Ryoko guided me through the slippery mud to the main campfire where an eclectic group of students and teachers were lining up for the only hot meal of the day. Most people had grouped in small cliques but there were equally as many standing on their own, all with the same lost expression on their face. Most of the soft chatter was drowned out by the roaring fire at the centre of the camp despite the soft trickle of rain and a big cauldron bubbled away on the coals, emitting a big plume of steam into the damp forest. The whole place smelled like smoke and dirt with occasional wafts of stewed meat.
I joined the back of the line, narrowly avoiding stepping on a weird, grey mouse type of creature and bumped into the person ahead of me. Some of the chatter died down as people realised who had
