Chapter 8: A Strange Lunch

They walked for about an hour until they were came out onto a large meadow. Like earlier, the walk was mostly quiet sprinkled here and there with light conversation, mostly about the beautiful forest they were walking through. When they emerged from the forest Cinnamon gasped at the beautiful flower filled meadow. Across the meadow Sharmon stood atop a triangular pile of rocks waving at them. They all smiled and waved back before hurrying along the narrow path through the tall grass and flowers.

When they got closer to the rocks Cinnamon could see they formed a kind of natural fireplace with three large boulders, pushed up out of the ground at irregular angles. The largest boulder had the gentlest slope. The other two each being taller and shorter than the bigger boulder were thrust up at much steeper angles against the larger one with the smaller one directly on the other side from where they were approaching. Cinnamon could also see that since the smaller boulder in the back didn't rise up as high as the other two boulders it left a gap for the smoke from a small fire to escape instead of filling the area with smoke. And there was a fire going, with food being cooked over it.

"I see you made it." Sharmon said when they got close enough to talk. "Any problems?"

"No, not really." Muriel said glancing back at Lancos who brought up the rear.

"Any trouble with you?" Ernon asked leaning his pack against the boulder and turning to help Vanessa.

"None." Sharmon said and then went over to help Cinnamon who'd just sat down on a small boulder when Lancos walked up and said "Gee Sharmon. You sure know how to pick a campsite.

Sharmon's eyes narrowed while her hands stopped in the middle of undoing Cinnamon's waist strap. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked looking over her shoulder at him.

"Nothing!" He said quickly holding his hands up and backing away. "It's just a nice spot is all."

"Hmm" replied Sharmon.

"It is a beautiful spot." Cinnamon said and then blushed as Sharmon turned to look at her.

"Yeah" Sharmon said softly before looking down to undo Cinnamon's waist strap. Then she moved behind her to lift the pack off her shoulders and put it on the ground.

"Thanks." Cinnamon said gratefully and stretched.

Sharmon came back around and asked, "Are you holding up ok?"

"As much as I can I suppose." Cinnamon answered.

Sharmon nodded in understanding. Then she patted Cinnamon's shoulder and said, "Come on. Lunch is about ready."

Lunch consisted of roasted fish and sweet root, which Cinnamon thought tasted like sweet potato but was white inside instead of orange. Both the fish and the root were very good and all enjoyed them. However, other than giving their compliments to the chef, in this case Sharmon, lunch was eaten mostly in silence. Lancos kept trying to get Muriel to talk to him and she was having none of it. As for Cinnamon, she was too busy thinking about what Lancos had said earlier on the trail to talk much. And he had given her a lot to think about. The others, sensing her need for thought let her be.

'Lancos is right. Why am I in a hurry to get home?' she thought. "It's not like anyone there misses me. Okay, Miss Abernathy will miss me, ' she though fondly of the head librarian and her boss. She was more than her employer though. She was also her only friend and surrogate mother. It was to her that she went whenever she had problems, which was all too often, or just had something to talk about.

Cinnamon sighed, 'At least I hope she'll miss me. I know I miss her, but I don't think anyone else will miss me. So other than Miss Abernathy what other reasons do I have to go back?'

Several minutes later she was still thinking about that question. "Okay Cinnamon. Think! What will you miss at home? Come on! Think!'

Slowly ideas came to her but so did arguments against them.

'My job at the library and my books.'

'I'm sure there are libraries and books here though.'

'I'd have to learn a new language though.'

'Maybe not. They do speak English so I'll probably only have to learn about the things that aren't at home and the different names for things that are here.'

'Of course for all I know their alphabet could be more complicated than Japanese.'

Cinnamon sighed again.

"I heard about what happened on the trail. Have you figured out what you're planning to do yet?" Sharmon asked startling her.

"What? Oh... not really." Cinnamon said after she'd recovered, "Every time I think of a reason to go home, I think of one to stay."

"And for every reason to stay, you have a reason to go home. I understand." Sharmon said nodding.

Cinnamon sighed, "Yeah. I feel like I'm going in circles."

"Well you don't have to decide anything today." Sharmon told her.

"Yeah, I've got at least a week. Longer if the priest in Morovale can't send me home." Cinnamon said quietly.

"Yes. That's true." Sharmon replied just as quietly.

They sat in silence for several minutes enjoying the serenity of the meadow before Sharmon stood saying, "Well we've got to get a move on if we're going to make the next camp site by night fall."

"Oh ok." Cinnamon said a bit surprised. "Will there be anywhere to wash?" Her nose wrinkled. "I'm starting to need a bath after all the walking I've done today."

Sharmon gave her a grin. "Yes, there's a stream with some pools that are good for bathing. If you don't mind cold water that is. Of course after today I would think you'd find cool water refreshing."

Cinnamon grinned back and nodded in agreement and then stood up slowly, as her muscles had stiffened up from sitting so long. "Ooh" she winced as her muscles protested against her.

Sharmon gave her a knowing smile. "If you think you can make it, I'll give you a rub down that will help later."

"Um, ok." Cinnamon said surprised. "That sounds nice."

Sharmon nodded. "I'll also ask Muriel to say a healing prayer for you."

"Thanks." Cinnamon said uncertainly and started to stretch some of her kinks out.

After stretching a little, Cinnamon followed Sharmon back to the others.

"Will it take long to get to the next campsite?" She asked, catching up to Sharmon.