They went back through the alleyways and back to the main street. Ray led them timidly, but Valora felt Henry already knew the place. Merchants hailed them from their stands, showing apples, peaches, grapes and the like. She saw the boy's eyes wandering to the stands with drooling peeking from his lips.
Valora walked next to him. "You can share some fruit with your mother and sister." She said and handed a couple of pemphs.
Ray looked at her with round black eyes, watery with tears. His hands moved like birds checking grain laid on the ground. "I couldn't..." He whispered but his hands still took it. He ran to a stand and came back with a bushel of apples in his arms.
His weary face turned that of joy. The tall gate loomed further ahead and the girls flinched at the thought of what lies beyond. Tents and encampments of the border force lined near the wall, their flags flattering to the wind.
"This way," Ray pointed to the left from there.
