The Bewitching Hour

✧ chapter fifteen: forest-full of friends

"Over here!"

Pidge's voice is slightly muffled by the tree she's squatted behind. Lance rushes to get to her first and Hunk nearly knocks him sideways onto the grass.

"Sorry," he laughs. Lance pays it no mind. "Didja find something, Pidge?"

"These little threads of bluish stuff. It means we're close, right?"

Lance is no geologist. He studies the small rock crevice that Pidge is pointing to, and he does see what she's describing. The dirt seems to glitter in certain places with a sky-blue tint. Hunk nods so excitedly that Lance can hear his various tools and containers clanging around, as if he's laden with copper pots and pans.

"That's the stuff! Skaultrite really likes to spread out, so you find these little residual spots all over when you're near a big deposit of it."

Hunk, pleased with himself and with their progress, sits back on his behind on the soft cushion of moss beneath him. Lance figures they may as well join him. He takes the opportunity to take a swig from his canteen as Hunk and Pidge study their chart. It's not exactly a map. Lance can't make heads or tails of the thing. Some sort of graph of the local topography. Hunk thinks he can learn to use it to find where certain minerals have been deposited based on soil depth and rock formations and so far, he's been right— that Hunk sure is smart. But Lance already knew that.

"Y'know, I don't care how old I get: I'm never gonna get tired of looking for buried treasure," Hunk declares.

Lance smirks, but doesn't say anything. They're not really looking for buried treasure, are they? No one buried it. The stuff just grows on its own. And Hunk has very different opinions on exploring or adventuring depending on the day. Whenever they face any sort of threat, he announces that he's never going out to the woods with them again. ...And then the next trip comes around and there he is, more prepared and eager than ever. This time he's brought along a bunch of measurement devices and chisels and magnifiers for sampling and studying the rocks.

"...And you know I have you both covered if we run into anything sticky, right? Like a monster or something," Lance asks, adjusting his bow for emphasis. Hunk's smile fades slightly for only a moment before he nods. He's been given Lance's permission to run away immediately in the event that any such monster appears. Hunk's not a fighter, and Lance wouldn't change that about him. He'd cease to be their favorite big teddy bear if he became some sort of warrior monk.

Only five more minutes pass before Lance fears that he and his big mouth have jeopardized them all with some kind of jinx. They're moving once more, uneventfully at first, when Pidge squeals and scurries to hide behind Hunk.

"What is that thing?!"

"What? What thing?" Hunk is trembling already.

Lance already has his bow drawn and an arrow armed and at the ready. He surveys their surroundings. He doesn't see anything, but he knows better than that. He can hear a slight rustling in the brush not far off. Something large, he thinks. He points his arrow at the clump of foliage and approaches slowly. Hunk and Pidge both beg him not to, but this is his job, isn't it? He's the one who will be able to defend them if this thing— whatever it is— wants trouble.

The thing darts away. Lance sees the grasses and bushes moving. Its footfalls are nowhere near as heavy as they should be considering the beast's apparent size. Suspicious.

"...I think it's evading us," Lance says.

"There's no way! It's been tailing us! I just barely got a glimpse, so I thought I must have been seeing things, but you both saw the size of it just now!" Pidge shouts that. Hunk warns her to keep her voice down if she's so afraid.