A while later, the dense pine forest had turned spacious. The dark frightening woods had turned peaceful, something Noah took great comfort in. Allie had sat with her eyes closed, her breathing was uneven, she was not sleeping.

Night would begin to fall in an hour or so, Noah decided to travel onwards for a bit longer, hoping to arrive in Kowa in the next two days, then to sit up camp for the night in the peaceful forest.

Forty minutes later, he stopped Sara and got off the wagon, having pulled it to the side off the main road.

“We’ll stop for the night here,” he announced as the sun had just began to go behind the horizon.

Sometimes he would even talk to himself on the long roads in the forest. He opted not to do that a few hours before however, thinking that Allie may think him mentally unwell if he did. It would make things quite awkward if he had.

He stepped off the wagon, taking in the fresh air.

“There is a pond nearby. We should arrive in Kowa within forty-eight hours.”

He smiled as he went to the back of the wagon, Allie had already stepped off.

Though he was still confused as to who this woman was and what she had been doing in the middle of nowhere, she seemed not to be a threat.

“Tonight is the warmest-”

He paused. He instantly lost his smile and his face grew pale. His eyes widened as he saw, down from Allie’s leg, a large bit of blood dripping and soaking her left stocking.

When she wondered what he was staring at, she looked down and noticed it.

“Oh, well, this is certainly embarrassing!”

She laughed nervously and bent down to take a look as Noah stood incredibly confused. It seemed horrible, she felt her adrenaline skyrocket and then everything was black.

Noah rushed over before her head hit the ground. Many thoughts went in and exited his head rather quickly. What kind of woman did he pick up off the side of the road? Being so close to her now, he noticed just how exhausted she looked. Under her big blue eyes, were dark lines. He placed two fingers along her left wrist, feeling her fast heart beat. He had no clue on what exactly was going on. First, he wondered if it was a trick, however, upon ripping her left stocking from her calve, he realized it was not.

Down her lower leg was a large deep cut about six inches long that extended down her calve, there was light stitching, evidence of an attempt of sewing the wound closed. This was perhaps, he wondered, something that told the story of why she was in the middle of a large clearing, alone, asking for a ride to a Koiki.

She had this sort of wound on her and still managed to walk?

And yet, it was not the only thing he noticed. From her limited exposed leg, all he could see were spots of purple, green, and blue - her leg was terribly decorated in bruises.

She must have been mistreated by the family she worked for, is the conclusion Noah came to. He assumed she must have left and was now on her way to a family-members residence in Koiki, a long journey, to escape from the abuse.

It was an hour later when Noah sat by the fire. Allie was sleeping peacefully in the wagon, still passed out and pale, leaving him alone to his books. The sun had gone down now, leaving alone the light of the stars, moon, and the fire. It was not a cold night, however, he had become used to the winter nights with fires for warmth. It would be a few days before when he would no longer care to light one in the first place. However now, a problem would arise. A problem he had yet to think of.

He was now traveling with another person, and he would be so two weeks more. Leo would join in the next two days once they arrived in Kowa. He needed more food to sustain the trip. On his own, he did not mind merely eating an extra apple that had been meant for Sara for dinners. He questioned if the woman he was with would mind that.