"Ah well, there was this huge and when I saw huge I mean flipping ginormous creature that looked like a cross between some form of reptile.. dragon thing and a sea lion," Tanrial rubbed at the back of her neck, "And then these small weird mermaid like things but they were far from peaceful or pretty."
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Mike narrowed his eyes. "Really? The villagers never mentioned anything like that…..did they follow you to the surface, or stay mostly in the shipwreck? Maybe they only live in the deep parts of the lake, if they don't bother the boathouses."
"Well the smaller things whatever they were tried to follow us but Bernon zapped them with some lightening and they disappeared while we swam away. I think they just stay down there to themselves in the wreck."
"That would explain the weird noise we heard from the water, then," Mike remarked. "Well….did you find anything else down there besides monsters?"
"And the shipwreck? Nothing, we could only see a few feet in front of us with the light. For all we know there could be more ships and other weird monsters down there."
"Well, it's a big lake. There's a whole arm of it that goes north for miles, you can't even see the other side. There's no telling how much it's covering up." Mike sat back, staring out the window. "So after that, how'd you get back here?"
Tanrial leaned back in her chair with a shrug, "Climbed up that little bit of cliff on the side of the lake and flew back. Easy peasy."
"Oh, right. You guys have wings, that's handy." He looked at them sternly. "Although I still think that if you didn't have magic, you wouldn't be so reckless in the first place. But either way, I'm glad you're back safe."
"Me too," Bernon admitted. "It was a pretty scary episode to be honest. But at least now we know where all the bodies from the shipwreck went. Those creatures probably ate them all, don't you think Tanrial? Maybe they even helped sink the ship to begin with."
(I have to go to bed now, seeya)
(Seeya)
"I wouldn't doubt it, they looked like they were going to eat us so they probably eat all the other soldiers. Do you think they ate the bones too? I mean that's a pretty morbid thought but maybe if we'd swam deeper we would have found them."
Bernon shuddered. "Eugh. I'm glad we didn't investigate any further, to be honest. We'll have to leave that for whichever intrepid explorers find this place after us."
"It's good to hear you have some sense, at least," Mike remarked. "Well….there's still some day left. I think what we should do next is get packed for tomorrow, make sure we have everything in order before it's late and we're all tired. Then maybe we can come back down and have a quick supper. Sound good?"
"So boring." Tanrial replied, sighing dramatically even as she stood to head upstairs to pack, "But, suppose you have a point Mike, like always."
"I guess we gotta attend to the boring stuff once in a while," Bernon said, following her. "And yeah, I'd rather do it now than when I'm ready for bed. Let me know when you have all your basic stuff packed, Tanrial, and I'll divide up the rations we got from the market between the three of us."
Tanrial nodded, "Okay, sounds good. I'm sure if we asked we could get some bread from the tavern before we left or some dried fruits to keep us going. Just in case. You never know what could happen on a journey like this."
"Very true. Coming, Mike? I feel like you barely have anything to pack, knowing how light you like to travel."
"I'll carry more of the rations, then, to make it fair." Mike trotted after them, seeming to have plenty of energy despite how active he'd been all afternoon. "Who's gonna carry the data drive? That's pretty much the most important item we have, so it has to be kept very safe."
"You take it then," Tanrial looked to Mike and shrugged, "You're probably the most responsible one out of all three of us."
"Maybe," Mike said reluctantly, pausing in the doorway to his room. "I'll carry it if that's the vote. It sort of feels like Bernon's mission more than mine, though….you know? He was the on who was originally entrusted with it, so I almost think he has the most right to see it to its end."
Bernon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Aw, well…..maybe we should take turns carrying it. That's a lot of responsibility to put on just one person."
Tanrial hummed then shrugged, “Fair enough. Rather avoid the same fate Frodo had in Lord of the Rings anyway. We’ll take turns then, swapping each day till we arrive, how ‘bout that?”
Both Mike and Bernon nodded their agreement, although Mike looked a bit confused at the book reference. "Sounds good to me," Bernon said, heading into his room. "I'll meet back up with you guys once I'm done packing and we can figure out who carries it first."
"Sounds good," Tanrial gave them both a two fingered salute, "Meet you downstairs soon." She said before walking to her room, starting to pack.
Mike was, of course, the first one to finish, and his footsteps thumped down the stairs after only a few minutes. Bernon took his time, however, making sure that he not only had everything, but that it was arranged neatly inside his backpack where he could find it easily. He carefully wrapped the map, his sketchbooks, and the data drive in leather to protect them, then nestled them carefully among his spare clothes–except the data drive, which he left out for the moment.
Tanrial made sure everything was somewhat neatly packed away but didn't worry about it too much. Everything was there so why worry? She changed into a dry pair of clothes before she headed back downstairs.
Mike was sitting at the table again, an he nodded when he saw her, then went back to checking the accuracy of his new compass. "You know, to be honest, I'll be glad to get back on the road again. This village is great, but I'm not used to staying in one spot for so long. I'll bet Bernon's getting restless too–we're both still more wanderers than settlers. How do you feel about it?"
Tanrial shrugged a shoulder, sitting down opposite him, "I used to be a traveler, before all of this happened. But you learn to settle down after a while. I missed traveling, that's for sure, but I don't mind staying in one place, been doing it for a few years now."
"To each their own." Mike put away his compass and took out a tiny sewing kit to examine next. "Back before I met you guys, I tended to keep moving because I could rarely tolerate human company for more than a few days. And to be fair, they could rarely tolerate me. I wasn't exactly a socialite like Bernon." He paused thoughtfully. "I'm not sure when or how I got better at living with other people, but it's definitely been a recent development. I probably have you two to thank for that."
Tanrial smiled and sent Mike a wink, "I mean if you hadn't been dragged into all of this you never would have met us and would probably be wandering by yourself so yes, you do. You're welcome."
"Thanks," Mike said dryly. "I wouldn't have known what I was missing, either. You remember how aloof I was when we first met. I wasn't exactly looking for friends back then."
"What are we talking about?" Bernon asked as he walked down the stairs and joined them, heavily loaded down with his backpack and the spare supplies.
"The benefits of being forced to travel with others," Mike said, making room for Bernon at the table. "Did you already pack your share of the rations?"
"Yep." Bernon dumped down the packaged food in front of them. "So all this should be split semi-equally between the two of you, although I guess Mike can probably carry more, as we said earlier."
Tanrial hummed and nodded, starting to dish out the food as evenly as possible on the table in front of them all, "Well, I'll split them evenly first and we can go from there, figure out how much extra you're gonna carry, Mike."
(I gotta work all day today, seeya tomorrow)
Mike nodded and helped her sort the provisions into two piles. As they were doing so, Rebka approached their table with even more food.
"Da said to give you all this," she said as she set the carefully wrapped and preserved food down. "I hope it helps out on your trip."
"Thanks so much, Rebka," Bernon said gratefully. "Tell your dad we owe him one."
Mike nodded. "Tanrial, I'll take this new food on top of my pile, and that should make us even, agreed?"
(Aight, see you tomorrow)
Tanrial looked up and nodded a little, “It should do, yeah. Sounds like a good plan.” It didn’t take long until the rations were evenly sorted, plus Mike’s extra’s to balance it out.
Mike added the supplies to his backpack and zipped it up tight, then stretched. "And now that's done. The only other thing I can think to do so we're prepared for tomorrow is have a little supper and then go to sleep."
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not all that hungry," Bernon confessed. "That was a pretty big lunch we had. I might head upstairs a little early myself."