Meesei gave an understanding nod. "It is an understandable worry. I know that the last thing you want to do is to leave him, especially for any extended time. I should mention that non-lycans are not as strange among the clan as they used to be. Those who are trusted are permitted to live among us. Given his marriage to you, he would be permitted to come along with you, if you felt you could convince him. Of course, that would require that he know what we are."

Meesei tried to think back on what she could remember of Rukeewei. Unfortunately, even combining both of their visits to Thorn, Meesei had only been around him for a few days. "Do you think that the coin we can offer would make him more receptive to such a trip? We could also define a strict limit for how long you could be away. If it starts taking too long to find an antidote, then you probably would have already exhausted all of the advantages provided by working closely with our other alchemists."

---

Najan looked to be both astounded and irritated with his nephew. "Yizan-Lei, what are you talking about? You cannot go anywhere with this beast! Once they are gone, I can take you to the root."

Yizan simply shook his head lightly. "It doesn't really matter what he is. He already said he would go if you ask him, right? And if he's one of those werewolf things, then we couldn't stop him if he wanted to stay. I just want to go to the root, and I want everyone to come."

Najan lowered his head, running his hand slowly down his face. There was a few, tense moments of silence before he finally gave an answer. "Fine. Fine, we can go outside. You can say what you want to say to him, then he can leave." He said, briefly giving an intense glance towards Gallus. "Then he will leave."

Najan's wife slowly and carefully picked Yizan up off the bed in her arms. With how frail his condition had made him, one could only imagine how light  he actually was. Certainly, she had no problem lifting him. She and Najan headed back out the front door, with Najan reluctantly motioning for Gallus and Cuts to follow. There was enough space between their home and the one behind it to give a small back yard, across which cut a large root coming straight from the Hist tree at the center of the district. 

Yizan's aunt cautiously laid him down on the ground with his head resting up against the Hist root. Almost immediately, Yizan closed his eyes, and actually seemed to smile. "Can you feel it too?" He asked. He did not say directly who he was speaking to, but from the way he started to move his head, he was likely talking to Gallus.