After they had eaten their fill of delicious Dippling soup, Callum and Rayla said their thanks, ostensibly for the meal. In truth, they said it with as much emphasis as they did because Anzha had kept their true identities under wraps and Noli could not make herself understood to Otark.
She had at one point tried to scuffle with Callum to tear off his horns, but made the mistake to lean into Rayla's reach to do it. The assassin had promptly delivered a disabling slap to the deaf girl's cheek. She excused herself by claiming she had done it out of reflex.
Otark had a good laugh at this exchange, making a boastful show of the fact that he now for sure knew that she was Lucid; "Wha' wit a nervous wallop as that!"
Anzha had had some annoyed words with her daughter who spent the rest of the evening staring out of a nearby window.
As night fell, Otark slumped into his arm chair and fell asleep almost immediately. With their host stepped out in this manner, they all decided to just call it a night.
"I'm just glad to get away from Noli", Callum admitted as they were walking toward the barn, "I wonder what happened to her to make her this angry?"
Rayla opened the door for him, then slipped inside after him, pulling it closed.
Inside, Callum tapped two of the six magical sconces that were meant to light up the room and one of them flared alive. The other one was apparently exhausted, so Rayla lit another. The light was white, not blue like at Larwein. Sun instead of Moon magic.
"Yea, she's a hag. She seems really… immature. It's weird. She's gotta be way older than we are."
"Much! She's at least thirty, I'd say", Callum yawned and placed a bowl of soup in front of a sleeping Zym who woke at the noise and lapped eagerly at the thick, flavourful liquid.
Rayla fell into the hay, and Callum landed next to her, smarter this time.
After a moment of comfortable silence, he rolled onto his side to face her.
"This was another one of those days that felt way longer than it should have. All we did was ride a few miles, got yelled at, ate food and poof, here we are."
"It wasn't a good time. Gettin' yelled at", his girlfriend agreed, "Hearin' all that leveled at me by someone who's in government… I don't think I can ever go home now."
She - strangely - didn't seem very upset.
"What do you mean?"
"Dummy, moonshadow elves are secret keepers. Trust is the most important thin' we have. How is anyone ever goin' to trust me again after hearin' that I got everyone in my band killed? Plus, Court Martial?", she scoffed, "Sure! I'll expect a totally fair trial after all we've gone through so far!"
Callum pulled her into a hug.
He wasn't sure what to say, so he kept his mouth shut. Somewhere inside him, the voice which was often wrong suggested 'She'll have a home in Katolis, though!'
That particular sentence would not pass his lips for the moment. Having a discussion about where they would live didn't appeal to him right now.
He felt her rub her cheek against his chest guard.
"Isn't that kinda painful? It's so rough", he asked softly.
"I just found that out, myself", she said, cringing at her raw cheek.
"Here; I'll take it off."
He unlatched the armor and flung it into a loose hay bale. Zym had made a mess of it. Rayla followed suit, taking off her jack of plates and vest.
"Ah, that's better", she said, rubbing her cheek against his softer linen shirt.
"Glad to be a satisfactory pillow again", he snickered, and draped an arm around her. The way it rested against her allowed him access to her stomach, which he used to trail her wound through her shirt.
"Don't. That feels really weird", she complained.
"Just wanted to know how it's healing."
"How about you ask, then?", she snickered, "It's doin' alright. I figure in another day or two it'll be nothing but a purplish line. Maybe then I can go back to workin' out and unflab myself."
He looked at her, incredulous and a little concerned, "Your stomach is hard as a rock, Rayla"
"I didn't mean that literally; I don't have any weight to lose, I think I need to put on some, actually. I don't like my ribs to poke through that much, makes me look like a dead person.", she pulled a grimace again, sticking out her tongue, "`Boney Damsel`! Rurgh!"
They shared a chortle, then she continued, "I'm sayin' it'll be nice to be able to go back to do my routine. Makes me feel incomplete when I don't."
"Hm. I get that."
For a moment there was more comfortable silence.
"Hey, would you train me?", he asked, "I'm looking way better than I did when we first started, but I'm nowhere near you. And the more I think about it, the more it seems like I need to learn how to dodge. You're probably a much better teacher than Soren, anyway."
"Sounds like a good idea. How about, when we settle down from now on, I'll spar with you and then you teach me dancin' and sign language?"
"I don't think we can do both. Dancing is hard work. Don't underestimate how much it's gonna take out of you."
Rayla laughed, "I'll be fine"
"Confident, aren't you? We'll see.", he snickered, getting up.
She seemed a bit surprised when he extended his hand at her. "Now?"
"Now. Just a little."
When she took his hand, his expression fluttered for a moment, then he laughed nervously.
"What?", she asked, worried that she might have hay stuck to her face.
"My dad once said `Dancing is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire`. I just couldn't help but think of that just now."
Rayla gaped, then laughed, "Wow, aaaawkwaaaard! Why would he tell you somethin' like that?"
Callum shrugged. "Okay, put your foot there… yep, then step here with the other one. I feel like I'm not remembering this right, but… I saw the queens of Duren - ow, watch the feet! - dance as a kid and he tried to explain why it wasn't quite, uh, the same dance for them as it was for me, dancing with the other princes and princesses."
His girlfriend gave him an inquisitive look. "You've danced with other people?"
"Of course I have. Left foot over there. Hm, no, more this way, otherwise I can't step through. Uh, It's part of those stupid court rituals you're gonna like so much. Foster good relations, yadda yadda, find future partners, blah blah. You know?"
"No, I really don't", she said, "So did they? Find a future partner for you, I mean?"
Callum snickered. "Yeah actually. His name was Jorge."
"You were supposed to marry a prince?!", she said incredulously, "But…"
"Joking", he said tonelessly, "My dad would've never used me as a bargaining chip. Ouch! Watch your feet, not me, that comes later."
"What about Ez though?", Rayla asked with a pout.
"Are you serious? Ez probably already knows."
Guilt spread over his face now. "I should be there, Rayla. There are a lot of things his advisors aren't going to talk about like my dad did with me. They definitely won't show him how to shave or… give him `the talk`."
Rayla nodded, blushing a little. "We'll be there for him after we're through here. He's got time until any of that gets important for him, anyhow. What about Amaya? She gave us quite the tellin'"
The prince chortled. "True. She doesn't grow a beard, last time I checked, but if we don't make it back, she'll take at least take care of `the talk` for us, I'm sure. She's really bad at this stuff, but she's definitely better th- what?"
His girlfriend had loosened her grip on his hands and hugged him.
"Don't say that."
"Don't say… what?"
"`If we don't make it back`. That's not somethin' I feel like I'll ever get used to, you bein' so gloomy and not even noticin' it."
"I… can't help it", he said simply, returning her embrace, "I guess I just feel a bit different since that thing with Kel. Not just 'cause of what I did to her. More that we were both so close to being killed, honey - Ah, sorry, that was a nickname, again."
She snickered. "`Honey`'s so weird. Why would you want to be sticky?"
They got back into the dance's starting pose.
"Like this, right?", she asked.
After a solid two hours of him giving her instruction, they fell back into the hay. At the end, they had done the whole routine of a fast, breakneck dance known as "The Swoop" in Katolis. For it, partners dove below each other's extended arms repeatedly, giving the impression of birds twirling around each other with extended wings.
The dance was literally designed to tire out rowdy children at weddings. Callum had chosen it on purpose. Rayla breathed hard, as he'd planned. A few times, he'd had to catch and stabilize her, though. About this, he felt a little proud, a little guilty.
"Whew, that was fun", she said, "Now if only I could stop spinnin'! Oh, I'm gonna hurl if this keeps goin' for much longer! Stupid body!"
"You learned that so fast! I'm a bit shocked! And without music!", her boyfriend observed her carefully, trying to catch his breath.
"I told you before, I have a knack for movement, dummy. And you're a great teacher. But you were right, this is some harsh cardio. Really enjoyable harsh cardio!"
After stealing a few long kisses, she nestled against his side, her free hand wandering around his midriff in circles.
"Rayla?", Callum said, taking a swig from his canteen and offering it to her.
"Yeah?", she asked, sipping at the container.
"You looked really, really cute in that dress. I can't wait until we get to dance at court and make everyone jealous."
She flushed. "Aww, dummy!"
Putting down her drink, she leaned over to kiss him. He returned the gesture, embracing her tightly.
When they separated, he found her expression strange. She was smiling, but she didn't seem quite happy. Actually, not happy at all - she had sort of an evolving, thousand-yard stare in her eyes.
Suddenly, she started palming at her face and tears began streaming from her eyes.
"Rayla! What's wrong? Are you in pain?"
"D-Do you think K-Katolis would accept a M-Moonshadow Princess?"
His heart jumped into his throat. For a moment, he was going to tell her, yes, of course they would. But in truth, he heard the question she was really asking. With a heavy heart, he replied.
"I don't see you running for the rest of your life. You miss home, don't you? At some point, you're going to have to stand trial so you can go back."
She pressed up against him.
"I'm not gonna go anywhere on my own. You either come with or I go where you go."
He frowned.
"That's not fair, either."
"We can't both go home and be together."
"I know. Maybe we just need to travel a lot. Between Katolis and Scotia."
She shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe I'll be in jail for a long time after the court martial."
"I kind of doubt that, but if so, I'd bust you out"
She couldn't help but smile. Then she looked in his eyes, finding a lot of love and concern - but also some frustration.
Realization broke over her like a raw egg.
"I'm sorry, my stupid issues ruined the moment", she said meekly, kneading her hands, "We had such a nice time dancin' and all."
"They're our issues, not just yours", he said warmly.
Catching her unhappy glance, he added, "I'm fine. Really."
"You're a good egg, dummy", she said, pinching his cheek, "I love the stuffin' outta you."
"I love you, too. It's just another thing that we have to figure out as we go along. You never know what's gonna happen. I mean Katolis could be -", he stopped short, not finishing his thought, "Never mind."
"No, tell me, please?"
He sighed. "I was just being depressing again. I was going to say, Katolis could be a smoking crater right now for all we know. We haven't exactly gotten a lot of news beyond what Zym's shown us, and that looked really bad."
"I feel like if anythin' happens to Ezran, we'll know."
"Yeah. Sure. But we won't be able to do squat about it."
He rolled over, "Let's just go to sleep before this stupid day gets any longer."