The storm raged and Xurde ran soaking wet through the forest, their body wrapped in lightning and thunder.

 

–Bjorn!!! Bjorn!!! Bjorn!!! Bjorn!!! "Bjorn!!!" they shouted again and again, and again, desperately. – Where are you?!!!! Where are you?!!!! Please Bjorn, come home!!! Come back home!!! Bjoooooooooorn!!! – Xurde entered the forest following the ways that they had learned from Roane. They saw the bright eyes of wild cats in their burrows, wondering what they were doing there. The hoot of the owl, the orchestra of crows, the ferns and the tall grasses, while they were loosing themselves towards the inner forest where human lights no longer reached. They heard the dogs and wolves howling in the distance. On the hillside from the mountain the forest was so lush that hardly any rain fell, although the noise of the waterspout over the tops of the immense trees continued being deafening.

 

–Bjorn!!! Bjorn!!! Bjorn!!! Where are you??!!! Where are you??!!! Bjorn!!! Bjorn!!! – They leaned exhausted against a tree.

 

– Xurde! – They looked up at the trunk. On one of the huge branches of it was Bjorn.

 

–Bjorn! I finally find you! You don't know the anguish I've been through! No just me, all Rueda, everyone is very worried!

 

– I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad.

 

– Bjorn, come down, let's go home.

 

– No.

 

– Come on, we're going to get sick with this rain, come on down, come on.

 

– I have said no.

 

– I’m telling you to come down!

 

– And I said no. We are good here. We have made a house for ourselves a little higher up the tree, we eat fruits and berries, and we are doing well in the forest. Just like the future humans you always talk about. Here we are fine and here we will stay.

 

– But Bjorn! And your house, and Ariel's house?

 

– Xurde, it is my decision, and I beg you please not to tell Rueda or Gaviota about this meeting. When we feel that it is time, we will communicate.

 

–Bjorn! – It was Ariel's voice from higher up the tree. – Who is that, what happens?

 

– Nobody, I'm speaking to myself!

 

Xurde tried to climb the tree, but the trunk was very smooth and very wet. Bjorn disappeared jumping between the branches, in the style of the illustrations from the stories about the last humans. Xurde embraced the trunk with all their strength. They kept trying to climb it for a long time. After a while, the rain got worse and the trunk became a torrent of water, with successive waterspouts from the storm. Xurde felt too confused and they thought they could come back the next day. Also, Bjorn had begged them to leave them alone and not say anything. They had to trust them. It was well into the dark night and Xurde kept calling Bjorn, but Bjorn didn't respond again.

 

Xurde walked slowly, crying uncontrollably through the heavy rain in the deep forest, on the other side of the mountain. It was still dark when they arrived in silence to Rueda. Stealthily, they took off their shoes at the door, and in the dark they slipped into their room.

 

– Who’s that?

 

– It's me, Yanael.

 

– For a moment I thought it was the children.

 

– No, it's just me.

 

– They told us you were at the party.

 

– You know that I don't really like those parties. I really tried, but in the end I freaked out.

 

– Okay Xurde, have some rest. See you tomorrow. – Yanael closed the door and Xurde undressed, sat on the corner of their bed and covered themselves with a blanket. They stayed there motionless until well into midday, reflecting about whether they should tell Rueda what had just happened.