Palm Reading
The following day.
The usual quiet cave becomes noisy due to the sudden influx of visitors.
One of the women is cooking food for breakfast, the other took care of the babies, and the children are playing, running around. The two men were nowhere to be seen. They must be outside the cave.
Mende doesn't mind, sooner or later, they will be gone and she will be left alone in the cave. She has no regrets about helping them and giving them temporary shelter for a few days. It's better this way than letting them freeze to death in the wilderness.
They looked harmless to her. Just a bunch of people who ran into bad luck. She pitied the babies, the children, and the women the most.
Mende volunteered to hold the baby girl in her arms so that her mother can dry their clothes near the fire. The chubby baby looked at her and smiled brightly. The baby seems not afraid of her wrinkled skin. She nuzzled its tiny feet, the baby giggled loudly.