Dragomir' was up and ready for his short departure back to his home. His inconsideration of the situation did not come to mind as he focused on the treasures that were in the two bags he had thrown over his left shoulder.

The fire was out and covered in sand, the sun was starting to beam over the desert's horizon, and the bag he prepared for Cadance was filled with a full week of rations and four canteens of water that are unused.

His wounds were not getting any better with the bits of sand digging through the gauze wrapping and touching his torn skin. Last night was nothing major since the adrenaline took time to slow down, but now it was starting to become an irritation that spiked into agony whenever he tried to scratch it.

With only a good hour left before the sun rose completely, Dragomir' had to start moving in order to make it back home without the trouble of the heat being on his back.

Knowing that most don't survive out here without proper food and water, he felt it was best to leave the alicorn with the things he definitely would not need.

Why would he when his home is only a couple miles away?

Said half-breed double checked his new treasures to make sure none of them would fall out, and replaced his bandages with the extra wrappings. Unfortunately he didn't have an easy time doing it when the results of his kindness were dried to his skin, sticking to him like an adhesive that can tear hide off if he was not careful

"Hmph." he huffed in response of the pain. His eyes started to water as each little inch of the gash was pulled and reopened with the bloody bandages.

Meanwhile in his unbearable suffering, a certain pink princess was waking up to his moans and groans that altered to yelps every few tugs he made. Curious of the noise and lucky to have no extra sand attach to her at night, Cadance slowly rose from her slumber with an ear flicker to start her morning.

She was groggy and imbalanced when it came to just rising on her haunches, but the noises she recognized from her savior baited her mind from the starting fear of being lost in an unknown desert. It didn't sound bad at first, much like something that is in a tunnel, but after a couple minutes of yawning and waking up she realized that the different noises were not a positive thing.

"What?" she forced through her cute yawn; this time smacking her lips together after shaking her head of the blanket that was wrapped around her horn.

Again she heard a small yelp and became worried about it. Until it led to her finding Dragomir' on the same boulder with most of the bandages off.

It didn't register to Cadance at first, judging from the little bit of sunlight, it looked as if he was scratching himself of a terrible itch. Upon a closer look, however, she figured out that the small sunlight was playing tricks on her eyes.

Said mare gasped into her hoof with a sudden flooding of guilt. Her eyes trembled with the small quiver in her lip as she watched the half-blood focus from the pain by biting onto his bottom lip.

There was no doubt about the man being in terrible pain or agony. His wound was not a normal cut that someone gets from hitting a sharp stick or falling onto a rock, it was a gash that appeared to be a foot long and barely bleeding from behind a large section of the dried blood.

That caught the mare's attention, seeing the cause of his pain shine brightly.

"Oh no." she whispered to herself, feeling regret for the man as he started to cry over grabbing the last of the stained bandages.

Cadance was disgusted of this, almost nauseous of the man's ignorant attempt to fix the problem himself. Knowing little to nothing about cleaning a wound, Dragomir' was doing more harm than good.

It didn't make the alicorn feel any less fearful of the half-breed, but she knew better than to let a wounded victim take care of himself when it runs the risk of infection. Granted that she owed him a little for his gallantry, knowing that she would have been bleeding from her innocence or dead in this unforgivable desert.

Said mare started with a slow pace of fighting her fears, only for a moment of repaying the man a little. It was just a small step towards him, then another slow one with the canteen she drank out of last night in her magical grasp.

There wasn't much left, but just enough to wash out most of the sand that is in the wound.

"H-hey," she stammered. Her eyes widened at how he stopped and glared at her, expressing not a bit of friendliness as she levitated the canteen to him. "If...if you wash it off first, yo-you'll be able to clean it better."

Dragomir' didn't take her kindness lightly. He acted rudely with spitting raspberries at her before returning to the last strip of bandages.

Said princess flinched as he did this, her heart stopped for a second in recognition of this being the first time anyone has ever been so rude to her. Of course she has classmates that act jerky to her, mostly the mares that are jealous of her being a princess, but never before did a stranger act so rudely to her information.

For most mares it would have been the start of a conflict, a fight in simple terms, but for Cadance it was just an insult that sparked a tiny speck of determination in her heart. She was still afraid of her savior...no, scratch that, she was terrified of him and constantly wondering if he would take advantage of her at any given moment.

But seeing him in so much pain made her act careful and slow. Hence levitating the canteen to him instead of closing the gap of their distance.

"Please-" she trembled at the edge of the boulder, flaring her wings to be ready for takeoff if he were to attack. "-Just trust me on this. I promise it will be easier if...if you pour the water on the wound."

Again Dragomir' inhaled a deep breath and readied to give her another one of his raspberries, but before he could stick his tongue out he felt a sudden jolt to his chest. His deep breath exhaled in one big huff, the bandage finally came off with his reaction to the pain, but the ability to stay still withered away with his strength.

Before he could put his legs under him for balance, the wound opened again with another flow of blood and loose sand. Both were flowing down his left peck as he stumbled to the edge and fell over, landing on the bag he already prepared for Cadance' journey back to wherever she came from.

Thus the worries about their encounter halted for this situation. Now Cadance was gasping as he groaned on top of the bag that spewed with every bit of food crushed and the four canteens shattered.

Clearly the drop was at least fifteen feet, but said princess didn't expect him to fall over and crash without some instinct of catching himself.

That is until her fear was pushed aside and replaced with concern for his well-being, in which caused her to run to him and scream in her mind of what she assumed about his injuries.

He's badly hurt, he needs a doctor, but where!?

She slid into the half-human and pressed her hoof onto his chest, only to find his glare shift into a deep scowl after he snapped at her in his own defense. This made her yelp and jump back, barely avoiding his fangs with just a small graze, but still she shook away the idea of leaving him out here when the damage was bad.

Dragomir' obviously didn't like having the mare touch him. That showed as a natural spike of fear turning into anger, but what choice did he have when the pain was too much for him to ignore?

Still he tried to move from the mare, only to have her magic pin him down and separate his hands from the deep cut.

"Please stay still, I just want to help." she screamed desperately, struggling to hold the man down with her magic as she looked around for something to stop the bleeding.

Seconds went by for the worried princess. She panicked and hyperventilated during her search for anything that can stop the bleeding until she could get help. The gauze wrap was ruined, covered in sand, and the bandages from before were not an option since it circles back to the risk of infection.

Cadance didn't know what to do or say at a time like this. She was never met with helping a wounded creature that is in agony and slowly bleeding out. It was frightening to her, almost heart breaking with the assumption of him dying under her hooves, and all she could do is cry while looking around for something to close the wound.

Until...

"The satchels!" she yelled, targeting the two bags she didn't know were the one's that Dragomir' packed.

Acting quick on instinct, and part of what she remembers learning from the school nurse, Cadance jerked the bags to her and turned them upside-down. Immediately it was nothing but gems and trinkets that appeared to be stolen, then came some knives, and finally from the second bag were the necessities she needed.

Dropping between the two, causing Dragomir' to feel that she was stealing from him, was an extra large roll of gauze, a bottle of pure alcohol, and a half-full jar of antibiotic ointment.

Clearly the griffons were well-prepared.

Finally some hope was shining down on the princess. Her worries lessened and allowed her to smile weakly as she fought with the half-human's struggle of snatching what was levitating in front of her.

Clearly he didn't know what she was doing, but his defensive reaction did not stop her from trying, in which was the snapping of his jaw.

"Stay still for a moment," she ordered, forcing the remainder of her water to pour and wash out most of the wound. "I'm just trying to help you."

Dragomir' didn't listen to her, he kept at his notion of freeing himself and taking back what he claimed last night. For the few minutes of struggling in the alicorn's magic he acted like a child getting put in a timeout, growling and fighting with her as the last bit of nursing was done.

It didn't feel right to him, it didn't feel good to have someone help him. His pride was a little hurt at how a such small female could keep him down and wrap him up, providing a much more efficient way of playing doctor than he could ever hope to.

"There, all patched up." Cadance sighed in relief and fell back to calm herself down.

The first thing she did was lie on her back and take in the cool morning breeze while it was still amongst her. She calmed herself for the first few seconds without recognizing that Dragomir' was on the verge of tackling her and acting out for being held against his will.

Said human curled his fingers, readying to strike with the instinct of hurting those that touch his belongings. He was close and she was still unaware of the hand that was about to touch her throat.

Not for the kill, but for the latter of the lessons he learned from his parents.

But just as he was about to close in on her and act on his anger, the pain disappeared and the calming words of said princess stopped his outburst before it could start.

Smiling at Dragomir' now, but still distancing herself from him, Cadance stared at the half-human and said..."I hope I didn't hurt you too much, I never did that before."

How could he get mad at a smile like that?

You could say that he was charmed to staying his hand before it rose from the sands, along with his anger being soothed by the small chuckle she gave while standing up and moving to the other side of the small camp.

As enticing as it was to him, to frighten the mare into never touching his things again, there was that small mentality of recognizing the good deed she performed on him without hesitating. Sure it felt hurtful to his pride to have a pony patch him up, but it wasn't any different than from the female that tends to his needs on a daily basis.

In a weird sense of staring at the alicorn, watching her look around for some sign of civilization, Dragomir' could see a bit of a specific person radiate from Cadance' personality.

The care, the quick thinking, even the warm smile, it all reminded him of the person he knows is worrying about him right now. And as these pieces of her fit the mare so well...he felt some consideration of being more thankful...and an unwanted realization of what was under him.

Said half-human turned and stared down at the crushed food and canteens, only to huff a small flame in annoyance of what fate has just done to him.

Poor guy...

Thus he acted he finished with a deep sigh and a low hanging of his head as she returned to her side of the camp. In his frazzled mind was the conclusion of where everything was going between him and the pink princess. With miles upon miles surrounding them, there was no way Cadance could survive alone in the desert without food and water.

What's worse for him is the only place to get such necessities is near his...home.

"So where are we exactly?" Cadance asked with a cute tilt of her head and a hoof pressed to her chin.

Her only answer was that Dragomir' whistled to her and pointed at the place he had in mind. And once the princess' attention was drawn to the half-human, he made his way towards what he calls his home without checking to make sure that she was following.

Unfortunately for him the gems and jewelry were left behind, knowing that most of them were lost in the sand because of his childish struggling. He wanted those gems too, he wanted to add them to his small hoard that is in his bedroom, but now they're all buried in the sand and probably lost forever.

It's better that way since most of the jewelry still had enchanted tags on them.

Oh this was not going to be a good day for the teenager, especially when that first step he took towards his home suddenly caused his body to almost topple over with the lack of energy.

After falling to his knees again Cadance hesitantly watched with a good thirty feet between them. She stared at the half-human grunting and fighting the exhaustion he was experiencing. She wondered if maybe he needed leverage for the walk they would have to make to reach the castle that was she could see in the distance.

Her mind as screaming to stay away and let him make the journey by himself, let his body wear itself out so that he cannot possibly touch her. But her heart was saying otherwise, telling her to give a helping hoof before he kills over from blood loss, exhaustion, or dehydration.

Just the limping made her cringe in pity. She didn't want to get hurt or captured again, but the fear of him dying before getting to the castle in the distance was overriding the fear of being his hostage or sex slave.

Can she believe that however, can she really assume that everything the man has done is not an act of chivalry?

Although he is a new creature to her, a stranger with beastly features, Cadance could not fight what her conscience was telling her to do right now.

Afraid or not she had to take in consideration of him saving and taking care of her overnight.

I guess I should help.

Thus her mind was made up, but very hesitantly.

Before Dragomir' could take another step towards his home, or limp in better term, he flinched at the surprising touch of the mare's neck going around his arm. And just before he could do anything to separate himself from said princess, her soft feathery wing on her right side wrapped around his waist for an extra caution.

Basically to keep him from falling backwards.

"Let me help you." Cadance chirped with a nervous smile. Her wing tightened around his waist and her pace slowed to his, but she kept it going to ensure herself that they would get there together.

For Dragomir', all he could do was stare down to the mare and wonder why she was being so nice to him. After keeping herself so distant he assumed that his presence is unwanted. But now with her patching his chest up and helping him across the desert, he didn't know whether to be thankful or defensive.

So for the time being the two teenagers paced towards the castle in the distance. Nothing but the sweet sound of silence passed between them as the morning heat washed over their backs, and a single thought in her mind.

I seriously need a bath.

Chapter Two End.