The days slipped by, mired in a routine intended to keep their minds off the outside world. Wake, gather fruits for breakfast, fish for lunch, maybe swim or climb a tree, hunt for dinner, stare into the campfire, curl into their treehole. Day after day they did this, and Mecora had the sense that this should have been the best time of their lives (it was such a carefree style of existence!), but of course the outside world wouldn't leave their minds. Mom and family were gone from both of them, a big question mark on whether or not they'd ever see their respective families again.
With only words of the business at hand spoken, the days slipped by. Only the weather provided a change, though it was never cold enough to affect their routine, and the rain didn't matter.
One hot afternoon Mecora waded into the lake, but like other days, it afforded little pleasure. As she settled to sit on the bottom, turned her head to look back at Spreak, fishing from the shore. "Why do I bother?"
"Bother to what?"
"Swim. It's not fun."
"Because it's cooler than being out of the water?"
"I don't even care any more."
"Habit, then."
"Hard to believe I have a habit that most Vle wouldn't come close to doing." "You mean, Vle that you know."
"Light Vle swim a lot?"
"No, just Vle that live near water. My parents have a home overloooking a lake. We even have a rope that swings way out over the water, and we jump off it." "Sounds like fun."
"It was."
"I'd like to go there sometime."
"Me too."
It was clear to Mecora that Spreak didn't think he'd ever get home. And then she realized something. "Why don't you go?"
"What?"
"Why don't you just go home? You have relatives there, at least."
"I don't want to just abandon my family here!"
"Well, how would going home be different than just sitting on our duffs here?" Spreak stared into thin air a moment. "Mecora, you're right."
"I'm right? We're going to your home?"
"No! We're going to the camp."
"What in the burning forest do you think we're going to do there?"
"I dunno. Maybe we can at least find out if my family is alive."
"But there will be guards all over! As soon as you show your lily face, they'll arrest you!"
"Maybe that's preferable to being stuck out here, living a humdrum existence." Mecora felt a bit of insult at that, the idea that life with her was boring, but realized it wasn't meant that way. "And just what am I supposed to do?"
"Join my mother."
"Okay, and just how do you propose we do that? We don't know where the camp is or how far away it is."
"We can ask."
"Well, you can't. But I can. Maybe, if we travel along the road, I can find someone to ask."
"Maybe so. But I can't travel on the road with you." "Could you shadow me in the trees above? You can watch over me. It's dangerous to travel a road alone."
"For a young girl like you? Yes, it is. Shall we?"
"Let's."
Hand in hand, they went to their treehole, to go via branch nets to the nearest road. Though it was the major road across the kingdom, the road by Kelwome was not very busy. Mecora realized just how much of the road traffic before the war began had been army. They did pass some wagons full of ore.
Spreak whistled, and she looked to her right. Spreak had a hole in the tree open, and was beckoning her. "There's a phalanx of trolls up ahead!"
"Trolls?! Trolls have taken over this much of the country?!"
"I doubt it, but why else would they be here?" He closed the hole and sang them up to a same watching position. Below, the trolls trundled down the road, taking up the entire space between the trees. Even from their perch in the second canopy they could smell the unwashed humanoids. "Their weapons sure look strange."
"Those aren't weapons. They're mining tools. Your King must be desperate." "He's no king of mine."
"No, I suppose not."
They waited out the parade of trolls, letting them pass over the next low hill before returning to the ground.
Another day passed, and they arrived at a major fork in the road. The sign pointed to Hame to the left, and Dronac to the right, but neither of them had ever heard of Hame. So, they waited for someone (hopefully not a troll) to come along.
The wait wasn't long before a small coach came rumbling along the right-hand fork. Mecora didn't know it it would work, but she stepped out into the middle and waved her arms. The coach did slow, the driver looking nervously about. "How can we help you, miss?"
"I just want to know which way to where the light Vle are being kept."
The driver looked disdainfully down his nose. "And why should you want to go there?"
"My friends are there."
"Friends?! Hmph! Very well. Take the road I just came down, and follow it past Dronac. You won't fail to notice the camp."
"It's that easy?"
"It's that easy. Happy travels," the driver said with a shake of the reins. The horses resumed their work.
"Happy travels to you, too, sir," she replied, but she doubted the driver heard. She turned to look at the tree where Spreak hid. "That way," she pointed, and started up the road.
He opened the hole. "Wait! Don't you think we should wait overnight? It's getting dark."
"I suppose you're right. I'm hungry all of a sudden. Do we have anything left over?"
"No, and the hunt will be difficult near such a large road. The game will be wary."
"Well, if we only have fruits tonight, it won't harm us."
"You want to sleep tonight, right? Otherwise, my growling stomach will keep us awake." He stepped out, and trekked into the dense forest to start the hunt.
On foot, the capital of Larmania was a very long journey. Mecora tried to imagine the same trip made with her family and some of her friends, dogged by mounted Vle behind, weighted down by push wagons ahead.
"What's wrong?" asked Spreak from a tree.
"What do you mean?"
"Your head's low, you're shuffling your feet, and you're going about five trees per hour."
"Oh, I was just imagining what it must have been like for Mereo and Ueal and everybody."
"From the looks of it, you've succeeded. But we're on a mission. We'll never get there at this rate."
"Oh, right, sorry."
