Caius had come up with several ideas since the last time they had set up camp. While the mystery of the warm stream was interesting, he would test those ideas and look into the stream when morning came. Though he did enjoy the warm water when he washed. Despite being apparently unaffected by cold water, it just wasn't the same.

  Some of the ideas were... unsuccessful. The glaring example was when he asked the tent to blend in with their surroundings. Obviously the idea was that it would form a kind of camouflage. Which technically worked, the surface of the tent did match the surroundings. Actually the image on the tent was moving, updating itself to blend in regardless of the viewer's perspective.

  However, the tent was also putting off a golden glow that rippled across its surface. Infinitely more eye-catching than the tent had been before. Idunnir, naturally, laughed at the failed experiment. But Caius discovered that he could undo whatever it was by just asking the tent to go back to normal.

  The two winning ideas were his tripwires and the bottom of the tent. With some forethought, he had effectively converted the tripwire alarms Idunnir set up around the camp into motion sensors. Motion sensors that ignored the trees moving in the wind. Oddly, they weren't glowing like the tent.

  When he asked the bottom of the tent to make a soft, insulating surface... it had lifted off the ground like there was an air mattress underneath he was inflating. Idunnir had been visibly delighted when she was laying out her bedroll inside.

  Caius hadn't really thought about the fact that they would be sharing the tent before that moment. It felt a bit strange and intimate to him, but that wasn't going to keep him from a good night's sleep.

  When they were getting ready for sleep, he had spotted Idunnir giving him a look. He had no idea what the look meant. They hadn't known each other long enough for him to learn her expressions, and the look didn't resemble any other look he remembered getting.

  She excused herself to, she claimed, "go wash my face." Which made no sense because she had taken a turn bathing by the stream while he was making dinner. A few minutes later he heard some rhythmic grunting, barely audible over the babbling of the stream. He gathered that she was engaging in some self-care.

  Well, he would just need to do a better job of minding his own business in the future. Idunnir came back from... washing her face... looking somewhat tense. Not what Caius had been expecting. But they got to bed without further awkwardness.

  When morning came, Caius' first thoughts were him being curious about the stream. He would have to look into it soon. Idunnir was absent, which was a bit surprising. She hadn't really seemed like a morning person when they had met, and they had both been startled awake the previous morning back in town.

  Leaving the tent, he spotted her going through that practice routine of hers. And there was a rabbit or something over the fire. It was already cooked, just near the heat to stay warm.

  "Those strings of yours worked better than I expected." She informed him, panting, as she took a break from her workout. He thanked her for cooking it and went off to the stream. Its water was still abnormally warm as he washed his face.

  Idunnir seemed energized that morning, moving with vigor despite the exertion. While Caius got the rabbit portioned up with his knife, she took her turn at the stream. Once again, Caius couldn't help but overhear her engaging in some more self-care.

  Caius was vividly reminded of that afternoon, just after he met her and Marcus. After having her tea she had gotten very energetic and, amongst other things, had nearly dragged Marcus off into the woods for a while. Hopefully this was a good sign, she had done a remarkable job of hiding any grief she was going through after Marcus' death.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  It wasn't too long before Idunnir returned and the two ate breakfast quickly before breaking camp. Then they set off, upstream, along the bank.

  Caius noticed the first odd thing after an hour of walking. On a hunch, he stuck his hand in the stream and the water felt about as warm as it had back at their campsite. Idunnir thought so as well, when he asked her to feel the warmth.

  That made absolutely no sense. Even if the stream was being fed hot water by something, the ambient chill ought to be cooling it down over the distance.

  As they kept walking, it became clear that they were headed towards one of the nearby mountains. They walked towards it all day, pausing only briefly so they could eat a hasty meal and Caius could make Idunnir's tea.

  Once again, they camped by the stream. Caius felt a bit guilty about dragging Idunnir along into the middle of nowhere just for curiosity, but she made a few remarks that she was starting to get curious herself.

  No conveniently edible animals stumbled into camp that night, so the next morning Caius made porridge while Idunnir did her exercise. After they set off, it only took a few hours to reach the mountain.

  Following the stream into a narrow, rocky valley led them at last to a very strange sight indeed. Opening wider, the valley became a sheltered hollow nestled between steep mountainsides. Instead of sheer rock, the area at ground level seemed to consist of good soil that was carpeted with plant life.

  Grass, wildflowers and a few trees that looked like they bore fruit were all around. Like a little slice of summer in the midst of icy winter. Actually the stream was warmer here, though just outside the valley it had been the same temperature as when they had first found it miles downstream.

  Something was very strange about this place. Or just very different. Perhaps geothermal heating of some kind?

  They kept following the stream until, at the end of the valley, the found an awe-inspiring sight. The stream flowed past a massive tree that dominated the space. Caius was reminded of an oak tree, with its thick trunk and sturdy branches.

  Of course the comparison to an oak tree was somewhat thrown off by the fact that this tree was on fire. Well, its leaves were.

  Not that the fire seemed to actually do anything. The green leaves seemed to be entire unaffected by the tongues of flame that danced over them. But the combined heat was like a gargantuan bonfire. Well, Caius assumed the heat was that intense by observing Idunnir's reaction to it. He only felt a slight warmth.

  "Well, seeing this... was definitely worth the walk." she said, staring up at the tree with eyes wide.

  After a while, the two backed slightly away from the tree. There was very little growing near it, which was unsurprising. On the other hand, it was very surprising that there were a few plants growing not just near the tree but right under it. Caius didn't know much about plants, but that was strange.

  There were some low but clearly thriving bushes, seemingly unaffected by the blazing leaves above them. And around the base of the tree were some... flowers? Not wildflowers like in the rest of the valley, these looked more like orchids of all things, with complex appearances. All the flowers were shades of orange, resembling the fire above them.

  Idunnir and Caius backed farther away from the tree, until there was grass underfoot again, and sat down. Both sat there and stared at the tree. It was a gorgeous, mesmerizing sight. Like the fascination of staring into the flames of a campfire, but at a grand scale.

  Caius had no idea how long they sat there. But he did notice two things. Firstly, he was hungry. And secondly, his eyes kept gravitating towards those flowers at the base of the tree. No matter how many times he looked away, he would soon catch himself staring at the flowers again. For some reason they had his mouth watering.

  "For some reason, I'm getting the urge to eat one of those flowers." He thought aloud. Much to his surprise, Idunnir responded with "Yes, there's just... something... about them."

  Caius made a decision. It was probably a bad decision, but he felt like he would regret it if he didn't do it. "I want to try it. The heat doesn't seem to bother me. I'll bring you one too."

  Idunnir tried talking him out of it, but it barely even counted as a token effort. She obviously wanted one of the flowers. But she pointed out that his clothes would catch fire. Fortunately, Caius didn't have to deal with problems like that anymore. He just asked the clothes not to burn and they flashed gold.

  So he set off towards the tree.