Cersei smiled wanly at Lucca and the boys, but remained preoccupied.  She rode in silence, speaking only to correct their course according to the guidance she received from the magic device.  Chay was similarly quiet, keeping a watchful eye on the wooded slopes around them as they rode up the mountain beside the stream.<br/><br/>There wasn't so much a trail as occasional dry run-offs and some animal paths.  They worked back and forth, heading up the slopes, always within earshot of the water, as it seemed to be running down the most direct path.  Besides the huffing and hoofbeats of their horses and the babble of the stream, the mountainside was alive with birds and small animals.  So many creatures had apparently never seen humans (or near enough, in Chay's case) that they had no fear, and only some caution with regard to sudden movements.  Squirrels, birds of various types, groundhogs, foxes, rabbits... they all came to take a peek.<br/><br/>[Survival Rolls: Lucca has 3D, Cersei has 6D, the boys both lack it, so they default to 2D Knowledge.  Lucca: 6, 3, 1, reroll the 6 on the Wild Die: 1 = 11.  Cersei: 6, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, which is bizarre in its descending order, but reroll the Wild Die: 1 = 28.  Koh: 4, 6 = 10.  Chay: 6, 1, reroll 2 = 9]<br/><br/>It's Cersei who suddenly straightens in her saddle, looking around with some alarm at the treetops.  "It's gone silent!" she whispers, coming to a stop.  "Something's coming!"<br/><br/>Indeed, the sounds of the forest were distant; all the local animals had gone to ground, or fled.  The reason was soon apparent as a bestial roar blasted from a thicket of brush across the stream, and a huge bear rose up on its hind legs to snarl and paw the air in their direction.