(I can believe it)
Bernon found a tattered old broom and started shunting all the junk piles into one corner, moving slowly so he didn't kick up too much dust. "Maybe this was just somebody's old storehouse or something, and when they moved on, they took all the useful stuff with them? Ooh look, this is still intact." He picked up a delicate, ornately painted porcelain plate and wiped it clean with his sleeve so he could admire it. "It's too bad breakable stuff isn't as valuable anymore. We could have traded this for food in the next village." He set the plate carefully on the mantel and returned to work. "Anyway, are you hungry? I guess we should set up our sleeping spots and start thinking about dinner."
"It's kinda funny how things go in and out of fashion," She said, gesturing to the plate, "One of those would be worth nothing back in the day. When things picked up they were like gold and now look, it's sitting here gathering dust for who knows how long." Tanrial sighed, resisting the urge to sneeze as she folded an old dust filled blanket that had been sitting on the couch, "Suppose I could go for something to eat, yeah."
Mike returned with an armful of wood and joined Bernon by the fireplace. "Let's plan to take turns keeping watch tonight. The front door doesn't have the greatest lock, and the trees aren't as far from the house as I'd like them to be, so we'll need to stay alert. Something about the air here sets me on edge."
"Just focus on dinner for now," Bernon replied quietly, getting out some matches and building a little stick house behind the grate for the fire to live in. "Tanrial, would you pass me the cooking pot from my backpack, please? I'll heat up a jar of the stew Polla sent with us."
"Of course." Tanrial headed to Bernon's bag, quickly taking the pot and closing the bag once more, leaving it to rest where it was before heading back over. She placed it gently at Bernon's side with a sigh, "There you are. I'll take the first watch if you guys wanna rest."
"If you're sure," Bernon replied gratefully, starting to prepare supper. "I am pretty worn out from walking so far in one day."
"I'll take second watch, then." Mike got out his bedroll and laid it down near the fire, folding up his jacket to use as a pillow. "It's too bad we didn't make it across the river today like we planned, but all things considered we got pretty close, and avoided a lot of potential trouble." He seemed to be trying to make up for his previous pessimism as he spoke. "You guys both did a good job of befriending the right people and making good use of your magic this afternoon. I gotta say, I'm glad we're traveling as a group like this."
Tanrial grinned, plopping herself down on the couch that creaked under the newfound weight, "I think that's the most positive I've ever heard you be at one time," She said, bringing her feet up onto the seat, "Well done, I feel like a proud mother. But all jokes aside, we all did a good job today. And if you hadn't suggested we leave at that time we wouldn't have even made it here tonight, Mike."
"You're not wrong," Mike agreed bluntly—but with a slight smile. "And there'll be a lot more days like that coming up in the future, so let's remember the good strategies we used today, yeah? Maybe with more….avoiding the troubles before they happen next time."
"I'm all for that," Bernon agreed, yawning and stirring the rapidly heating stew. "Here, I think this is about done. I vote we eat and get to bed."
(Heyy so I'm kinda back? Will be a bit spotty for a few more weeks because school but then I should be more active :))
It seemed like a universal vote to eat then sleep. The trio finished off the stew and after a long days travelling it didn't take them long to do so. Tanrial, like she said, took first watch, keeping a close eye on the door and eat out for any strange or unwelcome noises. Lucks seemed to be on there side as for the most part, there was nothing. Only the occasional night bird or small, nocturnal animal.
(Okay no worries!! I'm so glad to hear from you again fam! How ya doing these days?)
As the moon sank lower outside, Mike woke up and poked the fire a bit, then rose and went over to Tanrial. "My turn," he whispered. "Notice any activity out there?"
(It's nice to be sorta back :) I'm okay, had a few ups and downs but things seem to be looking up now that I've had surgery and all. How have you been? I missed you)
Tanrial yawned, shaking his head as she settling down where she was laid, "None that would threaten us. Just small animals and birds out. No sign of any bandits."
(Glad to hear you're recovering! I've been doing well, nothing much to report on my end haha. Just doing lots of art and writing for my stories between work days as usual ^^)
"Good." Mike glanced out the window at the distant flats beyond their hill. "It's lucky the view's so clear up here. You go ahead and sleep, I'll wake Bernon when it's his turn to–"
Mike stopped, narrowing his eyes and staring at something on the horizon. "Wait. Look. Something just exploded, out by that marsh bandit's camp. I see fire." A minute later the sound reached them, dull and echoing. Silence returned immediately afterwards, but a large column of scarlet smoke rose up from the marsh and showed no signs of fading.
"Wonder what that's about," Mike muttered quietly.
(I'm glad to hear you've been doing well :))
Tanrial sat up, the sound of whatever it was that had been lit up making her too concerned to sleep. It didn't help that the smoke was still present, and the silence was worrying, "Do we stick around long enough to find out what it was?" She asked quietly, "Or wait and see if it reaches us?"
"It's pretty far off…..and as I recall, their whole camp's standing in five inches of water. The blaze shouldn't spread anywhere beyond their own buildings." Mike watched the fire intently for another minute, then made himself comfortable against the window frame. "I think it's safe to stay here at least until the sun's up. I'll wake you guys if that changes, but for now I'm happy to keep my nose out of this one. Okay?"
She didn't seem convinced, then again maybe it was just in her nature to be on guard. But she nodded, releasing a breath and closing her eyes, "Okay.. stay alert then."
"You know me."
Despite the disturbance, the rest of the night passed quietly. In no time at all the sky turned from black to grey to grey-blue, and the sun slowly began to rise and illuminate the countryside. There was still a faint, blackish cloud of smoke drifting up from the bandit's camp, but otherwise all was quiet. Seeing this, Mike woke Bernon and explained the situation, then went to catch a few more minutes of sleep before breakfast.
Yawning, Bernon put some water on the fire to boil and sat in the patch of sunlight from the window, sleepily trying to get warm. After a minute, he reached out and nudged Tanrial with his toe. "It's morning, Tanrial. Thought you might want to know. Mike said to tell you nothing changed last night."
Tanrial stirred with a yawn, blinking up at Bernon before the words registered and she nodded, "Wonderful," She mumbled, giving him a thumbs up as she sat to wake herself more, "Did you sleep at all last night, Bernon?"
"Like a baby," Bernon replied, glancing at Mike's sleeping form across the room. "I kind of expected somebody to let me have a turn on watch, but apparently you guys decided to be nice to me this time." Shuffling closer to the fire, he rummaged through his things for some food to put in the cooking pot. "I heard there was an explosion last night. Call me soft, but I hope those bandits are okay. Especially the kids. Want some tea with this?"
"If you're having one then sure," Tanrial said, sitting up and stretching, "Something went down at that camp last night. The explosion was huge, dunno what it was or why it went off but it did. Honestly thought it might have been better if we left, but since nothing came up this way to disturb us so I'm glad we stayed."
Bernon nodded, glancing at the window in concern. "Yeah. You know, even though they acted a little sketchy, I feel bad that those bandits treated us so nice and only got rewarded with fire. Mike would never agree to back-tracking now, but I almost want to go make sure they're okay." He sighed. "I guess they're used to destruction and hardship, living in a place like this. And it's not like we can afford to waste time if we want to make it across the country before winter." Filling two cups with the boiling water, he added makeshift teabags and handed one to Tanrial. "I'll have the rest of the meal ready in just a second here."
"As much as I'm with you there, you're right on the whole not being able to go back thing," She sighed, "Just hope those kids are okay. Some of them are pretty young and I wouldn't want to see them hurt. They're only kids after all," She ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it out, "Mike's still sleeping so take your time."
(I drew Bernon and now he's my profile picture <3)
Bernon nodded, digging through his spices to see if he could spare any. "I bet he'll be hungry when he wakes up. I noticed he always eats more when he's a little stressed, and yesterday definitely was stressful. But sleep is good for him too, so he can snooze for as long as he…..wants….."
He stopped, tensing up as a shadow passed across the window. "Um….don't look now, but somebody just walked by outside."
(He's so cute I love him just want a Bernon hug)
Tanrial blinked, then stood very slowly from the couch, "You sure it was a person?" She asked, already bracing herself for an intrusion and making sure she was ready to use her magic if it came to that, "And not just a deer or bird?"
(yesss me too, his hugs are 10/10 XD)
"I sure hope deer don't have human faces around here," Bernon replied nervously.
Mike was abruptly sitting up as if he'd never been asleep at all. "Let's wait a minute, in case they're coming to us," he muttered, joining them stealthily in the middle of the room. "But if they don't try to get inside, we need to go and investigate. I'd rather not be trapped by a fire like those bandits."
There was a tense pause. Then, a quiet, hesitating knock at the door.
(Now I hella want one lmao)
The magic user narrowed her eyes at the door, "Do we…?" She raised a brow, moving to reach for the door and open it to whoever was on the other side. It could be a planned attack. Get someone inside, take them out. One of Rider's old men.
(someday humanity will figure out how to package hugs and when they do, I'll send one of his to you lol)
Mike stared at the door for a minute as if he could see straight through it, then slowly made his way over to stand next to Tanrial. "Bernon should get the door, he's our best first impression. You and I will hide on either side and be ready to attack if they try to hurt him. How does that sound?"
"I'll do whatever you guys think is smartest," Bernon whispered, taking their breakfast off the fire so it wouldn't boil over.
(yayyy thank youuuu :)))
Tanrial nodded, "Fair call. You take left and I take right." She nodded in either direction, then glanced to Bernon with another nod, signaling that whenever he was ready to go, they would be too.
Mike stealthily got in position, standing ready with his hand on his knife. Bernon waited a minute, then squared his shoulders and walked over to the door, just as another knock came. Putting on a calm, confident expression, he unlocked the door and pulled it open.
"Hello?" The speaker's voice was muted slightly, as if he'd backed away from the door after knocking. It sounded like a man slightly younger than Bernon and Mike. "I'm sorry, I—I don't want any trouble. I was looking for a place to rest….I didn't know someone already lived here."
Bernon's brow furrowed as he stared at the stranger, seeming puzzled. Finally, he spoke. "Ven? Is that you?"
There was a pause. "That's my name," the stranger replied cautiously. "But how do you know me….?"
Bernon grinned with relief. "It's me, Bernon! Don't you remember? We rescued you from Ryker's base!" Stepping aside, he cheerfully ushered in a pale, black-haired young man with bewildered dark eyes. "Guys, look, it's Ven!"
Mike squinted at the newcomer, then at Tanrial. "Do you remember this guy?" he muttered uncertainly.
"Bernon is going to be disappointed when I say I haven't got a clue who he is." Tanrial replied quietly, still on edge and wary of Ven. Just because Bernon remembered him, didn't make him a good guy. She glanced to Bernon, "How do you know it's him?"
"C'mon guys, don't be so suspicious." Bernon patted Ven's shoulder. "He was one of the prisoners in Ryker's basement. After we saved everyone, he met with us in Polla's tavern and gave us advice for our trip west." Bernon's expression turned puzzled. "But Ven, you told us you were gonna try and get out of the country after that. What are you doing here?"
Ven gave a weak, mirthless smile. He was very gaunt and travel-worn, and his clothes were smudged with mud and dust. "I was heading north, but I ran into a little…..trouble. On my second day of traveling, I was caught by bandits." He grimaced. "Out of one cage, into another. It was only just last night that I managed to escape."
Mike closed the front door, watching Ven closely. "Last night? You don't happen to know anything about the explosion we saw last night, do you?"
Ven looked up with grim satisfaction. "As a matter of fact, I do. Although I admit, I didn't expect it to be quite that dramatic."
Tanrial crossed her arms across her chest, a frown settling into her features, "I'm guessing it was the same bandit camp we visited yesterday. There were children in that camp, did you even think about what might happen if you blew something up?"
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