The more Davin circled the tent, the more it felt that he was at the circus waiting for them to open up to the public for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, in his head the iconic tune that was so favored by clowns ran on repeat. He found himself chanting 'afro circus' under his breath as he walked. Wondering how mad Jes would be if he introduced cotton candy to this world without her being there to try the first batch. His Survival skill was pulling its weight tonight, not having had a chance to forage while they were moving at the faster pace of the wagons, he was taking full advantage of the lingering light as well as the pure variety of things that were around them, Dandelions were one of his favorites, looking forward to some tea and sautéed greens. Davin had no idea how long it had been, but by the time that cadence had found him, he'd almost filled the empty bag that he'd taken to carrying with him while he foraged.

"Where did you find all of that?" cadence eyed his bag skeptically.

"Huh?" Davin jumped, having been startled by Cadence's approach, looking down, surprised to see how full his bag had gotten. "I was foraging."

"I can see that, get a little distracted?" They looked around with their hand on their brow, as if they were attempting to see off into the distance.

"Eh, no more than usual." He shrugged as he said it.

"You're supposed to be on watch." Lightly chastising him.

"I am, there was a bear, two wolves, and half a dozen deer that stopped in to look at what's going on here."

"A bear!?" Cadence asked in surprise.

"Yup, they wandered back towards the river, I think that they were drawn in by the noise."

"why didn't you let anyone know?" A tone of annoyance in their voice.

"About the animals?" Confusion was thick in his voice. "I mean, they're just animals, I'd be surprised if at least a few of them didn't stop by to see what we were doing."

"How did you know that they weren't dangerous?" their tone fell to a stage whisper.

"Eh, animals are only dangerous if you invade their space, they were just curious since we didn't have anything that they'd want." Feeling like he was narrating a nature documentary. The look of confusion that was painted on Cadence's face made Davin pause. "Are you okay?"

"You are way too confident for someone who is still so new to this world."

"Eh, animals are still animals, I honestly doubt that most monsters will be looking to eradicate all the people, plus it feels like there is a voice in my head telling me that they aren't dangerous unless I get in their way, I'm guessing it’s the Ranger levels."

"Oh, I forgot that you were planning that, I don’t know many that have opted to take more than one class, there tends to be conflict."

"I heard of some of that, but I'm banking on synergy more than anything else."

"Synergy? What kind of synergy is there between Rogues and Rangers?"

"There is lots, most of it is the hunting and skill utility."

"Rogues don't hunt, do they?" Cadence asked, confused by the whole scenario.

"Depends on how you look at it, hunting for treasure and targets totally falls into the purview of a Rogue. For Rangers, it's the same skills, just outside rather than inside."

"You see Rogues as inside and Rangers as outside?"

"More or less, I know there is far more nuance to it, but basically." Davin was starting to feel like he had said something stupid.

"Hmmm, that isn't far from what most see them as…"

"Haha." Davin laughed, thinking about the pure absurdity of it all. "Weirdly that doesn’t surprise me."

"But it is my turn to take watch, Hugh and I agreed that we would take longer watches tonight since you walked all day." They patted Davin on the shoulder.

"Hugh is getting hungry?" Davin asked as chuckled some more.

Cadences laughed as well. "Yes, that too."

Davin wandered back to the place that they'd picked as their camp spot, Hugh having built the tent and started a fire, or at least Davin assumed it was him, but he wouldn’t put the idea of Cadence doing all the work past him, they seemed like they were fairly well versed in all things travel, having acted as the main go-between of them and the caravan leader. When Davin found Hugh he was shoulders deep in the trunk, having pulled nearly everything out from it. Several piles surrounded him, each of the piles seeming to belong to an individual while others were what seemed to be some of the shared items such as the food. The equipment that he'd been carrying around was all neatly stacked and he had a series of brushes and rags out, Davin could only assume that he was cleaning the tools. Seeing all of his cooking implements neatly stacked, he scooped them up, pulling out some of the dried goods that he'd processed.

He set up a broth, with some of the herbs that he had found previously, he knew that he'd get a nice flavor out of it. They didn’t have much for meats, even though he had gotten a few sets of dried meats while they were in town, he didn’t want to use them all up so soon, so adding some of the fresh tubers and dandelion roots to his already simmering broth. Slicing several thin slices of meat he poured some of the broth onto them, wanting to rehydrate them before he started cooking with them, the rich savory smells tickled his nose. Setting up his newest collection of herbs to dry by the fire, the rich fragrances filled the air, when Davin had looked up from his cutting board, Hugh was hovering inches from the soup, sniffing deeply.

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Davin jumped back, having zoned out while he was cooking. "Gah!" He yelled. "What the hell Hugh?!"

"Are those dandelions?" A look of confusion locked on his face.

"Yes? You're not allergic to them are you?" Davin asked as he continued to lean back.

"Are we going to eat them?" Skepticism in his eyes.

"I feel like I'm repeating myself, but yes…" He felt as though he was missing something.

"I didn't know that you could eat them," Hugh stated as he sat next to Davin.

"You've seen what I can find in the wilderness, why does this one surprise you?" Davin leaned back into his prep work.

"Yes, but they are everywhere… never knew that they were edible." Shrugging as he started stirring the soup.

"There are a lot of common things that tend to get overlooked for their potential. They make for a good tea, and wine, and the whole thing is edible." Davin trailed off feeling like he was pulling a Bubba Gump.

"Hmm, you know, that is a good point, usually some of the best things are usually ignored. I know that I have found a few more uses for a few of the spells that I have due to just talking with you. For instance, did you know that my frost spell lets me freeze a small amount of water with each casting, I haven't made a block of ice yet, but I think I could cobble together an icebox for you so we could pack up some butter." Frost rippled over Hugh's fingers, a slight mist trailing from them.

With that, Davin perked up, his mind starting to race. "Do we know if any of the metal workers have found aluminum?"

"I don't know what that is, but metallurgy isn't one of my fortes." Hugh raised an eyebrow as he looked at Davin. "Why?"

"It makes for a good insulator, but I think I can come up with something that will work later, at this point, I think we need to start looking into a wagon or a cart, this was pretty hand." Davin reached aback, patting the sideboards of the wagon that the others rode all day long.

"They aren't cheap, and not all of the wilds are reachable by road. We could likely scoop up a cart and a pony for a handful of Onyx tokens."

"I think that it would be a worthwhile investment, then you don’t have to keep making the same ritual over and over again."

"That is a good point, we could also make better time. Do you know how to drive a wagon?" Hugh looked at the wagon that they'd been on.

"No, but I think we could get a simple handle on it, I learned how to drive in my previous life, assuming we get a good horse or two. Plus, I doubt that we'll be doing anything too high-risk."

Hugh stared at Davin. "You did not honestly just say that did you?"

"Huh?" Davin asked absentmindedly.

"You just said that you doubt we'd be doing anything high-risk. I have known you a week and you’ve already gotten us trapped into a pocket dimension, strange mutant dogs, and now we are on our way north to try and find a wandering monster, of who knows what else."

Davin had a wide smile, chuckling lightly. "I think that I've been a bad influence on your way of thinking."

Hugh narrowed his eyes. "I feel like you're making me paranoid."

"A healthy amount of paranoia is healthy." Davin chuckled again, pulling out a bowl and dished up a heaping serving. "Here, eat, we can save the paranoia for later."

Hugh continued to grumble while he ate, glaring at Davin from time to time between spoonfuls of food. Cadence was excited to see the soup when they'd came to sit down for a break, digging into the still-hot soup with glee. When it was Hugh's turn to take up watch, he continued to grumble as he walked into the night.

"Get some rest, I'm still surprised that you're on your feet." Cadence chided Davin as he cleaned up the dinner dishes.

"I slept most of the two days away, I was a little stir-crazy, so I was glad to shake my legs out." Davin stood and stretched. "Now that you mention it, sleep does sound like a good idea, but I have one last thing to check." Davin pulled out his logbook and opened it to the most recent message.

Twentieth entry:

I see you are moving, the edge of the season is more than a hundred miles away, you should reach it in a few days. Be safe, I don't know the size of your opponents or their number. Keep me notified of any changes. -C

Seeing that the single note was a distance gave Davin a bit of relief, but the idea of spending the next few days in the wagon wasn't entirely exciting, remembering his youth of many long hours stuck in a car, cramped, usually in some phase of motion sick. Sleep took him shortly have his head landed on the bag that he'd decided to use as a pillow, memories of his formal life filling his mind.

Davin felt it was a dream, but a part of him wanted to be real, the bad music played, knees aching from having sat for several hours, the endless stretches of fields rushing by, his fingers dancing on the window sill jumping over the obstacles that ran along the road. Letting out a sigh, he tried to move, but he couldn’t, stuck in the memory he listened to his mother sing along to the radio, off key and off pace, but enjoying it all the same, wanting to let out a cry of anguish but all he could do was stare out the window, fingers bouncing along.

When Davin woke, his eyes burned, as if he'd been crying, letting out a cough as he pulled himself up, body sore from the travel from the previous day. Opening the flap of the tent, Davin found that it was still dark, many fires still burning, Cadence sitting by the fire, humming along to a wordless song, stoking the fire staring off into the night. Davin felt relieved, even though the dream left him feeling empty, a part of him wishing for simpler times, but at the same time, he was more excited than ever, traveling with friends, and adventuring. Davin took a long drink of water, laying back down, listening to the hum of Cadence as they watched the flames.

The cacophony that hit Davin's ears the second time that he woke up almost set him into a panic, yelling and the sounds of motion all around.

Hugh stuck his head into the tent. "Come on, get up, the caravan is breaking camp, you sleep okay?"

Davin shook his head, pulling his mind more into the waking world. "I'm up, I'm up." Davin pulled himself out of the tent, where the true motions of the camp hit his ears.

"I'll get the tent, can you whip anything up for breakfast in twenty minutes?" Hugh asked as a low grumble creaked from his stomach.

"I have some rolled oats and some dried fruits, does that work?" Davin's stomach also gurgled.

"Sounds good to me, now get up, you've already slept long enough." Hugh chuckled as he pulled the blankets from the tent and began to roll things up.

He wished that he'd had some milk to go along with the oats, but the berries alone were a refreshing addition to the normally plain oats, yogurt was on the list of other ingredients to find.

Cadence let out a yelp of excitement at the sight of the berries. "When did you find those?" They asked as they started to dig into the still-hot bowl.

"The strawberries? They're all over the place, I was surprised to find them so early in the season, they're a little tart but they hit the spot for a little sweetness." Davin took a bite of his, letting out a small moan.

"Straw berries?" Cadence asked as they looked into their bowl. "These are rose berries."

"Rose berries? That makes sense, they are part of the same family."

"Family?" Cadence asked.

"Eh, just a funny naming convention from where I'm from."

"Hmm, so a chat for the future then?" Continuing to eat.

"Not likely, not my area of expertise, so I am not the best person to ask on this one."

Hugh tossed the rolled tent and bedding into the trunk that was still on the wagon from the previous day. "Breakfast?" Hugh asked as he climbed into the wagon.

"Yup." Davin handed over the bowl to Hugh.

"Honey… we need honey," Hugh stated as he took his first few bites.

"Add it to the list," Davin stated.

"List?" Hugh asked.

"We might as well start making a list of things we want to find. Aluminum, yogurt, a way to keep butter cool, and now honey." Davin held out his fingers as he listed off the items.

"Yogurt? Should be able to get that when we find ourselves some butter. "Cadence piped in between mouthfuls.

"Fair point. " Davin responded

The loud yell that broke the murmur around them made Davin jump some, and several moments later the caravan started to move.