Mindful, Finn let her hand slide out of his and offered his shoulder to lean on instead. She laid her arm around his joint and limped aside him as they conquered the jungle together.

"All the wood is moist," observed Finn, after they had walked for some time. "A fire won't burn from this."

"That's the idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard?" Lena grabbed Finn's arm and was pulled up on the sprawled trunk of a fallen tree. "To beat the game, we must face every possible problem."

Something haunting roared in the dark. Lena flung annoyance at Finn. "Every possible, freaking problem!"

Finn jumped down from the dead tree, then assisted her to crawl the bark. "We're both tired and frustrated, but we can't lose hope."

"Add starving to the list."

"I'm sure we'll find something soon."

"By something, do you mean; something that roars like a towering beast? If so, then yes, you might be in luck."

"We'll be fine," he said.

"I told you to stop lying."

"Okay. I hope we'll be fine. Better?"

"Are you always this hopeful?"

The corners of Finn's mouth lifted slightly, but he said nothing. 

He could only think to himself how last week he was the biggest pessimist of his perception; hopelessly in love with the idea of his soulmate having survived an impossible catastrophe, and now that the whole world had fallen down on his head, he was more hopeful than ever.

Something incredible had caused his change of attitude. He looked at Lena, unable to make out her face in the absence of light; still, he was happy to see even just her silhouette, and even happier that they did not split up.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Lena, whose pupils worked the dark with experience.

Finn, as nonplussed as her, had no explanation prepared for the rare sight of a smile, nor did he choose to eclipse his unimpeded drain of glee. In any feasible nature would he have caviled, capitulated to the immensity of peril, and been perturbed. 

In this case, he did not flee or hide, he did not fear, for there was no escaping the sinister presence of something beyond their control. He smiled upon the evil lurking from the shadows.

"I suppose—I'm happy," he knew how deranged he made himself sound but took no interest in his appearance.

"What do you have to be happy about? Everything that could possibly go wrong has gone very wrong."

"I don't know. I just am. Mock me all you want."

The further they walked, the more they got lost in the woodland, and unconsciously moved on and on further away from their vehicle and all that was familiar. 

Not being able to light a fire, the two were faced by a choice; forcing their exhausted bodies to carry on, or sleeping in the dirt. They pushed themselves, trying desperately to find shelter until sleeping became less of a choice and more of an inexorable state.

The leaves, sprinkled by dew, glistened from the early sunbeams. Birds sang their songs somewhere in the warren of branches and greens, Finn's dreams faded to the noise. 

Gradually, he heard the birds above him and felt the earth beneath him. He realized that his nose was cold, his mouth dry, and his head too heavy to lift. His eyes opened leisurely, and against the flashing of the sun, the first image they peered at was that of Lena's soft face, sleeping unruffled. 

Finn and Lena lay like parallel lines; close, but ever apart. She opened her eyes in an instant and watched Finn hastily replace his field of vision. It switched from her face to the circular spots of light that came through the swarm of leaves and hit the dirt near his feet. 

"Good morning," said Lena, entertained by Finn's spasm to roll on his back, and his failed attempt to conceal the certitude that he had been watching her in her sleep.

"Good morning," he said in return.

Lena, whose weight was cramped to her shoulder and pelvic until then, now followed his lead and unfurled on the ground. One glimpse at the sky and her jaw dropped and froze.

"It's blue!" She sat upright, with her head remaining aligned with the cloudless heavens. "Finn," she drummed his chest, all the same not looking away from up above, "the sky—it's blue! Do you see it?"

"Yes, yes, I see it," he chuckled and bound his hands to shield himself from her buffeting.

"I have never seen the sky with color!"

"I can tell. Stop beating me."

"Oh! Sorry." She hit him one last time, deliberately, and especially sharp, and burst into laughter. "This is amazing! The sky is blue! Ha! Who knew?"

Lena's pleasure in the unpretentious was puzzling to Finn.

"Last night you were bewildered by my feelings of happiness, yet you seem to find rapture in every quotidian event and circumstance."

"Quo—what? What are you talking about?"

"A blue atmosphere is quite ordinary."

"To me, it isn't."

"Fair point." Finn sat his body straight like hers. "Maybe I should begin to appreciate the things which I considered stale."

"Maybe."

Finn recognized the sun's intensity warming his skin, and felt appreciative.

"Wait—" he stood up, "do you hear that?"

Both taciturn and still.

Finn's roots unwinded, he ran north and could not hear her shouting after him to wait. She arrived seconds after him, standing at the bank of a narrow brook. In relief, Finn dropped to his knees, bent forward, and prepared to fill the streaming water into the bowl he had formed with his hands. Lena jerked his shoulder back, to halt his doing.

"Don't drink that!"

"Say why! I'm dying of thirst!"

"What if it's poisonous?"

"I can see the spring right there—it's good water. Let me taste how crisp and cold it is."

She let go of his shoulder and allowed him to drink. His entire face went underwater, chugging for some time, and when he came up to breathe, he threw his drenched hair back and looked at Lena with satisfaction. She kneeled beside him.

On the arm of a nearby tree, an obscure figure perched and studied the stranded kids splashing water at each other in a playful manner. Whoever was watching, silently moved up high, from branch to branch, in extant invisibility. It held a long stick, curled at its upper end, and wore a cloak of leaves, and a mask of wood. 

It followed them wherever they went; unseen, unheard, passive and mystifying. Whatever it was that accompanied the two, it was living proof that they were not as alone as they had assumed.

"This is the best water I've ever had!" said Lena, cheerfully and oblivious.

"Hey, how is your pain?"

"Nonexistent," replied Lena, who had not thought about her injury until now.

"That's good, I'm glad it was only temporary."

Lena's stomach grumbled as loud as the beasts roared at night.

"I have an idea," proposed Finn, "there should be an emergency pack of food stored somewhere in the vehicle."

Lena spun twice around her own axis. "And in what direction is the vehicle?"

"Um—it could be," he turned, "—somewhere—there," and pointed behind an arbitrary bush. "Or maybe—" he lowered his hand in dubiety, "remind me; where did we come from?"

She rolled her eyes at him before her head fell into her hands. "—every freaking problem!"

"No no, it's not a problem. Let's find our path. I remember seeing some berries on our way here which we can follow to get back."

"Sure, Mr. Optimist."

"Call me by whatever brings you joy," said Finn, leading the way.

They walked twice as long as the day before, and never reached the stolen ship. Lena stopped at a bush laden with fruit, debating whether to pick one.

"Do you think it's safe to eat?"

"I'm not certain," said Finn, analyzing the purple pearls.

"It looks delicious."

"I wouldn't eat it. Come on, let's keep walking. We must be close."

"We've been walking for hours, Finn! Don't deny the fact that we are lost. And how is it getting dark already? A day can't be this quick!"

"Each planet's rotation duration varies, depending on their mass, distance to the sun, and the speed of material that joins the planet. A day here is not equal to a day on Pluviam. It's called a sidereal day."

"Shall we make a fire then?"

"Yes, let's settle here for the night.——On second thought," he had spotted something half-hidden by plants hanging down like a curtain, "let's go there."

It was a cave on the side of a mediocre cliff, and after little struggle, they had climbed up and ingressed the cavity of the rock face.

"It most definitely grants us sanctuary," said Lena in solace.

"So, do you want to wait here while I gather deadwood?"

"How deep do you think this cave goes?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Aren't you curious to find out?" she smirked.

"What are you inquiring about?"

"I can't hear you," joked Lena as she walked backward away from Finn and further into the shadows until fully merging with the dark.

"Hey, we don't have time for this," said Finn, slightly annoyed. "Lena?"

She made no answer.

"Lena? Say something."

He walked towards the dark, feeling uneasy.

"It's been fun. Now quit it."

Still nothing.

The sun was touching the horizon and introduced the forest to the night. Demeter had no moons, and if the trees hadn't blocked the view, a sensational night sky could have been worshipped with Pluviam as a part of it all.

"Where the hell are you?" Finn worried.

"Boo!" howled Lena as she jumped at Finn with open arms and her fingers spread apart.

Finn's shriek integrated with a loud cough to cover it up, ineffectively.

"Not funny!"

"Aw, were you worried?"

Finn blushed in the dark. "I'd be glad to find you eaten!"

"Liar." She teased and cried from laughter.

The bright outdoors turned darker, while the deep dark cave turned brighter. Something within the cavity began to moderately shine. The glowing emerged from behind a far corner. Blue light moved along the walls.

When Finn and Lena noticed it, they both ignored their silly fight at once.

"What is that?" whispered Lena.

Finn tiptoed towards the light, and Lena stayed behind. He first peaked around the corner, then, as if hypnotized, walked around it to the source of illumination.

"So? What is it?" asked Lena. She could feel the darkness crawling up on her spine. "Finn? Don't disregard me ———Okay, I get it; I won't play pranks anymore. Finn?———Finn!"

She walked around the corner, where Finn stood with his back to her, in silence, enthralled, and spiritually captivated by his finding.