Savil has no idea what she’s talking about. Some people find that tea helps them wake up? But the party doesn’t have any real tea with them, and the farmers certainly don’t, it’s usually bought from Rethwellani merchants because the growing climate there is better for it.

:Oh yeah the trade thing. Um, coffee is sort of like tea, only much stronger, and instead of leaves it's beans and you roast and grind them first. But if tea is expensive you probably don't have coffee even if it's anywhere.:

That seems plausible to Savil. 

Breakfast is good, though, leftover bread from supper and jam again and pease-porridge with cream. Then they might as well make an early start on their journey. There's a dirt track that goes from the smallholders' land to the nearest actual road, since they do sometimes go sell some of their cheese in the market at the nearest town so they can buy other goods. That ought to make their journey go faster. 

Once they reach the road, Savil thinks it's about a day's journey to the Frelennye lands. Maybe two more days total, if they're lucky. 

Oh good! It turns out Lucy bounces when she is excited. 

The children aren't sure what she's so excited about but they're going to be excited along with her! Bounce bounce bounce. They wave until the party is out of sight. 

Vanyel, it turns out, does not cope well with sleep deprivation. He's having a terrible day. He actually keeps it pretty under control during the morning, he's more withdrawn than usual but occasionally participates in the conversation. 

About a candlemark after their hasty stop for lunch, though, Savil says something innocuous-seeming and he bursts into tears. The Companions stop moving. Savil seems unsure what to do.  

Lucy is pretty sure she knows what to do! The thing is hug him and let him cry on her. 

Then Vanyel is going to cry on her for a while. 

Eventually he calms down a bit and wants to complain. In Mindspeech because talking is hard when one is still kind of crying. :I hate everything. I hate traveling, I hate sleeping in weird uncomfortable places, I don't want to have to talk to any more strangers, I want to be HOME: 

:Man, you know, that is so valid, travel is exhausting and strangers are really difficult and I dunno about the sleep one 'cause my sleep is weird but it sounds super plausible.:

Vanyel sniffles. :I guess I have to. It's not going to be any better if we just stop in the middle of nowhere. And Gating would be worse: 

:Yeah, sometimes we have to do things that really suck. Doesn't stop 'em from sucking.:

That seems to help a bit. Vanyel stays hugging her for a while and then pulls free. "We should keep going so we don't get delayed." 

Nodnod. 

They do successfully reach the town before nightfall, despite the stop. It's big enough to have an inn. Savil suggests they stay there instead of trying their luck camping. Conveniently, it has high ceilings – Wilbur only has to stoop a bit to get in – and there's a two-room suite available with two big beds in it. 

When they go down to eat, Vanyel takes one look at the crowded, raucous taproom and flees back to the room to hide.  

Lucy...stays for food. But she flees back upstairs as soon as she's bolted a reasonable supper down. 

"That is too many people. I like people and that is too many."

She puts down a handful of food items she'd grabbed beside where Vanyel is sitting. "You should probably eat." 

Vanyel is exhausted at this point, but manages to pick at the food until Savil and Wilbur get back and they talk about allocating beds. Savil and Vanyel can share one – it's unclear if Lucy and Wilbur will both fit comfortably in the other, spacious or not, if Wilbur wants to fit at all he'll need to scrunch up. 

Wilbur can curl up. 

"I don't need to be in a bed, I can just sit up reading."

"Silly me, that's right, I always forget you don't actually need sleep." 

They bed down for the night. 

...Vanyel has nightmares and wakes everyone up twice by screaming in the middle of the night. It's not the first time this has happened but it's not that frequent. 

...Will it help if Lucy starts quietly petting him in his sleep. 

Vanyel does stay asleep after this point. At dawn, Savil yanks the curtains shut and donates her cloak to make it even darker, and then declares that they are not leaving until Vanyel has had enough sleep, if he has two nights of bad sleep in a row then today will be a disaster. 

Lucy gives Savil a thumbs-up. "How does Yfandes stand being in stables where she can't help?" Lucy asks quietly. 

"She hates it," Savil whispers back. "In k'Treva he used to sleep out with her a lot – they don't really have weather there, there's a shield over the whole Vale. Staying in the barn would've been good for that if not for stupid chickens." 

"It sucks. And she can't hug him. I'm so glad I have tentacles when I'm not a biped."