“I will try it,” she declared. “I will hang up my ways and deal with my past honestly now. When the sun shows itself in the morning, a new Mistake will dawn.”

“Good,” smiled Brontos. “You will want to head north from here. The land between here and the Meliban River is parched and desolate, so I will give you what food and water I can spare before you leave. Ration it. You will see the trees along the Meliban long before you reach it. Once you are into the trees, be wary. Everything in this part of the country needs water, so everyone visits the river, including bandit tribes. Follow the river upstream and it will bring you to the Giaming Mountains. It will be a long and arduous journey, but there should be enough villages along the way for you to buy food. Do not cheat the villagers, but pay them a fair price for the food. You may pass that way again and need their help.”

Mistake nodded and looked up to see Rejji returning to the campsite. Brontos followed her gaze and stood up. He walked over to the wagon and grabbed an empty pouch and proceeded to fill it with gold coins from his own pouch. He walked over to Rejji and handed it to him.

“This squares us for the fossils,” the merchant stated. “In the morning we part company and both of us have a long journey ahead of us. I would suggest that we turn in now.”

Rejji nodded as he tied the pouch to his belt. Brontos crawled up into his wagon and Rejji and Mistake crawled under it. Rejji curled up into a ball to ward off the chill and let his mind wander to images of what his father must have been like. His thoughts soon took a turn to the events of the day and his eyes dampened when he pictured the remains of the villagers that he had known all of his life. He had trouble imagining people so cruel as to destroy a village for no reason and a rage started to build inside him. Just as his mind turned to ways to seek revenge upon the Jiadin, Mistake gently touched him on the shoulder.