Camping

 “Alright, you're all set,” Charlotte remarked, back to her dour self as she looked over the bag of food before handing it to Clair.

The night had been comfortable and warm, the three of them sleeping side by side in a bed easily large enough for two. They were able to fully spread out without even touching, though Clair awoke at one point to remove the little foot that had found its way into her face, too tired to look whose it was. Mumps was already groggy when they had pulled into the room for a proper, better sleep, and the state remained until the next morning as Charlotte woke them up a little after the sunrise, giving them a full night's rest for the first time in a few days. She had made sure they were well fed too before leaving, a quick but hearty breakfast of oatmeal, berries, and dried meat filling them for the trip. The bag she gave them was similarly filled with bread, berries, and a little more dried meat, enough to feed them for at least two full days if Clair had to guess.

“It's a decent walk. If you don't make it in a day, and you may not by now, you'll have to make camp for the night. Sleep in shifts,” she said sternly, giving the three of them a stare. “And when you meet Regidor, eventually, tell him to get his rear back here sometime... he owes me still,” she grumbled, the last part seemingly tacked on as an afterthought.

“I... I don't know what to say,” Clair responded, awkwardly holding the bag close to her. She was dressed again for the journey. Charlotte had taken the liberty of washing their cloaks at least, getting the blood out of most of it except a bit of Mumps' tail end in the back where it had too heavily soaked and stained. The book bag was tied twice to her belt, extra secure under her cloak.

“No need to say much. If he does come back here though, you're free to tag along with him, or on your own, any of you, doesn't matter which,” she shrugged, downplaying the open invitation as she seemed to ramble on a bit.

“I... I think you should have this,” Clair spoke up. She quickly widened the opening of her book bag and felt inside. Each of the spines were distinct to her, their thickness and binding familiar to her touch after the years of reading them. Her hand brushed against the one she was looking for and she fished it out, handing it to Charlotte.

The old woman's eyes widened as she looking at it, slowly reaching out and accepting the gift. She ran her fingers over the writing on the front, “#5 Extensions of layered runes” and smiled softly before quickly dropping it. “...Thank you, I'll study it plenty,” she nodded before setting it down on her table. She held her arms out wide for a second before bringing them back in, simply putting a gentle hand on Clair's shoulder. “...Be safe, kid. The world's rough enough as it is. It sounds like you may have already taken a good portion of it but that never means it's about to run out of difficulties,” she told her, looking down to the twins as well. Measles quickly stepped forward, hugging her without saying a word. Charlotte just sighed before wrapping an arm around her back and then pulling in Clair for a hug as well and ruffling Mumps' hair, not leaving him out as he politely stood back. “Now, don't dally. You should leave soon to keep as much sunlight as you can,” she quickly said, almost pushing them to the door. The twins ducked ahead of Clair, Mumps opening the door and scurrying out after his sister, followed by Clair herself. “Farewell, you three. Don't be reckless,” she waved them off as the three waved back. Mumps stopped, turning back to the cabin and giving a stiff, formal bow. Charlotte just rolled her eyes.

“Thank you, for everything,” Clair called back as the kept walking, waving a final time as Mumps quickly caught back up. “We'll be sure to see you again.”

The door closed behind them as they walked several paces away. None of them noticed the curtain shifting, allowing Charlotte to watch them until the trees swallowed them from her view.

They walked on, relaxed and in high spirits, not talking about much. At least, the girls weren't talking about much, lightly chatting while Mumps remained silent. He was staring around, eyes occasionally turning from side to side. His cloak and hood were pulled back, the looser button holding it to his neck while it hung behind him like a cape, his arms fully exposed.

“What's got you quiet?” Measles finally asked him, slowing down and running around behind Clair to pace beside her brother.

“Hmm... I'm not sure. I just feel... reflective...” he slowly said, sounding pensive.

“About what?” Clair chimed in, suspecting the answer already.

“Well, miss Clair, we lived in that tower for approximately seventeen years, according to my count. I had never thought I would feel daylight on my skin again... I forgot how warm it was,” he smiled. “When we ran, well... I was a little too preoccupied with everything to take it in... but it's nice. Gingle,” he grinned pleasantly.

“Heh, gingle,” Clair chuckled. “...I really am happy that you're okay. It was a little touch and go there,” she awkwardly forced a chuckle, trying to break the tension of the memory. “I mean, you swore in a word I'd never even heard before.”

His head twisted, quickly jerking up to her as his face scrunched in confusion. “...most likely, miss Clair, given the situation,” he laughed a bit forcefully too.

“What does 'Helkait' even mean anyways? I haven't heard you say it before,” she went on.

Mumps froze for a second, eyes wide as he stood still before stepping in double time to keep up. “It... just means 'girl',” he said slowly. “I must not have been thinking to use such a word so informally; my apologies.” He dipped his head slightly as he apologized to her.

“No, no!” Clair quickly said. “You're always so polite to me, unlike... that one,” Clair smirked as she stared at Measles, who responded by maturely sticking her tongue out at her.

“I mean, you don't have to add 'miss' in front of my name all of the time; you can just call me 'Clair', like Measles does,” she told him with a smile. It was a repeated offer, one she had extended multiple times, to which he indirectly turned down in equal number. This time though, she thought his answer might be different given their circumstances.

“Miss Clair,” he spoke directly, no chuckle or distraction like before, “When you were born, you were entrusted to us. We goblins, from what I barely remember, serve humans. The ones that taught me to speak your language, and some of my own, were dignified and proper, referring to their masters as 'sir' and 'miss'. So, with all due respect and appreciation of your offer, I will continue to address you all the same, miss Clair, like a proud and proper goblin,” he smiled warmly, and Clair couldn't help but reciprocate as she saw him beaming with pride.

“Oh? And what does that make me? I still call her Clair!” Measles asked with a laugh, owning her casual tone.

“The younger sibling,” Mumps laughed.

Measles was shocked, surprised she had opened herself up like that, and Clair couldn't help but laugh as well. “Hey! That was... well played,” she conceded, their spirits too lifted in the moment for her to even pretend to be angry.

§

They kept walking for a few more hours, pacing themselves for the journey. It would have been a bit easier for Clair, her longer legs with a greater stride. Unfortunately, having lived in the tower with its smooth stone floors all of her life, she struggled to adapt to the uneven terrain of rocks, roots, and natural debris. The twins easily kept up, sometimes pulling ahead before slowing as Clair turned her body and ankles to step over small obstacles that the twins' shorter height helped them skip right over.

They broke their streak to have a snack, drink, and short fifteen minute rest, agreeing that they would eat after the sun went down after making camp for the night. They walked for another few hours until the sun cast its red light and long shadows from the right of them. Seeing no end to the trees ahead of them, they knew they would have to stop and continue in the morning, picking a small clearing that would serve well enough for a fire. Mumps and Clair groaned as they collapsed onto a fallen log in their spot, their legs feeling like jelly, stiff and sore. Measles smirked as she jogged on the spot just to spite them.

“I guess this is what I get for a lifetime of field work,” she laughed, slapping the back of her thighs in mockery at them before running off to gather some good sticks for the fire.

“...Sure you're still the older one?” Clair huffed slowly, slow deep breathes chasing her words.

“...Oh shut up... miss Clair,” Mumps groaned back in a similar tired tone of voice, his regular airs slipping with fatigue. He wiped the sweat off his brow, groaning at the unfamiliar sticky sensation that he knew was second nature to Measles during the harvest. “...I'm never telling her she got the easy job... ever again...”

“...Agreed...”

The two of them laid there as the sun dipped lower and lower. Measles returned ten minutes later, dumping a bundle of sticks in the centre. “Guys, we have to get a fire going; it's almost dark out!” she urged them, dragging Clair to her feet.

“Yes, I'm on it, I'm on it,” Clair repeated herself as she got up at Measles' prodding. She walked over to a large flat rock near the centre of the clearing and pulled a rock out of one of the cloak pockets. She started etching into the flat rock, wearing down the one in her hand as it left line markings on the surface. Within a couple minutes she had drawn the two ringed rune to create fire. “So, this one creates the flame from nothing, and this one transfers the energy to accelerate it...” she spoke aloud to herself, linking what she knew before to what Charlotte taught her when she happened upon this same rune earlier. “So this is the north rune and the east rune, according to her. If that's the case, then if I draw this here...”

“Nope, no time for that,” Measles said as her little clawed hand shot out of the near dark to pull back Clair's wrist, about to experiment with the modifying the rune. “We need the fire now; you can play with different runes later.” She laid a thick stick beside the stone, the end propped just over top of the rune.

“Hmph, fine,” Clair pouted, annoyed that she was close to trying something new but didn't have the time for it. She slightly adjusted the stick to centre it more then put her index and middle finger on the edge of the rune. The magic flowed smoothly, quickly lighting up the marking and then the stick itself as the end was engulfed in flame.

Measles happily took the impromptu torch and added it on top of half of the stack of small pieces of wood, the rest set aside. “That should last us for a while, though we may need to grab more to make it to morning,” she sighed. She glanced around the campsite, seeing Mumps already grabbing sticks and dried leaves that he could see with the firelight, the sun leaving them for the night. “Good good; stack them here,” she indicated to him and he just nodded, doubling the reserve pile quickly as she tore off what she could of the bark from the fallen log.

Clair meanwhile pulled out the bag of food. “We should save some for tomorrow, obviously, but there's plenty here. Charlotte must've been generous... or thought we definitely wouldn't make it in the day.”

“Probably both,” Measles spoke up as she grabbed some meat and bread, biting into each eagerly. Mumps silently looked over the food that Clair laid out on the new stripped log, the wood dry and smooth underneath. He grabbed a few pieces, favouring the berries his sister neglected, and sat down on the ground, back against another tree so he was facing the girls on the log.

Clair was the first to break the dinner silence, washing a few bites down with a sip from the second water skin Charlotte gave them. “So... you told Charlotte that I was a goblin slave...?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Measles, not that it could be clearly seen in the firelight.

“What? No, of course not.... I told her you were a human slave, obviously,” she smirked impishly; Clair didn't have to see her to be able to tell.

“Why?” Clair just asked back, holding up a hand in genuine confusion, ignoring the joke.

“Well, it seems to me, now that we're out, that we may have been victims of very suspicious circumstances.”

“You mean the fact that we were held prisoner by a dragon that should have been extinct about twenty years ago?” Mumps questioned, the sarcasm lacking from his tone but the meaning just as clear without it.

“You were awake for that?” Measles turned to him surprised.

“In and out. Point is, I heard her say that we're too young to have ever seen a living dragon. So, what was one doing there, keeping us hostage...?” he trailed off. “...don't look at me like that, I don't know either. But it appears to be a very odd situation nonetheless. At least one that we should keep to ourselves for now. Fortunately Measles was quick enough to change the story and play it off as an excuse as soon as Charlotte told her it was impossible,” he reasoned. “...And don't worry, miss Clair, I would never say that you were a human, or goblin, slave.”

“...Thanks,” Clair remarked dryly. “I suppose that makes sense though. At least to have a different story, I mean,” she agreed, coming around to the logic of the lie.

“Yes, and Charlotte did say we would need some reason to enter the capital. I mean, we could just say we're travelling to meet Regidor,” Mumps suggested, proposing the most straightforward and honest solution.

“Mmm, nn-nn,” Measles hummed. “I don't know, that just doesn't sound official... I know! You could say you're a travelling merchant and we're your servants!” she clapped excitedly, getting into character. “Just days of walking on the road, fighting off bandits and lugging our wares...” she started deepening her voice slightly. “Miss Clair, need more feed for your saddlehorse, or someone to pull the cart?”

“Bwahaha!” Clair burst out laughing, caught off guard by the act and almost choking.

“Aye! I walk this land all the year; hunt what I can, sell the pelts.” Measles was pacing back and forth, waving her hands, flaunting imaginary small furs. “Aye, just a humble hunter and merchant!”

“Oh my goodness, please stop!” Clair laughed, almost falling off the log at the goofy impression. “Who are you even pretending to be???”

“Oh, I know!” Mumps let out a chuckle. “It was the man that showed up twice during our first year... we, uh... never did tell you about him...” he looked down, a bit awkwardly, his expression confused between nervous and something else. “-But only because it was so unusual and we had no idea what to make of it. I had forgotten all about him.”

“Wait, there was another human around?!” Clair asked, sitting up straight, laughter gone in an instant of surprise.

“...It was so long ago,” Measles answered. “He was the one that taught me to hunt and to plant the seeds; left me with the cookbook too, which Mumps read for me until I knew it. But he never told us anything about why we were there or himself. Not even a name. Of course, you were only an infant, so we didn't expect you to remember him.”

“But... why not tell me about it?”

“What's to tell, miss Clair?” Mumps responded with a bored shrug, refusing to directly legitimize the question. “We thought we would be stuck there for the rest of our lives; he said as much. So we agreed not to tell you when you got older. Didn't want to give you hope...” he said, quieting slowly. “But I guess you found that yourself,” he chuckled.

“Still, you should have told me!” she snapped, the praise doing nothing to placate her.

“But,” Measles tried to reason, “if we had, then you might have tried to esca-!”

“AND MAYBE WE WOULD BE FREE ALREADY!” she screamed, rage growing as she rose to her feet.

“Clair!” she pleaded. “We didn't want to keep it a secret! But we had to!”

“WHY!? WHY WAS THAT SO IMPORTANT THAT I NEVER KNOW!?!” Clair stomped over to her, standing over her and glaring almost straight down. Her face was twisted, anger that she didn't know she held bubbling up at the thought of how this might have impacted her life.

“I-I didn't-I mean-we-” she stuttered, fumbling desperately for words she didn't have.

“Because the dragon ate you!”

Clair froze, slowly turning to Mumps after what he had just blurted out. “...what?” she just asked, dumbstruck.

“Wait, Mumps, we agreed-”

“She has to know, Measles. We can't just-”

“Then I'll tell her,” she cut her brother off. “I was more to blame than you.” Clair stepped back, not sure what they were talking about but patiently waiting to hear them out. “...Clair, do you remember the first time you tried to leave the tower?”

“You mean when I was six and opened the door and you paddled my rear so hard that I still remember it?” she replied through gritted teeth, eyebrow raised with a look of annoyance.

Measles gulped, wringing her hands together. “That... was the second time. You were just two years old, you see... and I had accidentally left the door open while tending the field. I didn't even realize and Mumps was busy taking care of something; we had gotten the schedule mixed up...”

“...mhm?...” Clair prodded, worried where this was going.

“Well, you must've been looking for us, and when you saw me outside, you ran out to me. I didn't even notice you until the dragon swooped down... and grabbed you in its mouth...” she slowly recalled, tearing up at the memory.

Clair froze, paling as she realized the what Measles was telling her. “So then... how...?”

“...It spat you out,” Mumps eventually spoke up, seeing his sister unable to continue telling the story. “...you were bloody and bruised, cut all over and having trouble breathing when it finally let you out. It was... like it was warning us. 'This is what will happen if you try and escape'... and it nearly kept its word,” he grimaced, glancing down at his leg.

“I... I see...” Clair gritted her teeth as the truth she hadn't know stirred in her mind, stabbing at her thoughts. “You... you lied to me. You told me that we were all alone there. Were always alone there,” she growled, turning away from them. She felt a small hand grab at her leg. She turned and slapped it away angrily, only to see Measles still reaching for her, tears now fully formed and running down her cheeks.

“Clair, please, we're sorry. We... we never wanted to risk it happening again, not before you were ready. And we nearly weren't,” she added on, glancing at the silent Mumps, who wore a grimace that could barely be seen in the dancing shadows. “It wasn't right for us to not tell you, but we promise: no more lies.”

Clair swallowed anxiously, unsure if it was smoke in the air making it difficult. As she looked down at Measles and Mumps, pangs of guilt hit her for blowing up at them. They were the ones that had to live with the memory, she tried to understand. Not me, and they had chosen to keep that stress and fear away from me.

“We may have been wrong for keeping it from you, and for reacting the way I did when you were a little older,” Measles apologized as Clair turned back to them, the firelight obscuring her features.

“No, I... I don't know. You two tried to protect me. And I can't hold that against you,” she said, anger melting away. She slowly bent down and hugged Measles. “Oh, come here too,” she chuckled, pulling in Mumps who almost tripped in surprise. “You two raised me. I have you to thank for everything ...but no more secrets, okay?” she said with a smirk as she stood back up.

“Y-yeah!” Measles nodded, wiping her damp face as Mumps nodded in agreement.