Typically in a tent, but that could just be me. [There's just a slight note of self-deprecation; otherwise her voice is as polite and neutral as before.]

Thank you. [Mindelan can't help but think that whoever had made the cabin assignments had done a terrible job. One of the people she'd been assigned with had been allergic to cats, and the thought of joining another cabin had seemed less appealing than roughing it.] I'll set this up along the wall, if that's fine.

[Wherever was good, she started laying down the branches, parallel to each other and interlocking, moving with a dogged certainty. Her body remembered this. There were enough branches for a few layers; the final product does look pile-ish, but ordered.] With the tarp, it makes a kind of mattress. It's not as soft as feathers, but it's more supportive than straw.