Ajakstu Gul:
Hearing The Duke rant at Alyn, Ajakstu murmurs, "In danger there is opportunity, and in OPPORTUNITY there is danger."
He does his best to maneuver the vehicle so the order is Nuniper, Alyn, then his transport. Better to keep an eye on the others. And, of course, to provide rear guard!
Juniper (Jr.) leads the two vehicles and their passengers back to the west, to where the stream (now three times as strong compared to before, which still isn't very much) forks. He follows it the fork vaguely northward. The vehicles cross easily, and continue to follow.
He doesn't go far, though. By a shallow and small (but slowly growing) pool, he stops. There's a wide-trunked tree there-- The Duke and Ajakstu Gul remember seeing it in the distance earlier, but they thought little of it.
Now, Juniper (Jr.) stops before it. He slowly waves his arms, which sort of creak and crack.
He looks at the party meaningfully.
The old, wide tree sighs in the wind, and moves its few branches slightly.
Except there isn't any wind.
Juniper (Jr.) signs again. Then he turns to the party.
"I have awakened father... and gotten his attention. He is willing to proceed... I have asked about the people... who claimed they were from The Cloister."
He turns back to face the tree, and waits.
And waits.
After just a few minutes, the large tree moves slightly again, sort of groaning slightly. Two small branches rub slowly together, as if for emphasis.
Juniper (Jr.) turns again.
"At first... he just repeated what I have already told you... But then he gave more detail... You should travel northwest from here... You will pass half a mountain... and then a large building made of stone... and then the ruins of a large robot... At the last, you should veer more to the east... Father has seen the half-a-mountain for himself... The stone building and the robot he did not see for himself... this is just what the people told him... He does not know how far the journey may prove to be... But he says that more than one of the people he met were... or seemed... human, like you." He points to Ajakstu Gul and Alyn... and considers pointing at The Duke, but changes his mind.