In the little old pack, stuck all over with frayed patches, were packed a bunch of power bars, pocket light, a box of waterproof matches, an ancient looking dust covered water filter, and a mess kit, and two water bottles.

"Hey, how'd you know I was coming?" Sara sat down heavily and took the extra bottle from his outstretched hand.

"Oh, it's not for you. I mean… it's going to be for Greg."

"Right." She paused for a second before taking a sip. The strange train ride felt so long ago already. Somehow, she had forgotten for that moment that they were on a quest to find Wirt's dead brother. Only the warmth of the strange, November spring night kept her convinced that this was all real. "So, we should probably start working on a shelter, then."

Wirt looked around their little glade with a despondent face. "I really thought- I mean, last time I came, by now, we had already run into a town. I don't know, there must be something around here-"

A rustle in the bushes, a snap of a twig. They both froze, staring wide-eyed into the dark trees. Sara reached slowly for the little light in the pack.

"What are you doing?" Wirt's voice was a hoarse whisper.

Hesitantly, she turned on the light and stood, hoping with all her heart that curiosity wasn't getting the better of her. "Maybe it's one of your friends?" She flashed a grin at him, and did not get one back. The light cut a small beam through the thick darkness, and reflected back at them from two huge orbs, the eyes of some beast.

Sara jumped back, dropping the light with a start. "Okay, not a friend, not a friend-"
"Wait!" Wirt had stood, picking up the light and walking back towards the trees. "Hey? Beatrice?"

"It is you- what are you doing here?"

A moment later, the glowing eyes grew bigger, and a large, shaggy dog bounded out into their clearing, tail wagging, and jumped up on Wirt with a resounding woof! Before making its rounds over to Sara, sniffing around excitedly. She stared down at it. A talking dog, was this really a surprise? "Oh… hi there, Beatrice."

Wirt laughed, "Wait, Sara, no, this is-"
"Ah, so you're Sara?"

The dog turned away from her, and she watched it run happily up to a girl stepping out from the low hanging branches, irritably brushing pine needles from her hair. She looked like something from a Jane Austen novel, in a long white nightdress, curly red hair falling around her shoulders. A necklace, a gold chain with sewing scissors much like the ones laying in the drawer in Sara's room, hung low from her neck. Sara stared at her in awe. How did this stranger know about her?

Beatrice irritably shooed the dog away- "Down, down, get!"-before turning back to them. "How did you get here? What-"

"We came back for Greg."

Beatrice stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "Oh, Wirt."

"We'll figure it out."

She only hesitated a moment. "Well, you'd better come inside, then. Won't be much help if you die out in the woods at night."

And this was how the two wanderers avoided dying in the woods at night. After all, there were still many kinds of beasts about.

Author's note: writing a fanfic, take 2.