"Shouldn't Lark be back by now?" Briar wondered staring at the ocean.
Sandry shrugged, "I suppose it takes a while for the boat to get to the jungle, though I heard it's really close."
"Whatever," Briar said and turned around heading for Discipline cottage.
Suddenly Sandry gave a shout and Briar spun back around.
"There! I think I see a ship!" Sandry said pointing at the horizon.
"Hope its Lark," Briar said, "I'm sick of doing ALL the work.
"You're not doing ALL the work for your information Briar," Sandry told her friend, "Pasco, Evvy and I also happen to be doing a lot. You are just very lazy."
"Thanks for the compliment," Briar said a little dryly and sat down on the dock to wait for the boat to come in.
"It'll probably be a while before it gets here," Sandry informed him, but he only shrugged.
"I'm going to go see what Evvy and Pasco are doing," Sandry said and broke into a jog for Discipline cottage.
***
Two months later….
Lark sat down at the table and opened the letter from Rosethorn. They'd been writing back and forth to each other over the past weeks. This one read:
Dear Lark,
How are you? I'm glad to hear that Briar and Evvy, and Sandry and Pasco are getting along well. I'm also glad to hear Briar is taking good care of my garden. Of course, he knows what'll happen to him if he doesn't! Crane and I are getting along well enough, we're not arguing with each other as much as we used to. I suppose working together on this jungle thing helps. I miss you all a lot! The natives have been very hospitable to us so far. They seem to be a bit well; I don't know a word for it. There are other tribes are here and it seems that quite often they war with each other. I just hope the tribe we're staying with doesn't go to war. That could be bad for us.
Love,
Rosethorn
Lark grinned reading Rosethorn's letter. She didn't worry much about the tribes, she knew Rosethorn and Crane were quite capable of taking care of themselves. She reached for some paper and a pen and started writing her reply.
One year later….
Lark's face was full of worry as she read this letter. The last letters had said that they had found a tribe hired by white men cutting down acres of trees. They tried to put a stop to it, luckily the tribe they were staying with and the tree cutting down tribe were friendly with eachother so Rosethorn and Crane had safe access to the land, until several tribes went to war including the tribe Rosethorn and Crane were staying with. Unluckily the tree cutting down tribe was not a ally of Rosethorn and Crane's tribe. Lark just hoped that they wouldn't get hurt.