The journey to Averice's village hadn't been easy, though that was all due to the large amounts of cliff's surrounding the small habitation. The ground was sandy, mixed with an abundance of rocks littering the path. There was a small breeze flowing through the air with a contrasting smell of dust.

The sun shone throughout the land, its rays drowning out any shady spot within view. Heat increased with every step, as did the drips of sweat dripping down everyone's brow.

It had only been three hours since they started riding, with four more hours to go. Though to Callum, it felt as if they had been walking for days. His head swarmed as his limbs grew more weary with ever step his faithful horse took.

Leaning forward, Callum closed his eyes and didn't notice how his body started to shut down. He would've fallen off his horse if Soren hadn't called his name.

"Callum!"

The young prince shot up, almost falling off his horse once again. Though he didn't respond. There were too many empty thoughts in his head, and even if he wanted to say something, his mouth was far too dry.

"Ok, I think it's a good time to stop," Soren called out, noting how his charge was not well.

Averice looked back and nodded. "Lets stop over by that ridge, its safe from thieves."

It was a few moments before they reached the ridge but found a tree along it. Soren went to walk but noticed how Callum had slumped towards the ground. Running, Soren picked up the young prince and ran towards the tree.

"Is he alright?" Averice asked, clearly concerned about Callum

"He'll be fine. Callum has never really handled the heat well, but with water, he'll be up in no time." Soren grabbed a nearby water bottle and leaned Callum's chin back. Water dripped down the prince's throat, along with some drips down his chin.

"That's good." Though half of Averice wished that Callum would've needed medical assistance immediately. Because as much as she wanted to follow her brothers orders, there was a deeper internal voice whispering warnings.

This is a horrible plan

This hadn't been the first time that she had that thought, and it certainly wouldn't have been the last. But it still felt uneasy to be thinking that she could possibly stray away, though it was equally concerning to know that she wasn't going to stray away.

Family always came first

"We should be good to leave soon," Soren said, interrupting her thoughts. "Callum is coming too."

And sure enough, when the young teen girl looked over, Callum's eyes were fluttering open. Which made her thought process even worse.

Callum was just a boy, a young prince at that. He didn't deserve anything that was happening to him, yet here Averice was. Trying to take Callum out of his comfortable life and replace it with an unhealthy new one.

He wasn't even 18

Averice was only 16 years old, and deep inside she knew that if this was happening to her, it would tear her apart piece by piece.

She would have to apologize soon

"We uh…well we should be leaving," Averice said quietly. "We still have a large journey ahead of us." She went to stand up, but paused again at the pale Callum, who had yet to stir.

"Is he going to be, ok?" She asked.

Soren looked down and hesitated before responding. "He'll be ok, though he might need a few more minutes."

Something stirred within Averice's chest. Anger, fear, and many more emotional feelings that she didn't want to take any part in.

But she couldn't rush anything, nor risk any emotional reaction.

"We can afford a few minutes. Hopefully he wouldn't need any longer."

So Averice just sat, alone with a worried Soren, in the hot sun with only water and a small amount of food.

DRAGON PRINCE

Ezra stared out of the clear window, wondering about the daily tasks that needed to be complete. Though one heavy problem laid heavy on his mind.

The plan to introduce humans to slivergrove in the eleven world was nothing short of risky. But with the elves knowing the plan and humans alike, it seemed that everyone would want to take part in this new initiative.

That wasn't the case

Ezra couldn't have blamed them, but it still was quite the disappointment when he found out that many villagers didn't want to visit slivergrove. It was a new adventure, a new outlook that many weren't ready to accept.

So, when Rayla came walking into the room, she frowned at the kings dampened mood.

"It seems that someone isn't happy," she walked towards the window. "What seems to be the issue Ez?"

Ezra sighed. "There are a numerous amount of people in Katolis, but it seems that none of them are ready for this new change. I don't think that the slivergrove visit is going to pave out how it was originally intended too."

"It's not all dark and gloomy Ez, there is still hope. We just need to find that spark in the people." Rayla's eyes glazed over the village as she thought about everything that has happened. There was so much to do, not just for the clean-up efforts for the war effort. But rather that mental stability the people needed.

That was a start

"Maybe, we are looking at this wrong Ezra. We're looking at it from a more physical view, but what if we used more mental tactics to entrust the people's trust? The people need stability from the war, and maybe we can use that to our advantage."

"It could work. But what do we even start with?"

"With that," Rayla pointed to the village. "We can start small, and eventually work up. Does that sound good?"

Ezra nodded. "It'll work for now. Though I hope that Callum is doing better than us."

"Me too Ez, me too."