Thrayne Loche was bone tired. He'd been wandering through this forest with Odessa for a fair bit by now.
Partially, this was his own doing, of course, and he he still had hope that it'd be worth it. After all, he'd been the one to insist to Odessa that it was alright to go look for her friend when she'd first heard the rumor that they'd been captured, and while it wasn't a guarantee, the mage known only as the Forest Horror might've been involved in the early war as well. But it was getting harder and harder to hold onto his hope as he walked.
Odessa looked over at him, saying "We should probably camp soon."
Looking at her with a slightly furrowed brow, he replied "Oh, no, no, don't you worry about me. I'm a big lad, I can keep going." He added. "In fact, ever since you threw those new exercises in my training, I've been getting a lot stronger.
Odessa, of course, knew what this was about, and sighed with her eyes. "I appreciate that you want to help me, but neither of us can keep going without rest. And we need to be in tiptop shape."
Still holding her sunrod, she looked around. "We can probably get supplies here, also." She wasn't thrilled with staying in with someone so close to the king of all mage territories, but she knew there were other small villages and things unaffiliated with magic here. And for all she knew, this could be the Horror.
Thrayne strained a bit trying to see what she was seeing--her elven vision was much better suited to this time of day than his, but he eventually decided to even it out by taking out a rod of his own.
"Don't waste those!" Odessa chided him briefly.
"...oh, come on, I haven't had the chance to see them side by side." He pouted back. "What better time to test this thing?" He was referring to the slight alterations he'd made to some sunrods a week or so ago. He'd thought he left them some days before, but realized he had them recently.
Deciding to accept his "Reasoning" for now, Odessa motioned to the cottage before them. "Anyway, let's hope they're still awake. They might be able to point us in the right direction..."
The pair headed towards the cottage and got ready to introduce themselves.