Night had begun to edge its way into the day, the shade of the trees encouraging the feeling of the day coming to a close. Although true darkness was still one, perhaps two hours away the light was still beginning to fade from its afternoon glow and travellers would have to start preparing for nightfall soon. Cloud had come across the Cetra just as they had stopped for the evening, early enough that they had only just begun to build the campfire.

Despite the unfriendly introduction, as soon as it had been settled that Cloud would be travelling with them their behaviour and attitude became a lot more welcoming. He also soon realised that they were much more prepared for a long stretch on the road than he'd initially assumed.

Although the four Cetra had had to run on short notice from the dying, mutated monsters that had once been their family and friends, they had benefitted from being culturally nomadic; they had been able to take their two caravans with them, which were stocked with all the things they would need to survive, and survive comfortably at that. Both caravans were painted in swirling greens and browns to blend in with the surroundings on the road, and inside every inch of space had been allocated to a definite purpose.

He was invited into one to change clothes after a slightly uncomfortable conversation about his attire, where he had had to convince the Cetra that no, he wasn't particularly attached to the thin pyjamas and that no, he definitely wouldn't be offended if he was given something more substantial to wear. Both Orothe and Kenhelm had donated items of their own spare clothing to give him a warm, pre-loved set of clothes in a gesture of kindness that Cloud genuinely appreciated. At the end of the haphazard fashion show, Cloud matched the two men in wearing thick woollen trousers, a linen shirt, and a sleeveless leather jerkin with sturdy leather boots - if it was a bit snug across the shoulders, a touch tight across his toes, and if his ankles could feel a bit of a breeze, Cloud wasn't going to complain.

I'd better double-check that I can still move freely in this, though, he thought to himself, and resolved to get First Tsurugi out that night to run through some drills and make sure that he had the flexibility he needed in a fight.

From the same caravan that Cloud changed in, Kenhelm pulled out an array of cooking implements and spices to make the evening meal. Someone had managed to bag two large birds earlier in the day, and they would feature as the meal along with some potatoes that Vahana had dug out from a compartment in her caravan.

Living life on the road from birth, or so Cloud presumed, had gifted the four with an unnerving efficiency of movement that appeared to border on telepathy as they divided up the tasks involved in setting up camp properly. Kenhelm and Vahana were clearly on cooking duty as one was plucking feathers while the other was monitoring the frying potatoes; Orothe was taking care of the caravans and the bedrolls. Cenne had migrated over to the chocobos that pulled the caravans, tending to them with a brisk competency that wouldn't have been out of place at any commercial chocobo stable.

As he stood in the middle of the campsite feeling like a particularly useless spare part, a hoarse "kweh!" led Cloud's eyes to drift over to the two chocobos. One blue, one black, and (if Cloud had any eye for it and he was fairly sure that he did) both female, they were grazing idly at the grass near where they had been tethered, picking more than feeding as Cenne checked over the harnesses. It was the blue that had called out, cocking her head with a curiosity typical of her species.

"Hush now," Cenne soothed absently. "No need to sound off. Here, introduce yourself or they'll sound an alarm any time you get near them."

Cloud slowly approached at her perfunctory wave, his arms deliberately relaxed at his side and his palms facing towards the birds. Standing directly in front, he allowed the blue to look him over and nudge him until she was satisfied that he wasn't a threat before bringing one hand up to carefully preen the feathers at the top of her head with his fingers.

"Good girl," he said with a smile as she leaned her head heavily into his fingers so he was scratching exactly as she wanted him to, "good girl. You like that, don't you?"

"You're good with them, aren't you?" Cenne asked after he'd fussed over the chocobo for a few minutes.

"No jokes, please, trust me when I say I've heard them all," he responded dryly. "But yes. I like them, and they seem to like me back. Should I introduce myself to the black?"

"Go ahead."

He repeated the ritual with the black chocobo, who seemed much more relaxed and far less interested in the new human than the blue. She still went through the nudging and accepted the preening, but it was clear that she was happy that her friend and her human had both vouched for him and didn't care much beyond that. Cloud decided that he liked her more because of it.

"They're gorgeous," he said truthfully.

"They're good girls," she demurred. "They're as much family as - well, as Kenhelm is."

"I'm glad you were able to rescue them."

"They rescued us, if I'm being truthful. They knew to leave long before Vahana told us to, and didn't object for a second when we ran them for miles trying to escape," she answered, looking straight at the harness in front of her to avoid eye contact. "You have to trust your chocobo and your family in this life, and out of those two the chocobo is the only one that won't love anyone but you. So you love them in return."

"I'm sorry you lost so many," he said, although he felt it was a bit of a pathetic offering in the face of her loss.

"So are we," she told him. "It was only a month ago, but it feels like yesterday and years ago all at the same time. Still, as long and you're alive you can move forward, no matter what you have to leave behind."

"I understand." I know it first hand.

"I'm telling you this because I know you've lost people too," she said, and at Cloud's unwilling wince she continued, "none of us will press you for any details, but we will be happy to listen if you want or need an ear. Loss is a common song in the Lifestream nowadays, and we're simply grateful that our paths crossed with you, as we will be grateful for any survivor we come across in the future. We don't need them to justify themselves to us, any more than we need to justify ourselves to you."

Cloud very carefully thought absolutely nothing. He rubbed his eyes free of the dust that the chocobos had kicked up - of the burning, prickling sensation in them - and coughed before saying a quiet, but heartfelt "thank you".

Don't think of the ones left behind. Don't think of the ones that aren't here; that I might not see again. And don't think about good it feels to be welcomed without having to prove my value first.

"No problem," she waved him off. "But last point to make - the chocobos can't tell any secrets."

That made him laugh, but he was relieved when Kenhelm announced that the food was ready. He resolved to make sure that he did what he could to look after these people that had so easily and kindly accomodated and cared for him.

While I'm here, at least.

A/N: I'm aware that this is a bit of a filler chapter - I'm going to be honest and say that we'll still be at the campsite in the next chapter, but they'll be moving fairly quickly after that to the Forgotten City. I'm just posting what I've got now to keep my momentum up.

I'd also like to clarify, because this always worries me when I read a story with a lot of OC's - there will be no romance between Cloud and any OC. There may be romance later on, but it wouldn't be with an OC. We will also see more canon characters eventually, so hopefully I won't be scaring people off with their current absence!