Guy could tell that there was a lot going on between Aura and Gill that the three outsiders didn't understand. A small, entirely too small for concern, part of him wanted to ask just what was going on there, and yet he dared not. Grug, on the other hand, was far less couth than the perceptive young Guy.

"What's eating her?" Grug directed his question Gill specifically. Gill shook his head and, as he rested his elbow in one hand, placed the free hand under his chin. He looked down at the worth earth within the hut with great contemplation before he humored them with a response.

"I'm sorry you've had to deal with her while you were here. I know that this is all a bit of a new experience for you all," he gave pause long enough to look at Eep before he continued on. There was something so gentle and curious in the way he looked at her. Once again Guy was roused with this awful feeling that made his heart beat pick up its pace while his stomach felt like it was sinking. His chest became tense as did the rest of his neck and shoulders. However he could still not place any kind of word to this new emotion. He was going to have to get the ol' brain working soon to figure out this latest conundrum.

"Perhaps you should stay one more night." The medicine woman finally spoke up, her eyes resting on Guy. "Now that I think about it, you look a little rougher than I thought. Let us treat you to a dinner in the village; a fire, food, and good people. It's the least we can do." Her words seemed nothing more than mere concern for Guy and his physical condition, but the wise woman had seen far too many years on earth not to understand what was beginning to happen between all youths before her.

"Absolutely not." Grug was, naturally, the first to oppose, and he did so with great vigor. He folded his thick corded arms and set his chin. It seemed there was no changing his mind.

"Dad, maybe it isn't such a bad idea. What if Guy really is too hurt to travel?" The young Neanderthal girl was clearly blinded by her feelings for Guy. If that medicine woman said he was too injured to travel, he was too injured to travel. That was that. And the problem was, she was just as stubborn as her father.

"I'll strap him to the back of the jungle cat. If he passes out he won't even fall off. See? What a great IDEA. Maybe we cave men have a brain after all," Grug said, a bit smugly. Grug was often in competition with Guy to come up with greater ideas, though Guy always seemed to outdo him at every turn. Eep was not as keen on the idea, her face quickly painting a defiant scowl.

"Then you go back! I'll stay with Guy, and we'll be back by tomorrow."

"Oh no! I don't think so young lady. We are a family, and I'm not leaving my family behind!"

"So you're staying then?" Eep said quickly.

"Huh? No!" Grug was becoming flustered.

"Perhaps," the Medicine woman chimed in, "you should as the one who is hurt how he feels about it?" The group all turned their attention to Guy then, who up until this point had maintained his silence. He knew all too well that when Eep and Guy began and argument, it was best to take a back seat and ride out the turmoil.

"Eheh… Well, I," he stopped for a moment and looked over at Eep, then to Grug, and finally to the medicine woman. Her eyes were calm and steady, and she seemed to be looking at him as though there were something she very much wished to discuss with him. "I think we should stay." He had not intended to blurt it out so absentmindedly, but out it came and the other occupants of the hut gave their corresponding looks of approval, or lack thereof in the case of one Grug.

"Gill can take some of you at his hut, I can house Guy here." She then busied herself with various potions and herbs within her reach. It was clear that she intended to say no more on the subject for now, and Gill took that as his que to lead Grug and Eep to the hut they would be staying at tonight.

"What will your mother do? What if something happens while I'm not there to protect them?" Suddenly Grug envisioned Granny being carried off by a jungle creature, never to return. "On the other hand…" he began to say, a devious smile spreading across his face. As the three of them walked through the small village, Grug noted that they sun had already begun to rest low in the sky. In only a few hours he would lose the sun and there was a chance he wouldn't have made it to the rest of his family in time, anyways. With a small sigh at his blatant defeat, he stopped his outward protest, but never stopped thinking of them. 'Tomorrow," he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Ugga and Gran were doing quite well, even with the absence of their main protector. The biggest problem the family faced at this point in time was the fact that three of their loved ones were still missing. Ugga tapped at her food as she watched the sun sink further and further from the sky. Gran patted her daughter's broad arm and gave her a look of encouragement.

"Oh, dear, don't worry. I know they are fine. I'm sure he found the kids by now and they are just waiting out the night so they can travel in the day light." Gran said.

"I hope you're right," Ugga said, knowing there was really nothing else to be said of the situation. She could worry and cry all she wanted but it would do her and her remaining family members no good.

"We have come through some very hard situations, and this is no different. They will come back." Gran sounded surer now. She had a great sense of conviction about her son-in-laws strength. She recalled the moment when she saw him flying through the sky with the sun, or "fire" as Guy called it, strapped to the back of the skeleton; all those terrible bird creatures screeching and flying him to safety. From that moment on she had a new found sense of respect for him. She had faith in him.

Sandy was crying softly at her mother's leg. She had spent the better part of the day wailing loudly, as most toddlers do, over the fact that Belt was gone, and could not serve as her play mate. Soon she would have herself cried to sleep, and Ugga could put her down for the night. She was kind of glad that Sandy was so young, because she couldn't grasp the full gravity of the situation currently at hand. However, her middle child did.

"Mom, will dad and Eep and Guy be home soon?" Thunk had already eaten and until that moment had been running about in the warm ocean water. His arms were filled with shells that he often times collected in order to exchange and play them with Guy. He had become rather attached to their newest addition to the family and Ugga could see that all three family members' absences could no longer go unnoticed.

"Of course they will." Gran said this without hesitation. Ugga was grateful for her mother's strength, because she herself wasn't sure if she could answer that question for Thunk. Would it be a lie? She shook her head for a moment then smiled bravely.

"They will," she said, deciding not to let the darkness of doubt consume her.

Guy laid back against the mat on the ground that separated him from the cool earth underneath. The medicine woman continued to work with her jars and herbs, leaving the hut in silence aside from the occasional clinking of earthen pottery. He wondered why he hadn't thought of something so useful before now. They were so convenient and well suited for holding just about anything that would fit into them.

'We wouldn't have to leave for water all the time anymore. We could collect it and carry it back. We could collect rain, too,' he thought to himself. There were so many things he had seen in the village that he wanted to ask questions about and try to replicate for the family. For Eep. He felt his face become a bit warm as he thought about being able to provide all these wonderful things for her.

It wasn't long before Guy drifted off into a deep sleep. His mind floated in vast darkness and rest came easily to him in that moment.