JENNA: * Jo is already in the stable by then, humming to herself as she wrestles with a disgruntled peco to get it saddled and ready for the road. "Yeah, yeah, two days off and you think you're entitled, you dirty bird." She finally straps its bridle on and pulls its head down to face her. "Tough cookies, buddy. Not like /I/ wanted to be moving yet, either."

JUSTIN: * Shane chuckles quietly, walking up beside her and leaning against the stall for a moment to watch his own bird, busily munching at some oats. "They're certainly full of themselves." He shrugs, pushing away from his perch and entering the pen to get the peco saddled. "Maybe we missed the small print somewhere when we bought them."

JENNA: "Did we have to sign for them..? I don't recall." Jo smiles briefly, leading her bird out of its stall and ignoring it as its ruffles its feathers and squawks at her. "Well, with any luck we won't run into any more dead employers, angry innkeepers or guards ..." She leads it toward the doors, shaking her head. "I've had more on this trip than I would have thought possible."

JUSTIN: * Shane gets his bird properly harnessed, much to its momentary discontent, and begins leading it after Jo. "I can't argue with that..." He dodges a half-hearted swipe of his peco's beak, and gives it a solid swat in payment. "I'll be happy to be out of here again. Never thought I'd start looking forward to travel."

JENNA: * Jo grins at him as they step into the sun, swinging herself on her peco. "Nothing like a need for escape to get your traveling boots comfy, right?" She clucks to her bird, then pauses. "Teleporter or stairs? You pick, I hate both." She smiles gamely, though her face is a shade paler and slightly green.

JUSTIN: * Shane climbs into his saddle and sighs quietly, removing his hat for a moment to scratch at his head. "If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to teleport." He tugs the cap back into place and starts his peco off at a slow trot. "Unless you want to reassess." He turns her a small smile.

JENNA: * Jo gives him a pained look. "It'll be fine." She pushes her peco after him. "Haven't had anything to eat yet, anyway." She makes a face, however, at the prospect of the trip down. "Any idea where we should go next?" she asks, attempting to take her mind off it.

JUSTIN: "Didn't I promise you breakfast? I suppose it's a good thing our plans changed, then." Shane shrugs, steering around a corner that leads toward the teleporter. "No idea at all, actually. I generally leave that part up to you, remember?" He stretches, leaning back in his saddle. "Anywhere you want to go, we'll go."

JENNA: "Just thought I'd ask." She slides down from the peco as they approach the teleporter, leading it at a relatively quick pace to wait for their turn to go down. "I guess we haven't been to Alberta in a while ... or Payon." She feels a sort of pang at the loss of Morroc's job market, but she pushes it aside with her usual fortitude -- minor limitations are better than getting killed.

JUSTIN: * Shane rests forward in his saddle while they wait, lazily using the bird's head as an armrest. It doesn't seem to mind, as it's hardly any worse than having something riding around on its back all the time. "We haven't been to quite a few places in a while, really. There's always more time spent between them, in any case." He yawns quietly, lifting a hand to cover his mouth as he does so. "Shall we roll dice?"

JENNA: "Ahhh, if you want." Jo smiles briefly, stepping forward to take a place on the platform. "I guess it'd be nice to go south for a while. .." She glances skyward, not voicing the last part of her thought -- that she even misses the desert heat, a little bit.

JUSTIN: "Sure. That sounds fine to me." Shane slides out of his saddle, walking his bird onto the platform and then leaning against it. "Sure you want to stand?" He looks around at the people in the area, most of which are busy with their own things. "If anyone asks, I can say you slipped."

JENNA: * Jo nods. "I'll just make do." She looks at him with a small smile, reaching an arm around her peco's neck and twining her fingers absently through its feathers. "Maybe I'll get used to it if I do it enough times." The call goes out to start the transport, and her face turns a shade paler, holding a little tighter to the peco, which ignores her quite regally.

JUSTIN: * Shane smiles softly, leaning over to pat her head reasurringly. "Worked for me." He stands straight again as the pad begins to glow faintly, and a familiar tingling sensation starts to fill his body. A moment later, the scenery coalesces into the landscape below the floating city.

JENNA: * Jo manages to get the peco off the platform and out of the way of the other traffic before handing Shane the reins and bolting for the nearest bush. She returns shortly, giving a faint sigh, and reaches for the reins again. "If I come back here too much, I'll kill all the plant life," she remarks sourly.

JUSTIN: * Shane tilts his head, handing her the reigns and tutting quietly. "Nonsense." He climbs back onto the back of his peco, shifting around until he's comfortable. "I'm sure your stomach produces only the most pleasant bile." He rubs at the side of his neck, glancing aside and watching the traffic clearing out.

JENNA: * Jo gives a most unladylike snort, mounting up and giving her mouth a final wipe. "Wouldn't know from the taste of it," she retorts, watching the porters and their cargo. "Guess we'll just camp out and decide where we're going from there," she remarks, stretching until her stomach gives a faint twinge.

JUSTIN: "Mhm." Shane starts his peco down the road slowly, glancing over his shoudler at her as he goes. "Have anywhere in particular you'd care to set up camp?"

JENNA: * Jo nods. "There's a nice spot down the road a piece." She nudges her peco slightly ahead of him, leading the way. "Been a while since we stopped there, really, but the fishing is good where the river widens." She glances over her shoulder at him, mouth quirking. "You might remember it when we get there."

JUSTIN: * Shane arches an eyebrow at her, scratching at his cheek idly. "Oh? We've been there before?" He shrugs lightly, taking her word for it. They move around so much, it's certainly possible he'd forget, even with his good memory. "Fish should be a nice change of pace. Had my fill of rabbit and jerky for a while."

JENNA: * Jo nods again, cheerfully, pushing the bird a tick faster. "It's the right season for them, too. They'll be good and fat." This plan in mind, she seems unusually cheerful as they travel, humming now and then and looking at the scenery with more interest than usual.

JUSTIN: * Shane takes a cue from Jo's good mood, feeling more relaxed than he usually does on the road. He listens to her humming, keeping an eye on the pass and the occassional passing wagon as they go, until the time comes to choose a direction at a crossroads.

JENNA: * Jo picks a direction without hesitating, waving for Shane to follow her down the road. She doesn't keep tot he path long, however, angling into the woods before they've gone more than a mile. "Guess we'll get there a little early.." she says, glancing at the sun, which hasn't quite settled out of its afternoon position. "But I guess that's okay."

JUSTIN: * Shane follows along obediently, paying only passive attention to where they are or where they're going. "Nothing on the schedule, after all." He spends more time watching her than the woods as they go, brain wandering easily and contentedly among pleasant thoughts.

JENNA: * Jo doesn't seem to notice his attention, intent on finding a particular patch of woods. She doesn't have to wander long, following the river until it widens, as she said earlier. She gives a faint cheer as she finds it, though not even the remains of her campfire are still present in the long-abandoned clearing. She promptly swings down from her peco, tugging it over to a tree and trying it up. Then she ambles to the center of the clearing and stands facing Shane, hands on hips. "Bring back any memories?"

JUSTIN: * Shane slips out of his saddle, leading the peco over to the tree as he inspects the area. He ties the reigns around the tree distractedly, brow furrowed in thought. It isn't until he wanders back to the tree by the riverside -- where he had hidden to surprise her all that time ago -- that he makes a quiet gasp of realization. "Oh my." He turns to look at her, face at first still in a state of surprise. "Yes..." He starts to chuckle, and he holds a hand up to cover his eyes, in immitation of the embarrassment he felt that day. "I don't think it's something I'm bound to forget."

JENNA: * Jo grins at him, dropping her hands and ambling over to feed the peco. "Well, it's still a good spot for fishing, even so. Pretty good for bathing, too, as I recall." Once her peco's situated, she digs in her packs for line, glancing over her shoulder at him. "Want to get some wood for a fire? I'll start fishing."

JUSTIN: * Shane nods his head quickly, sliding his pack down to rest by the tree, and nestling his hat into one of the straps to hold it against any breeze. "Of course. I'll get the fire started, too. Unless you want me to sit with you by the river?" He folds his arms behind him, stepping around the would-be campsite and delaying his treck into the woods until she answers.

JENNA: * She tugs the line out with a faint smile, retrieving hook and bait as well. "You can start the fire and come sit with me, unless I get really lucky with the fish," she says, starting for the river. "Might just dangle my feet a while, I guess."

JUSTIN: * Shane smiles a bit, shrugging his shoulders. "Never know..." He then turns from the clearing, stepping into the thick of the woods to go about his business. It doesn't take him long to collect more than enough firewood for their purposes, and he returns to the site to begin clearing a circle for the fire. Before too long again -- as if he's hurrying on purpose -- he has a decent flame going, plenty strong enough for cooking. He dusts his hands off, and gets to his feet, watching it for a while before he's certain it isn't going anywhere (burning down the forest would be bad), and then ambles off toward the river.

JENNA: * Down by the river, Jo did indeed choose to dangle her feet for a while, but she's done with that now and crouched barefoot in the dirt, playing her line through the water. She's humming absently, but as Shane comes up behind her she falls silent -- and whips the line from the water, pulling free a large fish. She attends to its flopping promptly and unhooks the line, leaving it on a nearby cloth. "Done already?" she asks, turning her head to grin at her companion.

JUSTIN: "Yes, well. Could probably do it with my eyes closed by this point." Shane smiles guiltily, moving to sit a little behind and to the side of her, so as to remain out of her way while she works. "Got a talent for that stick finding thing, you know?"

JENNA: * Jo laughs, dropping the line back in the water and letting it trail down among the fish. "I've known some who had difficulty with it," she remarks, grinning at him. "Avery couldn't find a stick in a forest, you know?" She turns her gaze back to the river, watching the water wistfully for a moment.

JUSTIN: * Shane rolls his eyes exagerratedly, leaning back on his hands and sighing for effect. "That man probably needs a manual just to use the bathroom." He tuts lightly, shaking his head. "Can't hate him, though, can I? After all, if he'd been even a shred more competent, you'd be in prison right now." He tilts his head and turns her a look, finding the matter highly amusing, considering their last conversation at this spot.

JENNA: "And at the time, you would have been glad about it," she points out, smiling faintly. "Not that I can complain.. Avery's not a bad guy, but he was more useful for his muscle than his brain." She twitches the line in the water, leaning forward as a fish begins to take interest in it.

JUSTIN: * Shane sits up a bit to watch her work, scooting aside to give her more room again. "And I suppose you were useful for your charm and wit, right? Though you do swing a mean fist, if personal experience tells me anything." He rubs at his gut to emphasize.

JENNA: * Jo chuckles. "I'm a thief first and foremost -- and a spy. That's what I grew up doing -- that and planning our raids." She turns her head to look at him, planting her elbow on her knee and resting her cheek in her hand. "Planning a raid on a fruit vendor's quite an undertaking when you're a kid, you know?"

JUSTIN: * Shane smiles vaguely, turning his eyes briefly to the water. "I suppose it must be." He looking back to her again before too long, gently dusting some dirt from his hands. "I'd say it's too bad you needed to raid fruit stands at all." He scratches at his brow, attempting to look nonchalant. "But I guess there's no point in debating that."

JENNA: "There are kids like that everywhere. I just happened to be one of 'em." Jo gives her wrist a lazy flick, and another fish sails out of the water. She tends to it, then looks them over thoughtfully. "Think we'll need more than two? They're pretty big."

JUSTIN: * Shane rubs the back of his neck, sighing quietly but thinking of nothing to say that wouldn't come off as adversarial. Instead, he turns his attention to the fish. "Hmm. Well, we know where to get more if we need it, right?" He raises his brows a bit, smiling disarmingly.

JENNA: "Right then." Jo gets to her feet, snagging the fish and the gear and glancing at her boots before shrugging and starting back to the fire. "Still got some seasonings, too, if you want to try some of that," she calls over her shoulder, then directs a long look at one of the pecos, which began squawking noisily as she walked back into the clearing.

JUSTIN: * Shane eyes her boots, too, tempted to take them back just to be on the safe side. He resists the urge, though, and follows after her, quickly moving to add another couple sticks to the fire. "I'm always up for a little spice." He remarks to her earlier comment, sitting back with a more contented sigh this time. "Makes things more interesting, don't you think?"

JENNA: "In moderation." She sets the fish down next to the fire and returns to her pack to retrieve said spices, setting them nearby as she seats herself to trim the sticks. "You can season if you want. I don't have much practice with it." She sets the sticks in the ground, remembering she hasn't cleaned the catch yet, and shrugs.

JUSTIN: * Shane rolls his head around, stretching his neck and grunts once. "Yes, yes. Everything in moderation." He smiles impishly, snagging the seasonings and inspecting the labels on the small packages. "I'll be glad to. I have something in mind."

JENNA: * She arches an eyebrow, taking a knife to the fish and gutting them rapidly. "Long as it still works when you roast it over a stick, I got no objection." When the fish are sufficiently cleaned, she scoots out of the way, making room for him to take over briefly. "Don't know how much you can do with it, though."

JUSTIN: * Shane continues to smile, getting up on his knees to work. He dashes a sampling of each spice onto his fingertips to test, then satisfied that they'll do the job adequately, he goes about preparing his meal. He steals Jo's knife to work with, using it to help him insert the spices to cook inside the fish and avoid the possibility of losing some of them to the fire itself. "I have my ways, Jo. Though I admit, if we had a proper oven or stovetop, I could make something much more robust." He grins, taking great entertainment in the preparation.

JENNA: "If you say so. I've never used one, so I wouldn't know, really." She watches his preparations with interest, dangling her hands off her knees and thinking wistfully of the water once again. "Doubt they rent out kitchens, though, so we're probably out of luck."

JUSTIN: "Someday, just you wait." Shane finally finishes preparing, and gets the sticks set up over the fire. "There we go. They'll need to cook a little longer than usual -- but not too long, I don't want them to burn." He gets to his feet, hands hanging out at his sides, away from his coat. "Let's go wash up."

JENNA: * Jo nods agreeably, starting back for the river and vaguely remembering she left her boots there. "Guess it's well enough we stopped -- I'm getting kind of hungry." She trots to the river and dangles her hands in it, letting the water wash away fishy residue for a moment before helping it along.

JUSTIN: * Shane crouches down by the riverside, giving his hands a thorough scrub, but taking his time. "You should be -- we haven't eaten since... Hm. Before we went to Einbroch the other day?" He watches her reflection in the water next to him. "Surprised you didn't notice sooner."

JENNA: "Well, we could have stopped for breakfast.. though I would have lost it anyway." She glances at him sideways with a wry grin, letting her hands dangle from her knees again as they drip dry. "Guess it's been kind of eventful." She gets to her feet, resting her hands on her hips and staring out at the opposite shore.

JUSTIN: "Well, I certainly didn't plan on getting kicked out of bed early by a disgruntled innkeeper." Shane smirks, still wishing he could lay into the man some more for the indecency. "Nor did I expect we'd miss dinner the other night. Eventful, indeed..." He stands slowly to his feet, flicking water from his fingers, then wanders over to Jo just as slowly as he watches her.

JENNA: * Jo glances at him inquisitively, tilting her head, then flicks her gaze back over the water with a sigh. "Well, we'll miss dinner again if we stay here too long.." She smiles up at him and shrugs. "Hard to do anything on an empty stomach.. evne if you are just now noticing it. Right?"

JUSTIN: * Shane glances away from her a little bit quickly, reaching up a hand to rub the back of his head. "Yes, right. Come on then, the fish probably need a turn by now." He moves his other hand to join the first, lacing fingers behind his head and ambling back to the campsite. "Should have purchased a bottle of wine while we were in Juno. Would make a proper meal out of this."

JENNA: * Jo looks momentarily embarrassed, then annoyed, largely at herself, but she follows him back without saying anything -- at least until the comment about wine filters through. "Kind of expensive for a campfire dinner, don't you think?" She smiles faintly, then smacks her forehead, remembering her boots.

JUSTIN: "Perhaps. But it has lots of applications, you see. Good for cooking as much as drinking." Shane crouches down by the fire, giving each stick a turn and checking to see how they're coming along. "In fact, just plain cooking wine is fairly inexpensive by comparison. Now I really do wish I'd thought of it sooner." He sighs, getting to his feet again and turning her a puzzled look over his shoulder. "What's the matter?"

JENNA: "Forgot my boots," she answers him, scratching her head silently as she considers his argument. "Think the pecos want to carry anything else that clanks and rattles..? I dunno." She grins at him, then turns back toward the river. "I'll be back in a sec, sorry." Then, shaking her head, she starts back once again.

JUSTIN: * Shane clucks his tongue, giving her a doubtful stare as she retreats. "Since when did we start caring what the pecos want?" He says, mostly to himself, as he turns back to the fish again. He hums quietly to himself, rearranging the sticks a bit to get a better angle of heat on the fish.

JENNA: * Jo's jog back to the river goes quickly at first, though the long shadows cast by the setting sun make it difficult to find her boots immediately. She skids slightly, finally spotting them, and bends to scoop them up, attempting to turn away at the same time. Unfortunately, she catches her foot on an inconveniently placed tree root and stumbles backward, losing her balance entirely when he heel strikes the edge of the riverbank. The affair ends with a loud splash, and Jo flails for a moment before sitting up with a gasp and a grimace. "Well, you were the one who wanted to go for a swim, weren't you?" she mutters to herself.

JUSTIN: * Shane looks up sharply at the sudden sound of water splashing. It's far too loud to be ignored, so he turns the fish and quickly dashes down the small path to the riverbank. In the shadow of the tree, and half submerged in water, he almost doesn't notice her at first. He crouches down and makes his way carefully to the riverbank, looking at her with a sympathetic look. "Jo, are you all right?" He tries to reach for her, giving the water and the muddy bank a wary look.

JENNA: * Jo, already in the process of getting to her feet, glances at him with a wry smile. "Dignity took a beating, that's all." She pauses, standing in the knee-deep water, and wrings her hair out before tugging her damp shirt away from her skin and doing the same to it as best as she can. "How are the fish?" She lets the shirt drop, grimacing when it promptly sticks to her again.

JUSTIN: * Shane clears his throat, trying to keep his eyes away from certain parts of her drenched outfit. "The fish are doing fine, don't worry about them." He leans out to snag her hand and help her back up through the mud, lest she slip again. "Oh dear..." He picks some stray reeds from her shirt and pants, again trying to keep his eyes averted as he works. "I have an extra cloak if you want to towel off with it."

JENNA: "I'll dry," Jo mutters, accepting his help until she's back on shore, at which point she snags her boots (again) and sighs. "Guess I'll eat standing up, though." She pauses to brush herself off, for all the good it will do, and starts back to the camp.

JUSTIN: * Shane carefully avoids staring the entire way back -- even though it's nothing he hasn't seen before -- and decides the most polite thing to do is not make any comment at all. He rounds the fire when they get back, quickly distracting himself with the fish before he's tempted to do some staring or some commenting.

JENNA: * Jo stands as close to the fire as she dares, sticking to a side that doesn't have roasting fish to avoid ruining the meal. "What a day," she mutters to herself, tugging her shirt away again as if to get it closer to the fire.

JUSTIN: * Running out of things to occupy him, Shane finally sits back on his butt and dares look at Jo. It isn't all as bad as his imagination had made him think it would be, and he sighs silently with relief. At least this time, he reminds himself, she's not nude. "What a week, even. Weeks. Month? Things have been awfully lively." He scoots back a bit and reaches for his pack, digging out his cloak and moving to lay it on the ground behind Jo. "That should keep the dirt off your bum." He grins a bit, not giving said bum so much as a glance, wet or not -- he's still a gentleman when he can help it, after all.

JENNA: * Jo glances at him with a faint smile, then takes him up on the offer, seating herself on the cloak and drawing her knees up in front of her. "Maybe it'll calm down..? Maybe not." She thinks a moment, then stands and goes back to her pack, sifting through it long enough to find the book she retrieved from their last employer. She brings it back over by the fire, staring at the cover for a moment before flipping it carefully open and turning through the pages slowly.

JUSTIN: * Shane moves to turn the fish again, watching Jo curiously as she retrieves the book. "Ah... I did promise I'd help you out with that, didn't I?" He moves the sticks back a bit so they can roast a while longer without needing to be turned again, and moves back around the fire again. He takes off his coat before he reaches Jo's spot, and drapes it lightly around her shoulders before sitting beside her.

JENNA: "He's got drawings in here, too," she remarks, reaching up absently to tug the coat a little tighter over her shoulders before turning her attention back to the diary. "Some of them look kind of like maps ... some of them are just landscapes." She glances at Shane and shrugs, offering the book to him.

JUSTIN: "Gooood. Then we can research this together, after all." Shane smiles tightly as he takes the book, and nudges her lightly with an elbow. "I'm just teasing. Maps and landscapes, hm?" He takes a quick look at the page she was on, but the art doesn't make any sense without some sort of context -- such as the actual journal entries themselves. "He must have been an explorer of some kind." He flips back to the beginning of the diary, taking the book in one hand and holding it open with his thumb. "Perhaps he found something and documented it, and that's what your friends were interested in."

JENNA: * Jo glances over, leaning slightly to get a better look at the pages. "Probably ... though Teague wouldn't be very interested 'less there was money involved." She looks at the spidery script silently for a moment. "Well? What does he say?"

JUSTIN: * Shane grins a bit, shaking his head and turning his companion an amused look. "It's a lot of journal, Jo. It's going to take more than a few seconds to get to anything useful." He flips the page, returning his attention to the writing and continuing to skim over the information.

JENNA: "Fiiine." Jo leans on him a little more heavily, alternating between watching him read and watching the fish. Though the process holds a great deal of fascination for her, she's starting to get quite hungry.

JUSTIN: * Shane readjusts himself to accomodate Jo's weight, simultaneously using her as a support to lean against in return. It's a few more pages before he perks up, apparently having found something worth sharing. "Well, he finally decided to mention what he was looking for. An old temple of some sort, that's all I know so far. He hasn't outright said a name or location. Seems he wasn't expecting anyone but himself to every be reading this journal, by the way it reads." He uses this brief break in his silence to tend to their cooking meal, as well, gently removing Jo from his shoulder and leaning over to turn the stakes. "Give them another five minutes, okay, Jo? I don't keep good time when I'm reading." He settles down again, bringing the book back up.

JENNA: "Mm." Jo lets him settle before leaning again, counting mentally as she keeps her gaze largely on the pictures that occasionally crop up as the pages go by. When the appointed time arrives, she gets to her feet and retrieves the fish, settling comfortably and offering Shane his before partaking of her own.

JUSTIN: * Shane almost doesn't notice when she gets up and returns with his fish, engrossed in the diary -- even though it hasn't even hinted at what they should be looking for yet. He does glance up when his food is pushed in front of him, however, and he sets the book to the side for a moment as he inspects the fish and blows at it. "As far as I can tell, he's mostly noting his day to day happenings, and occasionally noting a landmark or two. I suppose those would be to help him find his way to and from whatever site he was heading for. I'm almost tempted to skip to the back of the journal, but I don't want to miss out on something crucial..."

JENNA: * Jo nods, nibbling at her fish quietly for a moment. "Must have lived a long time ago if he didn't have any maps ... what kind of landmarks?" She picks her way around a piece of bone and continues eating, enjoying the flavor.

JUSTIN: * Shane leans back a bit, moving the book so it's better lit by the fire. "Mostly just locations... An especially big rock, a patch of fallen trees, things of that sort..." He flips the page, chewing at his lip a bit as he continues to read along. "He makes a big deal about a waterfall in the forest. Seems it's about halfway through his trip."

JENNA: "This forest?" Jo tilts her head, then takes another bite of her fish, frowning. "Or can you tell where he started from?" She returns her attention to her fish, surprised to find she's eaten most of the way through it. "Guess I really was hungry," she remarks, finishing it off and tossing the remains on the fire.

JUSTIN: * Shane looks down at his fish, the stick resting across his lap. "Oh, I'd almost forgotten..." He laughs at his stupidity, picking up the stick and taking a few bites before continuing. "I can't be completely sure about where he was coming from. He started the journal at least a day or two after he began his trip, but he does seem to have spent most of his time heading northward."

JENNA: "So .. it could be this forest, couldn't it." Jo resumes leaning, looking at the pages with uncomprehending interest. "Does he talk about what kinds of trees there are? Or.. well.. anything like that?" She wriggles down slightly, resting her hands in her lap and sighing. It seems like a stretch, but it would be interesting.

JUSTIN: * Shane tilts his head, scratching at his cheek. "Well, yes... but these kinds of trees grow in lots of places. There are a lot of forests and rivers in the world, Jo." He grins at her, finding her optimism amusing, but not sharing it in the least. "Even if by some miracle we happened to be sitting right by the very river he's referring to... this river goes for miles upon miles. We could spend days walking and never find the exact waterfall he's referring to. And that's if he really knew what he was talking about at all, remember?"

JENNA: * Jo gives him a cranky look. "All right, all right. I know. But still." She makes a faintly annoyed sound, staring at her hands. "What does the waterfall look like, anyway?" she demands after a moment, apparently unwilling to gie up so easily.

JUSTIN: * Shane sighs lightly, giving her quiet stare for a moment before turning back to the book. "It's about ten yards high... And the path of the water is split by a large, smooth rock. Just like dozens of waterfalls, in dozens of forests, see?" He takes a closer look at the page, and a margin note sticks out on the side with a small symbol sketched near the binding. "Mm... apparently he carved this seal on the rock to mark it. But that still doesn't mean it's anywhere near us."

JENNA: * Jo looks at the seal silently for several minutes, as if committing it to memory, then she nods and shrugs. "Wouldn't hurt to look, would it? I mean, we're near a river and all, so maybe ..." She scratches her cheek, a little irritable at how foolish she sounds, but the idea is intriguing enough for her to insist.

JUSTIN: * Shane folds the book closed, setting it down in her lap gently, and then leans over to look at her eyes. "I don't want you losing sleep thinking about this, Jo. It's not likely we'll ever know where he's referring to. The world is just too big a place to go looking for one specific landmark with no map and no reference point." He sets a hand to her head, petting at her hair lightly. "We can stick by the the river for a while, and maybe we'll find the needle in the haystack. But we need to be thinking about our next job, not a crazy treasure hunt."

JENNA: * Jo's expression hardens, then, after a moment, she sighs. "It's not like we can go looking tonight anyway ... We should probably go to sleep." Despite her apparent acquiesence, however, there's an edge of determination about her demeanor as she stands, clothes now dry, and sets about making ready to sleep.

JUSTIN: * Shane tries not to grin as she stands up, and he turns his head down to finish his fish quickly. He doesn't quite believe how determined she is, and he's certain she'll be over it by tomorrow -- a little sleep to clear the head and all. "You can keep the coat if you're cold, I can make do without." He leaves the cloak on the ground as he stands up, tossing what little remains of his meal into the fire and stretching. "Early start, or shall we sleep in a bit?"

JENNA: * Jo appears to be debating the matter, then she shrugs. "We can sleep in .. I'm in no particular hurry." She wanders over to pick up her pack, glancing at him. "Unless you are?" She walks back to the fire, appearing to be debating something again, then sighs and drops her pack in the dirt, seating herself.

JUSTIN: * Shane shrugs his shoulders lightly, stepping around to his pack and snagging it before returning to his spot. "No hurry. There's no shortage of food or water, and we don't need money in the forest." He grins a bit, then settles down with his pack as a rough, but suitable pillow. "Remember, no losing sleep." He mumbles, closing his eyes and shifting until he's comfortable.

JENNA: * Jo makes a faint sniffing noise, then drops to the ground and curls up on her own, tucking the coat around her and staring into the fire for a while -- at least until she dozes off. She wakes well before morning and decides the coat's too warm after all, groggily shoving it down and resting her feet on it and attempting to doze off again. Sleep doesn't come easily, however, and she catnaps off and on until the sky begins to lighten, at which point she gives up and straightens, yawning groggily. She feels around for her boots, still half awake, and tugs them on before heading to the river for a drink and a splash in the face to wake up. Once that's done, however, she stares quietly upstream for several minutes, then glances back toward the camp, where Shane is still asleep. After a few minutes of consideration, however, she sets off, a spring in her step.