It was already the night of the second day.
Raven's group had no gems until now—at least not in their hands.
The squirrels had said that they had gathered some and were still gathering, so Raven decided to trust them.
After all, there was always another way of getting first place—by stealing others' gems.
Raven had thought of doing that if the squirrels failed to find the gems or if they picked something else (shiny acorns, maybe) instead of gems.
For now, Raven and his team were relaxing.
The campfire crackled gently beneath the night sky. A canopy of stars blinked overhead like ancient gossipers eager to watch Raven's descent into madness.
Around the fire sat Raven's team.
Squirrels were notably absent, off doing "important squirrel things," which probably involved acorn smuggling and micro-siege warfare.
Nibbles and Fluffy had vanished earlier with dramatic salutes, promising to return with "vital intelligence" and "possibly explosives."
That left the humans.
