Late in the afternoon, they came across a dip in the ground, a rough circle that was ten or so metres in diameter, surrounded on three sides by mossy boulders that rose to around Hina's height. A little path lead away to the west between the boulders.

It was the perfect place for a campsite: out of sight of the road, and out of the wind too.

The only problem was that it seemed that someone else had thought so too. A circle of blackened stones and ash stood in the center of the clearing, leftovers from someone else's fire.

"Looks good," Kai said, putting his bag down with a thump. "Best place so far."

"It looks like a great spot, but whoever left that might come back." Hina said. "We should probably move on."

"I don't wanna walk anymore, Hina," Kai said. "I'm tired and hungry and I wanna sit down. And," he said, "you can't get out of cooking dinner by making us walk all night."

"You're making dinner," Hina said automatically. "But..." She stood there for a moment, looking at the circle of ash. She hesitated.

Kai sighed loudly. "Do you want to look for another one?" He stretched his arms out, and then his neck. "We can, I guess." He reached out to pick up his bag again, ever so slowly.

Hina wasn't sure. "For all we know, someone camped here once, weeks ago. And I don't think we're going to find a better spot." She slipped her heavy bag off her shoulders and felt herself relax, almost involuntarily. She sighed. "Let's find some firewood."

"Good." Kai stopped reaching for his bag. "I'll keep an eye out for any wild-folk." He started whistling an upbeat tune, and wandered off beyond the boulders.

Hina stared after him for a moment and shook her head. He was being quiet enough that she didn't need to say anything. And she supposed he hadn't seen the bodies—they were abstract, easier to shake off that way. Most of what Hina felt was a gnawing sense of dread. And hunger. Maybe it was mostly hunger.

They needed to eat. But first, fire. And she'd have an easier time getting Kai to cook if she had good kindling.

She walked in circles around the campsite, picking out fallen sticks and branches, anything small enough to break and use directly. Without the axe they couldn't use anything bigger. They were lucky that it hadn't rained in the last few weeks—the last time it had rained had been the day that the academy recruiter came to see her—so what she found was reasonably dry, and she thought it should work.

How dry did firewood need to be, anyway? The book had stressed that drier wood was better, but she wasn't sure how much it was necessary. If it had rained yesterday, would they have no chance of making a fire? With food that needed to be cooked, it was something to consider.

It was usually pretty dry around this time of year, at least. They were through the rainy season, all they had to worry about was the occasional storm.

She returned with an armload of branches and got to work on breaking some of them up. She picked out the first branch and looked around for a good way to break it up. Her gaze settled on the nearest boulder: a big, grey and mossy rock that was covered in sparkly yellow specks that caught the fading light. It would do nicely.

Hina leaned the branch up against the top of the boulder, put her foot in the middle, and shifted her body weight to break it.

The branch let out a loud crack as it broke.

Hina froze. She watched the edges of the campsite for a long moment before she let out a long slow breath.

She broke the next branch more carefully.

Soon enough she had a pile of small and medium sized branches. Now she needed kindling. She set to work on peeling bark and bits of wood from some of the branches until she had a pile that looked like it might work.

Kai returned with an armful of bigger branches, which he dumped beside her. "Here," he said.

"Now, we need to break those up. Lean them up against the boulders and step on the middle to break them. Quietly, yeah?"

Kai rolled his eyes but he got to work.

Mentally reviewing her campfire book, Hina built a little hut with the smaller branches in the ashes of the old fire. In the center, she piled up about half of the kindling.

The preparations looked right, a pyramid of pieces of wood that started small and grew in size towards the outside. The match would light the kindling, and then the fire would spread up to the smaller branches, and then to the bigger, and by the time it got through those, Kai would be back with some even bigger pieces.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

It should work, in theory.

"This is match number one," she called out. She struck a match and held the flame to the kindling, blowing gently. It caught.

A flash of flame spread to the kindling, and a gust of wind blew it out. Hmph.

Bad luck, really. She just needed to try again.

"Match number two," she called out. She struck another match and held it to the kindling, shielding it from the wind with her other hand. The kindling caught, and the flames spread through it, licking at the smaller branches.

The kindling burned quickly, burned out in moments. The smaller branches never caught. There was a small glowing ember on one of the branches, but it went out while Hina watched.

Smallest branches not close enough to the kindling, then.

Hina rearranged the branch house so that more of the smaller branches were in contact with the kindling. She put the rest of the kindling in the middle.

If she failed again, she'd have to make more kindling.

"Three," she called out. She lit a match, and it went out immediately—caught in the wind.

"Four." She struck another match with a little too much force and the match broke, the flaming head falling to the dirt where it fizzled out.

Last match. "Five." Match to flame, the kindling caught and burned. Flames licked up towards the smaller branches, which were more heavily within the flames with her new design. The smallest branches caught, flame creeping up towards the bigger branches, which caught too.

Success!

Kai, who had been watching, wordlessly passed her a bigger branch. She took it and set it over the top of the fire, and added two more, in a triangular pattern. And a few more along the outside.

The fire grew to a crackling, roaring blaze. It shot sparts into the air and set the shadows to dancing.

Hina turned to Kai, grinning. "Got it in five tries."

"Good job," Kai said, begrudging. "Next time, I'm making the fire."

"Deal."

"What do I need to do for dinner?"

"When the fire dies down a bit, add some water to the pot, put it onto the fire, and stir it while it cooks. Don't let it burn."

"Alright."

"Then, after it cooks through—taste 'em to see if they're done—we'll eat."

"How do you feel about eggs?"

"What?"

"Eggs? Yes or no?"

"I like eggs."

"Good."

"Okay? Well, I'll be over here, yell out if you need me."

Hina sat back on crossed legs by the fire. It felt good just to sit, but she tried not to let it distract her.

She considered her cycling exercise. Over the last few days she felt like she had been having some success, but each time she managed to draw in potentia, she got distracted by the strange sensations, lost her focus and had to stop. She suspected it was a matter of experience, in knowing what to expect. The rush of potentia was intense, overwhelming.

The exercise card spoke of imagery—metaphors that could be helpful in drawing potentia. She wondered if there was an image she could use which could help to incorporate and regulate that intensity. Not that the image would be doing anything in itself, but perhaps it could prepare her mind for the experience.

She thought about where she was—her physical circumstances: the rocky ground was hard beneath her, the tingling power all around. Like a rock in an endless ocean—or a rock in a stream? Resisting, guiding, controlling the flow of water. She was a rocky outcrop within a gentle trickle of a creek.

Hina breathed in.

The creek grew wider and deeper, became a stream of rushing water as she inhaled, grew into a mighty river, flowing deep and strong. Underneath the image, a buzzing intensity flooded Hina, but she tried to ignore it. The rock endured, resisting the pressure, guiding the flow.

Hina breathed out, the power seeping out of her as she relaxed. The river calmed, the image of it subsiding, returning to that of a trickling creek. A tingle of power remained within Hina's chest, a crackling energy filled her body. With an effort of will, she ignored it.

She breathed in again. The creek flooded, became a mighty river once more. The rock endured, standing strong amidst the waters, redirecting a tiny fraction of its flow into itself—strengthening the stone? It didn't quite fit, but close enough.

Hina breathed in and out again and again, tranquil and unmovable within the torrent. She was eternal and unchanging. The tingling within her chest grew and grew.

With each new breath, the peak of the river intensified, and the stone endured. Except—it took Hina several cycles to be sure, but the edges of her stone were being eroded by the water, even as it imparted something into her.

It was only a little around the edges, but where once the stone had had sharp edges, they were becoming rounded.

The stone was wearing away. And Hina was the stone.

She slowed her breath, her draw on the potentia. Could she lessen the wear? Stop it entirely? She tried to control the intensity of the river with her breath, applying her will to the image as she drew potentia inwards—the river didn't have to rage.

The river faded back down to a stream. It took some effort to maintain—to not allow it to grow as she continued to draw power. She managed it, watching the edges of her stone closely for any further signs of wear.

After six cycles, she felt confident that the stone was no longer being worn away. Or if it was, it was at a rate beyond her ability to perceive.

She cycled seven more times, the stream growing and fading each time—her control over it sloppy but gradually improving. It was another thing that she would need to practice.

Gradually she slowed, and opened her eyes.

The sun had set and it was dark beyond the firelight. The beans were bubbling on fire and smelling savoury and delicious under the woodsmoke.

Kai dropped to the ground on the other side of the fire. He'd been climbing a tree? He was covered in dirt and leaves, and had his hands cupped against his chest.

"What are you doing?" Hina asked.

"Eggs," he said, spreading his hands to reveal three of them. "I found a nest."

"Nice one!" Hina said, and Kai grinned.

"Gonna be a good dinner," he said. He cracked the eggs one by one on the edge of the pot, and tipped them into the pot.

"Are the beans nearly done?"

Kai stirred the pot, then dipped a spoon into it and took a bite. "Just about done, I think," he said.

Leaning forward, Hina picked up the spoon from the clay bowl nearby, and took a scalding bite from the bubbling pot. "Yeah. Bit soupy, but just about done." She added a shake from the spice bag and stirred it in. "This can come off the fire whenever you're ready. And then we can eat."

The buzzing, the tingling in Hina's chest persisted, a feeling of energy and anticipation. She felt like she could do a backflip if she wanted to. Like she could do anything.

Kai wrapped the handle in one of his spare shirts before lifting the pot off the fire by the handle. He set it down on the ground nearby where it would cool.

"Hello there," a woman's voice called from the darkness.