It is good that Oberon can see so well in the dark, Dainin thought as he let the horse pick his way through the trees and brush along the coast line. The blue moon shone down on the water, the green and brown splotches on it dimmer patches on a sea that sparkled with waves at him.

The salty air was colder at night, and the wind felt a lot louder. He felt exposed with his dented in chest place on the back of Oberon’s saddle, and he felt exhausted as the sun’s pink rays slowly spread along the eastern sky, coloring the ocean water a little.

He touched Path’s forehead now and then as she half-slept against him. She was warm at first, but then she became hot… and with that came a clammy sweat. It made him worry and kept him focused on his goal to get them to a healer.

It was just a bit after dawn when he reached the gate back into the city. There was a fair amount of chaos at the city gates as a result of the wall being destroyed, and so there were several large groups of people waiting to enter the city that were being denied entry until they could be visually checked by waiting guards.

Dainin sighed and knew he probably could not cut that line. They clearly thought elves were generally pirates. He adjusted the dragon against him a little and felt how stiff his arms were becoming from holding her. She seemed to come close to waking because of the noise and his shifting her, she frowned, but didn’t quite wake.

“Dainin?” a voice that sounded familiar called out to him. He looked around with confusion, then he saw the round, short healer with a large bobcat coming toward him. Actually, she was really easy to see become most people did not want to be near her familiar, and so they cleared out of her way as soon as they figured out what direction they were going.

“Elene!” he said, “I did not realize you would be coming to the city so quickly? Are things really resolved in the town?”

“No, but priests of Tristeen arrived, and I was invited to move along since my services were no longer needed.”

“Was the town hers?”

Elene patted Madge while she picked her words, “Missionary work, more like. Aurell controls most of the coast and Mysteera a lot of the sea.”

“Yes, but Rayale and Mahale are all places, so I would think that you would…”

“Yes, but that would be true when one didn’t have a previous relationship with their elder priest.”

Dainin stared, and he felt a little bit flustered by what she was openly implying.

“What have you got there? What happened around here?” Elene changed the subject.

Oh, right, I needed a healer! He felt color coming to his face. “Uh, well, this is a person who needs a healer. Do you think we could go off to the side a bit? Since no matter what, it will take a lot of effort to get into the city?”

She nodded. He steered Oberon with his knees. From up here, Elene looked especially short to him. Her hair was a red-brown, currently in two braids down either side of her face, resting against her chest, and then he looked away. Her rounder frame meant that she was rounder in other ways, and he could see much too clearly down the front of her robes. “Every time I see you, that armor is dented, you fight the dragon?” she teased as they moved off the road to a quieter area that wasn’t being used as a field.

“Uh, well, this is Path, um, the dragon, so… sorta?” he said. “Actually a massive rock did the actual denting from the roof of her cave.”

The healer stopped. She put a hand on her hip. “You… I guess I see why you serve Mysteera, yeah?”

He didn’t quite know what to say to that. He would shake Path gently, patting her cheek. She looked at him, “Is it over yet?” she asked him with a voice that sounded sticky.

“We just got here. I am going to hand you down to a healer, a friend, yes?”

“I do not care,” she declared.

He did not sigh. He wanted to, but he did not. Instead he nodded to Elene, carefully lifted Path down, and did what he could to get her on her feet. Elene ended up guiding her to a laying position in the grass.

Every single muscle in his body cried out as he slid off of Oberon. The horse grunted and snorted. He pulled off the bridle so Oberon could graze. He called together water for the horse to have a good long drink, and then splashed the rest over himself. He felt exhausted in a way that was hard to qualify right now.

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Elene had unwrapped Path and was using her magic to heal without asking too many questions at first. Dainin would strip off the remaining armor he was wearing and would lay down in the grass, since there was nothing else he could do to help.

He must have dozed off, he woke to Madge sniffing his face and tickling his cheeks with her whiskers. He groaned and turned over, joints popping, and the cat licked his ear.

“Ack!” He bolted upright, pushing the monster away as Elene cackled.

“Good afternoon. The line into the city has died down, my patient is awake, and we have agreed that we are hungry, right Path?”

Path wrinkled her nose at the woman and did not answer. Elene patted her, which Path recoiled from with a movement that was odd for a human - but reminded him somehow of a big lizard recoiling. She is not going to let anyone who knows forget for even a second what she actually is on the inside, I think.

She looked better, she only looked a little feverish based on the pale of her forehead and the flush of her cheeks. His bandages had all been replaced with fresh ones, and he could see a pale green-blue poultice through some of them to aid with healing. Elene must have fixed the worst of it and was letting her body naturally heal the rest. “Path says you are keeping her prisoner, so I have prepared some salves for you to use on her again, warden,” Elene said with a grin that made Dainin uneasy.

“It is Mysteera’s idea,” he said, gesturing to the quest he was sure the healer could see.

Elene was clearly someone with a wicked-leaning sense of humor though as she just smiled sweetly at him. “Yes, naturally, a nice boy like you would never go around capturing girls,” she said in a tone that riled him.

“I wouldn’t,” he insisted, color coming to his cheeks.

Path was tilting her head, studying his face.

“Yes, that is what I said,” Elene said with perfect equanimity.

No it wasn’t, he thought, but he decided he did not have the energy to argue. His body creaked and protested at him as he got up. “Food?” he tried to change the subject away from things they could harass him about.

He studied Elene as she got up a little awkwardly thanks to her bulk. She was stronger than he was, and he realized that he could see more of her titles. Brave Little One was her original title, and it made him wonder what had happened. Her current quest had a lot of little tick marks associated with it, Life’s Loving Grace. He had a feeling it was about using her craft to spread the goodwill of Silver. He… just did not get quests like that from Mysteera, though he lived as though he did.

He whistled for Oberon and his war horse trotted over, standing near, snorting about the saddle he had been wearing almost two days. “Sorry, I did not mean to be the only one with a nap,” he apologized.

He did not think he could get his stiff body back up on his horse. Path was not a big person, but she was still person-sized, and holding onto her all night had really taken its toll on him. “You want a ride, Elene?”

“Nah, I’m good. Madge ‘n I are good walkers.”

He nodded, and when he started walking, Elene did also, but Path just stood there. “I do not want to go,” she said. “You found your healer and did not have to go in. I do not wish to go in.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No,” she announced, looking up in a way that also reminded him of either a dragon… or a haughty noble lady. However, pink spread over her face.

A dragon that is also a bad liar? The thought amused him and cheered him up a little after the sassing from Elene. “So, yes, hungry and contrary as ever.” Even as sore as he was, he scooped her up, and even as she squawked and complained, lifted her up on Oberon’s saddle. When she tried to just bail off the other side, he caught her by the bare ankle, “No no, we just got Elene’s help healing you, do not do that. Remember? I promised a bribe. No one needs to know you are Path. You look just like a human.” Except that absurd bright hair, he thought.

Path huffed, but at least she seemed to settle down.

Once they were in town, Elene recommended an inn for them. When they went to book rooms, since there had been some destruction, they could only just get one. Elene offered to let him have it, which… would have been very nice, except he was not sure how he felt about sharing with Path. Realistically, I probably should not let her out of sight too long. “My friend is a refugee, and her clothes were damaged when she was injured,” he tilted his head toward Path. “We came straight here, but it was hard to get into the city. Do any of your staff have a skirt I can buy? In good condition? Right a way?”

The inn keep clucked her tongue, “Yes, of course. I’ll get her one of mine, we can belt it on with some twine.”

The rooms were already marked up double because of the demand created by Path’s destruction along the wall and the influx of workers and people with damaged homes, but he paid half the price of the room again to cover the skirt, three meals, and still make a generous tip.

The woman disappeared and came back, shuffling an unwilling and feisty path off to a side room and away from eyes that were staring at her bare legs. When she returned, she was wearing a brown heavy skirt that was too long for her and too big for her, but at least she was covered.

Elene took her food and escaped. Dainin had a feeling they would run into her again.

He escorted Path to a chair. She was prying at the ring on her thumb, but it did not come off. She fumed as he got her seated and pushed in her chair. She perked up though a little when a big bowl of stew with a hot bread was set down in front of her. “What to drink?” the bar maid asked.

He looked at Path, thought about her maybe never having alcohol in her life before now… and asked for lavender lemonade for both of them. He had never tried lemons, they did not grow back home, but the fruity sour flavor was something he was interested in.

Path was staring at the food. “Help yourself.”

“It looks funny.”

He smiled and just scooped a nice chunk of meat out of his bowl and blew on it gently. He popped it in his mouth. “Mmm,” he said.

She was staring at him. He continued to eat as if she was not. She’d catch up, probably.