The splash of a body hitting the water is what makes Beau turn around. When her footing is secure enough in the bog to turn to look for the source of the splash, she sees Fjord pulling Jester out of a particularly damp patch, soaked with mud from head to toe.
He leads the way as the pair of them squelch their way onto a clump of drier ground after passing over this brief pool of bogwater. Jester drips miserably along, and she is absolutely coated. Her silence is noticeable as the group falls into quiet for the first time that day.
Beau focuses on her job of scouting out a safe path. She's already failed Jester once, she can at least get them somewhere drier without anyone else going in.
After around half an hour of careful traversing, Beau finds where the path leaves the bog, stepping more confidently onto a solid track that rises away from the damp sea of cotton grass and stagnant water.
She leads the party up into a small clearing in the bracken, where she can turn to assess them. Jester is filthy. They are all a little dirtier than usual, even Caleb, but Jester is almost beyond recognition. There's a flash of muddied fabric at Jester's back and Beau remembers that Jester's spare clothes had been strapped to her pack to dry after they had washed them in a stream earlier on.
Jester is dripping still, and whilst she doesn't get cold, her bottom lip is beginning to wobble and the end of her tail is mud coated from how low it has dropped. They need to get Jester into some clean clothes.
'Let's take a short rest here,' Fjord proposes, 'Mr Caleb, do you have any spells that might help Jester out?'
'Of course Caleb can! Caleb can do-'
Caleb interrupts the beginnings of Nott's bragging about his magical prowess, 'Not today, I am sorry, Blueberry. I don't have any spare clothes for you either.'
Beau looks up to rummage through her pack to pull out her spare clothing. She has a set of Cobalt Soul vestments: a set of baggy trousers and a top that she carries just in case. It's a little more formal than her usual outfit, but it would do for Jester, she thinks.
Some of the others are rummaging in their packs for spare clothes. Nott has vanished, Beau notices, but she's sure the goblin will reappear soon. Molly is tuned out, focussed on rubbing mud from his boots with a stick.
Nott scampers back through the trees as Fjord pulls a pair of breeches from his pack. The little goblin is carrying her mess tin filled with some freshwater she's found somewhere. She tugs at Jester's sodden skirts with a small hand.
'Sit down, Jessie, let's clean you up'
Beau's never truly considered the little goblin to be motherly before, but now she unwraps one one of her many bandages and dips it in the water, and begins to gently clean the tiefling's face.
Nott makes no mention of the tears she wipes away with the mud as she brings Jester closer to herself. Once she has gotten Jester's hands and face slightly cleaner, to the point where they are recognisably blue, Jester has cheered up enough that her tail is no longer flat on the floor.
'Let's get these muddy things off, shall we'
Nott's deft fingers make quick work of the swollen cord that laces up Jester's sodden overdress, she makes a pile of Jester's various pouches and pocket content as she puts the dress with the other set of dirty clothes.
'There's a stream running into the bog over there, if someone wants to go washing.'
Fjord follows Nott's long pointing finger and moves to scoop up the muddy pile of items, now containing a couple of Jester's many petticoats. Once all of Jester's muddied layers are removed, he and Caleb head down to the stream, leaving Beau in charge of his spare shirt and breeches.
Molly gives up on his boots as Beau holds up the offerings of Fjord's and her own spare clothes for Jester to consider.
'Don't be daft,' he says, 'those won't work, the neck holes are too small and not adjustable, and there's no tail hole. Let me find my spares.'
Beau is a little short tempered from the bog, so Molly's brief insult and insight reaches stubborn resistance. 'How do you know?'
He raises his eyebrows at her and gestures vaguely at his horns, 'trust me, I spent a month in an uncomfortable button up sundress before Gustav managed to get me some trousers that worked.'
Beau decides not to question that as he vanishes into his pack, pulling out another pair of luridly patterned leggings and a shirt, before making his way over to where Jester is scrubbing herself with one of Nott's bandages.
She shoves her spare clothes back into her pack as Molly and Jester giggle as he helps her pull his ridiculously tight leggings on. Wearing Molly's clothes and no longer being coated in mud has cheered her back up again. Beau watches with a little stab of jealousy as her tail dances around Molly's arms as he fixes the little clasp that encloses it. His over large shirt fits easily over her smaller horns, dropping down into a deep v on her chest.
Once the shirt is tucked in, she turns round to hug Molly, shouting excitedly at him in infernal. At least, Beau thinks it's excitement, she has no idea what Jester is saying and she's been a little distracted now that Jester is stood up.
Usually, Jester wears at least three petticoats and an overskirt to make the massive floof of skirt that she likes. Her tail just tucks into the heap of fabric. In Molly's tight leggings, however, her tail stands more prominent, and Beau can make out the mass of strong muscle that consists of Jester's thighs. It's a very good look, Beau's brain stops for a solid five seconds looking at her.
Nott begins to hand Jester her pouches to attach to her belt as Fjord and Caleb return with Jester's clothes, still dripping, but the worst of the mud washed out. Caleb fumbles with his pile as he catches sight of Jester's new look, Beau makes sure to remember it so she can tease him about it later (not that she'd do anything different, but for the principle of it).
Fjord blushes a deep green and takes care to avert his eyes as Jester throws her arms around him as he offers her her clothes. They share the garments around the party, looping them onto their packs to dry.
Once their temporary washing lines are assembled and all their kit and snacks packed back away, they resume their journey. And if Beau walks behind Jester for more reasons than just catching her if she were to trip again, that's her own business.