Saikur was pacing to the point where Charlie yelled at him for making her dizzy watching him before huffing and hiding in a tent, which they provided for her. Elena was watching him with mild interest as she carefully went through her stock of herbs, laying them out on a long sheet of fabric. She sighed suddenly, carefully putting her herbs away before motioning for Saikur to sit with her. He hesitated but he decided to entertain her and sat down beside her, in front of her tent.

"You know he'll return eventually, right? Gerben would keep him safe through the night and we can go look for them in the morning if we have to. Your worrying isn't helping anybody," Elena mumbled. "But I think I can see why you care so much."

Somehow, she made that sound threatening.

"Oh?" he questioned, curious about what she saw in their relationship. Surely, she didn't know much about his past or his issues with his mother. If anything, she would only know whatever Igneous' report said about their shared past, if anything was mentioned at all.

"You love him. Like, beyond just being really good friends. I don't think its platonic anymore."

Saikur wasn't fazed by much but he could feel his face burn. She wasn't completely wrong about him – he knew he cared about Igneous too much and he cared way more than anybody. He seemed to care more about Igneous than Igneous cared about himself. His feelings were probably beyond platonic but it hadn't taken any time to reflect on his feelings, just sort of react on them. He reacted every time Igneous was not normal and Saikur desperately wanted to talk and make things right with him but he could tell Igneous wasn't in the mood.

Igneous would never quite know what he did for Saikur. It meant everything to him to have an older brother to care for him and for a friend that genuinely liked him and could ignore all of the bullshit that came with being the son of his mother. He was probably still different kinds of messed up but Igneous made his miserable childhood better. Was it actually love though? He wasn't sure what actual love really looked like, at least what love was when it was romantic. His mother was the embodiment of lust, which he learned later in life that it wasn't the same thing as love.

"Oh, come on! I'm not here to tease you about it," Elena said sincerely. "I just get a little excited is all, I didn't mean anything by it."

"How could you tell?" He hoped he didn't look like some kind of fool.

"Well, despite us not actually knowing each other for long, I've seen you at your best and at your lowest back at the temple. You are always at your best when Igneous is paying attention to you exclusively and at your lowest whenever there's something wrong with him. Or like right now, when he's not here and he's mad at you on top of it. You're kind of a wreck right now." She shrugged at him again. "But I also know how you feel, so if you need somebody to talk, you can come to me."

Saikur merely nodded in understanding and even managed a small smile. He wasn't sure what his feelings were but it was nice to know that he had somebody else he could talk to. It also made sense to him, why she was staring at Amaryllis with such a satisfied grin.

He stood up and thanked Elena before wandering into his own tent. He pulled out his axe, a cloth, and some polish which he only had because Leigh insisted on it. He usually found it useless to do anything more than just clear it of any blood or dirt but if he couldn't pace then he would do something mundane, like polishing a weapon that probably didn't need it. The only reason why he bothered was because Leigh hounded him if he didn't. It wasn't long into the polishing that he noticed that one of the horses whinnied loudly and there was a flurry of activity outside.

Maybe Gerben and Igneous came back. Saikur quickly dropped his things and made his way over. The first thing he saw was an ursurine he was unfamiliar with, along with a guy in green being hugged by Mira. Mira dug her face into his shoulder and he had single hand on her back while she sobbed. It looked like a touching reunion, and for a moment, he was happy for Mira, but his mind quickly concerned itself with Igneous so the sentiment didn't last long. Gerben only arrived a moment after Saikur did, carrying Igneous in his arms.

"Gerben! What happened? Is he injured?" Saikur asked as ran over.

"No," Gerben answered simply. "But his temperature is high. He needs to see Elena."

Gerben simply walked past him with Igneous still in his arms. It took Saikur a moment to collect himself before he made his way to way Igneous, who was in his tent that Saikur set up for him shortly after he and Gerben left. Gerben and Elena were already inside the tent when he got there so he decided to just stay outside and listen in. He didn't want to crowd Elena if she could help Igneous.

"So I'm assuming this fever is like the ones he had previously," Elena mumbled. "How interesting. The reports said nothing about the fever being the only symptom."

"Does that mean anything?" Saikur asked.

"Oh, Saikur, you can come in!" Elena called from inside the tent. He took a deep breath as he crawled inside. Gerben managed to compress himself into taking up as little room as possible, which was rather impressive for somebody as big as he was, while Igneous was quite clearly asleep in the middle, on top of most his blankets, but he rolled onto his side and under what seemed to be the thinnest of his blankets. Saikur was glad – he thought Igneous was unconscious and something serious happened, but he was just tired because he had a fever. The fever couldn't be pleasant but it could be managed, especially since he had them before. He seemed to be sleeping well too, well enough that he didn't seem to notice that Gerben was removing the boots and his accessories. He sat down beside Elena.

"What does it mean though, when you said the fever had no other symptoms?"

"Well, a fever is a symptom in itself. There's usually something that's causing it, like an illness, and then there are other symptoms that come with the illness, but I've never seen a fever just be on its own. It's weird." She placed a cool cloth on his head, which only stayed because it was so long that it could just rest easily on either side of his head. "I'll be back. I need to get some herbs and then I'll make some tea for him. It should help reduce his fever."

Saikur never thought about that. He showed no signs of being ill when he left with Gerben and he was fine throughout the entire day too, or at least as fine as Igneous was when he was marching. If he was really sick, he was sure Igneous would make sure everybody knew just because he would complain about it so much. It wasn't a normal fever though, so he supposed that explained why it came so suddenly, but it didn't really explain anything else.

"He only got the fever after a vision," Gerben mumbled. "He was fine before the vision. He was walking and talking and there wasn't a difference but then he had a vision and it went downhill after that."

"A vision did this?" Saikur asked. Didn't he have visions all the time? What made that last one any different than the ones that didn't make him sick?

"Well, I don't know for sure but he was on his hands and knees before he came back from it. I've never seen him react so violently to a vision before."

Suddenly, Igneous groaned and opened his eyes. "Igneous!" Saikur called, placing his hands on his shoulders to keep Igneous down. He let go though, when it was made obvious that Igneous just didn't have the strength to really move around. What was he doing? Why did he feel the need to make sure Igneous was still? It wasn't like Igneous was stupid – he would know he was sick better than anybody and Igneous wasn't the kind of person who would push it. Maybe Saikur really was too protective of him as a whole... maybe he was suffocating him. He shook his head, tying to clear his thoughts. There was no time for negative feelings like that.

"Saikur?" Igneous mumbled.

"Yeah, I'm here. You made it back."

"I'm glad."

"I'm back!" Elena called, holding a steaming cup in her hands. "And he's already awake! I need you two to sit him up. This should help lower the fever a bit."

Gerben repeated what he said earlier as Igneous drank his tea and flopped back into his bed, the cool cloth placed back on his head and the thin blanket drawn up again.

"I saw something weird," Igneous mumbled. "I saw a chain, a pretty big chain, and then it broke. There was somebody there, and it said it would always know where I was, so there was no use in running... ugh, my head hurts."

"And you started to feel bad right after you had that?" Elena asked. Igneous nodded weakly. "I'm sure this never happened to the other oracles, but for now, just rest up. We'll give you something to drink throughout the night, you need to keep your fluids up. I'm sure we can get whoever is doing patrols to check in on you everyone once in a while."

"Oh, they don't have to do that... I'll just sleep."

"Right now?" Saikur asked.

Igneous nodded, so everybody got out of his tent to let him sleep. Saikur was optimistic that Igneous would be fine in a couple of days, just like with his prior fevers. They never seem to last more than a few days and by the end of it, it was like it never happened – he was back in the lobby of the temple reading people, even if his fever only broke a few hours prior to reading people again. However, it might require that they stay a couple of more days until the fever did break.

Was it safe to stay in one place for so long though? In Adoss, it wouldn't have been a problem Fraedia was clearly different. He approached Leigh's tent – Leigh probably had a better idea of that than Saikur did at the moment. Saikur's mind felt strangely muddled so he wouldn't be able to think clearly about the situation, especially when he was worried about Igneous. He wanted to be a voice of reason but he couldn't seem to manage it at the moment.

"Leigh? It's Saikur."

"You are welcomed inside."

Leigh's tent certainly had the appearance of a soldier's tent. It was well organized and there was not one thing that seemed out of place but it was also strangely sparse, like Leigh had no personal items. He just seemed to keep the necessities around, since it was easy to just pick it all up and leave.

"Igneous is down with one of his fevers again," Saikur mumbled. "Is it possible to stay here for a day or two before leaving again?"

"I'm not sure if we put enough distance between ourselves and Zahan," Leigh said frankly. "I'm not too worried about the bandits but we haven't see what the Zahan army is truly capable of and we still don't know their motives."

"But-"

"I don't think it's negotiable this time, Saikur. We have plenty of horses he can ride on and rest at the same time or he can ride with Caayla or Elena but we have to keep moving."

Leigh had that sort of his face, the kind of look that just dared Saikur to argue. He debated to himself for a moment but decided that Leigh had a point. They couldn't relax just because they couldn't see Zahan or because it was beginning to feel less like they were running away when they had a definitely goal in mind. It was important to Igneous to get to Vedia and with that mind, it was almost like Zahan wasn't a problem anymore.

Out of sight, out of mind, he supposed.

"I suppose either Caayla or Elena would have to do. Maybe Elena since she's not wearing armour," Saikur said with a sigh.

"If everything was right in the world, he would be able to get to sleep for as long as he wanted while he was down with a fever but time isn't a luxury we have right now." Leigh looked sincere, kind even. Saikur wasn't so sure why he was surprised by that. "You should try to get some sleep so you can be there for him in the morning."

Saikur merely nodded. "Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight, Saikur."

In the morning, Saikur saw Igneous up and about, mumbling to himself and slowly making his way over to the morning fire pit. It was started and maintained by Garath while Reina was sitting quietly with him as they began to prepare breakfast. It looked to be some sort soup, as most of their food seemed to be but it was easy to make on the road. Igneous still looked bad and judging by his behaviour, he must have still felt bad or even worse. Igneous was at least coherent the night before but that was no longer the case. For one, Igneous always prepared for travelling by braiding his hair but his hair was actually moderately tangled and hung loose. He walked barefoot and without his cloak or any of jewellery, so he didn't even lived up to his own standards. It was wrong to see him look so bare.

Caayla grabbed Igneous' wrist, shook her head, and gestured back to his tent. Her journal was right beside her but her gesturing seemed to work better, as it was questionable whether or not Igneous could actually process anything he read while he was in his state.

However, he answered by sitting down, so Saikur joined him at the ground.

"Igneous," he said with a stern voice. "What are you doing?"

"I'm hungry..." he mumbled. "And my head hurts."

Charlie chose that moment to join them. "I wonder why," she mumbled as she sat down. "Maybe you shouldn't be walking around like an idiot when you're sick."

"I'm not that sick," he mumbled. Or at least, that was what Saikur thought he meant. He wasn't entirely sure what it was he actually said that time around.

Caalya picked up her book and wrote inside, presenting her writing to Reina who happened to be the closest to her. She squinted. "Saikur, do you know if we are still travelling today?"

"Unfortunately," Saikur answered. "Leigh doesn't think we have the time to wait until he gets better, so he'll just have to ride with either Caayla or Elena. I hate the idea but he's got a point."

"Zahan won't attack us," Igneous said suddenly, like a moment of lucidity came to him. His eyes were bright, just like how Igneous usually was when he wasn't sick. He must have just had a vision, it could be hard to notice when he was just sitting because his silence could either be a vision or he was deep in thought. But then what was the difference between that vision and the one that troubled him the night before? "At least, we are not the priority target at the moment. I see blood smeared all over a mosaic of some kind... a mosaic of a manakete, I think! It's a big purple dragon! They don't really wear Zahan's colours but it feels professional and aggressive, so I don't think they are bandits."

Everybody looked at Igneous with a strange look. For him to switch from him grumbling and bordering on incoherent to being back to normal for a split second was certainly odd. It was almost like vision shifted something back into place but it didn't last long, as the sudden moment of alertness disappeared. He slumped over, back to being confused.

"Garath, can you watch him? I'm going to grab some of things," Saikur mumbled.

"Of course," he said. Saikur went to Igneous' tent and dug around for the comb and his hair ties all in one arm. With the other, he had the cloak and the boots. Igneous could survive without his jewellery for one day, especially if he was going to spend the day being supported by others. Heck, he was probably going to asleep all day so it wasn't like he had the energy to even enjoy them. By the time he came back, Igneous was still sitting up, so Saikur set the cloak and boots down before sitting behind him.

It wasn't the first time that Saikur braided Igneous' hair. It was just easier for Igneous to get help for it, that way he could sit on his back instead of it sitting on his shoulder. However, combing his hair was definitely a first but he didn't get far. His hair was more tangled than it looked and Saikur couldn't bring the comb through his hair without it getting caught almost immediately. It was enough of a struggle that Reina decided to come over.

"It's easier to just use your fingers sometimes," she said as she began to comb her fingers through the biggest of the tangle and slowly detangled it. Igneous sat pleasantly still the entire time, and while Reina was working on his hair, Saikur managed to get Igneous to put the boots on. There was no sense in him going back into the tent anyhow. Between the two of them, Igneous was wearing boots, his hair was braided, and he was wearing his travelling cloaked, although it was the hardest thing to get on him.

"You could just cut his hair," Charlie offered as soon as the job was complete. "Long hair gets in the way."

"He's a bit too vain to enjoy it. He'll kill us somehow," Saikur muttered, reclaiming his spot beside Igneous. Reina went back to Caalya, reading something in her notebook.

Charlie snickered but before she could say anything, Garath changed the topic. "I have to say though, I am worried about what he said."

"About a mosaic? I think there's a big one like that in Valburn," Charlie mumbled. "The dragon is big meeting place. It is purple too."

"Actually, the palace has one too. I might have gone in there once or twice," Amaryllis said suddenly, approaching them from behind. She still had her hood up but she must have just arrived back at their camp. It was great timing too. "And what's wrong with our little oracle, here?" she asked as she bent down and stroked Igneous' cheek with her hand. It pissed him off and he had no idea why something so small bothered him so much, and it only served to bother him even more. He wanted to bat her hand away and make sure that nobody like her got that close to Igneous.

"You would know about a mosaic in the palace, wouldn't you?" Saikur growled. "He's sick. Don't bother him."

Amaryllis gave him a knowing smirk. "Whatever you say," she said as she pulled away and stood up to her full height, placing her hands on her hips. "What about those dragons though?"

"He just said there was blood smeared across it," Reina answered. "Igneous, can you tell us more about what you saw? What did the dragon look like?"

"I doubt he'll answer. 'Sides, maybe it could be both of them. The palace is in Valburn," Charlie mumbled. "All we need to care about is the fact that there are Zahan forces in Valburn."

"At least, part of their forces," Garath said, his tone on the sombre side. "Maybe they've split their forces up between us and Valburn. It's something we have to consider. We can't get comfortable here."

"Nobody said we were, sweetheart," Amaryllis stated. "We should get moving soonish though, especially if he's going to be like that." She jerked her thumb into Igneous' direction. Igneous was pretty useless with a fever, Saikur couldn't deny that. He was just too out of it, even to get himself ready.

"Caalya says that when we're ready, she'll take Igneous," Reina mumbled.

Garath nodded. "Great. Breakfast is ready so once everybody eats, we can get on the road."

There was the problem of getting everybody awake and eating. Garath placed a bowl of soup into Igneous' hands with a small serving and Igneous was able to eat on his own. He managed to finish all of it, and although it ultimately wasn't a lot of food, Saikur was glad that Igneous got something into his stomach. Once he was satisfied with that, Saikur began going from tent to tent to wake everybody up and get them to breakfast.

The first tent he came across was Mira's, but inside was that boy from yesterday with the cloak, only this time, he had it spread across his body like a blanket. He had messy brown hair but he could still see the family resemblance he had to Mira, who was asleep beside him and facing away from him. The ursurine woman stirred when the light hit her face and woke up on her own.

"Isn't a little cramped here?" Saikur asked.

"No more cramped than some slave quarters," she answered with a shrug as she pulled on her vest. "'Sides, it's not like we had a tent so Mira offered us hers."

"Anyway, it's breakfast time."

"Alright, I'll get the cubs up." The cubs. Gerben sometimes called Igneous that. He wondered if it was an ursrine thing, to take in a human and call them their cubs, but that ursurine was only the second one he ever met, so maybe the ones he knew were just weird.

He found Leigh's tent next. He only called from the outside and when he got a response, he moved to Elena's tent. She was significantly dressed down, wearing something that only just barely seemed to cover her body but she was already awake, reading a book of some kind, and she didn't exactly seem happy that Saikur barged in on her. "At least it's just you," she said.

"Yeah, just me," he responded with a frown. "Anyway, it's breakfast time, so get ready. Igneous had something to eat so he might be feeling a bit better now too."

"That is a good sign," she mumbled as he left her tent to give her some space.

He was left with Gerben, Arder, and Iniabi. Iniabi and Arder were only patrol last night, so he wasn't sure how well they would take to awaking up when they essentially just fell asleep, probably when Garath got up. They needed to be alert and awake in case something happened and he wasn't sure if they were the kind to be able to shrug off the fact they had little sleep. One way to find out he supposed.

He found Arder's tent first. He opened the tent flaps and found him wearing pretty much what he wore he when Saikur last saw him, but he had at least taking his shirt off. He noticed that Arder slept with his sword in arm's reach beside him and he instantly became more cautious. He didn't want to see if Arder was the kind to act first and ask later when he was woken up or startled. Deciding to stay just at the tent flap, he called for him. He didn't push further when Arder gave no response – he clearly needed a little bit more sleep. He didn't think that Arder was the kind to sleep so deeply but he supposed that everybody had a limit and maybe Arder had reached his. When they needed to get going, he was going to send Leigh to wake him up – he was the one with all of the armour after all.

Iniabi wasn't as scary when he slept – there wasn't a weapon immediately nearby but he noticed the sword in a sheath and a pile of tomes of all different colours. Iniabi seemed to sleep with that heavy jacket draped over himself, over a thin sheet. "Iniabi," he called out. Unlike Arder, Iniabi did wake up, turning his head towards Saikur.

"Hmmm? Time to get up?" he asked, cracking his eyes open. He yawned and stretch, and Saikur noticed that he had some sort of mark on the back of his hand. Maybe a funny scar? Or maybe it was a tattoo – they weren't too common since he knew it was permanent and it involved a needle with ink being hammered into one's skin. He remembered seeing some on the people that Igneous read when they were still at the temple. At any rate, Saikur didn't pry. Whatever Iniabi decided to do with his body, or even if he was born with it, that was his business. Saikur appreciated it when people stayed out his, so it was only fair to show the same respect to others.

"Only if you want to eat. If you need more sleep, you can rest for a bit more. You wouldn't be the only one."

"Hmm... Ah, is Igneous still asleep? How is he doing?" Iniabi asked has he shifted under the sheets. Saikur pulled out of the tent to give him a little bit of privacy. He guessed that he was probably just going to get up.

"He's awake but he isn't doing much better," he answered from outside. "I'll see you at breakfast then. I still need to get Gerben awake."

Gerben, he knew, wasn't all that scary, at least since Saikur was used to seeing him in his bear form. Gerben always slept in it for some reason. His room in the temple still had a cot, but he piled up everything on the floor and slept on that, and used his cot to store things. In the tent, he seemed to just fall asleep right in the middle, and that was how he found him. Saikur crawled in and patted him lightly on the head.

Gerben transformed immediately. He looked at Saikur with bleary eyes, before suddenly leaving the tent in a hurry, pushing by Saikur to do it. "Gerben! What's the hurry?"

"Is Iggy with everybody else? Is he better then?"

"No. He was actually alright for a moment there, I guess he had another vision, but that didn't last long."

"His visions still work?"

Saikur never thought about that much before. Maybe he did have visions in his fevered state before and just never said anything, or it was he was asleep and they left alone him for a while. His fevers never seemed to be high enough to be deadly, so nobody ever stayed by his side the entire time. Even Saikur needed some sleep and some sort of mundane task to keep his mind busy.

"I guess. It made him better for a time but once he was done telling us what he saw, that was it. It was actually really weird... he changed like that." Saikur snapped his fingers as he finished the sentence. "I'm starting to realize we just don't know anything about him or his abilities. He's clearly different from the other oracles that Elena described. He might look like them and they all share the same ability of foresight but we can't keep comparing him to the other oracles. There's too much of a difference and I don't think he likes thinking about it."

"Agreed," Leigh said as he approached Saikur and Gerben. He was in all of his armour and carrying a lance with him.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Saikur asked.

"I would rather speak with Igneous' other two guardians first. I can wait," Leigh said with a sigh. "I too feel that we don't much about him though. Maybe we kept him in the temple for too long. I know he had a job to do but we didn't let him try a lot of things or let him have a lot of free time."

"That sounds a little weird coming from you," Gerben mumbled. "You and Saikur are both super serious all of the time. It always one of you."

Saikur couldn't disagree. Leigh merely shrugged. "I dreamt of my youth last night. I realized that I knew what I capable of doing because I got to try a lot of things out as a kid and as a soldier in training. Igneous never got that chance to see what he was good at, did he? We never let him."

Igneous never had the chance to be a kid. He started reading people when he was ten, but prior to that, Igneous said that the priests spent three years teaching him how to read, making sure he was healthy since he arrived underweight, and making sure he could speak properly. There wasn't a childhood in there, and there wasn't a childhood in all the years he spent reading people. Saikur could understand, it wasn't like he had a childhood either between training and being a social outcast in his village, but he also didn't have mysterious abilities that in the end, were not well understood.

"We should be more open to what he wants to do because it could lead him to understanding himself better and then we can guard him from a distance and make sure he doesn't get seriously hurt," Leigh stated. "Are we all in agreement?" he asked, holding his hand out. Saikur and Gerben both took it.

"This is should make him happier," Saikur said with a nod. Igneous deserved better. They may be trying to get to Vedia and they may be running from Zahan, but there was no reason why he couldn't explore and try new things more often.

"At any rate, we should make sure we get something to eat. We have a lot to pack up and do before we gotta hit the road again," Leigh sighed. "We still have to make sure he's safe."

Gerben stretched and nodded. "Yeah, let's get ready."

I am so sorry that took so long and there is not much there to be excited about. That last couple of months were kind of hell in terms of no free time. However, I do want to upload some support-like scenes that will serve to supplement updates, so we'll have a "big" update like this and small updates throughout, hopefully. These should serve to help develop characters outside of whoever is narrating.

And next big update will go back to the antagonists, so you have that to look forward to!

This is also a story where not all of the characters are straight, but as far as actual romance goes... I don't know what will happen. Romance is not a big thing for me. I don't have any actual pairings in mind and my plans involve seeing how the characters end up developing first. I don't want to set up characters for the sake of having romance.