?


    Kat and Lily could smell smoke as they approached the ce everyone was staying so Kat picked up speed. She rushed through the streets for a bit before deciding to just fly. Kat hopped into the air and flew as fast as she could… only to quickly realise there was no problem. Or at least, nothing was on fire that shouldn''t be. In the middle of the huts where Kress had been making a sandcastle, there was now a pyre with a sad Kress on one side, and Nixilei reading a book next to him.


    Kat slowed, gliding down gently and dropping next to Nixilei, "Hello Kat," said Nixilei, remarkably unconcerned. Kat''s own concern only increased when she noticed the ck eye and tear tracks on Kress… who seemed remarkably ok with everything despite the aforementioned problems.


    "Right…" said Kat slowly, "Hello as well… I suppose? I just… what''s going on? There''s a fire, and I can''t hear anymore yelling and Kress has a ck eye that… well I know you could heal it, but considering you''re also the one with your mind working properly I imagine there''s a reason you didn''t… just… look I ran over here because I smelt smoke and now I''m just confused frankly,"


    Nixilei nodded, putting away her book and shifting so that she could see Kat properly. "Indeed. It is a bit of a story, and Kress has decided to give me the silent treatment over it. It''s starts shortly after you left. I decided, wisely, that I didn''t want to just stand around or sit on the sand. Even if I don''t move much I''m sure it would get everywhere," exined Nixilei.


    Kat and Lily nodded. Even though neither went to the beach particrly often it was still something they knew well. Nixilei continued speaking upon seeing their agreement, "d you understand. So I went to grab one of the nearby outdoor chairs and sit down near Kress. The problem is that in the few moments I was gone, he seemed to have forgotten I was there. Kress eventually, turned and spotted me…


    "Freaking himself out in the process and il his arms around wildly. Not really sure why he did that, but he did and it resulting in Kress hitting himself with the spade. This started off a tirade where he proimed the spade to be a traitor to the cause. I offered to heal him… but Kress insisted that wounds taken when fighting a once trustedpanion should be honoured.


    "I did think about healing him anyway… but I decided that it wasn''t worth the effort. Kress would likely justin, so I let it be. Some timeter, Kress decided that he should give the shovel a send-off after defeating it… which entailed snapping it in half. Then Kress insisted we find a bunch of wood, to burn it as a fitting funeral for his shovel friend.


    "So off we went into the nearby area, though I did keep an ear out for Green and Gareth. Eventually we found enough wood… is what I''d like to say but Kress kept insisting we needed more. As to why you can''t here Green and Gareth arguing? Well at some point they both came over and asked me to heal them…


    "You see, despite being stronger in many ways then the baseline for our races due to our diligent practice it is still entirely possible for us to yell ourselves hoarse. I decided they''d both had enough arguing and refused to heal them. They both thought about it for a while, but Green decide an excuse to sleep instead of argue sounded nice and agreed with me. So they should both be sleeping at the moment, or more likely, Green is sleeping while Garethys next to her and ys with her hair,"


    "Probably for the best," said Lily with a nod. "If they really managed to yell that much… yeah best not to push things even further,"


    Nixilei shrugged, "I agree. Though at least they were not truly angry with each other as they were arguing. I think it goes to show how much they understand each other. It might have be a big shouting match, but they can still cuddle up with each other at the end of the day,"


    Lily and Kat took a moment to smile at the thought before Kat asked, "Right… so how did it get to this?" Kat gestured at Kress.


    Nixilei sighed, "Right so after Kress finally got enough wood, though that took some convincing from me, he built the pyre,id down his shovel underneath it and then lit the whole thing up… after which he started crying about the fact that he no longer had a shovel, and that it was all my fault.


    "This is of course ignoring the fact that I found two other shovels without really trying, and that Kress was the one who insisted on cremating the one that''s now ash. Especially considering we''ll have to pay for it to be reced… but whatever. Anyway, to stop himining, I agreed it was all my fault, and now Kres sis giving me the silent treatment as punishment… and now here you are. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hopefully the list I gave you contained good ingredients for a firece cookout. If not, the kitchens will probably suffice," finished Nixilei.


    "Will you be healing them in the morning?" asked Kat.


    Nixilei nodded, "Yeah. I''m not going to let them go into the tournament still wounded, even if it is just a bit of a sore throat. Communication will be important… probably,"


    "Will Kress be ready for that?" asked Lily.


    Nixilei shrugged before admitting, "He should be… but if he''s not, and I admit I have no idea what I''m doing then I''m hoping that Thyme will fix anything that''s still… broken,"


    "Is it likely Thyme will help? I mean, he did eliminate that one team… even if it was for very valid reasons," said Kat.


    Nixilei shrugged and said, "I think as long as the rest of us are fine, then Thyme should be easy to convince. Sure it wasn''t the smartest idea to smoke cloud powder so close to the tournament… but if it was normal cloud powder Kress would be fine. The real mistake was just smoking random powder that was lying around, even if cloud powder does look really distinctive,"


    Kat nodded. *I suppose Nixilei has a point. It doesn''t feel great to rely on Thyme to show us a bit of favouritism and heal Kress. Though, if Kress isn''t necessary for the first event maybe we''ll still have time for him to recover before it actually matters. It''s a bit unclear. If this was the first round Kress would have most of the day to recover… but the one after that we were all working together on the first task. Still… I guess Kress will have a few hours in the morning either way.*


    In the end, Kat had to agree with Nixilei that it was the best course of action. Once that was done they separated the shopping into two separate piles. One to be loaded up until the fridges, and the other would be prepped now. The need for multiple fridges was mostly due to the small size of the ones in the hut, and not an excessive amount of food. Once that was done, Kat and Lily were tasked with packing things away as Nixilei went looking for… something.


    That something turned out to be a spit roast setup. They didn''t have a great cut of meat for it, but Nixilei exined the n was to essentially make an oversized kebab that would then be taken off the fire and divided across the tes. With a shrug, Kat got to seasoning the meat while Nixilei set everything up by the fire and Lily cut up the fruit and vegetables.


    Once that was done, Lily kept making the sds, with a few instructions from Nixilei to make sure she got the right ingredients, while Kat and Nixilei dealt with the fire. It was a bit slow, adding the things that needed to cook longer first, at least until Kat pointed out she was fireproof. Nixilei cursed under her breath, ashamed of forgetting such a thing while Kat got to work messing with the food.


    Kress'' mouth could be seen twitching the whole time, like he wanted to say something but apparently his desire to give Nixilei the cold shoulder was stronger than his desire to say whatever it was that kept getting him to twitch. Kat found it amusing, but Nixilei was more annoyed by the behaviour.


    Eventually Green and Gareth were drawn for their hut by the smell of food. Or more urately, Gareth was drawn out and Green was carried over his shoulder like a sack of flour and forced toe along as well. Nixilei directed Kat to grab some extra chairs while the fey herself got a table for everyone. Lily acquired the tes and cutlery, and then everyone sat down for dinner.