" Ah-choo!"
Amon sniffled as he huddled closer to the campfire that flicked and crackled. His wet clothes were hanging on a nearby branch alongside Philomel's wet clothes but not even changing clothes could change the cold winds that cause the two of them to shiver.
" I wished we brought camping gear or at least found a bigger tree to hide away from the wind."
Amon wished for the 10th time this week as he did his best to eat his dinner of roasted potatoes. Which was wonderfully warm and heated up his chest but the rest of his body shook from the cold.
" Camping gear would definitely have been good but it still won't warm the body after a cold swim like that. Still, it's a pity we weren't able to find a seller in that last village. Should have brought all the supplies we needed before Darzirak led half the village to burn down the other half. "
Philomel regretted for the 29th time as she focus on her cold, numb fingertips entwining strips of thin tree vines to make rope. Her hair was still slightly wet and felt even more chilly when the wind blew.
" Ok, I now regret stopping you from taking any other than food when we were back at that inn. Something soft to sleep on like a blanket would have been good, a towel right now would have been perfect. Drying myself with my second clean shirt was weird but not that effective in soaking up all the water. Especially since I used it on Little One first."
Amon said between his chatting teeth as he sniffled.
" Finally and all it took you was 1 week."
Philomel teased as she admired her handy work of rope.
" Oh ha ha... "
Amon mockingly laughed as he turns to Philomel's satchel. Food supplies were scattered around the ground as a Little head stuck out of the satchel. Happily warm between all the wool Philomel hand in her bag. His little hands constantly feel a crack in on a smooth rock.
" Squeak Squeak. What are you doing there? You found another rock?"
Amon softly asked as he bends down to Little One's eye level. Little One started babbling when he heard Amon and looked up.
" How many rocks does that make already? Are you trying to start a rock farm? We can carry so many."
Amon questioned with an open hand and Little One instantly gave Amon the rock. Knowing that Amon just wanted to see it and would give it back.
" That's his fourth rock already. What is it covered with, this time? Moss? Is it broken into two and has weird color in the middle? Is it a white smooth pebble? I hope it isn't a sharp rock like the one he found in the cave."
Philomel asked with much curiosity since both of them couldn't understand why Little One liked holding onto rocks out of everything within the forest. The baby would get curious about leaves, vines, tree bark, and other things but he would normally look at them for a while before moving on. Only rocks he would grab and hold on to.
Amon came up with the theory it was because rocks were easy to grab but that theory was proven wrong when Little One spend 10 minutes trying to pull the rock out of a moss area. At first, both of them thought he was just having fun at having something to pull. Since Little One would do the same to the hem of Amon's pants, but when, Little One crawled back to Philomel with his new rock. Extremely excited to show it to her, they realize he really just wanted that rock.
" It's a normal smooth black rock with a big crack going right through the middle. It must have been near the lake for some time. Even its crack is smooth."
Amon describes as he passed the rock to Philomel.
" Hmm... Wonder when he grabbed it. We never let him near the edge after our swim and I'm sure he wasn't holding any rocks while we were swimming."
Philomel wondered out loud as she examined the rock.
" Aww! You little sneaky, sneaky Squeak Squeak! Who's that? Who's that, scratching on the ground stealing rock?! You are! You are!! You the little squeak squeak!"
Amon excitedly baby-talked to Little One as he lifted Little One from Philomel's warm satchel, cuddling the baby in his arms and blowing a raspberry into the baby's chubby cheeks. Little One squealed in excitement and blew from his own mouth but his saliva got in the way making spit bubbles. Amon automatically raised his hand and instantly Philomel threw Amon the feeding rag. Amon pops each bubble causing Little One to giggle in delight. When all the bubbles were gone, Amon used the rag and wipe the drool off Little One's chin.
" Little Squeak Squeak making rat bubbles. Trying to send a message in a bubble? Uh- oh, poor Amon can't read it. I can only read messages in a bottle. Can my Little Squeak Squeak send one to me?"
Amon joked as he drape the rag over his shoulder.
" Here, our messages in the bottle."
Philomel informed as she pulled out the milk bottle and passed it to Amon. Amon stared at the bottle of milk and at Philomel for a moment. When the joke finally clicked Amon's eyes widen as he lets out a sharp breath and started chuckling.
" Hey, the baby is getting impatient."
Philomel said with a pointing finger at Little One who was reaching out for the bottle while pulling on Amon's shirt trying to get his attention.
" Ah! Right! Right."
Amon laughed as he held the bottle to Little One's lips, tilting it just a bit so that Little One wouldn't choke. Now that Little One has bitten through both milk bottle nozzles, it's becoming much harder to feed Little One since having the baby overwhelmed with more milk than he can swallow would result in choking. Something that both Philomel and Amon have overcome within the week. Through trial and error, they managed to roughly estimate, how much to tilt the bottle to prevent Little One from choking.
" You think that Little One is old enough to eat solid food yet?"
Amon questioned as he carefully feed Little One.
" Definitely not. He only has half a tooth. Should probably wait until he has more but by then we should be able to get advice from someone in the village."
Philomel shook her head as she continued to make more rope.
" You sure we can really pull this off? Us against a platoon of knights."
Amon questioned as he tried to hide his wavering nervous voice behind a brave, nonchalant expression. Unfortunately for Amon his pale pink eyes swirling with white gave him away.
" Yes, we definitely can pull this off because our goal isn't to defeat all knights. Our goal is the baby. All we need is a good distraction and quick movements."
Philomel reassured Amon and almost instantly Amon's eyes turned back to their normal maroon red.
" That's right and we have the best thief in the Crimtroy with us."
Amon grinned as Philomel frowned at the comment.
" Scavenger."
She corrected him with a glare that only made laughter bubble at the back of Amon's throat.
" Right! Right. Scavenger."
He teasingly repeated with a nod and started snickering. Philomel pouted and glared for a moment before ignoring and continuing on with her handy work.
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