The ocean rose and fell in a steady, crashing rhythm, the waves pounding the morning sands. The waves lapped up the beach as they struck, swirling the sands around the unmoving body of Hartsylla's only ranger.
A tiny pair of eyes fluttered open, and the faerie dragon resting in the white sands nearby raised his head, a wind-blown dusting of sand streaming from his scales like pixie dust as he moved.
He slowly pulled himself across the beach to the girl, his claws and tail leaving a tiny trail in the sand that was quickly erased as the thin line of water from the next wave spread up and over his feet. Reaching her limp form, he could see that she was breathing, though probably fast asleep in her exhaustion. Despite the girl's complete and rather reasonable panic last night, she had had a ranger's wits about her, and the little dragon had lost track of the miles she had carried him up the coast through the surf, where the sea's waves had erased their trail.
Feeling helpless, the little fae-dragon cooed to her, shaking her shoulder with his tiny claws. The crash of the waves was all that he could hear. The morning, and the previous night, all seemed so surreal, even to him, a faerie.
A man appeared, kneeling down in the wet sand and checking Bellendy over. The maow watched him in confusion, not answering or comprehending as the human--not one of Hartsylla, that he could recognize--rapidly asked questions as he turned Bellendy over, removing his heavy leather gloves to check her for a pulse and breathing and any injuries. The exhausted faerie-dragon just chirped in confusion as he watched the stranger, sickened at his own helplessness.
The stranger carefully but quickly gathered Bellendy up in his arms, her soaked nightgown draping down and dragging still in the sand. The man shouted hurriedly to the tiny dragon to follow as he carried the girl up the beach to a dune where a another draco-form stood perched against the morning breeze, a saddle on his back.
* * * * *
Giacomo waited as long as he could as Calley slept that morning, but realizing that the girl would probably sleep until noon without his interference, his will broke down and he gently shook her awake.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as she blearily rubbed her eyes.
"Like I got run over by a dragon..." was her yawning response. Nips burrowed deeper into the sleeping bag, refusing the light of day.
Giacomo offered to Calley her own light-weight metal bowl, which was a bit dented from where the kokot's jaws had crushed in on her backpack, but was still serviceable. The oatmeal it contained was no longer steaming, but still warm as it had been kept by the waning embers of the fire. Calley's appetite woke quickly.
"Have you decided, yet?" the ranger asked her, simply watching the girl as she ate. His sleeping roll was already packed, as were the dishes he'd used. Off a little ways, a shadowy form moved through the trees and bushes, Giacomo's Shadow-horse foraging through the wood.
Calley bit her lip, pausing in her meal.
"I can take you back, if you wish. You could recover in a real bed, with better food, in the saftey of your own home... if you wish to. Your test doesn't have any time limit."
Calley shook her head. "No... no, I can't go back yet," and she stared down at her breakfast. More quietly, she continued, "I have to keep going."
"Foolish," he replied, though softly and with a smile. After a long moment of silence as Calley ate and he stared off into the fire's embers, he stood, donning his hood and pack. "Easy on that leg of yours, Ms. Taylor... and Peiro, don't force your wing," he instructed softly. "Try to keep up the protein in your diets; I'm leaving you a bundle of jerky. Fairweather... and safe travels."
After nodding to them in farewell, he whistled lightly as he swept away, the horse-maow trotting over at his call. Calley watched, a bit surprised at his sudden departure as he rode away through the trees and down the mountainside.
Peiro was watching the ranger go as well, and he shivered visably. He remained quiet, however, chewing on a bit of jerky.
Calley took a deep and steadying breath, forcing memories from the previous day from her mind. She was finding it easy to keep her spirits up by reminding herself how lucky she'd been to survive with so few injuries. It would be hard on her bruised body to keep walking, with the bruises still twinging every now and again even as she sat and ate, but she had to go on. Her brother had been through worse. She couldn't give up yet.
After a time she finished her meal and packed everything away, tucking her dishes and sleeping bag into her re-sewn pack. She could see that Giacomo had finished repairing the backpack with his practiced stitches while she'd slept, and she gave the bag a half-smile, remembering that she'd forgotten to thank him. The straps of the backpack, which Peiro had cut through with a combination of bites and bursts of magical fire, had been repaired as well far better than she could have patched on her own.
Even though the patches in the fabric were of mismatching dark greens and browns over the original teal and lavender, Calley smiled at her pack's new look. It was like battlescars. She'd been through the wringer and she wasn't even technically a Jr. Ranger yet.
Nips was lethargic, and after extracting the erinacci from the sleeping bag, she wrapped him up in her towel and strapped the towel to the top of her pack in a jury-rigged carrying pouch. He remained silent through the whole thing, his eyes disfocused as he knew that they weren't headed back to the haven of home yet. He was completely uninjured but exhausted, and not long after Calley doused and buried the remains of the fire and started moving, he was sound asleep. Even before yesterday's accident, he'd been exhausted from the days of hard travel, and now he was emotionally exhausted as well.
Peiro flitted from treelimb to treelimb around her as she walked, keeping a keen eye and ear out as Calley warily wandered the forest on foot. They had another few days to go before they even would reach the Trail Lodge, and she was now more aware than ever before of what hidden dangers the forest could hold.
* * * * *
Bellendy awoke to a kind voice and a cool, damp cloth on her forehead. Her legs felt like they were on fire though, as they realized she was awake and began screaming at her for the stress she�d put upon them.
She winced at the pain, barely noticing the general stiffness of the rest of her body. She could smell sea salt, and felt sandy and damp, though wrapped in very warm towels. She attempted to sit up, blinking her eyes blearily, but a gentle hand pressed her back.
"Stay down, stay down..." the man said. She focused on him, at once suspicious as her mind caught up to her with the previous night's events. His was not the face of any of those she feared, however, and just for not being able to recognize him, her heart swelled in relief. She sat up quickly, tearfully, and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing.
His face went red. "Er... uh, are you okay?" he asked in confusion, clearly uncomfortable.
She continued sobbing.
"Ma'am, please, you need to lie down..." he said, his face afire with blush. He gently tried to pull her away, but she held tight. Her sobbing continued as she ignored his words, and helplessly, he looked back towards the door. "A little help here!"
A faerie-dragon zipped in, one different from Bellendy's own. Her wings were gossamer like those of a dragonfly, and her scales were dark blue. Bellendy's own faerie-maow friend followed, flitting in in a hurry and darting through the air to Bellendy's shoulder.
The blue fluttered over the ranger's shoulder, seeming to find mirth in his plight. Bellendy, fortunately, took notice of her faerie-friend long enough for the ranger to wrench himself from her grasp. She sat in bed, whimpering and choking down her sobs as she stroked her maow.
The ranger backed away, hoping to keep out of grabbing range of the girl. "Er... I found you on the beach this morning... what happened?"
She wailed and broke down into sobs again.
* * * * *
