Heather came back out of the bathroom while they were waiting for the oatmeal to thicken, and asked, “Are you all eating with your fingers?”

  Sadie laughed, but Akari just shrugged. “I’m planning to kind of pour it into my mouth, I guess. It’s not like I thought to bring a spoon.”

  “Didn’t we bring spoons?” Heather asked.

  “We did, Danielle grabbed a set of those metal point, bamboo handle, all cheapness utensils,” Sadie confirmed. “We’re lucky they had that, or we’d have had to resort to chopsticks.”

  “I saw a pack of those half-aluminum utensils in the pile yesterday,” Akari commented, “But I’m not sure if it made it ho- here, or not.”

  “They did. I’m getting them,” Heather said, “But someone with Body-3 is going to have to wash them, because it hurts to stand, let alone walk, and I want a stool like Danielle.”

  “No problem,” Akari said. “You did great yesterday, Heather, seriously. You totally earned your day off. We should do some stretches and light exercise after breakfast – “

  “Day. Off.” Heather interrupted.

  “Just enough to warm you up and let you stretch out some of the kinks,” Akari promised. “Trust me, it’ll help the aches.”

  Heather got back to the kitchen with her mug and oatmeal, and quickly pulled out four place settings of cheap utensils rolled up in a familiar looking kitchen towel. “Here,” she said, holding them over to Akari. “You can use the wrapping towel as a drying spot, too, to keep them clean.”

  Akari nodded and took the utensils to the sink, and a moment later the other three could hear running water and subtle splashing. Danielle poured water into Heather’s mug, and she got her oatmeal started.

  “While she’s doing that, I wanted to ask you something, Heather,” Danielle said. “I was thinking of making a couple mana tokens – a five for the healing stash, and a five to save up for catalog stuff in a few weeks.”

  “You’re going to be rich out here, aren’t you?” Sadie said humorously.

  “Well, maybe that, or maybe I’ll get a lot of Skill use. Which might be another kind of wealth, I guess? I’ve actually been debating if I need to keep my Skill use down to keep from blowing my secret, though.” Danielle sighed. “I don’t know, I may have more mana than you, but I still don’t want to waste it. Oh! But what I was going to ask. The healing stash has 5 mana in it now, right? Would it be ok if I made a ten-mana token, and traded it so the stash has the ten and I have the 5 for my savings? That way, I can put five mana in each and still only make one token.”

  “Oh, that’s clever. And Heather can carry a bigger stash hidden in her belt, that way,” Sadie said. “That’s something only you can do right now – the biggest token I can make is only 9 mana, even if I’m full.”

  “Oh wow, I didn’t even think of that aspect,” Danielle said. “We might want to make a habit of it, then? When Akari makes her donation to the party healing stash, I’ll make another ten-mana token and trade it out again.”

  “Then you’ll be ahead of the even-steven donations, though,” Sadie pointed out.

  “Way ahead of me,” Heather added.

  “You’re not donating that way,” Sadie said. “You’re using your mana directly for healing, right? You’ve already got four points in from healing Danielle’s blisters.”

  “And I have twice everyone’s mana generation, so it’s not crazy for me to donate twice as often,” Danielle said. “Not to mention that I’m the only one who has used healing so far. How did you manage not to get blisters, Heather?”

  “Oh, my older sister told me about the two pairs of socks thing,” Heather said. “I’m sorry I never mentioned it to you, it didn’t occur to me.”

  “Oh. Well, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you knew it for yourself,” Danielle replied. “Especially since you might have really not been able to help with the scavenging yesterday if you hadn’t, and we’d have missed out on a lot of stuff.”

  Akari came back with all the silverware washed, and passed out spoons to everyone before laying out the rest on the towel. Sadie slid it further down the counter, out of the way, and liberated the two remaining stools from the crowd of bags around their feet so she and Akari could sit next to Heather and Danielle for breakfast.

  “I actually made a 5-mana token last night,” Akari said. “I was getting pretty full. I’ll donate it if I have to, but for now, it’s in my personal stash and I’m planning to donate my next one.”

  “Why?” Sadie asked, raising her eyebrows at Akari.

  “I dunno, I feel like we haven’t used the stash at all yet, so it’s better to have some on tap to come in later?” Akari frowned, as if finding her own argument lacking. “I may not have thought it all the way through. I’ll donate it if we actually need it, or when Danielle is ready to make the second ten token, OK? Whichever comes first.”

  “OK,” Sadie replied with a shrug. “As long as you don’t mind carrying it until you donate it. It won’t do us any good if it’s back in your footlocker when we need it.”

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  “That’s probably a good idea anyway,” Akari said. “Having the supply in more than one place, I mean.”

  “Hm. True.” Sadie nodded and started eating her oatmeal.

  Danielle took her tea bag out, then realized she didn’t have anywhere to put it, and finally set it on the torn paper packet it had come from. She carefully sipped the tea, and started in on her own oatmeal. “How are you all feeling today, by the way?” she asked. “Um, besides sore feet, I mean? I have a monster headache.”

  “Me too, actually,” Akari said with a grimace. “I think I might be dehydrated.”

  “Oh? Oh! Oh, we’re all idiots,” Danielle said.

  “I resent that,” Heather said.

  “Did you drink enough water yesterday not to have a massive headache right now?” Danielle asked.

  “Well, um. No,” Heather admitted.

  “OK, notes to self,” Sadie said, “In the future, water comes on all hikes. Along with the spade if we’re hunting or trapping.”

  “Yeah, lesson learned,” Akari agreed. “And we kind of did all know better.”

  “Messing up a thing in new conditions doesn’t make us idiots,” Heather grumbled.

  “OK, yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean it literally,” Danielle replied, trying to suppress her exasperation. “I just mean, I’m glad I didn’t waste a Skill to diagnose that problem. I don’t think I drank even – how big are these so-called canteens? Half a liter? Barely that much for the whole day.”

  “So today is a study and rehydration day,” Akari said.

  “Yeah. I should change my Career before I get distracted again,” Danielle said. She brought up her interface and focused on the Academy Student Career, set it to active, then made the 10-mana token and traded it to Heather. She stuck the 5-mana token in her pocket, rather than limping back around the kitchen half-wall to put it in her footlocker right away.

  “I guess it’s good that we’re having oatmeal this morning,” Sadie said. “It’s got all that water in it. It’ll probably be good for us.”

  “Yeah, but let’s all fill our canteens at the sink, too,” Akari said practically.

  Heather groaned and put her head in her hands.

  “Ooooor, I could fill up everyone’s canteens at the sink,” Akari suggested.

  “It’s in my footlocker,” Heather moaned.

  “Maybe Akari will be kind enough to fill it up for you when you are done eating, and move back to your bed to rest and study?” Danielle suggested.

  Heather promptly gave Akari her best sad-kitten face and said, “Please?”

  Akari chuckled. “Sure, sure. I’ll fill it up for you after breakfast, and I won’t even start bugging you about stretching until you’ve finished it.”

  “Well don’t give her reasons not to finish it!” Sadie joked.

  Everyone laughed, and focused on their oatmeal for a few minutes. Danielle quietly drank her tea. She was reasonably sure the others had also taken two teabags at the Rangers’ breakfast, but if any of them had kept the second bag, they didn’t seem inclined to get it out. Heather ate quickly and hobbled back to her footlocker, where she paused for a long moment, and then got out the canteen she’d gotten from the Necessities Store as well as the one from Decision Day. “OK, I made my own 5-mana token for savings, since I was full. If we end up saving up for a room or SHAD Party equipment, I’ll be able to contribute. Oh, and I’m ready for you to fill my canteens whenever, Akari.”

  Heather snagged the Guidebook to Edible Wildlife again and flopped onto her bed with it, empty canteens at her side. Akari and Sadie raced to finish their oatmeal, and moved back into the room almost at the same time. Akari finally turned on the main room light as she passed the light switches. Sadie, meanwhile, got out her own canteens and held them up to Akari with a comically exaggerated pleading expression as she turned back from gathering her own and Heather’s.

  Akari took them with a grin. “Do you want to get yours out too, Danielle?” she asked.

  “I dunno, that sounds like it might require standing up,” Danielle joked, taking the last bite of her oatmeal. “Give me just a second here,” she added, reaching for her tea.

  “You have until I get these back to Sadie and Heather, after that I’m flopping too,” Akari warned teasingly.

  Danielle drained the last of her tea in one long swig. “OK, OK, if you’re going to be like that,” she teased back. She set the cup down and looked around. Everyone else had just left their mugs on the counter. It felt wrong, but where was there to put them? They couldn’t sit in the only sink, it was barely deep enough to fill the canteens as it was, and it was the bathroom sink too. One stretch of tiled countertop was basically the same as another. She slid the mostly-cool camp stove back against the wall, picked up Useful Crafts for Skill and Trade again, and went around to her footlocker to get out her canteens.

  She drank the last few sips of water that she had left in the Decision Day canteen the night before, and put the cap back on. Then she grabbed her journals and the pencil bag she’d stuffed at the Nelson’s store, and stretched out on her bed. Akari came back and delivered Heather and Sadie’s water, and picked up Danielle’s canteens.

  “Thanks again, Akari,” Sadie said.

  “Yeah, thanks again,” Heather echoed.

  Danielle waited until Akari came back and set down the two canteens on her bed to add her own, “Thanks Akari. You’re really making this all so much more possible right now.”

  Akari pulled a copy of A Firmitatem Ranger's Guide to the Outside from the shelf and sat down on her own bed. “You’re all welcome, seriously. You all helped carry stuff all day yesterday even though two of you have lower body stats, and even compared with you Sadie, I have two Traits that make it easier. It took me less effort to make the trips, but I’m going to benefit even more than you three, since you started off more prepared (or at least more equipped), so filling a few water bottles is the least I can do.”

  “Can you pass me the Useful Crafts book please?” Sadie asked.

  “Oh, I’ve got that one,” Danielle piped up before Akari could stand up again. “Can you make do with the Ranger’s Guide for a while, and then I’ll trade you?”

  “I guess,” Sadie said. “Does it have any crafting information?”

  “I think so,” Danielle told her. “Info about where to find materials, too.”

  “That’ll work then,” Sadie said.

  Akari stood and grabbed the book, then sat back down and leaned across the footboards to hand it to Sadie, who accepted it with another “Thanks.”

  Everyone was finally settling in to read when there was a knock at the door. Akari groaned. “What now?” she asked.

  “My turn,” Sadie said, rolling off her bed and grabbing her sword and staff. She took them to the door, and hooked the staff’s lanyard over the lever handle, then stepped back.

  “What are you doing?” Akari asked.

  “Opening the door safely,” Sadie said.

  “Oh, you should’ve let someone with a detection sense do it,” Danielle said. “Here, let me come over, and – “

  “I’ve got it,” Sadie insisted, and used the staff to open the door while standing back.

  “Hello?” Cassy said uncertainly, glancing at the staff. “I, um. I was wondering if you were still going to do that prayer meeting thing?”

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