The walk was quiet, giving Luka a lot of time to think. Endi was absent for a lot of it too, he guessed that she was off hunting somewhere, since he’d never really been able to entice the creature to eat fruit or vegetables he could only assume it meant she was a purely meat eater, which often made things hard for him, having not been able to stomach animals since he could remember. It was taking a lot longer than it had when he’d been foraging on his own. But this was also to be expected.

As they walked he’d often wonder off every now and then, gathering small food items to snack on as they walked. Soon enough the sounds and smells of rushing water reached his awareness. Within fifteen minutes of that they reached a sizable river running lazily along, blocking them from going any further. He sat by the water’s edge, watching as the girl, whom he still didn’t know the name of, went to drink and gather some water.

Once again he seemed in an odd state of readiness as he prepared to jump up and catch her if she looked like falling in too deep and getting swept away. However when she offered one of her apples to him he simply held up his hand and shook his head to decline. He was more than happy to snack on some of the stranger foods of the forest but he had no idea how her body would react to them, so he figured it’d just be safer if he knew she was eating something she was familiar with. Sitting back Luka eventually rose to his feet, looking over at the girl for a few moments and then back to the river.

“We need to cross this river at some point… it would take an excessive amount of time to walk all the way around and too risky to go to the road where there should be a bridge. But I don’t want to force you to cross if you don’t feel comfortable doing so…” He trailed off again, looking down. That was probably the longest he’d taken to actually say anything to her. It was hard, the desire not to let himself get attached was strong, but it also didn’t seem fair he was being so… rude. Sighing loudly he ran a hand through his hair and looked at her again.

“You probably think I’m a real jerk for not telling you anything… you’re right. But… I feel like I should at least tell you why. I’m a hunted man… and by you being with me it puts you in a great amount of danger. The less you know about me… the safer you’ll be in the end. The safer I’ll be… it’ll be easier for you to forget that way.” He turned away again and moved over to the water, looking down at the water, his reflection unclear in the moving water.