If they can find a place to take them in, anyway. They’re tentatively planning to head for Gisela, hoping the Revolutionaries won’t look too closely at a bunch of refugee brats. But for that, they’ve got to get through the mountains. And across the elf-damned forest, but no sense borrowing trouble from tomorrow. Right now, they need to find a pass. Preferably before they exhaust their meagre supplies.

It takes some scouting, but by the end of the second evening, Lexon and Lark report back that they’ve found one. They’ve taken to the wilderness with surprising aplomb, and Kirin offers both of them a quicksilver smile before directing them towards the camp. He helps where he can with the menial chores; none of them would last long if any of them started thinking themselves above anything at all. Lex and Lark get the evening off, of course, but everyone pitches in where they can, even the little ones, who enthusiastically turn their packs back into the pile of blankets they originally were.

Nearly a week later, everyone is beginning to run hungry. They’re through the mountains, certainly, and food is a bit more plentiful in the forest, but even though Corone is not the largest of islands, it’s still daunting to trek across on foot. In addition, they’re all wary of being caught as outsiders to the forest and split up. None of them sleep well, even with several of them taking watch shifts, and tempers are starting to fray. Aliah disappears for hours at a time, scouting out what she can. Lexon gets quieter, which is never a good sign.