The sound of the narrowing river carried through the forest to the travelers. The mules plodded along steadily, and they rode as before. Gerald walked the trail ahead, and Tom and Adam lingered behind. Elizabeth dozed on her mule, and when she raised her head, she noticed everyone doing the same, chins dropped, lost in thought. Even little Lucius seemed someplace that the green of the forest couldn't touch him.

Gerald reached the small clearing ahead of everyone else. As they rode in, they saw him dismounted and judging the clearing safe for a rest stop, he waved to the others to pull up and dismount. Samuel, Gus, and Lucius tied up their mules, and Elizabeth and Millie shared a grin as they groaned in tandem as they got off theirs.
"A body ain't built for this Miz'Lizbeth."
"I agree completely." The two women walked for a moment in bowlegged exaggeration, to the delight of Lucius, who tugged Samuel's arm and pointed to the agonized pair. They readied the clearing, Samuel and Gus sat by a makeshift fire-pit, showing Lucius how to start a blaze, as Gerald watched the trail behind him. Eventually, the trail produced the tired horses and bodies of Adam and Tom Eaton. Elizabeth stood, and went to hold the bridle of Adam's horse as he swung down. Tom cast a glance over his shoulder towards the two as he went to talk with Gerald.

Elizabeth stroked the horse's nose as Adam tied the reins to a tree. "You must be tired." she stated plainly
"Yes ma'am." he answered, avoiding her gaze
"Adam, is he really dead?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Did you see him?" she asked, Adam nodded, busying himself with taking the saddle off the horse. "Did you do it?" He paused for a second while removing the saddle, and still avoiding her gaze, left her to make her own conclusions.
"Everything changes, Missus Miller. It can't stay the same. The world would get too tired of everything the same. We just have to adapt and change along with it." he said, choosing to ignore the questioning look on her face, and went to join the men at the fire.

With the fear of capture still hanging over them, the travelers talked in hushed tones over the small fire, ate a bit, and settled in to rest. An hour had passed, and still Elizabeth couldn't sleep. She finally gave up, sighed, and rose to stoke the fire a bit. She squatted down, poking the embers when Tom spoke: "Can't sleep?" He thought for a second it was strange she didn't jump at the sound, she couldn't have known he was awake as well. He watched her as she stared into the embers, shook her head 'no', and slowly and deliberately added small bits of wood and moss to the coals, bending low and blowing softly until they caught, then added a few more pieces of wood to the growing blaze.

She then took her blanket from the ground, wrapped it around her shoulders, and moved to sit by him at the fire. They sat in silence, each lost in thought for a few minutes, when Tom finally spoke: "Nice night.." Elizabeth gave him an odd look, then took her gaze back to the fire as she smiled. "What?" he asked. "I was only saying..since the rain had stopped.."
"Enough, Mister Eaton. I only thought it amusing that without our playacting we are reduced to talking about the weather." Tom looked stunned for a moment, then smiled as well.

"I would like to thank you, however." she said. "Watching the trail is a great risk to you. You would be much safer elsewhere..." He started to protest, but she cut him off "Earlier today, you shared a confidence with me. I would share one with you as well. Whether you choose to believe it or not, I've never been frightened before in my life. I've always known just where I came from, and always knew just where I was to go. And now, I am, against my will, slowly becoming aquainted with fear. You saw what they did to my home?" Tom, glaring into the fire, nodded. "You saw the graves?" He nodded again. "It was Samuel. We both went back, but I reached the edge of the woods and couldn't go any further. He buried his family, and he buried mine. I sat and cried. I was scared, I was weak. I've never felt that before. But you, you went back there. You must be braver than I. For that small part of you, I thank you."
"There are much braver things," he said, "I assure you."
"Yes, and much dumber." she paused for a moment before asking: "You were riding behind with Adam today, did he tell you what happened at the mill?"
"Yes, he did" sighed Tom. "He wouldn't tell me."
"Maybe he thought it was better that you didn't know." Tom said sternly, expecting a fight that never materialized.

The two sat a moment longer, lost in themselves, when Elizabeth spoke again. "Tom," she whispered "You said you had...things from the house? Can I see them?" He rose quietly, and went to retrieve the saddlebags. When he returned, he saw that Samuel had joined Elizabeth in sitting by the fire. Tom walked to them, gently set the bags down, and turned to leave. "Tom? You don't have to go.." she said.
Tom motioned towards the trees and said, "Um..yes I do." to which Elizabeth and Samuel grinned at each other.

When he returned, Elizabeth had opened the pack. The clothing was Bessie's, she noticed. She balled it up and Samuel set it by Millie's sleeping head. The book, she threatened to throw in to stoke up the fire, but Samuel stopped her. "Miz Dolly, that boy. He wants to learn to read." Elizabeth solemnly handed it to Sam. At the bottom of the pack was a scorched pocketwatch. Elizabeth held it in her hand for quite some time, turning it over, running her fingers across the clasp, and finally bringing it to her nose and smelling it. "It was William's," she muttered, her voice thick, "Samuel, would you like to have it?" Samuel nodded a quiet thanks, and quickly excused himself to return to his bedroll.

Tom sat silently, watching this person take stock of her existence. The dark look on his face when she looked at him had completely unnerved Elizabeth, and quietly she went back to tending the now dying fire. She sat again just as Lucius, in the grip of some dream, sat bolt upright on his blanket. He looked around for a moment, frightened and lost, and upon seeing Tom and Elizabeth did what all grown men do, he nodded nonchalantly.
"If he says 'Nice night'" Elizabeth whispered to Tom, "I do believe I'll have a fit." Tom gave her a scolding glance before noticing that Lucius was looking worriedly into the flames.

Elizabeth broke the silence. Shivering and drawing the blanket around her, she said aloud: "Why, Mister Eaton. I can't believe the chill this place has taken on! Do you know what I most dearly need?" Tom found himself almost afraid to answer, and grinning, he shook his head. "I need a young man, yessir. I wish we had one around here.." she looked across the fire-pit to Lucius, "Why, Lucius, I nearly forgot! You'll do, my dear. Come here." She sat cross-legged and patted her lap. The boy came over, sat on her legs, and snuggled into the blanket as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his head. "Ah, there!" she whispered. "Much warmer."

"Missus Miller?" Lucius asked, and Elizabeth dropped her head to the side to look at him. "I'm sorry about your family. My daddy tole me." Elizabeth gave him a light hug in thanks and he continued. "That's why we's leaving. We come from Locke's, you know where Locke's is?" She nodded. "Mama and Daddy said that ol'PegLeg said it was time to go, so we gots to go. You know ol'PegLeg?" Elizabeth nodded again. Lucius began to fall to the spell of warmth and a woman's arms, and he yawned before continuing, "They say we gots to go up North. You ever been up North?"
"No, I haven't" she replied softly. She heard a light snoring and looked over to see that Tom Eaton had fallen asleep, and by the odd weight of Lucius in her arms, he wasn't far from it himself. She marveled for a minute the way that children seem to get heavier as they sleep, as she slowly wriggled from beneath him, laying him beside Tom, and covering him with her blanket. She then crawled to the empty bed between Millie and Gus, and stared up to the stars until the sun rose.