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"Perhaps we can discuss that with Kyrie when we have a moment," Daeron said grimly.

Andarien cleared his throat to get the adults' attention. "Um, Ada? Ada-tol? Kyrie needs Kaito and Shiro moved into their tent so that they can rest. But she's busy with the other two so she can't do it right now ..."

Earendil blinked and glanced at his brother. "Right, we'll take care of it right away."

He smiled and put one hand on Andarien's arm. "Thanks." And with that, he and Daeron headed over to help the nekos.

Iorlas looked at Andarien and Miyuki. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?" she asked softly.

"I'd appreciate some help with mine," Iorlas admitted with a relieved smile. "Thank you. It looks like Wren and Lancaeriel are already working on theirs, too."

Which only left the tent for Lin and Earendil and their family.

"I'll help you, Nana," Andarien offered, "if Miyuki doesn't mind helping Aunt Iorlas."

Iorlas gestured towards the tent that had already been erected.

"Why don't we just set them up in a circle around the fire, like we usually do?" she suggested. "It's familiar that way, and we're all by the fire then."

She knelt down and opened her bag which, like the others' bags, had been runed, and pulled out the rolled canvas that was her and Daeron's tent.

With Andarien and Lin working together, and Miyuki helping Iorlas, it wasn't long before all four of the tents were up, and by that time the two strangers had long since left. Shiro and Kaito were put into their tent, and Lancaeriel offered to sit with them, remarking jokingly that it was someone else's turn to cook anyways.

Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on how one looked at it - it was still very early in the morning, since they had started the climb so early, and they still had most of the day ahead of them. Andarien trained with his Pokemon, reasoning that especially now that Zeus had grown, he needed to learn more about his abilities, but Shiro and Kaito, who would have been able to answer most of his questions, were out of commission and he was more or less on his own. Kyrie disappeared for a while without saying anything to anyone. For the rest, it was a quiet morning, and they simply took the opportunity to rest from their massive climb. A little past noon, Kyrie returned with some flowers and mushrooms which she crushed into a powder and added water to make a paste before bringing it in to Kaito. Within an hour, Kaito was almost back to normal, though he was far quieter than usual. By nightfall, Shiro had also awoken and, arm in a sling, insisted on joining the others by the fire.

"You're sure you can handle it?" Iorlas asked Shiro anxiously as he sat down beside his brother beside the fire. "I really think you ought to follow Kyrie's advice and rest up some more before you move around ..."

Shiro was still pale, and as he sat he jostled his shoulder slightly, and winced. "Forget it," he said quietly. "I just slept the entire day. I'll go back in there soon and sleep through the night, but for now I just want to sit up, get some fresh air, and have something to eat."

"Agreed," Lancaeriel spoke up as she also took a seat near the nekos. She had been sitting with them all day, and she had also thought it a good idea for both of them to join the others by the fire. "It's a good sign that you want to eat, Shiro, and if you could convince Kaito also to eat, that would be even better."

Her opinion stated, she turned to Miyuki to see what her student was up to. "How's it going there, Miyuki?" she asked her softly.

Shiro smiled at Lin. "I hear you helped fix me up," he murmured. "Thanks for that."

Lancaeriel tapped her lips slowly, thoughtfully, with the tip of one finger as she considered the problem. Of course, it would probably be too dangerous to try it with one of the Pokemon - if something went wrong, it could hurt them, or possibly lose them entirely. Still, it would require some experimentation ...

"And I don't suppose you could try it with an object rather than the Pokemon," she mused aloud. "At least with an object, if it returns you know it's safe to test it with a Pokemon."

The question then would be, if she did send an object, would it be possible to send a Pokemon the next time? She knew Miyuki had been trying to make it so that each ball would work on only one of the Pokemon so that they were personal rather than randomized.


Shiro's eyes gleamed in the firelight. "So am I," he murmured. He glanced at Kaito, then leaned over carefully and put his good arm around his brother's shoulders. "And I'm glad you're all right, too," he told his brother sincerely.

Kaito flicked one ear, though he kept his eyes on the fire in front of them. "Fat lot of good I was," he muttered. "First sign of trouble, and I was completely useless."

Lancaeriel smiled softly at Miyuki. "There you go, then," she murmured. "And if it works, then you can try it with a Pokemon and ask Andarien to ask them what it's like in there. Then you'll know for certain."

Their conversation was interrupted when Wren brought them some of the supper that she had prepared.

"Here you are," she told them, handing each of them a plate with rabbit stew on it. "Don't judge it too harshly, it's been a long time since I've done any cooking, and I'm almost entirely self-taught from when I used to travel."

She grinned at Lancaeriel. "I'm sure everyone will be eager to have you back at the fire tomorrow."

Lancaeriel laughed softly. "Well, we shall see," she grinned.


Kaito flicked his ear again. "I shouldn't have been," he said flatly. "We came up, all three of us, to help each other in case something happened, to scout around and make sure that it was safe for everyone. And instead of helping, I made things harder. And I shouldn't have been so shocked by it! I've seen blood before, I've dealt with wounds before ..."

"But not on me," Shiro interrupted his brother calmly. "Sometimes it's just the shock of who it happens to. Or maybe it was that it was so unexpected, I mean aside from those deer there was nothing going on up here."

Lancaeriel had already explained to him what had happened, so he wasn't laying blame anywhere. And if he wasn't going to blame the people who had actually shot him, he certainly wasn't going to blame his brother for being so surprised by it that he had gone into shock.

"You're welcome," Wren smiled at Miyuki. "I'm going to bring some to the others now. Enjoy."

And with a wave, she went off to serve the others. Lancaeriel spooned up some of the stew and blew on it to cool it, then took a tentative bite. She savoured it for a moment, contemplating it, then murmured, "It's not bad ... perhaps some herbs could have brought out some more flavour, but it's not bad at all."


"Besides," Shiro added, "now that you've seen me injured, it won't ever be as shocking again, right? So you can be confident that if it happens again, you will be able to help."

Kaito finally looked away from the fire, his pupils growing wide as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. He looked from Lin to Shiro, then sighed softly. "I only hope you're right," he muttered. "I spent so much time learning to fight, learning the old ways ..."

"It's just fortunate that it turns out Kyrie is also a skilled surgeon," Shiro added with a relieved grin. "A nice surprise. Luk and Cantor never mentioned that when they said she would be an excellent guide around the continent."

For the first time since he'd joined them, Kaito half-smiled. "I can't help but wonder what other surprises she has in store," he said dryly.

He'd heard about how she had started climbing the cliff without the ropes. Climbing, fighting, doctoring ... she had quite the repertoire of skills at her disposal. And there was still so much that the group didn't know about her.