Wingless [Complete]

Chapter 24: Fireside Thoughts

Now that we had passed our final planned point on this . . . journey, mission, or whatever you want to call it, we didn't have anything other definite route planned. Which of course left the question . . . where to next? We had all we needed to collect . . . I hope, but we didn't have a destination. Well, one that we knew, anyway. We probably did have somewhere we needed to go now, but we didn't know it. Which may, of course, be necessary to advance in any way.

But as for now, I just sat in front of our bonfire, playing with Lina's hair as she lay in my lap, and tried not to think about that. It could always be figured out in the morning. After breakfast, naturally. Some time when we were all well rested, fed, and with a much more stable mental state.

Oh my, who am I kidding? I will probably end up thinking about this for the entire rest of the evening. Then I would dream about it in one of my strange nonsensical dreams that I seem to be having all the time. The only use I could find for them was to give me information and clues very sporadically and to scare me out of my mind. I really didn't like that last usage, not even the idea of it. No one wants to be scared out of their minds in their sleep. Sleep was supposed to be resting time, dammit.

Not knowing your next goal is incredibly stressful. I always knew, in the past, where I had to go and what I had to do. Now, though, I only had a vague idea as to what my goal is and no clue as to where I go next and how to accomplish that goal. Not a very good place to be in at all. If the nervousness radiating off everyone else, I could infer that they probably didn't either. Oh, the joy.

"Food?" Kaylie inquires softly, offering me the bowl she is holding.

"Yes, thank you." I smile, her consideration making me happy.

After a while, I have found that Kaylie's quiet nervousness gets quite endearing. I don't enjoy the fact that she seems to be a permanently nervous wreck, but the way she acts is sweet all the same.

"Me too." Lina yawns, gesturing vaguely in a sort of come-hither motion which rather looks as if she is sleepily shooing off a fly.

I keep forgetting that everyone is really quite tired after a whole day of flying since I don't fly. Lucas's carries me the whole time. In fact, I should probably be the one cooking right now. Then again, I do believe that Kaylie would rather cook when she's tired than eat my burnt (and possibly poisonous) mess of a meal.

"Alright, coming right up." Kaylie obliges.

"Be nice." I elbow Lina.

"Please," Lina calls out after Kaylie.

I shake my head in amusement. Lina should really learn manners, especially since Kaylie is a Princess too and deserves quite a bit of respect. One should thank the cooks in the palace too, but Kaylie deserves even more respect. She did all this voluntarily.

Alicia helped make the meal too, just in a different way. She was the one who packed a bit of food from her home and caught some animals to kill and eat. I couldn't look the whole time she and Ryan were catching, killing, skinning, and cooking them. I fact, if I thought about it too much, I probably wouldn't eat the meat that was in the soup.