Progress was slower with Nina in tow; although lunch had renewed her vigor considerably, she was still just a kid, and a traumatized and exhausted one at that. They continued on their way for a couple hours, moving slowly enough for Nina to keep up, until she finally sat down on the ground, unable to keep walking.
Jon crouched down beside her, wondering if there was any way to persuade her into pressing on, but it was pretty obvious that she was just too tired. Jon sighed and stood back up. "Hey, Sylvia," she said. "Think you could taken the pack for a while?"
Sylvia nodded and took the backpack from her; to her chagrin, Jon noticed that the dryad was much better at getting the clasps to work than she was. She squatted down again and helped Nina get situated, then stood up, hoisting the harpy-girl up onto her back. She was surprisingly easy to carry, even for a kid of her size; Jon wondered if harpies had hollow bones or something. It was a little weird having Nina's wings wrapped around her chest, but it would work.
They continued on like that for a few more hours, but even as light as Nina was, she weighed more than the pack, and Jon wore out faster than she'd thought she would. After discussing the matter, the three older girls voted to call it a day. They'd still be able to make it to the pass tomorrow, and they'd planned to spend the night at the foot of the mountains before taking on the goblins anyway.
At Sylvia's suggestion, they moved off the road and into the forest; the dryad's connection with the trees allowed her to sense any disturbances around them, so being surrounded by trees meant a secure perimeter for their camp. She also directed Jon to some suitable firewood, and before long, with a quick fire spell from Karyn, they had a nice little campfire burning in a clearing a few hundred yards from the road.
Sylvia once again took the cooking duties, since Jon's culinary expertise was limited to the microwave and Karyn was too small to hold things over the fire without being over it herself. Jon sat on the other side of the fire, with Nina huddled up near her.
Jon looked her over in detail for the first time. She was a pretty little girl despite still being rather disheveled; soft black hair framed her face and speckled brown plumage matched her fair skin nicely, with snow-white feathers on the underside of her wings and the front of her lower torso. Even though she was still visibly shaken, she looked like she was an energetic, pleasant girl at heart.
Her shirt, though, was dirty and tattered; washing it in the pond had done almost nothing to improve it. Well, whatever they wound up doing with her, Jon would at least get her some clean clothes. And what would they do with her, anyway? Would they have to turn her over to whatever this world had in the way of orphanages? Or did she have relatives who could take care of her? They'd need to know her last name to find her relatives, too...
She noticed that Nina was breathing funny; as she listened, Jon realized the girl was trying to hold back tears. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. The harpy-girl shook her head.
Jon nodded. "Well, I won't try and make you," she said. "But if you do want to, you can tell me."
Nina nodded, choking back a sob, and huddled against Jon. The dragon-girl hesitated for a moment before putting her arm around the little harpy's shoulder.
