Dinner and Strategy

Jien didn't hesitate to sit on the couch where Barret sat, listening to the ongoing discussion silently. As always, the child of the Romero family was rather stoic and if one wasn't paying close attention, he would likely be considered to be equivalent to a statue or decoration. Despite this Jien turned to the young man and nodded in greeting, forcing Barret to break his statuesque pose to do the same in the name of etiquette.Once seated the group turned their attention to the newcomer. Rosalind greeted Jien with as much energy as she had the last time they had seen each other, almost seeming like she would hop up from her seat to give him a hug. This level of excitement and energy left Jien's lips twitching slightly, unsure what to do. The others saved him from the dilemma by greeting him and asking him how the trip had gone. He filled them in with a short retelling, informing them about Bernard's mentor Lila, to which the others could only nod in understanding since she gave off that same aura even while sitting with the other mentors.After some small talk to catch up with one another in regard to the general goings on in each of their territories the hosts of the farm informed their guests that dinner was ready. Upon hearing this everyone got up and made their way to the dining area which hosted a long table with benches on either side running its full length. The room itself was rather simple in style, with windows facing the fields and simple, uncovered wooden floors. The space of the room was consumed primarily by the table and benches, but along the walls were some fairly simple, yet lovely landscape paintings depicting streams, woods in fall and fields of wheat, likely based on the local area around them.On the long table were set several simple settings of iron utensils, wooden plates and cups. In the center were larger platters that had simple dishes including pork, chicken and varying cuts of beef. There was a large bowl of salad made of what appeared to be fresh greens straight from the fields and freshly baked bread that gave off a mouthwatering sweet scent. The noble children were not accustomed to this type of 'simple' meal, but they all knew that this would be what they would be living off of if they were lucky enough going forward.With this being the last meal that would be prepared for them for the next while they served themselves and ate what they could without complaint. Quite to the contrary they found themselves rather delighted by the freshness of the meal. Though many of their territories contained farms that provided their produce there was something different from having a 'farm fresh' meal. After eating as much as each of them could, not knowing how the next meal would be given where they were headed, they returned to the lounge area where a warm fire had been started in the stone fireplace, casting a warm glow into the darkening room.The group of children found their seats once more and a serious mood overtook them. This was their last chance to talk things through before being thrown out into the wilds from their warm beds. Their moods could even be said to be a bit gloomy, but they had no time to be depressed. Starting tomorrow they would be put through a bootcamp that they felt would likely wear them down faster than they were prepared for, and yet they had to face it to ready themselves for what was to come.With this resolve it was Jien who started the discussion. He was the decided leader given their initial meeting, to take action in leading the discussion was one his roles. He discussed a number of topics that he had learned from varying guides about survival in forested areas, his working with alchemy, formations and smithing as well as showing a selection of alchemical concoctions and salves he had created to assist them along the way.Following up on the discussion of alchemy Olivia was quick to discuss the herbs that she had preserved in the hope of them being useful. Jien was rather happy about this development, knowing that their supplies of alchemical agents wouldn't be running out so soon. Hopefully this would give them a buffer period to find others in the forest. Lesley discussed his addition of extra emergency food reserves and a number of herbs to help in cooking, to which Bernard mentioned that he had prepared some varying smoked meat and jerkies as well as pelts and leather to help them out. Lastly Rosalind added that she had smithed a number of tools which everyone agreed was wonderful.The thing that caught Jien's attention was that they were allowed to bring all these items despite this being a bootcamp. He didn't doubt that the adults had let them have these supplies for a reason. His concern was that for them to allow their children to all bring this much and not feel that they would be able to skate through the entire ordeal showed the level of difficulty they would be facing. Though he had tried, he had not been able to find anything substantial regarding the Warping Forest and its inhabitants. He could only hope that their lack of knowledge wouldn't lead them into danger.