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When Ket's mom suddenly showed up beside them, telling them they were getting a bit far away, they decided to take a break.

Back on shore, they found out that they had actually been out for two and a half hours, and once they discovered that it became felt. Their bodies became fatigued and their stomachs began to ache with hunger.

They ended up getting some clothes pulled over, except for Ket who just had to put on a shirt, and eating at a nice little kabana-style restaurant that was very close to the beach. It was a friendly atmosphere, where the waiters and diners listened to music and partied a little while they served and diners ate; dancing, singing, and showing off. And the burgers were so delicious and filling that by the time they were finished snarfing them down they felt a little queasy.

After they spent a while digesting, they went back to the campsite with the sun at the angle of early evening. They debated what to do--they had to go to the store, and they had to set up camp. It took only a few minutes to decide to set up camp first, as Ket pointed out they wouldn't have room in the car to put groceries with all of their stuff cluttering it up.

They pulled out all the bags, and, child pairing with mother, started pulling out the tent materials. Ket and his mom brought the hammer, and to Ket's satisfaction their tent was whole, just as his mom said.

"Oh no!"

The mother and son looked over to the other family.

"What mom?" Emeral asked, rolling out the tent proper.

"This isn't..." She muttered to herself, "We got the wrong one..."

"What's the matter?" Momma R. asked, stepping up.

"Oh..." Momma B. said fidgeting with her hair. "Bery and I picked out a tent just for this trip and it had this other tent that was smaller, meant for supplies..."

When Ket stepped into the conversation, he saw the problem. The tent was half as big as the one he and his mom brought, and theirs was actually just large enough to fit two adults, if a little uncomfortably.

"This won't work," Momma B. said with a sigh.

"Well...do we need to get another one?" Momma R. asked.

"Bery would kill me. This thing cost like a hundred bucks..."

The son and his mom exchanged glances at the mention of the price.

"Ket and I could fit in it."

Emeral had just meant it as an observation. The tent was too small for adults, but for a couple kids it looked like it'd have room, and she more or less was just thinking aloud. Her ear started ringing. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but right beforehand it sounded like her mom said:

"That's...probably a good idea." She looked at Micah, "If you wouldn't mind...at least for tonight?"

The other mother tiger thought it over rather quickly, shrugging. "That's up to Ket I guess. What do you think, hun?"

It was Ket's turn to think it over, but he knew what his answer had to be. He looked over at Emeral, who had her hand on her ear and her eyes on him. He looked back at the mothers and rolled his eyes. "I guess." He conceded. He went over to the tent.

"Do you need help?" Momma B. offered.

Ket shook his head. "I'll be okay, thanks."

And just like that it was decided. Emeral's excitement didn't hit for a moment, and when it did she had to push it way, way down. Thank goodness her mom made that mistake; this was so perfect it was like right out of a movie!

"Could you move, please?" Ket asked.

"Huh?" Emeral flinched; she looked at her feet. She was standing on the tent; she moved off of it, the flooring crunching beneath her feet. She watched as Ket took the rain-fly away, dumping out some poles on the ground. "Do you know what you're doing?"

He gave her a look. Of course he knew what he was doing. "Yeah," he said, "Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged. "I dunno...I just didn't expect you to be able to set up a tent..." she admitted.

The corner of his lip curled up. "Three poles," he said, "At least for this tent. This one," he picked it up, fiddling with the separate pieces, "This is for the rain-fly, cuz it's got the ends," he pointed to the rubber nub on one end. He set it aside. "Take this one, and put the pieces together; watch your hands, don't pinch yourself."

Emeral took the pole hesitantly. It clacked against itself in her hands, the aluminum appearing heavy but lighter than she expected. The pole had a long, elastic string in it that made it snap together as long as she lined it up right. She had hers put together only a few links after Ket, and he took it from her.

"Lay them down in an 'X'," he said as he did so, crossing them at the center. "Now, c'mere," he went to the nearest corner. "This little sticky-outie-thingy," he took the loop attached to the tent and held the little inch-long protrusion, "goes into the bottom of the pole, like this." He stuck it in, easy as that.

They split, Ket putting another one in, and Emeral working to get hers in. Hers were a lot tougher, and the last one was nearly impossible. Every time she got it close enough, there was so much tension that it snapped; she almost had the pole jut at her face. Her nerves aflutter, Ket took the pieces in his hand and, with very little trouble at all, tamed the tension and fitted the stick in the slot.

"Scared the crud out of me," she muttered, her pulse finally returning to normal.

"Yeah the last one's always the toughest. This part's easy," he reached behind the pole and took the plastic hook, clipping it onto the pole with a surprisingly loud snap.

Emeral got the idea right away and managed to beat him, snapping the hooks on three edges while he did one and prepared the rain-fly. She watched as he put one end of the pole in, and then struggled a little bit more than before with the other end. It slipped once, but finally it made it in.

"Now I need your help," he said, moving over to the tent. "I need you to take that end and we have to put it over the tent."

She took her end of the kite-shaped rain-fly and they raised it up. It was a little tough, because the tent pushed outward into her belly almost like it didn't want the rain-fly on. Ket literally stood in the doorway, ducking underneath the lip of the fly to tie the strings on top like it was a tennis shoe.

"Now do we do the stakes?"

He smiled. That was his favorite part. "Yup." He reached for the bag, which was made out of the same material as the bottom of the tent, and pulled out the stakes. He took one in his hand, and gripped the hammer, but surprised Emeral by handing them to her. "You can do the honors," he said.

She took the tools and went to one of the corners. They knelt down, and she placed the stake in the hole, but she was quickly stopped. "What am I doing wrong?" She huffed.

"Nothing, I just forgot to tell you," he put his hand on hers, and she let go altogether. "I was just turning the stake," he said, "It's best to have the hook facing outward and the stake angled just a little, that way if there's wind the tent is more secure." He released his hand, the stake positioned just right. "Now hit it."

Gingerly she took the stake and steadied it, bringing the hammer-head right up next to it, holding it by the neck. She gently tapped it, the handle bumping her forearm. She tapped it again, and again, and again, but it only went in a nudge at a time. She got it halfway in when her back started to hurt and she sat upright.

"Lemme see," Ket asked, and she handed him the hammer. He adjusted the stake a little, to make sure the hook would dig into the ground properly, and whacked the stake three times, pressing it deeply into the ground.

They took turns with the stakes, Emeral tap-tapping them in about halfway, and Ket finishing them the rest of the way.

"Is that it?" Emeral asked, when all that were left were two stakes. She assumed they were extra.

"Not yet, we have to stake down the rain-fly," he said, and took the two stakes. They went to the left side of the tent, and he put it through the plastic holster attached to the string. He pulled it to tauten the slack, and held the stake while he let Emeral pound it in. She wanted to hit it all the way, since she wasn't so afraid of messing up by now, but Ket told her to stop before the stake got too far in.

They went to the other side to do the same thing, and then they split once more to make the rope taught evenly on both sides. They called back and forth to each other, until Ket was satisfied the rain-fly was secure, and Emeral came over to meet him at the front.

"Wow," she giggled. "That was really easy."

Behind them, they heard a clap, and then another. They turned to see their mothers sitting at the table, giving them a round of applause.

"You two are quite the team," Momma R. complimented.

"That was the cutest thing I've ever seen," Momma B. stated.

"Moooom," Emeral grumbled.

"I have to admit," Garne said to Micah, "Your kid puts up one heckuva tent."

Micah chuckled. "He learned from his grandfather." She got up from the table. "Can we have the hammer now?"

Emeral felt the hair on her cheeks and forehead wriggle at the mention of Ket's grandfather. Suddenly she felt really really dumb; she knew Ket had climbed a big mountain. Of course he could set up a stupid tent.

All that was left after the hammer was passed to the moms was to get their stuff in and make themselves at home. Emeral inwardly hoped that their moms would forget or decide not to buy another tent; she was just fine in a nice, small, cozy little tent with her boyfriend. In fact, maybe she forgot to bring her sleeping bag...