Arlo maintained a generous distance between him and Gideon. But made sure that he could at least see him as they walked along. Arlo wasn’t much for trusting, and hadn’t been for quite some time. He mostly tried to keep to himself, and keep everything else at an arm’s length. Especially this random, and particularly peculiar individual that he had just met. But for some reason, he felt differently about this Gideon. And while he really hadn’t had to many originally, Arlo now had questions. Along with wondering if Gideon had any questions for him. Like what his name was or where he had come from. Or what brought him into the forest to begin with. Because thus far, Gideon didn’t seem to be interested in any of it. He really didn’t seem to be interested in anything. During the entire time that they had been walking, he hadn’t turned around once to see if Arlo was even following him. He hadn’t sped up or slowed down, stumbled or tripped. His hands hadn’t even left his pockets. While the pathway they were following was slowly disappearing, beginning to blend in with the forest floor around them. Arlo was busy looking at all of the leafless tree branches that extended in infinite directions. It felt like they had walking for the better part the day, most of which seemed to be slightly uphill. And since the forest had become much more dense, it made it harder to see where the sun was. Causing him to all but lose his sense of time and direction. Eventually, through heavy breathing, Arlo asked much farther they were going to go, or if they were even going to take a break any time soon. Gideon didn’t respond, he just continued on with his constant, but quiet humming. While just sporadically turning left here, and right there. Arlo was really starting to believe that Gideon had no idea that he was even following him. But this mattered not, because Arlo wasn’t going to turn around or stop. He hadn’t walked all this way for nothing; he wanted to see where Gideon was going. Arlo could tell that this part of the forest was much older than where he had previously been. There was also less living things, and a lot less things that were green. Then, pulling his attention from the steady decline of the sights, something caught Arlo’s eye. It was a strange marking carved on a small tree nearby. Unable to clearly make out what it was, he just continued on. Mainly out of fear that he would be left out here. Because based on his assessment throughout the day. Gideon didn’t seem like he was going to stop, nevertheless wait. Not long after that, Arlo saw another one, then another. Soon, they were everywhere. Almost on every single tree that they passed, becoming to numerous to count. Spinning around in attempt to get a glimpse of all of them, Arlo could finally see what they were. They were name’s or initial’s that had been carved into the trees. Some even had one or more dates etched next them. Gideon, suddenly breaking the silence. Told Arlo that if he was still following him, that they were almost there. And he would be able to see it when they reached the top of the hill. Arlo flinched at the first sound of his voice. But then got a second wind, due to the positivity of what he heard. Excited to see what it was that awaited him, began moving briskly to catch up to Gideon.