Of course, things were never that simple. Even if Wyn wanted to just collect his payment from Udyr and leave, it wouldn’t be responsible, it wouldn’t be smart, and it wouldn’t be right.

Kei looked back at him as the guards walked away, the thief in tow. Her face broke into a smile, and for the first time in days it betrayed signs of her own exhaustion. He was surprised, as he hadn’t noticed at all.

“We did it! It’s over!”

Wyn allowed himself to smile back, just a little. “Not yet. But yeah, that’s the hard part out of the way.”

“What do you mean?” Kei’s smile fell.

“There’s still the breathbane outbreak to deal with. And I need to talk to Udyr, I’ve got something I want to tell that bastard.”

“The outbreak? You can’t seriously mean–”

“I’ll head back to help more. Now that I can burn spirit fire again, I’ll be so much more effective! Plus, my portion of the reward money should help alleviate things.”

“Your portion of– Wyn are you insane?” She gaped.

She’s right Wyn! Eia chimed in, flying into his vision. Even if you’re burning spirit fire again, you still have limits. You need to rest!

“They need it more than me. I wasn’t planning on having it for the journey anyways.”

Kei staggered back a step, seemingly unsure of how to respond.

“Let’s go Kei.” Wyn walked past her, tapping his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to help, I’m counting on you to work out the details of our voyage with Udyr anyways. For now, I’m gonna go see what they need help with here.”

***

“Not a chance,” Grace said flatly.

“Huh?” Wyn blinked.

“I said… Not. A. Chance.” One of the other doctors in the tent abruptly changed course. He had been heading towards them–presumably to ask a question–but it seemed like her tone had made him change his mind.

“Wait, what do you mean? You need the help right?”

“Do you listen to the doctors in your hometown child?” She asked.

“What? Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Then as a doctor, I’m ordering you to take it easy for the next few days! I didn’t say anything about those injuries you had yesterday, however you got them. But somehow you’re even worse off than before! You look like you just fell off one of the platforms! You weren’t gone even an hour and this is how you come back? Bruised and bloodied!”

“But–”

“No buts!” She smacked him twice on the head. “I don’t care if you’re a damn spirit knight! You’re going to go back and rest! What would your mother think if she saw you right now?”

“All right all right!” Wyn cringed back as his head stung.

Is she wearing a ring?

“If you bother me again with injuries like that, I’ll smack you some more! And you!” She turned on Kei, who pointed to herself in shock. “You’re his friend right? Make sure he doesn’t get up to any real trouble for the next week! One of you needs to be the responsible one. If he doesn’t listen, smack him just like that. I know his type, he won’t fight back!”

“I–uh– Yes ma’am,” Kei stuttered.

Wyn pulled the pouch of gold off his belt. “Can I still give you the gold?”

Grace eyed it, then looked back at him with narrow eyes. She poured the pouch into her hand, her eyes widening only slightly at the sight. "Can't believe you were serious..." After brief consideration, she put two marks back into the pouch and took the rest before handing the pouch back. She collected her face and bowed to him. “Thank you. We'll be able to save lives with this.”

“I’m glad.” Wyn smiled.

“Now shoo, shoo!”

She shoved him away. He stumbled back before turning and walking towards the edge of the hollow. Even if he wanted to help, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest, and each breath came a bit easier.

He and Kei didn’t talk until they reached the lift leading out of the hollow. As they slowly ascended the cliffside, she finally spoke up.

“Are you hungry?”

Wyn thought for a moment. “Honestly, I’m famished. Let’s get something to eat, and then afterwards we can go talk to–”

“Tomorrow.” Kei’s voice seemed more confident. “We can talk to Udyr tomorrow.”

“Fine… If you insist.” Wyn sighed. “Should we go back to the cook-shop by the warehouse?”

“I’m fine with that. It should be quick, which means I can go back to my inn and sleep soon.”

“Taking a nap already huh?”

“We’ve been at this for five days, Wyn.” Kei crossed her arms. “Even if you’re some tireless machine, I’m not. I still haven’t fully recovered from staying up guarding the warehouse. I want two things right now, and that would be food in my stomach, and a nice warm bed.”

Wyn chuckled. “I’m not a ‘tireless machine’. And that’s fair enough I suppose.”

“Could’ve fooled me. You didn’t sleep for three days! And then slept what? One night before doing it again, without your blessing! I’d be concerned but other than when we first found you this morning, it seems like you’re doing fine. Blessing or not, that’s absurd.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The lift shuddered to a halt and they stepped off and started making their way up back towards the top. Now that they were well and truly outside the hollow, the winds of Precipice blew once again, and the oppressive air was replaced with a fresh cool breeze.

Wyn took a deep breath. Spirit fire burned the pain he would’ve no doubt felt at the action, leaving only the pleasant sensation of the clean air. His thoughts seemed to come more clearly as he did, which should’ve been impossible with spirit fire burning, but the effect was present nonetheless.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right, “ he admitted. He had been pushing himself hard, so maybe it would be best if he just rested for a bit. Talking with Udyr could be put off one day, as could the other conversation he wanted to have.

He found himself struck by a particular memory. He was eight years old, helping his father in the kitchen. His hands were covered in flour–in fact, the whole front of his body was, he’d spilled some on himself a few minutes prior. His father hadn’t yelled at him, but had been more than happy to laugh at Wyn’s misfortune.

“Perfect Wyn, knead it just like that. You’re almost done.”

Wyn had needed to stand on a stool to reach the counter, but his father had his hand on his back, making sure he didn’t fall.

“Good, now do you know what the next step is?”

Wyn had known. He’d watched his father do it plenty of times. “We let it rise.”

“Right. It needs time to expand and let the flavor in. Once it's done we can shape it some more, and then let it rise one more time before it goes into the oven.”

“So we’re done for now?”

His father had patted him on the head gently. Wyn didn’t bother shaking it off–he already had flour in his hair.“That’s right. It’s time to take a break. You’re training with Corrin today right? I can finish the rest myself. I bet he’s already waiting for you. But what’d I say about tomorrow?”

“I know dad, we won’t train tomorrow. We’ll take the day off.” Wyn hopped off the stool and gave his father a hug.

His father returned the embrace, patting him on the back. “You can knead and shape yourself all you want. It’s important. But don’t forget to let yourself rest from time to time. Make sure Corrin knows it too.”

Wyn smiled as the memory drifted through his mind.

“You’re right as always, huh dad,” He whispered.

“Did you say something?” Kei asked.

“No, just thinking is all. Taking the rest of the day off doesn’t sound too bad. I want some more of that fizz juice.”

Kei made a face. “Yeah I’ll be sticking to water…”

Wyn just laughed.

***

It would be untrue to say Wyn woke up refreshed the next day. In fact, it was as though his body had remembered what sleep was, and was now protesting in demand of more of it. Even though he’d slept almost twelve hours–collapsing as soon as he’d stopped burning spirit fire back at the inn–he still felt like he could still sleep more.

He forced himself up out of bed anyways. This wasn’t any worse than a bad night of sleep, it’d be healthier to just go about a normal day and get plenty of sleep the next night as well. He could’ve burned spirit fire right away, but he held off while he went through some stretches, as being able to feel any pain would give him a better idea of the state of his body.

While he stretched, a lone purple light drifted in through the window, manifesting into the form of a young woman.

“Good morning Wyn!” Eia hummed happily. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling alright, better than yesterday at least. You know I’m curious, do spirits ever need to sleep?” He knew they didn’t need to every night, as he’d had Eia keep watch during many of their nights on the road, but she did disappear sometimes during the day, so he wondered.

Eia stretched out sideways, hovering in the air as if atop an invisible bed as she assumed a sleeping position. “Not really. We can enter a state where we expend less energy, but I don’t think it’s the same as what you humans do. And we don’t need to do it at all.”

“I see, that’s convenient huh?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. It seems to me that everyone except you seems to enjoy sleeping. Is it not a good experience?”

“It can be. But not always.”

The door to the room opened up and Corrin walked in. Eia remained hovering in the air, but Corrin’s eyes didn’t so much as glance her way. He still couldn’t see her.

“Hey,” he said, not meeting Wyn’s eyes. His voice was low and tense. “How’s your chest?”

“Fine.” Wyn thumped it softly. His own voice came out harsher than he expected.

“That’s good.” Corrin walked towards the back of the room, rummaging through his bag before pulling out a few copper marks and putting them in his pocket. Neither one of them spoke, unwilling to break the silent tension hanging in the room.

Wyn continued stretching, and soon enough Corrin finished whatever he was doing. He closed the bag up, walked to the exit and stepped out the door.

“Kei left a note for you,” he said, pointing towards the table in the room. Sure enough, a single slip of paper sat atop it. Before Wyn could respond though, the heavy wooden door closed, cutting him off.

“What was that about?” Eia asked, breaking the silence.

“He doesn’t want to talk right now, not after our fight. He’s stubborn like that.”

Her face soured, and she glared at the door. She seemed to realize something though and turned back to him. “But… you didn’t say anything either!”

“Yeah well maybe I’m the same way.” Wyn grumbled. “If he’s not going to tell me what that was all about, then I don’t feel like talking either.”

“That’s not true!” She protested. “I could feel how badly you wanted to talk, so why didn’t you?”

Damn bond. Wyn thought, careful not to send the thought over. Ever since he’d figured out how to send messages along the bond, it seemed like she could just read his emotions whenever she wanted. It was probably some sort of slippage on his part, but it was annoying.

Instead of responding, he ignored the question and grabbed Kei’s note off of the table, curious about what she’d written.

“What does it say?” Eia was easily distracted, peering over his shoulder at the note.

It was just a simple message saying she’d meet him in a couple hours to go talk to Udyr–person one on Wyn’s list. Wyn had a lot to say to the merchant, and he wasn’t sure how much of it would be pleasant. It was a bit odd that Kei was busy, and he wasn’t sure what it was she was doing, but he figured he’d ask when she arrived.

“Sounds like you have some time to relax!” Eia seemed happy about it. “What do you want to do?”

Wyn thought about it for a bit. “Well, I guess I should probably eat something. I saw a bakery down the street, how about we go check it out? Maybe go on a walk afterwards?”

Eia flew over and sat on his head. “Lead the way!”

He made his way to the door, putting on his boots. As he bent down to tighten them, he noticed just how worn they'd become. The strings were fraying, and the leather had cracked quite a bit in several areas. He hadn't gotten new ones before leaving Straetum, and the long journey to Precipice had left them in much rougher shape than he'd realized. He'd need to get them repaired or replaced before he left.

They'd do for now though. He stood up and opened the door, which swung out to the wooden staircase leading down onto the busy city streets. The sun had already begun creeping up towards its peak in the sky. He took in a deep breath and stepped outside.

I guess a little extra rest couldn’t hurt.