"Are we going to cook the fish directly on the fire, or what?" asked Ines, genuinely curious. Fish was cooked a lot of ways, but she wasn't much of a chef and she had no idea what Indigo wanted to do. Indigo took a moment to respond, looking over the leftover sticks and picking out a thick one.
"We'll roast them on sticks angled over the fire. I'm going to put a pot on it, too, so that I can boil the water I collected from the stream earlier." With her machete, she sharpened the end to a point and speared the prepared fish through the middle. She did the same with two of the other fish and then handed Ines her own stick. "Sharpen that and you can have the rest of the fish."
"I almost thought you were going to do it for me!" the bat joked, using the same smaller knife she had borrowed from Indigo to sharpen the stick. The half-breed took her fish spear and dug the end into the dirt to keep it sturdy while it cooked over the fire.
"The whole reason you came out here is to learn. I need to be careful not to baby you," she replied, sticking her tongue out while she poured the marked waterskin into a small metal pot. Ines stuck the stick through her fish, somehow making it look as ungainly as Indigo made it look easy, and stamped the end in the dirt near to hers, forcing it deep enough that it wouldn't fall over from the weight of the fish. The air around them was humid and warm, but there was nothing like a fire to soothe the spirits. Syna was setting, too, and she was amazed at how quickly the day had gone by.
"That's true. I've already learned a lot. she smiled broadly. "I can't believe I didn't know how to collect firewood. I guess I just never needed to before." The water was heating up quickly, already simmering from where the pan was placed in the middle of the flames. Ines sat near to Indigo on the ground, watching the fish sizzle. The ranger pulled out the insect balm again, reapplying it as the sun fell and the bugs became more active. She passed it to Ines. The witch had noticed that Caiyha's mark seemed to protect her from random bug bites - mosquitos had landed on her, but they didn't try and feed as they usually would. They seemed more curious than hungry for blood.
