"Thank you, parental figure that I did not ask for." Not a denial of Mark's point; Kira pulls only a partial face for the smell before putting his socked feet inside. A little roomy, but that will be better than tight once they reach the forest floor.

Which--is not going to be so easy as gingerly walking on rope bridges until they slope down to the dirt.

"Flooding might be part of it," he says, the lower vantage of tying a shoe letting him notice what's around the bend of the next tree. "Look." Keeping his eyes on it as he stands, he points to where the makeshift bridge is down to bare ropes, the strongest scraps still clinging to the frame. Having directed Mark's attention, he shifts his hand, now pointing to the alternative. "That pulley has at least held up the boat for all these years."

Which doesn't make him any more excited to consider it as a way down, but the boat hanging from the next house in their path looks to be in better shape than the walkway beyond it.