They don't say much to each other the day Meelia takes off. There's nothing they can do about it. They hold hands, go for a walk through the orchard, go to bed early.
"I did stay out late. I um. Went exploring to see a place Cheep found."
She closes her eyes to help her remember.
"The ground was painted red on the way there and I followed it and I eventually came to a neighbor-hood with people who all had red hair and then uh. One of the reds got his foot broken by a purple delivery person who was holding boxes - I think it was an accident but the delivery person was so angry at the red haired person and wasn't helping them and I wanted to help and. Um - he seemed really angry to me. And the reds seemed really scared of him. And I tried to help and he started saying he might get the police and um. One of the reds told me they really really really didn't want the police around and. I couldn't do anything to help with that - not right then, while someone who might call the police was watching."
"I had to go through a bunch of shower things or else the purple would keep being angry and it took really really long - like a few hours - and also it hurt Cheep a bunch. And then I went back into the red neighborhood but sneaky this time so no one else could spot me. But everyone was still scared, maybe cause they thought I would call the police? And after that Tish called."