They went on talking, Himeko taking bites of the food while listening to Nashtra speak. He had been right about one thing: Peter could not sleep quite as late as she had imagined. Of course, he slept through nearly all of breakfast, rousing himself just as the elves which starting to get the pans cleaned up. Bayani and Cerys had gotten up long before him, and decided to go along with Himeko and Nashtra on the idea of not waking Peter.

He seemed a little happy that he had been allowed to rest, although no less confused as to why it had been possible. In the end, he satisfied himself with the fact that he was able to get some breakfast, and a lot of it, because most of the leftovers were offered to him. For once, he ate his fill, and Cerys was content that he was treating himself better. She wondered whether it was because he had gotten enough rest that he was in the mood to actually eat.

After that, the girls were eager to know when they could continue their journey. The chief was awake, but Nashtra’s mother had come out and gotten him breakfast, then took it inside so that he could eat in the hut. Himeko asked Nashtra to take them all to see him. Although he assured them– several times– that they would not be too late, he eventually accepted the quest was an urgent one, and took them to the chief shaman. Mathoyl seemed glad to see them, and Cerys was happy her friend had pushed the issue so much.

Once he had finished with a few other matters, Mathoyl Vathall kept his word about making sure that they could get through the rest of the forest quickly. He accepted that the group would not be staying for lunch, and had food fit for travel brought to them, thus restocking their packs. He looked disappointed to see Nashtra and the others preparing to leave, but all the same. he and Lythii showed them to one of the exits from the village. It looked like a lesser used one, and it certainly wasn’t the northern exit, but as the shaman explained, that didn’t matter. His magic would get them to the last village, the one nearest the edge of the forest.

It was a simple trick really, creating a sort of doorway from one place to the next. Cerys noted as he began to chant that there were several stones set in a sort of arch around the opening. A few were in the ground, some tied to the trees, and others hung in the branches. As the shaman chanted the stones began to glow, and then the glow began reach between the stones, until there was a circle of bright cobalt. Then it branched out towards the center, shimmering, expanding, and filling the space inside.