The next leg of the journey left Ford with a deep sense of regret. Mia seemed strangely hurt, and he couldn't figure that out.
He was also afraid to try to talk to her, since he still wasn't a hundred percent clear on what Seth might consider 'pursuing.' He should have gotten a lot more detail on what that meant before making the promise, but Seth had seemed so angry that Ford probably would have promised a lot just to get out of that conversation alive.
Mia was holding up, barely, though Ford could see more easily than the others how fatigue was setting in on her. Or maybe they noticed and chose to pretend they didn't.
Ford tried to keep himself distracted by working on his whittling project, but reached an impasse when it came to the head and face of the carving. The detail needed was too great for him to proceed, so took to practicing on other bits of wood along the way.
