“I told you we should have stopped earlier. It’s getting too dark, and I can’t see any towns up ahead,” Randy reported, shifting out of bird form as he landed on top of the cart.
“But it was still so light out when we were in town,” Yashee protested, flicking the reins to speed up the rams. “How was I supposed to know it would get dark so quick?”
“Maybe we could have asked the guy who lived around here, hmmm, Raz’ul?” Randy asked, peeking his head down into the cart window.
“It’s been a while,” Raz’ul defended. “Besides, I’ve already told you two how infrequently I left Mt. Tain.”
“I guess that is true. Yashee, let’s go ahead and pull over.”
Yashee spun around, ignoring the rams, who proceeded to keep moseying down the road at a leisurely pace. “Does this mean we get to camp? You guys know how much I love camping!” With a sigh, she leaned back in the driver’s seat, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the sky. “The cool night air, campfire stories, staying up too late to stare at the stars. Good times.”
Randy pushed his way onto the seat next to Yashee, grabbing the reins and directing the rams off the road. “Yes, we can camp. As nice as the cart is, being the luxury model and all, I don’t think all of us can lie down in there. Raz’ul, don’t you have a tent?”
“Uhhhh maybe! Let me look!”
“Oh, oh!” Yashee bolted upright, pointing at some trees a little way off. “Right over there! That’s a good place to camp!”
“How can you tell from this far away?” Randy asked, trying to dodge Yashee’s elbows as she moved around.
“I know my camping. Trust me.”
“Found the tent!” Raz’ul called from inside. “It was at the bottom of my pack, but I think I only have one.”
“We can probably share, right?” Randy called back. “Then Yashee can take the cart–”
“I don’t mind sleeping outside,” Yashee interrupted, jumping out of the cart before the rams had come to a complete stop. “See, I told you this place was perfect. You two set up the tent and I’ll get some firewood!” Without waiting for either of the boys to protest, Yashee rushed excitedly for the trees.
With the cart fully stopped, Raz’ul let himself out of the compartment. As they started setting up, the two of them kept glancing up at their half-orc friend. “Where’d she get so much energy? I’m tired,” Raz’ul said with a yawn.
“Says the guy who spent most of the day in the cart.”
“Hey! I got one good transform in there today. I helped pull us, too.”
“Yeah, you did. But I am tired, too.”
“Guys, I got some sticks! How’s the tent coming?”
Randy looked from Yashee to the pile of tent supplies and back again. “Going great.”
A short while later, the campsite was fully set up. For an unplanned happenstance, the three of them had done a good job prepping everything. Between Yashee’s childhood on the road, Raz’ul’s druidic adventures, and Randy’s less-than-clean experience as a Nowhere Man, they knew their way around a night in nature.
Yashee had even found two downed logs, and had quickly pulled them over for everyone to sit on as they all gathered around a fire Randy had started. Raz’ul had successfully collected berries from the surrounding bushes, assuring everyone that they were perfectly safe to eat along with their provisions.
“Well, what now?” Raz’ul asked after dinner. The evening had completely transitioned into night, throwing shadows around the small site that flickered with the campfire. “Bed time? Are we supposed to figure out a watch system?”
“Oh, yeah. We had something like that in the Nowhere Men. One or two people would stay up for a couple hours so they could keep an eye on everything. I think it was for both making sure nothing attacked, but also so no one tried to sneak away.”
“I don’t think any of us are trying to go anywhere,” Yashee reasoned. “Plus, I haven’t seen any large animals around, and I think we’re far enough from the road that we’ll be safe. Do we really need a watch?”
“I think we have one more use of the Bag of Tricks, right, Raz’ul?”
“Uhhhh yes!” Raz’ul pulled a small, fuzzy ball from his bag and tossed it on the ground. With a poof, a snowy gray owl appeared. It blinked once at the trio before launching itself into one of the nearby trees and making itself comfortable in the branches.
“That’ll be fine, right?” Randy asked. The other two shrugged, not sure how else to read the owl’s actions.
The campsite fell silent for a moment before all three bards started to speak at once. Immediately, there were laughs and apologies. “Rock paper scissors to pick who goes first?” Raz’ul offered.
Yashee waved the thought away. “I was only going to ask if anyone had marshmallows. I’m still hungry.”
“Oh!” Randy exclaimed, suddenly digging into his pack. “I think I do actually.”
The moment the bag of marshmallows was out in the open, Yashee snagged them up. She also grabbed what the other two had assumed was just an extra stick of kindling, but when she stuck a marshmallow on the already-pointed end, it became obvious that roasting marshmallows may have been Yashee’s goal for a while.
“Don’t worry, I made you two skewers, too,” Yashee explained cheerily as she positioned her marshmallow above the fire. “I don’t want to hog all the fun.” From the same pile of sticks, she handed each of the boys a similar skewer.
“I guess that brings us to what I was going to say,” Raz’ul started, taking the offered skewer and snack. “So, what do people do when camping? I’ve camped by myself, but it’s rare that I get to do it with friends.”
“I was going to ask something similar,” Randy admitted. “Camping with the Nowhere Men wasn’t exactly all fun in games.”
“Oh my gosh, you guys, camping is so fun!” Yashee exclaimed, snagging her perfectly toasted marshmallow and tossing it in her mouth. “We can tell scary stories, or just fun stories about our past, or maybe do some gossiping. Oh, and there’s campfire songs, or we can write a new song to celebrate the night. And, right before you go to bed, you get to look up at the stars and find constellations or make your own, and it’s super fun.”
Raz’ul had to suppress a laugh, both from Yashee’s enthusiasm and the fact that she’d explained everything through a mouthful of marshmallow while adding three new ones to her roasting stick. “That sounds like a lot.”
“Definitely more than the Nowhere Men,” Randy agreed. “And way more fun. You know a lot about the stars, right? So, you can show us all the cool constellations?”
Yashee finally swallowed her mouthful while both nodding and shaking her head. “Well, Tabitha knows way more than me, but I know a couple. Also, like I mentioned, I like to make up new ones, too. Then, when you share them with others, it feels like your own, special little starry secret.”
“That’s cool,” Raz’ul agreed. With a smile, he turned away from his friend just in time to watch his marshmallow catch fire. “Not cool! Not cool!”
He scrambled to blow it out as Randy laughed. “That is definitely the opposite of cool,” he joked, grabbing a marshmallow out of the bag and tossing it in his mouth without toasting it.
Yashee looked a little startled, maybe even a little apologetic, by the whole event. “Sorry, I distracted you. Marshmallow toasting is an art. It requires a lot of concentration.”
“No, this is perfect,” Raz’ul assured her, tapping the mostly-burnt blob at the end of his stick. When he was sure it was cool enough to grab, he tossed it in his mouth. “Definitely like mine on the burnt side.”
His face, however, told a very different story, one that made Randy burst out laughing again.
“Anyway, scary stories time? Or gossip?”
Yashee hummed. “Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been to school. I’m not sure if there’s really any new gossip. At least I can’t think of any right now?”
“Scary stories then? Anyone know any?”
The campsite fell quiet again as they all thought. In the silence, the sounds of nature all around them seemed to grow all at once. They could hear not only their new owl friend, but a myriad of other animal noises. The fire crackled loudly, ready to burn whatever marshmallow they offered it next. Even the wind seemed to get louder as it rushed through the trees.
“Or maybe we could skip those,” Yashee offered tentatively. “Not that I’m scared or anything. Definitely not scared.”
“I couldn’t think of any anyway,” Randy admitted with a little laugh.”
“Yeah, mine are a little specific to dwarves, I think,” Raz’ul chuckled. “I don’t know if they’d even make sense.”
“What else was on the list, Yashee?”
“Ummm, campfire songs!” she exclaimed after a moment. “We can do those for sure"
“For sure,” Raz’ul agreed. “It is our area of expertise. Songs, that is. Maybe not campfires.”
With an excitement matching Yashee’s when they first pulled out the marshmallows, the three bards began to enjoy the rest of their evening of camping. Maybe it wasn’t a traditional night of camping, but they had snacks, music, and each other, and that was a recipe for a good time.
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