The following morning, Farkas woke from yet another restless slumber and felt a strange sense of danger. He looked around for Rayla, but she wasn't in the bunkhouse, so he sprang from his bed and went outside to search- only to find Rayla safe and sound, standing with Brynjolf as the thief showed her how to hold the dagger Ralof had given her properly, how to make a simple but effective strike to defend herself, but what surprised him more was how jealous he was feeling as he watched Brynjolf with her. For some reason, he felt possessive of Rayla the same way a wolf would be of his mate- which confused him quite a bit.

Ignoring that some of his wounds had reopened, Farkas dressed and hurried outside to tell Rayla it was time to move on. Despite her momentary protest, Farkas seemed to get the message across and Rayla simply nodded, gathering her things before saying her goodbyes. Farkas kept an eye on the road, an ear to the wilds, then once Rayla had finished her goodbyes, he thanked Lillan and Brynjolf for all their help. As they turned towards the roads heading west, towards Ivarstead, Farkas noticed something a bit different about Rayla's overall demeanor, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it and to be honest, he was more focused on putting distance between them and whatever was the source of this feeling.

Farkas and Rayla continued their way through the wilds, finding themselves leaving the autumn colored trees of the Rift hold behind and entering the mountains that separated the Falkreath and Rift holds at the southern border of the province. As they got deeper into the mountain pass, however, they happened up a frost troll in the snowdrifts and were ambushed as it leapt from a rocky ledge above them.

Farkas pushed Rayla out of the way, drawing his blade just barely in the knick of time. Rayla skidded in the snow, but she regained her bearings quickly and looked for anything she could throw at the troll. She hurled stone after stone at it, hoping to distract it long enough for Farkas to deal a decisive blow. But when the troll swung and flung Farkas into the side of the mountain, Rayla's heart felt like it was going to explode from the fear and worry bombarding her. Unsure of what else to do, she stood, drew her dagger, aimed for the troll's eyes, then let her dagger fly- hoping it would find its mark. And luckily for her, it did- striking the troll dead center between all three of its eyes.

The troll came sliding to a halt just before her feet and Rayla nearly collapsed from the adrenaline coursing through her body in levels she was not used to. She did her best to gather herself together, then shakily yanked her dagger free from the troll's skull and wiped the blood off the blood with the troll's fur. Stepping carefully around the troll, Rayla made her way to Farkas and helped him to his feet.

Searching everywhere she could, Rayla lugged an even furtherly wounded Farkas through the thickening snow until she spotted a shack. When they reached it, she noticed that it looked as though no one had lived there for a very long time and, being the only shelter available until the storm passed, dragged Farkas inside and set him onto the bed.

Farkas watched as Rayla hurried to close the windows of the shack and the door, then grabbed some of the linens strewn about- along with some nails and a hammer- to hang over the windows and doors in hopes of keeping more of the cold, ice ridden winds out of the shack. The thunk of the hammer against the nails could barely be heard over the wind wailing outside, but the now secured linens helped block out the majority of the wind- the cracks between the logs of the walls allowing little breezes to seep through. Once the linens were secured, Rayla set about getting a fire built to warm the interior- all the while, Farkas' eyes never leaving her.

Rayla hurried to start a fire and find some blankets to bring over to Farkas, but when she turned towards him and saw what lay beneath his armor, she forgot about everything else.

"You idiot..!" Rayla knelt down and pulled up his bloodied tunic, checking his wounds and finding that some of the ones from before had reopened while new ones from their encounter with the troll lay scattered about his skin. She removed the rest of his tunic, then yanked off his boots and his trousers, ignoring her blush as he sat there in nothing but his underclothes. "You, big, dumb idiot..." She found more wounds on his thigh where the troll had knicked him.

Farkas let her do what she needed to, not really caring about anything else now that they were safe again. But it was also because he didn't feel right and was fading quickly.

Rayla noticed him teetering and caught him just as he slumped forward. "You're burning up...!" She eased him back onto the bed and pulled the blankets and furs over him, then looked about the shelves of the shack- seeing that it must have belonged to an alchemist given the ingredients, potions, and tomes lining the shelves. She looked for something that would reduce his fever and stumbled across a tome containing a healing spell. She read through it, finding she understood more than she thought she would as a small surge of magikal energy coursed through her, then hurried over to Farkas. She helped him to drink the fever reducing potion, then set about working on his wounds- finding that somehow she was able to use the spell that she had just read.

It took hours before she was able to heal all of his wounds closed and by the time she was finished, she felt incredibly drained. She looked down at Farkas as he slept, having passed out some time ago, and she noticed that, despite the several layers of blankets and furs as well as a roaring fire, he was shivering feverishly. Unsure of what else to do- and ignoring her own embarrassment- Rayla stripped to her underclothes and slid under the covers with Farkas, laying on top of him to try and share her body heat with him.

"Please... hang in there, Farkas..."

Farkas woke some time late in the night to a warm weight blanketing him. He glanced down to find Rayla laying on top of him, fast asleep, wearing next to nothing.

'She's so warm...'

Farkas reached up, his hand gently smoothing back the hair from her face. As he watched her sleeping, he realized he had a pounding headache from the fever but otherwise felt fine. He also noticed the pile of bloodied bandages, but no new bandages on his body.

'Did she... heal me..?' Farkas looked over and saw the tome that Rayla had found a recognized it as one of the most simplest healing spells that you could find damn near anywhere. He had seen a number of them in Belethor's shop back in Whiterun.

Farkas gently slid Rayla onto the bed, trying to be careful not to wake her. He sat up and watched her a moment, seeing even in her sleep how drained she was.

'She must have overexerted herself healing me...'

He stood up to stretch, careful not to wake Rayla as he got out of bed, and found that while he was completely fine save for the headache, they were going to be needing a day or two, regardless, to wait out the storm. He checked the linens covers on the windows and door, then stoked the fire and added a few more logs.

He sat watching Rayla sleep for a while, trying to understand what was going through his head, but after some time he gave up and went back to bed- sliding in next to Rayla. As he settled back down, Rayla stirred for a moment and readjusted- unphased as Farkas turned on his side towards her and wrapped an arm around her as he slid the other beneath her head to support it. He found himself smiling as she seemed to welcome the return of warmth and nestled into his embrace.