Swirls formed in her soup as Mia swished her spoon around in the dinner, pretending to be deeply fascinated by the motion. Garet's cooking skills had vastly improved during their time here as he was the only adept to even bother with cooking and practically force fed both Isaac and Mia. Isaac was a little easier to coax into eating, but Mia rarely swallowed more than a few bites of dinner. Garet always made sure to put a piece of bread on her plate or by her bowl since that seemed to be the only thing she was comfortable with eating. He had to admit, no matter how much better his cooking skills had gotten, they simply didn't have enough ingredients in this space and he could only mostly make soups. Mia had started to drop weight. He and Isaac had as well; after all, soup was practically the only nourishment they were getting. Mia had dropped the most so far, though. It was not yet at the point where it was serious cause for alarm, but it had Garet eyeing her intake of food more closely than she would have liked. Garet purposefully stayed away from soups that he knew Ivan had enjoyed cooking or had been favorites of the late adept's. He doubted it would go over well with the other two if he presented them with one of those meals. Not at this point in time. Garet definitely had plans to cook up Ivan's favorite meals at some point; he thought it would be a good way to remember his friend.

Isaac found his soup just as engrossing as Mia found hers. He wasn't eating for different reasons than her. He stared at it, longingly wishing it was like one of those psychic's cups of tea where they could determine the future just by looking into it. It seemed unfair to him to be blessed with all this power and cursed with no certain course of action. Isaac wanted to know if the weather would improve, but judging from the plinking sound of rain against their tent, he had serious doubts.

Garet slowly swallowed another spoonful of soup, trying not to let the tension get to him too much. When the three were together, it was almost painfully tense and almost anything could make the other two jump. Even he was jumpy and on edge. Calm down, he ordered himself. These were his friends; Isaac was his best friend, they had grown up together. It bothered him that they both had so much trouble eating.

"Kids, eat it, don't play with it," he commanded them in a teasing tone, saying what he knew some adult had told each of them at some point in their lives. Isaac managed an imperceptible nod and obligingly brought the spoon up to his mouth and swallowed. He mechanically repeated this action if only to please his friend. He didn't want anymore upset members in his party. Mia's head snapped up at Garet's voice and she stared at him for a moment in confusion before her eyes strayed from his and finally rested on his hands. After a couple moments she forced herself to look away and back at her soup, silently refusing to eat it. Hoping not to draw anymore of his attention to her, she stuffed half the piece of bread in her mouth and met Garet's eyes again, her own flashing with challenge. Isaac continued eating, oblivious to the silent exchange between his companions. This time Garet broke the gaze first, glancing down at his own hands before sighing. Suddenly, he had no appetite, either. The short, tense, and mostly silent dinner was over quickly, Isaac barely registering that he was the only person to finish off his meal.

-Ω-

Sleep was the only thing on Isaac's mind as he crawled into his sleeping bag. He had finally figured out how to get his mind to completely shut down so that all his worries, grief, and regret vanished into the darkness of the night. It was his only form of escape, no nightmares plagued him. His dreams were so amazing that sometimes when he woke up, it took him more than a couple seconds to realize there were only three sleeping bags and why. Once, he had been confused as to why he and Garet weren't in Vale. One other time, he had woken up expecting to see his father and mother cooking breakfast for him. It had taken him several seconds to recall everything. Sometimes, he desperately wished that he would never wake up.

Staring listlessly at the top of the tent, Mia was in no hurry to get to sleep. It was the exact opposite for her; nightmares plagued her and she felt safer when she was awake. Isaac could only pray she wouldn't have nightmares tonight. He hated it when her cries jerked him out of his safe haven. Isaac briefly wondered what Garet did before he went to sleep. Garet was always the last to sleep and the first up. His thoughts died away as his eyes slid closed and he gladly welcomed the sleep.

Enviously, Mia watched as Isaac easily eased himself into sleep. It was unfair of her to be so jealous of him, she knew, but she couldn't help it. It hardly seemed fair that he could just go right to bed while she stayed awake, terrified of what would greet her during the night. She debated getting up and going outside, but Garet was out there as usual and would force her to go back to sleep in the tent. She had already tried to plead with him to let her sleep by Ivan's marker, but Garet had been absolutely horrified and more than slightly disturbed at the idea. Neither had mentioned anything about it to Issac, which she was thankful for. She had just thought maybe Ivan would forgive her if she slept outside with the elements like his spirit had to. She turned on her side, listening to the light rain outside the flimsy tent and stared at the wall of it. It was the type of tent you could see through parts of it. Her eyes found such a part and she stared helplessly at the stars. Garet would be outside, leaning against a tree, staring up at them. She could never quite understand why he spent so much time looking upwards to the heavens. She had considered the idea that maybe he could communicate with Ivan as well, but with the way he talked and acted, Mia had given up hope on that idea. They were fascinating, she had to agree, but she sometimes felt like she didn't deserve to spend too much looking up at them. Eventually she tore her eyes away, tears already silently falling down her cheeks. She quietly wept herself to sleep.

Garet was indeed leaning against a tree, staring thoughtfully up at the stars. He listened to the sound of Isaac's even breathing and listened as Mia quietly sobbed herself into a fitful sleep. It happened every night, each night much like the previous. He felt some wind whip past him and found some solace in it as usual. He looked down at his own hands, recalling Mia's actions during dinner earlier. Of course, she didn't eat his food. Isaac was too absorbed in his own depression to realize the reason that Mia refused to eat Garet's cooking. Garet himself felt it was rather obvious. These hands had burned Ivan's body. Naturally, Mia didn't want to eat anything that they helped cook. Even Garet sometimes felt sick over the whole thing. Another gust of wind ruffled his hair and he snapped to, tearing his eyes away from his hands. Right, I know. You don't hold it against me, right? Here he was again, talking to the wind like it was Ivan, but he had no doubt that his friend would have minded. His ashes were in the wind somewhere.

He slid down until he was squatting right above the ground. It was too wet to sink into especially if he was going into the tent shortly. He didn't want to go inside with muddy clothes. Shutting his eyes tightly, he desperately wished his friends would snap out of it. Why was Isaac still in such a funk and refusing to move out of here? Why did Mia think Ivan would haunt her for a death that was hardly her fault? Why did he have to be the one who had to burn a friend's body? Why did any of this have to happen. Tears mixed into the rain that fell from his face. Mia wasn't the only person to quietly weep at night.