Sun Mote Copse so rested he by the tumtum tree

Elfie rejected her offer to clean his wound. Sugar stared after him as he moved away, her face void of expression aside from a slight twist to her mouth. But she didn't insist. Swallowing the sigh building in her throat, Sugar forced her attention away from Elfie. Hopefully Wraen would take care of it for him when he went to inform the Sovereign of what had happened.

Bronco offered to support her and the drooping corner of her mouth twitched upward now. "Thanks, Bron," she murmured, taking him up on it mostly so he wouldn't feel blackballed too and not because she particularly needed it. Her legs grew steadier by the second and, thankfully, the tremors subsided.

Pressed together, supporting one another, the two of them shuffled away from the river, deeper into the copse. For a few minutes, Sugar could see Elfie up ahead, though he soon vanished into the trees as the gap between the two parties widened. Once they were safely out of view of the site of the calamity, Sugar sought out a sturdy elm and sat down beneath it, gesturing for Bronco to join her.

"I think I want to be a healer," Sugar said, apropos of nothing, critically eyeing her cousin. "Does anything hurt?" She hadn't been looking for this opportunity today but ever since Eljay's talk had stoked the interest within her, she had been hoping for a chance to "practice medicine."