Their latest camp was one that the pack was thankful for, as they had found a spot surrounded by what they could describe as running water. After their stint of wading through the marsh with a constant sheen of sweat, it was nice to have a spot that was not only relatively dry, but had access to water that was cool and didn't seem stagnant.

Of all the members of the pack, Janius seemed the most glum in these conditions, at least until he got used to most of it. He was more than right about the humidity, and the different creatures sneaking about that would bite at his ankles while in the water gave him no end of frustration. Fendros honestly didn't mind the weather, but the fleshflies were repulsive to him, constantly itching or biting. Meesei had to tell him off on a couple of occasions early on for using too much of the repellant that she had mixed. Sabine either didn't complain, or wasn't suffering quite as much as everyone else. She was cautious in this new place, as Meesei had said to be, but still took time wherever she could to pick various new pieces of flora and insects, to see if they carried any alchemical effect. With the creations in Black Marsh being so varied, her work was never done. At the end of the day, however, Sabine was always very tired. The humid heat was taking its toll on her more than most. Ariel found very quickly that she had to keep her robe tied up above her knees in order to keep it out of the water. After drenching her garments in sweat over several days, she found that she had to cut its sleeves and skirt short, remove its cowl and loosen the laces near her collar just so she could avoid heatstroke. It wasn't long before she started to seriously consider asking one of the pack to make her some more breathable garments, like the ones they were wearing. She tried not to complain about things in general, but when her sweat turned into a fever at one point, she needed to stop to and take a potion to cure it. Even with the necklace Meesei had enchanted to resist the diseases of the swamp she had to remain vigilant.

At the camp, the pack was taking the time to rest after the day of traveling. Janius was assembling a fire for cooking. He wondered how it was possible for the nights to remain so warm that he hardly felt the need for a campfire, but Ariel still needed her meat cooked so as not to poison her. Sabine was busy testing her latest pickings of samples for the day with some basic alchemical equipment.

Ariel had just finished washing her face and wetting her hair by the water and walked up to the camp. Meesei caught her eye due to her behaviour next to one of the trees nearby their camp. Ariel walked up to Meesei curiously, she didn't know what to look for to confirm what she suspected. "Is this..." Ariel hazarded slowly, stepping closer to the tree to get a better look at it, "... is this a Hist tree?"

An eye sharper than Ariel's would have spotted Sabine stopping what she was doing and looking up at Meesei and Ariel upon the mention of Hist trees.

With Ahnasha clearly looking worse for wear, Fendros approached and sat down beside her. He had become a bit more cautious around her since the first time since he was on the receiving end of one of her hormone-driven tantrums. It was especially unfortunate in that event, as he had impatiently and angrily retorted to her, which caused no end of regret later on. When they both calmed down, they both apologised and forgave each other, restoring their relationship, but it left a bad taste in both of their mouths. By now, Fendros knew that he had to be patient and give her either the space or attention where necessary. This time, he wanted to check up on her, as he sometimes did. "How are you feeling?" He asked, looking at her sickly face. Fendros could have sworn that any part of her skin that wasn't obscured by fur had gone pale.