Sunspire Mountains all the butterflies have turned to vultures in my stomach

Riley had no words for the backflip his stomach did as Tiercel brushed past and then besides him. He caught none of the guile in the way she gasped, or the almost-campy manner in which she flounced to his side and put forth the idea she would accompany him. 

He was simply the marionette, and she the controller -- all it would take for Riley to do anything at Tiercel's behest, was for her to simply state she wished it done. 

It was a very real possibility this arrangement might get him killed. To Riley, it was no matter, for he did not think of it -- all he thought about, was that if he was good and did what she wished, that maybe she might praise him again, or give him the validation he so desperately needed. 

He slid his gaze to her in wonder, unable to hide that the prospect of her company was truly what fueled him forth. Okay. The boy replied oh-so-fluently, beginning to limp forward -- back to the trail where his blood demarked his exodus from the willows.