[Frostbough Camping Kit]
[Type: Camping Equipment]
[A tightly bundled expedition kit made from treated rimeflax, alpine hide, and frostfir fittings. Issued to each member of The High Order.]
[Contents:]
[One-person weatherproof tent with sewn-in groundsheet]
[Insulated bedroll and compact travel pillow]
[Folded winter blanket]
[Collapsible stool]
[Small kettle, cooking pot, cup, bowl, and utensils]
[Covered lantern, tinderbox, and spare fuel]
[Water flask and sealed food-and-tea pouch]
[Utility cord, tent stakes, and a small repair kit]
[Passive — Sheltered Rest]
[While resting inside the erected tent, natural mana regeneration is increased by 10%. Combat interrupts this benefit. Multiple Sheltered Rest effects do not stack.]
Five minutes later, we were sitting in silence, chowing down on bowls of stew and drinking tea.
Well, everyone else was chowing down.
I had mostly been moving my spoon around.
The space between the dungeons was a massive cave. Moonlight came through a hole high in the roof, catching the steam above our fire before falling across the stone around us.
I could see stars through it.
After spending so long looking up for spiders, seeing something else was nice.
The next way forward was an old mage tower.
It stood in the middle of the cavern, its upper floors almost reaching the opening. Webs covered the bricks and stretched from its narrow windows to the cave walls.
It was still imposing.
Some mage had decided to build a whole tower in a fucking cave.
I wanted to know why.
Unfortunately, Jane was sitting across from me.
And she wouldn't stop looking at me.
Every time I lifted my eyes from my bowl, hers were there, waiting.
Eventually I stopped looking up.
That didn't help much.
A pit was forming in my stomach, making even the thought of another bite unpleasant.
[Whisper to Sheral] "Did I do something wrong?"
[Whisper from Sheral] "Probably."
[Whisper to Sheral] "A little more help please..."
[Whisper from Sheral] "You really telling me you don't know what you did?"
[Whisper to Sheral] "So you know!?"
[Whisper from Sheral] "No clue, but you were acting weird before she was."
Fair...
But still, what was I supposed to say?
I glanced at Jane again.
She hadn't touched her tea.
...Did she catch me with Mei?
Was that what was happening?
No.
There was no way.
I put my bowl down.
[Whisper to Jane] "Sorry?"
She looked at me.
Then rolled her eyes.
[Whisper to Jane] "What...?"
[Whisper from Jane] "What the fuck is going on with you?"
[Whisper to Jane] "What do you mean?"
[Whisper from Jane] "We have this beautiful night under the stars, then you just up and dip?"
I stared at the message.
Another came before I worked out what to say.
[Whisper from Jane] "You hardly message me anymore. We don't talk. You're standing right there and acting like I'm someone you barely know."
[Whisper from Jane] "Like, the fuck?"
I could hear Merlin scraping the bottom of his bowl.
It was such a normal sound, but I swore it was the worst thing I'd ever heard.
[Whisper to Jane] "...Sorry."
[Whisper from Jane] "Is that fucking all you can say?"
[Whisper to Jane] "My bad. I'll be better about it."
[Whisper from Jane] "Just tell me why, you ass!"
My thumb pressed against the edge of the bowl.
I didn't want to say it.
I wanted her to already know, which was a stupid thing to want considering how much effort I'd put into acting normal.
[Whisper to Jane] "Just... things."
[Whisper from Jane] "No. Tell me, for fuck's sake."
[Whisper to Jane] "I saw you in bed with the fucking cow, okay?"
The messages stopped.
Across the fire, her expression changed.
For a second we just looked at each other.
[Whisper from Jane] "You fucking pervert."
[Whisper to Jane] "What?"
[Whisper from Jane] "You were creeping on me after you ditched me?!"
[Whisper to Jane] "What!? No!"
She stood up.
The scrape of her boots sounded loud enough to stop everyone's conversation, even though nobody had been talking.
She took her cup and moved farther along the wall.
I watched her go.
[Whisper to Jane] "Really!? You cheated on me and you're acting mad?!"
Her reply took a little longer.
[Whisper from Jane] "We were hardly in a relationship in the first place."
...
I read it again.
Then again, like the words might change if I gave them enough chances.
Hardly.
What the fuck did that mean?
Either we were or we weren't.
How was I supposed to know which one she had decided it was?
My chest felt tight.
I wanted to send something back. Something that would make her understand exactly how fucked up that was.
Every sentence I came up with looked worse once I actually thought about sending it.
Sheral moved closer.
Her hand settled against my back.
[Whisper from Sheral] "I still don't know what's going on, hon, but you're getting yourself worked up."
[Whisper from Sheral] "Put the messages down for a minute. Breathe."
I tried.
It didn't feel like much air was getting anywhere.
I leaned back against the cold rock and closed my eyes.
Jane was still only a few steps away.
I couldn't stand that.
So I took out my tent.
The kit had come with instructions, which I hadn't bothered reading when we packed it.
I regretted that pretty quickly.
A pole wouldn't stay where I wanted it. The groundsheet kept folding under itself, and every little mistake made me angrier than it should have.
I could have asked someone to help.
Instead, I kept working.
By the time I had half of it standing, voices came from the passage we'd entered through.
Blake's group.
They looked a lot better off than we did.
Probably the benefit of future sight.
Whatever his magic actually let him see, having even a little warning would have been nice.
"Damn. Second," Mara said.
She led their group, with Blake a little behind her.
Mara was a barrier mage. A lot of what she did looked similar to Sheral's magic, except barriers were pretty much her whole thing.
She'd spent the last two weeks finding increasingly annoying ways to put them between people.
Merlin stood up to meet her.
"Yep. We got it done."
"How'd it go?"
"Some hiccups, but we made it. You?"
"Better than it could've, thanks to Blake." She glanced behind her. "He's tapped, though. The rest of us aren't doing much better."
Blake raised a hand without saying anything.
Ilyra was already guiding him toward a place to sit. Finn and Rowan followed, looking at the tower before turning their attention to the food.
"Well, sit, eat, and rest," Sheral said. "There's room."
I didn't say anything, just going back to my tent.
Their conversation carried on while I finished setting it up.
Rooms. Spiders. Something Mara had managed to block at the last second.
I stopped paying attention.
Once I was inside, I pulled the flap shut and lay down.
It was quieter.
Not quiet, but quieter.
I opened my messages.
[Whisper to Mei] "Hi, you free?"
[Whisper from Mei] "On a hunt. What's up?"
[Whisper to Mei] "Got done with my first Legendary dungeon! Got another one soon."
[Whisper from Mei] "Oooh, fun! What's the theme?"
[Whisper to Mei] "Spiders ):"
[Whisper from Mei] "Yikes! Don't invite me please!"
[Whisper to Mei] "I won't XD. Once we do this I'm never stepping foot here again!"
[Whisper from Mei] "I'd bet lol."
I smiled a little.
It felt weird after how tight my face had been.
For a while I just looked at the messages.
Then I typed another one.
Deleted it.
Typed it again.
[Whisper to Mei] "...Are we a thing?"
[Whisper from Mei] "Like... are you asking if we're dating?"
[Whisper to Mei] "Yah... I guess."
[Whisper from Mei] "Well... I'm not talking to anyone else. Why?"
Something in my chest loosened.
[Whisper to Mei] "Um... I'll tell you in person. If you want to go on a date once I'm outa here..."
I waited half a second before sending another.
[Whisper to Mei] "As my girlfriend..."
[Whisper from Mei] "(: I got that."
[Whisper from Mei] "Yes, that sounds fun. In the human city this time?"
[Whisper to Mei] "Yah! I'll make food for us, okay?"
[Whisper from Mei] "I'm a vegetarian. Is that okay?"
[Whisper to Mei] "Yah! Of course."
[Whisper from Mei] "I can't wait. But I'll talk to you later, okay? We're heading out."
[Whisper to Mei] "Okay, bye bye. I'm probably going to fall asleep now..."
[Whisper from Mei] "Goodnight <3"
[Whisper to Mei] "<3"
Finally, I let out a long breath.
Girlfriend.
She'd said yes.
I read that part again, just to make sure I hadn't somehow misunderstood it.
Jane could mess with my heart, but Mei made it feel like it could settle down again.
I wished things had gone differently.
Still.
I had something good here.
Voices outside grew louder.
I pushed myself up and opened the tent flap a little.
Another team had arrived.
Dorian came through first, his broad shoulders covered in pale dust. He stopped near the entrance and looked back until all four of his people were through.
Liora, Elias, Celine, and Vera.
Five.
Then he let himself sit down.
Dorian was an Earthbound Evoker. He liked making stone guardians and letting them take the hits while he moved the ground around whatever was fighting them.
During our spars, he'd been frustratingly patient.
You'd think you finally had a path to him, then a wall would come up or a stone hand would catch your ankle.
He was apparently just as patient outside a fight, because he let everyone else start talking before adding anything himself.
That meant Sera's team was last.
Nessa led them, technically, but Sera was the reason I thought of them as our engineering group.
Her and Orin together could turn a pile of supplies into something I absolutely did not want to step on.
Bram prepared the stone and kept things away from them. Elara handled healing, potions, and the messier reagents. Nessa found somewhere they could actually set up, then made sure they had warning if anything came toward them.
Some of our best crafters were in that group.
Their magic lent itself to building a fight before starting one.
Which took time.
I could imagine Sera still checking an array somewhere, making sure every line connected properly while Orin adjusted whatever horrible little thing they planned to trigger with it.
If any of us could make use of a few extra minutes, it was them.
They were strong.
They just did more of the work before something tried to bite them.
I closed the tent again.
Tomorrow, I'd deal with Jane.
However I was supposed to do that.
For now, Mei had said yes.
Mei wanted to see me.
I didn't need to worry about Jane anymore.
I didn't need to.
I checked Mei's last message once more before closing my eyes.