//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17: Challenge 
// Story: Melancholy Days 
// by Zurock 
//------------------------------//

	James rushed back out onto the balcony to survey the situation.
Down below, Broken Oak emerged from the tent of stolen Hamestown supplies, rolling a barrel before himself.  He wheeled it a little up the concourse to a spot near the tree line where the branches hung low and the trees were wide and concealing.  There, he smashed his hoof upon the sideways drum like a hammer driving a nail in one go.  The tremendous force caused the barrel to crack down its side, and one end of it popped open and spilled out several small glass jars of honey.  The massive pony and some of his subordinates then set about opening a few of the jars and dumping the golden bait upon the forest floor in to a gooey puddle.  A few other Dryponies sweetened the already compelling prize by sprinkling berries all over it.
With the bait set, Broken Oak gave a whistle to his crew and they all dashed for cover; leaping into the branches or ducking behind the trees.
It was just in time, too.  Heavy thump after heavy thump rattled the forest on the opposite side of the ambush point.  The weighty sound drew closer, backed with the occasional breaking snap of twigs and swishing brush of shrubs.  Growling breaths hissed as scratchy sniffs searched the air.
From the tree line appeared not one but two large bears.  Though they looked round and plump, it was all an illusion; their unmistakably powerful muscles could be seen bulging and flexing beneath their shaggy brown fur with each of their stomps as they stalked forward into the concourse.  Their jaws hung slightly open, with their slobber-glistened, dagger-like teeth visible and filtering their low growls.  Their solid eyes were plugged deep in their angry faces, and they halted after a few steps in order to peer about the area.
He didn't know what it was about them but James had the impression that they were a couple; a bear pair; 'til death do they part, and so forth.  They just had an odd synchronicity to their searching movements, like they knew each other intimately and each of them unconsciously understood what the other would do.  They were also growling between themselves, maybe an exchange of words that only they could understand.  There was something unsteady between them.  Were they nervous?  It was almost like they were bickering.
Their noses pulsed rapidly, feeling out the air.  Both simultaneously picked up on the savory traces of honey that floated off the bait and their heads turned towards the suspiciously fortuitous banquet.  One of the bears started to lumber forward; his hungry tongue dangled out of his mouth and dripped saliva as he went.  The other bear glanced about strangely and then gave a louder, shaking growl to her partner.  The first bear stopped for a moment, cranking his head back, and the two hissed at each other in disagreement.  Whatever was being said, the first bear won out and both bears started to cross the concourse, heading straight for the trap.
James looked on and, from the vantage point of the balcony, he could just barely make out a few of the ponies who were hidden behind trunk and leaf.  They were preparing themselves to make their move.  This powder keg was about to go off.
The man suddenly scrambled down the ramp of the great tree.  He beat his hand upon the rail as he went, raising a racket, and let up a bouncing whistle as loud as he could.
It worked insofar as it immediately got the bears' attention.  Both stopped their crossing and shifted to face him.  Neither bear looked particularly pleased to see him; there was a furious unhappiness in the way they stared at him.  The first bear raised his growling into a near roar.  He flashed his teeth and struck the earth hard as he changed course and plodded a few steps towards the man.
Their frightening reaction got James to stop near the bottom of the ramp, where he clung to the rail with an anxious grip, dumbstruck.  This wasn't a comfortable situation to be in unarmed.  Or even if he were equipped, maybe nothing would have changed.  He felt strangely restricted in how he could act and it eroded his confidence.  This would have been a risk to life and limb that he would normally have been prepared to face with a stolid sense of duty but the only solution he had before himself, diplomacy, ran counter to every last ounce of his common sense.
He didn't even have any ursine knowledge!  No way of measuring the bears' reactions and no way of knowing which of his own actions would be the completely wrong ones; no way to tell how close the bear could approach before beating a retreat would be futile; he wasn't even sure if the cliché honey bait had actually been appropriate.  And if the fierce and irate gaze of the oncoming bear wasn't enough, he could also feel incensed eyes hiding in the trees; somewhere in there Broken Oak was absolutely livid at his interference.
Desperately James tried to recall any words Fluttershy might have uttered about communicating with animals, particularly dangerous animals like this, but his memories were all a jumbled blur in the uncomfortable panic of the moment.  The only thing he could positively remember is that she believed he was capable of such communication.  She believed in him.  In the face of this grisly animal marching towards him he felt like a raving idiot to even try negotiating but there was nowhere else to go but blindly forwards.
"Hey...," he let out lightly to the bear who was inching closer to the ramp.  No matter how much he tried, he couldn't completely hide the jumpy shake in his submissive voice.  "Easy there, big guy... I don't mean any trouble.  See?"  He held his hands up in surrender.
The bear stopped but he didn't seem to be in the mood to pleasantly talk things out.  He forcefully emitted his loudest growl yet and his lips quivered as the demanding noise burst out of his mouth.  'Scram!' or some other such threat.
"Okay... okay... I'm not here to get in your way... uh, technically," James rambled.  He eased an impossibly slow step back.  "I just don't want you going near that honey is all-"
A fire lit in the bear's eyes and he snarled.  Rising like a mountain on the horizon, he stood up on his hind legs.  His massive claws hung in front of him, ready to rend through a steel beam like it was paper.
James felt dwarfed by the monstrously sized creature.  The bear was nearly one and a half times his height.  The brown bundle of muscle had always appeared large (this was a bear after all) but, now that the untamed predator's maximum size had been revealed, the man gained a true, terrified appreciation for just how massive this beast was.  Without a weapon, he had never held even a fanciful delusion that he stood a chance if it came physical conflict with the bear, but seeing the animal fully ready to unleash hell unlocked a new, dreadful understanding of how quick and merciless his demise would be in such a worst case scenario.
He still would have preferred some direct course of action over this bizarre and insane attempt at stalling though.  The words dribbled out of him as he took another shady step back, "Oh!  I... I... you... you're... really huge!  I, uh... I can't... this isn't a confrontation, you understand.  I just... I... I'm not trying to stop you..."  He swallowed once a took a breath.  "... but, that honey-"
The bear unleashed a heavy, reverberating roar and smashed his front paws back down onto the ground.  He started to rush his way forward, picking up speed; crashing along like a boulder tumbling thunderously down a hill.
This was such a suicidal idea.  Why had he even done this, again?
James tried to scramble backwards up the ramp, too fixated on the savage charge of the bear to even turn around.  He climbed up several hurried, wild paces before his feet finally missed a beat in his uncoordinated escape and he slipped backwards onto his butt.  He tried to grab the rail to pick himself up but, between being so far out of his element and all the delirious sweat on his palm, his hand couldn't seem to cling to it.
The bear swiftly reached the base of the ramp where he suddenly eased into a stalking crawl, planting one paw before the other as he took step by step up.  Eyes unwavering, fixed intently on the man, the frothy saliva rolled off the beast's teeth as a hostile snarl came rumbling out.
James couldn't get his stupid hand on the damn rail!  He couldn't understand what it was about the intensity of the moment that kept his grip from working and hindered his legs from being steady.  If he could just fight back...!  But no, he was doing this to buy time for Fluttershy.  "Now... now look... I obviously can't... stop you or anything," James' mouth raced along, still with a desperate hope that the pegasus had known what she was talking about.  "So... so maybe... if we could just... wait a minute here and... and... and..."  He gazed at the ravenous mouth, lined with teeth, wet and thick; the claws that came down with each step, shaking the ramp with their weight and scratching the wood; he listened to heinous and hungry growl coming right at him.
"... you don't care about a thing I'm saying, do you?"
The bear kept on with his angry approach, indifferent to man's words.
James resigned himself to only having pure action left.  Technically, letting the bear maul his soon-to-be corpse while he spouted more pointless words would have counted as a successful diversion, but he couldn't have accepted keeping on with that failed, pointless negotiation anymore.  And just like that, it was suddenly as if he was in full control of his body again.  His hand seized on the rail, choking it with a firm and secure grip, and his legs filled with a ready strength.  He reasserted control over his breathing and steadied himself for whatever last ditch physical effort he was going to make.
But she came down from the trees like a diving hawk first.
"Stop this right now!" Fluttershy demanded in a stern voice as she swooped in.  She came right between them, where she hovered and faced down the bear.  Her attitude was solid and serious, reflected in her unshaken eyes and the tough, steady beat of her wings.  Her voice held full, confident command but was empty of rage.  It wasn't even overbearing.  Her request was an uncompromising order that was not devoid of her trademark compassion.
It was enough of a surprise entrance to halt the bear's ascent.  His noise wiggled once as he snorted a bewildered grunt, but he quickly decided he didn't care for this new intruder any more than he did for the man.  What's more, all these distractions were getting immensely frustrating.  He seized every last bit of air in his cavernous lungs and belted out a fierce roar, flinging spit at the pegasus.
But remarkably Fluttershy's mood was completely unaffected as the sound passed her by, battering her mane and tail about but not even so much as causing her to flinch.  The stint in the cell had given her all the time she needed to fully imagine what the conflict between the frontiersponies and the Dryponies could mean for the animals of the forest.  No matter how much trembling fear she had standing before this enraged bear, it was a pitiful pittance next to her fear of what could be if she didn't act now.  And so, even struck with terror, not a sliver of it showed from underneath her shield of courage.
Like a professional sales clerk handling a rowdy, belligerent customer, she politely but seriously admonished him, "Sir!  You need to calm down!"
The bear could scarcely believe it.  Had he done something wrong with his roar?  Not enough 'rrrr?'  Too much 'huoagh?'  Had he shown enough teeth?  Was something stuck in them?  Just to be sure, he swallowed a titanic breath and roared again, paying extra attention to his ferocity and form.
But the pegasus was still unmoved.  She insisted again, "Please, sir, you must calm down!"  Carefully, she drifted in a bit closer and reached a gentle hoof out towards him.
Utterly stunned by how indomitable the pegasus was, the bear instinctively and aggressively reacted to her offering by snapping at her, trying to catch her leg in his jaws.
She whipped her hoof in with a slight backwards flutter, barely avoiding the loss of her limb.  She gasped; not from being startled though.  Her eyes started burning and her face hardened.  She was profoundly offended.
"SIR!" she cried with more authority than ever before.  Her gaze stabbed straight into the bear's eyes.  "THAT WAS NOT NICE!"
There was a short, quiet moment where the bear was simply stupefied.  He tried roaring again but there was something so much more unsure and hesitant about it this time.
With the situation falling under her control, and without losing any of her assured seriousness, Fluttershy gave off a conciliatory and reasonable aura and asserted, "Again, you have to calm down, sir!  I can't understand you when you're yelling like that!"
Once more the bear responded angrily, but his growling reply felt weaker and more uncertain than ever.
Many lengths behind him, the other bear, who had been watching the whole proceeding in stone silence, suddenly shook her whole body.  Her shaggy coat ruffled in waves as her great girth shifted back and forth disappointedly.  She hissed something to her partner dimly; a throaty grumble full of both shame and a dark laughter.
"Now ma'am, that doesn't help," Fluttershy called out to her.  "I'm sure he's absolutely the most cuddliest gentlebear ever when he's calm.  But all this anger isn't doing anypony any good.  Please, calm down!"
The first bear turned his head back and snarled something towards his other half; bear words that were full of anger, embarrassment, and intimate friction.  Without hesitation, she responded in kind.  Before long it seemed like Fluttershy, James, the honey, the Dryponies, and everything else just dropped from their conversation as it slide into nothing more than a spat filled with jabs and barbs, complaints and gripes, moans and whines, and all manner of relationship rivalry.  The second bear marched forward as she tossed bitter and sarcastic groans about.  The other bit back with stomps and snorts, because he had everything under control; calm your paws lady geez; don't do this here; can't take her anywhere these days.  He turned about and tromped back down the ramp, meeting her at the base for a grating, snout-to-snout exchange. 
Fluttershy contently let them hash out their disagreements, waiting patiently in front of James.  She hovered in placed and watched keenly as the bears continued to verbally lay into each other, back and forth, then back and forth some more, until at last they settled into a tense silence.
Finally, the first bear lowered his head a little and, with downcast eyes, growled something gruff, mildly apologetic, and just a teensy bit affectionate.  The other bear was caught by surprise but she recovered quickly enough to return the sentiment fondly.  They both looked directly at each other and then lightly rubbed their noses together in forgiveness.
"Now that's so much better.  Thank you very much," Fluttershy breathed in a warm, happy sigh.  She landed on the ramp and folded her wings behind her back.  "Take another minute for yourselves and I'll be with you two in just a second, okay?" she told the bears.
Flipping around to face James, the stoic heroism that had kept her panic at bay seemed to fly right out of her.  Leaning forwards towards him, her eyes flooded with worry and she fearfully asked in a rush, "Oh gosh, are you alright?  You're not hurt, are you?"
In a way, the man wasn't at all surprised by how well and how confidently Fluttershy had managed to handle the situation.  It was just like before.  Even under crippling pressure she could pull through for the sake of others.  That was her true strength.  It had still been an impressive sight though, and it took him a moment to collect his wits before he could respond.  "Yeah.  Yeah, I'm fine," he said as he pulled himself up.  "Just barely... um... pardon the pun."
"Oh, good!" she replied with relief, unraveling the tightly twisted knot in her throat.
Satisfied that he was safe, some steadfastness drifted back into her as she returned her attention to the bears.  She quickly descended the ramp, stood before them, and invited, "Now then, whenever you're ready, I'd be ever so glad to listen to your problems.  What's gotten you so worked up?"
The first bear looked like he wanted to roar again, with all his recent fury still staining his attitude.  However, the second bear nudged him so as to remind him to keep his temper in check and then stepped forward herself.  She also had a kind of rage in her but it was more controlled and bubbling under the surface.  In murmuring grunts and grumbles, she relaid their story to Fluttershy.
The patient pegasus paid particularly polite attention to every last sound the bear made.  It was obvious that Fluttershy was straining to make sure she got it all in straight: ears were perked and forward, eyes were frozen upon the bear's mouth, and there was hardly any motion from her at all.  She still wasn't accustomed to whatever animal dialect was used in this wilderness but her superior listening efforts seemed to be working.  She nodded along to the bear's short tale, letting up increasingly agitated interjections: "Mhmm.  Mhmm.  Oh.  Oh, I see.  Oh!  Oh, no!  That's just terrible!"
When the story was finished, she bobbed her head and told them sympathetically, "Well, I completely understand.  But don't you think that by coming in and taking their food you're really only causing more problems in the long run?"
Both bears snarled identically in rejection of something she had said.
"Oh, I know, I know.  I didn't mean it like that.  It's everypony's," she apologized.  "What I meant was that the situation is always going to be like this, or get worse, if somepony doesn't try to make a better change."
There was a low rumbling from the bears that was understanding but indignant in equal measure.
Fluttershy thought for a moment.  "Hmm... I know!"  She dusted off and floated past the animals.  From the broken barrel next to the baited trap, she scooped up two unopened jars of honey into her forelegs.  Carrying them back to the bears, she carefully placed one on each of their heads and then said, "Why don't you take these back for now, to help you get by?  In the meantime, I promise that we'll try to fix everything here, okay?"
The two bears seemed to discuss it among themselves briefly while balancing the golden treasures on their heads before the first bear let out a harsh, worried, and resentful sound.
"Oh, no.  I know I don't have any right to tell you that you can't," Fluttershy honestly surrendered before she continued with devout commitment, "but I promise that we're going to try to make everything right."
Again, the bears held a small council.  They shortly reached a conclusion that didn't sound like they were fully satisfied but they were accepting of it nonetheless.  With tentatively thanking grunts, they turned and started ambling back the way they had come from, shuffling their paws deliberately and steadily in order to keep their heads and cargo straight.  They eventually disappeared into the trees with swishes and snaps, just the same as when they had arrived.
No sooner had the bears vanished out of sight did the concourse explode with activity.  Dryponies began emerging from every conceivable branch and from behind every trunk.  Half a dozen Dryponies leapt out from the leaves and crashed into Fluttershy, tackling her to the ground.
"Woah!  Hey, stop!" James cried out as he rushed down and off the ramp.
Broken Oak suddenly appeared and blocked his path, holding a halting hoof up at him and striking him with contempt-filled eyes.
A crowd started to form around the scene, much like when the intruders had first been marched into Heartwood.  However, something had changed.  Many had witnessed Fluttershy diffuse the bear crisis and they couldn't place her behavior into any comfortable thought.  Others noticed the Walking Desert's obvious objection to the pegasus' treatment.  And as Broken Oak signaled to his guards to get her bound up again, they saw that the enemy pony herself strangely offered absolutely no resistance.  Even Willow Wise and Poppy, who had turned up with the rest of the crowd, seemed to wear tremendously different faces than before as they watched the proceedings.
Some of the guards stood Fluttershy up while others brought out some fresh vine-rope and began binding her wings again.  In marked contrast to her first capture, there were no cries for help and no panicked struggle.  She simply stood and took it.  Something far more important was on her mind.
She stared at Broken Oak the entire time, her face dour and her eyes busy with an upset animosity (or whatever was the closest despicable feeling she was capable of.)  When the mighty stallion happened to glance her way and catch the resentful, sorrowful gleam in her eye, he gave her a hostile stare in retaliation.  But then she shouted to him painfully, "They were only trying to find food for their cubs!"
Broken Oak didn't understand her protest at first; he was so preoccupied with thoughts of the wicked Sun and her schemes that he had all but forgotten about the bears.  When he realized what the agitated pegasus was referring to, he contended in a growl not so very different from their recent intruders', "It's OUR food."
Fluttershy shook her head.  Sad, disturbed, and even despairing, she countered, "No!  Some of this is stolen from Hamestown!  And the rest isn't yours!  It's the forest's!  It's for all the animals to share, including you!  You've been taking too much from the foraging grounds of other animals!  They're going hungry!"
"Then that's too bad for them," Broken Oak hissed.  He spoke with a tone like he was accusing the pegasus directly, "Your friends at the settlement began this; setting the animals upon our traditional grounds to take our food; slowly strangling us.  Now, we take what we need.  If there isn't enough for the rest, then there isn't enough."
"There is enough!" James suddenly cut in, stepping forward.  The crowds' eyes descended upon him with awed curiosity.  Broken Oak's did as well, though more with aggravated enmity than wonder.
The man explained, intentionally loud enough for the crowd to hear, "Yes, this started with the changes they're making at Hamestown... but it wasn't on purpose.  The work they're doing there... it's had an effect on the foraging patterns of some animals, and in turn an effect on the hunting patterns of others.  They... they thought they had it all accounted for but they didn't.  BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW THAT YOU'RE HERE!"
Though the crowd came to life with hushed whispers, Broken Oak only stepped towards him with unassailable suspicion.
"You need to work with the ponies there to address this!" James pleaded.
That suggestion was too much for Broken Oak to bear.  He shook the forest with an unbelievably loud stamp and snorted like an engine blasting out steam.  It interrupted James, as well as the crowd's open musing, and all fell back to attentive silence.  It was clear that the furious stallion wanted to levy some kind of accusation against the man, but he was deeply aware of the faith of the crowd, along with their watchful eyes.  Most specifically, he was aware of Willow Wise.  He held his tongue for the moment.
Considering Fluttershy once more, the brawny stallion looked between the now restrained pegasus and the heights of the trees.  "How did she escape?" he demanded of the open air, searching for an answer from anypony willing to give it.  When there was no reply, his face fell dark and he bitterly spat, "That witch, I'll bet..."
Poppy wriggled uncomfortably where she stood.  After a few guilty moments, she took a step forward.
But before she could open her mouth, James interceded, "It was me!  I set her free!"
Again, the crowd stirred and traded awestruck gossip, more loudly than before.
However, the gulf of spite between Broken Oak and the man only deepened.  Ripping at the man with skeptical eyes, the stallion questioned in roar, "How?"
The negative feelings between them were quickly becoming mutual.  James couldn't help but be a little snide towards the abrasive pony while he distorted the truth.  Or rather, omitted most of it.  "I'm the Walking Desert, that's how," he chimed haughtily.  "I can do such things.  You know, in my infinite greatness."
Broken Oak caught the unmistakable insult coming from the man's voice and he practically couldn't contain his flaring temper.  He stomped closer and, barely managing to keep his own voice low enough to stay out of the ears of the crowd, he accused, "You're working against us."
With Willow Wise, James had the compassion to have begged and pleaded sincerely.  But with this jerk, the patience just wasn't there to handle things in the same way.  He shouted at Broken Oak, harsh and acidic, "Did you even see what JUST HAPPENED?  I got Fluttershy out because she knows how to properly handle animals like that!  Unlike you, I might add!"  He swung his arm towards the honey trap, his voice awash with disbelief and sarcasm, "What, did you forget the box and the stick?"
Each drop of a hoof was an explosive crash as the furious stallion marched right up to James.  He was just about to throw himself into the man; to unleash all his barely restrained power and pent up anger, when he again remembered that everypony was staring.  It was just enough to arrest him.  Grinding his teeth, he snorted once into the man's face and then turned off to the side.
Unwilling to let James get away with whatever he was playing at but knowing that he couldn't strike against him directly (yet,) Broken Oak called out to Willow Wise, "Lady Willow, I believe that we're taking far too many risks here."  He eyed the man with more suspicion.  "He's set free prisoners; he's tried to convince us drop our guard against the ponies of the settlement.  He MAY..." the stallion distastefully spat the word, using it only as a compromise, "... still be an agent of the wicked Sun."
Fearful gasps spread through the crowd.  They took to frantic, skeptical, and wary conversation.
James tried to protest firmly over the noise of the crowd, "No!  I make my own choices!"  His words seemed to become lost amidst the confusion, however.
"We shouldn't delay anymore!" Broken Oak insisted, stepping over to Willow Wise and nearly pressing himself into her.  As he continued to vigorously beseech her, his booming words overtook the rumbling of the surrounding crowd, "We mustn't be passive any longer, least we give them more opportunities to subvert us!  The witch's coming has shown that now is a critical hour!  We must act!  No more waiting!"
Things quickly dimmed to a deaf silence as everything seemed to fall upon the Drypony chief.
But this apparently wasn't the same Willow Wise who had lead the fervor of the crowd the last time; the same who had ruthlessly interrogated Twilight; the same who had coldly sniffed out the magic in each of the prisoners.  Her face still had a leaderly sternness to it but this time it was like it was thrown over something else hastily; something inside that couldn't blindly take charge as it had done before.  She seemed to wobble with uncertainty as she kept looking between James and Fluttershy.
At last she slowly began, with words that echoed in uncommitted indifference, "These... are perilous and fated times.  We... we must exercise caution with what we do; it is in our careful steps that we tread to our destiny.  So... we cannot... we cannot take certain chances..."
Everypony there; Broken Oak, Poppy, the crowd, Fluttershy, even James; seemed to lean in towards her expectantly, hoping for different things.
"Thus... you... you...  You may proceed, Broken Oak," she weakly decided.
The stallion gave a dark smile, eager to get to work.  He immediately whistled and stamped instructions to his guards.  Several raced off into the trees and the rest seized Fluttershy to drag her away as she screamed in protest on behalf all the animals that were being harmed.  As Broken Oak joined up with them, hauling the pegasus down the concourse towards the lake, an excitement bled its way into the crowd.  For as much mystery and doubt as they had, there was something in them that felt the anticipation that comes before a grand crescendo and they had to follow along, just to see.
As the crowd moved on, James watched in despair.  He saw that Willow Wise lagged behind, following them in the utterly slowest steps possible, her head dangling low.  He rushed to her side.  "Lady Willow!  What- what's he going to do?"
She pulled her head up for a moment, just to say somberly, "Act."
"What?  What does that mean?" the man wheezed.
"We've waited, hidden in Heartwood, for so very long.  Some of them can't... anymore..."  Her words dried up and she marched along quietly, head down again.
James scrutinized her as she passed, walking away towards an unknown fate.  His helpless gaze followed her as she joined the rest of the crowd by the lakeside, surrounding Broken Oak as the stallion lead them on with some form of patriotic speech.  He felt alone.
Almost.
Standing a few paces away, Poppy hadn't joined the others.  She stood staring at him, lost in her eyes.
Noticing her, James immediately went over and bent down.  "Thank you," he said to her in deep honesty.
She blushed lightly at the gratitude, but she still didn't understand something.  She looked over at the crowd, then back to the man, and asked, "Why did-"
"I think you did the right thing, helping me out," he explained to her.  "And sometimes doing the right thing does mean you'll get in trouble for what you do; maybe some others, even others that you care about, maybe they'll like you less or think worse of you."  He got down on a knee, patted her shoulder, and gave a wink, saying, "But I figured, this time anyway, you don't deserve that, and I'd take the heat instead.  Wouldn't want the future leader of the Heartwood Guard to have a tarnished record just cause she was bold enough to do the right thing."
The little filly looked up at him with a turn of her head.  In that moment, she even looked up TO him.  She suddenly jumped forwards and grabbed his leg in a hug.  He hugged her right back, softly rubbing the rear of her neck.
"What about... your friends?" she asked, worried.
"I don't know," he replied quietly.
He got up, and together they went to follow the crowd.