Morning started with the tremendously air shattering sound of hundreds of birds flying over them at first light.  The very shock of the noise caused Taerlyn to shriek; to the group's dismay, the entire company of birds mimicked the sound as they passed overheard, forcing the rudely awakened travelers to cover their ears and hide under the blankets.  Sandy jumped and took off for the trees, having no protective blanket for herself.  All in all, not a preferable way to awaken.
        It didn't take long for the cloud of birds to finally fly over and into the distance, but the proof left behind of their presence was... very obvious.  Upon peeking her head out, Shadow was indescribably glad they were just a walk from a stream.  And possibly more so glad they all had blankets to hide underneath.
        "Ugh."  They heard Taerlyn utter quietly.
        Shadow couldn't help herself.  Sudden though it had been, and as much extra work as it had made, that was funny.  She giggled as quietly as she could, but there really was no way to silence herself.
        Evyn forced himself up from his bed in a sleepy daze and stretched.  Morning seemed much better.  Maybe sleep had really eased things along.  At least, enough.  His shoulder hardly ached at all this morning.
        "I guess we'll be washing everything before we go."  Shadow commented offhand, refusing to look Roan's direction.  She just... didn't want the eye contact.  Things were way too fucking weird at the moment.  She concentrated instead on collecting the blankets.
        "We'll have to dry them completely, too."  Ter yawned.  "I hope the birds... stay away."
        "We could try to hunt while things dry out."  Evyn suggested, all of his thoughts falling instantly to his empty stomach.
        The siblings seemed to look to their leader, expecting her to ask the demon boy about his hunting skills.  She looked back for a moment before moving, utterly annoyed at such a position.  It wasn't them she was annoyed with, though.  Granted that it was never the most direct way to handle anything, but she chose to deal with most things by silence and distance; working them through in her own mind.  That method, unfortunately, would not help at the moment.  Their looks had begun to border on worried, however, so she sucked it up and walked over, tapping what she believed to be Roan's shoulder under the blanket with her naked foot.
        She struck a typical "golden glare" from him.  Seems things were more usual than she'd thought.  So, she asked.  "Would you happen to know much about hunting?"
        "I've never hunted before."  He growled quietly.
        Just skinned before.  Her mind nearly shuddered with the possibilities.  She turned back to the siblings with a shrug.  "I guess we find out the hard way."
        That's far from what Evyn wanted to hear.  But, he supposed they'd manage.  There was always the possibility of fish in the stream.  Those couldn't be... that hard... right?
        Shadow ever so gingerly rolled Roan out from the blankets, taking them for their washing.  She walked over and did the same for Taerlyn's and Evyn's bedding, without a word.  She was deep in thought without wanting to be, and it was quite distracting.  All she wanted was this menial task; something to do that was easy and mechanical.
        The siblings glanced at one another, knowing there was sure as hell something a little askew about this picture.  Evyn shrugged slightly and decided to walk right after her.  He could use a dip, anyway.
        Approaching the shore, he saw Shadow knee-deep in mud and attempting to find something to scrub the blankets with.  He just stood there on the edge for a moment, sinking a little into the shore.  He became quite glad he hadn't put his new boots on just yet, as he sank even an inch deeper after that.  When she didn't even seem to realize he was there, he softly cleared his throat as an introduction.  "So... do you want to try hunting?"
        The sudden voice quite nearly startled her, but the recognition of who it belonged to softened the blow.  What a moron she was for not listening more carefully; she really should have heard him coming.  "Yeah.  Though I certainly can't guarantee victory.  Or everyone's extremities to be in tact."
        He shivered at those words.  The very thought was... not pleasant.  "Uh... worth a try, right?"  Assuming it best to wait until after the hunt to bathe, he glanced back at his sister for just a moment.  "Ter can take care of that.  She's a master of laundry."
        "I bet she'll be thrilled you nominated her."  Shadow grinned, starting to feel a little better.  At least Evyn was trying to make the effort of good humor.
        "No doubt."  He agreed, sensing the tension drop.  "Then we can wash the blood off."
        There wasn't an entirely joking manner about those words, but she took them as they came.  She sure as hell wasn't planning on telling him about the night before.  Or anyone, for that matter.  Too weird, too much, and she hadn't had the time to contemplate it herself.  She glomped out of the mud, shook most of it off her feet, and walked back to camp with him.
        Back at camp, he found a place to sit and work the mud off of his feet before putting his boots on.  "There you go, Ter.  Work, just for you."  He joked.
        She looked less than thrilled.  "Alright.  But you have to bring back food."
        Shadow tried to get the rest of the mud off with a combination of rubbing her feet against the grass and just plain scooping it off with her hands.  It worked well enough, she supposed.  She'd be washing later, anyway.  Socks, shoes,  bracers,  armor,  katana, then ax.  She really appreciated the ax.  It was very simple with an almost frighteningly thin leather pocket for the blade, but it was just light enough to use with one hand.  Not that she felt she ever ought to have to do so, but... it was nice to know.  She had no idea what the hell they were hunting, but they'd be hunting... something.  And that something might need to be taken down one handed.
        Roan was careful to avoid contact with anyone.  He was sick to death of the bunch of useless lunatics.  And he sure as hell wasn't going to go on a little hunting expedition.  He'd never been to this place before, he didn't know or want to know what kind of creatures lived in the dense trees.
        Quite frankly having no idea of what to do first, the hunting party of two started to walk upstream.  They'd figured, more or less, that eventually they'd see an animal getting a drink and then... well, be able to do something about it.  What and how... didn't come up yet.  They'd worry about that one when the time came.
        The two of them couldn't have been walking in slightly awkward silence for more than ten minutes before they heard something splashing around in the water at a point where the stream widened.  Looking around, they didn't see any animals... but Shadow caught what she thought may have been a glimpse of a pretty big fish.  She continued to stare at the rippling area for a moment before asking, "How do you feel about fish?"
        "Much easier than... anything else."  Evyn responded, relieved.
        "Alright, then."  She tried to keep her voice down so the fish wouldn't get frightened off, slowly edging closer.  "How should we start?"
        "I could use my pummel..." he suggested, hoping the fish was big enough so that the blade wouldn't cut it completely in half.
        "Like a spear."  She grinned.
        "Hmph."  He joked quietly, standing right at the edge of the water.  The ripple was still there, alright.  He knew one had to adjust the angle for something under water... but wasn't exactly sure how.  This would be interesting, to say the least.  Ripples, shadows and light dancing off the surface were obscuring all but the sight of a large dark object, he simply aimed and hoped for the best.  With a heavy downward thrust... he suddenly felt much less at ease.  This... was clearly not a fish.
        The surface of the water opened up in a geyser, allowing this huge, grotesque thing to shoot through it.  It leapt upward and at him like a hooked marlin--only with a gaping maw housing several rows of teeth.  That's all they needed to know.
        Startled and forced strongly backward, Evyn landed on his back with a bloody pummel in his hands.  The monster that he'd stabbed was right on top of him, mouth open and ready to snap.  It was like nothing he had ever seen--some kind of huge, slimy lizard with godawful breath and teeth as large as his fingers.  He tried to raise his hands to fend the beast off, but the sheer shock of the situation made it difficult to get his bearings.  He was staring slit and compound eyed death in the face as the creature turned its head to bite--
        And then there was this shock of silver.  A color, then a metallic sound.  The weight of the creature fell dead upon him, and he was utterly convinced this was the end.  He was gone, it was over, the creature had taken him to death and it--had an ax lodged in its head.
        Evyn very slowly turned his frightened gaze to Shadow.  Her hands were her still steady on the handle of the ax, splatters of yellow and orange covering her.  Very slowly turning back to himself, he noticed those same splatters on his clothes, as well.  Not only that, but... he was whole.  He was okay.  A little scratched up from the fall and the underbrush, but... alive.  All limbs in tact.  He looked back to the beast, its eyes rolled back into its head, and saw yellow blood boil from the wound.
        That was enough.  He scrambled backward, kicking the weight of the monster off.  He just needed to get away from that thing for a moment, dead or not.  Panting, he watched closely as Shadow rocked the blade back and forth, out from its skull.  Disgusting though it was, he watched the gore drip.  He needed to assure himself everything was fine, that the monster was absolutely dead beyond doubt.  That had just been one hell of a close call.  Had she not decided to take that ax... he'd rather not think about that.
        The creature's body twitched.  He almost shrieked like a little girl, but Shadow had seen it, too.  She was actually in the process of doing so, already, but that sealed the deal; she brought the ax heavily down across its neck, severing the spine.  Another couple of hacks and the head was a distant memory altogether.  Even then, her heart was beating out of her chest.  This thing was... fucking ugly.  And those eyes were like nothing she'd ever seen on a reptile, let alone an insect.  "You alright?"
        He stared up at her, almost feeling his chest at the point of bursting with adrenaline.  "I... yeah.  Thanks."
        She saluted, trying to bring back a sense of humor to another near death situation.  "No problem."  Looking down at the beast and the puddle of yellow blood, she commented to herself, "Well... that's certainly dead, alright."
        He was... aghast.  Never had he seen anything resembling that creature.  When his heart had stilled enough to speak coherently, he finally asked the first thing that had come to mind.  "What... is it?"
        She shook her head.  "It almost looks like a crocodile... but crocodiles don't have... six legs..."  That last bit of information even made her cringe.  Six legs, each exactly like the other, resembling very long lizard limbs with webbed toes.  She walked around and had a look at the tail; which turned out to be just as long as the body itself, split halfway down into two and a half separate sections.  Apparently one had been lost somewhere along the way.
        "Can we eat it?" he asked quietly, not even sure he was hungry anymore.  That yellow blood wasn't very appetizing.
        She shrugged, wiping the blade on the grass.  "Only one way to find out, right?"  Quite honestly, the idea of eating it didn't much appeal to her, either.  But Roan would probably know.  "Want to stay here with it while I get Mr. Prisoner?"
        He gulped with the possibilities.  Alone, with that thing...  "Yeah.  But... leave the ax, okay?"
        "Sure."  She was only glad to, really.  Camp wasn't that far away, and she still had her sword with her.  "I'll be right back."
        She somewhat jogged all the way there, unwilling to leave Evyn alone for too long.  If that ugly thing had been out there, who knew what else might be.  Or what might actually eat something like that--but she tried to shove that idea into the furthest reaches of her mind.  She found the demon boy at the trees' edge, playing almost obsessively with the dagger she'd given him.  He just kept flipping it over and over, catching it perfectly by the blade each time, faster and faster...
        "Roan."  --Fuck.  Did she just use his name?  She was really out of it.  "We need those extra muscles of yours."
        He looked up to see the globs of yellow and orange stuff on her, almost recoiling from the sheer unexpected gore.  It was a strange reaction; he simply wasn't prepared to see that of all things.  And, shit--had she used his name?  He glared at her darkly, then sheathed the knife with almost painful slowness.  So, she thought now she could get favors from him?  He'd do well to obey for now, certainly.  But not much longer.  He could not allow whatever powers she held over him to control him.  Bitch.
        He followed her quick walk back to the kill, seeing that blonde boy crouched with the ax above his head, ready to swing at something that was already clearly dead.  He didn't bother to hide his devious chuckle.  He had to take his mind off of his own bothersome thoughts somehow, after all.
        Evyn looked up and tensed, almost sincerely ready to throw the ax right through that damn monster-boy.  He was sure he could do it; it was light enough, he was strong enough.  Who would complain?  Who would care?  It would end all of this tension, he knew that for certain.  He just couldn't take it anymore.  And he knew it was coming from that bastard.  He suspected that somehow this tension had a lot to do with Shadow and was absolutely convinced she'd be just as glad to get rid of the nuisance as well.
        Those evil, black eyes met his in a challenging glare.  He knew when his life was being seriously threatened.  The blonde boy had some balls, after all.
        "So."  Shadow broke their distant battle for a moment.  "Can we eat this thing?"
        Roan took a moment to regard the bloodied body on the shore.  While he had never seen that particular creature, he'd seen similar enough.  Another bastard offshoot of one of his master's pets, he surmised.  "No.  But you can cut its stomach open and see if there's anything in there that isn't digested yet."
        She shrugged.  It was as good an idea as any.  "Should we turn it over?"
        The demon boy shook his head, careful to keep Evyn in constant sight.  "The stomach is on the flank."
        Knowing he still had his dagger with him, she simply knelt on the other side of the beast to watch, leaning across the carcass with her arms folded as if it were some sort of interesting learning experience.  Evyn almost protectively sat beside her with similar intentions; just to watch.  Watching, waiting, coiled like a snake and just as poisonous, ax tight in one hand.
        Pulling the dagger from his side, Roan made careful note of the still-liquid worm venom that he never cleaned from the sheath.  His eyes darted up for only a second, seeing the recognition in that bitch's eyes.  He simply couldn't resist; he pretended it was an accident, just a slip.  The very edge of the blade grazed her arm, not enough to cut any more than the first couple of layers of skin.  Just enough to feel.  Just enough to know that last night didn't mean he wasn't still out to get her.
        She sure as hell felt that.  She didn't even move to pull away from the blade; somewhere inside she knew it was just a tease.  A vicious one, but a tease just the same.  She felt the skin splitting, a small, almost chemical burn that lasted only a moment.
        "How clumsy of me."  The prisoner whispered viciously, getting back to the matter at hand.
        Evyn held himself back.  It was less that really than it was that Shadow was between them.  He wouldn't chance it.  He didn't want her to see it, anyway. What he wanted to do, he didn't really know.  Just something. Anything.
        "You're right."  She cooed back with a raised lip.
        The bastard boy decided that was probably as far as he'd get this time.  He thrust the blade into the side of the lizard beast and tore it open.  Even he was hoping for something edible--but nothing at all fell out.  One may have suspected as much, from the attack it launched on such large prey.  He sliced back and forth a little more, feeling around with the blade.  "Nothing."
        She took a deep breath, seeing confirmation in some crusting stomach juices mixing with the yellow blood.  Ah well.  That was one option completely out of the question.  She got up and took another look up and down the stream, but there were no animals within sight.  Looking back at the monster's body, she saw the two boys staring at one another like rival wolves over the kill.  Just as she opened her mouth to make some sort of sarcastic observation, there was a shriek from back at camp.  It wasn't human, that was for sure; more like some sort of bird.  Almost like the cry of a hawk, she recognized from nature programs.  Just in case, however...  "Anyone coming?"
        The "rivals" stood, the glare unbroken.  "It's okay."  Evyn assured.  "Just check on Ter.  I'll be right along."
        She was sure as hell aware that he'd used "I'll" and not "we'll".  She stood there for a moment, pondering this situation.  Leaving these two alone?  Was that at all fucking smart on her part?  But then, Evyn still had the ax.  He was aware Roan may well be an asset soon.  And the demon boy was aware that his life was more than a little in danger if he harmed Evyn; Shadow's wrath was not a pleasant picture.  And they clearly seemed to need to "have words" out and away from everything else.  So, she turned and walked away.  She wouldn't be long, certainly.  She'd return to camp for a glance and then come back to watch, just in case.
        "What the fuck do you want?" Roan growled quietly.
        "Whatever you think you're doing, stop it."  Evyn demanded simply.
        The demon boy grinned widely.  This could well lead to his advantage.  "And that means?"
        "I think you're trying very hard to take advantage of us."  He accused sharply, his hand tensing around the ax handle.  "Most certainly Shadow."  What he'd meant was about the tension raging even more than usual between the two of them, making just being around either a little harder than it ought to be of late.  But the words were taken in a different direction.
        Ah, that enticed the most spine tingling, grinding laugh Evyn had ever heard from the boy.  "I see."  His voice dropped to an almost soft, disciplinary tone.  "Are you so worried about what I'll do to her when I get the chance?"
        The blonde was too angered at his very tone of voice, let alone the words, to back down.  He stepped closer so that they were almost nose to nose.  "If she doesn't kill you, I will."
        He touched that ever so sensitive button again, enjoying every moment of it.  A little further, a better push and maybe the boy would give him a reason to hurt him, severely.  "Maybe we're fighting over who gets to kill her."  He whispered harshly against the blonde's ear.
        The two of them stayed exactly where they were for a vast number of seconds, each one wondering when the other would snap and move in for a kill.  Silent threats were exchanged like gunfire.
        "Alright.  Give it a rest, guys."  They heard flutter from the sound of moving brush.
        Evyn hoped to hell Shadow had only just approached.  Given the distance, he could only assume such.  He took a deep breath and backed down.  At least her swift return meant his sister was alright.
        Roan stayed precisely where he was, still snarling at the weakling.  He should have taken him down when he had the chance, he supposed.  Of course, that bitch probably would have stepped in, but... all the more fun to be had.
        "Ter's got a surprise."  Shadow did all she could to ease the situation.  This tension was mostly her doing, she realized that; she certainly didn't want Evyn to have to deal with it.  "Let's go."
        The elder sibling made no eye contact what so ever.  He just walked past her with an almost apologetic air.  Herself, she waited there, giving Roan a look that was less a threat and more of a question.  Not that it mattered now.  She turned away before either could make an inquiry.
        They were lucky camp was so close.  The tightly wound silence was quite enough to have driven them all to some insane anger-driven something or other eventually.  But when they did make it back, Evyn couldn't help himself; he gasped.  All of the blankets were already clean and hung from some of the more bare branches in the sunlight, fluttering in the nearly nonexistent breeze.  But that was not what really enticed the gasp.  Beside the fire lay two red and black birds about size of eagles, with a single arrow through the breast of each.  "Wow, Ter.  You're--"
        "Pretty incredible.  Yeah, I know."  She took a full courtesy and giggled.
        Roan took a moment to stare at the girl.  He certainly hadn't anticipated that.  She was a much better shot than he had wanted her to be.
        "Pays to practice."  Shadow commented.
        "Everyone ready to eat?" Taerlyn asked in a very innocent manner.  She saw the gore clearly on her brother and Shadow, even a little gracing the prisoner.  But it didn't really matter.  They were alive, in tact, and she'd gotten food.  Not so bad, right?
        Evyn didn't respond until he'd already sat by the fire, too overcome by the thought of food to even remember the gore.  "Ready."  He'd never had that kind of bird before.  Never saw it, never heard of it.  But it didn't matter.  They were large birds that looked normal.
        Shadow couldn't exactly argue.  Her stomach was doing quite a few blurp noises, ready and waiting for something to fill it.  Hell... she'd have eaten rocks.  If she had to, that was.  She sat beside Evyn, patiently starting to pull the feathers off of one of them.
        He followed suit, watching her for guidance.  He'd seen it done a million times with chickens from a distance at markets, but he'd never actually done so himself.  It was... kind of weird.  This dead bird, getting its feathers picked off.  Some were a little harder to pull than others, but it wasn't such a bad process.  The sight of a naked bird was a little disturbing, though.
        Shadow took a look at the arrow, next.  She'd have hated to waste a still perfectly good arrow by leaving it in during cooking (it was old, dry wood after all) or having to break the tip off to pull it out.  Of course... she put the bird on the grass, firmly holding it there with one hand.  With the other, she yanked the arrow all the way through.  Sure there was a bit of blood and fluid leakage, but it had worked.  The breast meat would just be a little bruised, no big deal.
        Evyn's initial reaction was to cringe.  He knew the birds were dead, but... eek.  But then, it had been effective.  He placed his bird on the ground to do the same, but paused.  "You better do it."
        "I'm honored."  She responded half seriously, doing as he asked.  After the second time, she almost felt expert.  At least those were two arrows not wasted.  Covered in bird guts, but not wasted.  She wanted to ask Taerlyn how many she'd lost before she finally hit the targets, but that seemed... rude, somehow.
        The gutting and hacking off of the heads was not as fun or easy, though.  Shadow of course had been selected to do it, having spoken of some ritual known as Thanksgiving that sounded utterly horrific.  She poured the first one's guts into the stream, noticing a bunch of tiny purple and black fish suddenly clouding around.  Well, at least something not so scary will eat this stuff.
        As the birds were slowly roasting over the flames, Sandy returned to the group soaking wet.  A good bath was really what she needed after gorging herself on fruits and grass.  She was glad to see her companions found a good availability of food themselves, and laid by the fire to digest.
        "Good idea."  Shadow commented.  "I think we all need a bath before brunch."
        "'Brunch'?" Taerlyn prodded curiously.  She'd never heard the word before.
        Somehow, she looked delighted she'd asked.  "It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch."
        "Aaaaah..." the youngest of the group responded.  "Girls go first."
        "Who says?" Evyn teased.
        "I do!" his sister shouted as she was already darting toward the stream.  She made sure to aim for a little upstream of the gutting area.  Just in case.
        "And who's to argue with that?" Shadow grinned, following.  It would be nice to scrub the stuff off; yellow blood smelled foul.  She patiently took off the bracers, the shoes, the armor, the katana (Evyn still had the ax, she remembered), and dove in.  Luckily the water wasn't as cold as it had been the night before, but it was still... unpleasant.  She gasped with a quiet squeak as she surfaced.
        "What is with all of this cold water?" Ter asked, amused.  Since she'd left all of her "extra gear" off, all she had to do was gingerly walk on in.  She took a gasp with every cold step.
        "Some people say it's good for you."  Shadow finally started to catch her breath, rubbing monster gore off of her t-shirt.  The stuff that poor shirt had seen...  "But they're full of crap, those people."
        Taerlyn giggled, starting to get some of the mud and grass stains worked out of her dress.  "Those people obviously haven't suffered bad winters." 

        Clean but soaked, the two girls wandered back to camp.  What they found was another glances-of-gunfire battle between the two boys, glaring one another into oblivion.  Sandy was laying off to the side, her head down as if she were bored.
        Shadow was pretty sure they'd been like that almost since the very moment they were left alone.  She waited several seconds, wondering if they'd notice it was time to go bathe themselves (or do something else at least).  Several more seconds passed, the sharp looks the boys were exchanging getting more heated.  She began to understand that it was really getting dangerous this time.  She cleared her throat just a touch on the loud side, hoping at least one of them would glance over.  When they still didn't, she shrugged and did the only other thing she could think of besides physically separate them: made a big production out of lifting up her shirt.
        Oh, that fucking got their attention.  Even Sandy's eyes went wide.  Granted she hadn't lifted the shirt enough to actually see anything beyond a Playboy cover, but the movement alone was definitely enough to stop their staring contest.
        Evyn's jaw somewhat dislodged from his head.  His mouth didn't hang open or anything, but... it was one hair's weight away.  He just... it was... that had been... what the...
        Roan just grinned.  Savagely, insanely, masterfully.  It was all he could possibly do.
        Seeing his look a lot clearer than Evyn's, she kept her shirt where it was but gave him a nice, vibrant middle finger.  Point across, the shirt went down to its normal position (not that much is hidden under a wet t-shirt anyway).  She noticed that exceptionally devious grin had far from faded.  Her eyes said all she needed to communicate:  Try me, jackass.  I'll make a coin purse out of your scrotum.
        He didn't respond.  He didn't really need to; nor did he want to.  Shock, indeed.  But... a pleasant one.  How odd.  The demon boy simply rose, same expression across his face, and walked off to the stream without giving the least suggestion of causing trouble.
        Evyn took another moment.  His jaw had since been reattached to the rest of his head, but his eyes were still very wide.  His shock was less of shock and more of... he had no idea what the hell what.  Just... it... he had... what the...
        "Sorry to offend your delicate senses."  Shadow joked, wringing out her hair. Someone had to say something.  May as well be her, as it usually was.
        That didn't immediately knock him out of his stupor, but it did quicken the process.  He shook his head, clearly unable to find anything at all to say.  Instead, he stood up, raised a hand as if to say "no problem", and walked to wherever it was that Roan was not.
        "What... was that?" Taerlyn asked quietly.
        Shadow merely shrugged.  "Someone had to do something."
        There was a... mischievously amused look in Ter's eyes.  She seemed to want to say something--started to do so, in fact--but thought better of it.  Offended?  Well, she doubted it.
        Sandy snorted, unbelieving.  Interesting girl, yes.  To say the least.
        Taerlyn tended to the meat, prodding it gently with a splinter of light colored wood to see what color the juices were.  She knew how to cook chicken, though it had been a long time.  She just hoped most birds were the same.  They were both just about done, the skin crisping and getting sort of a burnt gold.  They sure smelled good, and the flesh looked good.  She hoped they wouldn't be getting any unpleasant surprises.
        Evyn was first back, in serious need of that cold bath.  He was still dripping quite a bit, carrying his armor out to the side in one hand to keep it from catching any of the water.  It was quite heavy stuff when held out in one hand, really.  He looked at the two girls, drying off and turning the birds around again to finish, but couldn't really meet their eyes.  Not just yet.
        "They're done!" Taerlyn exclaimed, delicately prodding the hell out of both of the birds.  She just had to make sure; they couldn't afford to get sick out there.  She turned to Shadow to ask, "How do you want to split them?"
        "You two can have one.  I'll share the other with the little bastard."  She responded as naturally as anything.  "Unless it's really good."
        Ter couldn't help but grin back at that final comment.  She pulled the birds away from the fire, driving the sticks into the earth several feet away to let them cool.  Hopefully they were edible, that's all she asked.  Sure she could hope for more, but...
        Shadow sat at the "chickens", almost pretending to guard them from... well, whatever.  Really she just wanted to sit and dry out in the sun.  She glimpsed Roan returning through the trees, his eyes utterly intent on her for just a moment.  They turned away, decided to look back to Evyn, but just for that moment... it made her want to shudder.  But she couldn't.  And she didn't.  She did notice, quiet instantly, that he was practically dry, however.  His clothes were darker and still sticking to him, so he certainly had bathed, but... what had he been doing in the mean time?  The very thought cause a vicious expression on her face; something... akin to amusement.  She felt the time was coming very soon when she'd be forced to kill him.  Or if not forced... would, anyway.
        "Alright, let's eat."  Taerlyn announced, oblivious.
        Shadow got up to retrieve her knife, then returned.  She had a feeling even if it was mediocre meat, they'd all be scraping the bones.  That and she just felt a little better with a knife in her hand for some reason.
        Seeing as how it seemed to be two to a bird, Roan sat across from the bitch without an invitation.  He could play slave boy again for a while.  It would make things a hell of a lot easier on himself, anyway.
        Upon slicing a bit into the surface, Shadow found that it was more or less structured like chicken, alright.  At least she recognized everything.  "White meat, or dark meat?" she asked with an undercurrent of violent thoughts.  How she could have made such an easy to answer, simple question sound like a threat was beyond everyone.  It worked, though.  Well.
        Roan's eyes became slits as he regarded her question.  Hell, he didn't know.  There was white meat?  There was dark meat?  There were two on the same animal?  He'd eaten birds before, but... apparently not this kind.  What he did know was how to push everyone just a little further to the edge at once.  "Breast."
        It wasn't quite the word, but the tone of his voice.  Nearly playful; but far from joking or innocent.  He'd selected that tone perfectly, and everyone had their own internal reactions.  Shadow, however, somewhat surprised him.  She grinned almost deviously, using her knife to take the most breast meat she could with one swipe.  As she gave it to him on the edge of the blade, she remarked, "Enjoy it.  Really.  I mean that."
        Evyn was in the process of sniffing a drumstick--there was no way his stomach would be denied.  He pulled the skin back and stared at it for a moment.  It didn't quite smell like chicken.  Nor like any other meat he'd ever smelled before.  But it looked okay.  He glanced across to his sister (still looking a bit... unsettled about Roan's little game) and bit into it.  Well, it wasn't chicken by a long shot.  It wasn't hardly as flavorful.  It was of the same texture, though.  And it went down easily to a hungry stomach.
        Seeing the guinea pig still sitting up and looking healthy (she tried to suppress a laugh at the thought), Shadow ripped off a piece from the hip.  Well, it was tender and moist.  But almost void of all flavor.  There was no bitterness, though.  No aftertaste that she could sense.  It was bland as hell and she had nothing to spice it up with.  Ah well, it was food.  An almost familiar food.
        Roan was staring at the piece he'd received for quite some time before he actually bit into it.  It was soft and strange looking.  The little strings of meat that fell away from his mouth were very interesting.  He could not deny his hunger, however.  He devoured the piece somewhat ravenously despite his forced patience.
        But then, so did everyone else.  Even sweet, polite little Taerlyn was going through her pieces like a chain saw.  It made Evyn grin at her once in a while, unspoken teases drowning themselves in his own hunger.  Granted it wasn't the best meat, but it was far better than what they could have eaten.
        Sandy was clearly not interested in this meal.  About halfway through, she got up and started to graze a little more around them, keeping them all in sight.  She had this little twitch in the back of her mind; intuition that didn't seem to make sense, but that she knew she should listen to.  Horse sense, perhaps.
        The four of them shared in the water, and in a good moment of utter, full silence, just sat there.  Only for the time being.  It was a moment of calm and reflection, though none of them were specifically reflecting on anything but what a wonder it was to have a full stomach.
        Shadow kept quiet about wondering how fast it would pass through them, however.  Not a pretty picture.  Perhaps that all too lucid thought merely suggested she'd spent enough time relaxing.  Couldn't let herself get used to it, after all.  She stretched and stood up, determined to get all of her shit together so they could travel yet further onward.  In the back of her mind, there was a whispering thought: I hope the worst stays behind us.
        But she answered that with a louder thought: Don't forget that just because something is behind you means you can get away from it.
        Also not a pretty picture, or a pleasant thing to think about.  But she knew she'd do well to listen to it.
        As she got prepared, the others lifted slowly from their places and went about their business.  Evyn went to refill the water pouches, Taerlyn to fold the blankets, Shadow to start loading Sandy up, and Roan to plot.  Plotting on a full stomach was a little more tolerable than on  an empty one.
        After the initial beginnings of readiness, they'd started to load up on all of their armor.  It was kind of weird, really.  Almost like a transition into true seriousness.  Maybe like when someone just knows death is upon them... but they all rather hoped that wasn't how things would turn out, of course.
        Sandy neighed a little uneasily to signal that they ought to be going.  Whether her intuition was right or not, they really needed to be moving on.  No one should forget what was just over the last hill; hopefully they wouldn't run into anything else of the sort up ahead.  It was a nice wish, but one her intuition would not answer her on.  She shook her head and whipped her tail a bit as the armor was strapped into place, trying her best to get used to the stuff.
        Weirdness aside, they all looked ready for just about anything.  The armor was a nice touch, as were the new weapons.  Shadow picked her new ax off of the ground and swung it around with the grace of a samurai--before it got lodged into a tree.  No one had seen how that had happened, but they had all looked over when they heard the shivering swish-thump of it occur.
        Shadow merely cleared her throat and walked over to dislodge it.  Hell, she didn't know how she'd done that, either.  She just hoped it wouldn't happen again at the wrong time. 

        And, with a forward march, they carried on.  They stayed walking along the stream, but a good distance from it.  Just in case.  It wasn't exactly the thought of that monster that kept them away from the shore, but the thought that that particular monster could have been one of many.  Or possibly just a baby.  Or that there were far worse things living in that water.
        Still, the thought of leaving such a gorgeous place for who could only guess what else was a little disheartening.  At least they were properly fed, making the first couple of hours of their trek over hilly forest a hell of a lot easier than it otherwise would have been.
        The tension that had shaken the boundaries of the group seemed to have shut up, for the time being.  The silences weren't awkward, just necessary to get the breath to get over some of the steeper places.  The talk was little more than observation, a joke here and there.
        Roan was perfectly quiet.  He had nothing to discuss, anyway.  There was that, and the fact no one cared to listen to him unless he was asked.  Well, not that he had any observations he cared to vocalize.
        Shadow was a bit quieter than she normally would have been in the situation, letting the siblings tease and tell of remembrances for the most part.  She was thinking; not that drowning, uncomfortable thinking of just that morning, but a comfortable "what if" thought process where she could work out details as they came up.  Anticipating what was to come helped her instant reactions.
        What she did not anticipate, however, was what Sandy was feeling.  She kept sniffing the air occasionally, trying not to alarm the others, but... her intuition was going nuts again.  It wasn't bad, and whatever it was didn't really feel close, but it paid to be careful.  They were traveling at a delicate uphill angle, as well, where the trees were slowly beginning to taper off into what seemed to be grassland.
        There was an instant notice of this behavior on Shadow's part.  And, the further they traveled out of the woods and into a low, grassy plateau, her own instincts began to kick in.  That horse is good, she thought distantly, keeping her own eye out.  It felt maybe as if something was... tracking them.  The thought caused a mild shiver to run down her back.  Not that she expected this shit to be over with, but... she'd never be fully ready for it.  One look up ahead told her the trees almost ceased; a familiar environment.  Too familiar.  It was like where they'd first met the prisoner.  A dangerous, open place.
        Well, that was two of them who had their intuition flaring.  So Shadow made a quiet beckon to Evyn.  "Be ready.  Something's following us."
        His stomach dropped, clutched, lurched.  No, he supposed he wasn't surprised.  He only nodded, glad he'd gotten the armor.  It'd probably prove helpful.
        Taerlyn, who had overheard, felt her heart start to pound.  Would she have to fight?  Of course, she would try no matter what.  She felt she ought to help in any way she could.  She had arrows, though--that was good.  No close combat.  She hadn't the skill nor the want of slicing weapons.
        Sandy suddenly threw her head in the air, her nose up; sense going haywire.  Definitely close, this stench of... something.  Those ugly, grotesque--
        Then Shadow spotted them, moving toward them from the other end of the plateau; the all too fucking familiar donkey monsters.  They were just specks in the horizon now, but she of all people knew they'd be moving fast.  They didn't look to have their horse monsters with them this time around, but their sheer heft alone was enough to get them moving quickly.  She swallowed, feeling around for her weapons just to make certain that they were there.
        Evyn felt and tasted the bile welling up in his throat.  His shoulder was much better than it had been, and he'd checked it during his bath.  It was sealed, but still healing.  And this whole situation, this whole horrible, familiar, all too fast situation that was coming up on them...  The pictures in his mind of the brown horses, of Shadow taken, of her returning with those tears in the back of her shirt; would it be worse this time around?
        They couldn't very well just hide.  That solved nothing; especially after knowing they'd been tracked.  Tracked quite well, out into an open place where it was fight or flight, and either way there were chances taken and lost.  So, to fight.  To battle.  To survive, they hoped.
        Shadow leaned in to her steed, watching the dots on the horizon become clearer forms.  "Can you take Ter?" she asked softly.
        Sandy snorted, laying down.  She was admittedly a bit nervous, carrying a girl with arrows that may or may not be able to react instantly.  So she'd better remember to keep her head out of the way until she knew for sure.
        "You ride."  Shadow ordered gently.
        Taerlyn swallowed, but nodded.  She could hook her legs through the rope and armor straps to hold on.  And she trusted Sandy entirely, so that wouldn't be a problem.  The aiming, though...  She'd brought the birds down.  Of course, they were just sitting in a tree, not moving.  But these beasts coming toward them were bigger targets.  She could do it.  She could help, anyway.
        Evyn took a deep breath, knowing his position on this without having to be told.  The pummel was plenty sharp and sturdy in the blade, so he could probably get to a heart or major artery if he shoved hard enough.  If all else failed, Shadow had a sword and an ax.  With a glance at her, he knew he had an open invitation to borrow one should he need to.
        Katana or ax... she wondered briefly.  They both had their merits.  The ax may be faster in this instance, so that's what she grabbed.  At least something could be hacked off.  Enough of that and the thing was bound to die.  If they all worked together, this could be quite successful--a thought occurred to her, then.  She glanced out of the corner of her eye to an all too naturally comfortable Roan just a few paces behind her.  He wasn't getting ready for battle.  He looked more like he was getting ready to watch.
        Well... fuck him.  She decided with little ease.  She didn't think he'd turn on them, not at this point... but she knew she could very well be wrong.  Why stay there and wait?  They were ready.  They wouldn't waste energy running, but... a silent signal set them to pacing.
        The grotesque donkey monsters came upon them almost impossibly quickly.  There were a dozen of them at least, all with heavy mallet-like weapons, spiked on the end in metal.  What one of the poor puny human creatures would look like getting hit with one of these things--not nice.
        Sandy took off, and an arrow went flying.  Astoundingly, one of the monsters grunted.  The side of his neck gushed blood and he grabbed for it, trying to pull the arrow out.
        No one waited to see what was to happen next; Shadow swung at one who had just raised it's arms.  She caught a leg and actually cringed when it collapsed on itself, almost not ducking out of the way in time to avoid a disaster to her shoulder.  Out of simple curiosity, she gripped the handle of the weapon she had narrowly avoided and noted that there was no way she had the muscle strength to pick one of those things up.  Which came to a good idea.  She hacked at the beast for a moment more, severing it's neck like she'd done with the crocodile thing, then darted backward.
        She'd meant to suggest to her comrades that aiming for the arms of the monsters when they raised the mallets would be a good idea, but she was interrupted.  She just felt a small chunk of skin on her left hip get torn from her, and was damn glad her instincts had driven her to jump back when they did.  She took a spinning swing at the rude intruder and caught the ax blade right in its sternum.
        Oh crap.  Began her first conscious thought.  There wasn't time to work this sucker out; she pulled her katana and thrust it up and into the crack she'd already made in its chest--successfully piercing, then ripping the heart.  As the beast made tired windmill motions with its arms, she took the opportunity to yank her ax back out.
        She didn't stay still for long enough to wait and see what happened to it next.  There was another, much livelier one coming up behind her that she needed to take care of quick.
        Sandy, Evyn and Taerlyn were working as a team on the two creatures that had approached them at once.  Ter shot an arrow at a neck or eye, and Evyn would rush forward to slice and sever things until he got to the heart or some equally deadly target.  It didn't matter how they went down, as long as they went down and stayed down.  Then it was a simple slice of a spinal column, just to be sure.
        Strangely enough, Roan was having his own problems.  He never thought he'd have to use his new sword, let alone on these things.  The beasts were actually trying to kill him, too!  His master's lowest beasts were attacking him!  He supposed, in the deep recesses of his mind, that he should have anticipated that.  They were too stupid to do anything but follow one order: kill the opposition.  That's what they'd been intended for, and that's certainly what they did.
        Shadow found all too quickly that she seemed to be taking the brunt of these attacks.  They'd discovered her as "leader", perhaps.  Whatever it was, they just kept coming.  None of them got a really good hit on her, but they did tear pretty well at the flesh that wasn't hidden by armor.  One had taken a bit of skin on her right cheek as well, which kept bleeding past her lips and into her mouth.  No time to heal it, she simply tried to ignore the taste of blood as her muscles steadily began to get painfully tired.  She'd lost of count of how many she'd taken down, but she wasn't even allowed to think about it.  The sweat was starting to make the ax a little hard to hold on to.
        It was at this point that she heard the sweet, piercing whistle of a dart of some kind behind her, and ducked.  She felt a hard blow hit her shoulder suddenly, filling her entire upper body with a tingle and surge of electricity that, simply put, just wasn't quite right.  But at that second her mind was moving far too quickly to make the connection.
        Not finding anyone to swing at behind her, she quickly turned back to the rest of the battle, adrenaline still pumping too much for the pain to be obvious.  To her surprise, the unusually squat donkey monster in front of her didn't so much as have a weapon in its hand.  As she went to raise her own weapon of choice, the beast slapped a heavy hand onto her injured shoulder.  The opening wound made it far easier for the dart's draining energy to reach inside, and she was paralyzed.
        Not yet satisfied, the monster looked into her eyes with an unusually intelligent and nasty sharp toothed grin, then squeezed hard.  Unable to help the sound, too weak to so much as lift her arms, she yelped loudly and fell to her knees.  She tried desperately to claw at the creature's grasp, but she was almost instantly too weak even to raise her eyes to glimpse it again.
        Her companions didn't stop fighting--couldn't stop fighting--but they heard her right away.  Taerlyn had begun to aim in that direction, but two more of the creatures began to lunge at them at once, and they were unable to do anything but defend their lives.
        For a reason he couldn't even begin to fathom, Roan felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and his blood run cold as an unfamiliar kind of shudder tore through his body.  Finished taking care of the idiot beast that had tried to crush his legs, he began to run toward the sound.  It was not a thing he would have normally done, to run toward something so utterly unpleasant.  Except maybe the fact that the bitch could be--
        He skidded to a stop, an unbelievable sight before him.  Shadow was sprawled out on the ground, ax a foot or so away from her hand, and a dart in her shoulder which he recognized.  They were to drain the very life energy of whatever they struck until there was nothing left, and then--as if in demonstration of his thought, the shimmering dart flashed, grew transparent, then disappeared to leave only a hole on her shirt and a tear in her flesh.  Blood still pulsed from the wound in slow, rhythmic streams, but it was much duller than fresh blood ought to be.  Her eyes were half open, rolled into her head, and her skin was pale as death.  She looked nothing like she had just a moment ago.  Nothing like she ever did.  This was not sleep.
        A completely unfamiliar trembling encased Roan's body, making his knees shake and his legs feel like saplings underneath him.  He panicked, feeling like a child again, fear overcoming every thought and action; fear of what, he did not know  It was like some connection had been severed, as deep and as common as the one his master once had on him with the collar.  He felt as cold as he did when he crawled out of the stream the night before, on the verge of goose bumps.  For a moment he was unable to speak or move, lost in the panic of thoughts shooting through his mind at high speeds, one after the other.  What the fuck is happening?  What am I feeling?  What the hell is wrong with me?  Why can't I do anything?  Why would I want to?  What is this?!
        His legs tremored again, bringing him down to one knee as a quiet gasp escaped his tight lips.  He dropped his sword to one side and looked down at the lifeless body.  Without wanting to, his hand reacting on its own as it had at the stream, he touched the bloodied cheek.  Then the side of her neck--nothing but cold stillness.  Forcing himself, desperately making whatever part of himself that was out of his control listen, he closed his eyes and sucked in a quick breath to steady his raging nerves.  This wasn't right.  This reaction, this feeling, wasn't natural.  It wasn't correct--
        Completely unaware of his actions, he'd begun to heal her with his own energy, the blue fire raging through his arm and straight into her.  At first he wasn't even aware of doing it, couldn't even feel it going on.  Upon the cold, hard realization of what was happening, however, it was far too late to pull away without the real possibility of being drained entirely himself.  Though he was being emptied of precious strength, he could not break the tie until the energy between them was balanced.
        As the blue finally died away in sparks and flashes, he cursed himself for touching her at all and stared at the body in what began as hate.  But slowly, almost unnoticeable, the rage had begun to slip away into something unfamiliar.  Unconsciously sheathing his sword, he watched closely in a crouch as her skin began to take on color again.
        As he raised a hand to see if she had a pulse (Fucking traitor hands), he felt a sharp hit on his shoulder; hard enough to knock him away from her and onto his back.  He looked up to see the blonde boy, a dangerous anger on his face.
        "What, happened?" Evyn yelled, the sharp end of the pummel thrust into Roan's face.  He was breathing harshly, both from his anger and from the battle.
        "You saw it."  The demon boy snarled, knocking the pummel away and very nearly from Evyn's hands.  "I didn't do a damn thing.  Except save her life, again."
        Evyn, his eyes still flickering with anger, didn't seem to be able to find anything else to say.  He stood there, pummel poised close to the other boy's head for another hit--perhaps a fatal one, this time--staring him down.
        Roan, however, was not impressed. He got his feet underneath him quickly and stood--but as he did, he saw Evyn make another swing at him.  Catching the weapon in his fist, he thrust the blunt end back sharply, into the blonde boy's chest.  Taerlyn shrieked and searched blindly for another arrow as she watched her brother get hit, knocking the air out of him and almost causing him to lose his grip on the pummel.  Angry and sick of the whole experience, though, Evyn's tight hold never wavered; he began trying to wrestle it away.
        Roan's grip slipped, still weakened by having recently surrendered so much of his energy.  Evyn lifted the pummel in both hands, prepared to drive the blade through his opponent, and Roan drew his sword for a swift end to this and all other battles.  As both took a breath to begin their final blows, muscles tight and ready, a perfectly living Shadow stepped in between them.
        She held a single hand in front of her toward Roan, her eyes cold.  As normal as she looked, she was visibly weakened, panting quietly with her legs trembling just to support the rest of her.  Evyn was shocked for a moment and continued to hold the pummel in his hands, ready to drive the blade through Roan's heart (if he has one)... but when he noticed her not moving to face him, not moving at all, he slowly lowered the blade to the ground.  The siblings just stared in disbelief as the rivals made silent, direct eye contact for what seemed like an eternity.  Neither said a word and neither moved for a long time, save her quivering legs.  Finally, Roan lowered his arm and sheathed his sword, but their eye contact somehow persisted.
        Cautiously, Evyn backed away, an overwhelming feeling of dread filling him.  He tried to ignore it as he stumbled quickly over to a shaking Taerlyn, trying to comfort her.  She was smiling at him and hugged him tightly, but she was obviously just as bothered as he was; not only by the fact that he had just about gotten injured, or possibly much worse.  Not even the fact that Shadow was literally on the edge of death, if not tumbled over somewhat.
        Something had happened, though no one seemed certain what.  Something had changed, and dramatically.  It seemed like another few minutes passed before Roan swallowed and broke eye contact, though it appeared to be a hard task for him to accomplish.  As he did, Shadow turned wordlessly and the group walked back a little ways to where Sandy was waiting for them. The rivals made no eye contact, didn't acknowledge the further presence of one another at all.
        The siblings kept glancing at one another, wanting to exchange thoughts the entire time they were walking onward.  They didn't suppose they had to, really.  The only words that kept popping up to both of them were synonyms for "disturbing".
        It was quite frankly the silence of some horrible hell as they walked onward.  While the siblings felt it neither safe, nor appropriate to interrupt their quiet, Sandy seemed to be quite casual about the whole thing, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on.  Every occasional, indirect glance at Shadow's eyes from Evyn or Taerlyn showed nothing but a combination of emptiness and thoughtfulness.  Roan was walking just to the side and behind them all, head down and hair in his face so that his eyes could not clearly be seen.  It felt like some sort of a death march, a purposeless walk toward... well, wherever they were going.  Sandy made no bother to redirect them so Evyn only assumed they were going the right way.
        Shadow would not have noticed just how far she'd traveled in that waking coma she had been in.  Those hours that had haunted Evyn and Taerlyn, felt like seconds to her.  When she finally "woke up", the sky was already dark with the very beginnings of stars starting to shine.  She paused in her walk, startled.  Had it been that long?
        She kept going so the others wouldn't look back, making note of how the landscape had changed.  It was still grassy, but that was mixed with the rocks of low mountains.  They were coming upon the edge of something, and from where she was looking, she could make out what seemed to be some sort of huge natural basin.  To the right was a line of trees, stretching around the lip and down inside.  To the left were open fields with what looked to be long abandoned farm equipment but no buildings of any sort.  It was actually a lovely place, all in all.
        But when they approached the edge of the basin enough to look in, that sight took them all by surprise.  There was a lake in the bottom, reflecting the sky with a shimmery cobalt blue.  In the center of that lake was a small island, connected to shore by two simple wood and rope bridges (one lead from the widest part of shore, the other to the cleared path going up to the field).  Just off center of that island was a tree that must have been there for hundreds of years, its gnarled and somewhat barren branches seeming to reach to hold the stars themselves.
        It was just... unreal in its beauty in the same way that the place they'd only been that morning was.  But it was somehow different, too.  The bridge was obviously manmade, as were the rotting old farm machines.  But they so matched the feeling, the beauty of the lake.  Save for a large space of shore to the right and a small path going up the hill to the field, the shore was framed with huge emerald green pine trees.  It was just... dazzling.  A gratefully accepted change from what they'd all been expecting.
        The moment he stopped at the edge to gaze over with the others, Roan merely walked off into the trees.  He had no desire to sight-see--only to get the hell away from his captors.  Sandy neighed quietly and followed without a word from anyone.
        Evyn glanced back to see what that sound had been, noticing Shadow seemed to be witnessing the lake as well.  Had she come out of her thoughts, maybe?  Her continued gaze at the lake did little for his nerves.
        And then she met his eyes, feeling his stare.  It wasn't quite a smile she gave him, but it a semi-comforting look.  Maybe just of appreciation.
        Either way, he was just glad to see her... relatively okay again.  Nothing else mattered now.  They could talk, work out the details, when they were settled.  The first few steps down were a little steep, but it looked like they'd be able to get through to the bottom from where they were, so he began picking his way to the wide shore.  It'd make an excellent camp.
        Taerlyn followed with merely a glance and a smile to the girl.  She had been worried.  About the whole damn thing, really.  She distantly wondered how much Shadow had been aware of, but rather took her brother's stance on the situation.  When things were calmer, they'd worry.  For now, they would enjoy it while they had it.
        Shadow herself stood on that ledge for a moment, watching the other two find more solid ground as they edged their way down.  This was pretty.  It was serene again.  A bitter tone at the back of her mind seemed to ask how long it would last... but she didn't answer.  This was too nice not to enjoy.  The night was warm, the breeze was soft, the stars were coming out--it didn't matter.  If only she'd thought to bring a camera...  She followed the other two, her legs still feeling a bit wobbly but supporting her.
        She'd picked her way a little more slowly than the siblings.  Mostly because she couldn't trust her own legs, but also just to give them time.  Why she needed to do this, she wasn't really sure.  She felt she ought to, though.  Not that it was a lot of time, granted, but a million languages can be spoken by a brother and sister in five minutes.  They deserved time alone with one another.
        She emerged to find Taerlyn lighting a fire to keep animals at bay, and Evyn sitting back and taking a much needed "not doing shit" break.  Well, that seemed like a good idea.  She had a mild headache coming, and things were even more confusing than they had been--but she would not think about that.  She refused.  She'd enjoy what the night gave her and worry when they reached another wasteland.
        Evyn invited her to sit with a glance.  He didn't want to crack her shell open, so to speak, but he did want to make sure things were okay.  She had acted oddly; and almost died before that, after all.  He just needed to assure himself they weren't traveling with a walking corpse.  Or a walking time bomb.  Being around her for so long gave him much more insight into these lines of thinking, and he was glad for it.  Something deep inside him insisted it was his turn to be the watcher for a little while.
        She sat with a thump and sighed deeply, glad to be off of her legs again.  It was nice to just... sit.  She still felt the twinges of pain from the wounds she only distantly knew Roan had sealed, not to mention the soreness of her muscles that cried out from recent overuse.  It was kinda painful to breathe once in a while.
        Taerlyn "wandered" away to get more firewood; within earshot.  She felt it was her duty as little sister to listen without being seen.
        "How are you?" Evyn finally spoke up.
        She paused at that question, looking at him.  She was clearly contemplating how to answer, as well as what the answer really was.  "Tired."  She decided on.  "But... alright.  You?"
        He was a little thrown by her return of the question, but glad for it.  "The same."  He looked to her again in silence, one more question needing to come out, needing to be asked for the sake of his sanity.  "Why'd you step in front of him?"
        There was less pause that time, but just as much thought.  "Some screwed up sense of honor, I guess..." She admitted through gritted teeth.
        Part of him wanted to demand, "Why didn't you step in front of me?", but he left that alone.  She was clearly exhausted, mentally and physically.  He still wanted to talk to her, be with her and understand, but... he had gotten a feel for her in the time they'd been together.  And he thought now what she may really need was just a little... alone time.
        She grunted softly and rubbed her head.  It throbbed and felt light at the same time, just an odd feeling to have and not the most pleasant.  She wasn't certain what was going on in there, but whatever it was, it was causing her to lose the most vital of concentration.  Weakening... and that was not good.
        He had been watching her closely, concerned.  He assumed that perhaps it was coming back from the edge of death that had caused this exhaustion, but he wasn't entirely convinced that was everything.  For the time being, though, it looked to him as though her head ached and she needed some silence.  "Maybe you should... just go out on that island for a while."  He suggested
        She looked up at him, her eyes filled with numbness that made him rather uncomfortable.  "I think that's probably a good idea."  She tried hard to smile.
        "Are you really alright?" he asked again, determined to know the answer.  He raised his hand to place it on her shoulder, but thought better of it and placed it on his knee instead.
        "Yeah."  She responded simply, rubbing her eyes.  "I think something became a little unbalanced this afternoon."  A mild grin followed her understatement.
        He nodded patiently.  That was more than a mere understatement, and it had begun before that afternoon... but it did seem to be where everything collided for her.  "It's been a long, weary travel."
        "And we could all use a little bit of a break."  She finished, slightly relieved.
        "Where's the prisoner?" he spat, his voice hard, looking around for a sign of that fucking spawn of demons.
        "Sandy's handling him."  She seemed a little more at ease again, lifting from the ground and stretching.  "She's good with him.  And she can crush him anytime she wants."
        Evyn couldn't help but smile at that, assured that Shadow had not really lost a single portion of her edge.  She was just understandably distracted.  "Should I bring you food?"
        She pondered the thought, then shook her head.  "No need.  I'll be back to sleep and find something then."
        He nodded and watched her walk off.  It was more than clear she needed some time to focus most of all.  Even the most war-like of people had to take breaks, so his father had told him once when he was learning chess.  He watched her get to the bridge and start to cross, then turned his attention to finding Taerlyn and food.