They soon reached the shore of the Land of Black Trees and Daphne was able to see that it's name was quite fitting. Each tree that she saw was completely and utterly black, with gnarled bark and spindly branches. Daphne had no idea before she saw the trees that there could be different shades of black, but now she saw.
She was still trying to process what had happened with the Hangman's Holiday and Captain Brown. "But won't the Parliament leave them alone when they find I'm not there?" she asked.
"That's not how they work," Trafalgar (or Leicester) said. "The Parliament doesn't like being tricked, certainly not by humans. They may take them away to the Bleak Shore or they may leave them for the Discordant Symphony to play with. I've heard-"
"That's enough," Jenny said. "There's no need to scare the child further, we've already had a long day. Let's rest and then tomorrow we can try finding the King of Tree's court."
They made camp on the beach, not wanting to sleep near the black trees, which seemed eerie and made strange whistling noises whenever the wind passed by.
Daphne tried to get to sleep, but she was filled with questions and regrets. She knew it was her fault that the Parliament went after the Hangman's Holiday, but she also knew that it wasn't. It was a strange feeling, wanting to blame herself and knowing that she shouldn't.
"Jenny," she finally said and she wasn't surprised when the woman turned out to also be awake.
"Yes," Jenny said.
"What did Captain Brown mean? When he said that he had made a vow, too?"
Jenny was quiet for the next few minutes and Daphne wondered if she had perhaps asked the wrong question, but then Jenny said, "I was Doordropped a long time ago. When I was around your age, actually. My name was Jennifer Higgins. I was so scared back then. I had a friend with me, but we were separated and I never found her again. Finally, I found my way to a campsite and there was Captain Brown. He took care of them, tried to help me find my friend and my way to Home Again. He told me that there were many ways to lose yourself in the Storylands, but he vowed that he would not let any of them happen to me. I eventually gave up trying to get to Home Again and joined his crew, forever grateful to him."
Daphne listened to all of this and realized that Jenny was softly crying as she spoke. She didn't know what to say to her, so she stayed silent. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry,"
"No need to apologize," Jenny said. "Everyone has their stories here and all stories end. Even the Storytellers have their stories, all their little secret histories and lives. All we can do is be ourselves and make our endings good and meaningful. Now go to sleep, little one."
Daphne closed her eyes and managed to drift off into a restful dream.
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