He stopped.
"'I need to pee,'" he said.
The group stopped.
"'We'll wait here,'" Celia said.
He looked at the group. The specific, brief assessment.
Then moved off the path into the undergrowth, the green closing behind him.
Nara, after approximately three seconds, followed.
They all watched her go.
"'She's—'" Aisha started.
"'Yes,'" Celia said.
"'Should we—'"
"'No,'" Celia said.
The group stood on the path. The forest morning around them — the birds, the specific wet-green smell of the canopy after a night of humidity, the somewhere-close sound of water that was probably the freshwater source he'd actually been looking for.
Preet leaned against a tree.
"'His stomach,'" she said.
Everyone looked at her.
