The sun was beginning its descent when they crested a low hill and saw the glint of water in the distance. Coco felt the familiar relief that came with finding a reliable source.
"There," he said, pointing ahead. "Should be clean enough if we filter it properly."
Meadow followed their gaze and made a pleased sound, then immediately started jogging toward the water like she hadn't seen any in weeks.
"Hey, wait—" Coco called, but Meadow had already reached the spring and was crouched beside it, cupping water in her hands to drink directly from the source.
Coco jogged after her, frantically digging through their pack for the filtration kit. "You can't just— there could be— do you have any idea what's in unfiltered water?"
Meadow looked up at them, water dripping from her chin, and tilted her head with mild curiosity. Then she shrugged and took another drink.
"Right," Coco muttered, setting up their elaborate purification system while Meadow watched with obvious amusement. "Go ahead, get dysentery. See if I care."
While the water slowly dripped through cloth and charcoal, Meadow wandered off to explore. She returned a few minutes later with an armload of perfectly dry firewood, while Coco was still trying to find decent kindling among the scattered debris.
"How did you—" Coco stared at the pile of wood she'd deposited next to their chosen campsite. "I've been looking for twenty minutes. Where did you even find this?"
Meadow pointed vaguely behind some rocks, then started arranging the wood in what was undeniably a more efficient fire lay than Coco had been planning.
"I've been doing this for years," Coco said defensively, watching her work. "I know how to build a fire."
Meadow gave them a look that clearly said 'sure you do' and continued stacking wood with annoying competence.
When she finished, she sat back on her heels and looked expectantly at Coco, who was still struggling with their flint and steel. After watching them fail to catch a spark for the third time, Meadow gently took the implements from their hands.
She had a flame going within seconds.
"Show off," Coco grumbled, but they were secretly impressed.
As the fire crackled to life, Meadow pulled something from her tunic pocket — a piece of charcoal that definitely hadn't been there before. She found a flat stone and began drawing on it, tongue poking out slightly in concentration.
"Where do you keep getting things from?" Coco asked, peering over her shoulder. "Do you have some kind of magical pocket dimension in there?"
Meadow paused in her drawing to give them a look that suggested this was a ridiculous question. Then she went back to her work, sketching what looked like stick figures having some kind of adventure.
"Is that... us?" Coco squinted at the drawing. One figure had spiky hair and seemed to be waving their arms around dramatically. The other had long hair and rabbit ears and appeared much calmer.
Meadow nodded proudly, then pointed to the dramatic figure and mimicked Coco's exaggerated gesturing from earlier when they'd been explaining the filtration system.
Coco's jaw dropped. "Are you making fun of me?"
Meadow's eyes sparkled with mischief as she pointed to the drawing again, then mimicked Coco's frantic arm-waving when they'd been trying to stop her from drinking the unfiltered water.
"Oh, don't you dare," Coco said. "You've been watching me explain everything dramatically, haven't you? While being perfectly capable the entire time?"
Meadow's shoulders shook slightly. She was definitely laughing.
"You're laughing at me! You've been finding this hilarious!" Coco threw their hands up in exasperation. "What else can you do? Can you read? Do you know exactly where we're going? Have you been pretending to need help while secretly being more competent than me at everything?"
Meadow looked up from her drawing with the most innocent expression imaginable and shook her head no, but the effect was ruined by the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Then she very deliberately threw her stone drawing into the fire and settled back to watch it burn, looking extremely pleased with herself.
Coco stared at her. "I can't tell if you're actually mysterious or just really good at being annoying."
Meadow's grin was answer enough.