Her father kissed her forehead and took off his necklace. It looked less shiny than normal, she thought. He put it around her neck instead, and tucked it in under her dress and her shawl. A little light glowed through at the front, where the gems were, so she pulled at the fabric so the thickest part was at the front too.

"Such a clever child," her mother said. She was trying to hide it but she sounded so scared. Everyone did today.

Her mother took her hand and squeezed too hard and pulled at her arm. It hurt a little. Elwing decided she would be brave and not say. Her father started to stand up then knelt down again and hugged her. His armour pushed the necklace into her skin, and that hurt a bit too. She hugged him back anyway.

Then he pulled away and her mother pulled them the other way and she looked back to wave goodbye like normal but he wasn't looking the right way.

Lots of other people were hurrying through the caves too. Some of them didn't know where they were supposed to go or what they were allowed to take so Elwing's mother had to stop and tell them what to do. Mostly everyone was coming with Elwing. She knew a few of them. They had armour on, like her father had.

They walked up and along forever almost. Elwing hadn't ever walked fast for this long before. Her legs hurt. She forgot to be brave for a bit and said "I'm tired." Her mother said "I'm sorry, we need to keep moving," but she wasn't even looking because another adult was talking to her. Then some other people joined the path and they had to stop anyway so everyone could be in the right order.

All of them walked out of the caves altogether and into the forest. Elwing knew this path! Normally it wasn't so bumpy, she thought. And the trees kept sticking their branches into the path instead being nice and keeping out of the way. She stumbled, and a twig got in her hand from the ground. She only cried a little bit but one of the armour people picked her up.

"To me," her mother said; "she's safer when your arms are free," and Elwing didn't understand that at all. But her mother crouched down so Elwing could ride on her back, and she understood what to do about that. "Hold on," her mother said, but she only held onto Elwing's legs for a little bit before she started moving her arms again to point and hold branches back. She wasn't supposed to do that. 

Her mother was doing a lot of things wrong today. Elwing thought about that while she was clinging. Maybe it was because she was scared today. And lots of other people were doing things wrong so her mother had to tell them what to do, and everyone was scared today. 

Maybe the trees were scared!

"Mama," she said, "the forest is scared."

"Stained," she replied. Was that the same thing? 

Elwing kept holding on for a very long time, longer than she'd ever ridden on her mother's back even when she was holding too.

Elwing kept holding on for a very long time, longer than she'd ever written on her mother's back before, even when she was holding back. Her arms got tired. She mumbled into her mother's hair to tell her. Suddenly she was falling

Elwing could stay up two days in a row like her brothers, even though she was a bit human too.

They walked all afternoon and all evening and all through night

They walked all afternoon and all evening and all through night