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In the end, he hadn't needed to find anyone to assist him. Someone found him. He was barely through the thin gap in the rock before a hunched figure stepped in front of him, pulling a furry hood away from her face as Alek paused.

"Can I help you?" His voice was thin with nerves. He couldn't let anyone know that he had brought some unidentified Wind boy into their midst, especially not with a dead Ice and evidence of a scuffle outside.

"Stop thinking so hard, for one," the old woman said. "I'm here to help you."

"I don't need—" He licked his lips and looked away. Actually, he needed as much help as he could get. "How would you know if I needed help or not?"

"I saw you. And him. That hulking brute of a thing you brought in here. You think you're the only one who watches, who sees, but you're not. You're me, sixty years ago." He must have made a face at that because she cackled, looping her arm with his." I'll bet you don't even know who I am. That's where we differ, my boy. I watch what's inside and you watch what's out."

She had introduced herself as Dahou and told him that she had once healed the old King of Oba after he had been bitten by a raptrix, a story they both knew wasn't true. She was a gold mine of information when it came to frostbite, however, and when she produced a small, pot bellied furnace and rolled it through the caves to Kauff's bedside, she won a little piece of Alek's heart.

When the Wind awoke a short time later and grinned a sleepy grin at him, Alek smiled back.

"You're awake."

"Leave him be," Dahou said, shuffling over to Kauff and pushing his arm away from his face with a muffled scold. She returned to Alek's side and continued their whispered conversation as if she'd never moved at all. "He needs at least three days rest for that blow to the head. You did remarkably well for someone who doesn't know anything."

"What did I do?"

She shook her head and touched his arm with a smile. "That's for later. We've got a fugitive to save!"

And with that, she was off. Alek fought the impulse to follow, recalling what had happened the last time he had trailed after curious things. He had ended up with a... fugitive in his private sanctuary. He examined that fugitive now, sitting on the side of the pallet opposite the stove and resting his chin in his hands. He had no intention of joining Kauff in slumber, but it had been a long day. After a while, he couldn't help himself.

He knew where he was and recalled all that had happened mere hours prior, but beyond that the room remained shrouded in fog, Alek's mind refusing to be sharp as he sat up and yawned.

"Is everything all right?"

"Here," Alek replied. Thankfully, the pain bark Dahou had provided was close enough to grab. He reached for a strip and held it out to Kauff who immediately shook his head.

"Tastes like crap."

"How do you even know?" Alek was startled by how easy it was bolster his own response with the old woman's attitude. Perhaps they were one in the same. Emboldened by the thought, he held onto the feeling of authority that came with it as he continued. "I'll show you how angry we can be if you don't chew your bark." He chose to gloss over the fact that the Wind's slumber had been interrupted by recollections of his trauma, jealous of how seemingly easy it was for the other young man to shake off. If only he could have summoned some humor following his own attack. It would have made everything that had happened since so much easier.