The wind and the rain had slacked off over the last couple of weeks. The skies were a clear and a bright purple and with that came the cold. Without the sky holding in the warmth the temperature had dropped. Belleron had been scavenging wood whenever she found it. By now she had two whole rows of wood alongside one wall of the cave she was staying in.

And that is what she had been doing just now. Except her arms were empty and she was limping on her left hind leg where there were several good sized scratches. She didn't think the fall had broken anything.

She limped into her cave and stopped short. Kel, Kya and Shasta were sitting beside her fire pit. Kel was busy getting the little flame to grow by throwing small twigs on the fire that Shasta was passing to him.

"What are you doing here? In my cave?"

"We just happened to be passing by when we noticed it was the same cave we had stopped at before and just wanted to come and see how you were doing." Kya answered. She quickly grew concerned when she noticed Balleron limp as she stepped farther into the cave.

Kel and Shasta paused momentarily in their fire building to watch Belleron. They also grew concerned.

"Oh, I should be fine. Just a few scratches and a bruise. I will be as right as rain in no time. " Belleron waved a paw as if to dismiss their worries.

"What brings you out here?" Belleron made her way over to the very small fire. It snapped and crackled indicating that the wood was still wet from the rain shower from a couple of days before. It gave off a rather wet smokey smell. No wonder Kel was having trouble lighting it.

She limped over to the pile of wood and pulled out older, drier wood and was surprised to find Kya next to her taking the wood from her. "I will take these. You need to rest that leg. "

"Thank you. " Belleron said and she limped back to the fire. Kya handed the wood to Kel and Shasta and between them they got the fire going. Soon it was a decent sized fire and quickly warmed up the cave.

"We heard that the village on the other side of this path needed help before the winter set in. We brought with us some supplies. Kya indicated the bags and baskets sitting on the far side of the cave. "We left a little later than we thought we would and when we saw that we were near your cave we thought we should check on you."

"And ask if we could spend the night. " Kel added.

Shasta poked at the fire with a long, thin tree branch. "We really did want to come check on you. You're out here all by yourself. It must be hard. I know I couldn't do it."

"Ah that's kind of you. " Belleron said. She was careful to not sound sarcastic about it. In truth she had liked the peace and quiet. The ability to go where she wanted and when. But since they had come the last time she had found that she missed having someone to talk to, to tell ghost stories late at night around a fire. And to be missed and looked in on. She still wasn't totally sure if she was ready to join a colony but the seed had been planted and it was growing.

"I would not mind you staying the night. And I might join you on the trip. I have lived here for quite some time and could help avoid pitfalls.

"All right!" Shasta said. She scrambled to her feet and ran to a rather large bag that was leaning against the cave wall. The light from the fire cast a shadow of her against the wall making it very hard to see what was inside. But she found what she was looking for and quickly brought it back.

"Ah Cheese and bread. Wonderful. " Kya said. "And I know just what will go with that. " She went to another basket and pulled out a small wine bottle and some cups.

"Oh that does sound good. " Kel said.

Belleron reached over to the bread and broke off a piece. "Indeed it does sound good. Thank you".