Rayla squints out into the sheeting rain, but even her elven eyes find it difficult to make anything out beyond the mouth of the cave that her small group is sheltering in.
They've been hiding in here for nearly two days now and Callum hasn't stirred once. He's been asleep for two whole days.
Now, Rayla may not know a whole lot about humans, but she's definitely sure that humans don't sleep that long unless something is wrong. And Callum doesn't have a fever, she's checked.
He's just...asleep.
Maybe it's a Startouch thing?
Zym chirps inquisitively beside her, rustling his wings as he hops up onto her knee.
"You worried too?" Rayla asks, patting Zym's head, scratching gently at his horns.
Zym purrs, butting against her hand.
"I don't know what to do," Rayla says, glancing over to where Callum sleeps, curled into a ball as has become his custom. He snores obliviously on.
Zym purrs louder.
The storm has grown worse too, from somewhat decent visibility down to mere inches. Rayla shivers and nudges another log into the fire. She's glad that she'd managed to find some firewood and collected enough to at least keep them warm for the time being.
But it would run out within another day or so. Rayla eyes the dwindling bag of supplies; their food was low too.
"Do you think it's a Startouch thing?" she asks Zym, "the whole sleeping in super late?"
Zym chirrups, which Rayla takes as agreement.
"Maybe it's just a really long training thing?" Rayla asks, "I mean, I don't know much about the Startouch elves, and Callum's only half, so does that, I dunno, change anything in particular?"
Zym blinks, tilting his head to the side.
Rayla isn't sure how to interpret that. She wishes, not for the first time, that Ezran was here to translate the Dragon Prince's moods.
That Startouch elf, Aaravos, had been able to speak with Zym, and Rayla wonders why no one had ever taught her draconic. She knows her own Moonshadow elvish and the elven common tongue as well as human common but only bits and pieces of the other elven languages.
And honestly, trying to learn the language of the Ocean-blooded elves is an exercise in futility. Rayla had tried for a whole summer once, much to Runaan's amusement.
"You sound like you're trying to gargle rocks, Rayla," he had said, a wry smile crossing his face as he looked up from the knife he'd been sharpening. "It should sound softer, like...bubbles."
Rayla had thrown her dictionary at him in frustration, hissing as he'd easily ducked with a chuckle.
Rayla sighs. She misses Runaan, despite how their last meeting had gone. He'd more or less raised her when her parents had gone to the Dragonguard.
Zym whines, nudging her hand.
"What is it?" Rayla asks as the dragon tugs at her sleeve.
Callum is glowing. It's a faint glow, but it is there.
"What in the…?" Rayla creeps closer, reaching out to tap Callum's shoulder. "Callum?"
The markings under his eyes are back, little diamonds that gleam with starlight.
"...I found you-" Callum rasps, his voice hoarse and there are sudden tears that spill down his cheeks even as he sleeps.
"Found who, Callum?" Rayla asks, feeling very out of the loop. Callum doesn't answer her, though he does seem to drift into a deeper sleep, and he's stopped crying.
Rayla rocks back onto her haunches, studying her friend.
Zym whines again, curling up beside Callum, wriggling under his arm before starting to purr.
Thunder booms overhead, and Rayla bows her head and prays to all the gods that her friend will wake up soon.
She can't do this alone and she promised Ezran that she'd look out for his brother. They have to get Zym back to the Dragon Queen before war breaks out between the humans and the elves.
Mind you, it might have already, Rayla thinks grimly.
They've been in the field for weeks, avoiding towns and villages, and so are woefully uniformed on any movements of armies or declarations of war.
Rayla pulls her cloak tighter around her shoulders, grimacing as a chill wind whips through the cave.
Please wake up soon, Callum, she thinks, closing her eyes, please.