He can convince her

“The thing is, this cabin is the only home I’ve ever known.” Maeve explains. “There is a big part of me which fears I will never see it again if I follow you. That is just too big a leap for me to take.”

So, it is all because of a fear to lose her home. I think for a moment, then I get an idea. “Suppose we get a lot of sturdy sticks. And on the way to my village, we stick them in the ground to mark the way. That way, it should be easy for you to find your way back.”

Maeve’s face lights up in pleasant surprise. “You’re right.” She says. “I didn’t think of that. I think I have some sticks like that from last time I went collecting firewood. Hang on.”

Maeve runs back into her home and shortly after returns with some sticks. Then she takes me to the back of her cabin where she keeps more firewood and we grab as many as both of us can carry. Then, we finally start our journey southward.

We don’t start planting the sticks right away. We wait until Maeve tells me the edge of where she knows her way around the forest. That is when I plant the first stick in the ground for her. I make sure to place it in such a way that it points in the direction of her cabin. We periodically place another stick in the ground, each of them pointing in the direction of Maeve’s cabin. We keep this up, until suddenly we hear the faint sound of a cow horn being blown.

“That must be one of the hunters from my village.” I tell Maeve.

I bring my hands to my mouth and then yell really loud. Shortly after, we hear the cowhorn again, though this time it is blown 2 times. It is a way to confirm my scream has been heard. If the other hunters have heard it, they will converge on it.

Maeve and I simply continue our journey forward. We still hear a cowhorn every once in a while, then I shout and get the usual reply again. Though every time, the horn sounds closer. After having placed another 2 sticks in the ground we finally get discovered. We see a middle-aged man walking in our direction. I can quickly tell it is Maeron, our oldest and most experienced hunter.

“Rowen! There you are, you little rascal.” Are the first words Maeron says. He then stares at Maeve and gives her a weird look, “Who is she?”

Before I have a chance to start telling Maeron about Maeve, we hear another cowhorn. Maeron takes out his and blows it twice, then he throws me some clothes. “Quick, put those on. Brenyn and Maire will be here soon.”

I recognize them as some of my own spare clothes. My parents must have given those to him before he left the village in search of me. As I put on my clothes, I also start telling Maeron about how I stumbled on Maeve’s cabin. I do leave out the intimate parts. There is no need for him to know the details about that. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he is already assuming it. I would only expect a hunter like him to have already noticed the detail of me no longer having my necklace and it being around Maeve’s neck now instead.

Maeron also has some food, which he offers to both myself and Maeve after I am dressed. Then Brenyn shows up from our right and Maire shows up from our left. I end up having to tell my story all over again to those two, which was followed by Maire making some inappropriate comments.

“So, what? The missy here was your Samhain partner last night?”

What’s worse is that she was smirking at Maeve when she says it. Maeve of course gets embarrassed and quickly hides the white necklace under her clothes.

“Hey, it’s no big deal.” Maire replies. “Look, I finally got caught last night as well.”

Maire then pulls a white necklace from under her clothes as well. I’m not sure that makes it better, though. At any rate, I inform the hunters that Maeve only agreed to join me if she was able to find her way back to her home. Hence why we are carrying these sticks and are running out of them.

“Alright, we can help with that.” Maeron says. “Maire, Brenyn, you two go and find us some more sticks. One to the left and the other to the right. In the meantime, I will walk these two back to the village.”

With the help of the hunters, Maeve and I manage to get to the village while leaving behind a trail that can guide us back to Maeve’s hut. We find my parents waiting at the edge, together with my aunt Duna. They are quite happy to see me, then scold me for making them worry so much. This prompts me to tell the whole story again. Maire and Brenyn stick around but Maeron is quick to leave. At first, I assume it is because he had other things to do, but he soon returns with our horse keeper, Malvynn.

“This new person better be important Maeron.” I hear Malvynn say. “Leigh is going to leave today and will only return god knows how many months from now. You are taking away what little time I have left with …” Then Malvynn sees Maeve’s face and he instantly freezes. His eyes go wide, his mouth falls open and his skin turns white. I’m pretty sure he also stopped breathing. It is like he has seen a ghost.

Eventually, Malvynn manages to speak again. Though he only asks Maeve for a name. “Ke-Keyara?”