.

[SalmonMax]

"In my dream," she replies, "A path opened in the bushes. I walked down it, and followed it. I don't know how long. Then it opened up onto a valley...a deep one, with water flowing over the edge down into it. At the bottom was the Manifest Destiny."

She turns to look at Billy.

"It felt real...but what if it was just a dream?"

[Rorx]

"Where the Hedge is concerned it could easily have been both. I've heard of people who could make the Hedge bend itself to their will in some aspects. Trapping things init, hiding their gear for a while, even perhaps hiding themselves in its branches and Thorns."

Billy rubs his clawed fingernails across the stubble on his chin in thought.

"A valley? That could be the long furrow made by the ship when we crashed. The main problem is going to be finding your original path. Any indications of a direction at all, thesun, the stars or anything in that direction."

[Khalid Al-jamari]

Khalid rolls over and looks over at the conversation.

"Shouldn't it be as important if Rochelle can retrace her dream steps? If paths and landmarks come and go, isn't knowing a currently active path as important as anything else. After all, I'm willing to bet that even with directions, I couldn't find my way out of this place unless it was by some unknown design."

[Rorx]

"Oh, yes. I simply meant indications as to where to find this path in the first place. There is no telling what twisted route a path through the Hedge might take and still be the correct one, so the directions along the route are of minor interest."

[SalmonMax]

"I don't KNOW!" Rochelle snaps, rubbing her head. Almost immediately she deflates from her earlier moment of triumph as she looks uncertainly around the clearing.

"It looked the same in the dream, but there the bushes just...opened up and let me through. I think...maybe...over here..."

She walks away from Billy and inspects the Hedge for a moment, then shakes her head. "No...there was a rock..."

It goes on like that for awhile. About an hour, actually.

Then suddenly Roach emits a startled shout.

"This is it! Look! It's got the rock with the little bowl shape in it, and the three twigs...and everything! This is it! Right here!"

[Rorx]

Billy had stayed with Rochelle throughout her search, but as time went on past 5-10minutes he signalled to Tim to carry on getting the others fed adn packed ready to go. By the time Rochelle was sure she had found the way everyone was ready or could be finished in a matter of minutes.

"Well done, Roach. Most people would have got disheartened and given up after the first half hour of checking, possibly less. Everyone else well be ready to go in a minute, but you are the only one not to have eaten yet and we can't have that if you are to lead the way. So come here(spreads his cloak on the ground) and sit down where we can see your rock and get something to eat and drink, and when you are done we'll see where your path takes us."

[Evan_Bishop]

Evan and the girl (he thought her name might be Mia) trod through the Wood, lantern held between them. She was a delicate, olive-skinned thing dressed in a dirty linen shift, of an extraction Evan could not immediately put his finger on. She kept edging her fingers away from his own rootlike portrusions where he held the lantern, and darted glances at his crooked, bark-stained face when she thought he wasn't looking. Neither of them said a word.

Evan tried to rustle more quietly.

Eventually they came upon a noise up ahead, and both of them instinctively stopped and tensed lower to the ground. Evan clutched the lantern close to his chest, lest it glimmer or clang, and listened. The girl mouthed some question at him, which he ignored. Voices. He thought one might be familiar.

A strange voice exclaimed,"This is it! Look! It's got the rock with the little bowl shape in it, and the three twigs...and everything! This is it! Right here!"

For a moment he hesitated, cursing his weakness. The indecision mirrored on maybe-Mia's face was enough.

He nodded to the girl and stepped softly up near the group, hopefully out of arm's reach and peripheral vision. Then he bent down and grabbed a dead tree limb, appraised it thoughtfully for a moment...and broke it over his knee.