“In fact,” he continued quickly, not wanting to lose the momentum they had just started to gain, “you can often tell the various lineages of arcane schools by the words they use. An arcane master will always train their apprentices using the words that they themselves were taught, just as your town elders taught you to use the count of ‘one, two, three, go’. Another village might have taught their folk to use a different nomenclature, such as ‘ready, set, go’.”
“That makes sense,” Kre smiled. “I think I get it now.”
Dain sighed heavily in relief, “Well, that incredibly basic piece of instruction only took the better part of the hour. I think I might be in need of a break from instruction. You are exhausting.”
“Good timing too,” Talimar called back. He was waiting in the middle of the path for the two of them to catch up. “Kersath found a clearing not too far down a game trail with a nearby stream and Ortho said that he will need to head to a nearby rendezvous alone for some information.”
“I don’t like the sound of anyone going alone,” Dain muttered. “Especially him. He takes far too many risks when it comes to this obsession of his.”
“He will not be alone,” Talimar said, nodding, “Kersath will be his shadow.”
Dain snickered, “Does Ortho know that?”
Talimar threw him a look that indicated it wasn’t a question worth answering. “Head over to the camp. The horses will need tending.” That last statement was directed at Kre, which he guessed was going to be one of his duties as the newest member of the company. He anticipated other tasks as well, such as getting the water and cleaning the dishes, the latter of which he hated most of all. Horses though, horses he enjoyed working with so there were no ill feelings there.
When the two of them entered the clearing, Dain dismounted and moved immediately to sit with his back to the furthest tree, ignoring everything and everyone except the book in his lap. Without any further direction, Kre took their horses over to the others near the stream and began his task of caring for them.
He watched the others in the camp move about their own tasks in a strangely automatic way. Though they spoke to each other, it was idle chit-chat or minor jests, but they never talked about what they were doing or what they needed. They simply handed things off and effortlessly picked up where others left off as if it was second nature.
In one case, Beleg pulled some carrots from his bag and held them out behind him, where Gnore… maybe Snagger… Kre couldn’t tell which of the dwarves it was, honestly, but one of them immediately and wordlessly took the proffered vegetables over and began chopping them atop his metal shield. His movements were swift and true, cutting two carrots at once into thin ovals. Whenever he moved to grab the next two, Ras’s hand flashed out and swept the already cut pieces into a large pot he held under the shield.
On the other side of the clearing, two of the other dweorvkin were working on a pair of fairly large rabbits. One was busy cutting and peeling while the other separated meat from bone, throwing each into a separate pile.
Aside from the meal prep, the others were working on their own tasks in perfect concert with each other. Taking it in all at once, it was truly quite the operation to witness and Kre wondered just how long it took for a group to fall into this kind of pattern.