Journal Entry 201 / 0695 I literally leapt out of my tent.Journal Entry 201 / 0695 I literally leapt out of my tent. "Good morning, campers! And how are we doing today? And where, oh where is my beloved P'nyssa?" "Down by the river," Paul said, smiling. "You look happy today. Nyss went down to the stream to get some water for hot chocolate." Carroll had settled down next the fire; I will admit to there being just a touch of chill in the air, and she looked chilled from it. "Carroll?" I asked. "You okay?" "I've decided something," she said. "Tell us!" "I hate camping. I hate hiking. I'm not built for it. I think I'm a stay-at-home kinda mare." "Aw, be serious, sweetheart. Here we are, in the great wild outdoors, with nothing but a crude trail marked in splotches of red paint to lead us up the mountainside, with little to entertain us and sustain us but our own intuition and whatever we can pack on our backs. It's so very rustic!" "Well, I guess I'm not rustic. Aaden didn't come with us," she pointed out. "That's because the poor boy's a wimp!" I said cheerfully. "I'll tell him you said that." I smiled and knelt down next to her. "Listen, my beautiful Centaur princess you, if you tell him any such thing he'll redden my ass so bad I'll never be able to sit down again." "The price you pay for being so flippant," she said. I sobered considerably and said, "Carroll, is there anything I can bribe you with?" "I'll have to think about it," she laughed. "Creature comforts, perhaps?" "Such as?" she asked. "What if I draw you a bath, a nice, warm bath, and give you a complete bodyrub, with comb, along with a Centaur mug of warm milk with two lumps of sugar and two shots of brandy?" She looked down at me, then over at Paul. I followed the glance quickly enough to see Paul wink back at her. |