"Zozi, what the five is the matter with you?!" Rilah screamed, while I was in no state to even venture an answer. Frankly, it was a miracle that I was even still conscious. "That was so— Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! You could have gotten yourself killed!"

She curled over my head, and silently sobbed as the saline precipitate of her tears dribbled over her cheeks, and peppered across my brow, and the crown of my head.

I didn't have anything to say, except, "...I didn't know."

Dazed and discombobulated, I numbly slid the remaining few feet to the ground, below. I let Rilah down, off of my shoulders, and shuddered ecstatically at surviving the descent without the cloud of razor skinned rodents slicing me to ribbons, in the process.

"I was just thinking, that, well, you said you were thirsty, and... I didn't have any water to offer you. I thought the fruit might be the next best thing."

She held her head downward still, and looked up at me in a way that a puppy might when begging for a bite of your roast boar. Tears still streaming down her face, lips cracked and dry, face mired in filth and silt, hair tousled by the wind, mud, branches, and all, it didn't matter. She looked like a dream.

"You're such an idiot, Zozi..." she mewled, while taking slow, shuffling steps to close the distance. She wrapped her arms around my midsection, and held me tightly enough to bring a tear to my eye. My back lanced with pain, but it would take a literal disaster to force me to separate from her now.

I hugged her back, as well as I could, given the height difference, and the fact that every muscle group related to the motion had been either hyperextended, battered within an inch of its life, starved of blood, or sliced to ribbons in the hours past between the time we had last seen one another.

I squeezed her like I thought I would never see her again; like I should have before we set out that morning, and would have regretted forever; if I had failed to accomplish, after the fact.

"I missed you," she whispered, apropos of nothing. My whole body tensed, as if struck by lightning.

I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I couldn't even look her in the eye. Locking eyes with Janny, he gave me an indignant gesture, that I couldn't read. "I—" I stammered, unable to get anything substantial out.

He widened his eyes, and shook his open palms in her direction like he was sifting wheat from chaff at the end of the harvest. It was so obvious what he wanted me to say, but I wasn't as charming as he was. Whatever message was so clear and apparent on the tip of his tongue, it was opaque as mud to me.

"W-what do you mean...?" I asked, with a lilt in my voice; like I was reciting a play from memory from half deciphered hand signals flashed at the back of the auditorium. "I wasn't gone long."

Janius slapped his forehead. Even Fimbs gave me a look that seemed to say "Are you serious?" but Rilah chuckled, and wiped her tears on my exposed chest, before squeezing my waist again. "You're really here after all, aren't you?"

I started to say something, but she continued, with a stiff smile. "I was afraid for a second that I was imagining it... I mean, my big worrywart of a glademate wouldn't normally face down a gigasven for anything in the world. Could you blame me? But no illusion of mind could replace the real thing. Only the real Zoel could ever come up with a reply that stupid."

I sputtered, and spat, incredulously, in embarrassment and indignity, at the unbelievable gall of this child. "After all I've been thr—Do you have any idea what I had to do to find you, out here?! Can you believe this stinking brat?" I pushed her off of me, and laughed. "You'd think I could get a little bit of appreciation first, before you all started pointing and laughing!"

Rilah continued to smile, with her arms outstretched, and chased after me. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings? Come here, let me kiss it all better."

"Not on your life, little girl!" I squealed, dodging out of her way, and hiding behind Janny's broad form. "Janny, protect me! I'm a wounded man."

He brought out his arms wide, and took a defensive stance; in mock preparedness. "I've got your back, brother! No whiny ungrateful babies will breach the guard of Farmer Janius!"

Rilah endeavored to try her luck anyway, sinking low onto her haunches in order to demonstrate her superlative pouncing skills. Her well-practiced form was so crisp, and sharp, that for a moment, I thought that she might even succeed, but before she could even start the motion, her smile faltered, and she collapsed to the earth in exhaustion.

"Never mind..." she mumbled, into the soft earth. "It's too diving hot out here, anyways..."

"Ah!" I yelled, eager to finally make my labor of worth "Yes, I came with that in mind."

I slung the shirt full of fruit from off of my shoulder, and pulled one of the softly yellow, iridescent pouches of amber syrup out to the fore. "I was hoping you could tell me if these were good to eat. I thought that I'd better ask you, before I did anything stupid, but they smelled amazing. Lemme tell you, it was not an easy thing to ignore."

Rilah groaned, deeply, and bitterly, with every ounce of pain and frustration evident in the noise; like she was trying to wring out the dissatisfaction of every man woman and child that had been born in displeasure into this world. "Just give me a minute."

My hands shook. I almost squeezed the fruit to pulp in impatient fury, but I took a deep breath to steel my nerves, before speaking. "Rilah," I regarded, as patiently as I could manage, through gnashed teeth, "I tried everything in my power to bring you these fruits, without letting even a single one of them get bruised, let alone mashed to bits when I fell from the canopy into the broad side of a nightwhere bluestriker!"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic!" She wailed, rolling over slightly, with a wrenched annoyed look on her face. She went to slap the fruit out of my hand with her eyes shut, while she just said "It's just a stupid—!" but her words clipped shut, when her eyes opened, and she saw what I actually had.

"Buh-by the great blue..." She whispered, almost reverently. "You said—you got a bunch of these?"

"Yeah?" I smirked, hoping that she could tell me what I'd found, so I could rub her nose in it later.

She was too smart for me, though, for all I received was a clipped nod, and a "Good job," before she extended her hand out to take the one from my hand that I had already proffered.

"Haha, is that all?" I laughed, pulling it out of her range, teasingly.

She scowled at me. "Yes. It's, erhm, an okay, kinda, ehh..."

"Yeah? It's just okay, huh? Well, surely you won't mind if we ate all of it, right?"

"What." She stressed, sitting straight up, to further enunciate her displeasure.

"You know, since it's clearly not your favorite, maybe it should go to the three of us, since we'd get more enjoyment anyway!" I turned to the others in our group; grinning away from the greed in her eyes. "You guys want to try it? I'd hate to let such mediocre fruits go to waste!"

"Th-that's not fair..!" she whined. "I'm the one who wanted water, and you got it for me, after all! shouldn't I get to at least try some first?"

"Well," I scoffed, "I wouldn't think it wise, if it's not any good! How do I know that this stuff's not going to make your condition worse! Why, I'd reckon—" Janny cleared his throat. Now wasn't the time to be playing around with our food, it seemed.

I sighed. "Here, you go..." I lowered by arms, and she took almost no time at all to tear into the juicy fruit with ravenous hunger, splattering hearty juices everywhere.

Then, I took no time at all parsing out morsels for myself, Janius, and Fimbs.

Despite my best efforts, it seemed like a couple had been jostled a little past their capacity, leaking a concentrated syrup into the lining of my impromptu satchel, but the vast majority appeared unscathed. I took a heavy member into my hand, weighed it curiously against my palm, and then took the biggest bite that I could manage.

Thick, viscous fluid poured into my mouth, and coated the inside of my throat, like the sun itself had been wrung out into a boiling witch's cauldron of honey and mango and candied yams. It was sweet, but there was something else—like a heartfelt, cardinal longing inside of my very soul, that I had been ignoring for all ten-and-a-half years of my life, and had just begun to understand how to fulfill, had just been satiated the tiniest bit.

I had a sickness. I was starving; in a way that no regular food could satisfy. Humanity was deprived, and this was the cure.

I looked, stupefied, at the expectant faces of my two friends, who had yet to try their parcels.

"Well?" Fimbs ventured; ignoring the exaggerated, over-the-top howling of Rilah to my left. "H-how is it?"

I shook my head, disbelieving myself. "I should've gotten more."

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