Breakfast in the common room of Drevash's inn was bread and aged cheese and a thick vegetable stew, which had obviously been simmering since before dawn, and it was just the sort of food a day of physical exertion made truly satisfying instead of merely adequate.
They gathered in ones and twos, and when Rex came down, with Nerith a few steps behind him, most of the group was already seated.
Elizabeth had a map unfolded over one end of the table, weighed down at the corners with cups and a small lantern. She ate her bread one-handed and traced a route with the other finger in a manner that suggested she'd been here for some time already.
Rex sat down across from Apollo, and Apollo looked up and gave him the simple smile he offered to people he trusted with no reservations.
"Ready to start the last day of our expedition?" he asked.
"Ask me after I've eaten my breakfast," said Rex.
"Hahaha!"
