As the rest of the group turned to follow Raven, the girl muttered her first words and called back their attention with a bit of a desperate cry.
"I-I want to join you!"
Raven kept walking without looking back, but Mizu stopped briefly an casted a glance at the girl, then she hastened her steps towards Raven and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was, it made Raven stop, as she taught. 'Oh boy, I really have to bring her now. But then again, I can't leave her with Mizu.'
"Heh.." "What are you called, what is your name?" Raven asked reluctantly as she stopped and waited for the girl to come closer.
"Kim Yoon-Ah." She answered, as she stopped before them.
Raven could spot some trembling here and there, nothing that could be avoided. She remained silent for a while without responding to the girl or giving her any sign to communicate anything, so the girl began again as she felt Raven wasn't satisfied with her.
"De-Despite how I look, I won't be a burden to you, I swear! I-I'll be useful!" She said, as the shaking increased a little.
"Do you want to join us, or do you want us to protect you? Which is it?" Raven asked.
A brief moment of silence passed rather quickly as the girl answered, "I want to join you, your group." She said.
Raven simply looked her one more time and turned away, "welcome to the group! Kim." She said audibly as she walked away.
'Recruiting has never been my thing, sheesh. At least, she has some talent.' Raven said in her mind as they all continued moving forward.
John was going to correct Raven that the surname was actually the one in front, but relinquished the thought. They weren't in any sense close, and she was a hard person to read. The last thing he would want to do was garner her anger, staying quiet was the safest option. Besides, the one with the name wasn't complaining. 'Maybe she knows and is just being formal. It must be that.' He thought, as he kept walking.
After some weeks of travelling, their group reached a relatively big and wide river that cut across two sides of the forest. This was the same river Dustin had crossed a while back, so the threat had been taken away for them, all they had to do was cross.
..
"Hmm?" 'Let's hide first.' A mysterious figure said as she stood up from the squatting position by thr river banks and disappeared into the forest. 'Such bad timing. If only that fool didn't procrastinate, I would have already been through with this. No need to rush though, let's just wait.' The hooded figure said in her mind as she watched Raven and the others patrol the river banks on the other side of the river.
It was presently around morning, and the fog that filled the forest had started to disappear as the sun rose. Mizu quickly got to work after their plan was set, and with a couple of swings and little effort, she managed to bring down a huge tree, and started separating it into planks. John would have helped, but this kind of work was still beyond him. If it was an axe, the story would be different, but as he held his flimsy sword in hand that looked like it would snap any moment, he thought it best to leave the work to those that actually knew what they were doing.
After Mizu was through with preparing the planks, John showed his expertise as he skilfully weaved a rope using the tree back and some other plant parts, which he then used to hold the planks together to create a makeshift sail. He was able to make two in an incredible short amount of time, and by mid-noon they were ready to take the waters.
"Will this thing actually float?" Raven asked as she kicked the construct lightly. The wood they used wasn't dry and was still very fresh, so she was afraid they would end up sinking. And though they could swim, they had no idea what sort of monster lurked in the bottom of this particular river, and since the water was a bit murky, it was impossible to see up to the river bed.
"Well, if it sinks us half way, we'll just have to complete the rest by swimming. Hope there's no one who doesn't know how to swim?" John asked a bit heartily, intending to crack a little chuckles, but it seemed everyone wasn't in the mood, not even little Aria. 'They training this girl into a killer machine. She doesn't even pay me any attention any more. Hai Hai. The weak are left to the bottom, huh?' At this point, he couldn't help but think about how Dustin was doing, he then wished him luck in his heart. If only he knew where the brat was..
They pushed the constructs into te river, and after waiting for some time to make sure it floats, they started boarding it cautiously, one after the other. Mizu, Raven and Aria took one, while John and Kim took the other one.
John and Kim had become close acquaintances since both were left together most of the time. With the vigorous training Raven Aria was getting for most of the time, she only had so much spare time to play with the others, so she wasn't too close with Kim, though, she already knew John.
As the construct sailed into the middle of the river and past it, it seemed to be holding up, but the moment they were a few metres away from the other end of the river, it gave up and slowly started to sink. Mizu took Aria unto her back and jumped from the sail, landing in shallow waters that reached her knees, not wetting herself. Following her was Raven. Though they showed such amazing skills, John and Kim could only watch them as they themselves sank into the water, and had to swim the rest of the way. Though, it wasn't much, they still got wet.
"After a bit of time wasted near the river, the team advanced as they continued their journey.
'Finally, they're gone.' The mysterious lady said as she emerged once again from the forest. She looked like a spirit whenever she appeared and disappeared, as if the forest took her in and then brought her back out.
"Shouldn't have waited for them, they wasted so much of my time." She said as she returned to the place where she stood before.
She brought something out of her cloak, and while holding it within both her palms, she placed the palms inside the water. "With this, my job here is done. Time to return." She said, as she stood up.
Just then, another set of voices permeated the forest, as loud male voices resounded in the quite forest. Luckily, the lady was done, so she left just like before, mysteriously vanishing into nothingness. Just that moment, Nathan emerged from the opposite side of the forest, and following behind him was his brother.
"This time, we have to cross a river, huh?"