Neither of the two lovers felt comfortable discussing Essieca and her fate. As long as they had not seen a dead body, the woman was still alive. They had to maintain the illusion.
Still, the guilt and the darkness around them choked Serenica as she wearily pushed the Dreamer onwards along the bank of what soon became a river.
They didn't feel safe anywhere, and their best bet was to find someone, any human being, a cottage, a village, any sign of civilization.
After what Serenica felt as three days in her legs, an eternity in her arms, and five hours in her mind, the river gave way to a little dam, and beyond the dam the forest had been tamed to let a little hunter village live its cozy life in the shadows.
"That is the most beautiful village I have ever seen," the Dreamer exclaimed.
A woman in a simple, yet elegant dress came to them.
"Were you crippled by the forest?" she asked the prince so bluntly that Serenica had to swallow a chuckle.
