Armed with the crispys critter’s carcass, Scarlet went back to the river, Cyca trailing behind, almost hiding behind her as they approached the water. After making sure that there was some blood seeping out of the electrocuted squirrel, Scarlet threw it into the river, close to the presences she felt.

The result was incredibly underwhelming, the squirrel floated for a moment before sinking into the river and the presences below reacted in no different way compared to the reaction, or rather non-reaction, they had had when she had thrown in the stick. Disappointed, Scarlet tried to think of another way to safely find out what had Cyca spooked, coming up with the idea to fashion herself a spear and maybe get some dinner that way. The book provided by the Doctor had a few edible fish in it but it had been lacking in warnings for possible predators, lurking in the water. The reasoning behind that particular lack was most likely the opinion that, if the newcomers were unable to deal with the ordinary but untamed wildlife, the crystal monsters would have them for breakfast, possibly literally.

On the way back to Keera, Scarlet decided to let her larger and physically stronger companion do the fishing, while she watched from the side, making sure that nothing sneaked up on Keera. It added another layer of protection, just in case what she felt in the water were not harmless fish as she by now thought but some sort of ambush-hyper-predator.

Back at the camp, Keera had finished digging the firepit and started to gather reasonably dry wood in the area, wondering just what she had done to deserve her fate. She knew, of course, what she had done but kept wondering if she would have acted in the same way, if she had known just where her path would lead. Into the forest of an uncolonized planet, lugging around wood and wondering just where to take care of private business that was getting more urgent by the minute.

She heard a soft sound, like someone clearing their throat and looked up, only to almost take care of that business then and there, when she realised that the younger woman with whom she had teamed up was standing close to her, without her noticing. She was not bad with mental scanning, something she had used quite often in her previous job, but she had completely missed the approaching woman, thanks to a quiet nifty concealment-effect. The barely concealed amusement on her pixie-like partner’s face did not help her mental state, but she knew, if she had had an accident, the amusement would be even worse.

“Come on, it’s time that we get ourselves dinner.” the younger one announced and Keera looked around, searching for whatever the other wanted to get.

“What do you mean?” Keera asked, trying to get a good read on the younger woman but other than amusement masking vigilance and tension, she was unable to discern anything about the other.

“I scouted the way to the river and there seem to be quite a few fish in the shallows, so I thought it would be a good idea to go fish. And seeing that you are, quite frankly, physically a lot stronger than me, I thought you could help with the work.” Keera could hear the condescension dripping from the other’s words, an unspoken, ‘you don’t do anything else, do you?’ almost audible despite never been spoken.

“Yes, I guess.” Keera agreed, knowing that she was not the dominant in the partnership, no matter how it grated at her. But, she had barely managed to scrape by in the Academy, years ago, and had been a glorified receptionist ever since.

“Good, let’s look for a suitable branch, that we can fashion into a spear for you.” the other said with a slight smirk and turned away, starting to walk amongst the trees. Only now, Keera noticed the two-tailed feline stalk behind Scarlet, recognised the crystal monster of the other and wondering why she was having it walk with her, instead of keeping it contained in its crystal, which needed far less focus and mental energy.

Still, she knew that she needed Scarlet, if she wanted to live. The other had offered to teach her how to survive and Keera was not ready to roll over and die. So, she would put up with condescending pixies.

After talking to Keera, Scarlet started looking for a suitable stick, at least two meters long, as straight as possible and two, maybe three fingers thick. It didn’t take her long to find one, maybe a little too long and too thick, but it just meant that Keera, who was following along, silently sulking, had to put some more effort into it. Indeed, it wasn’t really a branch, what she had discovered was a small tree in its own right, young and about the right size. It would never turn into a full-sized tree, but that was just bad luck. If took her a moment to contemplate how to chop down the tree, luckily, she had an idea when Keera snarkily remarked if Scarlet had an axe hidden on her person. One of her knives might have been enough to cut down the tree but only with a huge amount of effort, possibly destroying the blade in the process.

But Cyca had previously shown that she had very impressive claws, especially when she had tried to gut Scarlet during their first meeting, so Scarlet had no problem to mentally transmit the task to her, making it clear the she was to use her claws, not try to use the strange lightning. That was something Scarlet wanted to keep to herself, just in case she needed an ace up her sleeve.

Cyca hopped back a step or two before leaping at the young tree, her claws extending to an impossible degree, reminding Scarlet that her partner was more than she looked like. Just like before, when Scarlet had surprised her, Keera gave a little squeak, something that sounded just too adorable coming from the physically impressive woman. Scarlet suppressed a giggle and stepped forward, to keep the tree from falling over. Cyca’s claws had shredded through it, leaving splintered wood behind, but hopefully it would serve well.

“I will hack off the branches.” Keera said, taking the spear-in-progress and walking back to camp, with Scarlet now following behind. As they walked, Scarlet noticed that Keera was walking slightly strange, wondering if the other had misstepped or pulled a muscle or something like that. She seemed to waddle a little but unless Keera brought it up, Scarlet would not either, feeling that the other needed to be hardened or she would remain a burden. And Scarlet would not carry some useless burden without some sort of benefit, other than heavy lifting.

At camp, Keera started to use the shovel like a machete, quickly trimming the thin branches and afterwards watching how Scarlet and her Crystal monster cut off the top part and sharpened the end, leaving a three meters long pole with a pointy end. In addition, Scarlet and Cyca cut into the wood about a hand behind the tip, letting a sliver point out on each side, forming crude barbs to help keep their prey attached. Sadly, neither of the two had any knowledge on survival tool-creation, so using fire to harden wood or similar processes was not possible. Thus, they only had a pointy stick, with which the two of them moved to the river, again, Scarlet in the lead and Keera following behind.

When the two of them got to the river, Keera took the spear and Scarlet moved a little aside, telling Keera that she would watch her back and make sure that nothing attacked her. Finding the tranquil presences in the water was quite easy and moving along the bank, so that the closest was in range was no challenge for Keera either.

Stabbing with the unfamiliar weapon was a little strange but, whether it was luck or supreme survival skill, the first try struck true, driving the pointy end of the improvised spear through one of the idling fish below, the disturbance making the other fish scatter as their brethren thrashed in pain but was unable to get off the spear. Keera managed to pull the thrashing fish ashore, only to drop the spear once she realised the reality of her action and saw the fish flop around, blood seeping down the spear.

Scarlet, on the other hand, finally understood just why Cyca had been so agitated near the river. When Keera had pulled the fish out of the water, its thrashing had caused quite a bit of splashing, even into the area where Scarlet had waited. Some of those splashes had hit Cyca and the mental reaction to getting even slightly wet was extreme distaste. The realisation that she had taken the agitation for a sign of a serious threat and not just a very feline dislike for water caused her to giggle.

Looking over to the spot where Keera had stood, she saw the spear and their dinner, but no Keera. Shrugging, she moved over and picked up the spear, making a rough estimate of the weight of the fish, it looked quite large to her so it might be enough. She made a mental reminder to look for some wild vegetables on her way back, to add to their meal.