After the longest day of wagon-driving he'd ever experienced, Jerzy was more than ready to make camp. The blinding rain had started around midday and had numbed him to the bones. Why did it get so cold these days? He remembered the rainy season of his youth being relatively temperate...

Yelling for the kints to stop, he pulled over to the side of the road, where there was a clear area surrounded by a few squat trees. The rain was coming down hard now, and thunder was resounding through the heavens. What a fun trip this had turned out to be, he thought bitterly.

"Oy," he shouted to Merry, who was driving the other kint, his voice nearly drowned out by the wet slap of rain on the gravel and grass. "I reckon we best set up camp for the night. Benny Boy's tired, an' we won't want to travel by night."

Keiyra sat beside Jerzy, chilled to the bone, hands tucked under her armpits. She could have holed up in the kint, but the pink haired witch wasn't about to hide from a little wind and water, especially if Jerz was out there too. As he pulled the kint to a stop, she glanced at him. It had been miserable since they started out, but what had he expected. It was Loshis. As he yelled out to the other kint, she reached out a dripping wet hand and rested it on his shoulder.

"Even with the rain, we've made good time today kov." She said loudly over the roaring down pour.

Shi hadn't such reservations, and had spent the moments she wasn't driving for Merry inside her kint, unless there was a lull in the rain. She knew she'd have plenty of occasions to get wet between Vienda and Brunnhold.

The rain hammered the roof, rendering her unable to hear any of Jerzy's words, but she felt the kint leave the road and stepped outside in her hooded cloack to look at their campsite, climbing on the seat near Merry.
"I'm gonna start some cooking while you park." A hot soup would probably be welcomed in this weather.
"What's the plan? Each kint his own food, or do I cook for everybody?" Shi had no reservation using Merry's kitchen or food. She had brought some on her own, so she wouldn't feel like she was living off the young witch back, and they were both Laughing Sky, which meant nearly being the same fami. But she wasn't sure Merry intended to support the whole group.

"Or would you rather have me tend Beesly while you dry out a bit?"

Merry wouldn't have minded the rain at all if it hadn't been so bitingly cold. She'd been forced to pull on some wool socks and her winter boots just to keep her feet warm soon after the downpour started, and even then, she had to scuttle out and drape a weatherproof tarp over Beesly before starting up again.

Further along, the kint got stuck in a dip in the road that had become a veritable quagmire due to the rain. After slogging through the muck to push the kint out again, Merry realized she was wheezing badly. She'd then spent the rest of the evening puffing slowly on one of her remedy spurs, huddled beneath a blanket to ward off the chill and damp. But despite having changed clothes after the previous ordeal, she still felt very un-dry and miserable.

Merry pulled the spur out from between her teeth momentarily. "I ent gonna lie, Jerz," she roared over a thunderclap, "when I say that's the best idea I've heard all day!" She pulled the reigns to the side to lead Beesly off the road and under the trees.

"Well, I'm all for potluck-style m'self," Merry suggested, glancing over her shoulder at Shi. "That way, there's more for everyone, an' besides, I got enough yats - I don't mind sharin'." She punctuated that with a grin. "As long as it's hot an' edible!"

The young witch pulled the beast to a halt, slashing her hand sideways at Shi for emphasis. "Ne, ne, he's my kenser - I'll deal with him. I'm still wet anyway, so it don't matter. Use whatever ye need in the cupboards an' bags, an' get that pot-bellied stove out where we all can sit around it. An' pull out any extra blankets I got shoved under the bed. I'll help ya in a bit..." She then hopped down and headed over to Beesly, who was trying to shake himself dry while still in the harness. "I know how ya feel, kov," she murmured, pulling the damp tarp off of the kenser. Then she started rubbing him down, using the blanket she'd previously had around her shoulders.

Wendy pulled herself out of Jerzy's kint when it stopped and looked out into the rain. She couldn't hear what they were saying but they looked incredibly wet. Quietly, she gathered a few blankets (found after rummaging around inside the kint for a few moments) and brought them out to Jerzy, Keiyra, and Merry. They weren't water proof but having an extra layer might be nice.

"Go inside." She told Jerzy and Kieyra, "Via'll tie up all of this stuff and work with Benny. We don't want more sick people than we've already got." Wendy sniffed for emphasis and gave them a crooked smile. She had so far spent the trip inside the kint, bundled up (as per Viator's command), playing castles with him.

The set she'd found seemed to be as old as the kint-- either that or hand carved by Jerzy himself, because all of the pieces were odd, and more were missing than not so that she'd had to use bits of wadded up bread to make up for them (and they'd gotten eaten by Viator after she'd accused him of cheating one time too many). They switched to stray buttons after that particular episode.

With a taste of yeasty goodness still sticking to the roof of his mouth, Via swung out of the kint, as per Wendy's orders. He would have taken either Jerzy's or Kieyra's shift, however Wendy would have disobeyed had he let her out of sight for one moment. She was sick, and if he had to play momma bird, well, he would. It was Wendy after all.

Nevertheless, he liked the rain, and he sighed as it began to soak right through his everything. The feel of water on the back of his neck, running between his shoulder blades and down the curve of his spine was refreshing and felt honestly good. He'd always hated things touching his back, but rain was different. Smiling warmly at the wicks, he climbed the kint and began to unpack the drywood and his own food stuffs.

"Oi, as th'lassie said, I'll git thins started roight. Me an' Benny'll be good." He grabbed Jerzy's shoulder in a friendly gesture, showing far more trust than he had previously, and threw his stuff down on a less-muddy bit of grass. He disliked that the discomfort he and Wendy had given the couple, and though he was slowly giving up on his emotional attachment, he wanted Jerzy t know he still had a 'brunno' in Viator.

Treking down the kint, nearly slipping on a few rungs, he managed to make his way to the kenser and with delicate confidence unhitched him, a firm hold on the lead rope, and led him to one of the trees where he tied the soaking animal up. If he'd been alone, he would have just wiped the kenser down with his shirt and been done with it. However, the matter of Petra's knowledge and Wendy's loose tongue bothered him. Ducking out into the ferociously heavy rain, he grabbed some spare, dry-ish cloth and dashed back to the tied kenser. He removed the worst of the harness straps, tucking them under one arm for future cleaning, and finished up with alacrity.

Getting back to the kint, he wondered about wet-iquette when it came to stranger's homes. Waiting outside, he called out to Wendy.

"Oi gel, mind gettin' me a spot o' blanket t'dry m'poor, water logged self?" It was said in jest, of course; a sailor couldn't mind a speck of rain. Gods if this wasn't a pleasant shower compared to some of the squalls he'd weathered in the open ocean.

"Pish tosh," said Jerzy mockingly when Viator ordered him inside, grinning for the first time in several hours. He nodded to Keiyra. "Ye heard the man; best obey or he'll make us walk the plank, or somethin'..."

Truthfully, he was more than glad for the reprieve; he was freezing, and he knew Keiyra was, as well. It wouldn't hurt to let Viator take control for a moment.

Once she'd unhitched Beesly from the harness and tied the reigns to the nearest tree, Merry fled back into her kint, dancing around several accumulating puddles as she did.

She kicked her boots off close to the door, and then leaned her head out and shook it until the dreadlocks flapped soggily. "Ugh, this rain!"

Turning sideways, Merry inched past Shi, who was already pulling things together to make a meal, and made for her bed perched towards the back. She shed her soaked clothing and yanked on some warmer ones before lifting the hatch-like shutter on the nearest window and calling across to Jerzy's kint. "Oy, Jerz? You lot keepin' warm? I got me a stove in here, if anyone needs ta dry off. An' supper's on soon, if ya care ta join us!"

She shook her head in silent mirth. I'm surprised that ol' kint ain't leakin' yet...or if it is, i'm surprised none of 'em have said nothin' yet...

The stove was heating nicely, quicker than the older witch had expected. Despite her young age, Merry seemed to have a good grasp at tending her kint. That or her daoa had took a good round in it before she left. The rice soup was boiling nicely when the younger Laughing Sky came in.

Shi let the water and rice on the stove, and headed under the bed to pull out the blankets while Merry was on it.



"Don't give them ideas of a grand supper, rice soup isn't the tastiest thing around." Shi smiled to her host. "But it's hot, and quick to prepare, which are good things for tonight!" Merry could see the former bartender had pulled out an empty bowl, one of her best knives, and dried meat from her cupboards."That's a nice knife you got there! What do you use for a cutting board?"

[are...there stoves in kints?]

"We don't have--"

Anymore. Except the ones you've been making me wear.

With a mischievous grin she pulled them off the bed where she'd left them and handed them to him.

"Found some!" She said in her sweetest voice, and was only just in time to catch Merry's voice through the rain.

"She's asking if we're keeping warm and she says they have supper if we want to go over there." Wendy informed the rest of the people in the kint, wiping her nose on her arm after she'd sniffed.

[it's more of a cross between a clay chiminea (http://www.argos.co.uk/wcsstore/argos/i ... 64794M.jpg) and a clay stove burner (http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... urner.html). It "runs" on charcoal and/or wood, and Merry uses it to make her beads/jewelry as well as food/drink. It's about 3 ft. tall, considering that it rests on a 3-legged stand that prevents the floor from burning, and it's portable. I hope that makes sense...]



"Well, if they don't like it, then there's more fer you 'n' me," Merry replied, jovially nudging Shi with her elbow. "An' besides, I got a few spices here an' there that could make a bowl o' grass taste like top-notch vraun. Have fun findin' 'em, though, what with all that me daoa crammed in here..."



"Mujo ma - got it in Surwood a manna years back; watch out for the handle, though, it'll give ya a nasty blister. Here, wrap this towel around it. As fer a cuttin' board..." Merry turned around and fumbled with the edge of the counter, and a slat of smooth wood slid out from under the lip of the counter. "A nice touch me da added when we built it," she commented, a bit of sadness in her voice. But it was gone just as suddenly as it had appeared. "Well, if the others join us, it'll be a tight fit, but we'll all be warm and dry, no doubt..."

Once inside the kint, Jerzy sat down on the bunk, taking the blankets and wrapping Keiyra and himself tightly. They were both shivering furiously. "Bloody rain, eh? I don't have nothin' against rain, in general, but I do hate these two months. Y'know, they don't have this season in Mugroba. It's all summer, straight through to winter..."

The excitable young wick gestured in the air, as though painting a picture of the glorious warmth of the desert.

"But then they got things like sand fleas n' creepy crab-spiders an' whatnot," he admitted, grinning. "So I guess Anaxas ent too bad." He hugged Keiyra with one arm.

"You've been to Mugroba?" Wendy asked in awe. It all seemed like a hassle. She wanted to stay in one place, get a job, and just live thank you very much.

She poked her head out the door again for a moment, "WE'RE FINE OVER HERE. WE'LL BE OVER IN A FEW." She shouted, hoping Merry could hear her even though she'd gone back inside her own kint.

"What was it like? I mean-- besides being hot?"

Merry cocked her head, catching a voice drifting in beneath the wailing storm.

"WE'RE FINE OVER...WE'LL BE...A FEW..."

It sounded like the tail-end of an echo, but Merry understood, smiling. "Sounds like the gang'll be here in a bit," she commented to Shi, plunking herself down on the bed and pulling the quilted comforter back from the pillows and around her shoulders. "They're probably settlin' in, figurin' out sleepin' spots an' so on..."

She watched the older witch at work with the food, and inhaled the aromas of cooking with some over-exaggeration. "Ahhh, I know rice soup ent no real cause fer a caoja, but it smells benny right now!" A sudden memory of her mother cooking the same meal sprang into Merry's mind, and she hunkered down into the blanket, keeping her head down in case any tears came. But she managed to keep her emotions down with a firm, short swallow and sigh.

Can't be seen boo-hooin', chip - these folks got their own worries to deal with. They don't need no sob story of a homesick witch. An' besides, I made me decision, an' I'm stickin' with it...

But she knew the homesickness would be around for a while to come, so she began taking silent steps to cope.

Keiyra laughed a little, huddling closer to the damp wick. She loved his enthusiasm and humor. It was infectious.

"I ent sure I'd want to go to Mugroba, that sounds just awful. If I had to live somewhere of my choosing, it'd be warm but not hot, and there wouldn't be anything creepy crawly or bitey." The witch didn't particularly like bugs. Glancing around at the others, she noticed Wendy's tattoo's for the first time. Tilting her head slightly, she tried to recognize the work.

"Who gave you those chip? Ent like anyone's work I know."

[aussie yr awesome]

Wendy had long since stopped jumping at the sight of black ink in the corners of her vision so it took her a moment to figure out what exactly Keiyra was talking about. When she did realize it, however, the passive turned quite pink. What she wanted to do was immediately pull up her sleeves and act incredibly defensive. It was what her instincts told her to do.

For Jerzy's sake, she tried to act normal.

"Um. These?" It took an extraordinary amount of willpower to pull down her sleeves and show off the key and the rose on each of her arms.

"Aye, well...Petra did them for me." Her fingers traced part of the vine down her arm, and for a second Wendy looked as if she struggled against tears. The moment passed as quickly and as quietly as it had come.

"I'm going to go check and see if dinner's ready. Maybe you can tell me about Mugroba over dinner, Jerzy." She said in a falsely bright voice, and stepped out of the kint and into the rain without a blanket. Blast it all, she thought rebelliously, I don't need to be dry.

The cold jarred her out of the mood she'd been thrown in and she knocked on the door to Merry's kint.

Viator had dried himself off vaguely, only to remember the preparations for making camp that he'd forgotten. With a groan, he placed the blankets on the stoop, and go back out into the rain. He hobbled the kint with a large rock, anchoring it in more than one place, and went about lashing the windows. They'd done it that morning, but double checking was part of a sailor's life. It carried over to all other aspects.

He tried to wrap his head around living in a city, like Vienda or the lost and forgotten Brunnhold. Hands smoothing slick fur, he murmured his fears to the beast of burden.

"S'not like I ent been ina city afore, ye know? I've scuttled in manya port, e'en stayin' when there ent any berth fer a rigging man." His fingers played with the thickened hair of the partial mane. "I just ent used t'th'idea f stayin' in one fer longerana week er two. S'all fer Wendy, though, she ent up t'travel, she's a homebody plowfoot. She'd not know what t'do wiv herself on th'high seas."

Benny chomped at a mouthful of grass, and Viator took it as asent. "Yarr, m'laddo, ent fer her but this world. She knowsit. E'ev if it's just th'shadow o' all there is. Dze, Benny boy, ye ent got it in ye t'listen t'th'whinging o' a marooned saltie, have ye?" Giving Benny one last rubdown and stealing some of the kenser's body heat, Viator shiveringly walked his way back to Jerzy's kint, reaching for the blanket--

When the door swung open and hit him in the face, with a little more force than he'd reckon was needed to open it. Losing his balance, ankles slipping in the mud, the passive landed on his rear like a sack of potatoes. He bit back a callous retort when he saw it was Wendy stepping out into the rain, sans blanket or cover. Dem fool lassie, she'll get all sickened agin...

However, he said nothing. Instead his heart skipped a beat as the water began to soak through the shoulders of her short dress, making lines and spots down her back, outlining her waist through the now almost black fabric as she marched to the other kint, slight form...

He sat in the mud for a moment, shocked at is thoughts and unable to comprehend. He-- it-- this was Wendy, for the god's sakes! And he wasn't a-- eyes were yet lingering on her, the shiver she attempted to suppress, the light skin of her arm rapping on the kint. He would have at least been able to recognize a lightning strike, this was something alien and unwelcome. Clocking fuck... raking at the mud with clawed hands, he forced himself to move, climbing up with the help of the kint walls.

Standing out int he weather, watching Wendy, he let the rain wash the mud off his back and legs. The stains would remain, no matter how strong cleansing the downpour. Cursing internally, he grabbed his packs and walked over to where Merry and Haunenshi were warm and dry, hoping it was all the fault of hunger.
He couldn't think of anything to say to Wendy.

Merry blinked out of her thoughts at the sound of a light rapping on the door. Bounding up, still swathed in her comforter, the young witch ooched past Shi, waddled to the door and swung it open.

"Ach, Venadi!" she exclamed at the sight of the drenched young woman. "Come in, come in!" She nearly reached out and snagged Venadi's arm to pull her inside, but caught herself at the last possible second and turned the motion into an eager waving gesture. Slow it up, chip - don't babble again!

"Supper's on soon," she went on more slowly. "Sit there on the edge of the bed - it's warmer there. Don't want ya ta make that cold of yours worse." She pulled out another blanket from under the bed; it was made of soft cotton and went from yellow to magenta.

((http://www.imagine-words.com/graphics/b ... ed-max.png))

" 'Tis one of my favorites, this one," she commented, draping it around Venadi's shoulders. "It'll getcha dry good 'n' quick." She considered a sudden thought, and quickly decided to go with it. "I...eh...I'm sorry fer scarin' ya off earlier this morn. I must've sounded the fool, goin' on so fast..."

Another knock sounded at the door, and Merry paused with a grin. "Oop, here they all come." She motioned over her shoulder at the bed. "Like I said, Venadi, sit on the bed, an' don' worry about bein' wet..." And she hurried over to the door again.

"Come on in, kov," she called to the young man ducking from the rain. "I'll grab ye a blanket so ye can dry off. Get near the stove, too." She cocked her head a bit as he stepped inside. "I don't think Jerz introduced us, did he?"

And if you want heat from the inside, the rice is cooked.
Silently, letting Merry lead the conversation and waiting for Via's answer, Shi started filling bowls with rice soup and handing them over, along with the spoons. There were also bowls of thinly chopped dried meat, chopped chives, and curry (both of the latter from Merry's reserves), for those who wanted to season their soup with.

Once done, the older witch retreated from the stove with her own bowl (dried meat and chives for her), letting the wet people access to the warmer places. Two empty bowls and their spoons were waiting for Jerzy and his rosh. It was fun to see so many bowls and plates in a single's kint. Either Merry was even more a sociable person than Shi knew, or her daoa really had stocked her, and not only on food.

Shi caught herself staring at Merry, and turned away before being too impolite. She had noticed the youngster bout of sadness, even if Merry had been quick to hide it, like some well mannered girl, and was wondering about it. Being the oldest in the kint, she couldn't help feeling a bit motherly.

But Merry was an adult, and Shi was not going to embarrass her in front of her friends. She decided to think about the knife instead. How she could improve it. Having to use this towel around it made it less precise, which was a shame because the blade was very good. Perhaps a larger handle would give a better grip, avoiding the blisters?

Wendy had flinched away from Merry's outgoing hand and was particularly relieved that the woman didn't touch her.

"Don't have a cold." She grumbled, sniffing loudly. Her voice even sounded a little nasal. She went to sit on the edge of the bed, glad to be out of the rain. She glanced down at her shoulders and pulled the shawl up jealously, wishing fervently that she could cover her tattoos up more. They felt private. Wendy got her wish when Merry pulled out a-- was it a blanket? The colours made her eyes water and Wendy nodded gratefully.

She was reminded very suddenly of the festival she had just left. This time, there was nostalgia in the memory of the horrid colours that had so plagued her the time she'd been there.

"It's fine. I mean. You were fine. I mean you spoke um. Fine. I just got startled." Wendy muttered lamely, wishing she had a better excuse for her reaction. Other than the 'oh god I hate people just stay away from me' one.

Wendy smiled vaguely at Shi. It was the sort of smile people wore when they recognized someone but weren't very good friends enough. Not all the way real, not all the way fake. Merry still didn't get any smiles. She was still a stranger in Wendy's eyes.

"That's Viator. I'll say it for him acos he'll botch the letters if he does. He's been sailing too long." She grinned at him teasingly (a real smile this time, and the two witches could tell).

That was enough to convince Merry. Venadi was still uncomfortable with her. Heck, if she hadn't been, that strained smile she directed at Shi would've been sent at Merry, too.

Merry remembered Shi's words from earlier that day, and decided she had said her peace. At least the chip knows I've got good intentions, she thought resignedly. But like Shi said, who knows about them Black Hand... And her internal self shrugged and threw up her hands.

"Viator, eh? An' a sailor, too? Ye probably have some good stories then, eh?"

He'd entered the kint, rather dripping, his entire person seeming lost for a moment. Then, with practiced ease, he smeared a small grin across his face, loosened his shoulders. Nothing about him belied the strange thoughts that found harbor in the relative safety of his mind.

"Yarr, a sailor an' a explorer, atcher service." He nodded politly, pulling at his forelock before seating himself kitty corner from Wendy. "Alas, th'stories I lay ownership t'aren't anyfing t'discuss on cold an'dreary nights." His entire demeanor was calm, collected, friendly. If not for Wendy, he was sure it would be honest. However, the clinging memory of her in the rain bothered him.

Still, for their benefit, he tried to wrack his brain for a good story. Aha! With a shrug, he settled himself in like a storyteller, his tone imparting the sound of a fairy tale. "Ye ladies e'er heard o'Uliam, in Mugboba?" His eyes twinkled, hoping for someone to bite the bait.

"Mugroba." Wendy corrected automatically. She picked at a hangnail and pulled the eye catching blanket closer around herself, glad the stove in the kint was there to warm them.

Merry rubbed her nose across her sleeve, hiding the brief snerk at Viator's pronounciation. But she was very interested in the story, nevertheless.

"I ent heard it," she commented, her face brightening. "It'll be a good distraction from this grubby ol' weather; I ent heard a tale from Mugroba in a fair amount o' time." She hoisted the quilt around her and curled up on the nearest window seat. "Grab a blanket if'n ya need it, Viator, an' let's hear this yarn..."

Viator shot an odd glance at Wendy for the correction. He'd said Mugroba, hadn't he? Anyway, it didn't matter. He accepted the offered blanket, and with a warm if confused smile covered up. Running a hand through still wet hair, he shook it out and felt somewhat better. Running cold hands over the softness of the woven cloth, the sailor began to speak, not quite looking at his audience.

"Well lassies, it's been mant manna year since I been t'the innards of Mugroba." he placed special emphasis on the word, a glimpse at Wendy being his only recognition of her correction. "But I remember clear as th'day oi first caught sigh o'th white sands, an lemme tell ye, ent nothing loike bein' out an' about in th'desert. S'like there ent nuthin livin fer miles, yet there's screams in th'night t'tell ye, ye ent alone.

"Now I was a younger buckoe, ent more'n twenty an' one years under mah belt an it seemed less, when th'crew o'th'Silver Suba had t'ship from th'Hesse harbor of Sheflar t'the Old Rose an then t'th'Muluku Isles, an' it weren't a sweet passage lemme tell ye." He took a moment to grin rakishly, piratical even by his own standards. He hadn't been in such warm company in the months since setting foot on dry land. "By th'time we landed in th'main harbor, out ship was ruint. Storms 'ad ripped out sails t'bandages, and lucky they were else th'survivors o'th'pirate rais woulda been wivout, ye chen? I Fewa th'scare on m'poor back were from tha'particular battle, but thas another tale.

"As it were, we had a shipment an' barely a ship. So, our gods fine captain, th'only golly I ever tipped m'hat to wiv a smile, one Cap'n Olarne Efven, 'cided we were t'walk th'cargo across th'lands. Shoring th'Suba in port, he used his own fund t'buy a caravan an we were off inte th'deserts."

At this he paused, and with a dog-like smile, turned big indigo eyes on Merry. "Ye ent gotta spot o' summat wet an' derlicious fer an' old teller o' tales, d'ye? M'poor throats gone all sandy rememberin'."