The little sailboat clumsily cut its way through the water. Somehow, Liadan had not drowned in the past week. There had been more than a few close calls- she was still Liadan- but besides a couple good soakings and her hair getting bleached a shade or two lighter from the salt water and near constant worry for her daughter, Liadan was no worse for wear. Her daughter was going to be very grounded when Liadan finally caught up with her though.

"Aron!" Liadan pointed. "There's an island. Maybe we should camp there tonight."

Aron looked up at the sky, noticing dusk was falling. "That sounds like a good idea. I hope there is some sort of food on the island," he said,  changing course to head for land.

"Sticky buns don't grow in the wild, do they?" Liadan asked wistfully.

Aron shook his head. "No, not unless Aislyn's here in the wild and she happens to have ingredients with her."

Liadan sighed. "And Yehudit is living without any baked goods."

The little sailboat grated in the sand. Liadan splashed out of the boat with a rope to secure to a nearby tree.

Aron climbed out of the boat and followed Lia. He shielded his eyes from the sun and studied the horizon. "It doesn't look like much of anything here."
This message was last updated by the player at 19:40, Tue 29 Mar 2016.

"Maybe we can dig up clams or something." Liadan said.

"We can try," Aron said, searching for something to use like a shovel.

Liadan walked ahead. She saw footprints. "Someone has been here."

"I hope they are friendly undangerous someones. How many do you suppose there were?"

"I don't know, a couple... Aron, I think they're drunks!" Liadan sounded alarmed. "At least one of them fell over a lot."

Aron knelt to study the tracks. He noticed what Lia had missed. The tell tale uneven circle of the bottom of Yehudit's walking stick. "Or...it was our daughter.'

"Sileas got Yehudit drunk?!" Liadan asked.

"No, just being her mother's daughter, I fear."

Liadan cupped her hands around her mouth. "YEHUDIT!!!!"

"I don't think anyone else is here but us now. So they either found Nelek or it wasn't the right island."

"So we just missed her?" Liadan looked out to sea, her heart sinking as was the sun.

"Sounds like. I don't hear any sound like there's any one else here."

Liadan clutched Aron's hand. "But she's all right, right?"

"I don't see anything that indicates they ran into any trouble."

Liadan was still worried and upset about missing Yehudit. She had never been separated from her this long before and she was missing her other babies. She blinked back tears.

Aron rubbed her back. "Do you still want to stay here tonight or set back out?"

"It'll be too dark to see anything before long." Liadan's shoulders slumped. "We may as well spend the night here and leave at first light."

There was a distant rattle of chains and a weak groan.

Aron froze. "What was that?"