"Cole, Uta, could you gather some dry wood?" Maya asked, handing Nora a knife. "Stay close to the camp. We don't need much."
The pair nodded and headed toward the surrounding trees, while Mayumi went to fetch water and Yaana reluctantly stepped forward to help with the cutting.
Elion took the opportunity to finish setting up his tent, though he kept glancing over as Nora began slicing the meat into thin strips.
"By the way," he said, pushing one of the tent pegs firmly into the ground, "I saw a couple of beast corpses farther down the path. I'm assuming those were yours?"
"They were," Cole replied, returning with an armful of fallen branches. "We took their cores, but we didn't stop to butcher them. We wanted to get back before it got dark."
Elion glanced toward Maya, who shook her head before he could ask.
She was already crouching beside the cleared space in the middle of the camp, arranging a few stones around its edge.
