Blackfoot Forest Step by Step

Though she eyed him, Andalusia said no more. He at least sounded honest this time, and though his choices still rattled her, she let silence steady her tongue. Instead, she studied his wounds. They were dimmed by the moonlight, but they glistened where the fluid had yet to scab. She could only trust they would teach him beyond what words could say, and perhaps better. Hopefully the Caldera had someone who knew medicine better than she, and would know how to prevent the infection that could set in to any of his cuts. Sebastian had been foolish, but if he pulled through this, he would learn.

She kept an eye on him as they travelled through the night, as the moon shifted and marked the passage of time. When he offered his gratitude again, for what, the thousandth time? Andalusia had lost count, but she stifled the quirk of a smile and cast the youth a side-long glance to appraise him. "So I've heard." Death was a part of life, and would one day be Sebastian's fate as much as hers. But in odd twists, they were sometimes trusted with the reigns to save. The Stalikkahs had taught her how to act when that rarity came about by their own sacrifice. She could have passed Sebastian by, but when she owed her life to the grace of others, any thing more than helping him would have been like spitting in the face of the family who'd saved her.

"Anyway, enough of that." Andalusia murmured, more to herself than to Sebastian, and a nervous laugh echoed after her words. Her leave, though months before, still rubbed her. What she would give to be with the Stalikkahs again, and with her siblings beside her. But wishes like that were detrimental. She couldn't go back, and she turned the conversation to Sebastian again. "So, tell me about your pack. Conflicts aside, what are they like?" That would be enough to distract her from thoughts of her family, and was genuinely a topic she took interest in. Though the prospect of joining was out of the picture, there was no harm in learning. About their culture, their structure, their policies - anything Sebastian thought safe to divulge, Andalusia would take with keen ears.