They left just before the sun set, and Caldera was personally glad that they didn't have to travel during the day.
"We can walk when it's cooler, at night." Jackal had suggested. "That way we can also prevent getting robbed. My parents would come home with half the stuff they left with because they slept at night."
He was right; traveling at night was easier that during the day. Caldera loved walking around on something other than grass and dirt—although, admittedly, she felt every single grain of sand on her talons and it disturbed her a little.
The dragonets started making a camp when the light was starting to grow, the heat already getting close to unbearable.
"I can make the tent," Jackal said. "I know how."
"How can you see where you're placing the poles and covers?" Caldera asked.
"I…I'll tell you later." Jackal replied. He reached into the sack where everything was and started putting up the tent, large enough for the three of them.
Mallow sighed and helped him, and Caldera sat down, feeling useless. Soon the tent was up, and they all went inside it.
Caldera didn't realize how tired she was until she sat down. She watched as Mallow got a piece of meat—maybe from a bird, or a rabbit—and split it in three. She handed each of them a piece, giving herself the slightly smaller one. They ate without speaking, and then all slept.
…
Caldera woke up close to sunset, hearing a voice murmur something outside the tent. Carefully, she stood up and saw that Jackal wasn't beside Mallow's still sleeping form. She went outside, and caught Jackal writing something. When she walked closer, he stopped and looked up at her.
"We didn't bring paper with us," Caldera observed. "Unless I'm imagining things." She walked closer, but before she could try to read what Jackal was writing, he folded it up and sat it beside him.
"No, you aren't." Jackal sighed. "I made the paper. And the ink. And the quill."
"How?" Caldera asked.
There was the sound of something moving in the tent, and Mallow's head emerged. "What. Are. You. Doing? I'm trying to sleep!" She walked further into the open, and must've seen the guilty look on Jackal face. "Okay, what's wrong?" She asked nicely.
"I'm an animus." Jackal said.
Caldera had only heard of animus magic once, when an IceWing was being dragged into the arena screaming "Darkstalker will kill us all with his magic! His animus magic will be the end!" She wasn't sure what he had been talking about, but she knew it wasn't good.
Mallow was now beside Caldera, seeming concerned in a way that seemed sisterly. It made sense to Caldera; she'd been watching over Jackal for a while. "I've heard of that before. Doesn't using it a lot make your soul do weird stuff? Like, you go insane, weird stuff?"
"When I first realized I was, when both my parents left for the first time after I hatched, I did all the research I could. I asked them questions, called it 'interest in history', and I cast a spell on myself so then I don't try to kill them one day." Jackal explained.
"How do you know it worked?" Caldera asked.
"I've been casting spells for over two years, as often as I could to make my parents' lives easier." Jackal replied. "I gave them pouches that kept the water cold, sacks that never let the food go bad, whatever I could do. I also enchanted this cloth so then I could see a little bit, about a few feet, in black and white. The farther it goes, it gets blurrier."
"Okay, this is a fascinating conversation," Mallow began. She looked up at the sky. "But if we want to get to that cave before your parents come home, we should get going." Jackal nodded, and Caldera helped him put the tent away. Once they had finished and eaten, they started walking again.