The bartender nodded. "Hm, you're right. Those two will probably clean out our pantry by midmorning. Rebka, go start some more acorn biscuits, will you?"
Once his daughter was gone, the bartender started polishing the counter. "You know, when that fellow Rick heard you hadn't come back before the storm, he was pretty worried. He went out looking for you the second things calmed down. In fact, he only just came back yesterday, a little before you did. He went straight around the lake to see his water beast friend, so I don't think anybody's told him yet that you're all right. Bet he'll be happy to see you three."
Tanrial hummed her agreement around a mouthful of food, swallowing before she replied, “I think we’re all happy to see him again. We thought he might’ve left while we were gone. Good to know he’s still here.”
"Yep, I doubt he's leaving anytime soon." The bartender glanced up at the stairs and smiled as someone came down. "Good morning, Bernon."
"Morning," Bernon yawned, walking over and taking a seat nearby. "Sleep well, Tanrial?"
Tanrial nodded, smiling at Bernon, “Better then I have in days, how about you? Is Mike awake yet?” She asked, turning back to her food a moment later.
(I'm off to bed, but here)
"I slept great," Bernon replied cheerfully, nodding gratefully to Rebka as she brought him some food of his own. "Mike's still completely zonked, he must have stayed up pretty late. I say we let him sleep in, he probably needed it just as much as us. Any plans for the morning so far?"
Tanrial rolled her eyes, "Of course he did. We;re gonna have to start staying awake so we can force him to go to bed earlier," She sighed, "And not currently. Rick is back though, I say we go see him and Snatch at some point."
(Goodnight)
"Oh, that's a good idea." He glanced at Rebka and her father. "How have they been doing lately? Any word from them or the water beast?"
"Snatch came to visit the other day," Rebka piped up. "Apparently Rick is her adopted father now. She says everyone's very happy."
"Aw, that's great! Yeah, we definitely need to visit them today."
"Visit who?" Mike asked, having just come downstairs looking as well-rested as ever. "Good morning, guys."
“Morning Mike,” Tanrial gave him a small wave, “We were gonna go visit Rick and Snatch and the water beast. Thought it was best since we haven’t seen them for a while.”
"Ah. Sounds good." Mike accepted the food and drink the bartender offered him and started to eat. "I think this morning we should spend our time resting and catching up with everyone, and then after lunch we can decide if we want to stay another night or start heading west. Now that we have all our supplies, there's not much point in hanging around, but on the other hand we might not be up for another trek quite so soon."
Tanrial shrugged a shoulder, finishing off her meal and then turning to face the two of them, tea in hand, "Well, I say we spend the day with Snatch and Rick and the water beast, catch up with the three of them and set off tomorrow after a day of rest."
Bernon nodded. "I'm inclined to agree with that idea. I may be physically ready for a long journey, but mentally, I think I need another day. Besides, there might be a bit more we can do to prepare, like talk to Rick about where exactly to find that uncle of his. Oh, and didn't he say he was gonna write us a letter of recommendation or something to take with us? We should probably remind him of that."
“Probably, it would be nice to, you know, actually know where we’re going. And actually have something under are belt in case his uncle doesn’t think we are who we say we are and what not,” Tanrial sighed, “Anyway, I’m sure even if we don’t get that recommendation we should be fine.”
"Probably." Mike mopped up his plate with a slice of bread and took a bite, standing up. "I'm ready to head out and say hi to them if you two are."
Tanrial finished her tea, placing the now empty cup back onto the counter, “I’m good to go,” She stood from her stool, “Bernon?”
"Right behind you," Bernon replied, joining them. "Actually, hold on. I'm going to go grab my journal to bring with us. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."
He trotted off up the stairs. Mike glanced at Tanrial and nodded towards the tavern door, heading outside. "You know, I had a dream last night that he got stuck in bear form and decided to learn how to bake cookies so people would see him as less threatening. Seems pretty in-character, based on what I know about him."
Tanrial snorted, falling into step beside Mike with an eye roll, “Sounds like something he would do. Although for the sake of everyone and him, let’s just hope it doesn’t actually happen. Also, where did he even get the ingredients to make said cookies?”
"Beats me." Mike shook his head, walking down the beach towards the woods. "He just whipped it all out of thin air, I guess. You have any dreams last night?"
"If only that type of magic existed," She sighed, "Hmm, I don't think I had any, none that I can really remember. I vaguely remember something about a cactus and a tea pot but the details are all blurred."
"Sounds like a typical dream." Mike glanced back and waved as Bernon jogged out of the tavern after them. "You mean making things just appear isn't a kind of magic? I would have thought that was something at least powerful magic-users could do."
"Well… it's complicated. Technically speaking one can't make something just… form, like create something out of thin air. You can summon already existing items, though. Depending on the person depends on how far one can summon an item from. But actually creating an object requires more skill." Tanrial shrugged.
(I gtg to bed, seeya!)
"Huh. That's good to know, I guess. Even magic has some practical limitations." They reached the edge of the trees just as Bernon caught up to them. "Hey Bern, have you ever made real cookies before?"
Bernon blinked, trying to catch his breath. "Uh….not really? I made biscuits once, and plenty of breads with flour substitutes, and some knock-off ginger snaps even. But no, no cookies. Why, exactly?…."
Mike shrugged. "No reason, just curious. Let's keep moving."
(Byeee)
Tanrial chuckled, leaning over slightly to Bernon, "He had a dream you made cookies, that's why he as asking," She shrugged again, "Anyway, did you have any dreams Bernon? Hopefully better then both mine and Mikes?"
"Oh. Um….." Bernon tried to remember as they started down the path around the lake. "Wait, I did! I had the craziest dream where I was all covered in burns again but I had to drive that bulldozer we pulled out of the lake all the way to Ohio where my parents' farm used to be, and for some reason the bulldozer was like super fast, but then I had to go through a tunnel and I got stuck. But then you showed up, Mike, only you were wearing a really nice suit, and you told me I was late for a wedding, and it turned out that Rebka was getting married to that kid Eric–which is kinda creepy, if you think about it–and Tanrial was the priest and—wait." Bernon cut off and looked around, frowning. "Have either of you seen Ryker's kids anywhere since we got back? They were camping on the beach when we went shopping….do you think they finally decided where they wanted to settle down?"
(School. makes. me. want. to. die)
Tanrial shook her head, "I didn't see them when we got back. Then again it was late but… if they were still here we would have seen them, right?" She glanced between the two males, slightly worried.
(That's not good….Do you want to talk about it? I'm here to listen if you need me.)
Mike stopped walking and glanced back towards the village, thinking. "We can ask Polla when we get back," he said after a moment. "I didn't even think about it last night, and she didn't mention it. I guess if anything bad had happened to the kids, we would now about it by now." He turned and kept going. "We could also ask Rick when we see him, he probably knows what's going on too."
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