In the morning they were exhausted from the effort. Then, a large man, who was in fact part gorilla, entered the town square, and stopped in the middle of the crowd, separating the townsfolk from the visitors.
“How dare you!” he bellowed. “Are you all so cut off that you no longer trust your own people? Have we fallen that low? These four people wash up on our shores and all you can think about is if they can prove they are who they say they are. If you doubt so, we have empaths who can tell the difference between truth and lies. You should all be ashamed.”
“I say, that is -” began the man with the spider legs.
“Silence! You were the worst of the lot! You demand proof! You keep them up all night performing tricks like a side show attraction.”
“That was not my -”
“I told you to be silent! And I suppose no one thought to prepare the guest room for our guests?”
There was silence for a moment as the gorilla man gave them all a stern look. Of course, but looking at him it was impossible to say if he was even capable of anything but a stern look.
“Uhh, I did,” said a quiet voice.
The gorilla man’s expression softened.
“Of course you did. I should have expected nothing less from you, my friend,” then he turned to the triggered. “Please, come this way. You shall have some beds to sleep in now, and when you wake, something to eat.”
Isaac wrapped his arm around Carla. She yawned. The five followed the gorilla man towards one of the tree houses. They wearily climbed the ladder and were shown their beds, where they curled up and went to sleep.
“I trust you’re doing everything you can to find shipwreckees?” Jo asked.
She was not as tired as her friends were because her powers didn’t require any extra energy.
“Of course.”
“I’d advise you to be careful. It was a celebrity cruise. Famous musicians from all over the world were on it – the whole thing was being taped and stuff.”
“Hmm… that does change things now doesn’t it?”
“I thought you’d appreciate knowing.”
“And I do indeed. My thanks.”
Jo nodded and went to bed herself. The gorilla man left far quieter than one might expect from such a mutation.