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There were huts on the riverbank, long, narrow boats rested along the shoreline where docks had been erected, and dozens of people moved about. At first none of them seemed to notice the raft but pretty soon they began to point and stare with interest. A small boy ran to the end of the nearest dock and waved, a broad smile on his face.

“It’s a village,” Nis said with surprise.

“I thought no one lived in the Wastes,” Trow said with similar tones.

The more Nis looked, the more she was amazed. The huts were well built with sturdy logs, many of which bore highly detailed carvings. The people themselves had paler skin than Nis but there were a few here and there whose skin tone matched her own. Most of them kept their heads covered with thin cloth wraps but those who didn’t had long, reddish brown hair. They wore functional clothing without much in the way of jewelry but the cloth looked to be as good if not better than what Nis had grown up with in Duran.

Some of the people called out to Nis and she was even more surprised when she actually understood what they said, although the accent was definitely not one she’d heard before.

“Hello!” a tall woman called out to them. “Who are you? Are you lost?”

Nis waved to the woman. “We’re not lost,” she said. “Just passing through.”

“Where are you coming from?” the woman called back.

“Over the mountain,” Nis pointed as she spoke.

The raft was almost even with the dock where the woman stood and they were only a few feet apart from one another. The woman held out a line of rope as if offering to toss it over so she could pull Nis and the raft over to the dock. It was then that her eyes shifted down to Trow and her eyes widened.

“Why is he like that?” she demanded, a hint of both fear and anger in her voice.

“He attacked us,” Nis said, trying keep any explanation as short and simple as possible.

The woman’s eyes grew even wider and she began motioning for others to get into their boats.

“You need to stop,” she said. “It isn’t safe. Here, we’ll help you.”

Already, the long boats were moving up towards the raft and the people inside of them were reaching out to take hold of the sides of the raft.

“No!” Nis protested but she had no way of preventing them from maneuvering the raft over to the dock.

As soon as the raft was secured, the woman stepped on board. She looked Nis over, then Trow, and finally the shelter where Meric lay, still somewhat dazed.

“What happened to her?” the woman asked, pointing to Meric.

“I told you, he attacked us.”

The woman knelt down and examined Meric more closely.

“What’s going on?” Meric asked, looking from the woman to Nis.

Nis didn’t know what to tell Meric so all she could do was shrug. The woman moved over to Trow and began looking him over much as she had done with Meric. Trow didn’t try to resist and he kept his expression neutral.

“Why did he attack you?” the woman asked when she’d finally completed her inspection of Trow.

Nis was never prone to lying, and besides, she wasn’t sure what sort of lie would be the right kind to get these people to let her and Meric go. Instead, she settled on telling the truth.

“I ran away,” Nis said, “and two men were sent to bring me back. The other girl there, her name is Meric, and she was originally sent with the men but she decided to help me instead. The men caught us a couple days ago, but we escaped with this one as our prisoner. He tried to escape earlier today and that’s how Meric got her injury.”

The woman appraised Nis for a moment before speaking. It was impossible for Nis to tell whether she had believed Nis or not.

“Where are you running away from, and why are you running away?” she said at last.

“I’m running away from a place called Duran,” Nis answered her. “It’s over the mountains and to the south of here and I’m running away because I was being treated like property and not a person.”

“You were a slave, then?” the woman asked.

“Not exactly,” Nis replied.

“Then how exactly were they treating you?”

“Why does it matter?” Nis pleaded. “We’re just passing through, on our way to the sea.”

“There is nothing for you that way,” the woman said rather forcefully. “You will not be allowed to go any farther down the Shards of Patience.”

Nis was about to protest when she realized what the woman had just said; the Shards of Patience. Nis had never dreamed of Mel calling these branching rivers anything specifically but the fact that they came from the river she called Patience, a name Mel hadn’t used widely with anyone else, was too much of a coincidence to ignore.

“Meric,” Nis said while keeping her eyes on the woman. “Hand me the map.”

Meric did so and Nis traced her finger along the course they’d been following. The woman moved over to stand beside Nis so that she could also look at the map.

“Where did you get this?” she demanded.

“I drew it,” Nis told her.

“But how?” the woman demanded. “You would have been seen and…

She trailed off as Nis found what she was looking for and tapped her finger on the neatly scrawled name Mel had given to her cache that she’d placed near where this village was on the river.

“First Respite,” Nis said. “Does that mean anything to you?”

“Yes,” the woman said in a quiet voice. “We are the people of First Respite. And these other places,” she pointed to several of Mel’s other secret places and caches. “They are the other people along the Shards of Patience. Are you from one of them? Did the people of Duran capture you?”

Nis shook her head. “No,” she said, “I’m from Duran, but I’ve dreamed of this place and that’s how I knew how to draw this map.”

“Then you are from here,” the woman said and then turned towards Trow but directed her words to the people around them. “Take him to be questioned.”

A half dozen people moved forward and cut the ropes holding Trow down but did not loose his hands and feet.

“Nis!” Trow bellowed with shock on his face. “What are they doing Nis! What have you told them?”

“You heard them,” Nis replied, “they’re going to question you.”

Trow tried to shout back but the people carrying him placed a gag around his mouth.

“You will follow me,” the woman said to Nis.

“What about Meric?” Nis asked.

“She will be tended to and may join us when she is recovered.”

The woman motioned for others to see to Meric and then, taking Nis by the shoulder, led her off the raft and up towards the nearest of the huts. Nis could still see Trow being carried away, deeper into the forest, struggling the whole way.

“I don’t want him hurt,” Nis said, causing the woman to turn and give her a confused look.

“He is our enemy, is he not?” she asked.

“I left Duran so people wouldn’t get hurt because of me and my dreams,” Nis explained.

The woman considered this for a few moments and then nodded.

“I will see he is unharmed, as long as he is not a threat to us.”

“Thank you,” Nis said.

It wasn’t a total guarantee but it was the best she could hope for given the situation.

“Now come,” the woman said, pulling Nis along once more towards the hut. “We have much to discuss.