Klavis woke up curled in his bedding. He yawned and slowly opened his eyes. He saw that he wasn’t the first person up. The fire had already been rekindled and was roaring away. He closed his eyes and pulled his bedding closer around himself, not wanting to deal with the harsh cold of the morning, but it was a losing battle. The morning’s hunger quickly overcame the desire to stay wrapped up in his warm blanket.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before dramatically throwing off his blankets, jolting himself awake as the morning cold assaulted him. He stood up, yawning and stretching involuntarily. He crossed his arms, looking around, trying to conserve his body’s natural heat. Finally, he spotted his cloak sitting next to his pack. He took a few steps, picked up his cloak, and wrapped it around himself.
Klavis glanced at the other inhabited bedroll; his brother was still asleep, and Xecran was nowhere in sight. He grinned to himself, reached into his pack, and pulled out a carefully wrapped package.
He took the package and sat on a rock near the fire. He carefully opened it, revealing a large, sticky piece of sweet bread encrusted with candied nuts. He hunched over the bread, eyes closed, inhaling its sweet aroma. He glanced up, confirming his solitude before starting to devour the treat his mother had intended for sharing.
He always liked to start by popping a few candied nut bits into his mouth. He crunched on the sugary nuts, adding more until his mouth was full, savoring the sweetness coating his tongue.
He glanced at his brother, who was still sleeping soundly. He could hear his brother's soft breaths. He glanced around for Xecran again, this time listening for any sounds he could be making, but he heard nothing but the quiet sounds of the wind rustling through the tree canopy and the occasional chirping of a bird. It was altogether quite pleasant. A sense of peace, a stillness in his mind that he rarely experienced, washed over him. He let out a contented sigh; it was almost enough to make him forget about the remaining loaf of his mother's famous sweet bread. Almost.
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He went back to enjoying the bread and soaking up the stillness of the morning until it was abruptly shattered by Xecran.
The sweet bread had nearly vanished when Xecran burst into camp, yelling, "Klavis!"
Klavis jumped up, hastily hiding the last bit of bread behind his back. “It’s nothing, I wasn’t eating anything,” he lied sheepishly. Xecran seemed to ignore him. Klavis took a closer look at Xecran; he was nearly shaking, his eyes wide with fear. “Klavis, I can’t find it! They’re not there.”
Klavis forgot the remainder of the sweet bread and no longer worried about hiding it from his cousin. He had never seen Xecran like this. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was becoming a little shaken himself. “What did you lose?”
Just as quickly as he had burst into camp, Xecran was shaking Kamilis awake. “Get up! Get up!”
Kamilis opened his eyes and thrashed around, disoriented. Xecran, seeing that both his cousins were now awake, turned and ran back the way he had come, yelling for them to follow.
Klavis looked down at his brother as Kamilis looked back. It took only a moment till they realized something must be terribly wrong. Kamilis was standing up in a flash, and both of them charged after Xecran.
When they caught up, they found Xecran standing silently at the forest's edge. Klavis began to ask, “Xecran, what’s going on?” but the words caught in his throat as he followed Xecran's gaze. He understood. From here, they should have been able to see them, but there was nothing. The Beacon Trees were gone.