Welcome to Gaia! ::

Janatheil shook his head, not even waiting a pause before doing so. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” He glanced up, towards the steep incline of the crater and the far up lip, and then back down to his company. ‘Think, think, think, Janatheil, you’re no fool — surely there’s a way to—’ He squinted, flitting his wings restlessly as he eyed the rock again. “How sturdy is your ice? Think you could make some stepping points, or a ramp or somethin’? If I’m gonna be carryin’ you…most all I need is some pushing points. My wings can do a good bit of the rest…”

Janatheil nodded. It would have to do. Between the platforms and his wings, he at least hoped he could get the younger boy up. Somehow, he would figure it out. When he eyed Asi’wi again, he hesitated, eyes trailing over him and trying to work out how best to lift him without damaging his leg further.

“So,” he said as he leaned in, looping one arm carefully under Asi’wi’s legs and bracing another at his back before lifting. “Do I get kiss for my heroic efforts? Or does my fair lady still balk at the thought?”

Janatheil chuckled.

Without pushing it, he let the topic rest the moment, moving instead towards the rock ledge and scoping out his options. After planning his method of ‘attack,’ he drew a breath, stretched his wings, and pushed off. Nominally, his wings were now enough to carry at least his own body for short distances. Carting another person’s weight around was another story, but between the multiple breaking points wherein he could catch his weight on Asi’wi’s ice ledges and still his descent before leaping again and pushing with his wings, the push was rough — but he made it, breathless and sore in the wings by the time the two of them were solidly over the top ledge.

Shoving aside the soreness — in near all of his muscles at this point, for that matter — he moved them further in before going over towards a cavern wall and using its support to help Asi’wi down, at least onto one leg. Before pulling away, however, he lingered, face close to Asi’wi’s and the smaller boy’s back propped to the cave rock.

“Don’t worry, snow fairy…” He leaned in, touching their noses and hovering with his lips a fraction of an inch before the other’s, close enough that he could feel Asi’wi’s exhale. “Even I’m not so low as to steal the first kiss of an injured brother at arms. Maybe next time.” With a shift, he tilted his chin up, pressing a gentle kiss not to Asi’s lips, but to the tip of his nose, before pulling back and offering an arm for the other to grip as support. “We should find a place to settle, maybe nearer to our hastars…and hope there’s no more surprise company buried even deeper that wants to come out and visit.”

The storm was not over.

After pleasantly noting Asi’wi’s reaction to him, Janatheil mentally tucked the information away for later and the two made their way back towards their hastars and the front. The situation outside, however, looked as foul — or worse — than when they entered and, figuring their bets were safest holing up for the time being, Janatheil lead their mounts further in with them and coaxed them into laying before settling his back against one, side by side with Asi’wi. Though he wasn’t a healer himself, both of his parents were, and he had in the past assisted with at least some basics. Asi’wi, too, had a healer mother, and between the two of them, the concept of at least setting the leg and splinting it — while painful — was managed. Using the small trickle of innate magic and first-aid basic aedaun spellwork he knew, Janatheil provided at least a small mitigant spell for the pain.

After, they waited.

Conversation, basic at first, trickled out to silence, and as the hours dragged on, Janatheil worked to fight his growing shivering and the oppressive, building ache of fatigue settling over him.

“Nn.” Janatheil grunted. “It’s cold, and I…”

He trailed off, frowning and forgetting — for a moment — the tremor to his teeth or the dull weight of cold seeping through him. Instead, he reached out, gloved fingers hovering an inch over Asi’wi’s skin. A moment after, he huffed, breath white as he gripped the offered clothes and worked with them as best he could. Once the cloak was layered over him, though, he pursed his lips, and touched the tip of a finger to Asi’wi’s skin.

As an orderite, healing magic was innate within his energy. Of course, not all orderites could heal — lacking the knowledge to even call on their magic — and even with the knowledge, Janatheil’s casting was rudimentary at best. A pebble in comparison to the mountain of power that was an experienced mage in the field. But he understood some, and he called on it now, murmuring a simple spellword and weaving what he could out to seep into the bruised area and, at the very least, numb the pain.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Seems I did a fairly s**t job lookin’ out for you.”

“Doesn’ matter,” Jana mumbled, not entirely sure by that point whether he was answering the ‘I didn’t ask you to look out for me…’ portion or the ‘Are you alright?’ portion. “Doesn’ matter, I was supposed to, and I didn’t proper and you got hurt. Yeah, you should have listened, but…still my job…’cause. It is…”

Shivering again in spite of himself, he leaned over, propping part of his weight to Asi’wi’s shoulder and shutting his eyes.

“M’gonna protect you…was supposed to protect you…you’re so small…”

“Nnh…” Janatheil shuddered, tucking in and frowning. “‘Cause…hunting…getting to know you and s**t…and it wasn’t my fault…” He breathed out. “They’re fault…I think, they say things and then they get excited and bad things happen, it’s so cold…” He sank, shifting to drop and lean his head instead against the thigh of Asi’s unbroken leg. “You’re really cute, you know…really cute…”