The evening came down fast at this altitude.
One hour the clearing was in the last of the afternoon light, the rock still warm, the beast's mana field almost fully dissipated. The next hour the temperature dropped with the efficiency of high ground losing its heat the moment the sun stopped finding it, and the dark came in from the tree line — completely, without the gradual softening that lower altitudes produced.
Vane had the fire going before the light was fully gone. Ashe had found the firewood with the ease of someone who had been making camps in eastern mountain terrain since childhood and understood which wood burned long and which burned fast and which produced heat that was useful rather than merely bright. Nyx had eaten half her rations with the focused attention of someone whose body had filed a formal complaint about the afternoon's expenditure and was now addressing it.
