The sun rose, heralding the start of a new day. Emily just wished that there was some way to actually communicate with her new friends. Although, 'friends' might be a stretch, as she was merely the one providing them with food.
Not that she minded. They in turn helped keep her from being seen. Or at least she hadn't had to run for her life again. She had the feeling that the people she'd been heping didn't have much in the way of magic, or at least training in using their magic if they had enough.
As best as she could tell, the one in charge was a young woman who's skin was as black as if she was directly from an African tribe from Earth. Emily was struggling to learn the language here, so she couldn't say for sure if their skin color was an oddity in this world or not.
At the very least, most of the others there were light skinned. A few had tan or more brown skin, but Emily couldn't say if that actually meant anything in regards to what would be common in this world or not.
However, one thing that did catch her by surprise was eye and hair colors. Some had bright pink eyes while others had aqua blue or aqua green eyes. Not that there weren't any other unusual colors. Then the hair of some of them were basic blond, red, brown, or black, but others had violet, green, or deep blue hair.
At first she thought there was some trick to it, like them dying their hair. Yet, it was clear after spending a couple weeks with them, that no other color was starting to reveal itself, so Emily had to assume that it was their natural hair color.
Another thing that got her attention was that the girls in this world seemed to be looked as the protectors of others here. Whether that was some special dynamic or just common in this world, Emily wasn't yet sure.
She hoped to find out soon, but that would only be after she learned the language. For one thing, she didn't want to have someone try to put a bag over her head if she could help it. That would just be a big nuisance for her at the very least. Worst case would be that she wouldn't succeed at escaping and finally learn what it was that they had originally in mind then.
She'd also tried indicating her interest in heading towards the trees she could see in the distance, even from not being on top of the wall of the city nearby. Yet, whenever she'd brought that up to her protectors, they seemed to become afraid. Emily estimated that the trees were to the northeast of her, but only because of the direction the sun rose in. She didn't have a compass to be sure, but it was at least better than nothing.
Emily hoped that the fear her new 'friends' had about the trees was just because of local rumors and stories rather than something actually dangerous in there. Not that she could get more from them than that.
Every so often someone new would show up and be accepted immediately by the group. Although, the newcomers tended to be practically just skin and bones. Emily wondered if she hadn't shown up, would there have been people who died because they had a hard time getting food for themselves in the first place?
Emily couldn't help but sigh. It felt like if she didn't overcome the language barrier soon, she might not be able to stay with them because she worried that while she was able to provide them with fish to eat up until now, that she'd be able to continue to be their only source, as she'd started teaching some of the others, mostly girls, how to fish. With just a stick and some thread for a line that had a hook attached with some bait. Where if they started to show any serious aptitude for it, then they wouldn't need her anymore.
Yet, she doubted that she'd get chased out, as there were some who didn't contribute to anything at all, but they were still allowed to stay. Not that Emily really knew what the residence requirements was for this group of people.
At the same time, she didn't want to just stay here and not worry about what happened to those she'd arrived on this world with. She felt that she should at least do whatever she could to see if they were still alive. If nothing else, she needed to find out and get word back to Heathcliff if they were all dead, if that's what happened. Though, she hoped that there were all still alive, even the ones she didn't like much.
While she hadn't managed to learn the language, she had at least been able to establish a rudimentary form of communication. Such as offering more food, accepting or refusing, as well as a salutation and farewell.
It wasn't much, but it was something. Emily wanted to work on names, but she had a feeling she'd need to learn a little bit of the language first. As she'd said her name as she pointed to herself and it seemed to get understood that she was trying to say she was a girl or a woman. She wasn't sure which it was, but it was clear they didn't understand what she'd been trying to get at.
Not that she let it get her down. They were at least friendly enough and she wanted to help as much as she could. Even if it was just to catch fish for them when those who were learning to fish weren't able to catch anything.
If nothing else, she was happy to just relax here. Yet, she didn't want to be stuck here forever. Once she started to pick up the language, she was confident that she'd be able to figure out how to keep herself safe in this world. Plus, she also wanted to know more about her friends. Such as why they were here in the first place. Especially with how they'd been looking like they were close to starving to death when she first arrived.
She wished she had an ability like Charlie. To understand those who didn't speak the language or languages she herself understood. It had to be so much easier for her and her friends to be able to do that.
_
A twig snapping starled Ralph out of his sleep. He hadn't noticed much wildlife in this forest, but he couldn't rule out the fact that there could be something that they just hadn't encountered yet.
That was also assuming it wasn't whatever it was that Charlie had been going on about the night before. He couldn't say that he really had put much stock in what she'd said, but he couldn't say that it wasn't possible either. Besides, they did know that there were people on this world, since they'd encountered that man earlier.
He just couldn't be sure that anyone on this world be a threat to them as they were. Especially since they'd just clearly gotten over some simple illness that he was sure they'd dealt with plenty among themselves.
He turned over in his sleeping bag, ready to go back to sleep, when he heard voices. He opened his eyes. Clearly it wasn't just a wild animal.
"You sure this is where you saw that fire?" one person asked.
"Yeah. See? You can see the remains of it there," another person said.
Ralph couldn't help but feel like he didn't want to see who these voices belonged to. There was a coldness that seemed to linger with them that made Ralph worry that if he saw who these people were, that he might do something that would be humiliating to just remember. Let alone have his friends be aware of it as well.
"Well, then where'd the people who started the fire go?" the first voice asked.
"Uh, I'm getting the feeling this might be a trap," the second voice said.
"Why's that?"
"Because see? You see the footprints of someone leaving that area, while there's several other footprints there."
"Wouldn't that just mean we have someone who left the safety of whoever they were traveling with?"
"Maybe, but what if it's an ambush? You've heard the rumors as well as I have. The queen is getting fed up with the rumors of travelers being scooped up and sold as a slave. While it's perfectly legal, you know she's not happy with it."
"Well, it's not like she can do anything about it."
"But what if she set a trap to catch someone in the act of it? If we try that and we get caught in the act, I don't think she'll care so much about what we might have to say."
"You're getting cold feet now? You're starting to sound like a twig."
"No, seriously. Look, we can't see who was at that fire last night. We see someone left that group and walked off somewhere. Why would that person walk off if not to give an update on what they were doing? There's no reason for anyone to be living in this forest anyway. We're a couple days from being out of this accursed forest as it is. Unless they're part of a trap, they would probably have just been like us and continued to travel through here as fast as possible. No one wants to get taken by the Lost."
Ralph wanted to hear more, but the voices stopped talking. Ralph felt a cold chill run down his back. That was much more serious than he'd have thought it would be to find Charlie had been right.
Even though he didn't want to, he realized that he would need to apologize to her. If she hadn't insisted on them making the tents invisible, he wasn't sure that he wouldn't have woke up to just hear them talking. He suspected that they might have all gotten tied up. Not that he had any idea what it would have been about.
Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what the voices meant about someone having left the area. Who would do that? Even if they had to go, he had the feeling they wouldn't have gone that far. Not as far as the voices seemed to think they had gone.
The more he thought about it, the more awake he got. Until he decided to get up and start making some breakfast. Not that there was much left to work with. He was sure that they'd need to acquire more food one way or another soon, but at the moment he wasn't sure how they'd be able to do that. Not when they didn't know where any food grew at the moment.
What he was able to find was some limp celery and creamy peanut butter. Not the first option he'd go with, but it was better than just plain peanut butter. Especially with how he remembered how often his mother would get on him about leaving the celery in the fridge when it was starting to get limp.
He couldn't help but chuckle at how the things he disliked most about his home was sometimes the things he missed the most about it. Briefly, he looked up towards the sky, though the mist or clouds or whatever still blocked him from being able to see it. One thing he was determined to do at the moment was to get out from under that stupid mist. It would be so much easier to relax once he could see the sun and sky.
Even if it was just the stars at the time, he would take it. After all, the stars would only be up for so long before the sun came up again. Which meant that as long as they got out from under that mist, which had to end somewhere, then they'd be able to enjoy the sun when it came up again.
While he was waiting for the others to get up, he made his way over to the stream, careful to not get caught up in a trap or something by whoever it was that he heard talking earlier. They may have sounded like they were leaving, but he couldn't rule that possibility out.
Scooping up a bucket of water, he brought it back to the camp, ready to put it on a fire to heat it up. There might not be anything they could use it to cook with, but at the very least they could put it in their water bottles and let it cool down after it started boiling.
After all, while they might have recovered from the disease that they had come down with, there wasn't any reason to expose themselves unnecessarily to microorganisms that were native to this world. The other method he was aware of would be to add iodine to the water and not only did he not like that method, they also didn't have any.
As he poured the water in the pot to start heating up, Beth and Amelia came out of their respective tents, the invisibility fading from the tents. Both looked like they were ready to go back to bed, but Ralph doubted that they'd admit to it if he mentioned it. Especially Beth.
"What's for breakfast?" Amelia asked, yawning.
"Celery and peanut butter," Ralph answered, not surprised at Amelia's and Beth's unhappy reactions. "Hey, I just work with what's available. If you want something more, feel free to pull it out of your packs. Mine's pretty much run out of food."
"Well, I'll see if Charlie has anything in hers," Beth said, turning to go back to her tent. "I know mine's not any better than Ralph's."
"I have some crackers in mine," Amelia said. "Saltines, though. Not any Ritz crackers."
"Those might be good if we make a mushroom soup or something," Ralph remarked. "You know, with those red mushrooms Charlie came across on our first day here."
"Uh, guys? Have you seen Charlie anywhere?" Beth asked, looking back from the entrance to her tent.
"Sorry, I just got up," Amelia said.
Ralph shook his head. "No, I haven't seen her," he said, but then suddenly remembered the reason he woke up so early. "But, actually, there is something I think you guys should know…"
Ralph then explained what he'd heard and not only that someone had left the camp earlier, but that Charlie had been right that the bonfire the night before had been a bad idea.
Beth sighed as she shook her head. "You know, I think she probably knew I'd talk her out of it," Beth commented, though it sounded like she was talking to herself, so Ralph merely ignored it. "Probably why she just left…" Beth trailed off as if she just realized something. "And why she phrased what she said last night the way she did. She was planning this and didn't want me to realize it."
"Hold on," Ralph said, noticing Tim and Wes' tent was visible again. "What're you talking about now?"
Beth turned to look at him, her expression turning a bit worried. "Last night I knew she was upset with what you guys were saying, so I asked her to promise me to not do anything and that we could talk this morning." Beth sighed again, looking around them. "But she didn't promise anything, and I think she planned on leaving us in the night."
"Why would she do that?" Tim asked as he came out of his tent.
"Because we weren't exactly nice to her last night," Amelia said, looking guilty. "I know I said some things that prolly hurt her."
"Well, should we try to find her?" Wes asked as he came out of his tent.
"Find who?" Hannah asked as she came out of her tent, yawning.
"Charlie ditched us in the night," Ralph said bluntly.
"Oh, then what'll we do about that?" Hannah asked, her voice think with sleep, clearly not completely awake.
If he wouldn't need to go back to the stream to get more water, Ralph would have dumped remaining water in the bucket on Hannah then. It was the perfect opportunity, but he wasn't that interested in having to carry that bucket again. It got rather heavy when filled with water.
"Well, as Wes asked, should we try to find her or should we just let her be?" Beth said. "If we're going to try and find her, then will we try to apologize for what was said last night or will we just let things go as they were?"
"Why should I apologize?" Ralph asked. "I couldn't care less if what I said offends someone else."
"It wasn't that it was offensive," Amelia said. "It was that it was hurtful." Amelia paused as she looked at everyone. "I'd like the chance to apologize to her, but if she doesn't want to come back to us, I'm not sure if we should force her to, either."
"Well, let's find her and see what'll happen," Tim said. "Worst case, she'll just take off again in the night. What'll we lose at that point?"
"A day of foraging?" Hannah asked, as she broke of a limp piece of celery from the stalk and used it to scoop out a glob of peanut butter with it. "I mean, we really need to get some more food here."
"Well, any idea of which was she went?" Wes asked, munching on a piece of celery with peanut butter.
"Not really," Ralph answered. "All we know is that she left."
"I still left something in her pack that I can use to track her," Beth said.
"Are you trying to sound like a stalker?" Hannah asked dryly. "It's almost as if you're trying to keep tabs on her or something."
"Yeah, I understand you might be protective of her because she's going out with Alex, but seriously. I don't think Charlie's going to step out on her girlfriend, even though there's absolutely no way she'd know about it here," Wes remarked.
Beth just rolled her eyes. "Guys, I had a feeling she was going to leave a while ago. I did this just in case this did happen, so we could try to talk her out of it when it did," Beth answered.
Ralph had to admit, Beth's reason didn't sound that bad. Although, putting something in someone's bag or whatever to track them didn't really sound good either.
"What'll we do if we can't find her or if she keeps walking in circles?" Tim asked.
"Why would she walk in circles?" Hannah asked, sounding more annoyed than anything else.
"Because she might get lost in these woods," Tim said. "Who knows what direction markers there are in here?"