Written for learnsslowly for my prompt meme (entry 69741 on my livejournal, which is linked in my profile - still open if anyone has requests :) ). The prompt was "counting stars, Dick and Titty".
The campfire was dying down, and so was the talk around it. Only Captain Flint and Squashy Hat - no, Timothy, Titty reminded herself - were still talking as eagerly as ever, discussing the old mines, with Mrs Blackett interjecting comments now and then. Roger had fallen silent some time ago, and squinting through the fire, Titty rather thought he was asleep. She hoped Susan wouldn't notice, or she would say it was time they were all in bed.
Next to her, Dick twisted around so he was no longer looking into the flames, but up at the sky instead. Titty followed suit, dropping her head next to his as he wiped his glasses.
"I wondered if I'd be able to see stars, or if there'd still be too much smoke and ash in the air," Dick said.
Titty wondered, looking up. The bitter, suffocating smoke of the afternoon was gone, but a faint smell of burning still lingered. Would it be enough to hide the stars? At first, she could see nothing; then, her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. "Look, over there by the Look-out Tree," she said, pointing.
"And another, further up."
"There's one towards Kanchenjunga."
"The wind must have cleared the air," Dick said, pointing out yet another twinkling star.
"You haven't been to your observatory this year," Titty realised. "Will you be using it when we move to Wild Cat?"
"It's not much good in summer really," Dick replied. "It doesn't get properly dark until too late… we could try some night, but I don't know how much we'd see."
"We'd have to get back to the island after, too," Titty said thoughtfully. "It's not like being at the Dixons' or the Jacksons'. And we have promised not to sail at night, at least John and Susan and Roger and I have."
"We'll save it for next winter then. Maybe we could see a meteor shower!" The geologist in Dick was rapidly giving way to the astronomer. "I think there are some in summer, too, and we could see those from the island. I wonder when they are? I wish I had my star book..."
"I bet Captain Flint knows," Titty said.
Dick sat up at once to ask him, but the movement caught Susan's attention from where she had been lying, looking drowsily at the camp.
"I say, what time is it? Frightfully late, anyhow. We should all be in bed."
Molly Blackett laughed. "Quite right, Susan! And more than time we were getting back to Beckfoot."
"I should have gone back to Atkinsons' hours ago," Timothy agreed, his shy blush appearing again as he caught up his hat. "I hope they haven't been worried about me."
At once, the camp was abustle with movement, as people all tried to say goodbye to each other at once. Mrs Blackett and Captain Flint both firmly vetoed Nancy's idea of seeing them down as far as Tysons' farm, though they promised to be back the next morning to bring the pigeons and start mining in earnest. Privately, Titty was glad. Standing up had made her realise just how tired she was, and she could barely hold back her yawns as she shook hands.
Soon, they were waving the natives off, and Susan began to chivy people into their tents. Dick managed to catch Titty before she went into hers, and said quickly, "He wasn't quite sure of the date, but he thinks there's one sometime next week or the one after. He'll find out properly and tell us when to look for it."
"Oh, good!" Titty exclaimed, only to shushed by John, who'd had to half-carry Roger to his tent. He grinned at the pair's new plan when Titty explained, but sent them firmly to bed, saying they could discuss it properly in the morning.
Diving into her sleeping bag, Titty fell asleep at once, to dream of fire and copper and shooting stars.