Kuria got in trouble almost every time she snuck out and she had been sneaking out every three days for a full cycle, but she just could not leave her friend alone for too long, he might get lonely. She was terribly lonely in the village without him, even with her Mama as company, and so he must be terribly lonely without her.
Her Mama; however, was starting to become furious. Kuria would wait for when their duties would take her Mama in another direction and then the girl would bolt. The poor woman was starting to honestly consider locking the girl inside somehow. Kuria, without really knowing of her dear Mama's desperate plans told Gerson of her increasing trouble in escaping to the forest.
Gerson laughed at the child's pout before considering her. He grunted and told her plainly "You do not need to come see me." The child tensed in surprise, and shook as tears gathered in her eyes.
Perhaps she had been mistaken? Was this not friendship? Kuria certainly thought it was. "Are we not friends?" she asked sadly a few salt-water drops traveling down her cheeks.
The monster turtle grunted in dismay, "Yes we are friends, but coming out to see me is causing you and that mother of yours trouble." He sighed as he saw his words did nothing to dry the girl's tears. "I also must leave for a time to attend to some… unfinished matters." He continued bringing the child to sobs.
"But friends are meant to be together!" she wailed, gracing the world with her logic. "How will we see each other if we must part!" Kuria knew she was being silly. Leaving did not mean forever, but the child knew monsters and humans were not allowed to be together without really understanding why. She feared what kept her from meeting other monsters might keep Gerson once they separated.
The turtle considered her for a long time staring deeply into the girl's chest. He grinned suddenly and laughed at his crazy idea. "I am getting old and soft!" he boasted. "We will see each other as much if not more I promise you! For I have a very stupid plan!" he cackled.
And so, the monster turtle leaned over to whisper his instructions to the child. "Find some place special only to you," he breathed, "make it somewhere that you feel safe and protected at. Tonight when the moon and all the stars can be seen go there and wait." He finished and quickly sent the girl to find this special place. Kuria left quickly despite her confusion at the request.
The girl returned home much earlier than usual and as such returned without her Mama knowing of her absence. The girl proceeded with the day as she would any other hoping to leave her Mama clueless to her escape. She washed the cloths that had been dirtied, worked the garden in the company of her Mama, and followed her Mama through the village as she made her daily trades. The girl had no need to search for a special place, after all, she has had one for as long as she could remember. Kuria remained patient throughout the day despite her growing excitement and miraculously nothing out of the ordinary was noticed of the quiet girl.
That night, the child patiently waited for her Mama to fall asleep before sneaking out into the edge of a cluster of trees behind her home. In the small bit of forest there was a large tree that looked to have been pulled straight up from the ground. Most of the tree's roots were thick and tangled on the surface looking like a claw grappling with the earth. The base of the tree was split on one side making a kind of entrance. Kuria climbed the roots and entered the tree with an ease that comes with familiarity. Inside, the tree was hollow with a deep bottom allowing the girl to stand, but this still was not her special place. Crouching down into the dark of the tree she disappeared from view to any outsider peering over the roots. In this new position, the child was able to crawl inside a burrow to sit among the still growing roots of the tree. It was dark and small, but this is where the girl stopped and waited for Gerson.
The child fell into a light doze through the night as she waited. The sun was just rising as the ground shook waking the girl. Blinking blurrily at the dirt wall before her the child watched in a daze as the wall and the ground before it turned into a whole lighting up the burrow. Once it had a vague open shape finished the monster poked his head in. Grinning and tired the old turtle chuckled at the girl's half-awake expression. "Go home and sleep. Return tomorrow and it should be ready for you by then." The child needed little else as motivation and yawned as she tiredly fumbled through the dark hole and left her special place.
.
The next night after Her Mama fell into a deep slumber, Kuria once again fled into the night.
The abandoned burrow the child had claimed as her own was now the entrance to a much larger tunnel. The small space now had stairs occupying the space that Gerson had appeared in and now led to a more open stable area- an area that allowed a monster as big as Gerson if not larger to move around comfortably that was lit up by soft glowing in the walls below the stairs. The stairs made of large smoothed stones were quiet obviously made for the girl as she had to scoot to sit on the second step before she could stand.
The little girl tentatively slid to the first step and then lowered herself to the second before carefully standing to her small height. Each step down was careful and without hesitation as the young girl allowed her curiosity to lead her. The girl stopped on the last step just looking in awe at the glowing objects that she could now see to be rocks. The girl noticed the earthy hall floor to be soft dirt under her feet instead of hard earth as expected. The walls were hard but smooth as the girl curiously spread her fingers along one side.
The inspection complete the girl giggled and raced down the hall certain her Monster friend would be at the end waiting for her. She never made it to the end though, as Gerson and his rumbling steps met her before she could ever reach it. Kuria just laughs running into her friend's arms happy that they will not be truly separated. After all, Gerson made her a tunnel.