Location:Off-World — Beastkin World (Capital Settlement)
Date/Time:Mid Emberwane, 9939 AZI (Day 4)
Realm:Nexus Mission
They left Rael sleeping in the grove.
Eden had stabilised him enough that three days without treatment wouldn't kill him — the infections managed, the dehydration addressed, the body's slow machinery of self-repair given the raw materials it needed to function. The Heartstone pulsed beside him, its dim rhythm fractionally stronger since Reiko's presence had entered the grove. Not healed. Held.
"Stay," Jayde told Reiko. Through the bond, his objection arrived before she finished the word — the predator's resistance to being separated from his bonded partner in hostile territory.
[No.]
"A lion-sized beast in the capital draws attention we can't afford. Two unblessed travellers are invisible. Two unblessed travellers with a beast the size of a war mount are a spectacle."
[I dislike this logic. It's correct, but I dislike it.]
