A/N: So, this one kinda got away from me. Well... just read and see what i mean. Day 10: Scarf.

Chapter Summary: Rayla knows it's important. Callum might try to dismiss it, but he wasn't fooling her. She knows it means something to him and that he would risk life and limb to keep it around his neck. Same goes for her.

Word Count: 2,597

Warmth

Rayla's mission was the most important priority. Everything else around her faded into nothingness as her goal repeated in her mind. Nothing else at that moment could distract her. She was running. As fast as she could, she bounced from each rooftop across town, scouring the pathways. Her perceptive eyes scanned the crowds, eyes focused on the objective, the target she needed to find. She couldn't lose it. Not now.

Her attention was momentarily caught by a brief flash of something that turned into an alleyway. It looked like it. That was all she needed to go rushing in. She leapt across the street and over to the next rooftop. Quietly, she maneuvered her way above the alley, following her newfound target. It looked like this Earthblood Elf lady was holding it. Rayla's eyes squinted at the item, it was clear to her that now was her chance.

She rushed down the roof and launched herself into the alley. Landing perfectly on her feet, she stared down the Earthblood Elf and drew her twin blades, crossing them at the lady. "That doesn't belong to ya, hand it over!" she shouted.

The lady gasped in fear as she held her hands close to her chest. "Wh-What are ya talkin' 'bout!" she pleaded, "I-I didn't take anythin'!"

Rayla's eyes narrowed unrelentingly at the Earthblood Elf. "Then what's that in your hands then?" she challenged, pointing her right blade at the elf.

She cowered back in fear whilst confusion struck her face. "Wh-What? Ya mean my scarf?"

"It's not yours," Rayla spat.

The fear within the lady's eyes widened a tenfold. "I-I'm sorry? I… I don't know what ya're talkin' 'bout, my mum just gave this to me," she pleaded as she unfolded the cloth and held it out to her. "H-Here, t-take it! Please don't hurt me!"

Rayla's eyes widened in shock as she saw the scarf unfold in the moonlight, clearly revealing its darker shade of red. It looked nothing like it. Her face dropped as she realized what she was doing. "Oh… I'm…" she retracted her blades and held her hands up. "I'm so, so sorry Miss!" she apologized. She took a step forward and paused as she watched the Earthblood Elf cower back. "I'm… this is a misunderstanding, I… and I completely just…" she sighed. "I'm so sorry. I… I just thought ya stole it," she muttered, obviously embarrassed as the words left her mouth.

The lady seemed to relax a bit more, a small sense of relief exhaled from her lips. "Ya're… looking for your friend's scarf?" she lightly inquired.

Rayla nodded as she let out a sheepish laugh. "Yeah… it's uh a red… I'm sorry… I really overreacted here. I—"

"This scarf means a lot to him, I assume?" the lady guessed, daring on a smirk. "And he must mean a lot to ya, aye?"

Rayla's face flushed as she shrunk her head down into her shoulders, wincing at the claim. "Aye… he…" she sighed. "Listen, I'm so sorry 'bout this. I-I can… pay ya, to like, I don't know, make up—"

"It's fine my dear," the lady dismissed. Rayla opened her mouth, ready to object, "Ya've clearly got important things to do. Just next time, try not to jump people in an alleyway?" Her tease earned another wince from Rayla, but she smiled nonetheless.

"Right, sorry. Again," she shyly added, backing away from the lady.

"Go and find your friend's scarf," she instructed, throwing a wink. "If I see any red scarves I'll be sure to let ya know the next time ya hop down."

Rayla nodded. "Thanks."

With that, she hopped onto the roof and continued her parkour pathing across the town. Never had she been in more of a hurry to get out of a situation. Coupled up with the clear embarrassment and shame she felt, she was also in a hurry. This was an important mission after all. The second the two came into the inn of this town, Callum noticed his scarf was missing. He had just realized as soon as he began sorting his belongings.

"It's gone."

Rayla at the time, was just settling in bed. Her head rose at Callum, who was staring with wide eyes at his bags. "What is?" she asked.

"My scarf…" he quietly whispered.

She instantly shot out of bed and rushed over to the boy. "What? How? Someone took it?"

Callum shrugged. "I just… the town was so crowded… it must've slipped off," he muttered. He had his cloak on too, there was a lot of clothing weighing down on him. In a crowded space, it was easy for it to slip his mind for a split second. And split second's all a thief needs.

Rayla's brows furrowed in anger. "Someone stole it. C'mon, we'll report this to the townsguard," she ordered, taking Callum's arm as they headed to the door. Zym encouragingly barked and followed suit.

But Callum removed his arm with vigour as he stared at Rayla with shock. "And draw attention to the Dragon Prince here?" he shouted in a low voice. "Ray, it's fine—" she noticed how too easily the words flew off his lips. "—we can't risk attention like that right now. It's… besides, I might've just dropped it. I can look for it on our way out tomorrow." As if that wasn't any harder.

Rayla didn't like how quick he was to give up. She also didn't like how Callum thought so little of his clearly meaningful article of clothing he wore. She knew what it meant to him. But, ever the pragmatist, he knew it wasn't worth it to go out of their way to look for something as small as a scarf. But the weight behind it was a big as their current mission to the Dragon Queen. Rayla didn't want to sit by and watch him sulk over something they could fix. Something she could easily take care of. She owed him way too much to let it slide. So after a feigned sleep—with Callum as little spoon obviously—Rayla allowed Callum and Zym to wink out before her, giving her the opportunity to slip out of their room and into the streets.

And thus she began her search.

She started off with the entrance to the town from which they came from, and found herself chasing tails. The Earthblood and Ocean Elves weren't exactly known for integrating red popping colours to their wardrobes. Rayla knew someone had stolen it. And like most thieves, they were probably lurking about in the crowds still, working their paycheck.

Not if she had anything to say about it.

Granted, she almost committed a mugging herself, but she stopped it before it could escalate. So she was justified.

Perching herself on a wooden archway above a bridge, she scanned her scenery once more. Dozens and dozens of blue and green coloured clothes blended together to mix into this Earth like atmosphere. It was a well complimented colour scheme that easily meant anything red would stand out. Which also meant Rayla's next target caught her eye with ease. Just for a moment, she swore she saw a tint of red bussel through the crowd. She squinted at the area as she hopped down to a lower roof, getting a closer look onto the scene.

There it was again, slightly lower around everyone's waistline, a long reddish cloth brushed by everyone. By the complaints and exclaims of the people within, whoever this was, was clearly in a hurry to get out of there. That meant one of two things. They had made a decent load for the night and were rushing out to call it a day, or, they knew they were being watched. Not wanting to chance the latter, Raya hurried her pace along the roofs, keeping focus on her peripheral as she noticed the small red hurry down the street. Suddenly, the red vanished, leaving Rayla to halt in her tracks. She stopped and scanned, immediately noticing the flash of red duck behind another nearby alleyway.

History sure repeated itself for sure, but Rayla didn't care about repeating mistakes. In one bound, she hopped across the street and skidded down the roof and into the alley. Landing on her feet, she drew her blades and turned around, facing the thief before her. "Drop the scarf ya scum," she uttered with venom.

All bite behind her words was instantly loss as she realized who her opponent was.

A young Earthblood Elf, around Ezran's height, lying on the ground, cowering in fear. His clothes were a dirty pair of beige pants, with rips scattered all around the shins, and two discolored and clearly different boots, one brown, the other black. His long sleeved shirt looked like it was once lime green, but now shaded from its worn out time on the streets, bearing its own rips and tears along the sleeves and chest. Overtop that, his brown leather vest looked like it was on its last threads, barely holding itself together over the boy. But that wasn't as bad as the health of his hygiene—his brown hair muddied up along with his cheeks, and his horns were chipped, like the war had taken place all over his body, and he had nothing to defend himself. His face was clearly distraught, scared of everything and anything that surrounded him.

And in his hands, was definitely Callum's scarf.

Rayla's heart dropped as she realized what the situation in front of her meant. Could she—was she, really about to do this? In fairness, what the kid was doing was wrong and ethically, the only thing that redeemed it was that he was doing it to survive. But, that scarf had history. It was Callum's history.

Her first move, which she should've done sooner, was retracting and sheathing her blades once again. "Hey, hey, hey!" she hastily greeted, raising her hands in innocence. "I-I won't hurt ya!" she assured. "I just… I'm sorry I gave ya fright there," she apologized, stepping forward. He seemed to flinch at her desperate attempts at inching closer, but not enough to go running. He must've been too scared to move. "I… I get it," she nodded, "region get's pretty cold down by the lake side, aye?"

He reluctantly nodded.

"I'm Rayla," she introduced, waving at the boy as she knelt down. "And ya are?"

He bit his lip, fighting the desire to answer her. "L… Lian," he answered.

"Well… Lian," she lightly smile, "I… really need that scarf back." Her face shifted into a desperate plea. "It… means a lot to someone I care about, and… I can't bear to watch 'em so hurt." There was a hesitance laced within his face, a reluctance as she neared him. "It… it's the last thing he has of someone he really loved. And… I… this is the least I can do to help… him…"

The boy's eyes glued onto hers with a sense of curiosity. "Safe?"

She blinked at him. "Pardon?"

"Keep him… safe?" he quietly asked.

Rayla nodded. "Yes. This… this helps him feel safe."

Lian stared down at the scarf in his hands, holding it with a vice grip like his life depended on it. And it clearly did. Rayla couldn't believe what she was doing. She was asking a homeless child to sacrifice the one thing he managed to claim for his own survival. She was asking him to let go of a value he never once had. Practically begging him to keep his nothingness as nothing. She closed her eyes and sighed in her mind. They didn't set out to make a difference by changing nothing.

She rose to her feet and smiled at the boy. "Nevermind," she spoke up. "Keep it," she said, noticing his surprise, "ya need it more." She had no right to even let those words fly out of her mouth, but she also had no right to take it from him. As she turned her body away, she added, "I'm sorry."

To the child.

To Callum.

To his mom.

She just couldn't do it.

A sudden grip around her ankles startled her out of her self-pity. She glanced down and found the boy tugging at her right boot. In his other hand, he held out the scarf to her. Her eyes grew as she realized what he was doing. "Are ya—"

"Calidum," he told her, looking up at her with a smile. Bless her heart, the most beautiful smile she had ever seen from a child. "Keep him… Calidum." The words slowly processed her in mind, and her heart flew.

Like time had slowed down to a crawl, she finally grabbed the scarf, with a soft tug and pulled it close to her body. One sniff and she felt Callum's presence. It was definitely his. She looked down, ready to thank the boy, but found nothing at her feet. She looked around and found nothing.

One more look at the scarf told her all she needed. Not to let this moment go to waste.

::::

The morning after, the two found themselves wandering the streets of the town. Zym was cuddled close in Callum's arm, with his other taking the opportunity to hold Rayla's hand. They embraced their intertwined fingers, smiling at each other. "Thanks again," he brought up for the ninth time that morning.

After tuckering out upon her return, Rayla opted to give Callum's scarf back in the morning. He desperately fought off his tears and thanked her repeatedly, clearly grateful for everything she had done. She made no mention of the child and their encounter, and smiled when Callum tried to downplay his emotions behind the scarf. He tried to dismiss it the night before, but Rayla saw right through it.

"Your mum wanted ya to have it," she easily replied, "It's the least I could do."

Callum chuckled to himself as they walked. But a sudden familiar face caught Rayla's eye, causing them to stop in their tracks. The boy was sat up against a nearby trash bin, staring up at the clouds with a curious wonder in his eyes. Before Callum could say anything, Rayla hurried over to young boy. His attention shot down in surprise at her return and smiled at her, darting his attention between her and Callum.

"Calidum?" he asked her with a smile.

She nodded, a faint blush flushing her cheeks. The whole idea seemed so obscurely silly to her. "Very," she tugged on Callum's hand. "Thank ya," she added. She dug into Callum's bag pulled out two bottles of Moonberry juice. Callum seemed to catch on her motives and pulled out a loaf of Sunberry bread, and handed to the boy. Rayla placed the bottles at the boy's feet. "Calidum?" she offered.

Lian eagerly accepted the bread, taking a large bite out of it with a gleeful smile. "Calidum," he gleamed, patting his stomach. "Thanks," he cheerfully replied.

Rayla shook her head as she nuzzled the boy's head of hair. "Nah, thank ya," she smiled back. The two parted ways from the child, continuing their stroll down town.

"What was that about?"

"Nothin'."

His face dropped. "Well, what's with you guys just butchering my name now?" he accused.

Rayla rolled her eyes as she laughed. The words seemed to cross her lips so simply. "Calidum. Draconic for warm."

"Oh… well in that case, let's spread the Callum when all this is over!" he cheered. "Whattya say?"

Rayla laughed. "I'd like that."

A/N: Yeah, I know I dropped the ball with Callum's reaction or the lack thereof, but I kinda wanted to make the moment about something else? Sorry if I didn't do the teary reunion of Callum and his scarf, I wanted to, but I thought this had gone on long enough. And to be honest, I felt like the Lian's story really had more of an impact to Rayla here. Mainly because their journey's not just helping the world, but helping everyone along the way.

Boring stuff aside, hope you enjoyed! Tomorrow is Dreams. This one is a toughy, so sorry if it doesn't turn out well!

Until next time,

- Bleh