The cradle left the landing at a speed nobody could mistake for an expedition’s. 🍃
THE BOOK OF TAD
PAGE 141
THE SLOW COLUMN 🍃
TurboTAD and Vael took the first carrying turn after breakfast. Pip swam beside Glint. Finley and Nibble followed with the returned fittings and enough food to stop when they needed.
Behind them, Brink and Zale watched until the last bundle rounded the bend.
Glint faced forward. He had insisted on that after breakfast, though it meant changing where they secured the lantern.
“I’d like to see something before I’ve passed it.”
The broad route wound through old roots. TurboTAD knew each one from the journey out. Carrying the cradle made the spaces between them feel much longer.
At the first rest, Nibble passed food along the column. TurboTAD found he was too hungry to talk. Glint ate slowly, watching the broad leaves lift above them.
After Pip had checked him, Finley took TurboTAD’s pole. TurboTAD gathered the bundles and moved to the rear.
A little way farther on, travellers with waterweed baskets drew aside. Nobody made a speech. They simply held their loads against the bank until the bed passed.
One basket had a crooked repair down its side. Glint watched it disappear behind them.
“People are still going places,” he said.
“So are we,” Vael replied.
Glint looked along the route. “Very slowly.”