The night after he met Charlie for the first time, Rillik braved sleeping in the woods again. It was a lot warmer out, possibly one of the last warm days of the year. Early the next morning, he heard a couple of humans in the distance. Again, they never got particularly close to him, so Rillik simply held still and waited. Arven had told him again and again that patience was one of the most important skills, whether to a hunter or to someone trying to sneak around.

  From the time he left Charlie, Rillik had gathered mushrooms and sorted them very, very carefully. If he had any doubt as to what kind it was, he left it on whatever wood it was growing out of. The mushrooms didn't taste particularly good as a breakfast, but they were something to put in his stomach and let him have a break from hunger. He didn't find any of the tubers with the yellow and green leaves, though. Maybe the humans ate all the ones this close to town.

  Rillik munched on one more mushroom, and followed that with a few berries, to improve the aftertaste in his mouth. Then he spent the early part of the morning scouting, trying to find the edges of the village and locate the houses and other buildings that were farthest out. A couple of times he spotted the wooden wall in the distance that surrounded Oak Mill itself, but he tried to keep well out of sight of any humans.

  He had agreed to meet Charlie halfway through the morning. Rillik made sure he was in the right area early, and hid himself in a tree to wait. He was nervous, and wondered whether this meeting was a mistake.

  Maybe he told his dad about me. Maybe there's a whole group of adult humans spreading out to catch me. Rillik kept changing his mind about how likely that was. Maybe he told his dad by accident, or his dad figured it out some other way. Maybe someone spotted my tracks and somehow know they were made by an elf.

  That's a lot of maybes.

  Still, that's why Rillik was hiding, and listening carefully. A group of humans would not be quiet enough for him not to notice. Something is going to go wrong. I just don't know what.

  Finally, with a lot of crashing and tromping through fallen leaves, Charlie arrived, and started looking around for Rillik. The elf watched the human for a couple of minutes, and when it was clear that he was alone, he whistled softly, making the boy look up. Charlie still didn't see him at first. Rillik rolled his eyes and started climbing down. Charlie grunted when he finally spotted him.

  “Hello, Rillik,” Charlie called.

  “Hello, Charlie.”

  “Are you good?”

  “Yes. Are you good?”

  Charlie's face fell for a moment, then with an obvious effort he put a smile back on his face. “Yes. I am good.”

  Rillik landed on the ground and dusted off his hands. “No. You are no good.” Rillik gestured at his face.

  Charlie responded with something in human language that Rillik couldn't follow at all. He didn't seem mad at Rillik, and didn't look guilty, so he didn't press the human boy. Instead, he pulled out his coin pouch and offered it.

  Charlie took the pouch and opened it. He looked puzzled at the leaves that Rillik had placed between the coins. Rillik took the pouch back and shook it a moment next to his ear. Then he pulled out some of the leaves and did it again; this time there was a noticeable clinking sound as the coins bumped into each other.

  Charlie said, “Ohhhhh.” He grinned, pointed at Rillik, then tapped his temple. Then he said a few more things in his language. Rillik spread his hands.

  Charlie taught him big and small, then asked, “I go. I go. I give big money, small food? Small money, big food? (Something something) food?”

  “You give big food, no money.” Rillik thought a moment. “You give big food. You small money, you no give. Money you. Thank you?”

  Charlie nodded. After a few more gestures, he asked, “you and food go, day, day, day?”

  “Yes.”

  “I give...” Charlie tugged at the pouch. “Big.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, you say 'please.' I give. (Something) you say 'thank you.'” The word was pretty clearly 'then.'

  “Please,” Rillik said, to show that he understood.

  Charlie nodded, then talked a little while more. Rillik just listened, not getting a word. Finally, Charlie stopped himself, thought a moment. “I go go go go go. I get. I go go go go go. You get. I go go go home. Small day.”

  “I understand. Good go, Charlie.”

  “Good stay, Rillik.” Charlie grinned and started hurrying south, towards Oak Mill. The human boy stopped and waved after a minute, and looked back a couple more times before turning his full attention to where he was going.

  Rillik watched for a while, then turned and went deeper into the forest.

  ° ? ? ? °

  I really, really hope that Charlie doesn't bring humans to go after me. Rillik got more and more nervous as an hour passed, and then another. When the sun passed its zenith and still there was no sign of the human boy, Rillik knew that there must be trouble.

  I shouldn't have met him. I shouldn't have given him the coin. I should have just circled around the town and found things to steal. Maybe I still could...but Charlie might tell someone. The whole town might be ready and waiting for a thief when I try.

  The safe thing to do is just leave. Rillik grimaced. But I can't go back empty handed. Yes, the mushrooms and tubers are better than nothing, and maybe I could steal a few more 'apples', but...Arven is going to be so mad at me...

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  Rillik thought hard, then abandoned the meeting spot and started walking away from the town.

  I should have taken all the money with me when I left the others. I bet a gold coin would be plenty to buy a bow. But how could Charlie spend a gold coin without the adults asking him where he got it, and why he wanted a bow?

  Rillik gathered some more mushrooms, checked them, and ate a few. At least it's something, he told himself yet again. He was reluctant to leave the town behind entirely, so he was sneaking around the edges. By late afternoon, he had doubled back and was close to the meeting spot again.

  Hoping against hope, he very, very cautiously approached the spot. There was no sound of humans at all. Rillik watched the ground for signs of people passing, or traps or snares. He half-expected men to be lying in wait and jump out to grab him when he arrived.

  Nothing happened. No one was there. Rillik started to circle the spot, wondering what to do next, when he got a surprise.

  Some of the dead wood had been moved, gathered together and leaning against a tree. A big piece of a bush had been moved to partly cover it, too. It was so obviously a trap that it almost couldn't be a trap.

  It took Rillik a really long time to work up his nerve and go up to the brush pile. He very, very cautiously started moving branches away. Eventually, he unearthed his hidden loot.

  Charlie had left him a sack, and a basket. The sack was full of foods Rillik didn't recognize. The basket was full of...Rillik recalled the word Charlie had taught him: apples. For a minute, all he could do was stare.

  I did it.

  He did it. We...Rillik suddenly felt a little sick to his stomach. We did it.

  I worked with a human. Rillik felt a surge of guilt and shame. Mama, Papa, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He considered abandoning the food. It took him a while before he decided that he needed to take the food for the sake of the others.

  He went to pick up the sack, and froze.

  Could this be a trap? Maybe Charlie wouldn't do this, but maybe he told an adult and they did it. Maybe they poisoned the food. Or maybe there's some kind of trap under the sack or the basket.

  Rillik got down on the ground and looked carefully at the stash, trying to see any hint of ropes or nets or even marks of digging. He checked overhead carefully as well, of course.

  It took ages, it felt like, before he finally, very gingerly, pulled the basket of apples out and set it aside. Nothing bad happened. Rillik sniffed his hand, but didn't detect any unusual smells just from touching it. If they poisoned the food, Sheema will be able to tell. It will be humiliating if it is, and I lug it all the way back there for nothing.

  The day was wasting. Suddenly, he felt a desperate urgency, and grabbed the sack, pulling it away from its resting place. He stared at it, and stared at the spot where it had rested. He couldn't smell any poison.

  There was no trap. Instead, there was a piece of bark from one of the trees with white trunks. The inside had been carved with a very simple drawing: two stick figures, one with pointed ears and one with round ones. Each had a bag, and both were smiling.

  Rillik broke it and threw away the pieces.

  He spent a while scowling as he struggled to figure out how to carry everything. Finally, he worked it out, and got ready to leave. Standing up, he took a step, then hesitated. He looked back to the south for a long moment, his throat tight. Then, he put down the bags, and hunted around until he found the crumpled and broken drawing.

  Arven will want to see it, Rillik told himself. That's all. Besides, I shouldn't leave it lying around, in case a different human finds it, and realizes that there are elves in the forest.

  Taking care not to wrinkle or damage the picture further, Rillik tucked it gently into the sack. Then he gathered himself and his things again, and warily stood up. With a deep breath, he headed away from Oak Mill, heading northwest instead of northeast, to throw off anyone following him.

  Humans can't be trusted. I have to be careful not to bring hunters down on the others. Even if it takes me an extra day or two to get back.

  Rillik felt his eyes stinging, and squeezed them shut a couple of times as he walked deeper into the forest. Mama, Papa...I'm sorry.

  I'm sorry.

  ° ? ? ? °

  When he picked a spot to spend the night, the light was fading, so he didn't dig through the sack to see exactly what had been included. Rillik swallowed hard at the temptation of the basket of apples, but resolved not to eat any of the food until Sheema had checked it all. He ate some mushrooms instead, and then a couple of berries.

  He made it through the night without being attacked by any animals or humans. When he woke, though, he was shivering and didn't feel well. He started his hike, suppressing a groan. Everything felt heavier than it had the day before.

  A little after midday, the basket broke.

  Rillik cursed, then looked around nervously to see if anyone or anything had heard him. Picking up the apples took a while. Fixing the basket didn't take long, but Rillik didn't trust it to hold even for the rest of the day. He transferred as many apples as would fit into the sack on top of the other supplies, and crammed some into his pack. Hopefully, that would help the basket to last longer.

  The basket broke again only an hour later. Rillik fell to his knees, set down the sack, and lay down right there on the dirt for a while. This is too hard, he whined in the privacy of his own thoughts. Why am I doing this? Why didn't I just stay in the camp and let Arven do everything? I was stupid to try this. Now I have to abandon a lot of food in the middle of the woods. And I'm so cold...

  Rillik wasn't sure how long he lay there before he made himself get up again, but he felt even worse than before. I should get back to Sheema. She can Heal me if I'm sick. That thought made him focus.

  He was still loathe to abandon so many apples, so he spent a while fixing the basket again, and trying to do a better job of it. He crammed a few more into his pack and the sack, and gave up on about a quarter of the apples, putting the rest into the smaller and somewhat sturdier basket.

  Walking the rest of the day was a small piece of torture. Rillik stopped paying attention to much of anything besides putting one foot in front of the other, trying to get more distance from Oak Mill. He kept going until almost full dark, then discovered that he couldn't carry the food up into a tree with him. Instead he just lay against a tree trunk, clutching his bags protectively, and hoping that nothing came to eat him.

  That night, he had strange dreams that made no sense, and felt miserable. At some point he fell over. He dreamed about the chezzik that had almost eaten him when he was heading south. The animal was sitting and weaving a basket much nicer and sturdier than the one Rillik had, saying, “hungry, hungry, hungry” over and over. Then the creature ate an apple, and fell over dead. Rillik had lots of other dreams, too.

  The loud birdsong at dawn failed to wake him, but eventually he stirred. He still felt awful, but maybe was a little bit more alert. He got a fire in his soul when he looked around, scrambling up and putting his back to the tree.

  There were huge footprints nearby, and the musky smell Rillik remembered from his last encounter. The basket had been shredded, and a lot of the apples stomped on, or half-eaten. It was here and I slept through it? Maybe I was half-awake for some of it? I was certainly too sick to do anything about it.

  Thank the spirits, the creature was content with the apples, and didn't kill and eat me. It seemed impossibly lucky, until he realized—the animal probably could smell how sick he was, and instinct kept it from trying to eat him. Never thought I would be happy to be sick, but...

  Rillik was grateful that he had moved some apples into his pack and the sack, and doubly grateful that the chezzik had been content with the rest of the basket and hadn't torn into his other containers, nor him. In one tree, the creature had cost him a lot of food. In the other tree, he didn't have to try to carry the basket any more. He was grateful for that, because he was starting to wonder whether he could even make it back to camp, and removing part of his load was going to help his chances.

  He spent a long while watching and listening, and sensed absolutely no sign of humans. It's probably safe to turn northeast now. I've detoured far enough. I won't do anyone any good if I die out here.

  If he had had the choice, he would have just lay down and waited for rescue, but there would be no rescue coming for him. So, he got up, feeling slow and creaky. He put on his pack and picked up the sack, and continued stumbling towards his new home, and the hoped-for safety of Sheema's Healing.