Disclaimer: I have hit the forty chapter mark and I still do not own Misty Lackey's work, but I think by now I do own Alain, Kamaria, Ramya, Sitara, Kenan, Garethe, and the rest of the gang. I don't own the camp song "Darling, won't you wait?" even though it's really pretty. Oh, and I'm going to say that at this time, there's a country by the Empire that trades with Rethwellan that's basically Japan so Kenan has an excuse to have saved that envoy's life when he was envoying. And yes, that is sushi later in. Both from Evendim and the mystery country. I figure that Evendim fishermen have to have tried it sometime, since you can't exactly build a fire on a boat…
And I think I'll call the mystery country…Nihon.
grins at Blade of Fire-
Thoughts :Mindspeech:
As to whence this chapter came…I remembered Talia mentioning in Arrow's Flight that her year-mates had gone on camping trips, and I've made tarp shelters at camp before, and I needed a chapter idea, and so…enjoy.
Also, I'm glad you're all liking Kenan and Kiril. They're fun to write, and also very easy-I just put them together, give them an excuse, and let them bounce off each other!
Kamaria sat easily on Sitara's back, three days after their argument as a group of Trainees led by three Heralds wound through the streets of Haven. Someone had decided to send the Trainees in age from fourteen to sixteen on a three-day camping trip outside Haven, and now the eight or so Trainees bantered amongst themselves as the Herald leading the group chose a direction which would take them faster out of the city.
Kenan was riding alongside Kamaria, since she and Alain were in the back of the group, sitting in the easy slouch of someone who had spent days in the saddle. His Companion, Kalena, moved just as easily beneath him, the trim mare's eyes half-closed as she followed the younger Companions.
"Remind me why I'm doing this," said Kenan, as several Trainees ahead of them broke into peals of very loud laughter, "I don't quite recall why I was picked."
"Whoever said you were picked?" came a familiar drawl-namely, that of Herald Kiril in his attempt to imitate the aristocrats of the Court.
Since the attempt was absolutely perfect, this only made it funnier. Kamaria giggled as Kiril dropped back to ride alongside his friend, looking down at Kenan from his superior vantage on his tall Companion, a stallion nicknamed "Miro."
"I seem to recall that someone was going to go crazy if they were cooped up in the Collegium much longer," continued Kiril, in the same sarcastic drawl, "Teaching weapons to little children and pounding sense into some nameless older Trainees-" Kiril winked at Kamaria; he clearly meant her, but just as clearly, he meant to tease Kenan.
Kenan rose to the bait and rolled his eyes. "And who was it that said if they had to teach a snot-nosed little Blue which end of the javelin was which they would-"
Predictably, Kiril attempted to cut off his friend with a swat to his head, but Kalena stepped to the side at just the right moment, saving her Chosen from danger as Kamaria and Alain snickered.
Just then, the group of eight Trainees and three Heralds-the leader being Herald Kyra, who enjoyed leading these overnights when not teaching History-exited Haven, and the Companions decided it was time for a gallop. Kamaria adjusted herself into the proper balance to ride at a canter, unconsciously linking with Sitara to make sure her Companion was comfortable, and stuck to her back like a burr.
The friendly competitive spirit of the Trainees rose, and the Companions began to race-Sitara pulling to the lead almost immediately, her tail flagged and her head high as Kamaria cheered her on. The gap between Sitara and the other Companions widened, until Sitara stopped on the top of a slight rise in the road and posed, Kamaria throwing up her hands in victory.
The group rejoined again, the Companions not even sweating, resuming their light, ground-eating trot. Kamaria looked over at Alain, who had his own comfortable seat in the saddle, and was looking like he enjoyed this to the hilt. :Having fun? Kamaria asked him, a bit dryly.
:This is wonderful! I was raised traveling, you know, and I like it. Clan blood, I think.: Alain smiled at Kamaria as he replied, and then spoke aloud, raising his voice over the chiming of Companion-hooves.
"Anyone know any traveling songs?" he called, and was met by several suggestions tossed his way, until Alain found one he liked and began to sing, cutting off debate and bringing the other Trainees into the melody.
Kamaria blinked at him and the other Trainees, and noticed that a few others were doing the same. Probably another cost of being a noble, she thought, wondering bemusedly why the thought of traveling or riding-songs had never even occurred to her. She'd never heard any, much less this particular one, but it wasn't hard to follow, and Kamaria soon joined in.
The song wound to a close, and before anyone else could start another, Kiril's booming bass rang out in what was apparently a repeating song. Kiril sang a line, the Trainees replied with the same line, and everyone sang at the chorus.
The easy camaraderie of the Trainees, along with other songs-some of them harmonizing, others also sing-and-repeat, struck a chord in Kamaria, and she found herself grinning as she listened to Jakob leading a line in his loud, slightly off-key voice, and everyone else responding.
They reached their destination-a small lake several miles off the road-in the late afternoon, having covered two days' distance on horseback. Kamaria felt the strain in her thighs as she dismounted, taking her saddlebags and bedroll from Sitara's back, and winced, having never ridden so long before. Alain, on the other hand, seemed quite unchanged and, if anything, energized. "So where are we staying?" called Tara to Herald Kyra, who was surreptitiously rubbing a thigh-being History teacher didn't exactly lend itself to long rides.
"There's a clearing for the Companions, and another one for us," she replied, "I've been here before. We'll need to rig up shelters-that's what the canvas tarpaulins are for-and find some way to suspend the food in midair so critters can't get at it. Oh, and another tarp for the tack."
The Trainees set to the tasks, firstly unsaddling their Companions, most of whom went to the lake for a drink and a wade, and secondly unfolding the tarpaulins. One went on the ground where Kyra pointed out the most optimal sleeping spot-everyone would have to bundle together, since it wasn't that large and there were eleven people-and Kamaria took one corner of the larger one, which would serve as the roof.
Then the Trainees paused, unsure as to how to get it above their sleeping spot. After several minutes of standing around, Alain looked over from where he was ferrying tack to its own tarp, rolled his eyes, and said, "Tie it up to trees. Someone get a rope about chest-height around that one-" he pointed as best he could with a saddle in his arms-"It doesn't need to be high, since we're only going to lie down under it."
Kamaria took her corner towards the tree where Alain had indicated, and began tying the twine around the trunk, carefully placing it at about rib height on her. Kenan meandered up and watched her work-and shook his head. "Not high enough, and that's going to slip," he said, "You need to brace it over a branch."
Kamaria looked up, but the only branch was about six feet off the ground. Her length of twine was certainly long enough to reach-but she wasn't tall enough at all.
"Need help?" said Jakob, who had just finished helping Alain move the tack. Kamaria looked over at Alain, and saw he was rigging up a tarp with enviable efficiency. "Yes," she said, looking back at Jakob, "I have no idea how to get this over the branch. Once it's up there, the ends are long enough that I can tie it, but-"
She cut herself off and shrugged. Jakob took one end of the twine and looked calculatingly at the branch-but he was barely taller than Kamaria, so he could hardly be planning to jump.
Kamaria realized what he was doing just as Jakob closed his eyes and frowned in concentration. The next second, the twine was over the branch and dangling down-Kamaria caught it before it could slip. Jakob opened his eyes with a grin. "Lessons have been paying off," he said, triumphantly, "I believe I shall go aid those others impoverished of my Gift."
Kamaria chuckled as she began tying the twine, pulling hard to make the knot snug. She didn't remember her own Gift-teacher was behind her until Kenan said, "Now, that was a good bit of work Jakob did, wasn't it? Fetching it over."
"Yes," said Kamaria, at last snugging the knot tight and dusting her hands off. "And I see-yes, the rest of it's all going up. Aren't you going to help?" she added, raising an eyebrow at Kenan.
Kenan smiled loftily. "Seniority has its perks, and it's fun to watch you fumble," he said, impishly, "Besides, I'm going to be teaching you how to make a fire-circle in a bit, so unless you like uncooked food-"
"And who's the one who eats that raw fish crap they serve at Evendim?" came Kiril's voice, as he carried the last of the tack over to the other tarp, "With the rice."
"That's different," said Kenan, folding his arms, "I learned to like it from the Nihon envoy's entourage, when they were teaching me the sword. And they're a sight more civilized than someone I could name. Besides, who's the one who was put in charge of making the beef casserole and said it was supposed to be black like that?"
Kiril glared in indignation as, behind him, Edim and Tara finished tying the last corner of the tack tarp. "That's hardly fair!" he cried, "How was I to know that the oven closest to the wall was for fast cooking instead of slow baking? Besides, I seem to remember a time when a mutual acquaintance decided to use vinegar instead of oil for flavoring-"
Kenan sputtered for a moment, and recovered himself. "By the gods, he's scored a hit on me!" he mock-whispered to Kamaria, the redheaded Herald's voice carrying easily to Kiril, "Well, he'll lose his lead when I mention the Potato Inciden-"
Kiril heard this, however, and blanched. "No, you don't!" he cried, launching himself towards his grinning friend, "Everyone involved swore to secrecy, and that includes you!"
Kenan realized he'd gone a bit too far and bolted, with Kiril in hot pursuit. The Trainees halted setup as Kiril pursued the laughing Kenan through the trees, over a log, and to the shore of the lake-
Where Kiril, seizing his opportunity as Kenan skidded a bit on the gravel, picked up his friend bodily and flung him into the lake.
Kenan's head popped up, sputtering, as he glared at Kiril. "Now that was quite unnecessary," he said, "Though quite refreshing, I suppose. This doesn't mean you won, however, for all I have to do is-"
Kenan cut off suddenly, grinning, as all the Trainees stopped what they were doing to stare at the Heralds. "What?" said Kiril, suspiciously, "Remember, you swo-whoa!"
For Kenan's Companion, 'Lena, had sauntered up behind Kiril and shoved him into the lake.
Kenan rose from the water triumphantly, every inch of him dripping-from the ends of his red hair to his nose to the tip of the sheath of his sword. Ignoring the water, Kenan strode out of the lake, leather Whites shedding the liquid fairly efficiently. "Right, can someone rig up a clothesline?" he said, shaking his head hard-sending water flying everywhere from his red ponytail-"Leave plenty of room. That big oaf will need every inch to dry out his clothes."
The 'big oaf' scowled at Kenan from the water. "Not fair, getting the white horses on your side," he complained, finding his own way out of the water and taking off his boots, pouring them back into the lake.
A small fish flopped out of his left one, and Kiril hastily nudged it back into the water as the Trainees again burst into gales of laughter.
"I expect this uncivilized barbarian will take his revenge at some point," said Kenan, unlacing his tunic and shaking it out.
Kamaria noticed with amusement that every girl other than her among the Trainees-not to mention Herald Kyra-looked at Kenan with a renewed interest.
More accurately, at his chest.
Where his white shirt clung tightly to his torso as the redhead shook out his tunic, muttering under his breath. Unaware of the stares, Kenan next removed his shirt and boots, leaving on only his breeches, which he nevertheless rolled up to just below the knee, still muttering about how it'd take forever for his hair to dry out.
Kamaria, Alain, Jakob, Edim, and the only sixteen-year old male Trainee, a lanky, dark-haired boy named Abili, but familiarly called just Abi, exchanged looks and barely suppressed sniggers as the girls-minus Kamaria, of course-stared fixedly at the red-haired Herald.
Who, since he was the best swordsman in the Circle, was extremely well-muscled, not to mention very handsome. Kamaria swore she saw just a bit of drool emerging from the younger Trainee Vera's mouth.
Not wanting to interrupt the other girl's and Kyra's…speculations, Kamaria brushed Kenan's mind carefully. :Ah…sir, she began, :I believe you'll need a bodyguard of Companions if you want to put on dry clothes in peace at any point.:
Kenan looked up at last and blanched at the hungry stares of the female Trainees and Kyra. "K-k-Kamaria?" he stuttered, edging carefully towards his student, wary eyes on the still-frozen women, tracking him with their eyes, "Do-um-dry off this so it doesn't get rusty." Kenan put his sword into Kamaria's hands. "And-uh-Edim, get my saddlebags-"
Taking pity on the poor Herald, the boys lined up in front of Kenan, shielding him from the frank stares. The redhead took that opportunity to bolt. "Oh, don't be afraid of us!" called Vera, looking rather disappointed, "We won't bite-"
But it was too late, for Kenan had fled into the woods. And as he vanished from view, Kamaria exchanged a look with Kiril and snickered.
Her attention turned to the sword in her hands-long, slim, and perfectly balanced. Carefully, Kamaria drew it from its sheath and dumped the water out from it, holding the sword carefully in her other hand. Taking out her handkerchief, Kamaria began drying off the sword, slightly awed by its sheer lightness and pinpoint balance.
Kenan emerged from the woods fully clothed-well, except for his boots, since they were still full of water. Jakob had rigged up a clothesline, and Kenan began hanging his clothes on them, avoiding the eyes of the female Trainees.
How do I dry the inside of the sheath? pondered Kamaria, now that the sword-except for the hilt, since it was wrapped in some sort of cord-was completely dry. After a few moments, she looped her handkerchief over the tip of the sword and sheathed it, bringing it back out with a smooth movement.
That did the trick, and Kamaria pocketed her handkerchief again, still thoughtfully hefting the sword in her hand. Glancing furtively at Kenan, who was now sitting and trying to dry the insides of his boots with what looked like an old sock, Kamaria made a few careful passes through the air with the foreign sword.
Kiril now made his own reappearance from the woods and began hanging his own clothes by Kenan's. The two sets of Whites looked rather odd-Kenan's were dwarfed by Kiril's set. "Turnabout is fair play," said Kenan, as Kiril sat down beside him and began trying to dry his own boots.
"Well, my hair dries faster, so that almost makes up for it," said Kiril, ruffling his own close-cropped hair with one hand and tugging on Kenan's still sopping wet ponytail with the other. Kenan rolled his blue-violet eyes expressively and tossed his head deliberately-whacking Kiril in the ear with said wet ponytail.
"Well, after that…amusing diversion," said Kyra, recovering herself at last, "Someone's going to need to dig the latrine."
Kamaria now sheathed Kenan's sword and returned it to her teacher, who was now combing out his hair and muttering under his breath in what sounded like a different language. "Thank you, Kamaria," he said, taking his sword and sliding it back into his belt, "I'll be giving you a lesson in Farseeing tonight-we'll be looking for dinner."
Kamaria nodded and turned around, heading back to the small cluster of Trainees, who were drawing twigs from Kyra's hand. The three who got the short twigs would dig the latrine.
Kamaria got a long twig, but Alain wasn't so lucky and drew a short. "Well, that's life," he said, amiably, "At least I've got experience in this. Youngest always got stuck with latrines in the Clans."
As her lifebonded ambled off with Vera and Abi, who had also drawn short twigs, Kamaria blinked at the sudden realization that she actually knew very little about her lifebonded. She knew he'd been part of the trading Clans, but hardly anything else…
"Well, what do you want to do?" said Tara, poking Kamaria in the arm to bring her attention back to the present. "Other than moon after Alain, of cour-eek!"
For Kamaria had turned and smacked Tara, who tried to dodge and instead tripped over Edim, who had been standing right by her.
A candlemark later, Kamaria stood back with her hands on her hips to admire a job well done. She and her three year-mates had banded together to build a fort out of the fallen branches and logs lying all over the forest floor, using only their own two hands, a handy rock, and the occasional strategic stringy taproot from just below the surface of the ground to tie something together. The rock had been used rather gleefully by Edim to bash notches onto the sides of the logs, and, while probably not the prettiest fort ever made-despite Tara's effort to thread morning glory vines over the walls-was very sturdy.
Initially, there had only been a few trees and a stump where the four had chosen to build their fort, but now there were somewhat fitted logs and sticks for walls, some of them secured with aforementioned stringy taproots, but most of them fitting more-or-less together.
The walls themselves were about waist-high on the end Kamaria was standing at, but they were almost shoulder-high on the other, and that end had a pseudo-roof. To get in or out, one had to climb over the stump that made a corner of the low end of the fort, but once in, there was room for four people-five or six if they all squeezed together. Kamaria exchanged a high five with Jakob as Edim stood triumphantly on the stump, his fists in the air.
"Well, this looks rather sturdy," said Kenan, who now wandered up to inspect their handiwork.
"Yup!" said Edim, proudly, "There's fitted walls and everything! We are invincible!"
With a whoop, the boy leapt from the stump and landed, stumbling for a moment before springing into the air again. Kenan chuckled. "I can see you've put a good deal of work into this," he said, knocking on one of the walls, "May I come in?"
Tara's head popped up from behind the wall, where she had been bracing a slightly wobbly part of the log. "You have to say the password!" she said, grinning and apparently not caring in the least that she was acting like an eight-year-old.
Kenan appeared to consider this. "Do you have one?" he asked, after a moment of silence.
Tara paused. "Well…no. But we could have!" she said, raising a finger before Kenan could say anything. "But since we don't…climb over the stump and treat the-" the girl glanced down-"forest loam as your own."
Kenan clambered over the stump, hopping down the other side with something slightly less than his usual grace. He ducked under the roof and sat down, glancing around. "How in the Havens did you get that huge log over here?" he said, rapping the largest dead tree with his knuckles.
"Roped in the Companions," said Kamaria, "All four of us got it high enough to get on Sitara and Autumn's-" she named Jakob's mare-"backs, and they dropped it a couple feet away and rolled it into place with their hooves."
"Ah, the things we can accomplish with smart white horses," said Kenan, whimsically, only to pause for a moment as, presumably, 'Lena said something firmly into his mind. "Excuse me. Not horses. Oh, yes-I was sent over here, into the depths of the woods, to find Kamaria, because we need to find dinner."
"Oh, that," said Kamaria, remembering.
"How are you going to do that?" interjected Tara, "I haven't seen any tracks around here."
"Farseeing," replied Kenan, promptly, "And this is as good a place as any-Kamaria, do pop in here and link us, and I'll show you a trick for finding rabbits. We'll need at least four, since that blond barbarian eats enough for three."
As the Trainees snickered at Kiril's expense, Kamaria climbed into the fort and dropped into a crosslegged seat beside her teacher, leaning against a wall. "Is it fair that you get to call him that when he's not around?" said Edim, as Kamaria shifted around to get comfortable.
Kenan shrugged. "As fair as when he calls me the 'redheaded wimp,' I suppose."
Kamaria initiated the link, and Kenan took the lead as both pairs of eyes slid closed. :Now, I know the loam doesn't track well, but do you remember seeing any animal dung? asked Kenan, through their link.
Kamaria thought, and Sent a feeling of agreement. :There's some where this huge log used to be.:
:Do you think you could get us there? I haven't seen that spot.:
In answer, Kamaria guided their Sight out of the fort, through several trees, and to a spot where a long depression showed in the earth, near which was a small pile of rabbit droppings.
:This is where I'll teach you some Othersight, said Kenan, and somehow twisted their link.
Kamaria gasped. The world was suddenly alive with color, every needle on every tree threaded with green, tiny reddish dots of light moving in the ants below. :Look at the dung. See that sort of copper-blue? questioned Kenan, returning Kamaria's attention to the task.
She could. :What's it from?
:It's…well, I suppose you could call it the 'presence' of the animal. Whenever we move, we leave slight traces of ourselves behind, but humans' usually fade within a day or two. Animals' traces are gone within half a day, but this looks only about a candlemark and a half old, so there's just enough to follow. Also, there's always more of it if blood has been spilled, or hair left. Look.:
Kenan's Sight began tracing where the rabbit had moved, along the 'trail.' As Kamaria watched, the traces grew slightly brighter, barely perceptible in change, but there all the same.
As they followed the rabbit farther, Kamaria began to see other paths criss-crossing their quarry's, other telltales of bluish copper light that indicated 'rabbit' to their vision. At last, the paths grew bright and recent-and Kamaria saw the source of the aura at last, a rabbit threaded and surrounded with its blue-copper color.
Not only one rabbit, either. There was brightness here, where a tree had fallen, and now brush grew below, creating a veritable warren of rabbits-dozens of them. :Wonderful! said Kenan, a grin in his Mindvoice, :Now, we're going to guide the hunters here, since-as you noticed-there are barely any visible traces, and Kiril and Kyra aren't that good of trackers anyway. I, of course, have an advantage.: There was unmistakable smugness in Kenan's tone, but Kamaria giggled with good humor. :There are a few ways we could do this, continued Kenan, :You could go back yourself and find them, leading them along the rather fiddly path, or-you think of one.:
Kamaria thought for a moment. :…we could have our Companions guide the hunters? she hazarded, after a moment.
A burst of pride swelled in their link, Kenan happy at his quick pupil. :Exactly. Now, Kyra happens to have put together a few Trainees, all fairly good with bows-Alain, Abi, and Tara, who Kiril probably came to get while we were following the trail. Between those four, we should probably end up with a generous supper. Kindly ask Sitara to guide them.:
Kamaria obediently found 'Sitara' in her mind, and asked, :Sitara? We're ready-I'm assuming 'Lena told you what was going on-and we need you to guide the others.:
:You're behind the game, said Sitara, and Sent an image of herself leading three Trainees and a Herald on bare Companion-back. :I've been tracing you, and we're only a few minutes away.:
:They're almost here, Kenan.:
:I knew that, Kamaria, replied Kenan, slight amusement in his tone, :But it's enough for you to know how to get your Companion to guide them to you.:
Someone flung a rock into the warren, startling several rabbits-and as the rodents bolted, several arrows whizzed out of the trees to neatly skewer several rabbits. Within a few minutes, eight rabbits-enough for dinner and breakfast-had given their death-screams, and several triumphant Trainees leaned down to scoop them up.
:We can go back, said Kenan, satisfied, :Our job is done.:
Kamaria opened her eyes, letting the link dissipate between herself and her teacher-and blinked at Kenan a few times. "What?" said Kenan, opening his own and rubbing the corners. Kamaria began to giggle.
"You have flowers in your hair!"
Kenan raised his eyebrows and brushed off the top of his head, dislodging several wilting morning glories. "As do you," he pointed out, a smile flickering over his lips as he carefully stood up. "I think I'll blame Kiril, since he was supposed to come here and collect Tara."
"Don't you already blame him for everything else?" teased Kamaria, leaving the flowers in her own hair and plucking the one Kenan had missed from just above his ear.
Kenan somehow kept a straight face. "That's because he's responsible for it all," he said, loftily, "Whether he was physically present or not, he lives to tease me, attempt to make me look ridiculous, and fail in every attempt."
"Hey!" came a yell, and Kiril rose from where he had been sitting outside the fort. "That's hardly fair!"
Kenan gallantly helped Kamaria onto the stump and followed, pausing on top of it. "Of course not," he said, from his superior position, "It's hardly difficult for me to win against a half-wit."
Only Kenan's trained reflexes saved him as Kiril choked and swiped at his friend.
The hunters, since they were riding, only just beat Kamaria back to main camp, though Kenan was already there, since he had been running from Kiril.
Kyra set Kiril and Kenan to skinning the rabbits, to "keep them out of trouble," and turned to the Trainees. "All right, we've already cut a fire-circle and put rocks around it, but what do we have to strike a fire with?"
There was silence for a moment as the Trainees thought, and some of them dug in their pockets. Kamaria didn't bother, since all that was in hers were a handkerchief and three coppers. At last, the remaining fourteen-year-old Trainee, a slight girl familiarly called "Rain," said, hesitantly, "Your knife?"
Kyra nodded. "Yes, my knife, I suppose," she said, "But that's not all-"
"We need a rock that'll hit it and make sparks," said Jakob, catching on. Kyra nodded again. "Very good. Now, we don't lack for rocks around here, so all of you go find a likely-looking one."
The Trainees looked along the lakeshore, found a rock apiece, and returned to Kyra. "Good," she said, "Let's try Abi's first."
It took four tries of smacking Kyra's knife against a rock before sparks showed, and that rock was from Alain. "Thanks to Vera and Rain, the fire's already structured," Kyra said, kneeling by the small heap of tinder and little 'tent' of kindling. "Let's build a fire."
A quarter-candlemark later, Kyra was swearing under her breath, for as soon as the sparks touched the tinder, they went out. "It's dry tinder," she said, exasperated, "Does anyone have Firestarting?"
There were glances, and shakes of the head-it appeared that this group of Trainees only had Fetching or Mindspeech, with the exception of Kamaria, who had Farsight, and Edim, with Touchreading. Alain coughed politely and said, "Can a few of you go find some sap to put on twigs?"
Jakob and Tara left, and returned after a few minutes with lumps of pine sap on sticks. "Herald Kyra, may I try?" said Alain, still politely. Kyra handed him the knife and rock, intrigued.
Alain arranged the sappy twigs to his liking, held the knife and rock close to each other, and began striking.
Five or six rhythmic clashes later, most of which produced sparks, the tinder was smoking and the sap had caught. There was a smattering of applause among the Trainees as the fire grew. "I didn't know that about the sap," said Kyra, interested, "How did you figure that out?"
Alain set the rock down and handed the knife back to the Herald. "Herald, if you spent the first thirteen years of your life on the road and always ran out of firestrikers as soon as it started raining, you learn these things," he said, wryly.
The fire grew, and Kiril and Kenan worked together-for once without their normal banter-to erect a spit and start roasting the rabbits. Kyra carefully set a pan beneath the rabbits, to catch their juices, and had Kiril and Kenan leave several unskinned, the better to preserve them for breakfast. "Right, Rain, will you get my saddlebags?" said Kyra, as some fat fell into the pan and hissed, "I've got spices in there. The rest of you, figure out a way to suspend the food between the trees so animals can't get at it. I've got some sacks you can use, but it's up to you to make sure it's not eaten."
Even Alain seemed rather stumped on this one, since, after all, he'd had wagons back in his Clan days. Kamaria tossed the twine from hand to hand and stared up at the branches in the fading light, pondering how to rig up a net, or something.
:I'd recommend putting it over us Companions, said Sitara, into Kamaria's mind, :We can keep the cleverer ground critters from climbing up and getting it, and the sacks will deter flighted things.:
Kamaria relayed this to the other Trainees, and they moved in a group to where their Companions stood, in a place now nicknamed "Companion's Clearing."
"Why are we doing this now?" said Vera, after a few moments of the Trainees staring up at the trees, "I mean, we haven't even eaten yet."
"I think it's so we don't have to do it in total darkness," said Kamaria, "Look-light's fading already. Um…"
Alain looked over at Kamaria. "Make this into a strategic exercise," he suggested, "The cache must be protected from the army of evil night creatures, or something."
Oddly enough, as Alain said this, Kamaria's mind sprang into action. The more she thought about it in tactical terms, the more sense it made. "Right," she said, "Edim, Vera, climb up those two trees-" she pointed-"First get on your Companions, then reach the branches. Um…Jakob, find somewhere with a good view, because I'm going to need you to Fetch like you did earlier. And I need two more good climbers to get up-oh, there and there." Kamaria pointed again.
The Trainees began scaling the trees, as Jakob mounted his Autumn for more height. Edim reached the height Kamaria wanted first, and she called, "Edim, stop-everyone else, get as close as you can to his height. We're going to need plenty of twine."
Kamaria began unrolling her ball, and soon had about the length she needed. "Jakob, get this end to Edim, please," she said, holding up the twine-
There was a pop, and Edim suddenly held his end. Kamaria rubbed another part of the twine against a rock until it separated, and had Jakob give that part to Vera.
This process was repeated, until the twine hung loosely among the interested Companions. "Right, now," said Kamaria, "Edim, Vera, Abi, and Tara, pull them taut and see if you can get to the ground, or at least Companionback."
There proved to be enough twine for it to be stretched taut fifteen or so feet above the ground, and still be reachable from someone tall standing on a root. "Good," said Kamaria, "Uh-let's just tie the ends to sticks or rocks or something, so we can pull it back up later."
It had taken about a quarter-candlemark, and the Trainees now found their traveling plates and spoons to sit by the fire. As they found seats, on logs or sprawled on the ground, Kiril set a kettle by the fire to heat. "Tea," he explained, leaning back against a boulder, on which Kenan was sitting cross-legged about two feet above the blonde's head.
Kamaria sat leaning against Alain's leg, where he sat at the end of a log. "You've got dead flowers in your hair," said Alain, looking down at Kamaria, who shrugged. "I know. Someone-"she shot a look at Edim and Jakob, then at Kiril, "Thought it would be funny while I was in trance."
Alain snorted and began meticulously picking the flowers from Kamaria's hair. Kamaria closed her eyes, listening to the crackle of the fire and feeling its heat on her stretched-out legs.
Suddenly, she heard someone whisper, "One, two, three!" across the fire-and six voices said, "Aaaawwww. How cuuuuute."
Kamaria flicked an eye open and raised her eyebrow, turning the one-eyed glare onto Edim, who had surely engineered it all from his evil grin. "Alain, let's throw rocks at them," she said, lazily, opening her other eye and looking up at him.
"Happily," replied Alain, scooping up a rock and tossing it at Edim. It hit the boy in the shin, and Edim squeaked. Kamaria added her own missile, this one at Tara, who's 'awww' had been most pronounced, and hit her in the shoulder. The rock also bounced off and hit Jakob on the head, so it became a two-in-one.
"There aren't any rocks on our side," complained Edim, looking around as Kamaria and Alain exchanged a high five.
"The 'aaawwww' was enough, believe me," said Kamaria, dryly, "Consider us even and shut up."
"And on that note, dinner's ready," said Kyra, taking the rabbit from the spit. "Kamaria, Tara, Abi, and Rain take two bowls so we don't overcrowd."
Kamaria took Alain's plate and held it out, receiving some rabbit, a roll from their food supply, and an apple from said food supply. Her own plate received the same, and Kamaria returned to her seat against Alain's leg.
Kiril poured tea, and Kenan passed the cups, adding warmth to the slightly chilly evening. Kamaria made quick work of her dinner, finishing the still-warm rabbit and roll within minutes, saving the apple for dessert. She crunched the fruit and sipped the tea in alternating bites and sips, enjoying the quiet.
"Twilight," observed Tara, after a few minutes, "Well, late twilight, anyway."
"Reminds me of Sun and Shadow," said Abi, lounging on one elbow as he ate his apple, "We're even by a lake."
Just then, a mosquito bit Kamaria. She muttered under her breath and slapped, glad she was at least wearing long sleeves. "Of course, our resident lifebonded couple doesn't look a thing like Sun and Shadow," quipped Edim, adding to the joke. Kamaria rolled her eyes.
"Next time I'm born, I'll make sure I have dark hair just for you," she said, sarcastically, "And Alain with butter-colored locks."
The mental image this provoked had everyone sitting around the fire stare blankly into space for a moment, then start snickering. Alain raised an eyebrow and flicked the back of Kamaria's head, muttering, "That wasn't very nice. Now I'll look ridiculous."
:You already look ridiculous.: Ramya's comment echoed clearly and tauntingly in both Kamaria and Alain's minds, bringing Alain to choke on his tea and cough several times.
"And before you say that wasn't fair, try the mental image of me with dark hair," said Kamaria, moving to sit beside Alain rather than in front, since the fire was getting a little warm. Alain was silent for a moment, then snickered slightly.
"Enough of this," said Tara, sliding down to sit on the ground and prop her elbows on the log, "Does anyone know 'Darling, won't you wait'?"
Abi began the first verse, his soft voice rather melodic as he began to sing. When he moved to the second, Tara began the first, and when she moved to the second and Abi to the third, Alain joined the first.
As the round cycled, Abi returning to the first verse after the third, others joined the song-one with each person, until each group had about four people. Abi's group stopped singing after a few more repetitions, and the song died away over the lake. "That was pretty," said Kyra, to no one, but the people around the fire nodded in general agreement.
A few more songs followed, most of them quiet rounds, but one of them a duet sung by Edim and Tara, and another a solo in another language-the Clan-tongue-sung by Alain.
Silence fell after the last note died away, and at last, Rain said, "Does anyone know any stories to tell?"
"Kenan, how about you do that one from Nihon?" said Kiril, looking up at Kenan, still seated on the rock.
"It doesn't translate well," said Kenan, "But I'll try, I guess." He cleared his throat and got off the rock. "Right, first of all, Nihon has a…sect, I suppose, of warriors who call themselves 'ronen,' or wanderers. This is the story of one such man who was set the task to find or create the best sword ever made."
Kenan's lips moved as he whispered in another language for a moment. He nodded to himself, and looked up at the gathering. "The entire legend's in verse, but it doesn't scan at all well. I can give you the task in something that sort of approaches the original meter, but the rest won't really be in poetry."
Clearing his throat, Kenan began.
"Forge the shards of broken light and shear the darkness into cord, find the longest-buried tree to carve the sheath for sharpest sword. Seek the demon where it lies to seal the purpose with its blood, master light and spark the fire to stay the hand of dire flood."
All right, this was an UBER-long chapter, and don't worry, I will post the story about this swordsman-which I'm making up and therefore own-in the next one!
Lee Trynace: Kenan and Kiril are lots of fun to write! I just let them bounce off each other, and away they go!
Moondance K'Treva: Hope you liked the rewritten first two.
Thank you, Jerry Unipeg and Herald Kelsin!
Lurks in Shadows: Um, your review is kinda cut off. And I left the e off for you. Because it's your best friend. That way it can hang out with you instead of hanging out at the bottom of my story without you.
Dark Hermit Kaelin: I know. It's weird, isn't it?
Lizai: Thank you much!
Blade of Fire: Yeah, cut down on the coffee already! O.o EVERY frickin DVD? Not fair. Not fair at ALL. My cousin lent me the first 25 episodes, but still NOT FAIR.
Anyway, do leave your reviews and opinions-yes, I know this chapter was kind of pointless, but I hope you liked it anyway! I was actually going to do the full story and then do a bit of fluff, but then I realized the chapter's 17 frickin pages in Word, so…yeah.
Fireblade K'Chona