Jim was too nervous to try changing into his human form and walking into the sun again at the same time, despite the others' enthusiastic encouragement. Even all of the kids' apparent immunity to the dangerous affects of the sun failed to reassure him. Even Aiden and Sophie, who were the most troll-like out of all of the children, seemed completely unaffected by the sun's light. Instead, it had taken Jim a few minutes of psyching himself up to even set foot passed the protective shade provided by what had remained of the church's roof. He had laughed at his own fear, remembering when he had been the one trying to coax a nervous Blinky out into the sun; he'd thought that he had understood his foster father's fear and nervousness then, but he realized now that he hadn't even come close. Knowing from personal experience of the excruciating pain and possible death that even so much as a stray sun beam could cause was very different than observing the process as an outsider. In the end, it had taken Aiden casually walking up behind him, throwing a kind arm around his shoulders... and then giving Jim a harsh shove out into the light.
The poisoned darkness that spread from the Shadow Realm breach seemed to have targeted human populations first, because where they were in the mountains remained, not untouched, but far more clean of the stuff than the human town that Jim, Claire, and Merlin had awoken in. Spidery, black vines spread sparsely along the ground and up various tree trunks, attempting to poison the world around them; but it was Spring here, and the trees and grass and flowers were budding and blooming brightly, Mother Nature fighting back against the invasion with all she had. Even the mountain streams that they came across were relatively untouched, the water cool, clear, and clean, much to Claire's pleasure, who insisted the children wash some of the dirt and grime from themselves. Jim and Merlin laughed at their clear displeasure at this request, and Jim, himself, ended up more than a little drenched while trying to wrestle the twins still enough to, at the very least, wipe their faces clean.
"My feet hurt," Sophie whined, dragging her feet slowly as they walked through the warm forest. She paused for a moment, screwed up her face in concentration, and started flapping her wings furiously. They all stopped to watch as the 4-year-old lifted off of the ground by a few inches... and then flopped back down, stumbling as she landed. She sniffled once, twice, and then burst into tears. "I wanna go home!"
"Oh, mia bebé," Claire cooed, bending to swoop the crying toddler into her arms, rubbing her back and shushing her gently. "We can't go home. You have to be a big girl for Mama and Daddy, okay? We'll stop and rest in a little while."
Sophie sniffled, still crying, but calmed a little. Sticking her thumb in her mouth, she nodded and laid her head down on Claire's shoulder. "'kay..."
"Here," Jim murmured, stepping up to his mate's side and offering his arms out for the child. He'd seen how she had winced when she stood up, her body unused to carrying the heavier weight of a toddler, let alone while trekking through mountainous areas. Gratefully, Claire shifted Sophie into his arms, the child flowing with the movement willingly, wrapping her free arm around his neck and her legs around his torso. Nuzzling the child sweetly, he murmured to her quietly, "Daddy will carry you for a little bit."
"Are we even going the right way, El?" Aiden said in a quiet aside to his older sister, his voice a mixture of concern, frustration, and forced calm.
Ellie frowned, twisting the ancient looking map in her hands this way and that to find her bearings. Jim had noticed the shimmer of magic overlaid on the canvas when she had first pulled it out, and she had shown him the two magical sparks floating on top of the drawn landscape, one bright red (them) and the other a bright green (the hidden Elven camp). The green spark was relatively stationary, while the red spark moved as they moved, slowly drawing closer to the green spark. According to Ellie, they had been extremely close three nights ago, but then the green spark had moved inland by nearly 20 miles overnight, which suggested that the move had been emergent.
