Nume ducked under a low hanging branch before jumping over some roots and coming to a sudden halt, crashing into Kran. They both fell to the ground but quickly got back up, muttering apologies and curses alike.

'Are you alright?' Nume asked. When Kran nodded, they ran on, following the path Erwo had taken. It didn't cost them much effort to find the snapped off branches and stamped upon leaves on the ground. They were aware that Erwo probably led them away from the tribe rather than towards it but for now, they just wanted to find the boy again. Zar'gno had stayed behind for he was too big to enter the wooden labyrinth.

As they ran on, Nume suddenly realised something was wrong. There were no longer any snapped off branches ahead of them so she stopped once more. Kran came to a halt next to her moments later.

'What's wrong?'

'We've gone too far, he must be hiding somewhere, the path ended a while ago.' Nume said with a frown.

'Then let's go back and find him.' Kran said with excitement. Looking at him, Nume couldn't help feeling reminded of them playing hide and seek as children.

'Clever.' Nume commented after inspecting the cave like structure a big root formed right next to the path. 'He must have hidden in here, waiting for us to run on. Since he's that clever, he'll have stayed on the same path back to make it harder for us to find out from where on he left it...'

'Yes, but look at all the traces he leaves behind, it shouldn't be too hard to find.' Kran said, nodding in the direction they'd first come from.

'Those might have been on purpose. After all, he wanted to lead us away.' Nume sighed and took a few deep breaths before slowly running along the path once more, keeping her eyes on the right hand side while Kran scanned the left.

'Wait!' Kran suddenly said.

'Did you fi-' Nume stopped when Kran lifted a finger to his lips. She listened carefully but couldn't hear anything other than the rustling of the leaves in the wind. 'What is it?' She asked in a whisper.

'I heard somebody.' Kran said, letting his hand sink again. 'But I don't know from where and now it's gone again.'

Nume stared into the forest surrounding them. She couldn't see very far and knew that it wouldn't be wise to leave the path just anywhere. They might get lost too easily if they didn't find their own traces anymore.

'What do we do then?' Nume asked, still staring into the woods.

'Help!' Kran suddenly yelled. Nume spun around on her heels just to find him standing next to her with a sly smile. 'Help, someone please help us, it's going to kill us!' He shouted in a panicked voice.

'What are you doing?' Nume hissed.

'There are baymouts around here, right? They wouldn't let us be eaten by baymouts, or at least they'd make sure we were quiet so we didn't lead them straight into their camp...' Kran whispered before yelling on. Nume rolled her eyes and ducked into the branches, ready to jump out should anybody come into sight.

It wasn't before long until she saw what she believed to be Erwo's hair show up from behind a tree. Nume immediately charged after him, catching up within moments and nailing him to the ground.

'Gotcha!' She said with a smile. Once he stopped trying to free himself from her grasp, she let go of him so he could sit up and position himself more comfortable. The boy looked furious.

'It was a trap, I knew it!' Erwo said and Nume knew he had a point once more.

'We really only want to help you.' Kran, who had caught up to them now, explained.

'By attracting every last baymout in all of K'haren?' Erwo hissed angrily. He didn't even try to get up because he knew he didn't stand a chance against the two if he tried to run again.

'Let's call that a side effect...' Kran muttered.

'Listen up, Erwo, we want to talk to your mother. Just bring us to them, we'll talk and if nobody wants to believe us, we'll leave again, alright? Look at us, we're unarmed, we can't harm them. We'll only cause more trouble if you deny our request.' Nume said, knowing that she abused her current position as the stronger and faster phraio. She had to keep reminding herself that they were indeed trying to help to justify her methods.

'You just want to lead the dragon to us!' Erwo spat to the ground next to him.

'That's not true, Zar'gno can't even land in a forest this dense.' Kran calmly said. The boy looked at him sceptically, then looked at the forest, seemingly trying to imagine a dragon landing in it. Then he turned his face towards Nume again and nodded.

'Alright.' He said. 'I'll take you to them. But if you so much as try to hurt anybody, I will kill you.' Nume had to force herself not to laugh at the empty threat. The boy was just as unarmed as they were. She let him get up to lead the way and this time, Erwo made no attempts to run away.

'Why did you bring them here?' A stern woman asked.

'They promised to leave again after we listened to them. Should I have let them shout on and on so every creature in K'haren could find us?' Erwo snapped at her, lacking all respect. Nume could only suppose the woman to be his mother.

'Hello, please forgive the trouble we may have caused.' Nume greeted the woman with a smile. In return, she eyed her up sceptically before then turning to Kran and asking him what he was doing here.

'We have come to offer you help. We know that your army was defeated and you had to hide away but the war is over now.' Kran had to stop for a moment so the murmuring could die away. 'K'haren is at peace once more and we offer help to everybody in need. So if there is anything we can do-'

'We're doing just fine.' Erwo spat. The woman now looked less stern, more lost in thoughts.

'So if there is anything we can do for you,' Kran continued. 'and be it just to offer you some kind of trade, we would be happy to help.'

'Who are you?' The woman finally asked.

'I am Kran and this is my friend Nume.' Kran said, causing the woman to eye Nume up once again. 'And who are you?'

'Triana, Erwo's mother.' She replied.

'So you were married to Zurem's cousin then?' Kran asked in an attempt to show that he knew them and could be considered trustworthy.

'Yes, I was, before he died. Why are you still alive then, are you from the tribe that defeated them?' Triana asked.

'No, we weren't involved in any fights. We only ever tried to make people stop killing each other... May I ask, is Zurem's wife here somewhere?' Kran asked and Nume knew what he was up to. They had been informed that said wife was unofficially married to somebody else and thus a little more open minded so he hoped talking to her might make their task easier.

'I am here.' A young woman said, stepping forth. She looked a bit like Nume but her hair was darker and carefully braided. 'But you should speak to Erwo instead, he is our Leader now.'

'So you willingly give responsibility to a mere child just because it's a boy and you're not?' Nume asked in utter confusion. She couldn't believe all these women really didn't want to take things in their own hands. However, nobody even so much as looked at her.

'I would rather talk to a grown-up who has already seen some things in life and is thus capable of judging over matters that require foresight as well as wisdom.' Kran spoke in a way that made Nume want to poke him so he'd go back to normal but she suppressed the urge, seeing that his method worked.

'Then, I think, you should be talking to me.' An elderly woman said, stepping out of the mostly female crowd. 'I'm Zurem's mother. Welcome, Kran and Nume.' She said with a weak smile. Now Nume finally felt visible again so she strongly participated in the following conversation.

They talked on and on for a while, their audience getting bored at one point and going back to business. Only Erwo was still around, observing them with an offended expression on his face. In the end, Zurem's mother declined their offer to come to the valley of healing but she was alright with engaging in trade. It was arranged that the harpys would also visit them on their flights and thus enable trade in the first place. When everything was settled, Zurem's mother insisted on hugging them both before asking Erwo to take them back to the dragon so they could continue doing good.

// What a nice woman, don't you agree? I wonder what she might look like... Anybody into drawing? ;)