Elayra’s brows rose when Ghent’s focus returned to the conversation at hand, the first words out of his mouth still weighed by his distraction. 
	[b]“Follow me.”[b]
	Elayra nodded, then obeyed, walking beside and slightly behind him as he headed for the main road. She continued to use the bow as a short walking stick, trying to use it to ease some of her weight from her feet while making the action look as normal as possible. 
	With Drust taking up the rear, she paused at the pool of light on the sidewalk and scanned the opposite side of the street as if the shadowmire may have chosen to stay after all, then hurried to catch up with Ghent.
	The two Wonderlanders cast frequent glances about them, Drust’s head twitching toward any sudden sound or movement. As they passed the front of the bookstore, Elayra’s gaze lingered on the familiar storefront and "Hava Java” in the building beside it. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she glanced back toward where the shadowmire had disappeared; if the portal [i]they[/i] had dropped through had been so close, which one had the beasts come through?
	[b]“Hey, um…”[/b]
	“Hmm?” Elayra asked absently, turning her gaze toward Ghent, strands of her platinum hair brushing against her face. When he finished, she gave a light exhale through her nose and shook her head. “The [i]point[/i] is to pull our own weight. You’ll be carrying one of your own soon enough, I trust. But… thanks,” she added more as an awkward afterthought.
	With how wishy-washy he seemed to be on the matter, the last thing she wanted was to risk pushing him once more to choose to stay here once they returned to Wonderland. But, if he had a family here, she supposed she could not blame him for having divided loyalties. Her expression hardened, and she turned her head, busying herself once more with scanning the opposite side of the street.
	"If you don't hunt," she cast him a glance, "how do you procure your food here? Have you some sort of functional market?" She had heard stories about such things once occurring within the bounds of Wonderland. Perhaps Earth still had such a practice. "Or was that what you wanted the cat for?" Her demeanor perked up slightly at the thought.