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Iskra was finishing up the second batch of venison at this point; it was tedious to cook this, but she was doing fine, poking it occasionally with her knife. She saw Maren approaching, raising an eyebrow; had she been right about the Kelpies?

"Did he drown or something?"

Maren blinked at Iskra at the comment, “Oh, no! Of course not, he was washing his clothes safely. It does take a terribly long time though…I am going to bring him his extra clothes.” She politely decided to leave out the part about them being dirty as well, and walked towards the tent in search of Amaury’s pack. After and nosing around she paused for a moment, spotting the rest of the fruit that Iskra had collected. The unicorn looked torn between the two choices, her tail flicked to the side briefly in consideration before taking the pack.

The mason stood where he was, waiting patiently for Maren. Daytime in the woods hadn't bothered him much anymore; he might not have been a combatant or particularly skillful in survival but he was already very familiar with it all. He wondered if the forest had other malevolent creatures that preferred the day he didn't already know about, what with the aufhocker encounter the night before.

It did make Amaury think about a change in his career though. He was still relatively able but these sorts of trips might have more consequence in even just a few years.

Iskra shrugged a bit as she picked more of the venison up, already cooked, and set it to the side. With the rest cooking, and once Maren was out of sight again, the bandit got up and went to the trees, looking up at the nearest one. She wasn't very good with heights, but there was little to be done if she wanted to find her way home, or locate the direction of a village at least. So she began to climb up the branches, making her way to the top.

Marenithiel trotted back to where she left her half naked companion; his bag’s straps clenched between her flat teeth. When she neared she held the bag up to him amiably, wanting to help how she could. “Mphrmf.” She mumbled through her closed mouth.

Maren was feeling more energetic the brighter the day got. Her powers strengthened greatly by the sun, and felt quite at ease when it filtered down on her between the leaves of the trees. The little unicorn still had half a day till she was at full power, having used up so much energy when the night monster was bearing down on them.

She watched Amaury and waited until he was ready to go back to the camp site.

Amaury took the bag from the friendly unicorn and grinned. "Thanks. I wish we ran into each other sooner because I started this trip with plenty of fruit. You'd be spoiled for sure. Nothing for it, though." The mason set his bag down and removed his spare pants from it. They weren't visibly muddied but Maren may be able to tell they smelled of sweat; perhaps he'd been wearing those clothes for a few days since cleaning them last. "I'll spare you," he quipped, walking behind a tree and removing and replacing his underwear.

Of course he walked out and started putting on his belt and spare shirt, holding his wet clothes in one hand and his bag in the other while starting to walk back to the hut. He noticed that Maren seemed chipper and seemed happier for it as well. Since it wasn't far he was there in time to notice Iskra's climb; he watched her for a few seconds but kept going. "Hi again!"

She glanced at him, and seeing he was fully clothed she waved a bit, "Venison's in the hut! Fruits there too!" She called out, before resuming her climb.

Eventually, she made it to the top, clinging tight to the branch as she peeked through the leaves and around. Iskra frowned at the sight, or lack of it- the forest was still charmed, all she could see for miles was just trees.

Maren looked up at the tree curiously and called out to her, “What are you doing up so high? Do you see something?” But at the word fruits she looked to the hut and jogged to it eagerly. The unicorn took care not to scarf down all the fruits, and after eating a few she took the largest in the pile and trotted away with it to eat leisurely; and tried to watch what Iskra was doing in the tree.

After a few minutes the unicorn’s ears perked up in thought as she looked to Amaury now and spoke up, “Oh, perhaps we should tell Iskra that we are going to find the main road?”

Amaury smiled at the mention of food and went to collect some of his own. Though the mason would have enjoyed telling the two otherwise he also tried to be conscientious in the amount of food he ate; just enough for him not to be too hungry. He hung up his sopping wet clothing on the branch of another tree and walked out, also a bit curious as to what the bandit had observed up there.

When Maren spoke to him he hummed, a bit groggy and content now that his stomach wasn't empty. "Yeah. You're the one who potentially can, after all." he chuckled.

Iskra had started her climb down, finished looking at the practically endless trees-- the woman didn't like being under the manipulation of such a magic force. Which was easily visible by the irritated look on her face as she finally made it back to the ground, "Damn magic...all I can see for miles around is trees." She grumbled, sitting down on the ground with a pout. The bandit king was pouting, like a spoiled child.

Maren watched Iskra clamber back down from the tree, impressed at the skillful movements, and blinked in surprise when she began to pout. “Don’t fret Iskra, I can lead us to the road…” Maren paused for a moment thoughtfully. Would Iskra still be amiable to them once she was rid of the enchanted forest? What would stop this Bandit King from continuing her hunt for profitable creatures such as she?

Maren stared at Iskra, her golden eyes looked a little sad. “Last night’s events brought us together, and the magic in these woods holds us here… what will you do once you are free of it?” She glanced to Amaury now, “And does our agreement still stand? I would still very much like some fruit at a market.” Maren glanced down, feeling a little guilty. But she did not know how her companions would treat her once they no longer needed to be together.

"Maren. You're the glue that holds our terrible trio together; if it were just us two, well, we'd be dead. Or, if you'd left at dawn, I'd be dead." Amaury winked at the other two, trying to show that his teasing was in good spirits. "I may be an insensitive scoundrel, but I'm still an honest man when it comes to favors. Once we find some folks I can trade my stuff with I'll get you those fruits." The mason smiled at them, tired but happy.

He reached over to give the unicorn a friendly mane ruffle, light handed enough to pull away if such attention seemed unwanted.

Iskra looked down at her lap, her face burning red with shame. She knew she had brought it upon herself; she was, after all, a bandit king. Not only this, but by commom knowledge, she had betrayed her husband to seize his power; her side of the story was untold, and it would remain so. If she could sever the bonds of love and marriage so easily, it would be assumed she would sever these bonds just as quick.

"I can assure you, Onyx will no longer hunt your kind...you and Amaury will be protected to the best of our abilities, and if trouble shall ever befall you, you may find refuge in the mountains among us." She mumbled, "As for when we leave this forest...As i do not know how far we are from the mountains, I cannot tell you if I will accompany you to any nearby villages. I will plan on stealing a horse and returning to my home, if that is the case, and hopefully I won't hinder your ability to stay safe." She did have quite the bounty on her head.

“Th-thank you, Amaury.” Maren’s eyes positively sparkled in delight at the mason’s kind touch. It felt like it had been a terribly long time since someone last treated the unicorn like a friend. She nosed at his hand in gratitude, and if allowed, nibbled lightly on his sleeve.

She looked back to Iskra and smiled with her eyes. “I have never met such an honorable bandit before, thank you, Iskra.” Maren paced over to her now and bent her head down to nudge the woman’s shoulder gently in thanks, and watched for any negative reaction, not wishing to overstep her boundaries.

Amaury noticed the shameful look that Iskra took when he made another quip about her banditry. He decided that she probably wouldn't take that sort of jest well for as long as it was relevant to her, so he should stop. In the meantime he patted the unicorn more completely, pulled it slightly away so that she could sniff, and grinned toothily when his sleeve was nibbled.

He looked over at the bandit king and asked. "In all my days I never knew that unicorns were so endearing. Did you?"

She let out a laugh, a rather soft noise, and very gently patted Maren, though the motion was fleeting and she moved her hand back into her lap, "Well, I certainly can't be all bad..." Iskra nodded a bit, though her face was red again, "You don't really have much time to get to know something when you're trying to shoot it and it's trying to run you through...so no. I didn't really know a Unicorn could be so kind." She really was going to have to rethink a lot of her common hunting practices. If Maren was capable of thought and speech, she was really going to feel guilty if anything else she hunted was similarly gifted.

Maybe she would just go back to hunting regular animals.

The mason nodded, listening to Iskra speak. He drew his hand away from Maren just to stretch his arms above his head, letting out a yawn afterwards. "...Ah. We should probably get on with escaping this forest before I fall asleep standing up." Amaury checked his bag, thinking about something and starting to step in the direction of their camp. "It'll be a bit before those clothes dry... but I can pack the tent right now. I'm gonna do that."

"I'll go...pick up the scraps of my armor..." Iskra shuffled awkwardly for her shredded armor and cloak. She didn't exactly see Maren appreciating her leaving the trashed gear all over the woods.

(( Taking a break from my finals for a moment.. I am so screwed ;v; ))
The Unicorn could think of nothing more to say of their comments, simply looking happy with Iskra’s change of heart on the matter of hunting. Her golden eyes were soft as she looked at them both.

Maren watched her companions disburse then, so she decided to trail after Iskra to try to lend her some help… and to not get lost in the woods if she were to stray too far from the camp site. “May I come with? I can help collect with you if you wish.”

The mason had done as he said, walking in the direction of the tent and, once there, beginning to disassemble it. The fire had been getting low, so impulsively he fed it with a coupe more logs. Though he was indeed tired the day was treating Amaury well and it was hard to argue with the simplicity of it after all that happened the night before. Still, he was going to miss his project if they got out. Maybe when they found civilization he'd talk to people about doing that more efficiently for later.

Once everything was packed the mason folded the deerskin and cloth which supplemented the tent's cover. He left the cloth in the nearby shed but took the fur with him, tucking it into his belt for safekeeping. He'd proceed to preserve what meat there was left (though indeed there was very little), whistling and humming for enjoyment and to keep himself alert.