Nich sighed softly in relief once he'd removed his prosthetics and gently lain them on the floor. He lay in bed, massaging where the prosthetics met his legs for a few minutes before turning on his side to go to sleep. "G'night, Rowan…" He murmured softly. It only took him a few minutes to doze off into a quiet, comfortable sleep.
Rowan would have wished him a good night, but that was physically impossible since he was looking away from her and she couldn't speak. She let out a small huff as she took out her notebook and continued to work on the potion. She stayed up a little while longer in order to let her potion last as long as possible before she eventually started to feel tired. Rowan yawned, took her potion, and then laid down to fall into a fitful sleep.
Nich awoke somewhat early in the morning and stretched, yawning. He rubbed at his eyes a bit before he fetched his prosthetics from the floor to reattach to his legs, and then stood up once they were connected securely. He rifled through his things to ensure he hadn't lost anything on the way, and once he was sure he had everything, he looked over his shoulder to check on Rowan.
Rowan was tossing back and forth as her nightmare got worse and worse. She whimpered slightly as in her nightmare, her memory, the man was chanting a spell and a glowing ring appeared around her throat. Ash was just standing there watching in the background with that stupid look on his face that told her 'I warned you this would happen if you tried to leave'. Rowan struggled against the man restraining her as her throat felt like it was being torn out of her body. A scream tore out of her mouth as a bright light filled the scene making her shoot up from where she had been laying on the bed, blood dripping down from her mouth.
Nich looked concerned as Rowan tossed and turned in bed, and he took a couple steps closer to her. Should I wake her? Would that make it worse? I wouldn't want to get either of us hurt… However, his thoughts were interrupted by Rowan screaming and jolting awake. He jumped and yelped, tails bristling, but rushed to assist Rowan after he'd recovered from being startled. "Ah, Rowan? Are you alright?!" He asked worriedly, swiping some of the blood away with his thumb, but only growing more anxious at the sight of it. Something was definitely wrong.
Rowan tried pushing him away as she coughed up more blood. Her mind was still racing from the memory and she moved away from the man. Her eyes scanned the room and she quickly realized that she wasn't in her home. And the man wasn't one she recognized. As her mind calmed and she began to come back to reality, she realized the acidic feeling in her throat was still there and her cough wasn't going away. She glanced at the man rowan now recognized as Nich and quickly wrote to him, I need one of the glowing violet potion in my bag. Quickly.
Nich's heart was racing, and he was clearly stressed, but he still managed to fulfill Rowan's request. He fetched one of the potions and handed it to her. Of course, he'd been in stressful situations before, but this was different. His companion was in danger, and he didn't know what was going on or what do to. When he was the one in danger, he wasn't nearly so worried. "A-Are you okay? Sorry, that's… um… probably a stupid question. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Rowan took the potion from him and immediately popped the cork off. She waited for a moment where she wasn't coughing and downed it in one swig. Immediately she could feel the effects on her throat and her coughs began to lessen. As she let her throat calm down, coughing ever so often she wrote out to Nich in shakier than normal handwriting, I'm fine. This is a pretty normal thing for me and you can't really do much to help. sorry.
Nich nodded hesitantly, still looking pretty pale and concerned. This shouldn't be normal for her, but there wasn't anything he could do to help her. It had to be painful, as well, for her to be coughing up blood. "Don't apologize to me, Rowan… you haven't done anything wrong. I just don't want you to be suffering if there's anything I can do to prevent it."
Nich nodded hesitantly, still looking pretty pale and concerned. This shouldn't be normal for her, but there wasn't anything he could do to help her. It had to be painful, as well, for her to be coughing up blood. "Don't apologize to me, Rowan… you haven't done anything wrong. I just don't want you to be suffering if there's anything I can do to prevent it."
You can't do anything to prevent it. I can't do anything to prevent it, Rowan wrote out a little sadly. A slight frown was on her face as she went to wipe off what blood was still on her face and glanced down at the sheets seeing them also stained with blood. She looked back at Nich, The potion mitigates the pain, but it's all I can do.
Nich sighed softly and scratched behind his ears, looking uneasy. He didn't like that Rowan was in so much pain, and he really wished that there was more he could do. "There's no cure or anything? Nothing but a temporary pain relief?" He asked, his voice quiet and sincere.
Nothing but that, Rowan confirmed. There was a cure, she recovered what was stolen from her. She shook the thought from her head. She would get it back eventually, but right now she needed to focus on making Nich not concerned about her, It's not a disease or anything like that. More of a curse, that I can't counterspell.
Nich nodded, his ears turning back for a moment. "Alright… I'll do what I can to keep you comfortable. Are you okay to get on the road now?" He asked. "We could always just get one horse and ride on the same one. Then we may be able to get there faster." He thought aloud, hesitating before going to grab his things.
I can continue to walk, Rowan protested as she went to grab her own bag and hat. She didn't need to be coddled any further, she had plenty of that already. After a moment she realized it might be smarter to go quicker than slower, If you think taking a horse from here would be a good idea, then I'm okay with it.
"I know! I don't mean to say you can't." Nich insisted, flushing lightly. "I just figured it would be good to get there sooner, and we sorta mentioned it in passing yesterday, so… and only getting one would be cheaper and faster, since we could theoretically get to a canter. I'm familiar enough with riding horses that it would be okay I think, but it would still be faster even if it was just walking."
Then let's go get a horse, Rowan agreed with a happy smile. She didn't think she would be riding a horse so soon after only talking about it yesterday. She adjusted her hat and then gestured to the door, Ready to go?
"Sounds good. And yeah, I'm ready to go whenever." Nich threw his bag over his shoulder and led the way out of the room. He thanked the innkeeper for letting them stay and then headed out to look for a place where they could rent a horse.
Rowan followed him around town looking for a place to rent a horse. She stopped writing entirely being self-conscious after her nightmare and what followed. She adjusted her hat ever so slightly before tapping her thigh. She spotted a stable in the distance and quickly tugged on Nich's sleeve before pointing it out to him.
Nich kept looking around for a while, and he looked over when Rowan tugged at him, turning his attention to where she was pointing. "Oh, good! You found one! Thanks." He smiled and led the way over to the stables, which took a few minutes. After talking with the stable's keeper for a few minutes, he found a suitable horse for he and Rowan to borrow.
Rowan stayed silently by him the entire time and once the horse was brought out for them, she instantly took a liking to it petting the nose of the horse. A peaceful smile took to her face as she gently petted the horse. She looked over at Nich after a moment, Ready to go?
"Yep! Let's get going." Nich paid and led the horse outside. He swung himself into the saddle and held his hand out to Rowan to help her get on. "Riding horses is pretty fun once you get used to it, actually. I'm sure you'll like it just fine. And getting there faster is always a bonus."
Rowan took his hand and let him help her get on the horse. She took a second to get adjusted to sitting on the horse before she began to write out to Nich, So, how do I stay on the horse now? You have the reigns, but I have you?
"Yep, you have me. Hold on tight!" Nich grinned before kicking the horse's side to get it to start trotting. He positioned himself so he was slightly above the saddle so that he'd be more comfortable.
Rowan felt a yelp tear from her throat causing a cough to follow as her arms wrapped themselves around Nich. She had a bit of a smile on her face as she adjusted herself on the saddle to match Nich better. She didn't even dare to think of writing.