Mid-Night Supper was hours away still, but the mess deck smelled of fresh bread all the same. Bowls of tuber soup, bread cups filled with savory fruits and meats, and fresh-squeezed Yuik fruit juice for tonight's snack lined the trays of hungry folks strewn about the mess deck.

Passengers ate, drank, and chattered about other parts of forest wetlands, no doubt to distract from the near-death experience tonight. Though a few snippets about tonight's hassle flittered through space, reaching Emery's ears. A group of rambunctious children ran about, out of the way of crew and tables, with a couple of weary-looking guardians supervising trailing behind them.

None paid Emery much attention other than a brief nod before returning to their own company. Emery paid no mind in return: their attention on their meal of sweet roasted rice and a roasted meat-filled bun. 

Out the large window, now and then, Emery spotted a growing cloud of Sprite-lights blinking in the tree line. 

"Gaba, look, look!" came a shrill cry. Suddenly five small children squashed themselves against the window railings in front of Emery's table to look at the Sprite lights across the river. "Gaba, see! Can we go out?!" 

"No, Tessa," sighed the child's guardian, clearly drained with their recent trip. "They'll come back before the dawn rises, and we can go out then, after our rest." 

Tiny Tessa sniffed, and her company of children fussed that the sprite lights do not come by their town, so they don't see them often, and they may never see them again in all their little lives. 

Emery tried desperately not to smile. 

"Tessa, I'm sorry, feiling, but it's late." they knelt, cupping the child's face gently to wipe a cloth over their tiny tears. "Eat, and we may get to bed. You'll get to play another time. I promise." 

It did little to dissuade them. Tiny Tessa was silent with tears streaming down her forlorn cheeks. Her tiny compatriots continued to plead the unfairness of it all. 

Their partner sighed. Dreary as well from this trip, it seems, they sidestepped the crowd of small rioters to approach the Scouts table. Dealing with spirits required supervision, after all. 

"Please forgive the disturbance, young Scout. Just a moment of your time?"

Emery leaned back in their chair as the other guardian went on to ask for a chance at seeing the sprites. They went on to explain they'd made a trip for it with the other children's parents of the village they came from, but tonight's excursion has drained the mood of her dear partner.

The Scout looked around them towards the sullen adult still reasoning with a haggle of riotous children. Then asked a simple question.

"You grabbed dessert?"