The guards showed Ryker and his family to their tent, a small, hexagonally green construct near the rear of the camp. An unlit campfire sat unattended near its entrance, cold and forgotten. Melissa led them in, holding the tent flap wide while everyone ducked under her arms. The tent itself wasn’t much better, four simple cots were lined up on the walls; two on each. A small chopped log served as a table. Mats were haphazardly tossed onto its top, their colors faded and their woven fibers beginning to unravel at the seams; it was dark, no torches hung on the walls and the thick drapery of the entrance let in little light and kept in the heat, the only source of visibility was a simple oil lantern sitting on a barrel in the corner, collecting dust, but lit nonetheless. Ryker breathed in, it smelt of dust, pollen, and mothballs.

“This is where you will be kept for the time being,” one of the guards said.

“Cozy,” Ryker replied sarcastically, “It's like being in the army all over again.”

“You can say that again, at least our barracks had proper lighting in them,” Melissa said

“Lunch will be served when the bell in the center of camp rings five times, we will come to escort you when that happens,” the other guard said, he turned to leave the tent but was stopped by Melissa asking him a question.

“And if the bell rings any other number?”

“Duck, cover, and run,” the guards coldly said, staring down at her like a helpless child. With that, they left the tent and the humans to their own devices. The Gale family finally had a moment alone, and they all exhaled in unison, relief spreading amongst them. They quietly got to work tidying up their tent, Ryker, and Aaron shaking the dust off the beds, Sarah setting up their dining table. Melissa had found some more lanterns, lighting them as well. With the increased visibility they took seats on their mats, except for Ryker who simply laid on his cot of choosing. Dust from below settled onto the floor as it bore his weight and relaxed, swinging his one good arm behind his head, his glowing cast dimly illuminated his cot as he rested it across his chest.

“At least this much hasn’t changed, that's a relief,” Melissa said, it was their usual ritual when there were important matters to discuss. The family would often gather in their living room and begin their debates and dialogues. Before, the most dire thing they had to discuss was rent payments and vacation destinations; that seemed like a faraway memory now. Hours wasted just arguing over what meals would be prepared that week, or what movies to watch. Happier times indeed, now gone.

Sarah took a deep breath and calmed herself, she often acted as the mediator of the family and she once again took up that role here; “First order of business,” she began, “What do we know about our situation?”

“Well it's pretty clear we’re no longer in America, let alone Earth,” Melissa pointed out, “And it looks like the intelligent race here is only up to about the 1500s in terms of technology.”

“If you discount that Magic of theirs of course,” Aaron interjected.

“Is that what we’re calling it now,” Ryker asked, “Doesn’t seem very original if you ask me.”

“You got any better ideas then, Ryker?”

“You’re the resident fantasy expert, I figured you’d have something by now.”

Sarah interrupted Ryker by pushing her palm towards him, he immediately stopped talking, “Off-topic discussion, we will get back to it another time,” she quietly said, “Aaron, do you have anything to add to their Magic?”

“There isn’t much to add, all we know is that it makes those elves way more dangerous if we assume everyone can use it equally. We haven’t seen enough of it to know if it has any limits or not, for all we know they can boil our blood just by thinking about it.”

The grim thought of that settled onto the group like molasses, their time in prison only lending to their horrible thoughts of instantaneous combustion and melting limbs.

“Why are we assuming the worst here? If they wanted to do that they would’ve done it long ago,” Melissa said pushing the thoughts out of her head.

“True, although that brings us to the next topic: These current captors of ours, do we trust them or not?”

“I think most of the elves here wouldn’t give two shits if we died or not, I heard some of them whispering about us earlier, but most just stared at me while I was being transferred,” Ryker contributed, “The higher up elves though…” He paused and pondered for a moment.

“That Captain seems trustworthy at least, as well as that Anjali girl,” Melissa replied.

“I think it's less them being trustworthy and more like they want to keep us alive for their own goals, even if their kindness is genuine or not I believe we can count on them to not kill or torture us as long as we stay in line.”

“And after they’re through with whatever they need us for? What then?”

“That's just a bridge we’re gonna have to cross when we get to it, worst case we get the hell out of dodge before they can use us.”

“I’d rather not leave such an important contingency up in the air, but Ryker is right. We don’t have enough information to make such a plan,” Sarah interjected,  “We just have to trust that the Captain has our best interests at heart.”

“I hope our hearts aren’t what his best interest is,” said Aaron. Melissa, Sarah, and Ryker shook their heads in unison. Another heavy mood fell upon the family as everyone went quiet. Ryker had had enough of this. He needed to rally his family together, lest they all resign themselves to the fate the elves gave them. He wasn’t going to let that happen.

“We’ll be fine, as long as we’re together nothing can stop us, right,” Ryker asked, suddenly standing up from his cot. “We’ve been through wars, separation, and the legal system, and some cliche fantasy schmoes think they can do whatever they want with us? Nah, I don’t think so.

Ryker was shouting now, pacing back and forth across the dirt floor of the tent, “so what if they have cheat magic,” he continued, “so what if we’re on their turf, so what if they have an unknown purpose for us? As long as we stick together then they aren’t going to do anything at all. I’ll protect this family until all the bones are dust and every last drop of blood is drained from my body.”

 Ryker raised his good fist in the air, shaking it with an unmatched amount of zeal behind it. Sarah began to quietly laugh to herself. Her giggles were infectious, soon spreading to Melissa before Aaron burst out into a carefree concordance of laughter.

“Okay Mr. Protagonist, you complain about those elves being cliche and yet here you are making heroic speeches like you’re trying to rouse the dead,” he said between tearful chuckles, “I’m pretty sure the whole camp heard you. He too stood up, and locked his brother into the biggest hug he could muster; Ryker simply patted the top of his head. Melissa and Sarah stood with their sons and joined their hug, Ryker began to feel flustered… and  crushed. His ribs screaming in protest, Ryker did his best to ignore the pain.

“That's right Ryker,” Sarah began, “We won’t let anyone mess with us, right love?”

“Yup, we’re all gonna protect one another,” she replied.

“Although that means you aren’t gonna chase us off like you did last time, right?”

“Uhhhhhhhh…” Ryker stumbled over his words. The three of them began laughing abhorrent once again. A pain in his stomach suddenly shot up Ryker’s spine as he felt his throat get shorter. His chest was on fire.

“Actually can we suspend the whole never letting you go thing for a second?”

“Why’s that,” Aaron asked.

“I’m gonna vomit.” 

Aaron and his mothers quickly let go of Ryker, stepping back quickly they made sure to stay out of his way, Melissa quietly opened up the tent’s flap allowing Ryker to sprint though. The sounds of him throwing up making the silence even more awkward. He slipped back into the tent, wiping the last bit of bile from his mouth.

“Huh, Midnight Sun sickness doesn’t need to be in the Arctic to be a thing. Who knew,” he said while panting. He clutched his empty stomach and staggered over to his cot and promptly collapsed onto it, his still ribs aching. He was asleep almost immediately as his head hit the cooling embrace of his pillow, while Melissa, Sarah, and Aaron left as the camp’s bells rang five times.