Nomad

Familiar Face

"Raps, I really don't think that he wants to hear from us." Cassandra said as Rapunzel showed Owl a picture of Varian.

"I just want to know he's okay." She said as she tied a letter on Owl's leg. "Find him for me, okay?" She stroked his feathers, then carried him outside.

He flew off and Rapunzel sighed. "It's been a week since we set off, and we haven't seen any sign of them!"

"They did get a week ahead of us." Eugene remarked, then yelped as he stepped on a rock and found himself caught in pink goo. "Okay, he was definitely here."

Rapunzel couldn't help but laugh with Cassandra while Eugene fumed. "How long did he say it takes for this to wear off?"

"We didn't actually ask. Here, uhm, let's just...let's try chipping you out." Rapunzel said as they all walked over to start trying to chip him out of the goo. To their relief, they managed it and Eugene looked around the field warily. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just...looking for more of..." he knelt down and picked up a metal capsule that he must've stepped on, "these." He opened it and saw a pin on the inside of the lid and shards of glass inside. "Wow. Kid's clever."

"Do you think he deliberately left this here?" Rapunzel asked.

"No way, he couldn't have known we'd be coming out here." Cassandra shook her head. "He probably just forgot to pick it up. It must've been some kind of security measure, they must've set up camp here."

"Too bad we already sent Owl, I would've thanked him for his little present." Eugene grumbled.

Cassandra laughed.

–

"The road is flooded ahead." A scout ran up to Quirin. "We'll have to go through the swamp."

"That's not just a swamp, it's The Forest of the No Return. I only know of one person insane enough to go in there." Quirin shook his head with a sigh. "And we can't get through it without her."

"What do we do?" Varian asked.

"Only choice; we make camp and wait for the flooding to go down." Quirin sighed and rang the bell to tell everyone they were making camp here.

Varian and the boys went around setting up defenses and the caravans were gathered together like before in a protective circle.

"Hm..." Clyde looked at the swamp thoughtfully, then picked up a stick and threw it. Something reached out and grabbed the stick, pulling it under with it. "Uhhh, okay! No one go near the swamp!"

"We'll set up a fence." One of the adults said, walking over to get supplies. "That'll keep people from getting too close to it."

"If we're going to get through it, we'll have to build a bridge somehow." Varian mused. "Maybe if we had the right tools, we could cut down the tree."

"We're not going through the swamp without a guide, anyway." Quirin shook his head. "We'll wait for either the guide to show up, or for the flooded road to clear up and be safe to travel."

"Varian, can't you dry up the road?" One of the other kids asked.

"I do alchemy, not actual miracles. I can't lower the water." Varian shook his head.

"Well, let's focus on setting up camp. The woods behind us are safe for hunting, and we can fish and get clean water from the river. Bathing will be supervised, though, because of the distance from camp." Quirin told everyone. "No one goes alone, and there will be no sneaking off to do pranks or whatever, understood?"