Kre let his horse pick his way through, trusting that the animal could see the path better than he could. He cursed himself softly for not keeping an eye on where she was, and he cursed her name for not waiting for him. He did the latter mentally, just in case she was in hearing range, hiding from him and watching him scramble through the woods for her own perverse amusement.
After about five minutes, he started to wonder if he had strayed from the directed path. He started to toy with the idea that he was lost in the woods with no hope of being rescued.
“She’s under no obligation to me,” he muttered to himself, comforted by the sound of spoken words in this dark place, even if they were his own. “I mean, she essentially told me that I was welcome to stay with Rodi and Roc if I wished. If that’s not a brush off, I don’t know what is.”
He tried to glance the night sky from between the sparse treetops but couldn’t make anything out. Either the sky was overcast or the canopy was thicker than he realized. He sighed and pulled on his horse’s reins until they came to a stop.
“All right girl,” he said, patting his horse’s neck reassuringly. “Time to decide… forward towards Kitalia, or back to those two oddballs.” He slid off the saddle and went around to place his forehead on his horse’s muzzle.
“Talk to me girl,” he whispered.
“That horse is male,” came a condescending response from the trees behind Kre.
Oddly, Kre wasn’t surprised. He had more than half-expected that Kitalia would just turn up with some snide or snarky comment to try and throw him off guard.
“It’s about time you showed up,” he called back. “I thought you were going to leave me to wander out here until my horse broke a leg.”
“If she breaks a leg, that’s hardly my fault. The rider is ultimately responsible for his mount.”
Perhaps it was the contractions that Kitalia never seemed to use, or maybe it was the stern, parental-type voice that tipped him off, but Kre suddenly realized he wasn’t in the presence of his travel companion.
“Ah… I apologize. I mistook you for someone else.”
“That’s new,” said the figure, stepping closer to Kre. “I don’t think I’ve ever been mistaken for someone else before.”
With her so close now, Kre could definitely see that she was not Kitalia. This female stranger was taller and far broader. She wasn’t fat, not like his friend Geoffrey was, she was just… solid. She looked like she could stand off against a charging bull and come out on the rosy end of it.
In the dark of night, however, all he could do was make out her general form and hear the sweet trilling of her voice.
“You seem lost little pup,” she said, likely with a wide grin on her face judging by her tone.
“Well, I suppose… kind of,” he admitted glumly. “I was with my friend Kit… er, um… Daisy… when we ran into these two guys, Roc and Rodi. I was chatting with them and didn’t see her leave. I thought I was following Roc’s direction, but I thought I’d make it to the camp by now.” He cursed softly to himself for his lapse in memory about Kitalia’s odd nickname with the folks in these parts.
“Settlement,” the stranger corrected. “It’s a settlement, not a camp. While we do keep it semi-temporary to avoid notice, we’re more than just a bunch of tents and campfires. Regardless, your friend Kiterumdaisy is already there. She figured you’d get yourself lost so I offered to come find you.