"It's like the People magazine for monkeys." — Jordan B. Peterson

Sophie saw Fitz open his mouth to complain and then he thought better of it and decided to just shut up.

None of them were very excited at the prospect of riding horseback the whole way to the capitol city, but they knew better than to complain by now. Express their concerns in a professional manner and stand their ground if the other party was being unreasonable, yes. Complain? Never.

Horseback riding hadn't really been covered in the two weeks at camp, but Iltaurielle told them they could learn on the road and not to worry.

Sophie knew by now that meant 'Sorry, no special treatment. Get on the horse.'

The saddles were very different from what she was used to, although she'd had a grand total of one lesson when she was six. It was nowhere near as bulky and instead of the full metal stirrups she was used to, it was shaped like a hook and carved out of wood. The bridle and reins were minimal and Sophie realized she had no idea how to get on.

Neither did anyone else.

The stable hands tried to help them, but with the despair-inducing language barrier, no progress was made.

Iltaurielle eventually came over to see what was taking so long.

"Do none of you know how to mount a horse?"

Sophie shook her head. "No. The Lost Cities doesn't have horses. I had a grand total of one lesson when I was six, that's it."

Iltaurielle sighed. "Put your left foot in the stirrup and grab the saddle."

Sophie did so, only to hear Iltaurielle's groan. "No. Your hands go here and here." She repositioned them on either end of the saddle. "Push off the ground and pull yourself up into the saddle. Swing your right leg over and whatever you do, don't kick the horse."

Sophie stifled the glare and followed instructions. Her hips couldn't quite make the stretch and her foot caught the horse on the rump. A tremor went through the horse and it jumped sideways, throwing Sophie forward.

"What was that?"

Iltaurielle took one of the reins and calmed the horse with a few murmured words. "It's called crow-hopping. I told you not to kick the horse."

"I didn't kick it."

"Her. This is a mare and her name is Sassy. And yes, you did."

[line break]

Iltaurielle had to have some sort of cruel twisted sense of humour. But this was so not funny.

Fitz was terrified of horses. He was only up now because Iltaurielle had gotten tired of his whining and bodily hefted him up into the saddle. Now he sat tense and terrified while the old gelding he was riding just plodded along. Iltaurielle had dismounted her horse entirely, walking alongside them. She spent most of the time leading Fitz's horse and telling him to quit whining.

It was another gruelling week and a half on the ride to Egaeta. It rained for a day and a half three days in.

Biana grumbled under her breath, pulling the sopping cloak tighter around her. Sophie would have returned the sentiment, but she was too miserable. It had been pouring for hours and showed no signs of stopping. Even Linh was just done.

At first, the rain had been a nice reprieve after the boiling hot sun of the first few days. But then it just kept coming. And coming. So much that the waterproof coating on the cloaks Iltaurielle had handed out had been overcome and they were soaked to the bone.

Sophie had given up on the semblance of warmth the cloak provided and just hugged herself, shivering. The horse plodded on, just following the butt of the horse in from of it. Sassy was an ornery horse, but under the pouring rain, she seemed to understand that obeying her rider was the fastest way to get out of the rain.

Iltaurielle's horse trotted up alongside her. Iltaurielle herself was wet like the rest of them, but she didn't seem to mind. Her thick red hair was plastered to her back and probably very heavy and uncomfortable, but her attitude hadn't changed in the slightest. She'd forgone her cloak entirely, handing it off to a thoroughly freezing Marella.

"There's a copse of trees up ahead. If it's not infested, we'll stop there until the rain gets a little lighter."

Sophie had no idea what constituted a 'little lighter', but the prospect of stopping and possible a fire and something warm to drink sounded good. "O-okay."

"Goodness, child, you're freezing. Well, if we can't stop in the trees, we can stop soon and I'll show Linh how to set up a water net. I sadly was not able to obtain a waterproof tent, so I hope you don't all mind sleeping in a giant pile."

"Honestly, that sounds awesome right now." Biana was a walking toaster oven, Dex was no slouch either and Marella could probably heat an entire tent herself. Sleeping in a giant pile of elves sounded amazing, and warm. And all of them were too tired, wet and cold to worry about it being awkward. Although snuggling with someone sounded pretty good right about now.

"Alright. I'll ride ahead and check the trees." Iltaurielle kissed at her horse and urged it into a smooth lope forward.

Sophie reached out and form a telepathic connection with everyone. Anyone wanna play I Spy again?

Tam grumbled. I legitimately don't care what we do as long as it's a distraction from this stupid rain. This is just miserable.

Yeah. I never thought there could be too much water. Linh agreed. I control this stuff and this sucks! Ugh!

I'll go first. Dex said. He sat up slightly in the saddle and looked around. I spy with my little eye…something… black.

Uh, Fitz's horse. Marella guessed.

My horse is black?

Sophie squinted through the rain. Yeah, your horse is black. I think.

No, not Fitz's horse. I can't even see Fitz's horse. Try again.

Galloping footsteps sounded from the direction Iltaurielle had gone in. She steered her horse in a circle around the others, herding them all together.

"What's wrong?" Sophie yelled over the rain.

"We missed the forest break in this rain. I'm not taking us through the forest with our vision and abilities hampered like this and we're not getting any closer. We'll hole up here until the storm passes. Start unpacking, get horses picketed, and Linh, I'm going to show you how to make a water net."

[line break]

Sophie held her hands out to the warm, crackling fire. So far, the water net Linh had set up was working, a bubble of water hovering above them like a tent, rain rolling down it. The back of her was still freezing, but at least her hands and face were warm.

Iltaurielle had pulled off her tunic and jerkin, leaving her in a tank top over what looked like a corset. Her hair was nearly dry and she was working on the process of drying out their supplies and cloaks. Sophie would have happily pulled off her shirt and let Iltaurielle dry it, but she didn't have another layer modest enough underneath.

"If you're cold, I would suggest doubling up. This is going to take some time, but I'll hand cloaks out as we go. If any of you have a change of clothes that's still dry, you are welcome to change into it." Iltaurielle continued waving a fire-coated hand in front of a cloak she was holding up with telekinesis.

"Wh-what's d-doubling up?" Linh asked, scooting even closer to the fire, teeth chattering.

"Some of the cadets thought it was weird to be told 'sit on each other's laps', so we started calling it 'doubling up'. Same thing though. Cold person, warm person. Don't want any of you getting sick."

Dex was somehow nearly dry already. "Hey Linh, over here. Let's get you warmed up."

Tam glared at him. "I'll take care of my sister, thanks."

"Tam. Your lips are going blue. I think you're colder than she is. I'm pretty much back to normal and fairly dry.

"Honestly, I'm too c-cold to c-care." Linh got up and walked over to Dex, sighing in relief when she settled into his lap. "Ohhh my gosh you're warm."

"Yeah. I've always run hot. Are your hands cold?"

"Freezing."

"Here, I'll take care of that." Dex carefully took one of her hands, rubbing the warmth back into the fingers. "Oh man, your hands are frozen."

Tam sighed. "Fine. But only because we're all freezing."

"Here, let me warm your hands up." Marella held out her hands. "I'm pretty dry."

The debate between looking tough and being warm battled on Tam's face for all of two milliseconds before he reached for her. "Please."

"Well, I mean, I can sit on your lap if you want, but I was just gonna do your hands."

"Way to make it weird Marella!" Keefe rubbed his arms.

"Let's just call it doubling up." Sophie said. "We're all cold and besides, Iltaurielle suggested we all sleep in a giant pile to stay warm and I for one think that sounds awesome."

Keefe grinned. "Sure you don't want to snuggle with a certain someone?"

"Oh shut up Keefe." For once, her motives were not crush-related. Her brain had completely skipped over the fact that she'd probably end up snuggling with one of the boys, but she honestly didn't care as long as she was warm. The water soaked into the back of her shirt was starting to freeze in the cold and her skin was going numb. Honestly, snuggling with Fitz kinda sounded nice right now. Just because of the fact she'd be warmer.

Marella just plopped into Tam's lap, rubbing the life back into his hands. Sophie scooted closer to Fitz and he wrapped an arm around her, sharing their body heat.

"Alright, one cloak is done. Who needs it?"

Keefe raised his hand. "I'm basically frozen."

Iltaurielle raised an eyebrow. "No wonder. They're ice crystals forming on the back of your shirt. Here, take your shirt off and wrap up in this. I'll dry your shirt."

Keefe was happy to oblige, sighing in relief and smiling once he was snuggled up in the warm blanket.

Slowly, the group scooted closer together as the warm, dry cloaks were passed out. Linh and Tam were wrapped up in what was basically an elf blanket burrito. Sophie was snuggled against Dex, head on Fitz's shoulder. Keefe was leaning against her back, almost asleep. She wasn't sure where Marella or Biana were, but they were probably snuggled somewhere in the pile.

Iltaurielle opened her pack and pulled out a small box. "I know all of you have been homesick lately and this trip hasn't been going well. So I got a little something for you."

Sophie forced herself to sit up all the way, wrinkling her nose when she had to leave her warm spot wedged between her friends. "What'd you get?"

Iltaurielle opened the box and walked over, passing out small granola bar sized objects wrapped in wax paper. Linh's eyes went wide and she ripped hers open. "No way!"

"No way what?" Biana opened hers more delicately and then she grinned like a five-year-old on Christmas. "You didn't!"

Keefe's smile was nuclear. "I haven't had one of these since I was four!"

"Does this have lushberries in it?" Dex's dimples were the biggest she'd ever seen them.

Sophie accepted the one Iltaurielle handed her. It was shaped like a granola bar, but it was heavier. She unwrapped the wax paper, eyes widening. It was a pinkish purple, almost like blackberry ice cream. She could see lushberries in it and it looked like fudge, but a bit shinier. "Oh wow, this look good. What is it?"

Iltaurielle laughed. "It's called auba. It's somewhere in between taffy and fudge with berries and juice in it. It's a very rich, sweet candy that, yes, has lushberries in it. You said you've had this before Keefe?"

Keefe nodded, in the middle of chewing. He swallowed his bite and answered, "Yeah. My mom brought them home from a business trip or something every so often. I couldn't ever find them again, so I had no idea where she'd gotten them."

Confusion, alarm, and slight anger flared across Iltaurielle's face before she hid it expertly. "Ah. They're a common Adealan sweet, but they use quite a few ingredients that originate in the Lost Cities, so I thought it would be familiar enough to seem like a little bit of home. They are sold in one or two select shops in the Lost Cities and considered a very rare and expensive treat."

Fitz carefully unwrapped his. "Wow. I always wanted to try this but I never got the chance! I hope it's as good as Mom said it was."

Sophie carefully took a bite, eyes widening when it didn't behave like she expected. The texture felt like fudge on her tongue, but it just kept stretching like melted cheese in those pizza commercials. She pulled her head back, arms stretched out as far at they would go, but the candy just kept going.

Iltaurielle laughed. "You have to bite all the way through. It can be a bit tricky."

Sophie set the candy back down on the wrapper, breaking it off close to her teeth. "Wow. This stuff is amazing."

Tam yelped, hand flying up to his mouth. "Guys, try biting down on it. It like, pops!"

Sophie bit down on the chunk in her month, almost choking on the liquid in her mouth in surprise. The candy fizzed and popped like the Pop-It candy she'd gotten in first grade. It released bursts of sweet berry flavour, the perfect mix of sweet and sour and rich. The fudge-like base was creamy, with little pockets of juice and berries interspersed through it. It tasted a bit like blackberry whipped cream, but not quite anything she'd ever had before. She recognized the flavour of the berries as being the same as the lushberry juice she'd had in the Lost Cities, but the other berry flavours were almost tropical. It all sort of just worked. "Oh wow, this stuff is so good."

"I know right?"

They dropped into conversation, chatting away. Sophie didn't really participate, working steadily on devouring her candy. Slowly, one by one, all of them finished their sweets and curling up against one another, tucked in a giant ball of warm.

[line break]

Iltaurielle hated to wake them all up. They looked so peaceful, cuddled up together in heap. Sophie was wedged between Dex and Fitz, head lying on Fitz's chest and hair spread out around her. Fitz had his arms tucked around Sophie, nose buried in her hair. Biana and Marella were snuggled up together, Marella still mumbling in her sleep. Usually when travelling with companions, Iltaurielle would set up a watch cycle. But she really didn't want to disturb any of them. Given the difficult riding they'd have to do that day, they would need all the rest they could get.

Keefe was the first to stir. Sandwiched between Dex and Tam and curled up in a ball, soft breaths blowing the hair out of his face. With his face relaxed, she could see a clear difference between when he was awake and when he was asleep. Tiny lines between his brows and on his forehead that one so young shouldn't have. But they weren't clear to the untrained eye. Iltaurielle only notice because she was highly trained to study people, to notice every little detail of a person's face as if her life depended on it, because sometimes it did.

She knew what simple stress lines looked like, if she needed an example she could just look at Sophie. This wasn't just stress. This was the worn hardiness of constant fear. Constant anger. Constant sorrow. The face of a soldier that melted away into the face of a boy and back again.

He's an Empath. He has to feel the emotions of everyone around him. It's probably hard on him.

At least that was what she told herself.

Keefe squirmed, eyelids fluttering. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, looking confused before he realized where he was.

"Good morning sleepyhead." Iltaurielle smiled.

"G'morning," he mumbled. "Is warm in here."

She laughed lightly. "Well, you are snuggled up in a giant pile. It's probably warm."

He groaned slightly, blinking against the sun as he sat up. "It's cold."

"We're up in the mountains and it's getting into winter. It'll still get warmer in the afternoons, but the mornings are cold and the temperature will drop rapidly at night. You don't have to get up just yet, though you probably want your shirt back."

Keefe nodded.

"Alright. I've got dry clothes for everyone and a little something hot to eat before we get going. It stopped raining late last night, so you won't have to ride through the rain again. But we will be going through some rough terrain. I missed the pass through the forest in the rain, so we'll have to ride through it to get to the pass. We can't afford to miss the mountain pass. If we do, we'll have to turn around and go back and find it. It's difficult to ride through the mountains for an experienced rider and horse. Novice and intermediate riders aren't allowed to ride off the trails at all. It's actually a law, it's so dangerous. There's a riding test you have to pass to prove you're a good enough rider and have a good enough horse to handle it."

Everyone was slowly waking up as they were talking. Fitz snuggled closer into Sophie, who was still out for the count. Biana sat up, pulling the still-warm blanket around her shoulders.

"Good morning, chaleth." Iltaurielle stood, setting the kettle of tea onto the dying coals to heat back up.

"Whassat mean?" Teal eyes blinked owlishly and her brow furrowed in confusion.

"It doesn't really have a good translation into your language. But I have tea heating back up and a little something warm to fill your bellies for the day. Get up and get changed into something fresh, breakfast will be ready when you're done. You can change in the tent." She gestured to the small tent she'd set up to keep their belongings dry.

Biana nodded, probably working herself up to get out of the bubble of warm created by the heap of children.

Dex woke up after Sophie squirmed around in her sleep and elbowed him in the ribs. He groaned, sitting up and then promptly diving back down into his spot. "Ah, cold cold cold cold cold!"

Keefe chuckled. "Yeah. Sun's not out yet. But there's tea and breakfast ready for us. We just have to get up and dressed."

"Nope. Too cold."

Iltaurielle laughed. "Work your ways out of the pile and get ready for the day. I'll work on getting breakfast ready."

A lot of good filling foods unfortunately didn't keep well on long trips. But one of them, and one that happened to be one of Iltaurielle's favourites on cold mornings like this one, was a good hearty bowl of oatmeal. Preferably liberally covered in brown sugar.

Iltaurielle slotted together the pieces of a larger wooden bowl, telekinetically hefting the small sack onto the large slab she'd chosen as a work surface. The bucket of water at her feet went from half-frozen to steaming to boiling in seconds after she pressed her hands to the metal. There was too much for the amount she was making, so she tipped the excess into her waterskin, where it cooled down quickly with the loss of the unnatural heat source.

The oats she had had brown sugar mixed throughout, though nowhere near enough for her taste, but it would probably be fine for them. Iltaurielle did try not to push their dietary boundaries. She understood that they were raised as vegetarians and only Sophie had eaten meat before, though both Dex and Biana were warming up to the idea faster than expected. She chalked it up to flexible personalities, though the speed at which Dex was getting used to eating meat had her raising an eyebrow.

She tipped what looked like an appropriate amount into the bowl, pouring the boiling water overtop. As she stirred it all together, she saw Dex sit up on the edge of her vision, face alert and ears perked up. "What smells so good?"

She chuckled. "It's oatmeal. Perfect breakfast for a cold morning."

"Never heard of it, but it smells good."

"I think so too. Get up and get ready to go. It's first-come-first-served."

Dex dropped his blanket onto Sophie and dashed for the tent, nearly running into Keefe who was on his way out. Sophie barely noticed the extra blanket, just snuggling deeper into the warmth.

Everyone else, except for Sophie and Fitz who were still out for the count, slowly convinced themselves to get up and dressed. The Song twins took the longest, not wanting to unwrap themselves. But they dragged themselves out of bed.

Both Dex and Keefe wolfed down their food so fast it was a marvel they didn't choke on it. Everyone else retained some sense of table manners, though all of them clearly enjoyed it and it gave them a boost of energy to get their horses saddled and camp torn down and packed up.

Sophie and Fitz were still asleep.

Everything else and her other six apprentices were all ready to go. But the sweet little Miss Moonlark was dead to the world, cuddled up with, probably, making assumptions here, her boyfriend. Although, they did make a very sweet picture. Her head was tucked into the crook of his neck, one hand lying limply on his chest. He had his nose buried in her hair, arms loosely holding her to him.

"How are we going to wake them up?" Keefe perched his fists on his hips, studying the sleeping pair. "I'd vote douse them in freezing water, but I don't want to carry around four wet blankets."

Iltaurielle grinned. "Just put an ice cube on the side of their necks at the pulse point or on the hollow of the throat. Works every time."

Tam's face lit up at the idea, but then he frowned. "We don't have any ice."

"I have ice." Iltaurielle smirked. "What did you think I was going to do if any of you refused to wake up?"

As she retrieved her ice cubes from their insulated package, the six awake got into a serious debate about who would be putting the ice on Sophie and Fitz. They eventually decided on Marella.

Iltaurielle handed Marella two ice cubes and sat back to watch the show. Marella carefully set the ice down and jumped back.

Sophie squealed, head jerking back and hands scrambling to remove the ice cube. Fitz went flying backwards with a yelp of surprise, both of them very suddenly awake.

Iltaurielle laughed. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Sophie glared at her.

"You two have five minutes to be up and ready to go. I can make you breakfast, but you have to be dressed and don't forget to thank your friends for doing all the teardown and packing up for you."

Fitz rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head.