The New and Improved Friendly Company made it to the shore very late in the afternoon. They set Baly, Bastard, and Ludmilla loose to graze in the dunes and sorted out their packs.
"We've got... two packages of jerky, three packages of cheese, two loaves of bread, more raisins than we could ever eat, ten apples, three pears, a bag of almonds, about a pound of oats, two onions, six potatoes, and a bag of mushrooms." Eva reported after a tally session.
"Two knives, a bow with no string, a razor, and what could be a garrott." Pasha took inventory of their weapons.
"I think that's just a shoelace and a twig." Eva said.
Pasha shrugged.
"Enough stolen money to let us stay at inns for the next year." Matvei shook a bag full of coins.
"So where are we going now?" Pasha asked.
"We follow the coast until we find the mountains." Eva said, starting a fire with a bit of driftwood.
"They meet?" Pasha raised his eyebrows.
"Yes. Right where I grew up." Eva unwrapped their single, lowly cooking pot from its rag holdings.
"We going on foot?" Matvei asked.
"Unless you think you can build a boat." Eva filled the pot with sea water. She blew on her fingers and dipped her hand into the water, rendering it salt-free but still a little sandy.
Matvei and Pasha exchanged glances.
"We can build a boat." Pasha said.
"Knock yourselves flat," Eva invited, sticking the pot onto the fire, "ISIDOR! COME HELP WITH DINNER!"
The magician (now officially Bard) came running back down the beach with Pushki in pursuit. They had gone for a walk while Matvei, Pasha, and Eva accounted for their supplies.
"What are we having tonight? Cheese and raisin hash?" Pasha asked.
"Pineapple stew." Eva said.
Pasha and Matvei flinched.
"Stone soup, you wimps."
"Stone soup, the food of heroes." Pasha grumbled.
"Food of the homeless." Eva corrected, chopping up a mushroom with one of the knives.
"Am I on vegetable detail again?" Isidor asked.
"Yep. Start cutting." Eva handed him an onion and the end of a board that had floated in.
"Hey, Bunny. You're good at putting things together, right?" Pasha asked, putting his arm around the boy.
Pushki nodded.
"Want to help us build a boat?"
Pushki nodded again.
"I guess Pasha and I will go find materials while you guys make dinner." Matvei started down the beach.
"Back later, ladies. Keep the home fires burning." Pasha teased. Eva and Isidor stared at him. The thief's shirt turned bright purple and his shoes caught fire.
"GODS!" He kicked sand over his feet.
"Go play carpenter, Pasha." Eva said.
The thief went off muttering.
Pushki looked disappointed.
"What's wrong, Bunny?" Eva asked, tossing mushrooms into the water.
"I was waiting for you to turn him into a pineapple again." He said.
"A boy after my own heart." Eva's mouth quirked into a smile as she went about cutting up a potato.
"I'm sure the llamas would love you both." Isidor said.
"Llamas?" Pushki asked.
"I almost forgot about that!" Eva's eyes widened.
"I wish that I'd forgotten about that." Isidor mourned.
"Llamas?" Pushki repeated himself.
"Should we tell the Bunny?" Eva asked. Isidor hesitated.
"I'm not a baby." Pushki reminded them.
"All right, Bunny. You can consider this your official initiation into the group." Eva said.
"The moment of truth." Isidor added dramatically.
"The Llama Incident." Eva dropped a handful of potato into the pot.
"This was a little while after I joined the Company. We were by the Twin Rivers, and we stopped for the night at a farmhouse. Well, there was a party going on."
"Lots of music, food, drinking. Great place to spend the night, and Pasha got drunk."
"Really drunk?" Pushki asked.
"Really, really, really drunk." Eva said.
"Sauced. Splashed. Soaked." Isidor said.
"And we lost him somewhere in the course of the evening, but we weren't too worried. After all, there were a lot of people around."
"In the morning, Rus sent Eva to look for him. Apparently Rus had...entanglements with all six of the farmer's daughters during the night, and he wanted to get out of there fast."
"I found him..." Eva stopped and shook her head, laughing.
"Come on, Eva, this is your part." Isidor nudged the witch.
"Okay, okay. I found him out in the barn, pretty badly trampled. Covered in hoofprints and stone cold unconcious."
Pushki winced.
"On top of this, he was stark naked and the llamas were hiding from him." Eva broke down into laughter, and Isidor joined her.
Pushki stared.
"He didn't." The boy sputtered.
"We're pretty sure that he did. If he remembers, he's not saying anything." Isidor said.
"That's horrible!" Pushki said, disgusted.
Eva shrugged, "That's Pasha."
"ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ME?" Pasha called from just over the dunes.