Trip into Town

Zane frowned as he carefully organized the jumbled mess that fell out of the backpack that was his new companions' belongings. A sigh escaped him as he realized that the only source of food that they had with them was one partially filled water bottle, and a Sippy-cup that had some lukewarm water inside of it. Zane knew that he only had four granola bars and a few handfuls of nuts himself. Not enough for him and two still growing kids. He carefully folded the clothes, rolling them tight so as to save room. Setting two outfits to the side, he then turned his attention to the entertainment part of the pack. There were about ten different dolls, not including the one that Nya was currently sleeping with, and a hundred different doll outfits. Kai also had packed twenty different toy dragons and one hundred toy soldiers. Zane made a silent note that Kai also had the wooden toy sword, which he was still holding tightly when he went to bed the night before. Zane furrowed his brow in farther worry upon noticing the collection of clean diapers. Apparently the girl was not potty trained yet, and Zane suspected that was going to fall on him.

"Whatcha doin' big brother?" Kai's cheerful voice filled the air as he materialized next to the solemn teen.

Zane picked up the outfit he pulled out for Kai and handed it to the lad. "Here. Go get dress. I'm just looking to see what we need to get at town." Noticing that there were a few picture books in the pile, a wry smile crossed his face. "Maybe while we're at it, I'll buy some preschool and kindergarten lesson plan books and class supplies. We really shouldn't let you fall behind in lessons."

Kai wrinkled his nose, clearly displeased with the idea of doing school. "That sounds boring big brother."

Zane sighed as he vaguely wondered if Kai will ever stop calling him that. "I know, but it will look pretty bad if you fall behind the learning curve. I am sure I can find a way to make it fun."

Kai nodded silently, before running off to change into his clothes. Zane grimaced as he realized that was another thing he needed to be prepared for. He had to be ready to do laundry in the middle of the woods, just in case. Noting that he was going to need laundry bar soap, and a few other things that were used to do laundry before the washing machine was invited, he shook his head as he packed everything back up, minus the outfit for Nya.

Stretching, he picked Nya's outfit up and walked over to the tent. Apparently Nya was awake and playing with her doll. Upon seeing him, she froze, clutching the doll to her chest. Zane held the clean outfit up for her to see. "It's ok. I am only going to help you change into a clean outfit."

The little girl still seemed uncertain about Zane, but she did come over to climb into his lap. Settling into his lap, she shoved her doll into his face. "This 'A'ole. She Momma's."

Zane blinked as his mind tried to understand what she was apparently telling him. Finally it clicked. The doll used to belong to her mother. Gingerly, he removed the doll from her hands so as to change her outfit…and diaper if that smell was anything to go by.

…

Zane paused to look over the small village that they had barely stumbled upon. Marcher was obediently staying by Zane's side, while Kai kept a firm hand on the sled's rope. Kai was now wearing a simple red t-shirt with a campfire on it, and worn out jeans. Nya was wearing a rather cute, ocean blue play dress, that had seashells printed along the edges. Letting go of the sled, Zane readjusted how Nya was resting on his hip. "Kai, Marcher stays here with your stuff to make sure that no one steals it. And I want you to stay near me at all times. Am I understood?"

Kai nodded fervently as he dropped the rope as well, still clutching his wooden toy sword. "Marcher, stay here."

Marcher looked at the five year old for five seconds, before sitting down, tail thumping. Zane nodded in appreciation, before reaching for Kai's hand. Kai grabbed it with his free hand, before taking off walking. Zane reviewed what it was he needed to tell people if they asked about the two small children with him.

Entering the village, everything looked good as Zane walked over to a vendor stand that had camping supplies set out around it. "Excuse me? But our tent is missing its flysheet and doesn't keep the rain out like it's supposed to."

A bored looking young man with an ugly mole on his face gestured to the pile of tents on his left. "Pick one. I'll tell you the price once I see which one you want."

Zane shook his head at the obvious lack of interest that the lad had, before moving to look at the tents. He was examining a big silvery white tent when an old lady that walked with a cane approached him.

"Excuse me young man, but I was wondering why you're lookin' at tents with these younguns?" She politely asked as she nodded her head to the young siblings.

Zane kept his face straight as he straightened his back so as to properly look at her. "I am taking my younger siblings out on a camping trip, but our tent is missing a vital part. We are looking to replace it."

Nya shied away from the lady, clutching 'A'ole all the tighter as she stepped behind Zane's leg. Kai, who appeared to never have heard of stranger danger, meanwhile bounced on his feet. "I've never been to an actual camp before. Mommy and Daddy usually just set the tent up in the backyard and called it camping."

"Kai…stranger danger? Ever heard of it?" Zane drily asked as he wondered if he needed to teach Kai that bit of common sense.

"Mommy says it all the time." Kai proudly announced.

Zane rolled his eyes, exasperation filling him. "Do you know what it means?"

"It means to be careful around strangers. Why you ask, big brother?" Kai was still bouncing with excitement.

Zane made a mental note to go over what being careful around strangers really implied later with the young lad. "Never mind." Turning back to the tents, Zane looked over his options, trying to decide which one was best for the three of them. Particularly since it needed to survive two of them growing into hopefully respectable young adults.

The old lady leaned over and seized a tent bag and yanked it out. "Here. Take this one. It's free."

"Grandma! Since when did you give the wares away for free?" The salesperson that Zane talked to earlier cried out in surprise, annoyance flashing in his eyes.

The old lady planted a hand on her hip, annoyance flaring in her very posture. "Since a young man decides to give his parents a break! Honestly, I don't see you helping with your little siblings. He deserves a break. In fact, I want you to outfit them with our best camping supplies. And you better not charge them anything for it!" She then hobbled off to a nearby rocking chair, sitting down in it.

Three hours later, Zane had sold the old tent, was paid to pull weeds out of someone's garden, and was standing in line at the grocery store, a pile of new camping supplies sitting next to Marcher. Zane glanced down at the cart to see that Nya had fallen asleep, her doll still wrapped tightly in her arms. Kai tugged on Zane's sleeve, signaling him to the fact that the line had moved forward. Walking calmly, he approached the checkout station.

The cashier arched his eyebrows at the sight of the variety of things that he had picked up. A training potty, various foods, enough to last awhile Zane hoped, and of course, the school things he had mentioned. He also had two small collapsible tables with matching chairs. Zane pulled out his money bag, biting his bottom lip as he watched as the part-time worker scanned each item. Finally the worker looked up at him. "That would be one hundred dollars and seventy-five cents please."

Zane quickly poured out all his money, carefully saved up from the last six villages he had been in plus this one, onto the table. Annoyance flared in the employee's eyes briefly, before he painstakingly counted out the money. Finally, he swept all of it minus three pennies into the cash register, handing the three pennies back to him. "Here you go sir."

"Thank you." Zane left the line, glad that everything worked out…and that he had a brand new ice chest filled with bags of ice to keep the produce cold.

…

Kai tossed the large ball that the nice lady had given him to Marcher, who happily chased after it. Zane had moved back a ways into the woods before setting up their new tent. It was a bright blue and green, and it had a collapsible wall in the middle so as to split it up into two rooms. He had unrolled the bright pink sleeping that they were given for Nya and laid her down on top of it to finish her nap. The cooler was propped next to the sled, all of their food already carefully organized inside of it. Zane stirred the pot of soup he was attempting to make as he watched Kai out of the corner of his eye. A cookbook was propped up next to him, open to the page with the recipe he was attempting.

Marcher came trotting back into the camp, carrying the ball in his mouth as if it weren't too big. Dropping it in front of Kai, he sat down panting as he waited for Kai to throw it again. Zane mused to himself that this actually felt nice…

A/N: Done! Sorry, I know I said that this chapter would be Cole, but I realized that I could make an entire chapter about them going to that first village together. I will do Cole! He is an important member of the team.

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SkyTalon