Zym was happily trotting behind Callum. They had tied a rag around his snout, using his horns as anchor points.
"How far is the river?", Callum asked from behind his scarf, fanning his face, "I'm out of water."
Rayla, who was wearing a rag over her mouth and nose as well, blinked into the sinking sun between two giant, spiky, fleshy looking trees. The day had been sweltering, the air thick with drifting sand.
Runaan had once explained that the western wind was carrying hot air and sand here. It would blow across both the Breach and the Midnight Desert once the eastern winds subsided during the day in early fall. Those would pick up again later in the night, blowing in freezing air from the mountains instead. The temperature extremes had created an interesting landscape and even more interesting plants and animals here.
As a result, she was foraging like mad, picking this herb and that flower, ever so often gasping with joy at a really rare find. It was all prime trading material.
"It's to your left, about two minutes.", she answered, furrowing a brow when she saw him pick up a large, green petalled flower, "Gumgrass isn't really worth anythin'. Not even good to eat."
"I just thought it was pretty.", he said, a little sad.
"That it is!", she smiled.
He walked over to her. "I'm glad you think so", he said, putting the flower in her hair.
She was confounded.
"What are you doin'?"
"You're still gonna cut my hair, right?"
"Yeah once we settle down for the night?"
"It's just fair I get to do something to yours, then. Plus, the green really brings out your eyes."
She blushed. He was so sappy.
"Aww, now that purple really makes everything pop!", he said, legitimately endeared, "You're a piece of art."
She swatted at him and laughed, "Go get your water!"
He swatted back. "I can't help it if you're pretty. Fine! I'm getting water! Hey! Stop!"
Rayla had jumped him and they were rolling in the dust for a moment with abandon, her coming to rest on top of him, kissing him while holding him down playfully.
"What are we doin'?", she asked suddenly, shooting up and losing the flower, "We don't have time for this!"
"Huh?", he went, confused.
"Come on Callum, people are dyin' out there. We have to rest sometime soon anyway, let's save it for then."
Dejection spread across his entire body like cold water. But, she was right.
He climbed down the river's bank and refilled their canteens. There was sand everywhere, even in the water. Callum drank it anyway, trying to keep the grains away from his mouth. Eventually he got sick of the crunchy sensation, grabbed a fresh bandage from his pack and cut off a small piece of it with his knife. Now he had a filter that worked fairly well.
When he returned to where he had left his girlfriend, she was sitting on the ground, drawing lazily in the sand with Zym.
Her expression was obscured by the rag but Callum felt she wasn't doing well. It was the deflated way she carried herself and how her ears seemed to droop a little.
"Are you doing okay?", he asked, passing her a filtered canteen which she drank from thanklessly.
"Let's go."
She got up, and they kept walking.
Two hours later, the sun had dipped below the horizon and they had set up a small fire in a field of large, bulbous cacti that shielded them from peering eyes with thick thorns and the odd, deep pink bloom.
Callum was sitting on a rock, patiently waiting for her to finish cutting his hair.
"Look at me ", she demanded and he did. A measuring glance later, she sighed. "Good enough. Your hair's so much thicker than mine. Kinda fun to cut, actually."
She put down her weapons and helped him clean the bits of hair off his naked shoulders with a wet rag. His wound looked to be healing at a great pace, unlike her own. Competent treatment was a real boon.
Rayla sighed heavily, sitting closer to the fire as the cold winds had started picking up. Callum was already putting on his winter coat. "Mind lookin' at my arm?"
He gingerly picked off the bandages that covered her wounded arm. Before he could stop himself, he gasped quietly. That was not what she'd wanted to hear.
"What is it?"
"Looks like it's healing alright but there's some swelling and deep purple edges."
She grimaced. "Great. Just what we needed. I'll take a honey poultice now, please."
He cleaned the wound with cold water he had previously boiled, feeling terrible for making her wince. While he was applying the poultice, she stared into the fire, far away in her thoughts. Finally he wrapped a new set of bandages around her arm. "Here's to hoping."
She uncomfortably rubbed her arm.
"Rayla", her boyfriend started, "Could you show me how to do hair braids?"
She gave him a tired glance. "Sure. Look."
She grabbed some dry grass from the ground and started braiding it while he looked on.
Zym came over to watch her work as well.
With each turn of her hand, her delicate features filled with more sorrow and it broke his heart. He regretted asking, but it was too late. Following an impulse, he moved to sit behind her, pulling her head onto his chest. She let it happen, going almost limp in his embrace.
Then he started braiding her hair, like she had just shown him. Silent tears started rolling down her cheeks. The little dragon nuzzled into her lap and she started petting him.
When Callum was done, he embraced her, kissed her hair and comforted her wordlessly until they both fell asleep, only to be greeted by more night terrors.
He was woken by her moving rapidly out of his lap. The fire was still going strong so it couldn't have been a long rest.
"I think we're being stalked", she said with a worried tone.
He got up, looking around. After a moment, he could see them too. Six vaguely canine shapes were circling them, just outside the reach of their fire.
Azymondias was growling, bristling at the animals.
"What do we do?", he asked firmly.
"I'd rather not fight them. Skulks are pack animals, they need each other for survival. I don't wanna be dinner either though. Why don't you try fulminis? Should do alright for scarin' them off."
Callum nodded, drawing the rune. He felt the power of lighting course through his arm, exiting into his hand. The hot and cold weather seemed to supercharge the spell.
He threw the ball of light at a nearby cactus where it discharged. Slamming into the many thorns, it loudly cracked some of them. A few of the spikes actually exploded off the main plant, sending sharp skewers in all directions. Rayla tackled her boyfriend to the ground as the shrapnell whizzed around them. The Skulks started to skitter and disperse. In the flash, Callum caught a better look at the animals. They had smooth, close fur and vaguely dog-like faces, sans the ears. He believed to see massive carnissals gleaming in their impressive mouths.
"That...", Rayla jumped up, beamed at him and started miming, "You just went like Zap! and thin's just went Fwoom! Callum! That was so awesome!"
Zym yipped with excitement.
He smiled back, toothily. "Now you know how I feel whenever you kick people in the head and make it look like dancing."
They both sat down near the fire, and he leaned against her shoulder.
"I've never danced", she said eventually.
"We can fix that", he suggested, "I had dancing lessons since I was as old as Ez. `Ballrooms are where alliances are forged and deals are made, Callum!`", he channeled Harrow.
"Oh! I'd love to! It's so fancy!", she turned her head, trying to catch a glimpse of her braid. Eventually she pinched the hair and angled her head to look at it. "Seems well done for your first time. I'll have to check it out tomorrow in the river. Thank you."
He was still worrying about the Skulks, looking up at every sound he heard.
Her and Zym's calm demeanor confused him a bit.
"The Skulks don't bother you?"
She smirked. "They do, but we've got the fire and lightin' magic. Somethin' tells me they're at a disadvantage, and they know that now. They're smart. Doubt they'll be back."
Rayla had a hankering, suddenly. She went to rummage in her pack and pulled out a pack of tied up plants, tugging out a singular leaf.
"What's that", Callum asked.
"Lemon leaf", she said.
Chewing, she sat back down next to him. He couldn't resist the barb. "You look a bit like a cow"
"Funny, I thought I was gonna hear more `bull` from you tonight"
They snickered and she offered him a lemon leaf which he chewed thoughtfully.
The taste was sweet and fresh, much like spearmint.
He decided to draw, pulling his sketchbook in his lap. Her interest was piqued.
"What'cha gonna draw?", she asked.
"Dunno yet", he said, "Maybe one of these cactus flowers."
He started roughing in the shapes while she looked on. As the render came together, she became excited. "That's just so neat! You drew a bunch of boxes and circles and then suddenly, poof, there's a flower!"
He smirked. "Do you wanna learn how to draw?"
She waved. "I don't think I have the patience for it. Let's keep it at dancing for now, Mr. Teacher."
"Interested in striking a pose?", he asked.
She smirked. "What, this one not good enough for you?"
He blinked. "You're just sitting there. You can do better."
She huffed, then mischief bolted into her eyes and he realized he had made a mistake.
"So you're sayin' you will draw any pose I'll set up for you?"
He tepidly shrug-nodded. "What are you going to…"
She grabbed her weapons, pushed him over, got up and stepped over him, extending a blade towards his face. "Draw this."
"Oh. Wow.", he gaped.
"What?"
He blushed, then lied by omission, "That's gonna be rough. Drawing lying down, I mean."
"Not good enough, is it! Too challengin'?", she laughed brightly, "Can't make you happy."
"I'll try. Hold still." He shakily started sketching.
There was concentrated silence in the air, only interrupted by the wind rustling the thorns around them. Rayla noticed acutely how cold the breeze had gotten but didn't want to spoil his work.
"Done", he said, turning over the book to show his rough sketch.
She regarded it for a moment, then squinted, blushing slightly.
"That's… what I looked like from down there? You sure you didn't… add a few things here and there?"
"Hey, you struck the pose!", he said, "I can't help how perspective works!"
She walked over to her pack, removing her jacket and draping it over her shoulders. "I like it, but I've never seen myself from that angle. It's… a weird one."
She sauntered over, stepping across his crossed legs. She gently pushed the sketchbook aside before she got down in his lap, embracing him. "Ahh, sweet, sweet warmth".
The furry parts of her jacket tickled his face as she leaned in to rest her chin on his shoulder. "See, I feel a lot less guilty about this sort of fun now that I'm tired and can't do anything else."
He stroked her back under the jacket. "I was wondering about earlier. Are you doing better now?"
"I just hate this feelin' of not having free will. We're doing this thing, with Zym. It's so important and I feel like we're letting people down by not pushing it harder", she sighed sadly, "It just got so much worse when Helmond told us about the border. Just feels like the stakes keep risin' and we're not moving fast enough. Doesn't help that we have to make all these detours."
She tucked her new braid behind her ear, "Sorry. I don't wanna complain but it's a bit loose."
"Do you want me to redo it?"
She let him mess with her hair for a while.
"Thank you", she said, suddenly.
"For what?"
"Bein' good about my hangups", she gave him a loving smile, "Not every woman you meet will start sobbin' when you ask to braid her hair."
"Why would I want to braid other women's hair?"
She shrugged. "I guess you're right, that came out weird."
"More likely you're going to have to find someone else to spend your life with than me."
She was disturbed. "What do you mean?"
"You said it yourself. Humans don't live that long compared to elves."
There was shock in her eyes. He realized that she had never thought about the fact that she was going to outlive him by around two and a quarter of his own lifetimes, regardless of whether they were going to be successful here.
"It… it is what it is. That's kinda inevitable...", Callum said meekly, feeling as though this was the second time he had made her weep tonight.
It was not fair.