Slade's face was completely relaxed now, as if he was sleeping. Aside from the fact that he's pretty well covered in blood, I could swear he just walked out here and fell asleep on the ground, Tobias thought.

Demorphing swiftly from his human form, since Tobias knew that he wouldn't be able to carry Slade's larger body with his relatively weaker one. Once he was fully demorphed, Tobias morphed back into a Hork-Bajir. Tobias made sure to be careful of his Hork-Bajir blades, not wanting to injure Slade any more than he had been forced to. Tobias had heard the distinct sound of a rushing stream flowing in the distance, and Tobias knew that it would be better to get the blood off of Slade's body and clothes before it had a chance to dry.

Once they had reached the stream, Tobias set Slade down on the right bank and proceeded to rinse the semi-clotted blood off of Slade's body. At first, Tobias thought that the cold water might wake Slade, so that he and Slade could talk. And then maybe I can get some answers from him. But the splash of the cold water on Slade's arms and chest did not wake the older boy, and so Tobias surmised that Slade was simply too tired from his earlier exertion to react in any way to the touch of the water on his skin.

Tobias sighed; at least as much as any Hork-Bajir could sigh, it was probably better for him that Slade wasn't awake right now. Tobias demorphed into his hawk body then quickly remorphed into his human form, knowing that his Hork-Bajir claws weren't suited for such a delicate task.

Tobias had only stayed in his Hork-Bajir morph because he hadn't known if Slade was going to wake up, or what Slade would do once he woke up, and he'd at least known that his Hork-Bajir morph could handle Slade if it came down to another fight. But Slade still slept, and so Tobias figured that it was safe enough for him to be in his human morph.

After he was finished rinsing the blood off of Slade's arms and body, Tobias watched, surprised, as the older boy's fingertips gently brushed the shaft of his long lance. The weapon seemed to shimmer for a moment, before disappearing entirely with a muted flash of green-white light. Tobias thought that Slade might wake up then, but the older boy still slept.

That wasn't the only strange thing Tobias saw while he was hovering over Slade, wondering if and when the older boy would wake up. But, what Tobias saw next was the strangest thing he had seen that night. A flicker of emerald-green light skittered along Slade's left arm, then another did the same along his right. The flickers soon came so rapidly that Tobias couldn't tell one from the next.

Soon, there were two long lines of green light trailing along both of Slade's arms. But the lines looked more like blueprints for some kind of armor than normal lines. They were glowing brightly enough to illuminate the skin underneath. Tobias watched, fascinated and a bit frightened, as both wounds in Slade's shoulders healed in seconds, soon looking as if they'd never been inflicted.

Another strange green "blueprint" appeared on Slade's left side, and the wound there was as quick to heal as the others had been. This is the strangest thing I've seen all week.

Tobias had long since demorphed, and was now watching over Slade as he slept. Slade was starting to stir now, as if in preparation for waking, so Tobias got as far out of the other boy's range as he could while still being able to keep an eye on him. All Slade seemed to be doing at the moment was twitching and moaning softly.

It had been a long time since Tobias had slept in anything resembling a normal bed, but he thought he could recall doing something like this when he was supposed to get up for school. Slade's eyes were starting to flutter, the moans subsiding into soft sighs. Finally, Slade's eyes opened and he slowly sat up.

Slade was confused; the last thing he remembered clearly was falling asleep in the hayloft after getting back from that Area 51 place. What am I doing out here? Slade searched his scattered recollection, but couldn't come up with anything that would have resulted in this odd situation.

Is anybody here? Can anyone hear me?

Slade? Are you, well… you again?

Tobias, that's you, right? What do you mean, am I me again? Who else would I be?

Don't ask, I don't think you even want to know.

Slade thought that over, shrugged, and turned his attention back to his conversation with Tobias. Fair enough. Where are we? For that matter, where are you?

I'm up in the tree, about five feet behind you and to your right.

Right.

Standing, Slade headed for the tree Tobias had said that he was perched in. Looking up into its branches, Slade quickly spotted Tobias.

"Hey, hawk-boy. Come all the way out here just to check on me, did you?" Despite the light tone of his voice, Slade was touched by the fact that someone he'd barely known for more than a day was looking out for him.

I guess you could say that.

"Thanks," Slade muttered, just lowly enough that his voice wouldn't carry through the forest.

Why don't we head back to the barn?

"Sure," Slade said, shrugging. "Only, I think you'll have to lead me back." He looked around. "I'm a little lost."

Sure thing, Slade.

Tobias hopped out of the tree and flared his wings, zooming over Slade's head with a rush of feathers. Tobias wasn't an owl, after all. Turning smoothly on his heel, Slade followed Tobias out of the forest.

Once he was back in the hayloft, Slade felt a great wave of tiredness wash over him. Yawning hugely, Slade ducked behind the stacks of hay-bales that served as an impromptu shelter. Pulling the blanket over his shoulders, Slade fell back to sleep.

This time, he didn't dream.