“No, no, we can’t use that tree,” I said.

“But you said we needed hard wood?” said Noel.

“Yes, but this wood is too moist, it’ll never make an ember,” I said.

“The Terrible’s blessing works on this wood,” said Noel.

“So will my fire!” I exclaimed. “I only need better wood to start the fire, not maintain it. An ember’s a little harder to—you know what, never mind.”

We continued bickering as we looked for trees to use to make fire. We didn’t have an ax, so we couldn’t cut down a tree ourselves. This meant searching the forest for fallen or weakened trees, but none of those seemed good enough to make a fire with.

After realizing that The Terrible’s blessing was just fire, I thought I could fix everything by making a fire and pretending like we got it from The Terrible, but now the moon was behind the forest canopy and the night was getting old. At this rate, even if we found some damn wood, I wouldn’t be able to make a fire in time. Especially with how rusty I was. I hadn’t made a fire in years. Not since summer camp eight years ago.

God, I hated summer camp. Like, I get why they exist. They were an easy way for parents to get rid of their annoying brats for a bit. Plus the twerps got to learn outdoorsy stuff without a screen for miles. I’d send my kids there every summer, if I had any.

Still, I hated it. Away from home, bunch of kids I didn’t know, outdoorsy stuff with bugs and grass and crappy bathrooms. At least the one I went to was in Maine so there was always a lake or two to swim in.

And hey, they did teach us how to make fires and tie knots. Also had my first kiss during summer camp, but it was with a boy for a dare so did it really count? And yes, you’re right. It did count, because I’m clearly calling it my first kiss. Sue me for trying to be engaging, why don’t ya.

Anyways, fire. They taught us all kinds of techniques. From rubbing two sticks together to using an Iroquois bow and drill method. Most of them would be pretty hard to pull off without tools like sharp knives and stone drills, but I knew one low tech method that we could try. We just needed to find the right kind of wood.

“What about this one?” said Noel.

I walked over to her and bent down. There was a young hardwood tree that looked like it had been snapped in two by a large animal. It looked like it had been broken fairly recently, maybe a day or two ago, if I had to guess. As disconcerting as the idea of a large animal prowling this close to us was, it was definitely a lucky break.

“Yeah, it looks good. Any idea what kind of animal did this, by the way?” I said as I lifted the broken tree to carry it back to the clearing.

“Might be a Farro Bird, they make their nests out of small trees like this one. They’re the only monster that comes to the Forest of Three and even they don’t stay for long. Most monsters stay away from here, afraid of entering the domain of The Terrible,” said Noel.

Right, monsters. It’s a world with elves, of course there would be monsters. Noel grabbed the other end of the tree and we brought it back to the clearing. Along the way, Noel found an old bird’s nest, which made me happy because it meant there were animals in this world, not just monsters. I found a couple of strong sticks which I brought along too.

At the clearing I asked Noel to take off her shoes. She was a little confused, saying something about weirdos from another tribe who liked feet, but I ignored her. I took the length of hardened sinew that wrapped the fur that counted for a ‘shoe’ in this world, and returned the fur to Noel, who remarked how she couldn’t wear it without the sinew.

“Good,” I said, “you can join me in the getting pricked in the foot every five steps club.” I dusted the dirt off my foot to make a point.

“What do you need that for anyway?” asked Noel, pointing to the sinew.

“Well, as much as I would like to make fire on my own, it’ll be a lot easier with your help,” I said.

“My help?” said Noel. “But I don’t know how to make the blessing. I thought you were going to use some sort of magic from your tribe!”

“I will,” I said. There was no time to explain science to her right now, but I wanted to lay down the foundation to a future explanation so I said: “we call it chemical magic back home.”

And yes, fire is chemistry not physics. I mean, it’s physics too, but everything is physics so shut up. I was speaking to myself this way in my head because I was so used to explaining stuff like this to newbies at camp. You’d be surprised how many kids wanted to make science based magic stories at summer camp, all while not understanding either science or magic. Kids these days, am I right?

“So you want me to hold down this stick in a hole you’ll make in the wood while you pull either end of the sinew?” asked Noel.

“Pretty much, yeah,” I said.

“And that’ll make the blessing?” she said.

“Yeah, though you might hear me cursing about how hard it is,” I said.

“I don’t think this will work, but I’m willing to give it a try, I guess,” said Noel, “but how are you going to split that tree?”

Right. That was going to be a problem without any tools. I’d found a decent looking rock while we were out searching for wood, but splitting wood was hard enough with an ax. They also didn’t teach this at summer camp.

Still, I’d done a lot of research for my course on prehistoric culture. Just to be sure, I asked Noel if she’d brought some flint tools with her, maybe a small knife for self defense, but she said she didn’t need it. There were no monsters in the Forest of Three, she reminded me. Apart from the Farro birds, she added, but they didn’t hunt here, they only came for wood for their nests.

I inspected the tree. Luckily, the Farro Bird had snapped it in a way that left a large crack near the middle of the trunk. I searched for a suitably shaped rock, found one, and jammed an end into the crack to use like a wedge. I then began hammering the wedge with the other rock I’d found.

Thumps echoed through the forest. The moon drifted further and further down the sky. Sweat dripped off my chin. The wedge slipped out. I almost smashed my finger. Noel’s confidence shrank. But the crack grew and eventually, I slipped my fingers in there and pulled as hard as I could. A lot of grunts and pants later, the whole thing split apart and I lay on my back, chest bare, breathing rapidly.

I cursed. Why was this body so out of shape, damn it!

“I know I used to have a smoker’s stamina, but at least I used to go to the gym,” I said, under my breath.

“What was that?” asked Noel.

“I said.” I picked myself up off the ground. “Let’s start rubbing some sticks.”