Chapter 312

Layali watched Zesshi drift off to sleep after their chatter was done, the woman never did properly answer the young girl's questions, and Layali was clever enough to notice the oversight. 'For someone so much older than I am, she's really terrible at lying. Maybe that's a good thing.' Layali thought, the sewing up of her wounds made sense, the wraps made sense, but the burn mark on her thigh that had a fleck of metal against it, stuck in place like a splinter until she herself plucked it out? That made no sense at all.

Layali glanced around their little camp, Brain's sword was in place, 'He used that to kill the monster, he's never without it.' She told herself, but then did a double take. 'It's not in place. He keeps it nearby, it's several feet away, he always holds that tighter than my owner held my mother…' It didn't occur to her to feel disgust at her analogy, it simply 'was' and so it also 'was' when it came to Brain and his attachment to that sword.

She approached the scabbard and took the hilt in hand. 'No way.' She thought, and drew it.

The sword was all but gone, only a broken off fragment remained that made it more like a knife with a long hilt than the sword it had ever been. 'Where's the rest of it?' She wondered and began to meander about the camp, though she didn't come 'too' close to the water again, she saw what she sought. The darkness was no meaningful impediment to her vision at such a short range.

There on the bank was the mangled, broken remnant of a blade that had been touched by heat like a smith's forge.

It was little better than molten sludge now, bent and ruined. She took a long look at the blade, then down at the wound on her thigh, then down at the blade again and back to her thigh. 'He gave up his sword, he must have heated it somehow, that's why… he didn't brand me… but without his sword…' Layali's eyes filled with tears of bitterness and happiness alike.

Having walked this far already, she could only guess at the distance he'd come before now, half the world, for all she knew, and now she looked at the ruined blade tossed away like garbage, the hilt alone, and a scrap of stuff broken off and resting now in her hand as a mute testimony to what was thrown away. She put the fragment back in its place, sheathing the pathetic remnant of the sword again so that it still appeared to be whole. Then she returned to her place at the little campsite and lay down to stare at the blanket of stars in the sky until the sun rose again.

It was morning when the others got up, but Layali had not gone back to sleep. Her eyes were open when the sun began to shine again, and when the others began to rise. "We need to get moving." Brain said as soon as he was up. He went about breaking down the camp with practiced efficiency, and to Layali's surprise, Zesshi went about the same process as Brain, but without asking for directions. 'He must have taught her while I was unconscious.' She realized, and seeing how quickly they worked, she tried to do the same, only to find they both ceased to work as soon as she moved.

"No. You'll rupture your stitches." Zesshi pointed out, "that thing had a lot of teeth." She pointed to the firepit where, thanks to the light of day, she saw the gray teeth which blended in with the ashes. Ugly, vicious, serrated things, they were like small knives, and she couldn't help but remember the way they stabbed into her body in a dozen places so recently.

Layali's hand touched one white bandaged spot and she shivered involuntarily. "Al-Alright, I'll try not to slow you down too much, if I fall behind…" She began to stammer out, but Zesshi waved it off.

"No, I'll carry you and we'll go at a quick jog. Brain said there's a town not far from here, and before you know it we'll be over the border." Zesshi said and after they shoved their goods into his pouch, the older half elf approached and knelt in front of Layali with open arms.

"I won't drop you." Zesshi promised with a wink and an encouraging little smile, and the young girl hobbled into reach of the embrace.

Layali felt the warmth of arms around her, and recalled the ferocity with which the taller halfling tore apart the tentacles of the river monster. 'Overwhelming strength…' She thought, and wrapped her arms around Zesshi's neck.

"Alright, let's go, I'll need to stop to buy fresh herbs and… other things, and then we'll move on." Brain said, and with that, they took off at a steady, constant jog.

Layali winced a little at first as Zesshi's 'jog' became rather faster than the word was usually used to mean and her wounded limb bounced around, but it ceased when she wrapped the legs around Zesshi's waist to steady herself, and when the wincing stopped, the pace picked up.

Layali looked down and watched with disbelief as the dirt became a brown blur beneath her feet, and out of curiosity she turned her head to try to catch sight of Brain who set the pace in front of them both. 'He really is strong…' The young girl thought, and the breadth of what he could have done versus what he chose to do, hit hard. Contrasting Brain against Cerebrate was a study in opposites in her mind, and the more she thought of it, the more she realized, 'I don't want to leave Brain…'

The prospect of being left somewhere safe after he successfully faced and killed her former tormentor, held less appeal than it did before. And as that train of thought continued, she had to wonder… 'Where could he even leave me that would be safe…? An orphanage? Nobody gives a shit about children with no parents.' She mentally sneered at the very idea, having heard the gossip about adults who died and how their estates were divided up without regard for heirs whenever possible.

'Would it be so bad to just… wander with him? I can keep the camp for us, maybe not help him fish… for a long time, but otherwise. I'll be able to walk properly again soon, I can work when we travel. I don't need much… just some food and maybe a bedroll. If he teaches me what I need to know, I don't see why I should have to leave at all. I'll suggest it again when we stop to rest again.' Layali began to privately catalogue the advantages of staying with him, martialing all her wits and talents for the inevitable moment of confrontation when she would have to say to him, "I don't want to go."

She was still at it, though was running short of ideas, when the low wooden walls of a border town appeared in front of them.