All four worked hard for hours. Zoey and Ian traveled next to the cliff's edge for about a half-hour until Zoey brought Ian and the blankets to a waterfall. She told him that the waterfall fed the brook they had crossed earlier that day. Ian had never spent much time in nature back in his world, but this place was different from what he had seen. The pine trees standing tall above the two of them harbored flying things called birds, and chattering little fellows Zoey told Ian were squirrels. At the waterfall, under Zoey's instruction, they took the seven blankets and dipped them halfway into the pool at the top. Zoey rolled up her pants and waded in. Ian held onto the dry end and Zoey grabbed hold of the wet one. She pulled it taut and began picking off all the debris that had accumulated in the past year. Ian watched as she plucked dead cockroaches, chips of wood, and various other junk from the old piece of bedding. They then flipped around the blanket and did it on the other side. Zoey took the fully soaked cloth and pinned it to the bottom of the pool with several river rocks.

"Why'd we do that?" asked Ian.

"While we clean the other blankets, the current will pull any extra dust out of the fabric."

"Cool."

The pair repeated the process for the six other blankets. When they finished, Zoey plopped herself down on the river's bank, flopping backward and looking at the sky. "Now," she panted, out of breath from lifting the river rocks. "We wait." Ian lay down, taking in the wide azure sky above the pines. A few wisps of white clouds punctuated the solid monotony of blue. He found himself mesmerized, and before he knew it, Zoey was poking his shoulder.

"We need to get them out now."

Groaning, Ian pushed himself up from the spongy ground and followed Zoey to the edge of the river, where she reentered the pool, rolled the rocks off of the blankets, and hauled each dripping wet mound of fabric back onto dry land, where she instructed Ian to squeeze as much water out of it as he could. Ian complied, kneeling on the blankets, squeezing them with his bare hands, and even rolling them up and hugging them. When he finished with one, Zoey always managed to pull another up to him, even though she was half his size. When she had pulled the last one up, she helped him squeeze the water out by grabbing another end and twisting it around and around so all the water was forced out. In the end, they were both drenched in water.

"Let's get them drying, now." Zoey handed Ian four damp blankets and picked up three of them herself. She led him for two or three miles through the forest till they reached a clearing, sweet-smelling grass sprouting from the dirt.

Working together, Ian and Zoey spread each of the blankets flat on the clearing's ground. Then they lay in the field. Ian closed his eyes and basked in the warmth the sun offered him.

"What is your world like?"Zoey asked after about a half-hour. Ian thought back to the world he had left less than 24 hours ago. It felt like a century.

"Uh, it's very similar to yours, it turns out. But, there's a lot more intelligent life. You just have humans, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we have elves, sprites, dryads, cyclopes, merpeople, imps, centaurs, trolls, ogres, and a lot more. We all live together. But we also have cars, phones, plumbing, and electricity."

"What are dryads like?"

"They're actually pretty snooty. I try to stay away from them, ever since one of them tripped me in the hallway at school."

"Darn." Zoey looked very disappointed. "I used to imagine I was a dryad. My book says they're fierce warriors, but they always spare those who surrender to them. They also are able to manipulate plants. I would pretend that I was growing giant trees out of the ground. Lily would lift me into trees, and I would stay up there for hours."

"Maybe they once were able to manipulate plants, but I don't think they can do that anymore. At least, none of them say they can."

Zoey rose. She rolled onto her hands, and knees, and checked the blankets. "They're dry," she announced. Zoey started folding them, and Ian helped. Once they were all folded, she stacked four of them in Ian's arms and took three of them. They began their walk back to the cave.

…

Barley pulled himself out of the hole. He got out of there just in time to see Ian and Zoey disappear into the trees, on their way to wash the blankets.

"Barley! Come help!"Lily waved him over. He got off of his hands and knees and walked over to her.

"Your wish is my command, fair maiden," he said, taking an exaggerated bow.

"Shut up." Lily blushed and punched him in the shoulder. "Can you make a fire pit?"

"How exactly would I go about doing so?"

"Just gather 10 or 12 stones. Each one should be about the size of a loaf of bread. Bring 'em back here." Barley nodded. It sounded easy enough. Lily examined a nearby tree. She offered no more instructions, so Barley jogged off into the woods, keeping his eye peeled for rocks. For a while, he didn't find any rocks at all. The ground was all spongy pine needles. This was not good. Then he tripped over his first find. Brushing away the decomposing plant matter, he revealed the culprit that had tripped him, a rough rock about the size of a dinner plate. It had a fine sprinkling of lichen on the top. Barley pried it out of the ground and pulled off the dirt that came with it. He made his way back to the cliff's edge with his prize.

"Is this good?" he asked Lily, who was perched in a tree 20 feet off the ground, sawing a branch off with her knife.

"That's great!" she yelled down to him. "Just drop it there for now!" She pointed at a spot in their small clearing, smack in the middle. "When you find all the rocks, that's where you'll make the pit."

Barley walked back into the forest, going slower this time, and moving mats of pine needles out of the way where there were large lumps. It took him about an hour to find enough rocks. He brought his 11th rock back to the clearing, nodding to Lily as he entered. She had sawed 4 branches off the pine and had sat on a rock at the base of the tree, sharpening one of them with her knife.

"Now what?" Barley dropped his last rock in the pile he had made.

"Pull out the grass in a large circle. When you get down to the bare dirt, make a tight circle out of the rocks." Lily barely even looked up from her stick, which was slowly becoming more menacing the longer she altered it.

Barley knelt on the grass and began pulling out the grass by the handfuls. It was dry and prickly, and the dirt easily got under his fingernails. It took him nearly 15 minutes to finish. When he did, his hands were dusty, cut from the prickly grass, and small pebbles were crammed under his nails. He took a deep breath, and picked out the pebbles, trying very hard not to gasp in pain. Then, the hard part finished, he rose from his knees and grabbed the first rock. He spent quite a while arranging the rocks as well as he could to get the tightest circle out of it, before seeking Lily's approval.

"Is this good?" he called out. Lily looked at his handiwork and shrugged.

"The rocks are fine, but you should really pull out more grass around the ring. Can't risk a forest fire." She went back to her spear. By now she had scraped all the bark off the outside and had begun slimming it down, shaving off long curls of pale wood.

Barley groaned and fell to his knees dramatically. He then widened the circle over the next 15 minutes, making its diameter about 8 feet.

"Does this please you?" He made a grand gesture to his masterpiece while looking at Lily.

"Yeah, that's great." Lily took a quick glance and then returned to her weapon. She had made a lot of progress in the past couple of minutes. The spear was about 7 feet long, but only the width of Barley's middle finger. It was the color of honey, and the end tapered to a clean, sharp point. Barley watched intently as Lily peeled off a couple more splinters from its base and then inspected it thoroughly.

"I think it's done," she pronounced and handed it to Barley. "This one's yours."

"Whoa, really?" She handed the spear to him, and he took it gladly, handling it with reverence. It commanded attention, being taller than Barley, and it had a regal air about it. He took a stance with it like he had seen a warrior at a medieval reenactment do, going into a low lunge, and holding it out straight like he was about to jab it into an enemy's gut. "This is awesome!" Barley stood up again, marveling at his new weapon.

"Don't get too carried away with it." Lily reached for a shorter stick and began removing the bark. "It's only for spearing the fish."

"What? Come on! Can't I run through one enemy?" Lily smirked and continued working on her second spear. "Hey, how'd you become so good, anyway?"

"I'm not that good."

"I'll tell you this. Never in a million years would I be able to make this."

"It's just practice."

"I'm sure there's some talent in there, too." Lily stopped briefly and looked at Barley.

"I'd offer to teach you, but I only have one knife."

"Wait a minute…" Barley thought for a second, then ran over to the hole and dropped in. Once inside, he rummaged around to find the backpack Colt had given him. He looked through the supplies Lily had haphazardly shoved in there a couple of hours ago before he found his prize. Ta-da! He pulled out a Sprite Scout knife.

Barley pulled himself out of the hole, holding it aloft. "I have one!" he cried. Lily rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm.

"Come here, then." She pointed to another rock about three feet away from hers. Once he sat, she tossed him a twig. "Practice on that. Always keep your knife away from your fingers. If you can extend your arm all the way and not touch anyone with your knife, then you can whittle without worrying. Just start with removing the bark. Hold it at the base, and skin it by moving it upwards with solid strokes." It sounded simple enough. He began removing the bark. Within 3 minutes, he had nicked his thumb. Navy blue blood beaded up at its top.

"Ouch," he said, examining the wound.

"Did you cut yourself already?" Lily glanced at him. "You better get a Band-Aid on quickly before infection sets in."

"A what?"

"A Band-Aid. It's a sticky bandage for small cuts and stuff."

"Oh. We call those Glob o' Gauze. Except it's less of a bandage and more of this goop you spread on small wounds."

"Huh. Strange." Lily stood and stretched, heading for the hole. "I'll go get you this Globby Gauze or whatever." She hopped into the cave.

"Glob o' Gauze!" Barley called after her. She paid him no heed and hopped down the hole. Soon she crawled out, bearing the small tube, with Glob o' Gauze emblazoned on the side. She handed it to Barley. As he was grabbing it, she caught a glimpse of his cut.

"Blue blood," she said. "How stylish."

"I'm blue for a reason!"

"I know. I actually figured. Horseshoe crabs also have blue blood."

"What is a horseshoe crab?"

"It's-well, they're kinda hard to explain. They're water creatures, kinda like fish, I guess? Do you guys have fish?"

"Yeah! They live in the water and shoot stingers out of their eyes if you get too close to them!" Lily looked appalled.

"Those are not our fish. Most fish here are harmless."

"Huh." Barley shrugged and twisted off the Glob o' Gauze cap. He squeezed a small amount of the fibrous white paste onto his pointer finger before smearing it on his thumb. He let it dry for a couple of minutes before resuming work on his twig. They sat in silence until Barley finished getting every last speck of bark off of his twig. "Now what?" he asked. Lily examined his work.

"Not bad," she conceded. "Now try sharpening an end." Barley nodded.

He held his knife at an angle near the top and shaved off some wood. He continued, moving the knife all the way around the twig. He finished what seemed like a pretty cool dagger. He looked over at Lily to show her, but she was so deep in concentration, he didn't want to risk pulling her out. The spear she was working on now was only about 5 feet tall, and she had already skinned it. She was now rounding the bottom. The glare upon her face was intense. She looked as if she would stab anyone who talked to her. Barley decided to go look for Ian and Zoey. He left his dagger next to his rock, flipped his knife blade back into its casing, and dropped it into one of his many pockets. Then he walked off in the direction that he saw his little brother go.

He was only walking for about five minutes before he saw two figures off in the distance. He jogged to meet them in the middle. "Hey guys," he said. "What's up?" He couldn't see Ian's face behind the stack of quilts he held. He pulled two off the top and stuck them under his arm.

"Ah, thanks. You wouldn't think blankets would weigh so much."

"Wouldja mind grabbing one of mine, Barley?" Zoey asked from behind the pile of cloth she held in front of her face. Barley obliged.

"Where'd you guys go?" Barley asked.

"The waterfall," Ian answered.

"Ooh. Was it pretty?"

"Yeah. This place is pretty much paradise." Barley sighed. He could practically stay here forever. Unfortunately, they needed to figure out what was up with this fairy tale book. And then, they needed to figure out how to bring magic back to this realm. So much to do.

"Hey, is Lily done with the spears yet?" Zoey asked.

"She finished mine, and she's working on the second."

"We need to start fishing if we want to eat tonight."

Well, I bet she's almost done with the second. Whoever gets that one can go fishing with me till she finishes the other two." Zoey nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with Barley.

"I hope it's mine," she said. "I haven't speared a fish in over a year. I can't wait." Barley felt slightly unnerved by this statement. He shared an uncomfortable look with Ian. Zoey, oblivious, marched onward, into the camp.

"Lily!" she called. "Have you finished mine yet?" Lily startled and looked up at her sister. She held a nearly finished spear.

"Almost!"

"Awesome! Can I show Barley how to catch trout in the stream?"

"Yeah, if he's okay with it." Zoey turned a pleading face to him.

"Can I?"

"Yeah, sure, I guess." Lily was just about finished, removing a few more slivers of wood from the point before tossing it to Zoey. Zoey squealed, ran to the cliff's edge, and began climbing down one-handed. Barley grabbed his spear from off the ground and nervously looked over the edge. He really didn't want to risk falling off, so he turned to Ian.
"Do you mind?" he asked, jerking a thumb towards the gaping edge behind him.

Ian shook his head and ran to get his staff. He swiftly brought it back and pointed it at Barley.

"Aloft Elevar!" Barley rose into the air, hovering two or three feet off the ground. Ian, using his staff, gently dropped him off the cliff by releasing the magic bit by bit. When Barley was about 4 feet off the ground, Ian let go of the spell completely, plunking Barley down abruptly in the grass.

"Ow!" he complained. Ian looked over the cliff and shrugged. Zoey waited impatiently nearby.

"Can we go now?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back and hopping from one foot to the other, over and over.

"Race ya." Barley set off sprinting towards the stream. Zoey let out a whoop and followed him.

A/N: Hey guys! This chapter is kind of a break in between the action. I didn't feel like picking up the storyline so soon after the last chapter. This is a chance to let you learn more about their characters. As a result, it's slightly dull, apologies for that. But the action should start back up again with chapter 6. See you all then!