“Whatever,” August said, “Boko, there’s a bunch of roles and blueprints I’ve unlocked that I’ll give to you; we can do that in the morning if you want—but there’s something I wanted to bring up while we’re all together.”

Haiko seemed amused at his sudden sprint away from the previous topic but let it go unaddressed. Rittan looked up at the words, clearly making the connection to what they’d spoken about earlier.

“Sure thing,” Boko said, nodding. “This about what Rittan told us? The bamboo?”

“Yes, the bamboo,” August admitted, “It’s probably the best material to use for the roof, and there is a lot of it up there—I could probably do this by myself, but the amount I could collect and store in my inventory is going to be much less then if one of you come with me.”

“Sending you off on your own is a bad idea as well,” Boko said, “Who knows how many thornbushes are waiting in the wings?”

Kalter shifted at the comment, or perhaps the way Haiko had turned to look at her; he wasn’t sure.

“Yes, that’s a concern as well,” August agreed, “So I want to explain where everything is and then put to the vote a question—should we bother going at all? If yes, is there a volunteer who is willing to come with me?”

“Explain the situation,” Kalter murmured, “Where are we in regards to it?”

August caught the last piece of meat on the skewer between his teeth and pulled it free before flipping the stick around to use as a drawing tool.

“Alright,” August said after he’d swallowed. “It took me about two hours to get here from there, but I wasn’t exactly sure of where I was going, and I came straight through the forest behind us—something which is probably not a good idea.”

August drew a circle on the ground beside the fire and put a ‘Lake’ in the middle of it to represent the lake. He surrounded it in a slightly bigger, wavy-lined circle to represent the ridge and then drew a series of lines on one side to represent the forest directly behind them, labelling both as ‘Ridge’ and ‘Forest,’ respectively. August drew a small square to represent the camp with the label ‘LH’ before adding the four cardinal directions to the side to help them put it all together.

“There are other monsters up there, the Otrogon you spoke about,” Kalter said, watching him. “Where are they?”

August nodded, drawing a rectangle to the east of the crater, adding a ‘Bamboo’ to represent where the bamboo forest was located. He sketched a line from just south of the crater, stretching from east to West. He added an ‘Ocean’ to represent the ocean and then marked an ‘X’ in between the crater and the bamboo forest.

“That’s where the Otrogon were the last time I was up there; they eat their way through the bamboo, so it’s possible we might run into one of them,” August said, lifting his gaze. “The cliff is a sheer drop down to the ocean, but the further west you go, the lower the island slants, bringing it closer to the waterline.”

August dragged a line from the Lakeside Hovel, to the South, up the ridge, and around the forest before changing direction to the West, cutting a straight line down to the bamboo forest along the cliff side.

“That’s probably the safest route, provided the Otrogon haven’t moved much, but we will have a clear line of sight down to where they are the moment we get up to the ridge anyway, so we can reassess there if we need to,” August said, twisting the dirty skewer between his fingers for a moment. “That’s pretty much it, I think—two hours there, a few hours of cutting down bamboo, and then two hours back again—and I’ll be taking Ladybug along as well.”

“A simple but entirely effective plan,” Haiko said in agreement. “You only wish to take one of us? What of the ones who are to remain behind?”

“Work, sleep, play—it’s entirely up to you to decide,” August said, holding the skewer between his fingers before launching it point first into the fire. “Morningstar and Neptune will be here if anything happens.”

“Then let’s see what the general consensus is,” Rittan said, speaking up. “All in favour of an expedition to get bamboo?”

August lifted his hand up.

“Alas, I’ve been stripped of my title,” Haiko said, clutching the front of her leafy vest. “If not a votemaster, what am I?”

Despite her words, one of her hands lifted up into the air in clear support of the task. Within moments everyone present had voted unanimously in agreement for the trip.

“My deepest apologies, votemaster,” Rittan said, amused, “Of course, the second topic of discussion is yours to bring forth.”

“A second chance?” Haiko said, peeking out of her lashes. “I almost can’t believe it—”

“You’re taking way too long,” Kalter said, interjecting. “Who’s going with him to get the bamboo?”

“Kalter,” Haiko said, anguished. “I wanted to say it.”

Kalter grunted as Haiko attached herself to the shorter woman’s side, clearly attempting to tip her over through way of her body weight—there was a mess of arms moving around for a moment, and then Haiko lost the engagement, finding herself partially collapsed on Kalter’s lap with two of her hands twisted behind her back.

“Is this how you treat the votemaster?” Haiko managed, unable to regain her freedom. “You brute.”

“I’ll volunteer,” Boko said, amused at the ongoing struggle. “If theres monsters up there, then we should plan around having to fight—if you’re not comfortable with that, I’d probably avoid volunteering.”

“While I think I’m prepared for that,” Rittan said, pressing a hand against his mouth. “I must admit I find it rather daunting—I’ll volunteer.”

“I’ll volunteer as well,” Kalter said. “Haiko can’t fight, so she’s staying here.”

Haiko huffed at the words but had seemingly resigned herself to defeat. August kept his eyes away from the two of them; as playful as it was between them, Haiko’s inability to break free of Kalter’s grip was enough to draw an echo of the mess he’d been feeling earlier back up his neck and to the forefront of his mind once more.

“I’ll leave you to figure out who would like to come,” August said, pushing himself to his feet. “I’m going to go to bed—you guys did great today; thanks for everything.”

“You’re welcome, August,” Rittan said, offering a smile. “If you need me for anything, you know where I am.”

August let his hand pass in front of the door, giving them all a parting wave, and then he stepped away. Ladybug and Morningstar pulled away from where they’d been sitting beside the hut and moved to post up outside of the other one. The fire was still going, if only barely, and he moved to lay down beside it, watching the embers rising up to vanish in the air.

Hours might have passed before he finally fell asleep, but he couldn’t put a number on it. His mind spun, feeding him images and variations of everything that had happened throughout the day. Rittan’s steadfast caring nature, Boko’s display of startling agility, Haiko’s provocations while they’d bathed, Kalter’s unyielding grip on his wrist.

Not all of it had been good, but not all of it had been bad either, and in the moments that had left him so mixed up, there’d been elements of both. In the relative privacy of the hut and within the isolation of his own thoughts, he found his mind lingering on things that would almost definitely get him in trouble if he were to admit them out loud. Eventually, when he fell asleep, his dreams were a mess of warm skin, soft lips and far too many hands.