In search of... (part 2)

[bitterguardian]

After years of living in his subterranean home around the vault, Horvath is unused to being woken by sunlight. To fall asleep comfortably sunk deep in a plush chair is familiar, but the chair is not his own, and to wake with a cat sleeping on him, and another running around playing is familiar, but these are not his cats and there are more than two. Also he rarely has the foresight to pull a blanket over himself. To feel so much at home in a place that is not his home comes as a strange surprise.

Last night before he dozed off in the chair, however, he had a great deal of food and alcohol, and his body would urgently like to remind him of that fact. He's grateful for the new set of crutches in easy reach, and he hauls himself up on them and swings along off to the bathroom, letting the cats scatter in his wake.

Once he's tended to the basics, and ascertained that while he is hung over, it's not a bad one, he notices the note from his host conveniently stabbed through on a prong of the antlers around the bathroom mirror. She had some foresight, indeed.

Bonjour Max! I hope that your sleep was a deep, healing one and that you woke to a better day! I had an errand to run early this morn, and might not make it back in time to be there when you wake. So! There is food, coffee, tea - and I shall return with fresh eggs for breakfast if you sleep so long.
Mara

The towels from yesterday have been replaced with clean ones, his clothes are washed and mended on the bed, and there's the salve still waiting back on the footstool beside the chair in which he slept. Thanks to the ambient light of day waking him, it's not late by any means, so he takes time to wash, to put salve and a bandage over the blistered stump of his leg, and to dress in his own clothes once more. When he emerges to investigate the kitchen, Horvath feels more like himself than he has since his encounter with Shub niggurath sent him questing. Pantleg folded up and tucked neatly (a trick he learned back in the army hospital when he was first learning to adapt to the amputation), moving faster on the new crutches than he can with a cane, he murmurs to the cats, and seeks out a cup of tea to help drive away the vestiges of a headache that's not strong enough to dampen a good mood.

Comments

[bitterguardian]

It's the cats leaving, and the sound of them pleading for food in the distance, that truly wakes him. His girls back home have him well trained. He's surprised to stir himself only to find her setting breakfast at his elbow. "...Good lord." He squints at the curtained window, while his brain shakes off the last vestiges of sleep. "Is it late? I didn't mean to sleep in..." He feels more than a little pampered, the way she's always bringing him food and drink.

Still, she may note he takes the opportunity while she's close to get a good look at her face, trying to gauge if she's truly all right after the terrors of the hunt the night before. Making sure she's okay is a priority that comes before breakfast, and he feels sheepish yet again for being the last one up.

[sunandshadows]

"Non, non. Rest a bit. Come back to the day, Maxim. All is well, it is not too late." She smiles placidly at him, her face and eyes calm. Real or simply facade, that's all she's showing for now, but at the way her lips perk up when one of the cats jump onto the back of the couch? It's likely real.

"I took the liberty of packing some items myself, in case you would like to start the ending of your quest today. Or we could rest another night here, and begin tomorrow? Either way, it should take only one more night in the wilderness, before you attain your goal."

In her mind, that's the right thing. Any quest shouldn't have it too easy, especially when it gets close to completion. A last night of struggle, one last challenge (although this is going to be a very comfortable night of challenge in comparison) and then he - they - shall find success. And she very much wants Horvath to find success.

"We cannot be there too quickly you understand; you still owe me a story!"

[bitterguardian]

Seeing her smiling, and entertained by the cast (who just may have decided Horvath is the best piece of furniture she's ever brought into the place), he relaxes and smiles a little himself. The reminder of the quest gets a thoughtful nod, though, and he shifts himself on the couch, sitting up better and folding up the blanket to set aside. "I... probably shouldn't put it off too long. Bel and the girls will wonder what's keeping me..." He's feeling so much better that his end goal seems far less necessary, now, but there's no promise he won't encounter the eldritch thing again, or somebody else around the Nexus might. He really should have some aglaophotis on hand, in case.

"And yes... I do owe you one story yet." He hasn't come up with one, but now that she's said it, he'll be thinking.

"Did you... sleep all right? Are you ready to continue, today?" He's fairly sure he'll be all right on the prosthetic again, but he doesn't want to push her if the hunt has made things too fresh in her mind still.

[sunandshadows]

She takes one of the small plates on the tray, sets a few pieces of bacon on it, and with a hot, sticky spiced confection in her other hand, she sits down by his side. "Oh yes, I slept quite peacefully, and awoke quite refreshed. And you, Max, was your sleep pleasant as well?"

Oh yea, bacony goodness and hot sticky buns. Lots of carbs, proteins and yummy fats. Mara delicately licks the frosting off her fingers before continuing.

"I am more than ready. I have slept well, I am eating, and my things are packed. Even my wound heals quick and clean, and it was sharp the cut. I'll likely have barely a scar, and even that should fade in time. It would not do for me to sit about the house and think today. Action is needed to put the past further behind me. But it is you, your quest, and your desires that must come first. Are you up to journeying on?"

[bitterguardian]

Horvath pauses, more or less awake, now, and mind catching up. "Oh? A sharp, clean wound, was it?" The glance is knowing, but he won't ask more than that. He'd been too distracted with worry over her emotional state, last night, to question the injury too much. Her words have him suspecting it was not made by the beast itself, though.

"I've been sitting around too much, myself, although I do feel better for it, for once. I'll... put myself together, after I eat," He's still awkward simply saying he needs to put the prosthetic leg back on. "and I think I'll be all right to travel on again." He's not up to running again, of course, but he's never up to running in the first place. He takes some bacon and a roll, on a plate of his own, and lightly nudges away a sniffing cat.

[sunandshadows]

"Indeed, quite clean." Her head gives a firm not as she very obviously does not look in his direction. Instead she looks down at what's left of her breakfast and takes up the morning confection - what's left of it - one more time. "Does this have too much spice to you? I added a bit of nutmeg and some cardamom as well to the mix. Tell me true, do you like it?"

See the wide, blue innocent eyes, the long lashes blinking slowly? The winsome, well-practiced courtiers smile? This is the look she has when she's trying desperately to come to some deep decision, and not let it show.

He had been honest with her, even when he didn't have to be - about his nexus, about his past. She was used to keeping secrets, both hers and others'; likely he was as well. But, did she have the right to keep this from him? Mara realizes in those short seconds that to begin keeping secrets from this man, though it may upset him to hear, would be to do him, and their friendship, a great dis-service.

"Yes, my friend. It was very clean, and near-uneartly sharp. Le Comte always keeps his weapons that way." She draws a long slow breath and lets it out slowly.

"I told you that the beast had eaten already. And then it just - disappeared. It went between someplace where we could not find it. And so another plan was called for. A plan to bait the beast." She lifts her arm, hidden under another long sleeve.

"And what better bait than an a badly injured enemy? One that had hurt the beast so badly that it couldn't help but to come out from hiding, screaming in vengeance and rage?"

Her eyes have been steady on his face until now, and now she at last looks down at her plate. "His lordship did not agree to the plan at first. He was quite vocally against it in fact, and rather adamant that - um." She swallows. "That another LeGarde not be sacrificed while under his protection as the last one had."

"But you see, it had to happen this way. It had to be done."

[bitterguardian]

"But you said the priest...?" He frowns mildly, not directly at her, but he does look a little displeased. It didn't have to be done that way at all, because there was surely more than one way to lure out the beast. It had come for them without the incentive of knowing them, and while waiting until it grew hungry again would be tedious, that too was an option. No wonder she was so distraught, if the battle had not only been with the beast, but with her own people, as well. He should have known. Family arguments cut deeper than any blade could.

"...And what did he have to say, after?" He holds his plate and the roll, but does not eat, too focused on the discussion at hand, first.

[sunandshadows]

"I said that he offered to take... to take and protect the bait. I was the bait, Maximus. My blood was wiped on trees, left on the ground. Enough for the beast to smell, enough to lead it to us. The priest died from the wounds he received, protecting me as the trap was sprung."

Too much spice. Definitely too much spice. She could taste it, smell it. And she can only look at Horvath in short glances.

"Monsieur le Comte is a man of many moods, most of them dark. But few words. He walked me up the steps, told me that you were waiting within. And then he kissed my forehead and told me that he would give his wife - my adopted mother - my regards. But he was the one to bind my wound, tearing his own shirt to do so and allowing none other to care for me but himself. And he was the one who went through the forest after, destroying each and every drop of my blood or washing it away, so that none remained."

"He is a dark man, Maxim; but not a bad one."

[bitterguardian]

The plate lowers slowly to rest on one knee as she talks, and he continues to frown, his own mood turning a little dark. "He's family, then..." He pauses, clearly intending to say more, but for a long moment he's quiet, wiping his fingers neatly on a napkin. What he thinks of thinks of the spice is impossible to say, since his food is largely untasted.

He's not intending to draw things out as a form of punishment, he's just having trouble deciding on his words. When he does speak, he looks ceilingward and away, not wanting to pin her with a scowl unintentionally. "If... I had known you intended to be bait, I would have fought against you going. Obviously he felt the same. But... that decision was not mine to make, nor his. You're a strong woman, and you knew what you risked. I only wish you had told me your intentions, however much I might have disagreed with them." He's known too many strong women, and learned respect for them, to ultimately stand in her path. He just would have liked to know what that path was.

"If... it had failed, and you had died, I would have blamed them for putting you up to it, for forcing you to act as some damsel in distress. And I would have been wrong."

[sunandshadows]

Though they are technically related through her adoption, Mara would never, ever say that the Comte was part of her family. In fact she's startled when Horvath brings that up.

Too much spice, not enough sugar. Not enough vanilla, the frosting is flat. These things run through her mind as Max begins to speak. Whether it's true or not, it's how she feels right at this moment.

This, this is why her initial thoughts were to deflect, gloss over and simply not mention certain parts of the hunt. Horvath was a man of honor, and compassion. Of courage and caring. Who, with those traits, would willingly see thier friend put themselves in harm's way?

"I did not intend that when I left, though I held it in mind as a distant possibility." Her voice is soft, and she presses her lips hard together again before speaking. "And what kind of friend would I be to worry you with every possible outcome over every situation? Maxim, you were hurt. Worn out, you had just begun to make your way back to health. And I am honor-bound as your hostess to offer you all aid and comfort when and how I can. Should I then add to the heaviness in your heart - and for some outcome that may never come to pass?"

"If it had failed, my lady's consort would have come himself to tell you of the news. And dealt with your anger and pain, just as he would have been dealing with his own. But I am not dead. And the vipercat shall kill no more. Please, Max? Try to look upon the future and not the past?"

She is trained as a courtier, to know and anticipate her liege's needs and emotions; to sooth the hurt and ease the anger. She see's - she can almost feel - the conflict inside the sorcerer; it's just that this time she has no way of knowing how to sooth his worry, his dis-satisfaction and darkness and his concern.

With that knowledge comes an inward personal feeling of failure, of causing pain and anger when her job is to heal and calm. Still, she manages to lift her head for his last few words and offer a ghost of a smile.

[bitterguardian]

Horvath will probably find the rolls excellent. His own cooking skills fall far short of hers.

"That's... some consolation." He sighs, but he's glad it wasn't a deliberately withheld advance plan so much as a spur of the moment one. He has never expected anyone to cater to his feelings, however, so he has no idea that she would be concerned for the impact she's had on his. When it comes to strong emotions, he is in the habit of shutting down and sitting on them, hence his current quiet composure. If some consort had brought him news, they would have faced the same, albeit more coldly.

He runs a hand over the lower half of his face, ending in a little tug on the beard that's just starting to grow out past what he prefers. "You're right though, that it ill serves the quest ahead to be looking back at what-ifs. I'm sorry. There's so much behind me that I've gotten in the habit of getting bogged down by it." That's very much the truth, but his self-awareness doesn't always help him avoid it. "Thank you, for telling me now. Just... be careful, in the future? I have so few friends, I'd hate to lose you, and I'm certain I'm not the only one."

The smile he gives her is tentative, but genuine.

[sunandshadows]

"Non, please non." Her plate in her lap, Amarante reaches out a hand to rest on Horvath's arm. "Do not apologize for caring. Do not apologize for feeling. It is an honor that you do me to be so concerned, and one I take very seriously."

"I have no use for pain, either mine or others. I do not like battle, though it is necessary at times. It does not swell in my chest like it does for some. Believe me, I shall be as careful as I can, and whatever may happen in the future? I most certainly do not intend to be lost."

On impulse she reaches up, strokes his growing beard lightly with a single finger, then leans in to kiss his cheek.

"Come, it is a glorious day, and the end of your quest is nearly in your grasp. We but delay your success with worries and sadness, when we should look to the future with joyful hearts and clear eyes. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can start!"

[bitterguardian]

It's just possible that nobody has ever told him not to apologize for feeling. Hurt feelings, and acting on them, he thinks, is a large part of what broke up the bond between Merlin's apprentices. He's never been good with feelings, taught from an early age to repress them. It's a habit he's never unlearned. "My... feelings are not your responsibility, though, and I wouldn't wish to burden you with them." He gives that sheepish little smile at the kiss.

"But I am glad you're whole and well this morning. I don't like battle either, but if you run into one again, just remember that I do have experience in it? You can always call on me as an ally." He's aware his mobility is ever an issue, but she's seen how powerful his shields are, and he's a resource as a tactician if she's not in the thick of things.

Finally, he picks up the roll again and actually tastes it. "Mmmn. And these are brilliant!"

[sunandshadows]

"Oh, la!" She makes a slight noise, then turns and breaks a piece of her bacon off to feed one of the better-behaved cats.

"How can feelings be a responsibility? You are not a machine, Maxim. I am not speaking to a toaster, or a lamp. You are a man. You have feelings. I have feelings. Vous etre mon ami. If I call you friend, how can I not care for how you feel? And most particularly how you feel about my actions and behavior? I am not made of stone, nor am I..."

She starts to laugh, shaking her head. "Nor am I going to spoil a sunny day with a lecture that I need neither to give, nor you to receive."

She wants to run her fingers through his beard again or even through his hair but instead settles for reaching around him and giving him a one-armed hug/squeeze type thing. "Should I find myself facing a battle, rest assured - I will likely have called on you already."

Keen blue eyes read his face, focusing on his mouth, then his eyes. "Truly? They are not overspiced? I had been concerned but - if you really like them? I'll not change the recipe.

[bitterguardian]

"Oh-!" When she hugs him, he smiles a little and frees up one arm to squeeze her back gently. Now that he's getting more comfortable with her, he makes a very huggable teddy bear. Maybe the beard helps. He'd prefer not to grow it and his hair out so long he ends up looking like Merlin, though.

"I didn't mean you can't care, just that you're not responsible for my reactions to anything. Mmh, but never mind. The rolls are lovely, but we'd better return to journeying after breakfast. If I hang around here letting you feed me too long, I won't be able to walk anymore..." A little being spoiled is nice, but he does feel slightly overwhelmed by her cooking and coddling.

[sunandshadows]

"It's nearly noon now, so by the time you are ready, I should be about done with cleanup after breakfast." Oh look, more cats. All come sitting around begging after that first piece of bacon was doled out.

Mara's fingers work swiftly, breaking the bread into small, cat's-mouth sized pieces and doling them out, feeding them from her hands. Each cat got at least one piece, and the oldest and youngest each got two. That, for her, was fair. None of the cats were pregnant, none had new kits. Otherwise the feeding would have gone far differently.

"I don't believe we need a tent, but I did bring a tarp that we can pin down. And this time, we shall have something other than sticks and leaves to sleep on." Her eyes meet his curiously.

"It will only take me a moment to ready myself, my things are packed now. So while you make yourself ready, may I pack some food and a few other small items into your bag for you?"

[bitterguardian]

"Nearly noon already?? I did sleep late..." He's a little dismayed, and hurries to eat a piece of bacon before it can end up being claimed for the cats.

"Of course. There's nothing private, in the pack. And I should refill the water canteens before we go." He even forwent most of the toiletries, since things like shaving aren't a priority while hiking in the woods. It's mostly cooking gear, canned food, and a roll of toilet paper. There's a flint and tinder and an old pocketknife too, just in case. Horvath is always a little wary of relying too heavily on his magic for the basics. Of course, by the time she's done with it, he should have ample food supplies.

"A tarp... would be useful. I should have brought a proper blanket, before. I suppose I was anxious to go, and not thinking properly..."

[sunandshadows]

"Well, all things considered, I did not make it home until after two a.m." She brushes her hands together over her plate, any remaining crumbs to fall there instead of her lap. "And we did not sleep for a while after that."

Oh yes, now that she has his permission? His pack will end up with a considerable amount of comfort items that weren't in the pack initially. The canned goods (with their weight) will be gone, replaced by lighter-weight packages. Meals cooked, easily eaten cold. Others wrapped in tin foil to be placed in the fire.

Small containers of spices, other things that would make a meal, and a night so much more cozy. Lifting her pack and his, she checks the weight, and then again after she had added tarp and blankets to both. Tucked away next his flint and steel were waterproof matches. He also gets the small
first aid kit.

Both packs are readied, and wait by the front door and Mara is standing in the sunlight, looking out the kitchen window when she hears him moving back to the front of the house from the bedroom area. She hasn't bothered to change, after all, what is one night or two in the forest?

"I am ready when you are, my friend."

[bitterguardian]

He's quick to finish eating, and while she's working on their packs, he levers himself up and seeks the privacy of the bedroom to check the stump of his leg, which has healed from the blisters thanks to Mara's care and a little healing magic. Once the prosthetic is back on, he stands carefully, testing. He's a little sorry to set aside the crutches, so elegantly made, but he's also glad to have a hand free and be back on two feet, even if one isn't real. It makes him feel more normal, despite the need for a cane.

He emerges looking not quite the same as the man Mara first observed from her perch in the trees. The suit is the same, mended and cleaned. He's back on two feet and walking with a rocking limp that seems relatively comfortable for him. The beard is grown up both checks, greying there, and he's got a more cheerful expression, but these are not the only differences. He seems lighter, less burdened with some unseen weight, and the looks he gives her is a fond smile.

"Two packs, this time? You look like a proper hiker." He's teasing a little, but comes over and rests the cane against the cabinets to pull his own pack on. Now that he's feeling better, he is able to walk a step or two without the cane at all.

*short reply is short, sorry!*

[sunandshadows]

"I know. Quite unlike me, isn't it? Wearing clothes, bringing a pack, and not sleeping in trees? Perhaps you should check my forehead, I may be running a fever!" She's watching how he walks as she speaks, and if anything her smile grows wider.

Of course she doesn't truly look like a proper hiker. She's shoeless, and in another one of those (completely inappropriate for hiking) brightly colored, brightly trimmed dresses. But then again, she's no longer the homeless ragamuffin, woman-child waif in the wild, either.

"I will open a gate and bring us back to the cave, from there it take perhaps a single night at most to reach our goal." She doesn't say why she couldn't or wouldn't call a gate closer to his rare plant, she just opens the front door before them with a dramatically energetic gesture, waving him through and grabbing her pack by the shoulder strap before locking the front door behind them both. The key gets put back in it's hiding place, and Mara steps out into the afternoon sun, her ponytail jauntily bobbing behind her.

It's all good!

[bitterguardian]

"Oh, no, by this point love, I'd only be surprised if you ceased to surprise me." He gives a lock of her hair a gentle tweak in passing. She is a changeable creature, ever showing him new faces, and he's perfectly charmed by that. Yet... has he ever seen her wear shoes? Surely she does, sometimes, and that will come as a surprise down the road.

The rocking limp is distinctive, but it's a matter of balance and working with an ankle that barely flexes, not a sign of discomfort. The crutches were an easier and faster way to move, but there's some subtle change to his self-image. With the prosthetic, he feels almost whole again. After a few minutes of walking on it, he forgets that he misses the crutches at all. Longer though the walk might be, Horvath does not question resuming their journey right where it left off. All else aside, that only seems fair. A quest, after all, is not just about the goal item one seeks, but the journey along the way. He learned that a very long time ago, and this one has only reinforced the idea.

"Thank you, again. Thanks to you I've found more along the way than I ever expected... the aglaophotis seems a less urgent need, now." His pace is, as before, a little slower than hers might be, but there's energy in his step all the same.

Re: It's all good!

[sunandshadows]

She shakes her head at him, an easy grin wide across her face. There he goes again, thanking strange women in wild forests. Still, the only thing that she's even thought to complain about as they travel along is the fact that her dress is becoming stifling and uncomfortable. It's all in her head, she knows this. She KNOWS this. But the desire to rip the sleeves off, the desire to shed the (admittedly light) weight is slowly building.

'I've spent too much time out in the wild and too much time alone', she thinks to herself, mentally forcing herself to continue strolling by Horvath's side. He's set a good pace for walking, and a good pace to converse without breathing hard.

She starts up a story, something lighthearted, about how one of her fellow couriers would stop by. One of the many 'Robin Goodfellows' "You do realize there is more than one, yes? It is a name that umm, well - I've used it myself on occasion or two" Mara confesses, with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Any time he was in the area, he would always - without fail - spoil the milk in the house. Fresh that morning, or freshly store-bought, it made no difference to him. It grew to be rather exasperating, for all that I enjoyed his company on occasion."

The end of the story is told when Mara explains how she offered him homemade frozen yogurt on his last visit, then spoke of her appreciation for the 'spoiled milk' because without it, she never would have been able to make dessert. "And he hasn't touched my milk since" She laughs.

[bitterguardian]

Now that he takes life at a quieter pace (at least most of the time), Horvath prefers not to be out of breath. All his life he's been self-conscious, particularly once he hit his last growth spurts and shot up taller than his master, and in his old age he's even more so. He'd prefer not end up panting for breath and looking even more out of shape than he actually is. Left to set the pace, he's on the slow side, although his long legs help make up for it.

"I didn't, quite, but I can't say that I'm surprised." He comments, but after a thoughtful pause adds, "But I am flattered to have the company of someone who's used the name."

The story gets a smile and a few chuckles, and the tale she tells is making the walk itself an easier one. Distance always seems shorter when it's covered with a friend and a good story or two. "When we were boys, Bel and I got into no end of trouble..." It's not a polished, proper story, but he does fall into reminisce of his younger days, when he was not quite a child, but certainly not yet a man, and knew just enough magic to wreak utter havoc. He tells of himself and Balthazar sometimes playing magic pranks on each other with an added layer of secrecy because Merlin would have scolded them both severely (and sometimes did, because they did get caught), other times conspiring together against other boys and girls their own age. Once, he says they were visiting at Camelot and one of the knight's sons was obnoxious to him. A youthful Max had mentioned his own interests in swordplay and other such pursuits in an attempt to be friendly, only to have the other boy's advantages in training and being destined for knighthood snobbishly rubbed in his face. Bel apparently filled the boy's practice armor with tiny frogs, via a hex, resulting in utter chaos when he was readying for training. Merlin gave him a thorough talking to for it, and Balthazar later told Max he didn't regret it for a moment. "And how could I not be pleased that he'd get revenge for my sake, and take the punishment without flinching? Bel was always full of that kind of loyalty..."

[sunandshadows]

She giggles at the idea of an entire suit of armor filled with tiny frogs, and her smile gets less mirthful and more soft as Max goes into another discussion about his friend Bel. Idly she wonders, if she were having this conversation with his friend - would Belshazar be as complementary toward Maximus? It intrigues her, and she's starting to look forward to meeting this sorcerer friend of Max's who is so in need of a home-cooked meal.

Another hour goes by, and finally she stops, shrugging the backpack off her shoulders and letting it fall down next to an old hardwood tree trunk.

"Max, I must beg your indulgence for just a minute, I swear. Besides, is this not a beautiful place to rest?"

She gives him a half-smile and disappears around a large tree, and comes back from the other side with her hair flying loose and a ball of material in hand that she stuffs into her pack. Yes, she took her dress off. Yes, she's now dressed in one of her under-dresses, white linen and white lace. She feels so much better now and when they start walking abain, she begins to skip along beside him, and climb over (and jump off of) tree stumps. It's a gradual thing, one habit at a time coming back to her as she loses the air of civility and takes on a more pixieish pattern of behavior. But she hasn't started rhyming yet, oh no. Not yet.

As she walks, (and skips, and sings snatches of songs) Mara's keeping a covert but close eye on Horvath's leg, and probably suggests more breaks than she should, but as she knows where she is going, she doesn't want them to overdue it the first day.

Finally, she looks around and asks him if he wants to stop for the night. It's still a little early, and they are going by a small quick-flowing stream.

[bitterguardian]

Through his flattering tales, Balthazar is loyal, friendly, eager-to-please and clever. By contrast his younger self comes off as socially clumsy, intelligent, but just a little bit of a troublemaker. He has nothing but fondness for Balthazar, clearly, even when he tells of boyhood competition and arguments. They were young, and such things happen.

Horvath is content to take the journey at an easy pace, no longer pushing himself for the sake of appearances. Whenever she calls for a rest, he'll take it, sitting and stretching out his leg to take the pressure off for a while. Only once, toward early evening, does he take the opportunity of a rest to lay a painkilling spell on himself. He's a little surprised to have gotten that far before needing it. Her disrobing may get the faintest of blushes, but he sees women more scantily clad in New York summers, and he's quick to grow used to it. He does tease her about being part squirrel, the way she scrambles and leaps around.

"I suppose if we go on, we may not find as good a campsite as this." He does pause to squint thoughtfully at the early evening sun. "As long as it's not too lazy of us, this is fine, yes. You know the distance we have to go better than I." It probably wouldn't hurt him to make an early evening of it, instead of pushing on until he's sore again.