"My stomach hurts," Jay commented, breaking the silence that had fallen over him and Nya since Lloyd had left. Jay still wasn't full sure what had gone on or why Lloyd had left, but Jay was sure his stomach was growling and clenching in hunger, and that was enough to be sure of for the moment.
Nya nodded to him, then tilted her head to one side, indicating a large set of cliffs looking over a lake. She adjusted her wings, heading toward the cliffs, and Jay followed.
Nya led the way to what looked like nothing more than a shadow cast by the clouds, but what was revealed as they got closer to be some sort of cave. The two of them landed just inside the cave, and Jay stretched his wings gratefully as he finally was able to stop using them.
Looking back into the cave, Jay found that it was long but thin, just wide enough for the two of them to sit side by side with a little room in between them, so that was what they did. Jay took off his backpack carefully and began rummaging through it, pulling out a bag of dried fruit. "Do you want this?"
He looked up to see Nya holding out a chocolate bar. "Nya! Oh! Where did you get this? Were you hiding it? You had to have been hiding it, you kept so quiet but the whole time you had chocolate, I can't believe it, it's gonna taste so good!"
Nya smiled as Jay took the bar from her, pulling out another bar of chocolate for herself.
They dug in, devouring the chocolate bars, then the bag of dried fruit, and then quite a few crackers. Finally, however, Jay was satisfied.
Well, Jay's stomach was satisfied. His mind was the opposite of satisfied; it was racing all over the place. "Where did Lloyd go? What did he plan on doing? Aren't we supposed to meet him at the Caves of Despair? What are we going to do if he doesn't make it there to meet us? Why did he-"
Nya cut him off quickly. "Lloyd saw someone who needed help and went to give some help to them. We can wait here for him. This cave is one of the Caves of Despair. He'll be here, so don't worry."
Jay worried anyway. Weren't they supposed to be on their way to rescue Zane? Zane needed their help, after all, more than anyone else could need their help. What could Lloyd have been thinking? Discontent, Jay ate another few crackers. He glanced at Nya. She was sitting quietly, picking through her backpack, taking things out and organizing them. But Jay couldn't sit quietly; he was too worried. Getting up, he walked out to the edge of the cave, finding a ledge there and peering out to one side of the ledge.
Jay's jaw dropped. Uh-oh. "Nya? We might have a problem."