Rillik plodded onward.

  He was so tired. He ached everywhere. He was cold. He hadn't slept well in days. He was hungry, and didn't dare touch the heavy sack of food he was carrying. In short, he was miserable.

  The only thing that kept him going was the knowledge that his suffering would end when he got to the camp, and not a moment sooner. Is this what grownups do? he wondered. Is this what being an adult is like?

  Rillik was starting to not mind so much that he was over a decade away from adulthood. At this point he would gladly take a typical punishment if it meant that the burden would go away. Being a kid in trouble sounded delightful compared to this.

  A couple of times he caught himself wandering off course. He worried about getting lost, but told himself that he would recognize something eventually, even if he missed the camp by a league or two. He was very annoyed with himself for adding anything to the distance he had to travel, though.

  He navigated by water, glad that it wasn't raining at least. Nightfall. By nightfall, I'll be close, he hoped.

  The hours crawled by. Rillik wished he could crawl too, but that would be even slower.

  Sunset came, and Rillik still hadn't recognized anything. Maybe I'm lost. He wanted to cry, but didn't want to make noise. Please, no chezzik tonight. Please, spirits.

  Rillik was about to stop for the night, when he realized that he was close to the den of a big animal. Very close. The smell, the tracks in the fading light... He would never have stumbled so close if he wasn't sick. The animal wasn't home. Rillik didn't know whether that meant it had just left, or would be coming soon.

  I can't stop here.

  Rillik kept going as the light grew dimmer and dimmer. Can't stop here. Can't stop here. He focused on that.

  He had no idea how much farther he had walked when he spotted a flicker of light ahead in the distance.

  He paused, blinking, trying to think of what that meant. Humans. I have to hide from the humans. He turned around, and started to walk past that tree with the white trunk and the knot that looked like a face.

  Wait.

  He stared at the forest around him dumbly for several moments, seeing nothing but faint shapes, then started to feel a tiny bit of hope. He reached for his water sight, and even that was getting blurry, but...it matched.

  He almost fell over just from relief, but caught himself. No. I went through all of this. I will see it through. I will complete my task. I did not cooperate with a human for nothing. I did not go through all of this for nothing. If I stop now and let them find me, then they'll say I just got lost in the woods for a week and had to be rescued.

  No. No path. I won't give up. It's just a little farther.

  Rillik reached for a little more strength and his body didn't want to give it, but he was stubborn. He started counting his steps. One...two...three...

  ...eighty-nine, ninety, ninety one...

  ...two hundred and thirteen, two hundred and fourteen...

  Five hundred...

  Seven hundred and forty-five...seven hundred and forty-six...

  “Rillik?!”

  Seven hundred and forty-seven...seven hundred and forty-eight...

  There was noise in the woods to his left. Rillik just kept trudging towards the campfire.

  He could hear more voices. They sounded excited.

  He stepped into the cleared space of the camp. Seven hundred and sixty-one.

  There.

  ° ? ? ? °

  He had loud, confusing dreams. He dreamt that Varga was there in the woods with him, but she'd gone off to the human city and was probably sold off to some fat ugly man or something. He fantasized about Sheema's hands pouring Healing magic into him, and dreamed about the pain fading.

  He dreamed about being warm.

  He dreamed about the adults being mad, and sad, and angry, and relieved, all at once. Only there were too many people.

  He felt another wave of Healing, and then the dreams went away.

  ° ? ? ? °

  He woke up feeling awful—but not as awful as before. He was lying on something soft. He was chilly but not cold. He was very thirsty. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes.

  The light was dim. It took a few moments to get his vision to focus, and a few more to realize that the sight above him was unfamiliar because he'd never seen it before, not because he couldn't remember. It looked like the top of a tent, but one with an odd design. It must be a human tent.

  Wait. Have I been captured by humans? Did I blunder into the wrong camp and ruin everything? Oh, spirits, no!

  He tried to sit up and that didn't work, so he rolled over and got to his hands and knees, trying to focus so he could look around. He heard footsteps approaching the tent and scooted back a little. What do I do? What do I—?

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  “Whoa!” called a voice that sounded a lot like Varga. “Whoa, there, kid! Hold the zenayu! You're sick! Don't move around so much!”

  Rillik blinked and tried to make sense of what he was seeing. It was Varga, wearing new leathers, crouching in the entrance to the tent. But it couldn't be. “What?”

  “Hi, Rillik!” She had that huge grin that was so familiar.

  “But...but you can't be here!”

  “No?”

  “No! Some fat, ugly human's got you in the human city!”

  Varga burst into laughter. “I'm going to tell Tom you said that,” she promised, giggling.

  “What?”

  “Easy, Rill, easy. You're still sick. Orvan and I got here the night before last, and we've been waiting for you and Arven.”

  Rillik blinked, frustrated that he couldn't make his soul hang onto anything. “Did you escape?”

  “No, silly Rilly!”

  “Don't call me that!” Rillik snapped automatically.

  “Yes, Mister Rillik, sir!” Varga barked with mock seriousness.

  “Quit it!”

  “All right, all right! You're sick, so I'll humor you.”

  “What happened?” Rillik demanded. Sometimes, Varga treated him like a little kid.

  “Varga? Are you riling up my patient?” Sheema demanded from somewhere outside.

  “I'm not doing anything!” Varga insisted loudly. Then she focused on Rillik again. “Quick! Lie back down before Sheema bites me.”

  Rillik snorted a laugh. “She will not!” he declared firmly, to show her he wasn't falling for that.

  “I just might!”

  “Promises, promises,” Varga teased the Healer.

  “Not the fun way, Varga.”

  “How can there be a fun way to get bit?” Rillik wondered, confused.

  “Ask me again in a decade.”

  Rillik hated it when adults said that. It made him feel stupid. “Vargaaaaaaaa, tell me what happened!”

  “Well!” Varga entered and sat cross-legged. She took on a storytelling voice. “'In a faraway land, beyond an endless sea, there was a...!' You know,” she interrupted herself in a normal tone, “that actually fits this time. Huh.”

  “Where are Diavla and, and Kervan?” Rillik demanded. Sometimes you had to ask a really specific question to get Varga to actually answer properly. It worked, because Varga visibly got more serious.

  “They're fine. They're traveling with Tom and Eubexa.”

  “Who's Eubexa?”

  “An elf we rescued while we were in the city. She speaks Western.”

  “Where are they?”

  Varga looked at the top of the tent, her lips moving as she counted silently. Then she looked back down at him. “They should have gotten to Oak Mill yesterday.”

  “Where's Oak Mill?”

  “It's the human town three days that way. You should know—you've been there, haven't you? You brought back groceries from them.”

  “Charlie lives in Oak Mill,” Rillik muttered to himself so that he wouldn't forget.

  “Who's Charlie?”

  “A human boy about my age. About my size, I mean. He took my coin purse and came back with food he bought in the market.”

  Varga gave him a happy smile. “Rillik! You made a human friend?”

  “He's not a friend!” Rillik shouted. He felt his face heat and looked down. “He just...helped me.”

  “That's good. Did you help him?”

  Rillik felt even more ashamed, remembering. “I helped him with his chores,” he mumbled.

  “Oh. Oh, I get it. You really aren't friends.” Rillik looked up at her quickly, surprised, more than one feeling bubbling in his soul confusingly. Varga nodded thoughtfully. “He just helped you, and you helped him. That's not friendship.” She propped her chin on one fist and looked extra thoughtful for a few moments. “It's a good start, though.”

  ° ? ? ? °

  Mister Orvan shooed Varga away and gave a very no-nonsense, factual description of their adventures in Rivermarch. Rillik had the feeling he was leaving out a lot, but that made sense. He'd have to talk for two weeks to tell him everythingthat happened in two weeks, after all. And then there'd be two more weeks to catch up on.

  Sheema Healed him again and explained that he had caught a sickness of humans. His body didn't know how to fight it at first, but it was learning, and Rillik was going to get better, even if she didn't Heal him again. Finally, the scolding arrived.

  “Rillik, what you did was very foolish—and also very brave,” the Healer told him gently. “You must have worked hard to carry all that food, all the way here.”

  “But I did it for nothing,” Rillik groaned. “Varga and Orvan brought food, too.”

  “Not for nothing, Rillik. You helped,” Sheema assured him.

  “How?” he asked, thinking she was just saying that to make him feel better.

  “Well...” The way she paused, Rillik figured he had guessed right. But after a moment, Sheema's eyes widened. “Ah! Rillik, you helped by leaving us extra food when you left.”

  “What?”

  “You didn't take enough food with you. So Brallik and I got to eat more while we waited for you. Brallik was very happy about that,” she confided quietly with a sage nod. Rillik grinned. “Besides, Varga and Orvan didn't have any of those yellow things, and they didn't tell us about the tubers or the mushrooms. That's very valuable information, Rillik! If we ever have to survive in these woods again, it will go much easier knowing those things.”

  “But now Arven's gone looking for me.”

  “Yes, and that was the bad part of what you did.” Sheema's face took on a serious, scolding look, and Rillik swallowed. “You should have told us where you were going and how soon you would be back.”

  “But if I did, you would have told me not to go,” Rillik pointed out. Sheema raised her eyebrows and looked at him. Rillik winced and looked down.

  “So you knew we would disapprove, and you did it anyway.”

  “That's what adults do,” Rillik protested.

  Sheema didn't say anything for a few moments. When he looked up, her face still showed surprise. Finally, she nodded. “Sometimes,” she conceded thoughtfully. “You're right, sometimes adults do that. But a lot of the time, they're wrong. Even adults get things wrong sometimes, Rillik. Talking to us is always the smarter plan.”

  “You were very grown up on this trip of yours, Rillik. You faced dangers, and hardship, and you didn't just sit and cry for help, you got up and walked for days, even when you got sick. That was very mature of you. You made it all the way back without help.

  “But don't be in such a hurry to be an adult. Things are going to get a lot easier for us soon, based on what Varga and Orvan have told us. You don't have to push yourself so hard. It's okay to be a little kid for a while longer, if you want to.”

  Rillik pressed his lips together, his soul churning. “Yeah. I guess I'd like to be a kid for a little while longer, I think.”

  “A wise decision. Once you grow up all the way, you can't really ever go back.” She leaned closer and whispered, “even if Varga tries to.” They shared a grin.

  “I heard that!”

  ° ? ? ? °

  The adults talked things over, and included Rillik in the discussion. They even asked his opinion. Finally, they agreed on a plan.

  They would set out for the human town immediately, not waiting for Arven. Varga scratched out a note on some bark and left it where Arven was sure to see it. They trusted him to make his own way to the human town. They even suspected that they would meet him on the way.

  Rillik would ride on Varga's back, and Brallik would take her pack along with his own. Rillik was a little surprised; given how lazy Brallik was, he would have thought Mr. Orvan would take the extra pack. But Mr. Orvan looked a little tired.

  They had a feast before they left, mostly made up of food Rillik had brought. They decided to leave some more of it in the camp for Arven to eat on his way to town. They made sure Rillik knew that his hard work hadn't been useless.

  They also left some of the camping gear there for Arven, too. That saved them from carrying all of it, and according to Varga, Tom Walker was rich now, and would just buy them more stuff whenever they needed it.

  They waited while Sheema ate one of his apples, to help regain her strength after Healing him. She apologized for slowing people down, but nobody was going to get mad at a Healer for needing to rest.

  Finally, when it was nearly midday, they had checked everything, and started walking south, towards the human town of Oak Mill.