The first building Rillik found was a house, with a large woodshed nearby. He passed it by, because it wasn't late enough at night yet to risk getting closer. I need a barn, a stable, a granary, something like that.

  What he found instead was an orchard.

  The trees stood in neat rows and were wide instead of tall. There were round, rotted fruit on the ground, some green, some brown, a few bright red but crushed. After sneaking around the orchard on three sides, he avoided the house on the other end. Retreating to the trees farthest from the house, Rillik climbed one and inspected it. The tree was so short that he barely got twenty feet up at the highest point.

  He spotted a few lonely fruit still hanging, and worked his way out to them. They were inconveniently placed, which made sense if they were left behind after harvesting. For once, he was glad that he was still small; the branch would have never taken much more weight than he put on it. As it was, he had left his pack a short ways into the woods, hidden in a bramble.

  He retrieved three small fruit, all bright red. Rillik considered how to get down with them all and with no pack to put them in. He was reluctant to drop them for fear it would ruin them. Finally, he sniffed one of them all over, worked up his nerve, and took a bite.

  It's sweet! The fruit was very sweet, with a bit of an acidic tang to it. Thinking responsibly, Rillik immediately decided to get some of these back to Sheema. She would need food like this after doing any Healing.

  He had meant to simply hold it in his teeth while he climbed down, but he was so hungry, and it tasted so good, that he ate the whole thing. There was a core with seeds that didn't taste as good as the rest. That part, Rillik held in his teeth while he climbed down.

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  He examined the ground, so full of markings of traffic, and decided to get rid of the core a short ways off into the woods. It was simple enough to hide it; then Rillik returned to the orchard, selecting a different tree. He climbed up and retrieved the few abandoned fruit. These were smaller, and he managed to carry them all down to the ground with him. Another trip to his pack, and he was ready to do it again.

  This time, the tree he selected had nothing left on it; the humans had picked it clean. He climbed down and tried another. Partway up, he found a small collection of rocks, all very white, tucked between one branch and the trunk. Rillik stopped and stared at it.

  A human kid is picking out neat rocks and keeping them here.

  It was so normal, that it felt weird. Humans didn't do things like that. Humans got on boats and attacked people who never did anything to them, and murdered your parents and sold you into slavery. They didn't gather pretty rocks and stash them. For some reason, the sight made Rillik's stomach upset.

  He left the rocks alone. Instead, he climbed down and retreated for the time being. He gathered his pack, and the six small red fruit, and moved off to the east, looking for someplace else to rob. Someplace a little less disturbing.

  ° ? ? ? °

  The night was going to be especially cold. Rillik needed someplace sheltered to spend the night. As the last light was fading, he found a barn. Seeing no lights, and hearing nothing, Rillik slipped inside as quickly and quietly as possible.

  Inside, there were two zenayu and a goat. Rillik spent a few minutes making friends with them, and once he was satisfied that they would not kick up a fuss over his presence, climbed up into the loft and hid himself in the hay as thoroughly as possible.

  I should stay up a while, make sure no one is going to come out to the barn before it gets late.

  He fell asleep almost the moment his head hit the hay.