Day 70,

Sleeping arrangements ended up being me and Cass in one tent and Lin in the other.  Maiko preferred to go without if it wasn’t raining.  And then woke us all up in the middle of the night when the chickens started huddling around and on her.  I guess they found her warm?

Forgoing more investigation of the house today in favor of more island exploration.  We found two more paths leading out from the area around the house.  Going to go check those out.

First path went down to a small lake/large pond.  Looked to be mostly dried out.  We’re guessing it fills up with rainwater in the wet season.  No fish.  No signs of animal tracks at the obvious watering hole either, so I guess we really are the only things up here other than birds and bugs.

The other path went uphill towards the “front” of the island to a stone cistern at the top of the hill.  There were pipes coming off it going into the ground.  Maybe to the house?  Wonder if they still work after all these years.  Probably clogged or broken.

From there we went down the other side of the hill until we reached the edge to get a look at where we were going.  When we got there it looked like we were just finishing passing over another, smaller island.  We could see others in the distance in front of us, but we didn’t seem to be directly heading toward any of them in particular.

Once she realized that she had missed seeing an island, Maiko started running back to the arch to look behind us at it, leaving the rest of us hard pressed to catch up with her but not wanting to leave any member of our party alone.  When we caught up to her she was sitting under the arch looking deflated, staring out at the island we’d passed over.  It was roundish, covered in green trees, and devoid of any structures, smoke, or other signs of habitation.  Nothing special from up here.

Lin said there will be other islands to check.  More chances.

Maiko didn’t say anything in return.

We’re now spending what will probably be the rest of the day back on the front of the island looking out ahead.  We’re definitely higher now than when we departed Siren Overlook yesterday.  I wonder how Vernon’s getting on.

Back at camp in front of the house for the night.  Took a fair bit of convincing to get Maiko to leave her vigil at the edge.  Eventually she relented when we pointed out that at the speed we’re going it’ll probably be midday tomorrow by the time we get close to anything.