Nerith nodded, the way she did when she got news that needed more than a moment to sink in.
The carriage started up again.
Rex saw that the vines on both sides of the road were already growing back at their normal rate. The numbers in the tree cover were still safe, but that was only for a short time.
They would fix themselves within an hour.
Outside, the forest was doing what it always did: it was going through a long, slow process that had nothing to do with anyone's timeline.
Nerith's hair had amber leaves in it, and she wasn't trying to change them.
...
The midday stop was especially important for a group of carriages that had been moving for seven hours and had reached the point where horses could no longer keep going without making their own decisions about when to stop.
