Two chapters a day will be the rate until I reach the end of what I have written, which actually isn't that far away. I will go ahead and start writing new chapters this evening. I have changed the direction I want to go in several times and I am still not certain about what I have decided on. I will have to wait and see how the writing goes once I get back into the groove.

Thank you for reading this story. It means more now than ever before.

Trace slid down the rock slope, a fierce frown on his face. She was going to give him grey hair and hardened arteries from stress. It would be a miracle if he didn't end up bald from pulling his hair out.

He remembered distinctly telling her, not once but several times, to stay put and not wander off on her own. What was he doing wrong? He used simple words that she could understand, he spoke loudly so she could hear. And yet still she never listened to him.

As he reached the jungle floor, he came to a decision. He wasn't going to worry about it anymore. So what if she got herself killed? He was tired of sounding like her father. No more. She would have to start learning things the hard way.

A scream tore through the trees. Without any hesitation, he raced off in the direction of the scream. He heard a loud snarl as he ran through the tall grass.

When he reached the clearing, his heart stopped.

A large camodile lay on the ground, twitching but seemingly paralyzed. Melody lay a few feet away. Her eyes were closed.

His anger forgotten, Trace knelt beside her, pulling her into his arms. Cradling her head, he was relieved to see she was still breathing. A quick glance showed she wasn't bleeding.

He looked back at the animal, puzzled. If it hadn't attacked her, what had happened?

The camodile was beginning to stir, so Trace lifted Melody off the ground and carried her away to safety.

Melody came to just as they re-entered the jungle. "Hi," she said hoarsely.

"I am angry at you," he said sternly.

"Sorry," she said automatically. "What did I do now?"

He stopped and stared at her. "You don't remember?"

Melody thought, then shook her head slowly. "Not really. I was walking… an animal was attacked… it might have been me… it was me…" she looked down quickly, as if she was counting her limbs to make sure she was completely intact. "I was attacked by that ugly camel-thingy."

"Camodile," he corrected.

"That too," she nodded. "After that… nothing."

By that time they had reached a tree with roots large enough to sit on. Trace sat her down and leaned over her, bracing his hands on either side of her to keep her from getting away. "This is the last time I am going to say this," he said firmly. "Stop… wandering… off…"

Melody swallowed hard. "But what if…"

"No."

"There might be…"

"No."

"You're not my…"

"I will not be responsible for your death."

Melody snorted. "You don't have to be responsible for me. I never asked you to be."

"You didn't have to. I choose to be," he said, leaning closer. "You'll have to get used to the idea."

"What makes you think you have the right…?"

"A man has the right to keep his wife safe from harm."

"Well you can just take a flying…" Melody stopped, then stared in shock. "You're what?!"

"My wife," he repeated, with a dangerous smile. "I plan on marrying you when this is over."

Melody opened her mouth, shut it, the opened it again, tried to speak but all that came out was a high pitched squeak like a balloon losing helium.

"This is certainly an amazing and rare event," he teased. "The girl who never shuts up can't think of anything to say."

"What…" Melody croaked, then cleared her throat. "What gave you the idea to marry me?"

"I believe marriage is still something people do."

"But why me?" she asked seriously. "I'm always annoying you, I don't listen, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. We fight constantly."

"Bust chops," he said, reminding her of what she had told him before. "What gave you the idea I wanted a woman who would always agree with me? That would be very boring. And you may have your 'un-enlightened moments'," he said delicately. "But you are also very honest."

"Thank you… I think," Melody said doubtfully, then shrugged. "And you are bossy, arrogant and have your he-man moments," she smiled at his snort. "But you are also kind, sweet when you try and for some reason you care about me."

"Believe me, I don't understand it either," he said just to push her buttons.

But because she knew he was pushing them, she smiled. "I guess I could do worse. I mean, what are my options? Achenar isn't interested in me so that leaves either you or Sirrus."

He frowned darkly. "That isn't something to joke about."

She reached up to lace her fingers behind his neck. "Well he is handsome… and smart… and has a dark , bad-boy charisma that is very appealing…"

"You're pushing it Melody," Trace warned.

She laughed. "But you are far more handsome and far smarter. You pull off tall, dark and handsome extremely well."

He grunted, seemingly appeased by her description.

"And there is one other thing," she said, staring at him. "I don't love Sirrus."

Trace stared at her for a long time. She could see the emotions in his eyes and knew they reflected her own. He finally removed her hands from his neck and stepped back.

"Let's finish this… quickly."

They ended up finding their way into a marsh. Frogs croaked and large dragonflies zoomed by their heads. They spotted a few zephtyrs moving through the marsh. It was probably safer for them here. The camodiles wouldn't be able to get their footing in the mud. Melody clutched Traces' shoulder with every step, determined to take him down with her if she fell in the mud of questionable substance.

It was Melody who spotted the totem for the zephtyrs. Once again, the necklace glowed as they approached.

"Gracious… Noble… Cautious… Stupid… Stupidity can be a virtue, can't it?"

Melody studied the totem for a long minute, then turned to Trace. "Is stupidity a virtue?"

He raised an eyebrow. "At times."

She glared. "I don't like what you're insinuating."

He shrugged. "What you chose to interpret from my words is your own problem."

It didn't take them long to find their way out of the swamp. The jungle was so thick that everything looked the same. It was hard to keep track of where they had been. They wandered for a long time before they found the lake. A house with a tall tower had been built above the water on stilts.

The necklace glowed with a memory when Melody stepped up to the edge of the water.

"Seriously, how hard is it gonna be? Worst part's gonna be the foundation. Once that's in… Got to be better than sleeping in the wreck right?"

"He was starting to think ahead," Melody told Trace. "Interesting how he started figuring things out for himself, once he didn't have his brother around."

"Having to make due on your own changes you," he said, gazing at the house. "I am impressed at what he was able to accomplish given his mental capacity."

"I think Achenar is a whole lot smarter than people give him credit for," Melody said. "Living in Haven gave him the opportunity to do what he wanted, when he wanted and as much as he wanted. He didn't accomplish as much as Sirrus, but he definitely grew more inside."

A totem for the karnaks had been set up off to the side, facing the house. Melody touched it, expecting a memory, but nothing happened. Evidently Achenar was too annoyed with the karnaks thieving ways to think of any virtues for them.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the house was on the other side of the lake and the only way to get there was back through the jungle.

They hadn't gone far when they heard a pathetic whining noise. Melody followed the noise to find a mangree hovering anxiously over another. The one on the ground was cradling its paw and whimpering. When she appeared, the other mangree jumped back and watched from behind a rock. Feeling pity for the poor thing, Melody knelt by the hurt one.

"Hey little guy, did that mean camodile hurt you?" she asked soothingly.

Trace watched as she looked at the little paw. "How bad is it?"

"It looks like just a thorn, but it's a big one. Can you help me?"

"With what?"

"We can't just leave it here," she protested. "With its paw hurt, a camodile will pick it off easily. It wouldn't stand a chance."

"It's the natural order of things," Trace said matter-of-factly.

"Oh come on, tell me you can look at that little face and not want to help."

Trace made the mistake of looking.

The mangree's large dark eyes stared up at him pitifully as it laid its large ears back. There was a black tuft of fur on top of his head that stuck up like a Mohawk. It whimpered in pain, like it was begging.

Trace rolled his eyes and sighed. Without a word he knelt on the other side of the mangree, picked it up and held it still as Melody pulled out the thorn. The mangree shrieked in pain and ran away as soon as Trace released it. The poor thing tried to climb a tree, but kept falling because of its injured paw. Trace scooped it up and tossed it onto a branch. It sat there, staring at them.

"You're welcome," Melody said cheerfully. "Watch where you step now."

Not far from the injured mangree they came upon when they assumed was the hunting post the Achenar had mentioned in his journal. It looked like a covered deer blind set high off the ground. The only way in was to climb a cargo net, probably taken from the shipwreck. Inside were hand-made weapons, lengths of rope and more traps. Hash marks on the wall with a mangree skull below them seemed to indicate how many of the monkeys he had killed. Melody got up to thirty two before she gave up counting.

The view from the hunting post made them realize they had been heading in the wrong direction. A bridge to the lake house was back the other way. They worked out the quickest way to get there and Melody groaned when she saw they'd have to go through the swamp again.

The only other thing of interest in the hunting post was a piece of paper with several footprints on it. The order went: zephtyr, karnak, mangree, camodile and a large footprint they assumed was the large animal that Achenar had killed.

"It looks like a food chain. The animals are listed in the order of what they eat," Trace said.

Melody agreed. "Zephtyrs are at the bottom because they are herbivores. Karnaks eat fish. Mangrees are omnivores. Camodiles are obvious meat-eaters, but that gigantic lizard thing was definitely the most dangerous."

"Achenar must have had a reason to list them like this."

There was nothing else in the post. Before they left, Trace grabbed a cross-bow. There was no sense in not being prepared if they ran into another camodile.

More tomorrow. Not far from the end now. But as anyone who knows Myst will tell you, the end is never truly written.