Quest: Find the others.
Known facts: florin signal, origin east of village. Possibly more than one person. Human.
Resources needed:
I was still writing when Guruk plucked the notebook gently from my hands.
He read it. His expression did not change, exactly, but something in his eyes shifted—that quality of stillness that meant he was thinking three steps ahead and choosing which ones to say out loud.
“You're planning an expedition,” he said.
I nodded with one caveat. “I'm planning a quest.”
“Of course.” He sucked in his cheek, clearly hiding a laugh, and handed the notebook back. “How much rope are you putting on the list?”
I shrugged. “A reasonable amount.”
“You wrote ‘rope x3’ before I took it.”
Tapping the pen to the side of my temple, I said, “Contingency planning.”
He smiled at that, slow and warm, the one that crinkled the corners of his minty eyes and lifted the tusk on his right side. He walked past me, stalking to the chest resting in the room’s corner. Flipping it open, he rifled through its contents.
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Plotting,” he answered without looking back.
“Guruk,” I warned.
“Sammy,” he laughed.
Berry made a sound like a tiny, tired sigh from the direction of the window. Then, they curled up back in the beanbag chair.
“Fine,” I said, returning to my list. He’d let me in on his plan when he was ready. He always did. “I'm going to talk to Sheriff Stoneclaw today. If Berry’s getting signals from the east, he should know. He might have reports. Maybe even notice of travelers coming through from that direction, sightings, anything.” I chewed on the end of my pen. “I also want to check the message the florin network sent out. The one I recorded earlier.”
Guruk was quiet for a moment. “I’ll come with you to the sheriff.”
“You don’t have?—“
“I know.” He turned from rifling through the chest and looked at me with the calm, unhurried certainty that I still, after all these months, hadn’t quite gotten used to. It was like being seenby someone who had decided about you, chosen you, and was entirely at peace with their decision. “I want to.”
I swallowed. Wrote rope x2 on the list. Crossed it out. Wrote rope x3 again.
“Okay,” I said. I snapped my notebook shut and headed toward the bedroom to pack. “But we're stopping at Baxter’s on the way. I need real food in my system.”
Guruk followed behind me. “He'll have the morning rolls ready.”
“See, this is why I keep you around.”
He laughed then, properly, and the sound of it filled the hallway and chased some of the tightness from my chest.
As I scooted around the bedroom, pulling out clothes and supplies, I opened my notebook once more and looked down at my list.
Quest: Find the others.
I underlined it twice.
We were going to find my friends. Starting today.
