Going With the Flow

The next morning they rolled out from under the boat. It was over cast.

Kindred set to building a fire and brewed a pot of tea. He produced a jar of raspberry jam and a loaf of bread. He was turning into a capable manservant. He slathered the bread with jam and handed her a tin cup, followed by the loaf. Pandora, accepted both, as if it were her due and began thinking about the journey she was about to embark upon. The problem was to determine the best thing to do. In her sleep she'd dreamed about some options. She sipped her tea and gnawed on the sweetened loaf, Hmmmm....

The first thing that came to mind was to return home. This was a course that sprang readily to mind without giving much thought to the matter. There must be a portage trail, up through the forest that would get them upstream from where they began yesterday. Then, it was a simple matter to follow the forest trail back to the Magic Kingdom. However, she'd heard the wolves howling in the night and had a feeling that they were still lurking about looking for another opportunity for a meal. They were big and dangerous brutes and if the pack caught them inside the forest they were done for.

Another possibility was the one suggested by Kindred, that they "Go with the Flow until they found a road around the forest that was safer to travel. Then they could find their way back home by a safer, albeit more circuitous route. This wasn't the only reason. Seeing the two unicorns was a portentous sign, suggesting that fate had different plans for the two of them. Never before had she seen one and the foal had looked back at her, as if to say, "Well are you coming on this adventure or are you going to slink back and apologize for breaking one of Fathers cardinal rules." After all she was eighteen years old, of an age to make her own decisions, and this one seemed almost preordained. In her own young mind was an unmistakeable certainty that her destiny beckoned. Pandora was determined to see where all these unexpected, almost contrived set of circumstances were going to lead. So when Kindred, suggested they take to the river, while it wasn't her first choice, it was one she was inclined to follow.

"Are you ready?"