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The elves looked at each other and began to murmur amongst themselves.

"Common tongue?" "What is he?" "Where did he come from?"

Finally, one of them stepped forward. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked in English.

High above them, Shoneah leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. She was so tired ...

The man who had spoken looked over his shoulder at the others as if looking for something from them. Several of them were looking around, and one of them shook his head at the man who had spoken.

The man turned back to Eron. "And where is your companion?" he asked. "There is no one else here."


In the peace and quiet at the top of the cliff, finally resting against the tree, it was easy for Shoneah to drift into sleep. She hadn't slept well the night before, her tears of that morning had tired her out, not to mention the pace they'd been keeping, and more than a day with no water, she couldn't fight it.

She was so off-kilter about everything that she didn't even feel when her balance shifted and her body tilted towards the edge of the gorge.

The elves were astonished when he started flying, but they made no move to stop him.

Shoneah's body kept tilting slowly until suddenly her center of balance shifted too far, and she began to fall. The sudden sensation jolted her awake, and her eyes flew open just as she realized that she was falling. She reached out instinctively and grabbed at the nearest thing she could: a sapling that was growing out of the edge of the gorge.

Her feet slipped over the edge of the gorge, and the weight of her body jolted her shoulders. Sheer stubbornness prevented her from crying out, though she desperately wanted to.

"I hope you're stronger than I am right now," Shoneah said through clenched teeth. She had a look of fierce determination on her face, but despite that she could feel her strength waning. She pulled on the tree, working with Eron, and finally she was able to pull one leg over the edge of the gorge. From there, it was easier to roll over and pull her other leg up as well.

There she lay flat on her back to catch her breath.

"I need sleep," she muttered, passing one hand over her face and groaning. "Sleep and water ..."

She cracked one eye open and looked at Eron. "Thanks for that. Did you manage to get a good drink?"

Shoneah looked hopeful. "A flask," she murmured, licking her chapped lips. "Maybe a rope while you're at it? If I could get down there ... if we can talk to them ... maybe they can help us."

She turned and got onto her hands and knees and crawled away from the edge. "I'll wait up here this time," she muttered, laying down a safe distance away from the edge.

The elves hadn't moved since Eron had left them, and when he came back they looked at him curiously.

For a moment, they were all silent, and then the one who seemed to be their spokesman turned to one of the others and nodded. The woman nodded back at him and turned and walked away. She was back in a minute with a rope and a flask in hand. She passed them both to the spokesman, who in turn held them out to Eron.

"Here," he said brusquely. "Do you need help?"

The flask was about halfway full, and had lots of room for more water in it.

"If you can fasten the rope to a tree at the top, I'll climb up and help you get her down," said the spokesman of the group. "If she hasn't slept well and hasn't had water in a while then she won't be able to make it down on her own - especially if that was her who just about fell just now."

He raised his brown eyes up to look at the top of the gorge. Clearly he and the others had seen what had happened up there.

Shoneah had her eyes closed when Eron returned, but she had been sufficiently frightened by her previous fall that she refused to let herself relax. Her muscles were tense, and she was very alert: and when she heard Eron coming back, she cracked one eye open and looked at him.

"Water?" she asked quietly, pushing herself into a sitting position. She could see the rope he was carrying, but she didn't care about that at the moment. She needed water, and that was all she cared about.