Return of the General's Daughter-Chapter 198: Starry Starry Night

Bener, the eldest of the group, scanned the horizon and noted that darkness would soon fall, judging by how low the sun hung in the west. He suggested that they spend the night at the peak, as he believed it would be the safest place.

Both Gideon and Percival agreed, and so did Lara. If Bener had not stated it first, then she would also have proposed that the safest place to stay for the night would be at the peak.

Mount Ourea has three peaks. When viewed from ground level, one would only see one peak, but up close, it consisted of three distinct peaks. The highest peak was located at the center and was topped by a shallow crater approximately 20 meters in diameter. This crater was adorned with a lush carpet of fireweed, whose vibrant pink and purple blossoms danced in the breeze like confetti of color. They created a striking contrast against the rugged terrain, transforming the mountain’s summit into a stunning spectacle of natural beauty that invited admiration and inspired awe.

Fireweed was easy to grow, so Lara decided to dig two of the herbaceous perennial wildflowers and plant them along the would-be pathway that led to the houses in the backyard of the Mendel estate. She intended to build a separate entrance for them so the people living in the big house would not be disturbed when people entered and exited the property.

She also had another purpose: In modern times, fireweed has been discovered to have a potent anti-inflammatory effect and has been developed into products to treat skin problems, such as diaper rash, and as a mouthwash for the treatment of sore gums.

"I didn’t know that Ourea was a volcano," Percival broke the silence as he helped the Lenard siblings clear the area while Bener and Gideon cut a few thin branches from a small tree that grew on the slopes a few meters below the crater. They would fashion the branches into a sturdy support for their tent, creating a refuge against the encroaching night, where shadows danced ominously under the fading light.

"An extinct one," Lara said. "Looking at the shallow crater, this volcano had last erupted a long, long time ago." In fact, in contemporary times, Ourea was considered a mountain. The shallow depression was missing, but instead, the middle peak had merged with the two, forming a larger plateau.

Bener and Gideon returned not long after, and they worked in tandem, driving the poles into the ground. Lara took out two blankets from her backpack to serve as the roof, but Bener refused and used his and Gideon’s instead.

While the two men were working on the tent, Lara, along with Abel and Percival, descended from the peak to the slope where Lara spotted a few rabbit burrows. Barett wanted to join them, but Lara tasked him with gathering firewood and starting a fire.

Barett was disappointed, but he had no choice.

Lara had perfected a strategy to catch rabbits without a hassle when she was barely twelve in an era that seemed so distant now. She would smoke one hole and put a sack at the other end.

She asked Abel and Percival to look for holes, covered the rest with rocks or wood, and left only two, smoking one of them.

Viola! A dozen rabbits came running right into their trap.

"Cousin, this is cool. When we were hunting rabbits in the past, we had to chase after them, and it took so long and a lot of effort before we could finally catch them." Abel exclaimed.

Lara just smiled. Of course, she learned many life skills to survive the training her father had thrown her into.

After catching a dozen rabbits, Lara asked Abel to remove the blockage from the holes.

They gathered a few wild fruits, and by luck, they found a bunch of ripe bananas and some wild strawberries.

When they returned to the peak, the tent was complete, and a campfire was alive, its flame a fiery orange dancing in the gentle breeze.

The orange of the flame was like the sun, the fiery orb now sinking low in the western sky, casting long shadows on the distant plains below them, that stretched like fingers across the rugged landscape.

Barett was assigned the task of killing and cleaning the rabbits, and Abel, of course, helped him. Bener couldn’t just let the younger ones do all the work, so in the end, he handled half of the rabbits.

Lara kept the three young ones. They looked so adorable with their white fur, tiny pink feet, and short, fluffy tails. She would gift them to the children, Ivan, Ivy, and Sandoz.

"Oh wow! What a beautiful sunset." Percival sighed as his eyes fixed on the west. "How wonderful would it be if I had my Zarina beside me." His gaze became dreamy.

"Oh boy, I thought her name was Danika?" Gideon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Percival chuckled. "Zarina was the one after Danika. Danika is my past, and Zarina is my present."

Bener glared at Percival. How dare he act like a playboy? But before he could reprimand him, Lara announced it was time for dinner.

By dinner, she meant that each one should grill their own meat. But no one complained. How could they complain when they were having a grand time?

After dinner, they finally settled down. They were using the same backpack given to them by Lara, and they discovered that the bottom part of the backpack was actually a sleeping mat, rolled so tightly that one would think it was an integral part of the backpack.

They unrolled the mat and lay down, their gazes fixed on the sky above.

"Is it just me, or are the stars really appearing brighter tonight?" Pervical asked, "And nearer?"

"Yes, Bro. The stars are brighter. The earth after all, is cloaked by darkness, shouldn’t the stars appear brighter?" Gideon replied, a playful tone laced his voice. "Sometimes, I wonder how Peridur had not given you a fourth of his brain."

"Gideon!" Percival snapped. He jabbed at him before retreating to Bener’s side.

"Stop fooling around!" Bener chided. "If you don’t want to watch the stars, then go inside the tent and sleep. Don’t disturb us! We want to enjoy a quiet night."