But Screw Your Courage to the Sticking-Place

After agreeing to trust one another, Althea and Galen spent the rest of the morning into midday on the small hill with the large oak tree assessing their combined supplies. Althea remained off her ankle and continued to massage it and reapply pressure wrappings. Galen climbed the large tree to survey the base of the hill and paths around the area for Immortuos. There were some of them wandering in scattered places below them, no doubt having been drawn out by Althea. Not that they were searching for her consciously or with intent. They didn't have enough consciousness to do so. They were compelled towards a chase that faded in time, but the compulsion remained even if it was unfocused. Their bodies lurched and jerked forward in a grotesque, horrifying way. It was enough to fuel the nightmares of the living a hundred times over.

He also watched Althea from his vantage point and tried to read her in his own limited way. Galen didn't have the training to read a person in the same way that those gifted in learned Magic were, in the way a Healer or Enchanter were. But he had limited and natural skills to read people more than most others. He caught her becoming lost in herself multiple times. It was like she was there in body only, but her spirit was somewhere far away. The hardened parts of her were learned, not natural; her rigid movements, her timid and guarded glances in suspicion weren't something that fit well with her and the aura she exuded. The grace, the caring, and the gentleness – those were natural. And they were stunning and even alluring. Those parts of her have been with her all along and probably would a part of her forever.

Galen descended after midday and had gotten a better feel for the Immortuos and their movements. He walked over slowly towards where Althea sat as he could see her watching him still cautious of her new partner. He didn't blame her. Innocent souls like the one he could sense in her had their reasons to go against their nature. He'd like to know what those reasons were, though.

He sat down next to her and was glad of the coolness of the grass and shade of the tree. "Immortuos are circling the hill in small packs here and there, nothing dense, and nothing we can't avoid. They aren't attempting to tread the incline, so we're safe for now, and I think we should be ok when we decide to venture out."

"And when should that be?" Althea asked. It had been most of the day since he heard her talk; he had almost forgotten the kind of spell the music of her voice could cast. He stopped himself from a small laugh at his own childish reaction to it - just barely. What a joy it would be to know here carefree.

"Well, that all depends on you. How's the ankle?"

Althea rubbed her ankle to test the pain, and it was bearable. It still wasn't the best, but she didn't want to waste any more resources to it. "It'll do. I could run if I have to."

"I hope we don't need to." He looked at her worried. Everything about her made you want to protect her. But he reminded himself that she was a Healer, and she had made it a year alone in the Wild intact. She was far from a breakable glass ornament.

"After looking at our supplies further, I don't think we have enough water to cross the Shimmer Plain. We'll have to go an indirect route to find a river. Did you see one from up there?"

"I saw one, and it's some miles that way. We might get there before dark. But we certainly won't get back here before we have to sleep."

Althea thought for a moment, "Well, do you feel like we could find a good place to sleep in safety? It'll still be a fuller moon tonight, but I can sleep in trees."

"I can't quite do that. I've never found a way to balance with my center of gravity."

"Then we'll have to be careful to leave plenty of time to find somewhere or something that works for both of us."

Galen smiled inwardly as she proved her good nature. No matter what may have happened to this woman, she wasn't going to only think about herself. She would do all she could to make sure he would be taken care of, probably everyone she met as well.

"We should get started then," Galen said as he rose from the ground and extended his hand to help her up. Althea couldn't help but hesitate slightly. It had been so very long since she trusted someone, so very long. But the hesitation was only for an instant as she remembered the inherent good she felt from him, and took his hand. They were like two small children venturing out from home for the first time without the natural distrust found in adults; they may not know each other, but the trust, whether by nature or necessity, was certainly there.

They moved slowly and stealthily for a good portion of the day towards the direction of the river in silence listening to the air and feeling the earth for Immortuos and other dangers. Althea's ankle wasn't causing her anxiety half as much as when she could feel Galen watching her. His curiosity couldn't help him from watching her every now and then trying to figure her out. She was very good at hiding the fact that she knew he was watching her, so he kept on more and more as the day went on. Her movements were confident despite her small injury, and she was very skilled at navigating the Wild which wasn't much like other Healers who never ventured far from a village.

The more he looked, the more the mystery of this woman he traveled with grew and gnawed away at his brain. She became a delicious enigma that weighed on him heavier and heavier. She became a force that piqued his interest that pulled and destroyed his focus against everything else but her. He was lucky that she was focused enough on their destination and movements for the both of them, and he followed his new-found figure of inexplicable vulnerability and seduction.

Though he knew he would be straining the strength of their very new relationship and the trust they held, he found that the unknown about her nagged at him to the point of consuming his entire consciousness. The only way to move past it, was to know. And as fortune favors the bold…

"What is it you're running from?" Galen's words came out almost on their own. He even made himself cringe hearing his impertinent question, but what was done was done; what was said was out there.

"I don't really want to talk about it now. The sun is almost set, and we need to focus on a safe place to sleep." Althea didn't even look at him when she answered. She truly didn't want to live through the memories again. How would she be able to travel with this man after her story was told?

"I want to know. Why did you run? Was it that you lost someone? Althea?" He was so anxious that she would continue to ignore him and not answer. Then as he felt the fear coming off of her in the silence, he felt more anxious that she would.

"I…." How could she put herself back there? How could she face what she had been spending a year running away from and burying deep within herself?

"Listen I know it's not easy, but it might help if you talked about it. Are you running because you lost someone you loved?"

"Yes."

She was answering; she was actually answering. Perhaps the only way to move forward in strength was to turn to the pain and face it. Perhaps the only way to defeat the demons was to fight.

"Who?" Galen was concerned at the tone in her voice. And he was sorry for the misery he heard in it.

Althea turned around. He looked at her beautiful face that looked like something precious, something that had no business around misery. But he saw even deeper that knew this soul knew misery all too well. She was one that had lived in the heart of darkness and bathed deep in sorrow. What had he done?

"I lost myself."

They came across a place that they could rest for the night. There was a hollowed hill that could shield and hide them from the light with a large tree blocking the entrance. It wasn't the most ideal place to spend the night, certainly a far cry less secure than the large hill they had left with the sturdier oak, but they could make it work in shifts. Once they were situated in safety and spent some time assuring their security, Althea let out a sigh and faced her companion.

She was ready to tell him everything. It was true that though she had agreed to physically go back to do what she could to heal the hurt in the earth, she hadn't been willing to go back within her own spirit. In all honesty, she hadn't really thought about what going back truly entailed.. How ridiculous was she to think that she could honestly go back and avoid confronting her past?

She was about to fight her first battle in a war that was far greater than she could fear. Whatever came next, at least she knew this fight she could win. She would face all that had happened to her, all she had suffered, and in this way she donned her armor. What didn't kill her…