Dream had been having some nice chats with the soon to be soldiers. He had made two new friends: the leader Punz with the white tail, who he had first spoken to and a merman with a brown tail named Wilbur.
Punz had bought the whole story Dream had made up about him and George living in the seaweed forest around Merville and having recieved the information about having to fight a little late because of that.
Dream had been introduced to almost everyone and had already forgotten half of their names. But atleast no one had recognized him being a siren, so his disguise was working, although it was drawing a lot of attention to him. He was a little concerned his disguise may fail him. If it did, that would be his end.
It was kind of ironic, this was probably the most dangerous place for him he had ever been in and yet he felt so much more welcome and way safer than in the castle.
Punz had explained to him that they would be leaving in the morning. Dream had done everything to convinve him to stay a little longer so George could catch up, but Punz hadn't changed his mind. Now Dream had to hope George would make it in time, but he wasn't that confident, knowing they had been swimming in a whole other direction and he had only made it to the camp because he had gotten lost.
He had considered leaving and rejoining together with George, but Punz hadn't allowed him to and as a part of his group, Dream had to listen to him.
He was worried about George. What if something happened to him? He had wanted to leave Dream earlier, but chosen not to because it was too dangerous for him alone out there. And now that, exactly what they had been trying to prevent from happening by tolerating eachother no matter how stupid one another acted, had happened. Maybe George wasn't even alive anymore.
What if he was in danger, what if he needed him?
Dream couldn't bear the thought anymore. He went to go inform Punz he would leave. "I'm sorry", he politely apologized when he arrived at Punz' tent, "but I have to go get my friend, he could be in danger." Punz opened his mouth, but Dream shushed him. "And isn't that a part of what being in the army means? Community, looking out for one another?" He took a deep breath, "I'm gonna go find George, if you want me to or not, because I care about him, even if you don't."
Punz shook his head. "I can't let you do that. Surely you've been informed that leaving the army is not allowed in times of war. I'm truly sorry if there's actually a friend of yours out there, but it's my responsibility that all of you arrive at the battleground. Your feeling of duty towards your home country may have brought you here, but talking to the others probably reminded you of what you're getting yourselve into."
"You think I'm lying?", Dream replied shocked.
"I'm not saying you're lying, I'm saying you have no idea what some people do to not have to fight."