Elayra trailed just beside and slightly behind Ghent as they headed toward the well-lit sidewalk, Drust just behind her towering over the teenagers. She glanced to the shadows cowering behind the streetlights, questioning Ghent’s choice of traveling in plain sight, but the boy knew this world far better than her; if he thought it best to travel beneath the light, then it was potentially wiser to trust his instincts on the matter. After all, even the lighting here was of a foreign creation.
	When they reached the pools of artificial light, Drust pulled the hood back over his head as Ghent inquired about their weapons.
	 “Ninjas?” Elayra asked, unfamiliar with the term. She shook her head, and instead answered his first question, a hand resting on the hilt of her saber. “Have you a better way of hunting or defending yourself, if not with weapons?”
	Though ever conscious of Ghent’s gaze on her and Drust, Elayra constantly scanned their surroundings. Her grip on the sword hilt tightened with every unusual sound, Drust flinching and twitching behind her as he, too, watched for trouble lurking in the darkness beyond the streetlights.
	She snorted when Ghent pointed out their paranoia. “I’d call it more a method to survival.”
	[b]“Look around, not a soul in sight. We can talk on the way, if you want.”[/b]
	“The things you see and the things that are, are not always one in the same,” Drust offered stiffly. “We can talk. But about [i]what[/i] should be limited in the open. [i]She[/i] would have had plenty of time to send any number of scouts here by now,” he finished, his tone dangerously dark. 
	Elayra quickly turned to look at him better, trying to see his eyes beneath his hood. “That’s [i]not[/i] your fault, Drust. And even if she [i]has[/i] sent any,” she followed Drust’s lead of not saying the Sorceress’ title. A malicious smile perked up a corner of the girl’s lips and glittered in her gray eyes as she continued, “they’ll be nothing but stains on the ground by the time we’re done with them.”
	“And to think, I was worried you lacked confidence in your abilities.” Drust gave an exasperated sigh. “Don’t get cocky.”
	Fairly confident Drust was okay for the time being, Elayra looked to Ghent when he spoke again.
	[b]“I mean. I used to dream of you.”[/b]
	Elayra’s brows rose in mild amusement, the expression intensifying as he stuttered to explain himself.
	“What’s a shrink?” she asked as Ghent glanced to Drust.
	“You were detained for fighting, then,” Drust said, a mix of relief and disapproval in his voice. “Interesting. Were you proven the better combatant?”