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That masculine voice pulled her from her trance. She made a small whimpering noise and used her other hand to move her sash and thus Telwren off to the side. The bloodied hand slowly dropped to her side but she was still so uncomfortable having seen her own blood. There was a reason she never learned to be a healer and her trouble with the red liquid was on the list. It was only when Uquin got closer to her did she dare to look down and see the damage done. The first thing she noticed was the tear in the fabric leaving jagged little edges of dark green. Interestingly enough the only blood that she could see from her angle was the few drops on the handle of her small knife that must have fallen from her fingers. It was so red it stood out against the rest of the hilts wrapping. “Please.” She had to look elsewhere rather than at the blood or she might get ill again like she had at the camps. Instead she kept her eyes on Uquin knowing he was a healer and trusting him with her wound no matter how small it was to him to her it was a horror.

The befuddled familiar hissed at them both from the sash but stayed curled up highly annoyed at all this disruption that was going on for its rest. It had been bad enough to have been suddenly jarred and having no support beyond that of the food giver. The hard loud place that moved had been a better fit than this and his food giver had left it to walk. How foolish

Following his instructions she still winced and her body jerked when the stinging slave was applied. A small squeak escaped her and her hand tightened on her sash and clothes she had pulled aside. Her eyes had teared up not used to this kind of lingering pain. His apology sounded more like words he was used to but she remembered he was a healer so perhaps they were. Still he was doing all this for her. She found she couldn’t met his eyes until he was standing again and looking right at her. The concern she saw there made her regret her thoughts over his apology. Nodding she finally let her sash go and let it slide gently back into place. Telwren stirred and bumped against her bandage but the slave that was there stung more than the bump.

She didn’t know he could heal things in such a manner though the idea of having it healed right away was tempting she would listen to Uquin’s advice on the matter after all he was far more knowledgeable on the matter than she was. The walk to Yera was definitely going to be unpleasant physically. Nodding again she realized she never actually thanked him. “Thank you. Sorry but after all the fighting.. even before it. I’m not very good with blood.” She knew her face was still pale from the feel of it and she still didn’t want to look down at her bloody hand. Bending down she figured she would place her hand on the sand and then be able to wipe it off rather than to waste water. Even though she was careful the action hurt and she immediately regretted it but she knew she couldn’t walk around with blood all over her hand much less into Yera with it. She hissed softly and stood back up wiping off the now soiled pale sand. “We should keep going I don’t want to be found by anything that can smell blood and has sharper teeth than Telwren has talons.” She made a grimace.

With the healer walking at her side Mella felt a strange sense of ease she wasn’t used to around others. She was surprised when he picked up her belongings. Glancing at him she opened her mouth to stop him since he needn’t do such a thing. His words stopped her. They could move faster if she wasn’t slowing them down. She gave him a waning smile. “Uquin once you get to know me you’ll find that getting me to stop talking is much harder than getting me to talk.” In fact the more worried she was the more likely she was to talk. Wringing her fingers she moved forward not really certain what to talk about. “What made you want to become a healer and how is it you know so much?” The fact he was skilled with balms was amazing enough but then there was the fact he could do magic as well. Uquin was amazing.

A grunt from Telwren made her look down. She fumbled about gently with her sash to check on Telwren. She worried he might have hurt himself along with her during the incident. It took a while to examine the sailscale but thankfully he wasn’t put up to much of a fuss just hissing when she poked him a bit to get him to spread his leg or wind depending. “Well that’s a bit of a relief.”

She gave a small shrug which she immediately regretted. It was true it was nice to talk to those who would listen but that generosity only stretched so far. There were a number of people who were willing to listen only to a point.

She listened intently. It was nice that Uquin had a purpose in his life so young. There were times Mella wondered if what she was doing was really worth it all, and yet she could see herself doing nothing different in life. She was surprised that he had discovered magic latter. She didn’t really know much about magic at all and always assumed it was something one was born with and then just refined. “You must know quite a bit then after all you handled yourself so well in the camps.” She nodded with a certainty about her. Uquin was skilled as she had seen recently.

Her skill? That was perhaps the sweetest thing she had ever heard. Only a shift from Telwren kept her on task with the rest of his words rather than letting her think over those lines and end up blushing furiously. She gave him a smile and moved her bag slightly to the side to show a small set of knives on her leg. “ “To be honest I’m more the kind to hide or flee but I could use this if I really needed to. I don’t usually travel alone. I go with groups and caravans when I can and when I can’t I am very careful.” The small knives were actually to cut and break down certain plants so she could use them in her paints but she thought if she were attacked she might be able to defend herself. It wasn’t quite something she really wanted to put to the test though.

Uquin seemed a bit ill at ease with her praise so Mella decided not to bring up his skills or gifts further. After all perhaps he had failed to save someone or his instructors where not quite a subject he was comfortable with. The part of her that loved to capture a story to draw was running wild with her imagination and it took some effort to control her questioning mind. Perhaps she should have become a lore collector instead though when it came to telling tales she often found herself frozen in indecision and fear of making a mistake. Uquin did relax as she went on which was nice. His stare was unyielding and make her heart pick up the pace it’s pace as she looked to the side of the path they were walking to hide her blush.

Uquin was a kind healer and gentle soul despite his fierce gaze. Mella scolded herself thinking it was very wrong to develop a crush on someone she hardly knew. Yet perhaps there was a blossom of one forming in her chest. His jest at Telwren made her laugh but she was careful not to look at him. “Well my little monster might not do them any harm if they offer him food.” Her fingers moved to her sash and slide down so they could stroke Telwren’s head through the fabric. There was a small grunt and shifting but no hissing or any sign of displeasure from the sailscale. She liked teasing her little companion but in truth the sailscale kept her company and make her happy even though at times she wondered why such an angry little beast was her best friend. Smiling at her stomach she risked a momentary glance to Uquin. “Umm you know even though this happened Telwren isn’t really violent he was just panicked about falling. Lazy, greedy and always hungry yes, but he’s really a good travel companion and umm.. well I guess I just don’t want you to think he’s mean because he really isn’t. It’s ok to tease him but I wanted to let you know I was only joking a bit when I called him a monster.” She hoped her sentiment go through since it was clear Uquin had little contact with sailscales on a normal basis from their conversation. She wished she had a sailscale like Inu to show Uquin but all she had was her irritated little Telwren.


(I'm sorry this was lost in my backlog during my break.)

Taking the time to ponder over Uquin’s words she had to admit they did make a good amount of sense. “True though as we both have seen people can be as bad as any wild beast. Some are timid, some flee, and some fight for reasons we don’t understand.” Uquin seemed disturbed by all this though and Mella felt some sense of guilt about the matter. “S-Still I.. I’ll be careful I promise.” Her hand went protectively over Telwren’s bulk hidden by her sash. How could she not wish to guard what was her closest friend and often only traveling companion. Those like Uquin didn’t just fall out of the trees after all.

Trying to defuse the situation she gave him a smile. “You know Uquin if you glare any harder my sash will catch on fire and you’ll have more than just a scratch to have to treat, and as sweet as you are I’d rather not have your hands all over me in that manner.” She of course meant it in a friendly joking manner, but a small part of her brain caught up after she said it and she realized how it could be taken in another context and blushed. She tugged at her sash self consciously and accidentally woke up Telwren.

The sail scale let out an irritated chirp and poked his head out to glare at the food giver. Again? Really she would never let him rest. Snorting he shimmed up the sash awkwardly balanced out by the food giver. Sniffing around he noticed the food bag was carried by the stranger food giver. Lazily he stretched out a claw and opened it and closed it slowly pawing the air in the direction of the sack. It was a very pathetic motion but it often got him a treat from the food giver and was worth it even if it made his food giver burst out in peals of high pitched noises and petting. The stranger food giver seemed tense and displeased but Telwren chirped again and repeated the pawing motion.

When Uquin was so flustered and stammering for a response Mella instantaneously felt more at ease. It was nice to know she wasn’t the only one who got flustered from time to time. She was still blushing, bthough now there was a comfortable smile on her face. Uquin was pretty cute. She was also relieved to hear his words. “Yes.” Her hair bounced as she gave a nod to him while holding her sash steady for the perched sail scale. “I know Uquin. I trust you; you’re as nice as you are cute so I know you’d never take advantage of anyone.” Perhaps that wasn’t the most tactful way to phrase it but it was the first thing that popped to mind and it was completely true, to Mella at least.

Uquinwas fun to watch and Mella made note of the different expressions he had so she could do some sketches latter. It was always easier for her to draw friends and she counted Uquin as such, well perhaps a bit more since she had something of a crush on him though she doubted it would go anywhere. Still all of his faces were adorable from embarrassed, cagey, and even mystified. Giggling she changed the hand she held her sash with to the one the arm Telwren was more or less perching on. With her now free hand she reached up and rubbed the base of the lizard’s skull drawing a lazy hiss of pleasure from him. “Well you do have the bags, which does have Telwren’s favorite thing in it. Food.” Batting her eyes innocently at Uquin she continued making it sound naive though she knew Telwren was just spoiled by her. “I did say he was a bit of a glutton in other words before. He has learned to do that when he is hungry, which is often though he never eats too much at one time. You should have seen him when I first got him. He used to gorge himself on food until he looked more like a ball and couldn’t even fly. Now that he stays with me he seems to know he can have food at most any time so he eats small bits throughout the day. I have to admit sometimes I’m not sure how he stays light enough to be carried in my sash, though he does exercise in the evenings.” That was a mild way to put Telwren’s bizarre behavior in perspective. Near dusk he would become highly active and chase away bugs and anything that moved that wasn’t Mella. She didn’t know if it was to protect his food, or his sleeping space but Mella was just glad she didn’t have to worry too much about bugs with Telwren around at night. She was tempted to tell Uquin how silly Telwren was all paranoid at night but thought better of it given his interactions with Telwren so far.

Infuriating! The stupid stranger food giver didn’t seem to understand. Cocking his head to look at his food giver chirped before looking back to the bags. It was clear what he wanted and he even made the motion. Telwren did not want to have to train another food giver. His was bad enough as it was and had taken too long to train to his wishes, he hated the idea of trying to train another. Glaring up at the currently non-food giving stranger he chirped irritatedly and repeated the grasping motion willing the dense creature to understand his desires. Food. Give me food.