more memories...

   "That is an interesting technique you have for building a fire, Kael.  Where did you learn how to do that?"

  Kael looked up from what he was doing and glanced at Eldrin who had asked the question.  "I'm not really sure.  It's just something I think I have always done.  It's certainly not anything my father taught me.  I don't recall ever seeing my father build a fire, this way or any other way.  Why?  How do you build a fire?"

  "I was asking because your fires always start right away, and you don't seem to struggle to keep them lit like I do.  Anytime it's my turn to start the evening fire, I feel completely out of my element, and like a total failure of a man.  I'd really like to learn how you do it."

  Looking a bit surprised by El's honesty, Kael felt himself turning red and not from the heat of the fire.  No one had ever asked his help for anything until this adventure, and he wasn't quite sure how to respond.  "Uh, sure.  I can show you tomorrow night, if you'd like."

  "That'd be awesome!"

  Thal watched the interaction from the edge of where they had set up camp for the night and didn't see Lyri come up behind him with a heavenly blue apron full of acorns and mushrooms.  He jumped slightly when she touched his arm.

  "Oh, I didn't mean to startle you.  I was just listening to the two of them and it occurred to me that Kael really has changed quite a bit since he came back from the gnoll attack.  It almost makes me want to write a note in my diary so that I don't forget this moment."

  "You keep a diary?"

  Lyri laughed, "On this trip?  No.  When would I have time?  But if there did exist a spare moment of time to write in a diary, I think I'd rather spend it sleeping.  It would, however, make for some interesting reading when we got home if I had the time.  We all seem to have matured on this journey.  Even Eldrin seems to have become more responsible, and to have lost that wild child essence he once had.  Don't you think?"

  "Indeed.  It seems that the closer we get to Queen Legodia's kingdom, the more we all seem to be evolving into someone else."

  "Even me?  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Should I be worried?"

  "Your changes seem to be the most subtle so far because I don't think you had much to change.  And I think so far it is a good thing.  It's as if we are becoming the person we had been in a past life.  I feel like long ago we might have all been best friends, and it was that friendship that drew us together in this lifetime."

  Vondran's voice was suddenly loud in Thalion's mind, "That's it exactly!"

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts, beginning with the most recent. To start from the beginning, continue to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page until you get to 1 January 2025, then click "Newer Posts" to read the next date. You can thank Blogger for the inability to list them by chronological order under the labels.]

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.