SS - Chapter 44 - The Crossing

Soooo.... I'm not sure about this chapter yet. I kind of had an idea going in, and I'm still not sure how well it worked. I'll have to read through it, and think about it some more. What do you all think?

It took us a while to get back to the citadel. Not only were the springs a little ways into the forest, but they were located on the opposite side of the massive lake that ran along the north side of the citadel, so we had to go around. 

“We should get someone to build boats!” Camille chirped as we approached the river crossing.

“The vast majority of people are still living in tents, and even with all the additional architects, builders, and labour that my mother brought with her, it’ll take months to build houses for everyone. Boats aren’t exactly a priority right now,” I replied irritatedly. “Boats aren’t exactly a priority.”

“I’m sure the skills for boat making and construction are different, and there may be fish in the lake. It could be an alternate food source for the people,” Camille insisted.

 I spun on my heel and glared at her. “Please don’t pretend this is about fishing, you just want an easier way to get back to the spring.”

“That is an added benefit,” she admitted, returning my glare. “My points still stand!” 

We locked eyes for several seconds, until I gave up in frustration. She did have a point, after all. “Fine, I’ll send a message to my mother when we get back, and see if we can get someone to check if there are enough fish in the lake to make it worth it,” I huffed.

“Huzzah!” Camille crowed as I turned away, shaking my head.

The river which ran through the middle of my territory wasn’t that wide, or deep, but that didn’t mean you could cross it on foot. The water moved so fast that it would sweep anyone who attempted to cross off their feet, and the water was cold enough to give you hypothermia if you stayed in for too long. 

In order to cross Camille had lashed a couple logs together with her magic, then had a number of vines snake across the river so we had something to pull ourselves across with. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but it worked.

We shoved the rough raft out into the current, grabbed the vine, and jumped on before our ride could get swept away. As we slowly pulled ourselves across the swift water, I noticed Camille had gone quiet. 

“What? Are you upset that I didn’t immediately adopt your idea?” I grumbled. 

“No… you did the right thing,” Camille replied quietly. “We don’t even know if there are fish in the river, never mind the lake.”

“Then what’s with you? You’re not normally this quiet, you can’t help but fill the silence,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at her. She was sitting there, just staring at the horizon. 

“I’m just thinking,” Camille muttered dejectedly.

“About what? Come on, you’re starting to concern me,” I prompted.

“It’s just… Can we do this? Create a kingdom, protect and provide for all these people?” 

I nearly dropped the vine when I heard that. I carefully readjusted my grip, and turned around so I could face her. “What brought this on? Just a few minutes ago you were playfully prompting me to investigate fishing, and now you’re moping.” 

She shook her head. “You’ve had us running around dealing with various emergencies for weeks, both before and after the refugees arrived. I didn’t have that much to really think about our situation. It’s just overwhelming. When we first came out here we only had a hundred people without, and we never expected the settlement to grow. You carefully planned everything out, and grew the settlement in a slow, natural way.”

She glanced back at the same point on the horizon, and after a second I realized that she was looking in the general direction of the village.

“Once you found the stone it felt like all the careful planning went out the window. We’ve been running around for weeks, struggling to make sure the gate was constructed on time, and to gather the supplies for several hundred people. Our population has exploded, and we’re struggling to keep up.”

I stared at her for a minute. “That may be true, but what other choice did we have? I had no idea that claiming the stone would affect my family, and you know I would never leave people to suffer if I could help them. We might have rushed our preparations, but we did manage to make arrangements for everyone before they arrived. Even though we don’t have houses for everyone yet, we managed to scrape together emergency supplies to support everyone, and we found a place to put everyone. We can support everyone, it just might not be the most comfortable stay at first.”

“The only reason we managed that was because you found the stone,” Camille muttered.

“So? It may have been the catalyst to the changes, but I don’t regret finding it. Even though we could have lived comfortably in the village without magic, our lives are much better with it. We’ve been able to establish a city, discover the resources we spent months scouting for, improved our agriculture, established infrastructure, and more! Sure, we have to look after more people, but it’s one hundred percent worth it.”

“And in exchange all you had to do was sacrifice all your spare time, and spend every waking moment trying to organize things,” Camille pouted.

“Not every moment…” I replied hesitantly.

“When’s the last time we went hunting? Or fishing? Or just exploring the area for fun? I think this is the first time we left your office for a reason other than work,” Camille exclaimed.

“No it’s not!” I snapped. “We…” 

I paused, my mind raced as I tried to think of a single example of us taking time off in the last few months. I was coming up blank.

Camile raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

“Okay, you may have a point, I may have been overworking during the last few months. I had a good reason though, I was the only one with enough access to the system to get everything set up before the refugees arrived,” I said.

“And now?” Camille prompted.

“I guess now that we have some support we can afford to take some more time off,” I admitted.

“Yesssssssss!” Camille cheered, throwing her hands up in the air. Without her support I suddenly had to handle the full weight of the raft, and was nearly pulled overboard. Once she realized I was having trouble Camille immediately grabbed the vine again. “Sorry!”

It seemed like Camille’s previously morose mood had seemingly evaporated, and she was back to her regular happy go lucky self.

“Your mood improved awfully fast,” I said suspiciously. 

“What can I say? I’m an upbeat person,” Camille grinned. “Also, a decent actor.”

I stared at her blankly for a moment. “What?” 

“Nothing,” she replied in an upbeat tone. “You promised to leave the office more often, so no complaining when I drag you out at least once a week.”

“Wait… did you mean anything you said back there?” I asked.

“Of course I did! I’m just not the sort of person that obsesses about that sort of thing. I just go with the flow. Plus we have all sorts of support now that your mother, my mother, and the knights have arrived. You have more than enough hands to handle things,” she proclaimed. 

“Then what was all that!” I stammered.

“Oh. That was me tricking you into taking more time off. No take backs!”

I felt one of my eyes twitch. “Seriously?”

“I’ve been trying to get you to take more time off using logic, but it’s been difficult since you’re better at logical thinking than I am. So I decided to try a different tactic, emotional blackmail,” she explained.

“I hate you so much right now,” I grumbled. 

“That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll forgive me in three or four days, then I’m going to drag you out for some good old fashioned fun,” Camille laughed, slowly pulling on the vine to get us moving again. 

“You didn’t have to go that far to convince me to take more breaks,” I huffed. “I’m sure you could have convinced me through normal methods.”

“Maybe, but this was faster, and I want to spend more time back at the hot springs,” Camille declared. “Now start pulling so we can get back home!”

I turned back towards the front of the raft, and despite my best efforts a small smile crept across my face. “Why do I put up with you?”

“Because I’m amazing!” she exclaimed, “Now pull!”