Once again he shook those thoughts away. He recalled when Leo’s father had saved him from the ice waters of that river. No matter who they were, helping others was something everyone must do. Without that all that would exist was selfish nature.

Another thought he had however, was Ms. Allie was not a maid at all, and merely took the appearance of one to make her victims less suspicious. Perhaps the wounds were from a fight she had with a victim that fought her. However, he shook that thought away as he did the others, not only did it sound utterly ridiculous, it also sounded like something he had read in a novel once, a story of a female serial killer who prayed on young men crossing the forest.

Noah picked up the bowls he had put to the side of where he sat, and poured whatever sort of ‘stew’ he had created. It smelled, well incredibly bland for something that was supposed to taste at least bearable to eat. He got a spoonful that contained a piece of a carrot and the squirrel and ate it.

As he chewed, he knew it wasn’t bad. He thought perhaps that he should simply avoid the bland liquid he used as a base - water.

He walked carefully to the wagon, hearing Allie’s deep breathing. He thought perhaps he should let her sleep, but knew all too well she had to be hungry. She missed out on dinner the night before.

“Ms. Allie?” Noah greeted, poking her uninjured leg gently after he sat the two bowls down on the wagon.

Quickly she shifted and her eyes opened widely.

“The stew is finished. Although, I must however warn you, the taste is quite bland and perhaps even somewhat bizarre. My apologies, Ms. Allie.”

She nodded, pushed her hair behind her ear, and lifted herself up while speaking: “I can only offer my gratitude for your kindness.”

“And I can only offer a horrendous bowl of stew.”

He grabbed her bowl from the side along with a spoon, and a cup of water, and handed it to her gently, touching her gloved hand in the process.

Noah considered asking her why she wore black gloves even when the spring air was warm. However, he understood the possibility that she may just have naturally cold hands, however ridiculous it sounded in his head.

Although the stew did not even look as though it was a stew, Allie enjoyed it as Noah cleaned up the fire which had been kicked out. Watching her it had become evident that she had not eaten for a while at the very least.