Sure enough, not too far ahead was the camp with a dragon standing guard at the entrance. Her head was held high, and her wings were unfolded just enough to cover the entrance. She didn't seem that aggressive, actually.

Zak instinctively growled when he noticed her.  "Of course.  Of.  Course."

"Calm, bud." Flash muttered under her breath.  "We might wanna stay under cover for now."

"T-t-t-that w-w-would b-b-be a g-g-good i-idea..." Breeze stuttered, slowly backing away, then retreating to the back of the group in fear.

Kasai glared slightly.  "We don't have long before the next blood moon, though.  I'd say it'd be best if we attacked sooner rather than later."

Cory shivered. "Did you have to remind me?" he whimpered.

"...sorry. But still."

"W-well, m-m-maybe w-w-we c-could w-w-wait and h-hide out u-until a-a-after t-t-the b-b-blood m-moon?" Breeze stuttered.

"The pup has a point, Kasai." Streak pointed out. "At least then we won't have to worry about it that much."

Kasai considered this for a moment. Half of her screeched to go down there and slice each and every smuggler in half with her sword, but the other half pleaded that she waited. She wasn't sure what to do, but finally spoke.

"...okay, we'll wait. For now."

"Well, what do we do in the meantime?" Katie asked.  "I mean, the blood moon's still about..."  She counted on her fingers.  "...three days, I think?"

"Katie's right." Sasha noted.  "That is plenty of time."

Kasai just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly not in the mood to deal with this right now.

"I know you guys are tired of walking and camping and walking and camping again, but we don't have much choice right now.  For now, we'll just watch and follow the gang from a distance if they end up moving."

The group gave a simple nod and decided not to bother Kasai with any more questions.

This was going to be a long wait...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malorey eagerly bounded up to Natalie.

"Heeeey Nat!  Any intruders yet?"

"No." Natalie huffed plainly.  "I keep telling you not to get your hopes up.  I doubt there will be anyone."

"Hmmmmmmmm...you're no fun sometimes!  You know that?"

"It is what it is, Mal."

Malorey crossed her arms with a pout. She always did have a tendency to act childish, but Natalie liked that about her. It made things interesting. She didn't dare say it to Mal's face, though. Who knows how she'd react.

"Why don't you go frolick around, or play with Yen, or somethin'?" Nat muttered, her large tail tapping the ground.

"Yen's busy. And I wanna hang out with you instead!"

"I thought you said I'm no fun."

"Yeah, well....... er......"

Mal was at a loss for words. Nat chuckled at her. "Okay, okay. If you want, you can help me keep an eye out. You always had a sharper eye than I did, anyway."

"YAS!" Malorey cheered, leaping into the air and simultaneously going into her griffon form.  Her wings flapped excitedly, and her tail swished about.  It wasn't long, though, before she got distracted.

"BUTTERFLYYYYYY!!!!" she cheered, chasing after a brightly colored butterfly that flew by.

"Stay focused, Mal." Nat reminded. "You can chase butterflies later."

"Aw..." Mal pouted, scampering back over and sitting underneath Nat's wing like it was a tent or canopy. "Your wings are way bigger than mine."

"Probably 'cause I'm bigger than you."

"Are you calling me a midget?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Hey!"

Nat chuckled again. "I'm just messin' with ya'."

"You'd better be!" Mal huffed.

The two of them sat together a little longer, still keeping watch over the camp. Of course, there was the occasional moment Mal would get distracted, but Nat was there to keep her in check.

"Hey, Nat?" Mal suddenly said.

"Hm?" Nat turned to face the griffon.

"What do you think would happen if the gang disbanded?"

Nat paused.  It's not often she's asked questions like this, especially from someone like Malorey.

"I, errr...."

"Would you still be my friend?" Malorey added, looking up with pleading eyes.

Natalie paused again.

"...of course I'll still be your friend."

"You mean it?"

"Mm-hmm."

Malorey smiled and snuggled up to Natalie, her tail swishing.  "...thanks, Nat."

"Heh...no problem, Mal."