Searching for a lost item

'Right .. so you just decided to get yourself lost in the forest then?' he said jokingly as he watched him, 'did you want to get eaten by a wild animal or something?'

"Hmm why not?" Jim said as he shrugged. "A wild animal doesn't seem like the worst thing. I heard there's a goddess of some sort out here as well." Jim continued following Sinbad while he casually searched the ground as they passed it.

Sinbad stopped for a moment, wondering if he had heard him right.

'A goddess? You've got to be kidding ..' he said, more to himself than to Jim, 'some pretty crazy rumours must be flying about this place. I mean I've seen a lot of things, but that ..' Sinbad shook his head and eventually started walking again.

'If that was true .. well I wouldn't say no to the experience of meeting something like that ..' he thought before adding out loud, 'it would definitely made this one of my most memorable adventures ..'

'Looking for anything in particular?' he said suddenly when he noticed Jim staring at the ground.

From his response Jim thought that maybe this was the first time Sinbad had heard about it.Even though Jim hadn't seen the goddess himself he was pretty sure it was true.
Jim looked up as Sinbad asked him what he was looking for. "Oh, n-nothing," Jim said, "just looking around as we walk."
Jim continued following Sinbad who had started walking again. "So you are an adventurer?" Jim asked shortly after.

Sinbad noticed the stutter in Jim's voice and, ignoring his question, suddenly pushed him against a nearby tree.

'You know you can tell me what it is ..' he said as he leant one hand against the tree beside Jim's head, '.. I could even help you look ..' he slowly moved his other hand, gently brushing Jims' cheek, '.. I can be very helpful when I want to be ..'

"H-hey, let go," Jim said, not paying attention to what Sinbad said at first. Jim tried to move his head away, but when Sinbad held him he couldn't avoid his touch completely. "I don't need your help," he said in an angry tone.

Sinbad laughed, 'just like you didn't need my help finding your way back, right?'

Jim starred angrily at Sinbad for a while. He hated when he mocked him like that. "It was just a knife," he decided to say eventually. "Can we move on now?"

'A knife, huh?' he said, moving his hand away from Jims' cheek and reaching down to grab his own knife. Holding it inches from Jims' face as he continued to make fun of him, 'one like this? .. Or is the one you're looking for the baby version?'

"Mine is a pocket knife," he said after having looked at Sinbad's knife for a while.

'So you really are defenceless without it ..?' he said, moving the blade closer to Jims' skin.

"S-stop that," Jim said as the starred at the knife so close to his face before he put a knee in Sinbad's stomach as an attempt to get free.

Surprised by Jim's sudden actions, Sinbad's grip on his knife loosened and he backed away a little, putting his hand to his stomach as he pretended Jim hurt him a lot more than he actually did.

'Are you sure you really need that knife?' he said as he slowly straightened up again.

Jim nodded. "I'll find it eventually. But should we get going?" he said, hoping Sinbad wouldn't be too mad about the kick.

Sinbad nodded and they started walking again.

'I don't think you really need it,' he said eventually and turned to Jim, 'aren't there plenty of people here that could help protect you if you need it?'

"Oh, like you maybe?" Jim said jokingly. It was because of people like Sinbad that he needed to be able to protect himself.
"It's not just for protection," Jim added after a while in a more serious tone. "I just have to get it back."

'Hey, you never know ..' Sinbad said and quickly looked around, 'you look pretty safe to me right now.'

He watched Jim for a while and eventually asked, 'why is it so important?'

"It's just is," Jim answered without wanting to talk more about it.
With Sinbad's help it didn't take long before they reached the tree again. Jim thanked him for his help before he went to his own room.