Episode Seven

   Aditi tried to make sense of Heru's words
   "The collector coming for me Heru?"
   "I said quiet" he said tersely. They were out of view of the path and moving more cautiously through a patch of huge leaved shrubs and tangled undergrowth. Both young people were expert travellers through the jungle vegetation and both knew it was vital to be careful.
   No good fleeing some unspecified threat if they were to fall prey to adder bites or climbing cats thought Aditi. She stopped and leaned down with her hands on her knees looking up at Heru, catching her breath. Always take a moment to take a breath had been her Amu's advice and it was sound.
   "The collector asked for you" said Heru, looking anxiously back the way they had come, trying to assess how much of a trail they had left. The place where they had exited the path would be clear enough to anyone with jungle eyes. He found himself wondering if the other villagers would tell the collector which way they had gone.
   "What did the collector say?"
   "He asked for Aditi of Chamalon District, Palou Village. He described you. He said you were required at the Polis"
   Aditi shuddered
   "How do they know me there?"
   "They know us all there. Weren't you listening on the tour? We are all known and seen by the Polis. Lord Chill even introduced us to it"
   "I must not have been listening" said Aditi
   "I would say not" said Heru shortly. Their old tension flared
   "Well obviously with good reason Heru. Now they are chasing me" she hissed "and why are you so worried about it anyway? I thought you thought the Polis was all wonderful" she returned
   "I think the Polis is full of marvels Aditi, it's true. But we both know that people 'required' to go there never return"
   "And yet you think well of the place" she said
   "I want to know more of the place. That's different" he replied
   They were silent for a moment. Suddenly they heard steps through the forest litter. Heru clasped her wrist again and motioned they should go on. They were still within the tract of jungle above the silking shed where the village workers kept their Queen Clusters.
   They moved beyond the large Lya tree that marked the edge of Aditi's cluster patch. A short whistle alerted them and looking up they saw a villager called Nefos motioning to them from above. Aditi worried that he would raise the alarm against them, but he signaled to them in hunter's hand language,
   'Three trees distant, two coming.'
   It seemed so very strange. Suddenly the most ordinary of days, the most commonplace of places were filled with menace. Aditi had hardly believed there was really someone trying to catch her, it was like a childhood game she and Heru might have played in the past, but the grave look if Nefos eyes and the simple gesture 'two coming' sent prickles up the back of both Aditi's hands and she had to restrain herself from bolting through the forest.
   Heru followed Nefos' lead and signaled to her
   'To the river. Safe tree climb' Aditi nodded. They were raised to track the forest silently and swiftly where the collectors were not. If they could just get to the river where the highest trees were they could make their way through the canopy.
   As they moved, Aditi sent a wish thought to her God, Mallewonakata.
   'Hide us, cover our tracks, make us one with the trees.'