again, Gerben would just ride in the wagon, and when they camped for the night, he would eat a bit and go back inside the wagon. Sometimes, she would catch him changing his bandages, leaving the bloodied bandages just on the edge of the wagon for somebody to collect. He barely spoke, hardly moved, and just seemed... lonely.

She was still terrified. Staying close enough to watch him made her heart race, her palms sweaty, and her legs tremble. It felt like her scarred burned, even know she knew that was impossible, and all of her instincts demanded her to run whenever he was in sight. Caalya hated watching him be so withdrawn though, so not... Gerben.

Caalya took a deep breath, then approached the wagon with her journal and something to write with in hand. She left them on the lip of the wagon, then jumped inside, crawling deeper towards the back. Gerben was in the back but she couldn't see much else. It occurred to her that it would be too dark inside for anybody to read her writing, let alone for her to even see what she was writing down. She would just have to use her voice then. Her itchy, scratchy voice.

"Caalya?" he asked, his voice quiet. "I thought you were..." He didn't finish it and he didn't need to. She didn't make a good impression the last time they interacted.

"I..." Her throat itched and burned. "I... are you... okay?" Using her voice always felt foreign, like it wasn't her voice. Even though she had magic, she still favoured her lance, since magic required a voice, a strong unwavering voice. It was a voice that she could only summon when her life or another person's life depended on it. Otherwise, it was difficult to even string a couple of words together to form a semi-coherent thought.

"I failed, Caalya. I thought he needed some space to be a kid, and if we didn't give him that space, then he would just try to push us away from him. All that did was give people more room to take him. A guardian doesn't let his charge get kidnapped. There was a fine balance and I couldn't find it." He looked away from her. She wasn't there, but she was sure that Igneous' disappearance wasn't Gerben's fault. It wasn't even Igneous' fault. From what she heard, he wasn't all that far away from their little group. It wasn't like he ran away.

"But... your..."

"Wounds? They're nothing. I heal faster than humans anyway, even if it doesn't look like I'm making a lot of progress. It would take a human months to heal from wounds like these, assuming a human even survives. Nobody should worry about me."

"I... worry," she mumbled. "Being... this sad. It... isn't you."

Gerben didn't say anything at first. Caalya didn't press, not just because her throat itched as it was, but because Gerben did his best to give her the space she needed. She wanted to return the favour, at least a little bit.

"I guess maybe I am moping around too much," Gerben said quietly, lifting his head so that he was at least facing her. That was already a big improvement, so she offered the biggest smile she could muster. It wasn't a big smile, the kind of smile somebody would give just to be polite, but she was truly happy that his mood was at least a little better. Caalya wasn't even sure if he could see it. "He isn't dead. I shouldn't be mourning like he's already gone. Would you believe that we've only know each other for five years? I only went to the oracle to see what it was all about, and he wouldn't let me leave."

Caalya couldn't say that she was exactly surprised. Igneous seemed to be the kind of person who was used to getting the things he wanted.

"I should probably rest some more though, and I know you're scared, so you can leave if you want," he said as slowly settled himself on his side, careful to mind his wounds and to keep the wagon from shaking too much. "But thanks, Caalya. It means a lot that you would spend so long around me."

She managed another smile, not that Gerben was paying much attention now that he had his head resting on a pillow. "You... you're wel... welcome!" She put as much emphasis as she could before slowly crawling backwards to get out. She collected her things and made it back to the tent she shared with Elena. Her body was still in flight mode, but she was still smiling when she prepared herself to sleep.

Fara shook her hair loose as she entered the tent she now shared with Darren. Darren was already inside, staring up at the tent ceiling as he rested his head on his arms. All of his armour was stripped down, leaving him in a black short sleeved shirt, tight fitting pants that used to be white, and bare feet. His hair also hung loose, sitting over his shoulders.

"Is that your thinking face?" Fara asked as she began to shed the armour off herself.

"Yeah, just thinking that married couple that let us stay the night," Darren answered. "I guess I didn't think about the fact that commoners don't really care if two ladies get married until I saw them. Having a proper heir isn't as big of a deal to them, if commoners even really cared at all. I didn't have a chance to really contemplate that before."

"No, you have much of your own concerns," Fara said simply. "But you are stuck in that life, aren't you?"

"The life where you are more or less forced to have children so that they can take care of any mistake I make? Yes. It's not that I'm interested in men or anything, but it's that I've seen a lot of the noble women around my age in Adoss already and none of them strike me as somebody I'd be interested in. I don't want to father a kid with somebody I don't care about, but I might have to."

Fara didn't know why she felt lighter at his statements, or why her heart fluttered. She also had no idea why Darren was telling her any of it. Maybe he was tired.

"I can't imagine that the people would worry too much if you married a commoner, somebody you actually loved. I think they would be more happy to see that you've returned for them at this point. If the nobility doesn't like it, then they'll just have to deal with it," she mumbled as she took a seat down on the bedroll that Darren must have set up for her.

"Perhaps. At least our nobles aren't like the ones here. They've never really kicked up a fuss with my father, but maybe that's because we have the oracle to please them," Darren mumbled, frowning at the thought. Fara could tell that he was still bothered by what the oracle said, so she decided that trying to get his mind off him before Darren could get himself worked up about it was probably for the best.

"If those noble ladies don't interest you, then what are you looking for in a lady?"

"Uh..." Darren sat up, drawing his knees up. "I guess somebody who is reliable, somebody can take care of themselves, and somebody who can listen. There's more than that obviously...! But those are the ones that just come to mind right now." He flattened himself again with a deep sigh, covering his face with his hands. "Fuck. I'll give you a more straightforward answer later."

"What was that?" she asked with a grin. He moved his hands up, so that they weren't covering up his mouth.

"You heard me."

"It's kind of cute when you're all flustered though. You don't have to be nervous you know." Of course, she found that her own heart was beginning to race, but Darren didn't have to know. He also didn't have to know that she thought he was a bit more than cute, or that this was a sudden realization on her part.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, turning so that his back was towards her. "Anyway, we should sleep. We're close to Valburn now, so we should be ready for anything."

"Yes, of course," she answered, settling herself into her bedroll.

This is not going to the be the only update this week! I'm not so mean as to leave you without an update for so long and come back with only two support conversations!

As always, feel free to suggest future support conversations!