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Reaching dry land at last, Garet reached down and ripped off a boot. Tipping it upside down, water poured out of it. He grimaced. Sometimes running headlong into things had its drawbacks. Or, running through water. He put his boot back on and turned to watch the others lowering the plank. Sort of.
"Isaac! No, grab the other rope!" cried Ivan as the large wooden plank keeled over to one side. Isaac let go of a rope and snatched another, hauling at it to right the plank. Both he and Ivan started running the ropes out, and the plank finally continued lowering towards the shore. Mia stood behind them with her arms crossed. Garet couldn't hear what she was saying, but he was sure it wasn't praise.
When the wood thudded into the edge of shoreline, Garet strolled over to them, holding his arms behind his back.
"Was that fun?" he called out good-naturedly.
"Oh be quiet," huffed Mia, coming down the plank. "It was better than your way, we aren't all wet." Coming to the bottom, she turned to Garet and pointed a finger at his face. "And you didn't even try to help!"
Garet looked pained. "How can you say that? You always tell me I mess things up. So I stayed right out of your way this time."
"You -"
"Ah ah! I'm not listening!" Garet clapped his hands over his ears. Mia scowled at him. Thankfully, their conversation was stopped in its tracks when Ivan approached.
"Come on guys, enough. Go and . . . stand at different ends of the beach or something." He tugged his cloak around into the right spot, and then gazed at the beach. "Don't ruin our landing with nasty comments." Garet's annoyance faded. Ivan was right. There was no point in arguing now; they had no reason to be. Here was land, and he fully intended to explore it. He looked to Isaac, who'd just come down the ramp.
"Are we going to check it out? See what's here?" He asked Isaac. His childhood friend regarded him for a moment, and then stared across the land. Garet could tell when Isaac was making decisions. He tended to take a while to make up his mind, and would rarely come to an answer without all the information. Isaac had never wanted to be the leader of the group, but it was a responsibility he'd accepted nonetheless.
"Well," Isaac said at last, calling the groups' attention to him unwittingly. He faltered, and then continued. "I don't think we should just charge off into the wilds. And it's nearly sundown." Garet fidgeted with a strap on his axe. He hated waiting, but he wasn't going to be rude. Mia had called him insensitive and brash enough times. Isaac looked at Garet pointedly. "I think we should stay on the ship until tomorrow."
Mia nodded. "That would be safer. We don't know what sort of things come out at night here."
"Yeah… We can go check for firewood though. There's still at least an hour before the sun sets." Ivan said, glancing at Garet. Garet would have to thank Ivan for that. Ivan knew how much he wanted to get away from the ship, and was giving him a valid reason to do so. Garet grinned at him, and Ivan smiled back.
"I'll do that now, if you like."
"Ok, but Garet," Isaac said loudly, as Garet had already started to leave. His eyes burned into him. "Be back before sunset. You aren't going off for a few battles by yourself. If you end up getting hurt we wouldn't know where you were."
Garet tried to sound reassuring. "I'm not going to, Isaac. Look, I'll just chop the trees near the shore. I won't go out of your sight. Promise." Unable to contain himself any longer, he sprinted down the beach towards the scrubby land behind the sand.
Slowing down, Garet started looking around the ground. It sure was desolate here. His boots scuffed over dried out grass, making dismal rustling sounds. Sighing, he swept the horizon with his eyes. Not a single tree within a hundred spans. Normally he'd have just kept going till he found some, but Garet wasn't willing to go against Isaac's wishes.
Not watching where he was going, Garet's feet smacked into the very thing he was looking for: a huge fallen log. Hopping on one foot in aggravation, Garet couldn't help but wonder why he was always running into things. Perhaps his five senses weren't good enough, and that wasn't even counting Psynergy. Although, he thought grudgingly, as he unhooked his axe, maybe Mia had it right.
Perhaps he just didn't look where he was going.
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24/04/03 – Fixed some errors.