Feather of Fate [M] [DragonSong]

[Juno]

She frowned in disagreement, shaking her head gently but not speaking a word of it. There would be time for it later, for the moment she needed to focus on him.

"Take it easy," Penny murmured, scooping her arms under his own to support him better even though he was quite a bit of dead weight. "Did that, um...feel the same as last time?"

[DragonSong]

"Y-yeah." He winced and scrubbed at his eyes, hoping that might relieve some of the pressure behind his eyes. "Same thing, just...multiplied by about a hundred." He tried for a wry chuckle, but wasn't quite sure if he managed it.

[Juno]

Penny's eyes darkened with shame, her lips tightening into a worried line as she watched him. "So it was worse," she mused, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm sorry, I'll think of something else to try... Don't want to keep hurting you."

[DragonSong]

Mal smiled weakly and reached up to cup her cheek, even as his head lulled toward her shoulder. The pain was fading, which he was grateful for, but he felt weak as a newborn fawn.

"Don't blame yourself," he muttered. "I agreed to it. We had to try."

[Juno]

Penny reached up to cover his hand with her own, leaning into his touch a bit though she kept a watchful eye on him. He still looked to be struggling, much as he was talking with her and putting on a happy face.

"Well thank you...for not hating me at least," she huffed quietly. "Just, I don't want it to happen again. What if it was even worse? What if you--" She couldn't bring herself to say it. Death so young in a powerful phoenix was far too terrible a fate for finding himself bound to her through no fault of his own.

With a heavy sigh she leaned closer to press a gentle kiss to his temple. "I'll find another way," she murmured adamantly.

[DragonSong]

"Shh, shh." Mal tilted his head to press his brow against her temple, wrapping an arm around her waist. "It's okay, Penny, you didn't know. It's alright."

[Juno]

She couldn't help but lean into him a little, angry with herself for seeking comfort from the man she should have been comforting better.

"How can you be so understanding?" Penny asked quietly, slightly incredulous and smiling sadly against him as she breathed a shaky sigh.

[DragonSong]

He smiled crookedly. "Maybe I've just got a weakness for a pretty face," he teased softly. "Come on. We should head back inside, Kura may start to worry soon."

[Juno]

Penny nodded, tilting her head to glance up at the cottage perched at the top of the hill beyond the pile of abandoned books. She'd have to come back for them later once he was feeling better, or at least send Kura to fetch them. "Let me help you," she insisted, carefully getting her footing and locking her arms around his chest as she tried to stand him up again.

[DragonSong]

He thought about arguing for a moment, then quickly decided against it. "Yeah. Thanks." Shakily, he managed to get to his feet, one arm looped around Penny's shoulders.

[Juno]

Penny did her best to steady him once he was up, one arm around his waist as her hand laid flat against his chest as though that alone might delay him from falling if he stumbled.

"Tell me if you need to stop or anything, okay? Let's take this nice and slow, don't want you to hurt yourself," she murmured gently, probably treating him a little too delicately as she stepped off to make the slow climb back up the hill.

[DragonSong]

"I'm fine." That was obviously a lie. He winced and corrected, "I'll be fine. It's already fading, promise."

He shot her a quick, lopsided grin and gave her shoulder a soft squeeze-- though that was partly because he was leaning on her so heavily.

[Juno]

Penny only rolled her eyes, giving a small huff of concern as they shuffled along. “You know I see right through you, right?” she muttered to herself, shaking her head in disappointment.

She caught sight of Kura through a window and attempted to flag her down, grateful when her mentor turned to see them and rushed to crack the door open for them to get inside. “My word, Penny… What did you do to poor Mal?”

“Teleported him… It worked, but- Not so well for him,” she admitted with a wince. “Could you get the books outside? He needs to rest, don’t want to drag him back out there.”

Kura just nodded distractedly, her lips drawing into a tight line of displeasure as she shot the phoenix an apologetic look. Her earlier assumptions about him were forgotten as she looked him over with pity. “Of course, dear,” she murmured, waving them off as she stepped past them into the grass. “Get him settled and I’ll bring some tea and see what I can do.”

Penny sighed with relief, guiding him down the hall and shouldering her way into his room. “I have a feeling I’m going to get a scolding for that later,” she admitted with a small smile, shuffling forward until they were right beside the bed so he wouldn’t have to walk alone.

[DragonSong]

"Hey now." He mock frowned and pulled her a little closer— though he wound up mostly just leaning against her more firmly. "I'll protect you from the scary mage," he murmured with a lopsided smile.

[Juno]

Penny snorted a small laugh for that, relieved he was at least feeling well enough to get back to his playful self. She hugged him closer for a moment, not bothered by the way he was leaning on her. "Oh yeah? How are you going to protect me? Be my meat shield?" she teased, giving him a parting squeeze as she tried to nudge him to sit at the edge of the bed.

[DragonSong]

"Mmph." He allowed her to shepherd him onto the bed, sighing quietly with relief. The sharp agony was almost completely gone now, replaced with a dull ache-- which thankfully also seemed to be fading.

He was certainly tired though.

"I can do meat shield," he mumbled. "You seen my real form? I'm the shieldiest meat-- meatiest shield--- whatever."

[Juno]

Penny laughed softly under her breath, shaking her head as she climbed up to sit beside him. He seemed steady enough on his own, thankfully. At least he hadn't fallen over when she'd set him down.

"Sorry, did that mess with your head a bit?" she teased, reaching up to lightly tap two fingers to his temple.

[DragonSong]

"You hush." He mock glowered at her. "My head is fine. My all of me is fine. See?" He gestured to himself-- though doing so made him wince a bit. "All fine."

[Juno]

The young mage sighed and rolled her eyes at that but her features softened into a caring smile as she gently patted at his shoulder. "I'll feel better when I can at least see you walking again," she quipped mildly. The soft sound of footsteps coming through the doorway caught her attention though, and she flashed her teacher a grateful smile for the tray of tea she'd brought.

Kura eyed her critically for a moment but she said nothing until she'd set the tray down at the bedside table and turned to offer a steaming cup to Mal with a more concerned look.

"Did she hurt you badly, Mal?" the older mage asked calmly, eyes focused on him and ignoring the way Penny hung her head at that.

[DragonSong]

Mal frowned a bit at that. "She didn't hurt me," he replied stiffly. "The-- bond or whatever did."

He was about to answer that he was fine, really-- but he hesitated. Playing down what stretching the connection did to him hadn't exactly been productive.

Sighing, he dropped his eyes and muttered, "It's like...fire. Everywhere. Burning. I've...never been burned before, I didn't know it was like that."