Which choice . . .

Terba shook Nom-Mee as she wept aloud.  She laid her head in Terba’s lap and could not control her tears.  Terba was silent as she stroked her face and then her back. Gruashe watched from a distance fighting back his own tears lest the others discover his secret.  “Nom-Mee, your peace is among the living.  I wished you knew that.  I wish I did not need to hide from you.”  Gruashe thought to himself, but willing the words towards the receiver.
     Nom-Mee arose, found another rock from the fire, inscribed a word, and placed it in her box.  She sat for a while by the fire eating berries.  “My precious,” said Magsbraenty, “you must eat more than that.  This will not sustain you for the journey ahead.”
     “Yes, Bags, I know,” replied Nom-Mee.  “When did you start calling me ‘precious,’” she said with a side-ways glance.  “I will eat more later.  I have officially given up vutre.”
      Magsbraenty chuckled, “Well, only my mother gets away with calling me ‘Bags.’”
      “So, it is a deal, then,” questioned Nom-Mee.
      Bags walked away laughing, “Yes, precious, I guess it is.”
     Cleinags approached Nom-Mee looking concerned.  “I think we have a problem,” he said.  “Yeinar is getting very friendly with Gruashe.”
     “You know we first suspected you as a spy,” Nom-Mee replied.  “Wee-One did not want you to come.  She did not feel you could be trusted.  She thought you were a Janimgly.  I know Yeinar will care for me as he cares for his wedge.  Terba knows all and sees all.  She reports any suspicions to me.”
     Cleinags sat next to Nom-Mee and encouraged her to eat more.  “OK, Nags, not you, too,” laughed Nom-Mee.  He looked at her with shock as Nom-Mee declared, “If you are going to nag me, than I reserve the right to call you what I will, Nags.”  He grinned as Bags brought Nom-Mee Lillyfruit growing on a nearby tree.  These were Nom-Mee’s favorites, but she thought it odd they would have fruit this late in the season.
     The green with purple stripes were her most favorite.  Those were the rarest to find.  Few had survived the sludge.  Yet here was one full of fruit, much farther north and later in the season than she had ever seen before.  She pondered, but did not question today.  Questions can come another day.
     Bags set out on her nightly flight.  As she soared higher, she could hear nothing, but the occasional flapping of her wings.  Over the next ridge, she saw a lake and a “lovely place to rest.”  As she headed back to tell the others, she could tell they had moved from their spot.
     Nom-Mee had taken up position in the back when Bags began to walk beside her.  “I found a lovely lake beyond the next range.  It will be a difficult hike, but I believe we can make a good camp once we get there.”
      Yeinar, the leader, and Gruashe led the squad through the rough mountain climb.  Gruashe had stated he knew “secret passageways” that would keep Nom-Mee safe from the Rock Monster.  Nom-Mee heard Yeinar before she entered the passageway.  “You, infidel, I should have killed you when I had the chance.  You are a traitor!  How are we supposed to climb this?”  Yeinar had pounced upon the sapling as Nom-Mee arrived.
     “I told you these two would be nothing but trouble,” yelled Nags as he attempted to separate the two tumbling beings.  “Do you want the entire kingdom to be summoned here or are you just hoping the Rock Monster will show up to drag us all away?  Yeinar, you sit over there by Magsbraenty.  She will sit on you, if she has to!  Gruashe, Terba will take care of you.  Trust me, you would hope for a better fate than she could give you.”
     Nom-Mee stepped forward with an expression not even Terba had seen before.  She drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out.  She spoke slowly and deliberately, and then her voice grew stronger, and more forceful with each phrase until the final crescendo.  “I did not want to make this trek.  I did not want to bring along companions.  I felt this was a useless mission.  I have had my doubts about each one of you from the beginning.  Who are you?  You do not know me!  I have gone too far in this journey and I cannot turn back now.  I must complete the trek.  You are NO help.  YOU STAY HERE!  I NO LONGER NEED YOUR HELP!”  She gathered three packs, two weapons, and proceeded to climb the wall alone as the others looked on silently.
     Once out of sight, the squad gathered to squabble over who exactly was at fault.  After much “discussion,” it was decided that they were wasting time and should follow her.  Terba disagreed.  “You do not know my Nom-Mee.  If she says she wants to go it alone, that is what she means.  When she sees one of you, she will injure or kill you.  I have only seen her that angry one other time.  I do not like to talk about it, because I was not allowed to comfort her then, either.”
     Yeinar argued, “We must do something!  We cannot just sit and hope she does not get captured.”
     “Maybe that is what she wants,” said Gruashe.  “She is trying to keep us safe so we can search for the bud.  She knows it is she he searches for.  This way, we are safe to continue the search for what she wants, the haleakala.”
      Yeinar thought about arguing and then considered that Gruashe could be telling the truth.  “Where might we find this elusive bud this season?”
     “No one knows.  Tribes have searched for centuries for its curative and healing powers.  Nom-Mee seemed to have known of a place, but …” his voice trailed off as he held back tears.  “Perhaps, there is something in her writings.  I found her chronicle.  She dropped it in her haste.  I do not want to read it.  Terba, could you?”
     Terba took the book and went into a crevice as she pretended to read, for she already knew the location of the bud.  She did not want to pry into her precious one’s thoughts.  She was afraid to tell the group the location, because she still suspected one to be a spy.  She pondered what could she tell them about the book.  “I have been trusted with this chronicle.  I will not allow anyone else to read it.  I did find information on the bud.  It is, however, written in her secret code she used as a child.  We could possibly get Lubbant to translate it for us.”
     Yeinar rejected that plan and stated they would follow Nom-Mee’s path she had mapped out the previous day.  They would then find Gruashe’s family.  After that, he was undecided as to the next step, but he was sure this was the certain path to continue for now.  He ordered all to eat, load their packs, and to prepare to follow a rough path ahead.
     Nom-Mee shivered as she reached for her next handhold, as unsteady as she was.  “Infidels, all of them,” she mumbled to herself.  “Why did I agree to come on this trip with this crew?  What did I think I could accomplish with buzzards and bushes?  Useless, they are all useless, just the same as I am.  Who would ever believe that I could save anyone from Rock Monster?  I could not save myself.  I just hid until he was not looking one day and then I escaped.  He has finally forgotten about me.
     “I wondered what happened to the others.”  Nom-Mee asked herself as she tried to focus on the difficult task.  She felt herself slip as rocks slid out from under her feet.  She had a choice to make:  drop a pack of a day’s provision with no hope of finding more or drop a weapon in order to grab a stronger hold, otherwise she would surely fall to the sharp rocks below.  Nom-Mee tried with all she had to hold on longer, but she was slipping, she had to make a choice and quickly . . .