Everyone was just about finished with dinner when the conversation about the salamanders came up again.
"Eleanor, you never did get to tell us what you thought we should do about the yeti." Henry stated as he scraped the rest of his bangers and mash into the trash bin. Eleanor was hoping this conversation wouldn't come up again because she wanted to talk with Newt about the situation before giving her opinion.
"Not sure actually. Dealing with a yeti won't be easy. I think we should focus on relocating the salamanders to a new spot where they can thrive and not have to worry about predators." Eleanor replied nonchalantly. She really hadn't given much thought about it, she'd spent her evening with Samuel discussing her past and the work he did with her mother. She tried to give a response that sounded easy and doable.
"Actually, I was thinking the same thing," Newt said shortly after. "Dealing with a yeti is not something we want to start out with. Once we try to fight one, others will come and they will destroy everything and will eat practically anything that comes in their way. We're better off collecting the salamanders and finding a new cave for them live. Nice thinking El."
Eleanor smiled at Newt and he grinned back. She wasn't used to people having her back and agreeing with her. It was nice for a change. Everyone stood up and wished each other a good night; they had a long day ahead of them tomorrow and would have to be up early. Newt and Eleanor made their way back to their tent and stepped inside.
"It's freezing in here," Eleanor whispered while taking off her cloak and hanging it up. She walked over to the dresser and pulled out her pajamas. They were not going to keep her warm tonight; they were just normal cotton pajamas with a long sleeve top and pants. She used her wand to change her outfit and pulled out a pair of wool socks to slip on.
"Sorry El, these tents don't hold much heat," Newt answered her comment. He also took out his pajamas and changed into them the same way. He took out his case and opened it up on the floor. "Would you like to join me for their last feeding?"
Eleanor nodded, slipped into her slippers, and followed Newt into his case. It was much warmer in here than it was upstairs.
"It feels nice down here," Eleanor said to Newt as she was grabbing some pellets for the moon calves.
"I know, we might be sleeping down here tonight instead." He replied and butchered up a ridiculously large piece of meat. Eleanor looked around and saw a small twin sized bed in the corner of the room and frowned . No way would they be comfortable in a bed that small.
"Newt, can I rearrange in here just a bit to make it more comfortable for the two of us?" Eleanor asked
"Yeah, just don't rearrange the order of the books and journals please," He replied and took the bucket out to the Nundu. Eleanor looked at the bed and had a vision; she waved her wand and watched the space transform. Newt's bed turned into an extra work desk and above the desk was now a queen sized loft bed with a pull down ladder. She added some fairy lights and placed her mothers books on her new desk along with a few of her journals. It looked comfy to her.
"Brilliant," she heard Newt say and turned around and saw him standing in the entrance with his now empty bucket.
"I'm happy you like it. I thought we would be more comfortable like this and we'd be out of each others way when working." Eleanor replied with a shy smile. She grabbed her bucket of pellets and went out to see her friends. She went through the whole night time routine with Newt and about an hour later, they finished and were walking back into the shack.
"Ladies first," Newt said while pulling down the ladder and motioning for Eleanor to climb on up and he followed behind her. Eleanor had never shared a bed with another person before and was worried she might say something weird in her sleep, or even worse... fart. Newt crawled up next to her and they situated themselves under covers, said goodnight to one another, and Newt used his wand to turn out the lights. They laid in bed facing opposite ways about a foot apart and soon fell asleep.
Eleanor woke up to light snores in her ear. Newt had rolled over and had his hand wrapped around her waist and his hot breath on her neck. She snuggled in closer to his body and held onto his hand so that he wouldn't roll away. She slept perfectly fine for the rest of the night.
When morning came, Eleanor woke to find Newt was already out of bed. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and climbed out of the loft to slip on her slippers. She walked out to the bamboo enclosure and saw Newt handling the Occamies. He was so gentle with them; feeding and cradling them like babies. Eleanor grabbed some wood lice and made her way over to Bowtruckles and fed them each their breakfast
"Good morning El. Sleep alright?" Newt said coming up behind her. He rubbed her shoulders gently and watched what she was doing.
"Fine, yes. And you?" She replied as she continued feeding the bowtruckles.
"Not bad. Was a lot warmer than upstairs for sure." Newt beamed at her awkwardly and grabbed a woodlice from her to feed Pickett in his pocket. He made a little happy squeak noise and chomped away at his meal.
"I think that's it. Shall we head up to meet with the others?" Eleanor said while moving towards the shack. Newt nodded and followed her up the ladder back into the tent. Once up there, Eleanor picked out a yellow sweater with a pair of navy blue trousers. She used her wand to tie up her hair and grabbed her cloak. Her and Newt walked over to where everyone was standing around the lab tables.
"Good morning you two! Sleep alright?" Samuel's voice was very loud for it being 7am. He handed them each a mug of coffee and started going over how the day was going to go. If everything went smooth and they didn't run into any yeti business, they should be able to have all of the salamanders moved by tomorrow. Eleanor was happy her plan was coming into place. Everyone put together their own pack and started making their way towards the caves.
It was a long walk, but luckily Eleanor wasn't the slowest in the team. Nora had fallen pretty far behind with James, but everyone seemed to be going at their own pace. Newt stayed with Eleanor the whole entire time as they followed Samuel towards their destination. Newt pointed out tracks of the yeti which seemed to be going in the opposite direction of where they were headed.
"Hopefully, that's a good sign," Eleanor said to Newt. She knew Newt could handle a yeti and had all of the knowledge on what to do if they were to encounter one, but she still was certain it would be a nasty fight. Yeti's are basically very hairy trolls, but are still identified as beasts by the ministry. They're incredibly stupid, but have amazing strength.
Eleanor could see the light at the end of tunnel as her legs were about to give out. The cave was gorgeous as they began entering it. Icicles hung from the ceiling while different lights reflected rainbows upon rainbows throughout the glass walls. They came to a steep edge and stopped to look down.
"I think we need to slide down this part," Henry said while sitting on his butt. He slid down and plopped onto the ground below. He got up and rubbed his behind.
"Bit of a rough landing there!" He yelled back up at the group. Nora, Samuel, and James all went before Newt and Eleanor.
"I'll go down and I'll catch you alright?" Newt said while facing towards Eleanor. The others already started to continue trekking into the cave. Eleanor nodded and watched Newt slide down and land on his feet gracefully. Eleanor sat down on the ground and scooted her way towards the end and let herself fall. She fell right into Newt's arms and they both fell to the ground. They immediately started laughing and Eleanor rolled to her side.
"I am so sorry Newt, but you said you'd catch me!" Eleanor was laughing so hard it echoed throughout the cave. She got off of Newt and helped him up. He helped brush the snow off of her cloak and she did the same to him.
"I didn't expect you to launch yourself from the sky to my arms El! You were supposed to slide down not leap!" Newt chuckled and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. Both of them were grinning at one another and Newt began to lean into her when suddenly there was a deafening roar and an echoing crack. Newt's neck snapped towards where the sound came from and low and behold, there's the yeti standing just where they stood. Newt turned to El and said one thing to her.
"Run"