For the rest of the drawn out afternoon, which hardly appeared to be moving at all, he resisted the temptation to look at the ridge but continued to work steadily, so as not to attract unwanted attention from the already over attentive guards. Finally, he managed to catch Sooni's eye.

‍
“Sooni, I think I saw something over that ridge,” he whispered to her, as he bent down next to her and pretended to tend the same plants as her. She paused for a second and her head tilted towards him slightly, but carried on with her work, clearly not wanting any more trouble.

‍
“I want to see what it was, so I'm going to run over there as we leave tonight,” he continued.

‍
This did get a reaction, as Sooni stopped in the middle of trimming a plant stem and stared at him, with wide eyes, before catching herself and swiftly looking back to her work.
She hissed her reply, without looking up, and barely moving her lips.

‍
“Don't be stupid Remos! What could possibly be that important? They might kill you this time if you're caught... and if they don't, how many more beatings can you take?"
“They won’t catch me. You cause a distraction and I'll make a break. Give me a few minutes, that's all I need and I'll rejoin the stragglers on the way back. Nobody will ever know.”
“I'll know!” she whispered simply.

‍
“Well, I'm going anyway. If you can help me, I'm less likely to get caught,” he said abruptly.

‍
She paused again, stabbing her knife deeply into the ground in front of the plant she was tending.

‍
“Why is it that being your friend is so painful, Remos?” She shook her head slightly and a faint smile raised the corner of her mouth.

‍
“You'll do it then?”

‍
“Okay, okay!” she whispered barely audibly, nodding her head as little as she could. “Just be ready to move when I do.”

‍