Chapter 6: [LIGHT] C006 – Cold fires, warm hearts, lukewarm greetings.

We spend a few hours keeping the shore in eyeshot as we head further around south-west towards the mountains. Several times during the hike we come upon various ruins, mostly scraps of metal poking out of the ground or random chunks left around rusted and forgotten. There seems to have been attempts made in the past with some of these to build onto them but judging by the areas there was possibly some kind of war.

We spend another day trekking west as we come up to the start of a large forest. We decide to camp on the edge for the final night outside of the forest before we head into the mountains. I've been keeping an eye on the map each time it has been pulled out, updating my biochips map with more accurate information. The entire area is uninhabited but small warnings of potential forest natives are echoed by the group members.

As we set up our campsite I notice Turi acting strangely again, this time she sits beside me instead of standing away from me as usual. She stares straight ahead, ignoring everyone else completely as she begins to hum softly to herself. Meanwhile I keep her in the corner of my eye, trying to not show confusion on my face.

The camp ends up with people grouping up in their more familiar groups with the exception of Turi who chose to sit next to me for some reason. Hadrian seems to be ducking in and out of conversations with each group, meanwhile people like Luvon sit there silently listening to the chatter.

At some point I realise Turi is humming softly but faster than normal, almost like she's singing as she gets out a block of wood and starts carving away at it. Every few minutes she contributes the wood shavings to the fire while keeping her eyes closed for the most part while continuing her task. At one point she opens her eyes briefly, seeing me staring at her, she closes them again and continues working. Her actions remind me of someone playing a musical instrument, but I can't quite place why it reminds me of that.

Hadrian eventually gets around to our little group, talking a bit quieter as he addresses me, "So Meidu, how does it feel having joined us? Are you enjoying yourself?"

Looking at him curiously I respond, "Yeah, it feels good, actually. Everyone here seems nice, especially considering the circumstances." I glance over at Turi before continuing, "Is everything okay with her? Is she alright?" I gesture towards Turi without saying anything, hoping he knows what I mean.

He chuckles lightly, "Oh no, Turi isn't bothered by anyone. She just gets inspiration at times and will put most of her focus on it for a while before coming back to us." He pauses for a moment before adding, "She tends to be a bit serene when in silence. It's hard to say whether she prefers being silent or not because she doesn't tend to talk much anymore, but she definitely enjoys her solitude when possible."

Leaning forwards, I rest my chin on my hands resting atop my knees, "That makes sense, I guess. So, what should we expect in terms of difficulty in the forests? Or…are there any dangers we need to be aware of?" I pause for a second before continuing, "I also don't know exactly what you are aiming for, I've not been guiding us yet but you want me to point out potential sites? What happens after that?"

Smiling slightly he replies, "Yes, exactly. Well, this time around we plan to set up a base camp deeper into the mountains close to some of the places you might have found, the specifics are more to be worked out when we get there. From there we intend to explore different parts of the region, your help will be invaluable in the next step. Once we have established ourselves better and gotten closer to the core location of whatever is happening we'll hopefully find something useful."

There is a brief period of quiet between us before I ask, "What do you think happened to the previous explorers?"

"Who knows," he responds thoughtfully, "I imagine many died, maybe they simply ran into something worse than they expected."

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I lean forward, propping myself up on both elbows, "Are you planning on doing anything special once we establish a new base? Will you try and contact the other people?" I tilt my head slightly, waiting for his response.

"No," he answers instantly, shaking his head. "I doubt anyone else would be spending such a long time out here without a goal in mind."

Shrugging, I reply, "Fair enough. Would you like me to scout ahead or stay near you?"

Raising his eyebrows, he leans forwards as well, placing his hands on his knees as he thinks for a moment. Eventually he shakes his head and says, "I think for now it is best if you stay near us, anything going wrong would spend time we don't have if we needed to stop to locate you quickly. Once we have reached the fixed camp location you can explore a lot more freely though."

A few cheers from others in the camp as a few mugs of some ale are passed around, the energy mellows out as people start separating to their tents for rest. As I finish my own mug, I lay down on my sleeping bag and curl up, pulling it tightly around me as I drift off to sleep.

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My eyes flutter open slowly, feeling groggy and tired as I blink several times until I can finally make out my surroundings. Everything seems hazy as I sit upright, rubbing my forehead before looking around. Looking down I spot the empty cup lying on its side nearby, the contents gone. That explains why I felt so sluggish last night. Attempting to stand up I run into a conflict with the tent being only large enough to crawl in. After a bit of fighting I manage to extract myself from the tent without damaging anything important inside and stumble out into the damp morning air. I've been told I don't need to help with the watch but I think it might just be that I'm too new to be trusted with that type of task.

Grabbing my gear, I take a seat by the fire pit, taking a swig of water and wiping my mouth clean with the sleeve of my jacket. Watching the flames dance as they burn merrily, I let my thoughts wander as I wait patiently for breakfast to cook. My stomach grumbles loudly, making me grin awkwardly as I realise how hungry I really am.

While sitting there I hear voices approaching and look up to see Turi walking towards me, carrying a large bundle of food items in her arms as she heads over to her cooking stone to prepare the groups meals. Not wanting to interrupt her concentration I continue watching the flames dancing across the logs in front of me, occasionally throwing in a handful of twigs whenever I see them getting low. A couple of times I catch her glancing over at me before returning to her work, but otherwise she keeps focused on her meal prep.

After a short while the sounds of chopping cease and I look over to see Turi handing plates full of food out to those gathered around the fire pit. The nearby fire stopping the chill of the morning air as we dig in, eating hungrily as we all devour our meals. Soon everyone finishes, leaving their empty meal kits which we wash off a bit with some water and using leaves to wipe it out.

And so we continue to our goal, my anticipation building for what I can find in the future.

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