Back to Bargul, so English will be in italics. Hope you enjoy!
As a traveling companion, the strange human wasn't awful. She didn't lag too badly when she walked, and had given up protesting about riding Kalu despite her obvious nervousness about the wolf. He found that somewhat amusing, when he wasn't annoyed about her slowing things down by being afraid to ride. Kalu was fairly small as far as riding wolves went, the top of her head even with that of an ordinary human, although that put her several inches above Libby, who was unusually small as well. He had yet to figure out if she was younger than she sounded or simply very small, but whatever the answer was, it didn't matter as long as she could keep up.
She had woken up again a few hours ago and was sitting up somewhat stiffly on Kalu's back, peering curiously at the forest around them. He'd tried to teach her a few words, mostly out of boredom, and it seemed that she was picking them up quickly. That was good; if he had to have a human companion, he preferred it to be one he could communicate with.
Bargul was walking again, both to save Kalu's strength and because it was more comfortable. The human was small, but not small enough to make riding together for long periods of time a pleasant experience. On top of that, she seemed to have no idea how to move with Kalu's gait; she was such an unskilled rider that he wondered if she'd ridden anything in her life.
It was starting to get dark, or at least, darker than it normally was in this damn forest. He couldn't wait to be back in the deserts of Durotar. Even the Barrens would be a welcome relief after so much time under these trees. He'd been stationed here for almost a year before his injury, participating in skirmishes until the one that lost him his arm, and if he never saw another forest he would be content with that.
Looking up at the sky in a mostly useless attempt to gauge the sun's position, he decided that it was a good time to stop for the night. They were making good time so far. Checking his map, he estimated that they would pass Splintertree post tomorrow, and be in the Barrens the day after that if they kept up this pace. Whistling for Kalu to follow, he stepped off the path, heading for a open area a short way back from the road.
"Where are we going?" Libby asked.
"It's time to sleep," he told her, briefly turning to make the standard 'sleep' gesture with his hands folded next to his cheek.
"Yes," she said, sounding relieved.
As soon as Kalu stopped moving, she dismounted with an ungraceful stumble, almost landing flat on her face before catching herself with a handful of Kalu's fur. Kalu shifted irritably, not happy with having her fur pulled, and Libby let go as though the wolf had burst into flames. Bargul snorted to himself before quickly returning to a straight face when Libby looked at him.
They'd need a fire first, he decided. He reached down to pick a stick off the ground and showed it to her. "This is a stick," he said. Talking to her like a child was getting somewhat tiresome, but it was necessary if he wanted her to understand him.
"Stick," she repeated, sounding slightly confused.
"You go find some sticks and bring them back here," Bargul instructed, doing his best to get the point across with gestures. He watched as she puzzled that over for a moment before nodding. He handed her the stick, and she started scanning the ground in the clearing for more.
After instructing Kalu to guard the campsite, he went to chop some larger logs to keep the fire burning longer. That was one good thing about the night elven obsession with trees - he was never short of firewood, although it did come with the slight danger that the trees might hit back when he tried to fell them. There were no treants here, though, so it wasn't long before he returned to the campsite with a nicely sized bundle of wood.
While he'd been gone, Libby had gathered a small pile of sticks near the center of the clearing. Bargul dropped his stack of firewood next to it. "Good."
He got to work building up the campfire while she watched curiously, and before long he had a small but cheerful fire crackling pleasantly, the remaining sticks and logs stacked a short distance away in case it burned too low. He retrieved a cooking pot and a bundle of ingredients from a pack attached to Kalu's saddle. The ingredients had been a parting gift from his party's cook, a cheerful troll woman with a gift for creating delicious meals from almost anything. The bundle contained pre-chopped vegetables, packets with herbs, and chunks of meat that could be cooked together into a stew. It was running low now, but there was enough for one more pot of it before he'd have to return to more standard travel rations.
While that cooked, he left Libby to watch it, assuming that she would at least know what burning food looked like, and went to tend to Kalu. He removed the saddle and the packs attached to it to make her more comfortable and poured some water into a bowl for her to drink. Once she had drunk her fill, he poured out the remainder, dried the bowl, and returned it his pack before giving her her dinner.
Once his wolf had been seen to, Bargul moved on to setting up beds for himself and the human girl. He only had one bedroll, so he used a few spare blankets to create a makeshift bed for her. With those set up, he went to check on the stew. A small taste told him that it was ready, so he portioned out two bowls, giving one to Libby and taking the other for himself.
"That's stew," he told her as they sat down, pointing with his spoon at the contents of her bowl.
She looked at it warily for a moment, looked up at where Bargul was devouring his own serving, and took a small bite. Her eyes widened and she grinned. "Wow, that's really good. Good...stew," she added in orcish, and began to devour hers with equal speed.
Once they finished with their dinner, he pointed out which set of bedding was hers before dropping onto his own. With only two of them, and one with likely no experience camping in potentially hostile territory, it wasn't feasible for them to keep watch. Bargul would just have to hope that his tendency to sleep lightly, along with Kalu's sharp senses, would alert him if anyone drew near while they slept.