That evening, they were treated to the combined efforts of Tessa and Lotus in the kitchen. As they could both use advanced food creation spells, they both worked together to make dinner on the table Lotus had formed, and the results were spectacular.
Doug was a good cook, but these two were artists.
Then, everyone settled in for the night, exhausted from the day.
Karl woke up to the feeling of Rita poking him on the forehead to get him up for his shift, and he realized that he wasn't alone under the blanket. Dana was curled up against him, sound asleep, with her own sleeping bag abandoned half on top of his. She must have rolled over at night, and Karl could see from the smirk on the Sergeant's face that Rita was going to hold this one against him in the future.