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Halen woke groggily in a fit of shivers, nausea roiling in his gut. He blinked the crust from his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar clearing, curled against the trunk of a grizzled birch. His tail lashed as he rose shakily to his feet, fighting back the urge to vomit. The desiccated bodies of overripe fruit lay strewn around him like the sharpen from a battlefield. He was a mess. Another night spent in drunken wanderings, another morning where he had to claw with himself to get up and stumble home. Fragrant green grass stood in bunches all around him, but the thought of eating anything made his gut snarl in protest.

"Could stand to lose a couple pounds anyway," Halen grumbled, smacking his dry tongue against the roof of his mouth.

How many more times was he gonna do this to himself? He was too old to get drunk off of overripe berries. Too old to spend his mornings drenched in a hangover, almost as painful as the sting of guilt that fizzled back to like like the pins and needles of a sleeping limb. He had to get out of here, find a distraction to pull him through the day. Or more fruit. Whatever he stumbled across first.

Halen dragged himself dizzy through Homewood, head hung low, his mane and tail in a tangled disarray. He was parched and his head throbbed in pain. More fruit might be the better option, at list it'd wet his throat.

The sound of water sprang out of the wood like an angel's cry, beckoning him. Halen raised his head, squinting against the afternoon light filtering through the canopy. Where the frig was he? Near a river, he guessed, which meant he was ages away from the pitiful clump of trees he called his den. Might as well take what was given to him. Halen followed the sound, pace sluggish in attempt to stave off the headache pain and the nausea. Steam filtered through the air. He inhaled deeply, raising his head to enjoy the burst of warmth against his cheeks.

He stepped about between a thick row of trees to find himself at the base of a hillside, hot springs spread out beneath a quiet waterfall. He was really ******** lost. The steam stirred scents of noulicorns. This was someone's home. Too bad. He could do with a nice, long soak.

Halen slapped his ears back against his skull and stepped forward with a grimace. "Anyone out here?"

A pink doe rose from tending to the pool, catching Halen's attention only when she started toward him. She was petite, almost delicate looking in comparison to Halen, and a damn sight younger than him too. What was she doing out here? Was this fancy a** place her den? A home like this would mean she'd have prestigious parents, and Halen really didn't want to deal with the haughty upper class right now. His head was pounding bad enough without getting politics involved.

But he was wrong. She greeted him warmly and Halen raised his head, eyes wide with surprise.

"A spa, huh?" Halen glanced over her head, eyeing the steaming pools. "I could do with a good soak."

The steam was working wonders on his nausea. It had been a damned long time since he'd taken a proper bath, let his old bones suck up some warmth to calm their aches. Currency, in Homewood, was typically an exchange of goods and services, and Halen didn't have much left to his name. A shabby den and no permanent belongings to call his own, no occupation any more. But he did have access to fermented fruits and he could rough up a youngster trying to give those doe trouble.

"What services you offering? And what's it cost?"

"That's great, then, 'cause I don't have a whole lot to offer." He followed the doe with slightly wobbly legs, still dizzy from the fermented fruit. "Name's Halen, by the way."

It had been a damned long time since he showed himself an inch of kindness. The last few years were a whirl of imbibing and passing out, waking up to a sick stomach and a head cleaving itself apart from pain. But that pain was better than remembering what had happened. What Halen had done. He deserved what he was doing to himself. All that esteem and recognition he'd once garnered as a scout were gone, replaced with contempt from his peers. Jerram tried to come by and force him out of his funk, and it hurt Halen to tell his old buddy to screw off.

But he did. The shouting matches made his headaches scream worse. Nobody won those fights.

Guilt twinged at Halen as he stepped up into the pool, sinking into the heat with a long drawn sigh. He folded his knees and propped his head on the stones outside the water, shutting his eyes to the too-bright light. The water dug deep into his tired muscles and fought the aches in his bones, dragging them away with every exaggerated exhale.

"Friggin' A, this is amazing." Halen cracked an eye at the pink doe. "I tell you what, if you ever need anything fixed up around this place, I'll chip in."

Halen rarely had the energy to pull himself out of his den anymore, but this experience deserved to be repaid. He could get some heavy labor out of these old bones yet.

"I'd kill for some tea." The heat took away the pain, but tea would decimate his nausea. "How'd you dream up running a place like this?"

"You're a good kid," said Halen, sinking into drowsiness while the warm water blanketed him. "Your mom must be proud of you, huh?"

The mention of an absent father made his heart twinge. How anyone could give up the chance to be with their kids, Halen didn't get. Sure, as a scout he didn't have all the time in the world to spend with Axl, but he'd done what he could. His favorite part of the day had been coming home to his boy. Axl would leap at him, knocking knobby legs every which way in a practiced attempt at a sneak attack. Halen cried out in mock pain and flopped to his side, letting Axl tumble over top of him in triumph. Sometimes Halen was too tired for much else, but on those spare days he had to himself, he'd take Axl out to the edges of Homewood and teach him everything he could. And when work ate up all his time, he-

Halen cut the thought short. Taking Axl on scouting mission had been a mistake.

Dusty returned with the tea and Halen yawned, stretching out of the water to inspect it. The fragrant scent of chamomile and honey clouded his mind and made the pounding headache ebb to a dull throb. He sipped gently through the steam, letting the bittersweet taste roll across his tongue. He hadn't had tea in seasons.

"Frig, Dusty. This is the best s**t I've had in my mouth in ages." Bitter from the herbs, sweet as silk from the honey, probably the healthiest drink he'd had in a moon. He savored the tip in occasional slurps, resting his cheek on the stone. He watched Dusty as she worked, milling about the spa. It was a decent sized place, peaceful as all get out with that waterfall drowning outside noises. Dusty could easily ask for something in exchange for her services here. Best fruit outta somebody's garden, pretty flowers or jewelry for herself, knickknacks from the ruins. The kid was too kind. She could get taken advantage of like that.

"Do you get a lot of visitors out here?"

Axl never had the opportunity to discover his gift. Would he have been vivify like his father? Solar like his mum? Or something else, unique to him? The thought soured the tea sitting in Halen's stomach and the nausea returned. Halen peeled his head off the rock and squinted at his surroundings, noticing the flowers for the first time. The atmosphere was so serene he'd barely registered them before, certainly didn't put any stock into them, but it made sense that a botanic user would spend her time sprucing the area up exactly how she wanted it. Halen didn't give a crap about gardening himself. A bit of an outlier for a noulicorn, but not everyone had a green hoof. He liked people, not plants.

"Only the third one, huh?" Halen dropped his chin to the shelf and stared at Dusty with a thoughtful look. He didn't have the energy to socialize anymore, as much as he ached for company. Too many bad memories stirred up by good folks who didn't deserve Halen's snark. Doing s**t for himself was useless, but he could probably drag these old bones into doing something for this productive little filly. She deserved it. "I used to be a scout. I bet a bunch of my old patrol buddies would be all over a place like this."

Halen didn't want to chat with them, but he could drop a hint or two. Maybe visit Jerram to catch up on their inevitable once a month screaming matches.

"Ha!" Halen shot her a toothy grin. "I'll try not to, but what a way to go, huh?" Like drifting off swaddled in angel's tears. Halen swished his tail through the water, watching the knotted mess rise to the surface. He'd really been neglecting himself.

Halen perked up, concerned, as Dusty toddled off looking dour. s**t. Had some of his own funk seeped out and gotten into her? Halen tried to keep that stuff to himself, not... not necessarily to hide his emotions, he'd let it rip when he had to, but there was a great deal of stuff in his past he didn't like to talk about. Sometimes it snapped out in bursts of anger, but not against a sweet young doe like Dusty. She didn't deserve Halen going off the rails on her. All she'd shown him was absolute kindness, and here he was being a total a**.

Halen ducked his head under the water to wash away the last of his sleep grime, then pulled himself out of the pool. The steamy air kept him warm as the water dripped off him in hot rivulets. He shook himself off, splattering drops everywhere with his shaggy mane and tail. He spotted Dusty not too far off, with their cups scrubbed clean at her hooves. Her mood was a grey canvas, like Halen had sucked the color from her lungs. He cleared his throat as he approached, so as not to startle her.

"You alright?" The kid was sensitive to have picked up Halen's change of mood and been so badly effected by it. He didn't want to tiptoe around her but it sucked seeing her like this. "I was missing your conversation up there, but I think I've got my soak in for the day. I almost feel like a noul again, instead of something scrapped off the bottom of a hoof."

It was true. His headache had ebbed to a dull pain, unnoticeable unless he concentrated on it, and the tea had obliterated his nausea.

He glanced around the hot springs, brow furrowed. An idea came to him in slow coils. "I'd feel better if I could pay you back somehow. I could help you fix this place up, if you want?" She said it as new, so there must be some areas that were still a work in progress.

Halen wasn't the handiest guy around, but he could follow orders and do some heavy lifting where it was needed. As long as he wasn't in charge of making plans.

'There is much sadness in your life.'

Her words made Halen tense, nostrils flared. The urge to snark at her broiled deep in his gut. It wasn't her damn business what had happened in his life or how he chose to deal with it. If he wanted to knock himself out every night with fermented fruit, he would. If he wanted to chase the ghost of his son through the rickety platforms of the Ruins, he would. Who was she to decide- Her next fer statements cut his inner tirade short. Another vivify user, of course, and one who seemed empathically sensitive. Halen had the same sense, but probably to a lesser degree than Dusty if a sudden burst of sadness had effected her so greatly. He blew the tufts of ratty, overgrown hair out of his eyes and looked away, cowed.

"Some s**t stays at the surface," he answered, sullen. That was more than he wanted to bring up about the matter. He flicked his tail and turned back to Dusty, eager for the topic change. "Hey, I'm up to it."

He pawed the ground, flexing under-used muscles and shaking out his tangled mane in a facsimile of the show boating he'd done in his youth. He tossed her a toothy smile. "You got rid of my headache and the rest of me feels a hundred years younger after that bath. I'd be more than happy to help you out now, just point me in the right direction and I'll get those stones fixed up for you."

Halen followed her, feeling an unfamiliar spark of confidence dart cautiously into the open. It slammed full stop when he spotted the stone Dusty wanted him to move: Just about the length of Halen himself and nearly a foot thick, a stone like that could weigh a literal ton. His back twinged in pain at the sight of it.

"Friggin' a, Dusty, that thing is huge." Halen snorted. His tail flicked of its own accord, implying his agitation. He shoved down the sudden douse of inadequacy and forced that little spark of confidence back to the forefront of his mind. He was a big buck. He could handle this. If there was one thing he still had going for him, it was his imposing figure. It'd been a while since he tried to haul something so large, but he could always go for another dip in Dusty's pools if he strained something, right?

Halen steeled himself, squared his shoulders, and approached the stone. "But I'll get that b*****d moved for you, no problem."

His muscles were going to be pissed with him after this.

Halen eyed the mess of vines around the stone, following them up to the branch overhead. Would that hold? "Keep your nose out of the way when I lift this, I don't want you to get hurt."

With that, Halen gripped the vine between his teeth and looped it over his shoulders for better leverage. He back up until the vine went taut and leaned against it, testing its strength. It held, but tension reverberated down the plant. He gave himself a sharp nod, lowered his head, and began to pull. The stone was massively heavy and Halen grunted when the weight hit him, but he held fast. It crawled off the floor centimetre by centimetre as Halen eased himself away from it, digging his hooves into the dirt to keep his purchase. His legs shook with effort, his teeth gritted hard. But, eventually, the entire stone was raised up off the ground, just high enough to skim over the footings Dusty had indicated.

The branch creaked in protest and Halen gritted out," C'mon!"

It wouldn't hold for long.