Chapter 34: When the Fire Dies Out

The four awoke to a cold, bitter morning with little sunlight.

Clove was the first to sit up while the rest rubbed their eyes. She shivered, bundled her traveling blanket over her shoulders, and hung a small cast-iron cooking plate on the tallest sticks that made the fire pit. After Clove gave a few quick, breathy blows on the smoldering embers, the fire smoked back up and ignited the remaining kindling.

Ike set a few more branches they'd found in the crag over the fire, along with some thin roots he plucked from weeds along the trail. He was about to comment on how sleeping near moss and on a bed of rocks did wonders for his back, and how he felt like a kid again, but he saw Clove's frown, and how she shook off the night's aches and pains, then decided against it. Not everybody was as accustomed to the woods as him, and finally Ike was feeling as if he was in his proper element, away from expensive, impractical clothing.

He also felt like nothing helped to flip a frown to a smile