Levin and Rolwen were carried by Eirlathion and Mother. Meanwhile, Tia and I were guiding them by the hand. It was a nearly moonless night, and the canopy above blocked out even the faint starlight that tried to get through. In other words, Tia and I were the only people in our group of six who were not completely blind. It made me wonder how the night watch was even able to observe what was going on below.
I lead Eirlathion in the lead, pointing out the occasional root or depression in the ground with a soft announcement of [root] for your average size roots, or [small root] or [big root] if they were significantly different in size. I would also always stand right on top of the offending obstruction until Eirlathion had successfully cleared it. Aside from these small announcements and Tia’s parroting of my example, there were no words said between us.
There were a few more words early on as we were leaving the village, but that was only so much as Eirlathion giving us instructions to tell him when we caught sight of the night watch so he could let them know it’s us. The watch in question was concealed high up in a tree. I was actually amazed I noticed them at all, but as soon as I started looking for presences I felt a different energy in the air. When I looked toward what seemed to be the source of this energy, the man was crouching right there. I was already aware of the ability to feel presences, but this was the first time I had ever really put it to practical use like this.
He made some kind of bird call in a particular pattern. The man on the tree looked back at us with an uncertain gaze for a moment and then returned the same call. Eirlathion made another call after this.
Classic call, response, and confirmation code. They know what they’re doing.
After getting Eirlathion’s reply, the watch returned his serious gaze to the forest floor. However, I caught him occasionally casting uncertain glances in our general direction every time we would make a small sound.
There were also a few occasional soft and soothing comments toward Levin and Rolwen as though they were talking to a baby. Something along the lines of [There there, good boy Levin. You’re doing a very good job being quiet.]
I glanced up to Levin whenever I heard Eirlathion make a comment like this. He rolled his eyes in disgust the first time he’d said it, and then he gave me a look that expressed how ridiculous the situation was.
“Just try to go to sleep.” I whispered under my breath, which got a quiet reprimand from Eirlathion not to encourage him because he needs to keep quiet. The comedy of him reprimanding me when he doesn’t even know what I said was a little ridiculous, but I decided not to raise an issue.
It was a monotonous trek guiding the blind adults through the forest, but I was actually somewhat fascinated by the way they walked. It was a real shock when I realized it, they were actually using the silent step taught in my own dojo. They would plant their heel first. Carefully. Rather than letting their foot fall, it was more like they placed it on the ground while their weight was still completely on their back foot.
After that, they would lower the front of their foot to let the toes fall. Then, only after the foot was completely flat on the ground did they start to transfer their weight forearm.
It made sense once I started to really think about it. Given the situation, this really was the most effective way to move. That step was good for more than just quieting your step. Leading with the heel with every step they took would minimize the chances of their toes catching on something. Allowing their foot to fall completely flat to the forest floor before putting any weight on it would keep them safe from accidentally stepping on something sharp.
This movement technique was good for more than just walking quietly. It was also the perfect method to move blind in the forest. It was only by coincidence then that it was also an effective way to silence your footsteps. Because they were forest dwellers, it made perfect sense that they would discover this same technique independently.
It made sense, but I was still fascinated watching them. They were definitely better than Levin and Rolwen at this technique, and much better than Tia. Despite her ability to see in the dark, all the loudest twig snaps that I heard had her as the culprit. Mother even tried to scold her once, only to be told that [it’s fine] by Eirlathion. Yes, we didn’t want to make a lot of noise, but it wasn’t serious to the point of having to avoid snapping twigs.
According to Eirlathion, just this level of noise may even be enough to scare away smaller predators. Meanwhile, larger predators should be easily noticeable before they pose a danger to us.
It was decided early on that we would walk night and day. With Levin and Rolwen around, we had a little bit of a mixed blessing on our hands. On the one hand, it would give Mother and Eirlathion enough energy that they would not require sleep, just like me and Tia. On the other hand, every fey in the forest would be able to sense us and a lot of them would probably want to investigate.
The main concern was the fairy queen’s envoy. We did not know what the envoy was going to be told when they got to the village. We also did not know what their personality would be like. Therefore, we had to try to put as much distance between us and the village as we could as quick as we could.
As the sun came up, Eirlathion scooped me up and instructed Mother to do the same with Tia. After this, he broke into a pretty fast paced jog. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw that Mother was doing a pretty good job of keeping up.
When we started to move into full light, he broke into a full speed run. At this speed, Mother even overtook him and had to slow her pace to match his.
They were going a lot faster than just a run though. As I looked around, I noticed the trees were really whipping by. It was a little hard for me to judge with this uneven ground, but we were definitely going faster than 30 miles per hour by my reckoning. Wouldn’t they get tired fast at this rate?
As he read my mind, Eirlathion conveniently struck up a conversation with my mother at this moment.
[So, how are you liking it?] He asked. [Is this the first time since the fall that you have tested out what you are capable of with a stronger spirit?]
[Y… yeah.] She said with a shy look back toward Eirlathion.
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[If you had been taking the path of a warrior, you would be far superior to me at the moment.] He said. [This is about the limit of what I can easily keep up, but I imagine this must be a rather easy pace for you.]
He seems to be talking rather well for someone running at his limit. He must be talking about long distance running then. It is admirable that he can have such a good sense of his own body.
“What’s going on?” Levin asked with a disgusted look on his face. He immediately turned his face into Eirlathion’s shoulder in order to shield his face from the wind. That’s just how fast Eirlathion was running.
[Oh. It looks like this speed has woken the boys up.] Eirlathion said. [We should probably take a break, they might have to relieve themselves.]
The way he said that was as if he wasn’t even asking them. It was almost like talking about taking a dog outside to the front yard to do it’s business.
[They’re three you know?] I said with a scolding tone in my voice. [How about you ask them if they have to go?]
[Ahh, it’s fine.] Eirlathion said as he slowed his pace anyway. [Now is a good time anyway. They just woke up, so they are definitely going to be hungry and thirsty anyway. I do not think there are any streams near by, so it is a good thing “Nymph” put some good juicy fruit in those meals she wrapped up for them. You may not have to eat, but they do. You have to keep that in mind.]
Did he seriously just lecture me on how to take care of a human?
Before I could think of a way to respond to that in an appropriately angry tone, Eirlathion had already found a small clear area for us to settle down and lay out the meals Nymph had prepared for us. I ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it. He just seemed so otherwise good natured about what he was saying. He legitimately didn’t even realize how condescending his words were and thought he was being kind. How do you even argue with that in the first place?
We opened up two of the packaged lunches Nymph had given us. We took along 4 bundles. It was decided that all 4 of them would be going to Levin and Rolwen since I was surviving off my meditation, Tia was surviving off me, and Mother and Eirlathion were getting their sustenance off Levin and Rolwen. (That Mother and Eirlathion believed Tia and I were eating Levin and Rolwen’s spirit energy as well was a different story entirely.)
In short, none of the elves in this party needed to eat a thing. It only made sense then that all the food between us would go to the only humans present.
Besides, I had gotten out of the habit of eating food to begin with. I missed the taste sometimes, but it was rather pleasant not having to excrete anything on the other end.
As for Tia, the only food she was interested in outside of the elven metaphysical diet was blood. Therefore, she probably wouldn’t be a problem either. Or so I thought, until she announced she was going to hunt.
[I wanna get some meat for Levin and Rolwen!] She declaimed.
Eirlathion seems to have expected that even less than I did, because he looked like his brain had genuinely short-circuited.
[Uhh… I think you are probably a little young to hunt an animal, Tia.] He said.
[No! I remember from the last life!] She said with a challenging look. [I’ll just get something small, how about a squirrel?]
[We can’t cook that right now!] He countered.
[It will be good until we can cook it at noon.] She said. [I’ll be right back!]
She moved the instant she finished saying that, obviously trying to avoid Eirlathion’s next counter-argument. With a single jump and a lot of dirt kicked up, she went off like a shot and was immediately out of sight behind a large cluster of ground foliage.
[TIAREN!] Eirlathion yelled and took a few quick steps off in the same direction she went before he realized he would obviously have to give up. The clever girl had intentionally chosen the thickest patch of underbrush to go through, and she was already faster than anyone here to start with. There’s no way Eirlathion could catch up even if he wanted to.
I just shook my head. The poor guy had no idea that he had no chance to persuade her in the first place. She wasn’t fooling me for a second. She didn’t want to get food for the boys. I’m sure she’s going to bring that squirrel back without a single drop of blood left in it.