Far from Home

[PixelatedGlory]

From the face Shyla was giving him Oren was quite sure their chat was finishing. Whether it was the topic of siblings or what he wasn't sure. Either way she was making it pretty clear that it was time to get back, even before she said as much,

"Right, I don't think there is anything else I need to know for now. I'll let you lead the way since you're the expert," it was stupid but Oren felt like maybe she would be happier showing off her ability to get around perfectly fine without sight. At any rate he knew better than to ask if she would be ok finding her way.

"I'm star-," He caught himself before he came across as too needy. Oren was a guest, supposedly there in a professional role as healer, and regardless of how hungry he was he couldn't let that make him rude. "I mean I would like some food if it wouldn't be too much trouble." He prepared to follow Shyla back either way.

[DragonSong]

Shyla smiled a bit, glancing in his general direction. "You can just say you're hungry, y'know. We don't stand on ceremony much here," she assured with a quiet laugh.

Without thinking, she reached out to grab his arm and pull him back from an uneven section of path that she knew he was moving toward. She'd tripped over it herself more times than she cared to admit, so she knew exactly where it was from memory.

"I'll ask for some grub, and see if we can get you set up in a tent for the night," she continued casually.

[PixelatedGlory]

If Shyla could have seen his face it would have been very clear how embarrassed he was. "I-I wasn't trying to be fancy or anything. Just I was taught to be polite when you're a guest." In his mildy flustered state and distracted a bit by his fatigue, hunger and his headache he came very close to tripping on part of the path. A few rocks had made the area uneven and quite dangerous to anyone not being careful.

Oren was startled when Shyla grabbed his arm and yanked it and he couldn't fully stifle the tiny yelp escaping from his throat. His face and the tips of his ears felt hot as he realized she was yet again saving him from falling on his face. "Thanks for that," he said sheepishly, "That's all I need now right? More bruises to heal." And still looking like a child who can't keep themself safe. Wonderful.

"Something warm would be great. As for sleeping I feel like I could probably lay down on a rock and still sleep through the night," he said as he smiled. It was true, the promise of a meal and a safe place to sleep sounded just about perfect to him right then.

[DragonSong]

She chuckled again and nodded. "Well, we can probably do better than a rock, but maybe not by much," she admitted with a wry smile as she led him back into camp.

Shyla directed the healer to wait while she went off to discuss his sleeping arrangements with the alpha. It didn't seem to take her long, she'd returned in just a few minutes, though her expression was a little sour.

"Come on, let's get you food," she muttered a little gruffly, steering him toward the cook fires. "Looks like you'll be bunking with me tonight. It's the only space we've got room."

[PixelatedGlory]

Oren smiled at the joke about doing better than a rock, but he had only been exaggerating a little bit. He was exhausted. So exhausted that when Shyla left him to go find out about the available accommodations he ended up just sitting on the ground while he waited. As he leaned up against a support for one of the tents he was tempted to just let himself fall asleep right there.

Only the promise of food kept him from letting his eyes close for too long. Still if she had taken too much longer she probably would have found him asleep. When she did return Oren started out of his daze and climbed to his feet, though the action made his head spin a bit and he felt wobbly for a moment.

Shyla didn't look happy and that was a little worrying. All she had gone to do was look for where Oren was going to sleep. How could that have gone wrong? He was a bit put out by her gruffness and frustration but the promise of food had most of his attention. "Great, I really am hungry." The smell coming from the cook fires seemed to intensify as he thought about the food. It didn't even really matter what kind of food it was at that point.

When she explained what the problem was he paused even though he was so hungry. "I'm sorry. I promise i'll try not to snore very much and I can sleep on the ground- no problem." Sharing a room with other people was something he was used to but still. This was her home and now she was being forced to spend more time with him even though she had just spent most of the day dealing with him.

[DragonSong]

Shyla snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't worry about that. I've got an extra bedroll somewhere, it's not that big a deal," she huffed.

She tried to hide her irritation-- it wasn't like it was Oren's fault, she just didn't enjoy sharing her space. Taking a breath, she glanced back toward where she though he was and said with a little less gruffness, "Come on, I'll take you over to the campfire. You eat meat, right?"

[PixelatedGlory]

That was certainly a relief. Oren was perfectly happy with a spare bedroll to sleep on as long as he wasn't bothering her too much. Not that he had any real say in either part of that. At any rate he could tell she wasn't happy with the arrangement and he really didn't want to make things any worse.

When Shyla glanced back, more or less towards him, he was glad that her voice was at least a little bit less annoyed. "Of course I eat meat," he nodded, forgetting once more that she couldn't see it. His face brightened at the prospect of food. Hot, fresh food at that. As if to punctuate his thoughts his stomach made aloud gurgling growling noise that he was afraid could be heard for miles.

Oren probably could have followed his nose towards the smell of cooking meet and a nice large cooking fire, but he followed Shyla's direction. She was in charge.

[DragonSong]

She raised her hands placatingly at him emphatic assertion. "Hey, I've known a few healers we didn't partake of flesh," she replied in a lofty, sing-song tone. "Far be it from me to assume."

As they approached the fire the Howlers greeted them with a mixture of curiosity for Oren and playful teasing for Shyla. For someone who didn't know better, the passing of their brother seemed not to have phased them in the least.

But Shyla did know better, and she felt Erik's absence like a hole in her world. It would fade, with time, it always did-- but she knew it would flare up again from time to time, when someone spoke of his mother or sisters who had died before him, or his younger brother who was sure to come next. Or even just smelling his favorite food, hearing the call of those stupid bluejays he'd loved so much. That was how it had been with Ivan, Veronica, Yuri, Ayla...

"Here, eat." She shoved a plate into Oren's hand and flopped down onto a sideways log that seemed to be serving as a bench near the fire.

[PixelatedGlory]

Oren laughed, "Well this healer ain't too picky about what he eats. Food is food. Hot food is even better."

The curiosity of the rest of the Howlers around the fire felt a little weird but Oren didn't mind. Once his gifts were known to people they usually treated him with some mixture of curiosity. He tried not to act too timid or weak in the hopes that he would make a good impression. It probably wasn't a very good job of acting.

Oren was surprised at how they all seemed to have moved on from the death of one of their own so quickly. he had to remind himself that based on what Shyla had told him they were sadly used to seeing a lot of their pack-mates fall at a young age. Perhaps they were just decent at hiding their grieving. He looked over at Shyla and though she had a tough face on she seemed just a little bit distracted. Enough for Oren to believe she was thinking about the loss.

He was pretty sure there was nothing he could do to help her or the rest of them with the grieving. That wasn't the type of healing he was capable of. Instead he quietly and gratefully accepted the plate of food and sat down near Shyla on the log.

"Thanks for the food," he said around the mouthful of food as his hunger defeated his manners. "And thank you for trying so hard to keep me from falling on my face today," he added in a much quieter tone. It was probably still audible to the others around them but Oren wasn't really trying to be all that secretive about it.

[DragonSong]

"Hey, no problem." Shyla shrugged a little awkwardly. "I mean, for both. Either. Whatever." She shrugged again, "looking" out away over the campfire. "Honestly, if I didn't have help I'd be on my ass half the time wandering these mountains," she admitted with an almost nervous little chuckle.

[PixelatedGlory]

That was a lot of shrugging. It was like she was trying extra hard to make it seem like nothing that was going on was a big deal. Oren couldn't get a read on her. Earlier she had been so stubborn and sure of herself and then she had been hiding her distress at the death of Erik. Then this new awkwardness had shown up. Maybe his head was just messing with him but she seemed like she might be more vulnerable than she was pretending to be.

Once more with that staring off into the distance too. People with normal sight did it sometimes when they were actually thinking about other things but something about her doing it while blind made it more fascinating. He wondered what it was she saw in her mind when she looked out over the fire.

Distracted by rambling thoughts of his own and the mouthfuls of glorious warm food it took Oren a bit to realize he had let things fall into a weird awkward silence with just the sounds of the other people coming and going.

What was she saying? Oh right, needing help to survive.

Oren swallowed the food he had been eating and took a break to speak again, chuckling a a little because he couldn't imagine Shyla actually having difficulty getting around. "I think you'd do a lot better without help than I would. Although with me here any little falls you might have can be fixed real quick."

[DragonSong]

The girl tilted her head slightly toward the sound of his voice, lips twitching slightly at the corner in the barest hint of a smile. "Oh. Right."

She was so used to people just knowing about her Sight that she'd forgotten it wasn't something...well, obvious about her.

It was...sort of funny.

Rather abruptly, she turned toward him and extended a hand slightly. "Can I see you?"

True, she'd seen him through the eyes of birds and her packmates, but that was...distant, in a way. It was Sight, true enough, but touch and sound and scent were her real eyes. She knew Oren's voice, the sound of his footsteps, the way his breath caught in exertion-- those were easy. But there were aspects of "seeing" that she needed permission for.

[PixelatedGlory]

Oren had first thought she was making some sort of very strange joke. One that had clearly flown right over his head. She was blind, why was she asking if she could see him?

But then it had hit him. She wasn't actually talking about sight itself as far as he could tell. She didn't experience the world in the same way he or anyone else with "normal" sight would have. She didn't get to see the color of someone's eyes or the many little expressions on a person's face as they spoke.

"Um... I guess? At least I think I understand what you're talking about." In a world with magic he could never be entirely sure she didn't have some unusual ability or something. He slowly raised one of his own hands and held it near hers to give her a starting point. A reference for where he was that was more tangible than just aiming for where his voice seemed to be coming from.

Oren had very little to hide. He didn't think he was much to look at, personally, but who was he to judge someone for wanting to understand the person they had been traveling around with all day?

[DragonSong]

Shyla smiled, and it was a surprisingly soft expression. "Thanks."

Her fingers found his, exploring with a feather-light touch for a moment. Then she let her touch travel up his arm to his shoulder, brushing gently against his collar for a moment, before ghosting up his neck to trace the line of her jaw.

Her eyes were focused, unseeing, almost on his-- somewhere just beneath his own gaze, on his cheek almost. Carefully, she lifted her other hand to join the first, brushing her fingertips gently over his cheeks, jaw, nose, lips, up to his brow, even incredibly softly ghosting across his eyelids.

Eventually, she pulled back, smile still in place. "Thank you," she repeated with a little dip of her head.

[PixelatedGlory]

The soft smile on Shyla's face looked good on her. Oren figured she probably didn't get to smile like that too often if she was always worried about her packmates losing their lives earlier than they should have been. He was secretly glad he was, at least in a small way, a part of the reason for her smile.

He watched as she used her fingers to work their way up from his hands to his face. It kind of tickled and sent a shiver down his spine. "So, do you just remember what you are feeling right now or do you make some sort of picture in your head?" It was an idle question and though he was curious he didn't really want to interrupt her too much. Plus by that point she had reached his face and he felt like he should just keep still for a bit.

Oren stayed there quietly waiting as she finished the rest of her tracing. He closed his eyes well before her fingers neared his eyes and kept them closed until she pulled her hands back away. As he opened them he was glad to see she was still smiling. "You're welcome. All I did was sit here. I hope that helped you." The plate that had previously held food lay mostly empty in Oren's lap. His focus wasn't on it anymore as his hunger had been sated and he was starting to feel a little sleepy there near the fire.

[DragonSong]

The elven girl tilted her head as she drew her hands back and settled them in her lap. "It's...a little of both, I think," she answered his question carefully.

No one had ever actually asked her that before. She wasn't quite sure how to articulate her version of "seeing".  "It's sort of like...my eyes aren't my eyes, they're everything else. Sound, scent, touch..."

She shrugged again and returned her attention to the last bits of food on her plate. "Anyway. Eat up, you should hurry to get to bed. I'm sure the pack will want you helping the ill as soon as you can."

[PixelatedGlory]

So she had to have at least some memory of what she felt but that clearly wasn't the whole thing. As she described it apparently all her other senses combined to give her an idea of what was around her. It was very hard to imagine so Oren decided to not even try. He did however have something somewhat similar in a way.

"The closest thing to that I have is the way my gift lets me examine someone for wounds and injuries. I'm not actually looking with my eyes but feeling out with the tendrils of magic. Not exactly the same thing but..." He trailed off because it started to sound like he was trying to compare himself to her and he didn't like that.

Her comment about the food snapped him back out of it and he nodded before going back to finishing his own food. "Right, sleep sounds pretty good too," he said around the last few mouthfuls of food. Oren waited while Shyla finished her food and he was starting to feel his eyelids droop. If he had known where to go to lie down he would have done so but instead he needed to wait to follow Shyla.

[DragonSong]

"I've hear that," Shyla commented softly. "From other mages, I mean. That magic acts like a sort of sixth sense."

She was quiet a moment, then shook herself and got to her feet, holding a hand out in Oren's direction. "C'mon, I'll show you where you can sleep. And you should get as much as you can. You'll be needed quite a bit tomorrow, I should think."

[PixelatedGlory]

So she had met other mages before. Well Oren supposed that made sense. There were a lot of mages running around Serendipity so it made sense she would have met some of them. Plus if she was trying to figure out a way to break the curse on the pack then trying to meet with as many mages as possible made sense.

He watched her face as she was silent for a little bit and wondered if he had said something to upset her. She didn't really seem upset, but it did look like she might have been lost in her thoughts a bit.

Then she had suddenly snapped out of it and offered a hand to lead him to wherever it was that they were going to sleep that night. Oren took her hand with one of his while using the other to try to cover a big yawn. "That sounds good," he replied, feeling very sleepy from all the exertion of the day and finally having warm food in his stomach. "I don't think i'll have trouble falling asleep."

With that he happily followed along after Shyla. 

[DragonSong]

Shyla smiled a bit, but led him back to her tent in silence. They got more than a few curious stares as they made their way back through the camp-- she didn't need her Sight to know that, she could feel the pack's eyes on her back like a brand on her skin.

Putting it from her mind, she brushed the tent flap aside with the ease of long practice of knowing where it was and gestured toward her bedroll. "You can sleep there for the night, I guess. I'll use one of the spares."