When Ike woke the next morning, Lira was sitting beside him but not looking at him. She seemed not to have noticed that he had woken up. She chewing quietly on a piece of bread covered in cream and honey. He sat up quickly when he heard the chirping of a distant bird.
Lira, almost against her will, let out a laugh. "It's just a bird. Would you care for something to eat?" She held up the loaf that they had been rationing.
"Um, sure," he said, sleep still in his eyes. "I just want to go down to the stream first." She nodded and he left.
His back felt stiff from lying on the earth as he unintentionally stomped to the river's edge. How could he have not noticed that Lira was right beside him when he was sleeping? She could have killed him at any moment! But she hadn't, that was the confusing bit. That would mean that she didn't want me dead, Ike thought as he splashed water on his face.
He then took the water skeins from his belt and filled them. Ike stood up, looking around, searching for something but all he could hear was the rushing water if the river. He headed the way he came but was astonished to see that no signs of the camp remained. He thought, for a moment, that he had gone the wrong away and that he was lost.
He stooped down to look behind him where his tracks would be only to find them absent. Defeated, he prepared himself to call for Lira when she landed in front of him, jumping from the branches if an old elm tree.
"I covered our tracks and left no traces," she said.
"So I noticed." He was considering telling her that even he thought it was lost but, for the time being, decided against it.
"Would you care for food now?" She held out the same loaf of bread she offered him eight minutes prior. He accepted a slice then they set off, Lira continuing her lead.
He had her words in mind "I covered our tracks and left no traces...." From time to time, he would he would look back to check if his footprints were there or not. Each time, he saw a track being made but would level itself out seconds later.
The pair walked for hours before stopping mid-day in the middle of a cluster of pines. There they rested, ate, and refilled the water skeins by the river.
As they ate, Ike asked Lira, "How long will it take for us to reach our destination?"
She looked up from her bread to stare into his eyes. Her face wore a kind of deep and weathered look that differed so greatly from her usual young, beautiful springtime look. "I have never made this adventure before. My mother was the one who always took the long journeys. Once or twice, she didn't return for weeks."
Ike gave her a stricken look but replied just as calmly as if he were ordering another batch of herbs for his mother, "But you must have some idea as to how long it would take."
She shook her head. "I don't know, especially at this pace. Telling time was never really one of my specialties. However, I can show you where we're headed." Baffled, Ike was about to ask another question but before he could open his mouth, she stood from the fallen log she sat upon and beckoned for him to follow.
"Where are we going?" he asked cautiously.
She smiled mysteriously then started to climb the nearest tree. Knowing where this was going, he followed her. For such a graceful stature, she scampered up very quickly, almost like a rabbit scurrying for its life down its burrow.
Lira was waiting at the very top of the tree's branches, her balance: perfect. However, it took Ike several minutes to pull himself up to the very height of the tree. He was used to hiding under bushes or beneath brambles in order to catch prey, not at the tops of trees.
