August stole a couple of already burning pieces of wood to light the other fires before returning to the huts for the final time. He passed by Kalter on the way, in the process of dragging the last of the logs to its paired hole, before she turned to follow him.

“Anything wrong with the new monster?” Kalter asked when she got close.

Her mental render burst into existence in his mind as she crossed over the threshold, either forgetting about it entirely or just not caring in the first place. He winced slightly as all the movement involved in walking drew his attention.

“It’s just as friendly as Ladybug now, even though the two of us essentially killed it back in the forest,” August said just as they reached the huts. “I know it worked for Neptune as well, but there should have been a lot more hostility between it and us for the spell to overcome.”

“That means we can do it again,” Kalter said, “We should start preparing ourselves to kill more of them.”

Entirely unwilling to subject himself to four simultaneous renders at once, he stopped out of range of the three that were gathered by the entrance.

“Yeah,” August agreed, before holding the burning stick up. “Kalter, can you light the fires?”

“Why can’t—oh,” Kalter grunted, taking the stick out of his hand. “I’ve got it.”

He breathed out as she stepped over the threshold and disappeared from his mind, leaving just the twin cubes hovering near his feet. Boko tilted his head at the exchange, obviously missing the context needed to figure out why it was so odd. Haiko picked up on it immediately and spoke.

“August has several strange abilities and seems to be developing more,” Haiko said, “He discovered a new one last night, which seems to highlight nearby living creatures inside his mind within a two-meter radius; it’s apparently quite overwhelming.”

“Sounds like a lot to deal with,” Boko said, “Is there any way for you to overcome it?”

“I think I’m getting better at dealing with it. Exposure in small doses seems to help, but it can quickly become unbearable.” August admitted, rubbing at his neck. “Hopefully, it will be easier to deal with after a few days to get used to it.”

“Something to work at,” Boko said, nodding. “I saw you take down that experiment in the lake; the chain spikes definitely make those things far more lethal than the old ones—how did you manage to take either of them down without weapons or armour?”

“I got extremely lucky with Ladybug because she’s able to sense mana and the spell I used to tame her was enough to keep her friendly,” August said, “Ladybug pretty much killed Morningstar on her own, and then all I had to do was pick up the core.”

Boko nodded at the information.

“Morningstar?” Haiko said, feigning hesitancy. “That’s a very interesting choice, August.”

There wasn’t a soul on the planet that would mistake her words for anything but teasing.

“You’re totally bullying me right now,” August said, rolling his eyes. “Maybe I’m not the most creative with names, but it fits if nothing else—Rittan, what would you have called it?”

Rittan looked up from the butchered Mitikos and then glanced between the two Efkini for a moment, weighing it in his mind.

“I think there is only one real choice,” Rittan said, smiling. “Manbug.”

August tried not to smile as his previous guess was proven correct; Rittan might have been even worse at naming things than he was.

“It’s a matching pair,” Boko agreed with a shrug. “Makes sense to me.”

“This is so very sad,” Haiko confessed, looking between them. “Kalter? Maybe we can find another island to live on?”

Kalter pushed herself back to her feet, both huts with a source of fire inside.

“Then I’d have to deal with you all by myself,” Kalter said, “A day or two of that, and I’d need to find an island of my own.”

Haiko laughed at the comment, not at all bothered by the hypothetical abandonment. August handed some of the skewers he’d whittled in his spare moments over to Rittan before retreating again, and the man began threading the meat onto them. Rittan handed out the meat skewers as he made them, making sure everyone had half a dozen each—considering the size of the Mitikos, they could probably eat double that and still have leftovers.

“Thanks, Rittan.” August said, “I’m going to go use the other fire because—well, you know.”

“I completely understand,” Rittan said, nodding. “Once everyone is finished, would you like to have that discussion we were speaking of earlier?”

“Sure,” August agreed. “I’ll come to sit by the door when I’m finished eating.”

He moved wide around the group and lifted the hanging shade before slipping inside on the far corner. Ladybug and Morningstar remained outside, content to sit by the entrance.

“I feel a bit bad about him eating on his own,” Boko said, not exactly making an effort to keep his voice down.

“As do I,” Rittan said, voice a few shades quieter.

“Maybe he wants the space,” Kalter muttered.

“Once we have finished building the undercover area, perhaps we could section out a larger space beneath it, one that is dedicated for gatherings and meals?” Haiko said, humming. “These huts are good for sleeping within, but maybe we could aim for something more communal?”

August listened to them talk as he cooked his food, feeling a bit uneasy at being the focus of the discussion. Nothing they were saying was egregious, but being the topic when he wasn’t a participant was not exactly a pleasant feeling. Thankfully the topic quickly diverged towards informing Boko of what they’d seen from the island since each of them had arrived, and he was freed from the odd dynamic entirely.

After a full day of physical effort—building things, digging holes, cutting wood, dragging the Mitikos—the smell of the meat cooking was like ambrosia. Even with his lack of open-fire cooking skills and the lack of spices or sides, the first skewer might have been the best thing he’d ever tasted.

He hadn’t really spent much time thinking about food. But with only Sadapples and Mitikos meat, they weren’t exactly hitting a lot of the different requirements for a proper diet. He would need to try and seek out some kind of wild vegetable. Maybe they could set up some kind of vegetable garden to keep them from having to routinely scour the forest for food as well. [Forager] should help in that regard if he should be able to find root vegetables—it had a range of one meter, so it should pick up anything buried close to the surface.