Sunny kept on walking for awhile, traipsing through brush and over snaking roots, waving away the fog ahead of her in rolling billows of white. It was like walking through the middle of a cloud. She kept a tight hold on Laphi's hand, and she cast an occasional bright grin at him, encouraging him to keep moving though he was sleepy and there wasn't much to be seen. For all she knew, they were walking in circles.

She'd just drawn in a deep breath to shout once again when an unfamiliar voice called back out of the woods.

A wide smile broke on Sunny's face. She [i]knew[/i] they'd be found! [color=yellow]"We're Sunny and Laphi!"[/color] she yelled in the general direction of the voice she'd heard -- it seemed to have come from everywhere at once. [color=yellow]"We're vagrants! We just arrived! Hello!"[/color]

She scanned the fog and blinked, wide-eyed, when she thought she saw a shadow moving between the trees -- it was huge! [color=yellow]"Hi there you are, over here!"[/color] She waved a hand over her head and charged forward, eager to meet this person who would surely know where they were and how to get to where they were going.

The rising sun, meanwhile, was slowly breaking through the fog to warm the ground. One such shard of light reflected dully on a rusted helmet, the bent-postured armor, the sword pressed into the ground. Sunny ran through the fog and suddenly stopped, faced with the broad shoulders of a decaying knight among the sweet flowers and hanging branches.

Sunny gawped at the armored presence. She cast a glance at Laphi, and she spoke in a hushed voice: [color=yellow]"This might be a guardian of the forest,"[/color] she told him. [color=yellow]"We probably have to answer a riddle or pass a test before we can pass."[/color]

She cleared her throat and spoke articulately to the knight. [color=yellow]"O reverent guardian! We are strangers to your forest, and request passage to the next town!"[/color] She gave a wink to Laphi -- she would absolutely show him the proper way to deal with forest guardians. They were suckers for big words and proper grammar, at least as far as storybooks had taught her. [color=yellow]"Issue us your task, we humbly beseech you!"[/color]