Blackfoot Forest Step by Step

He took a moment to respond, a bad sign, and Andalusia raised her brow when he agreed to carry on. As much as she wanted to keep walking, Andalusia flicked her gaze across him, her head half-canted and eyes narrowed. He certainly held himself better than the evening before, but if he could last through the entire night, as he seemed to have taken her "few more hours", well, they would see in time.

Andalusia lingered on him a moment longer before she jerked her head in a single nod and pressed forward again. "Alright. Great." The sooner they arrived at the Caldera the better, and while travel by moonlight would tax them mentally, they had a better chance of moving through the meadow and past the dark forest unseen.

The moonlight seemed to quicken them, and Andalusia welcomed the change. All around the crickets played through the whistle of the summer breeze, and the world stretched in every direction, solid and calm. For a heartbeat she closed her eyes and willed herself to remember why she had chosen this life, the path of a wanderer. With the silence it was easy, until Sebastian broke the atmosphere again with talk of home, and Andalusia's memories flooded again.

She turned her gaze upon him and dwelt in the silence for a few extra seconds, but his mere presence chased her reassurance away. Her brow twitched, but she allowed an easy grin to remain on her lips. The shadows would conceal her now. "If we keep this speed, there's a chance we will." She paused. So far she had kept from prying, but under the cover of darkness, she held less reserve. "So what happened between your pack and the Rise, anyway, to make them so hostile to you?" He had said something about a father and a daughter, but if he'd mumbled anything beyond that, it had been lost to matters more pressing at the time.