Neoma (6)

The mood of the quartet three days later was horrible. From noon to an hour before midnight, Natty and Dmitri had argued non-stop until Dmitri lost his voice. Charles and Rachel, who had been out gathering extra wood around ten, had come back to see Natty scratching designs in the dirt and Dmitri sitting on his mat, silent as a stone.
“D-Dmitri?” Rachel said hesitantly.
Dmitri turn to face her, his eyes dancing with hate and pointed at his throat, then to Natty. After he repeated the motions several times, Rachel finally understood that they had fought to the point where Dmitri’s voice disappeared.
An hour after midnight, everyone was brooding around the fire. For every one of them, at least one thing was on their nerves. Nobody talked and no one thought of going to sleep.
Natty sat with her knees tucked up to her chest, twirling the wilting lily Charles gave her three nights ago between her fingers. The reason she was upset was because Dmitri lost his voice because of her and won’t even look at her now. Rachel was busy making tea for Dmitri from what fruit and dried leaves they had. All the while she was glancing at Charles.
While Rachel and Charles were out collecting firewood, Charles had pestered Rachel continuously to find out why Dmitri was taking them to the capital. Rachel had sadly refused to say anything and for the last fifteen minutes of searching, they didn’t speak. The reason Charles was upset, besides Rachel, was that nobody was talking, or trying to improve the current situation. Dmitri was seething mad that his voice was gone, and also because no one had stepped up to take charge. There wasn’t a plan of action now because not even Rachel knew how to get to the capital from where they were.
Rachel finished making the tea and handed a cup to Dmitri and sighed. She looked around at Charles and Natty and ran a few ideas through her mind. Quickly, Rachel pulled a few pressed parchment sheets from her pack and a stick of charcoal. Setting her thoughts to the paper, Rachel tucked it safely back into her pack. She smiled warmly, wondering how soon it would be until Dmitri regained his voice.