“Ah! That’s Cold!” Rixam shouted.

“Don’t be such a baby. I thought devils liked the cold.” Luna said, wrapping crushed ice over his wings.

I thought angels were supposed to be warm and gentle healers.” Rixam complained.

Luna held a block of ice in front of him,“Bite this” Luna said.

Dreiki looked on at the two as they bickered. He was glad that Tibur boy had showed up to help them, or else they would all be much worse off. The nobles who had harassed Luna this morning did not pull their punches against Noxa.

Luna set his shoulder back into place. Rixam grunted.

“Breathe.” She said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Rixam inhaled through his nose.

The brawl had left a bitter taste in Dreiki’s mouth. Even after all he had worked for, and everything he had done until now, he and the rest of them were still hopelessly outmatched against a noble child. He was thankful to Rixam and Gornax for taking the brunt of their assault, but Dreiki had been next to useless in the fight.

“Hold the ice on your shoulder. It should heal quicker. Do your windy breathing stuff too.”

“You’d think you would be a bit more gentle considering I stood up for you.”

“I never asked you to do that for me,” she flicked his cheek, “But thank you.”

Rixam laughed dryly, “I’ll take that. When did you learn to heal with ice anyway? It’s kinda freaky.”

“It’s just the easier method for me. I’ve taken enough ice baths to realize it helps even if it hurts a bit at first. Plus learning about enchantment magic helped quite a bit too.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever heard of someone using ice magic to heal someone, and my pops is a pretty good healer himself.”

Luna crossed her arms, “I’m sure it’s been done before. It’s not weird!”

“He’s not saying it’s weird, at least not in a bad way, Luna,” Dreiki chimed in, “It’s actually a really useful and inventive technique.”

Luna combed her fingers through her hair, “Sure, fine.”

“And you think you don’t have a way with words, Argo,” Rixam chuckled.

“What? What did I say?” Dreiki said.

“Aint nothin’ to worry ‘bout. If you don’t know you don’t know.”

“What was all that about anyway?” Gornax said, “You said they were harassing you and grabbing your tail?”

Luna looked at Dreiki. He nodded, “Luna doesn’t like to be touched. There was a particularly nasty poacher called Whitnik. I think you know how some poachers can be, so…” It wasn’t the full truth, but it was close enough, “Anytime she gets touched too roughly by someone it puts her back there.”

“Oh.” Gornax said, “That’s why she screamed huh?”

Rixam stormed out of the tent.

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“Where are you going?” Dreiki asked.

“Out.”

“You’re not going after those nobles are you?”

“I’m not.”

“Let me come with-”

Gornax put a hand on his shoulder, “Argo, I’ve learned it’s best to leave him alone when he gets a face like that.”

Rixam nodded, “I’ll be back in a bit. Just gotta… collect myself is all.”

Luna raised a brow, “What’s all that about?”

“Dunno, honestly. But I guess I got a couple theories.”

“Like?” Dreiki asked.

“Not for me to say. Not without Rix’s permission.”

“I see, so it’s something about the poachers, then. Maybe about his sister?”

“As usual you’ve got a good theory, but like I said I aint sayin’ anything.”

“I understand. Savekio says these things require patience. People open up if they trust you, so I need to be worthy of that trust first.”

Gornax laughed, “You’re already more than trustworthy, kid. The last month and a half have proven that to me. It’s just that sometimes there’s things we don’t wanna get into because we haven’t figured them out for ourselves yet.”

Luna was silent. Dreiki sighed, “Yeah I guess that makes sense. You two have been surviving on your own for a while until now right?”

“About five years so far, yeah. Lotta learning and growing up we had to do, and there’s still a lot left to do.”

Dreiki looked at his hands, “I wasn’t much help in that fight was I?”

The silence could be cut with a knife; it was so palpable.

“I wouldn’t beat myself up over it. Nobles are born different. Stronger bones, better training, all that.”

“That doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Besides, our parents are proof that nobility isn’t everything.”

Gornax chuckled, “I aint saying you can’t catch up. They just have a big head start that none of us could hope to have. How old are you anyway? Ten?”

“Twelve.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. You do look pretty young for your age. Either way, I think you’re way stronger than I was when I was your age.”

“But if it wasn’t for that one Tibur we all would have lost to them. And then I don’t know what we would have done.”

“Yeah, that group was filled with some heavy hitters for sure. But it is what it is.”

“Still, though, I feel like I’m always relying on others to save me. And whenever I try to rescue other people I always end up failing. I’m always just getting lucky and relying on other people to step in and help.”

“Nothin’ wrong with relying on your friends to help you.”

“But what happens when no one comes?”

“Why don’t you ask that Tibur dude to spar with you and show you some things? He seemed strong. Plus, I saw him using some pretty high level fire magic during that brawl.”

“You think he’d accept someone like me?”

“He saved us from those noble kids, so why wouldn’t he?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I know I’m right. Take the chance and make some connections here. You never know who might help you in the future. If you’re worried about no one coming to save you, doesn’t it make sense to have as many companions as possible?

Dreiki nodded, “Thanks for the talk.”

Gornax clapped a hand on his shoulder, “I’ll make sure you have a big bowl of whatever they’re cooking in camp tonight too. Now go. I’ll get Rixam to distribute the medicine when he comes back,” He looked over to Luna, “What about you, Feathers? What’re you gonna do today? Wanna help with cooking?”

“I think I’ll go with Dreiki today while we wait on armor to be made for us,” she said, looking over to him, “If that’s alright.”

Dreiki offered his hand and a grin, “Of course!”

The two of them exited the tent, only for Dreiki to be tackled by Ezo.

“Ezo? I thought you were in the stables.” He said, noticing the gnawed reins hanging from his neck, “I guess you heard the fight too, huh?” Ezo licked over a cut on his cheek, “I’m alright, Luna helped me.” He laughed, pushing the donkey-sized drake off himself. That only made the excited drake plow into Luna next.

“Hey!”

Dreiki whistled, calling Ezo to attention, “We don’t have much time to play today, Ezo. We gotta get stronger.”

Ezo let out a rattling bark to show it understood.

“Good.”

"Just the scrappy trio I was looking for," A deep drawling voice called out behind them.