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...Injured with pain and sadness, the you that cannot be healed
Shoulder the burden of the past that cannot be erased; don't throw away your will to live...

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The boy was breathing heavily as she ran. The temperature was getting colder with the time of year, and he could swear he saw saw his breath, if only faintly. He was making his way toward the bridge that allowed people to cross the river. It wasn't a big river, but it still needed a bridge. He wouldn't make it back to Eyris in time.. but maybe... he could still catch them... if what Rath said was true.

"You are.. close to Alihi, are you not? You were wounded fairly well, at the party, because you were guarding her daughter. .... ....Your wounds are healed. Alihi is setting up a party to go to Sentria and rescue her daughter. If you care for her, go. She will depart from the city gates very soon. ....You have something to protect. Make your brother proud."

He snapped out of his thoughts and focused on his path. "I will... I promise!"

After he had left the castle, he ran home as quickly as possible, to get his things ready. He got out of his fancy clothes and into his normal, more comfortable ones. He got all the things he needed. Healing items were especially an essential, for him. He traveled a lot, and knew what he needed. When we got all his items, he looked over to the corner of his room. His sword lay there. It was the wind blade that he used back in the spring. This blade had killed and wounded many people back then. Now he would use it to save somebody. Not stopping to think about it further, he strapped in on his back, and rushed out the door.

It didn't take him too long to reach the river. He looked around, but didn't see anybody at first. Was he too late, did they already cross? He looked back toward Eyris, and soon enough, saw the figures of a few people coming toward him. He had made it. "Alihi!" He called out, as the figures got closer. He could recognize a good few of them at this point. "Alihi!!" He couldn't wait for them to get up to where he was. He ran out and met her, and gently grabbed her shoulders. "Alihi...! You didn't tell me about this... D-don't you dare think you're going to help Amara without me, dang it! I'm coming, too!" He looked and saw quite a few faces. "..I know you have a somewhat large group, but... I'm not staying behind. Amara means a lot to me, too. And I will get her back for you! ..You can count of me."

Charice stayed more towards the middle of the pack, walking along with her pegasus behind her. She'd decided at the onset of the journey that it wouldn't be a good idea to ride--after all, they were in familiar territory, and she didn't want to tire Aph out from flying before they got to the border.
She just quietly listened to Deborah's tales of Sentria. Yes, they resonated with what she'd known growing up. There had once been a king of the desert nation, but alas, the land was very poor. Poor economy meant no jobs. When a man couldn't make a living by the hoe or the pick or anything else, he would choose to do so by the sword or the axe or the spear. Bandits came to choke the land, and the king was said to have been overrun. Nobody knew what had become of him.
They only knew that now, villages had to be constantly vigilant (and lucky) if they hoped to continue a meager existence. She'd known that at least one neighboring village way back when that had actually been sacked, burned to the ground, nothing left but sand and flame... and some pegasi that had been smart enough to escape when the sacking began. Aph was one of those pegasi--they had found their way to her village, and Charice volunteered to take care of her.
Now, it felt... a bit unfair, that her skill as a Falcoknight stemmed from the disaster of a neighboring village. It made her look quiet and sullen in the group, her eyes cast down to the road, a bit too lost in thought to appreciate such a motley band of companions--i.e., a gigantic lizard-esque man in a big wagon, an intelligent shambling corpse, and a veritable Simplicius to boot.

...Injured with pain and sadness, the you that cannot be healed
Shoulder the burden of the past that cannot be erased; don't throw away your will to live...

Charice looked up, wondering who had just addressed her.

...Huh. Empty air. Fancy that.

...Wait a minute! Didn't I see somebody on the way up?

Her head moved downward until her eyes were level with Blossom's.

...Oh.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. Err... no, she's fine," Charice replied, turning back to look at Aphrodite. The pegasus, getting the notion that she was the subject of the conversation, whinnied and snorted, then trotted over to the two women, nearly bowling her rider over with her left wing. "Oomph! ...Oh, Aph," Charice said, her eyes seeming to light up. "Ah, hahaha! I swear, it's like the moment she knows she's being talked about, she wants me out of the picture!"

Hey, she offered me food, Aph thought, unbeknownst to Charice. You fed me earlier and all, but I'm not passing this up!

"But no, she's fine," Charice replied (ensuing a loud BLAST! in Aph's thoughts a second later). "I fed and watered her before we left."

Then she turned to give Blossom an inquisitive look. "Her or him? Oh, you just tell the gender by looking, well, down below. They're just like any other horse, really. The only difference is the wings. In fact," she began rambling, "You can even breed them with normal horses, if you have no pegasus of the opposite gender. It's just that if you want the foals to be pegasi, you need the female to be a pegasus. Otherwise, the foals will just be normal horses. It's the female that makes them what they are, really. I found this out as I was raising her--sheer dumb luck, to be honest. My village had some horses of its own, and she was old enough! In between her and the other pegasi we own, my village... might have a decent-sized herd by now? I don't know how my hometown is doing..."

She finally stopped.

"Hehe, sorry. But yeah, if you don't feel like checking, this one's been a mother before. So it's a she."

Roy watched with a somber look as his Mother entered the wagon. Yes, this was for the best. The autumn sun, while it was no longer summer, was still giving off a summer-like heat. Ice-dragons wouldn't last out here for long without shade. When the sun would go down a little, he would be okay with her walking. But for now, riding the wagon would be best. At least she wouldn't be alone: Elly, Akihi, the Entombed, and Ganon (at the front) would all be riding along. The young lord tugged at the neck of his cloak, adjusting the apparel.

He then reached into his pocket and pulled out Darko before setting the little imp on his shoulder, near the hood. Darko was looking a little sleepy (probably because he was a nocturnal creature. Then again, he did pretty well in the morning on the way to the cafe for cake). The young lord adjusted the hood so that it would give the imp some shade so he could sleep. The all-too-familiar dark shroud appeared around the imp as he dozed off, giving the creature additional darkness for slumber. So much for asking his animal companion to scout ahead.

Roy then listened in on some conversations around him. He heard earlier about Sentria, and how now it was just a smattering of villages that were learning how to defend themselves against the bandits that plagued the land. Mercenaries would do well here, though the pay wouldn't be all too well, considering the place was...well, a desert. So if there wasn't a king anymore, he could expect there to be a weak government of sorts. Probably just a figurehead to give the country some security. The young lord wouldn't be too surprised if some bandits had staked a toll of sorts at the border. It would make entry into Sentria a little more troublesome though.

By now, most of the group had already formed little groupies to talk with to make the journey more bearable. This didn't really bother him. He wasn't really in much of a social mood anyway at the moment.