,
Blue had peeled the same rav root three different ways and hated all of them.
She sat cross-legged near the fire, sleeves rolled up, tongue poking out slightly in concentration. The root was winning. She didn't want to admit that, but the evidence was in her hands—or more specifically, all over her hands.
Tessa had given her a small pile of vegetables to work on, then moved a little to the left to chop herbs. No dramatic instructions. No hovering. Just a calm, "Here. Help if you want."
Blue wanted.
Kind of.
Mostly because doing nothing felt worse.
"So," she murmured to the root, "if you could just cooperate, we'd both look less stupid."
"You're talking to it," Tessa said without looking up.
"Yes," Blue answered. "And it's ignoring me."
"That happens."
"Rude vegetable."
A soft sound, almost a choked laugh, came from somewhere behind her. Blue turned, startled—and nearly dropped both root and knife—when she found Soren crouched down only a meter away, adjusting the buckles on some strange crossbow-like contraption.
His silver-blond hair brushed his cheek as he looked over. "You don't have to peel the entire thing into oblivion, you know."
"I'm not! This is a technique."
"That's not a technique," Fen grunted from the other side of the fire. "That's a cry for help."
Blue pointed the half-peeled root at him defensively. "I am perfectly capable."
Fen raised one unimpressed eyebrow. "Of what?"
"…eventually achieving something."
Tessa hummed approvingly. "That's the spirit."
Blue grinned faintly before catching herself.
Okay, maybe… maybe she liked them a little already.
Not in an attached way—just in a they're not awful sort of way.
She scraped at the root again, accidentally flicking a peel directly toward Ryn, who sat with his legs stretched toward the fire, notebook balanced on one knee.
It landed in his open page.
Blue froze. "I— I did NOT aim for you."
Ryn brushed the peel aside with one finger, not even glancing up. "I didn't think you did."
"But it hit you."
"Barely."
"It was an attack."
"A tragic one, yes."
Blue clamped her lips together, trying not to laugh. "Sorry."
Ryn's mouth twitched. "Accepted."
Fen muttered something under his breath about "humans and honesty," but Blue pretended not to hear.
She went back to peeling, this time trying a new grip. It worked better—slightly.
"So…" she said after a few moments, voice lighter, "what exactly are we making?"
"Stew," Tessa said.
"What kind?"
"The edible kind."
"That's vague."
"That's accurate."
Blue snorted. She couldn't help it. "Okay, but—are rav roots supposed to smell like this? Like dirt and… disappointment?"
Soren laughed under his breath. "They always smell like that."
"It means they're fresh," Tessa added.
Blue leaned in to sniff again and immediately regretted it. "Right. Fresh. Love that for us."
Fen shook his head, ears twitching. "Humans complain too much."
"You complain MORE!" Blue shot back.
Fen stopped. Slowly. His eyes narrowed. "I do not."
Blue pointed her knife toward him innocently. "Tessa?"
Tessa didn't even look up. "He does."
Ryn nodded. "Constantly."
Soren lifted a hand. "Every hour."
Fen glared at all of them like betrayal was a physical weapon.
Blue smiled sweetly. "See?"
For a moment he looked like he might argue—but then he just grunted, sat back, and pretended he hadn't heard any of them.
Blue tilted her head. "So that's a yes."
"Blue," Ryn said lightly, "don't poke the wolf."
"I'm not poking him."
"You are absolutely poking him," Soren said.
"She's definitely poking him," Tessa chimed in.
Fen muttered, "I can hear all of you."
Blue held up her hands. "See? Keen hearing. That's a compliment."
Fen shot her a look that suggested he wasn't convinced.
She went back to peeling.
A moment passed quietly… but not the heavy silence from earlier. This one was normal. Warm. Alive with background movement.
Crackling fire.
Tessa chopping.
Ryn flipping pages.
Soren tightening straps.
Fen carving something into the dirt with a claw.
Blue liked it.
She didn't want to overthink that she liked it.
But she did.
"Do you guys always cook together like this?" she asked.
Tessa shrugged. "Depends who's around."
"Fen never helps," Soren added.
Fen didn't look up. "I hunt."
"And I cook," Tessa said pointedly.
"And I keep us alive when both of you get reckless," Ryn said.
"And I'm the moral support," Soren added proudly.
Fen snorted. "You're none of those things."
"I could be moral support," Soren insisted.
Blue lifted her hand. "I'll vouch for him. He hasn't bullied me today. Much."
Ryn corrected blandly, "The day isn't over."
Blue gasped dramatically. "You wound me."
Fen muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Not enough."
Blue stuck her tongue out at him before catching herself and coughing into her hand like a fake adult.
"Anyway," she said, "how long have you all… traveled together?"
Tessa answered first. "Years."
Soren said, "Depends on who you ask."
Ryn said, "Fen joined last."
Fen grunted. "I didn't join. I tolerated."
"You joined," Soren said.
Fen didn't respond, which meant Soren was probably right.
Blue smiled again—small, warm, not sad like before.
She liked learning them through living moments, not exposition dumps.
This felt real.
Easier to digest than giant world-changing revelations.
She scraped another peel, then froze.
"…Does anyone have a bandage?"
All eyes shot toward her.
Tessa immediately checked her hand. "Did you cut yourself?"
"No!" Blue said quickly. Then hesitated. "…Probably. A little?"
Fen leaned in before she could stop him, catching her wrist in one surprisingly gentle grip. "Show."
Blue swallowed. "It's—just tiny—"
The cut was indeed tiny.
Barely a scratch.
Fen narrowed his eyes. "You panicked over this?"
"I don't have a tetanus shot in this world!" Blue hissed.
Everyone stared.
Ryn rubbed his temples. "She's speaking in riddles again."
"Tetanus," Soren mouthed silently. "Is that a spell?"
Tessa sighed. "I'll get the salve."
"It doesn't hurt," Blue insisted, embarrassed. "I just… react."
Fen still held her wrist. "You bleed easily."
"Rude."
"It's an observation."
"You're an observation!"
Fen let go slowly, looking extremely done. "You make no sense."
Blue nodded calmly. "Yes. Welcome."
Tessa returned, dabbed a cool ointment over the tiny cut, and wrapped a small strip of cloth around it.
"There," she said. "You'll live."
Blue exhaled dramatically. "Thank god."
Fen stared. "Who?"
"Never mind."
She flexed her fingers. "So… does this mean I'm excused from peeling duty?"
"No," Tessa said immediately.
"I was afraid of that."
"You did one root," Soren said.
"I did THREE."
Fen: "Barely."
Blue groaned. "You're all terrible."
Ryn: "We know."
Yet she smiled while saying it.
Her hands moved more confidently this time, not because she suddenly mastered it, but because she felt less like a stranger intruding and more like a chaotic guest they tolerated with mild affection.
The fire burned lower.
The sky deepened toward evening.
Voices mingled naturally—about the trail, the weather, whether Fen snored (he denied it), and whether Ryn's hair was naturally perfect (he denied it too).
Blue peeled, asked questions, made comments, got teased, teased back.
For the first time since she stumbled into this world, she felt… not safe, exactly.
But held in place by the moment, grounded in it, invited in small ways she didn't fully recognize yet.
And for now—
that was more than enough.