Stone watched Henry disappear into the dirt, and couldn't help himself. Taking a long leg bone from Keylin's pile, he poked the ground where Henry once was. It was as packed as the surrounding dirt.

"I am not sure that the Henry we speak to is actually Henry" said Tresille.

"What do you mean?" asked Stone

"l don't know how to explain it yet, and I do not have anything more than suspicions, but have you noticed that he looks a little different each time, his features, like his nose and hands, things that shouldn't be different over the course of a few hours, yet somehow are."

"Is that not how the dirt people are? Maybe the body does not hold together when they return to the dirt"

"Then what happens to the consciousness?" asked Tresille. Stone shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. He felt bad for not answering her question, but sometimes her words were so big they didn't fit all the way into his ears. So he ignored the question.

"So, you said you would stay with us until we can survive right?" asked Keylin

"That is what I meant, yes" replied Stone

"Then please help us get to the other tree grove, we should be able to survive on our own there" Said Tresille.

"How far away is the other side of the world?" asked Stone.

"Very far" said Tresille.

Stone pointed to a barely visible mountain range off of the horizon. "As far as those mountains?"

Tresille found her own words inadequate. To her, understanding the enormity of the earth was as simple as looking out the window. Fully realized as she descended into the atmosphere. How does one explain such distance to a man who has probably never left a mountain top?

"At 16000 kilometers away and with an estimated ten minute kilometer walk, that's one hundred eleven pure walking days, stretch that out to a more reasonable nine hour walk day, that's two hundred and ninety six days." Said Keylin. "That assumes level terrain, no problems with weather and no lakes or oceans to cross while going in a straight line"

Keylin looked at Stone's face, and enjoyed watching it turn sour. "Bottom line, we will be lucky to get there in less than a year". Stone's face was priceless. Keylin had grown used to the manimal having no expression at all, but now, it looked like he was smelling moldy socks.

‘Nice job’ sent Tresille.

‘Let’s see if he makes the connection. You can literally see the mouse running the wheel in his brain!’ Replied Keylin

‘Key Key, be nice, he’s not the brute we classified him as’ Sent Tresille.

‘Are you saying he’s not a brute?’

“I’m saying he’s more than just a brute’

In the half a second of Trestle and Keylin's conversation, Stone assumed a statuesque pose of deep contemplation.

"How long if we fly?” Asked Stone.

‘Excellent’ sent both Keylin and Trestle, ‘Jinx!’.

"Well flight is hard to estimate, I was never awake while you flew so I don't know your average airspeed". Keylin watched Stone look up into the sky and point at the sky.

"I was as fast as that owl" Said Stone.

Keylin followed the direction of Stone's point, and using her helmet's zoom function, she spotted the owl. She needed the helmet to do the airspeed calculation, but the rest she could do in her head.

"That, uh, bird is flying at 65 kilometers an hour, that means two hundred and forty six hours, or ten days of straight flying. Twenty seven and a half days of flying for nine hours. Again assuming no weather problems or interferences. Bottom line, flying will take a little over a month" Keylin paid close attention to Stone's face. He went from 'smelling dirty socks' to 'eating a good piece of chicken'. She could tell he was more pleased by lack of any wrinkle or expression on his face whatsoever. Keylin decided just now that his resting blank face is his version of happy.

"Then we leave now" Said Stone, standing and walking.

"WAIT, you don't know which way!" Said Tresille.

"You said it is on the other side of the world, yes?" said Stone. Tresille nodded. "Then it does not matter which way we go." Stone then picked up Tresille and placed her standing on top of his dirt stump. He then picked up Keylin and placed her on the same stump. There was barely enough room for the two to stand without falling off.

"Wait here, I will come back fast" He said and walked away from the camp.

‘What if he doesn’t come back?’ Sent Keylin.

‘He doesn’t do lies’ Tresille replied.

“Could I convince you to stay a little longer? I can offer you these packs full of food, water, clothing and other useful supplies?" said Henry. This time it was Keylin's turn to jump up in surprise. Her landing was just wobbly enough to cause both her and Tresille to fall off the stump.

"Besides, you don't want to leave without your suits do you?" Henry was holding their suits, still a day or two away from repaired, the four major layers barely connected and the middle two layers were still engorged with water. Trestle got a good look at Henry. This time he looked completely real. She could see the tiny pores of his nose, peach fuzz on his cheeks and she could see individual hairs on his chinstrap beard. He too was wearing a backpack full of supplies, his was much bigger than the two offered.

"And for Stone?" asked Tresille.

"He doesn't seem the type to need much, but l think he would want this" Said Henry as he produced the Sharkspear. "l don't' think he knows just how far this extends" said Henry, and with a flick of the wrist it lengthened to nearly five meters. "I had trouble convincing the horde to give this one back"

"That spear is a relic from our history, it belongs to my people" said Tresille.

"Care to challenge him on that?" asked Henry while pointing toward a large bird in the sky. Tresille put on her helmet, and saw that large bird, was actually Stone. He gracefully folded his wings in, preparing for a steep dive. Keylin already had her new pack on, and Tresille threw hers on unbuckled. Both hopped back onto the dirt stump.

"If you can get him to wait, be my guest" said Tresille. Henry simply brushed the two off the stump with a slow and deliberate swipe of his arm, and then waved his hands in the air, yelling "STOP" at Stone. It worked. Stone pulled up and beat his wings powerfully to decelerate, causing dirt, branches and the girls to tumble away. Stone's landing was less majestic, but didn't seem to cause any injury.

"l know you are in a hurry to leave" said Henry. "But l would like to come along and help"

"Why?" Asked Stone.

"Because my people do not want THEIR people to invade on our land" said Henry, pointing at the girls who were dusting themselves off. “l believe that if l can help them get to the other side, to that other groove, then they will tell their people to land over there, were my people do not live"

Stone then turned to look at Tresille. "When are your people coming?" he asked. Tresille found the ground to be so interesting she practically forgot about Stone’s question.

"Six months" said Keylin to Stone's blank stare. "...Half a year? Two Seasons? How do your people gauge time? Two potato harvests?" Stone showed some acknowledgement to that.

"How many days?" asked Stone.

"One hundred and eighty three days, give or take" said Keylin immediately.

"Do you have a map?” asked Henry.

"Map?" asked Stone

"If we can gain enough altitude I’m sure I’ll recognize the general area" Said Tresille.

"Yeah we got this" Said Keylin.

‘We wouldn’t need a map if that man beast hadn’t destroyed Shelby’ Sent Keylin.

The laughter from Henry was unsettling. The amount of time it took for Henry to stop laughing was annoying. Tresille leveled him the best glare she could muster.

"Now l KNOW you need me" said Henry. He then pointed to a large rock formation at the base of Stone's mountain. "Meet me there, and I will have maps and...a bit more". He winked and disappeared again into the ground. This time Keylin ran to the spot and clawed at the ground. She gave up after five scoops of dirt and a broken fingernail. Stone handed her the bone he used to poke the ground.

"This won’t hurt if it breaks" he said. Keylin looked up at Stone, his onyx eyes sparkled. Wait was that a joke? Anger raged within her.

"Now you see here. I’m the one that does the mocking, not you!" Her voice squeaked in the middle of that tirade, causing a faint smile and Stone’s eyes to go half moon. It was unbearable. Keylin selected the large rock formation that looked like three fingers in her visor and began her three kilometer march.

Tresille walked up beside Stone, and patted his arm.

"She can plant some seeds but can't take the harvest" Said Tresille. Once more Stone understood her words, but was lost in the meaning. Perhaps she was saying that Keylin did not like being helped. Seeding does not take many people to do, but harvesting takes the whole village, so perhaps Keylin likes doing things on her own? He would be sure to only offer help if she asked from then on. It is a foolish way to live. Attempting to survive your mistakes alone was no life at all. Learning from the mistakes of others gives you the chance for a peaceful life. Perhaps, she is making these mistakes on purpose, so that others may learn from her. A pioneer, as the Elders called them.

Stone wiped his brow, the Lowlands were so hot, he needed to fly again to cool off. Stone patted Tresille's hand on his arm, and then picked her up and placed her back on the dirt stump.

"Do not move this time" Said Stone. Tresille nodded. Tresille watched Stone jog away to a small hill. She had a good guess what would happen this time, and she prepared herself to be literally swept off her feet. Metaphorically it wouldn't be the first time, but this was something completely different. She set her helmet to record everything for the next few minutes. In a breath, Stone ascended and dove at her. Tresille sent an order for a large dose of calming angents that went unfilled. Her suit housed the auxiliary hormone production. Fortunately her base layer also had some aceleration dampening because even when Stone tried to be gentle with picking her up, it was a violent jerk of speed.

Tresille ran her hands down the sides of her waist, Stone’s hands were burning hot. She did not remember his hands almost burning her last time he picked her up. She considered Stone, he was a man who lived his life on the top of one of the tallest mountains in the world, and his people had lived onto of that mountain probably since her people's ascension. They had adapted to life up there, meaning he was not physically adapted to life down here. Her eyes grew wide with comprehension.

Stone's flapping felt smoother and more efficient than last time, he was clearly getting better. with a few more pushes through the air, Tresille looked around and saw that they were a few hundred feet up, and were making small circles, and slowly going up. It would have been great if she could get comfortable. To keep balance, he was holding her close to his chest with both hands. If any Lunarian tried half of this Tresille would personally file for their genetic line to be culled. Not that it would be physically possible for a male to do anything Stone could. Either way, if the plan was for Stone to carry both her and Keylin for a long time, they would need some kind of harness. Tresille looked down at the destroyed Forrest below. It looked like a pathway was carved into the trees, she saw three such pathways of trees being pushed down completely, parting the way. What kind of storm was this? She then noticed that they were flying away from the finger like formation.

"Where are we going?" asked Tresille

"I am following your sister, it is not good if she gets hurt" Sure enough, Tresille found Keylin's bright red helmet, marching down a windy trail. The trail itself had so many twists and turns, Trestle could hardy believe any animal would make it. Wouldn't it make more sense to make a trail go straight for simplicity sake? Either way Keylin was going the wrong way, and probably didn't know it. Attempting to communicate with Keylin via direct earlink was not possible. The antennas on her ears had a maximum effective range of five meters, for privacy sake. Very High Frequency communication between helmets was also not possible because it required their spacecraft 'Shelby' to act as a hub. No hub meant no communications.

"She needs to know that she is going the wrong way" Said Tresille. Stone looked down.

"Her path does lead to the rocks but it is the longest way to get there". Tresille observed the trail, after a few more twists and turns, it gradually made it to the three fingers. Looking at Keylin again, she was now running. Her run was as graceful as ever, each movement a ballet of kinetic energy and leverage.

"Race you!" Yelled Keylin, who had already began running through the housing zone. Tresille had just been introduced to Keylin, who was a refugee from District 11. Their supervisor, who had just finished introductions and ordered the two to begin flight training at the central operations tower, simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Better hurry, flatfoot" was all her supervisor said. Tresille did not find herself particularly suited for athletics let alone acrobatics, which was what she saw from Keylin. The girl danced and whirled around people, buildings and pillars in an astoundingly three dimensional way. Tresille was happy to simply weave around the people, but Keylin went up and below, jumping off of walls and signs to zig and zag through every possible opening. Keylin was a refugee from Greenhouse 11, which was known for focusing on athletics in its educational system. Based on the belief that strong physical activity was good mental stimulation. She could hardly disagree based on how Keylin used her environment to move so quickly. Tresille's slowed down and gave up trying to chase after Keylin. Sure if Tresille wanted she could have jumped around a few times like Keylin, but without training and experience, she would likely sprain an ankle or worse. Keylin's level of physical acuity was only possible after years of practice. Fortunately there was an express trolley going downtown at the moment, and Tresille casually boarded. Her impeccable knowledge of downtown's transportation system worked wonders as she arrived to the central ops tower a good three minutes before Keylin.

"CHEATER!" Yelled Keylin.

"You need to establish rules next time" said Tresilfe. Keylin squinted her eyes and jutted out her chin, for the first time truly judging Tresille. After a few looks up and down Keylin smiled and put her arm around TresilIe's shoulder.

"We're gonna be good friends" said Keylin, forcing the two to walk into the tower together.