The next day, Kirby was dead.

Viper decided that two hours after noon was the best time to move. While the sun was directly overhead at noon, the extra two hours of warming the earth made it the best guess for the warmest point in the day. He had wanted to sleep the entire day, but he knew without food, he’d be even weaker the next time the sun would be at that point, so he made the conscious decision to wake up at that time.

Marina woke up. Viper explained what happened to her and why stripping off their wet clothes were necessary.

Marina knew it, but she still wanted the explanation. They both went back to sleep, hoping to recuperate more.

Viper’s subconscious woke him up at the right time. He climbed from his sleeping bag and quickly made his way to the pack. The pack was waterproof, and it seemed the hail did little damage to it. He quickly threw on some dry clothes and then made his way to Marina’s pack. Unfortunately, being submerged, even the waterproof pack had been soaked to the brim and she had no change of clothes.

“Looks like you’re going to have to wear my clothes.”, he said.

“Do you have another pair?”, replied Marina.

“Nope. But I can bundle up some blankets.”

“I’ll wear the blankets. It’s my clothes that are wet. It’s my fault.”

“Nah.”

After Marina was dressed, she began her morning prayer and meditation asking for spells of divine resistance to cold. While it was still pretty cold in the mountain range, they both decided it would be best to not cast the spells immediately incase they would be needed in an emergency.

They were traveling again within the hour. It wasn’t long before Viper noticed some footprints. They followed it to a campfire, where a young man dressed in gray plainclothes warmed himself to a fire.

“Whoa.” The young man jumped to his feet, startled by the barbarian’s sudden appearance.

“Sorry about that. I was just surprised.” Viper was surprised. He wasn’t expecting any non-Kikapas on the island besides his own party, especially not a boy.

“Who are you?”, asked Marina, sweetly.

“Gandalph. Who are you?”, he replied.

“My name is Marina. This is Viper. We didn’t know any city-dwellers lived here. How did you get here?” Gandalph chuckled and looked back into the fire. “Lady, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”