The next morning, everyone woke slowly. They had stayed up late, talking to the tree that was providing them protection from the walking trees, and the walking trees didn't seem to need to stop and sleep. The sounds of their passing all night kept many of them up far longer than they would have liked.
Gia rubbed her eyes as she looked down at the pitiful amount of food she had left. Glancing over at her family, she saw that Mikey had nothing left, and her parents were sharing the last of what they had to let him have some of theirs. With her stomach growling, she glanced at Vonn who was busy packing things back into his bag for the long walk they had that day.
"Here, Mikey," she said with a bright smile. "I have some extra squirrel from yesterday. Do you want it? I'm not that hungry."
"Oh! Wow! Thanks, Gia!" he exclaimed, taking the meat from her and joyfully getting every last scrap of meat off of each bone.
Vonn gave her a soft smile and put his bag on. "We have a long way to go today, before we get past the walking trees. Hopefully we'll find something to shoot with the crossbow so our supper tonight will be really good."
"I sure hope so!" said Mikey, pulling his bag on. "I'm still a little hungry!"
"I might be able to help you out some," said the tree above them with a creak as it waved one of the walking trees down.
The walking tree paused in confusion, then came over to them.
"I want you to carry these humans to the elven lands before dark. They're friends of mine," said the tree.
"Carry humans?" the walking tree said, slow and deep, with a frown on it's face. "Why not make them carry themselves?"
"They have little legs that take longer to walk. With your long legs you can get there faster. Consider it a request of mine. I'll make sure to have some nice flowers this spring just for you."
The walking tree seemed to consider the offer before finally nodding. Reaching down, it picked them up one by one and shoved them onto a branch.
"Hold on tight, I walk fast!" it boomed, turning away from the spot where they had camped and picking up speed.
Gia glanced at everyone to make sure they were holding on tight as the tree they were in wobbled back and forth with each step. She would scream if she didn't think it would upset their ride. Mikey was clinging to some of the branches up high, where he had climbed higher in delight. Her parents were together near the trunk of the tree, holding on for dear life. Vonn was on the other side of the tree, out of her line of sight, so she couldn't see how he was doing.
The other walking trees turned to look at them curiously, but none tried to stop them. The stories she would hear later from her father and brother would be so crazy, she was sure people would think they had lost their minds. No one would believe this!
"That tree better not forget to flower for me!" grumbled the tree they were riding on as it slowed near some thick brush.
"This is the beginning of the elven forest. We don't go over there, and they don't come over here. I'm sure it won't take long for them to find you," it said, holding its hands up for them to climb down out of the branches.
Once they were all on the ground, it turned without giving them a chance to thank it, still mumbling about how the flowers better be sweet as well.
"That was fantastic!" cried Mikey with a wide grin.
"I'm certainly glad that's over with!" said Carla with a shake of her head. "My heart couldn't take another minute of that."
"It was easier to be carried so far, than to dodge through the walking trees," said Tom, straightening his bag.
"If everyone's alright, we should see how far we can get before dark," said Vonn, pulling out the crossbow and getting it ready. "Keep your eyes open for deer."
"I'll do just that," said Tom cheerfully.
"Oh, you!" laughed Carla, taking his arm as they started walking again.
Gia expected an elf to jump out at them at any moment, but she never saw one. As the light started to fade, she started looking for a good spot for their tent, instead.
"There's a little stream over here, next to this little clearing," she said, pointing it out to Vonn.
"That looks good to camp. Maybe there's some little fish or something," he said, going around a tree.
Gia followed him, to see what had caught his eye, when he suddenly let out a whoop of excitement. Jumping in surprise, she darted forward the couple of steps to see that he had shot a deer that must have been there to get a drink.
"We're going to eat good tonight!" he cheered, giving her a hug before rushing forward to skin and gut it.
"Yay!" cheered Mikey, rushing forward with his axe to help.
"Oh, good," said Tom. "We could use some food. I was starting to get hungry."
"Dad, you've lost weight since we left. We could all use some food right now," said Gia, trying to keep from drooling.
"I've lost weight?" he cried, "Look at you! Why, you're nothing but skin and bones!"
"What?" she said, looking down at herself, before hanging her head. "Dad, I love you."
"Good! I haven't heard that often enough."
Turning to look around, Gia started gathering wood for the fire they would need to cook the meat. She couldn't wait until it was ready. Spotting a fallen tree, hidden under a bush, she grabbed one end of it and started pulling it free. A tendril of vine began to grow up the branch she held, wrapping around it as it went. Just before it touched her, Gia gasped and dropped the piece of wood.
Looking up, she spotted a woman with long red-brown hair, crouched down touching the ground on the other side of the bush. Her eyes were glowing green, and green, glowing lines ran down her arm to the ground. Stepping back even further, a hand on her shoulder brought her up short.
"What would humans be doing in our forest?" asked a soft-spoken male voice.
"Maybe, they're lost?" suggested the woman, standing up from her crouch and brushed her hands together.
As she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, Gia's eyes widened. The woman's ears were pointed! These must be elves!
"No response? You can speak, can't you?" asked the woman, stepping around the bush that separated them.
"Y-Yes," stammered Gia.
"Then what's your problem?" asked the woman, raising an eyebrow.
"I've never seen anyone so beautiful before," whispered Gia.
"Ha!" laughed the guy behind her, grabbing her shoulder and spinning Gia around. "You think she's beautiful? You really are a human!"
Gia's mouth hung open as she saw the man behind her. He was even more good looking than the woman had been.
"Are all elves so gorgeous?" she asked, unable to take her eyes off his chest as he crossed his arms, causing the fabric to tighten over his muscles.
"What did you think we looked like?" asked the woman, stepped forward to stand beside the man.
"After everyone we've met so far, I don't know," admitted Gia, tearing her eyes away from the eye-candy before her and staring at the ground with her hands held tightly in front of her.
"What do we do with them?" asked the elven guy. "They've killed one of our deer."
"It's only one, and they look half starved. Why don't we leave them alone for a night and notify our commander to find out what we should do?" suggested the woman.
Gia looked up and they were gone. She looked around in shock, but she couldn't see the elves anywhere. Where had they gone?
Looking back at the bushes where the fallen tree limb was, the vine that had scared her was gone as well. Had she imagined all of it?
Grabbing the branch again, she looked around once more before jerking on it. It came free right away, so she dragged it back to the others, still wondering if she had really seen two elves.
"Gia!" exclaimed Mikey, bouncing up to her in excitement. "Guess who showed up!"
She looked over to see the two elves sitting and chatting with her parents while Vonn watched from beside the stream with the deer carcass.
"Who?" she asked, her eyes meeting up with Vonn's.
"They're elves! They say they want to eat supper with us! Isn't that awesome!"
She smiled down at her brother and nodded as he bounced back to the elves, to throw a million questions at them. Dropping the branch about where the fire needed to be, she headed over to talk to Vonn.
"They just showed up a moment before you did," he said as she kneeled next to him.
"They saw me first, I think," she whispered, looking over his progress with the deer.
"I better not burn the meat, then," he said with a smile, giving her a wink before turning back to the deer.