The next day, Crow awoke feeling just as tired as he had the night before, which wasn’t a great sign that he would fare any better on the trip back to their camp. He managed to sit up by himself on his bedroll, but trying to stand sounded like too much effort, so he didn’t bother. Looking around the temporary camp, he saw that his companions had already finished packing up all of their supplies. His eyes fell on the washed pot and dishes, and he let out his breath in disappointment when he realized he had missed breakfast yet again. At this rate, he doubted he would ever eat in the morning again unless Hazel managed to do something about his illness.

When she noticed he was up, the herbalist made her way over to him and knelt down at his side, rocking back on her heels as she met his gaze. “How do you feel today?” she asked in a clinical voice.

“No better, but also no worse,” he shrugged.

“Can you stand?”

“I can try,” he said. After waiting a moment for Hazel to give him space, he shoved his blanket off and took a stabilizing breath as he tensed his legs to get up. The effort was straining, and his injured leg burned in protest, but he still managed to rise somewhat unsteadily to his feet. Feeling pleased with himself, he turned to her with a smirk, “Not too bad, huh?” However, no sooner had the words left his mouth than another wave of dizziness reared its unwelcome head, and he staggered to lean against a tree to keep upright. He cursed in frustration, and shook his head, trying to clear the feeling away.

“I’d say that’s pretty bad,” Hazel rolled her eyes. She turned toward the others to start barking orders, “Someone else packed up Crow’s things. Alistair or Simon, one of you will have to help him walk. We need to get going as soon as we can in order to cover as much ground as possible before sunset.”

“Who died and made you the leader around here?” Crow muttered bitterly.

“If you don’t start taking better care of yourself, then you,” she said flippantly, turning to walk over and help the others.

He shot a glare at her back but said nothing. As much as he disliked her attitude, he couldn’t say she was wrong. As was evident from the condition he was in now, he hadn’t been doing the best job of keeping himself out of trouble. So, instead, he merely let out an annoyed huff and folded his arms over his chest, leaning back against the tree trunk as he waited for the others to finish packing up his supplies.

Once they were all ready to go, Alistair stepped over to Crow’s side to help him stand. “Come on, big guy,” he grinned, wrapping one arm around the thief’s waist to help brace him. “Let’s get going.”

Still feeling a bit embarrassed about needing help to do such a simple task as walking, Crow nodded wordlessly as he rested one arm over Alistair’s shoulder. He took a step away from the tree, and as soon as the two were balanced, the group began to make their way south towards their home.

--

Since Crow wasn’t able to keep up with their usual pace, it took the five companions two full days to make it back to their camp. Simon and Alistair switched off on helping him walk, and even Hazel offered her support once or twice when the two men grew too tired to carry him. So, when they finally made it to the tunnels behind the waterfall at dusk on the second day, they were all completely exhausted.

Alistair, who had been the last to brace Crow, collapsed almost immediately on his bed and fell asleep, while the others sat around the fire to chat amongst each other. For a while, everything was peaceful. Crow talked idly with Simon, while Hazel answered questions about healing that Rikki asked.

As they spoke, Crow noticed the blonde thief’s gaze wander frequently to Hazel, and his attentiveness to their conversation began to wane. After a bit, he couldn’t take it anymore. He rolled his eyes, “If you want to talk to her so badly, then just do it already.”

“W-what?” Simon turned to him and blinked.

“Come on, man,” Crow nudged him. “You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said. Just go talk to her. Ask her to take a walk with you or go stargazing or something. I don’t care, but [i]gods[/i], don’t keep sitting around and pretending you’re not interested in her. It’s painful to watch.”

Simon averted his gaze, “She’s not going to want to go anywhere with me. Why would she?”

“For the love of—” Crow groaned, staring up at the cavern ceiling. “Just do it already. If she wants to go, she’ll go. If not, she’ll just say no. You’ve got nothing to lose.”

Simon hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “You’re right,” he said a bit more confidently, standing up.

“Go get her,” Crow grinned, watching as his companion walked over to where Hazel and Rikki were talking.

The blonde thief cleared his throat awkwardly, “H-Hazel, I was wondering if, perhaps, you would… er, if you would want to…”

[i]I take it back. This is even more painful than when he did nothing,[/i] Crow thought, cringing as he watched Simon flounder for words. “He was wondering if you would go with him on a walk,” he called out, rescuing his friend from his own awkwardness.

“What?” Hazel blinked, looking up at Simon in surprise.

Rikki turned to the herbalist with a smirk, “You should go. It sounds like fun.”

Hazel glanced at her for a moment before meeting Simon’s gaze again, “You want me to come with you on a walk?”

Simon shuffled his feet and nodded bashfully, “I-If you wouldn’t mind.”

She was silent for a moment as she seemed to process what he was asking her, and then colored slightly as she nodded. “Alright,” she smiled, rising to her feet and smoothing down her dress. “I’d love to go on a walk with you, Simon.”

“Really?” his eyes widen.

“Of course,” Hazel laughed softly, taking the initiative to link her arm with his. “Lead the way.”

Simon seemed to relax at her gesture and nodded. “Okay,” he grinned, walking with her towards the cave entrance.

With the other two gone, Crow and Rikki exchanged an uncomfortable glance as they realized they were now alone. Aside from when she had found him in the stable during the battle, they hadn’t been alone in almost a week. The tension between them was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife. He averted his gaze, “I should go to bed… Long day.”

“Mhm,” she nodded in agreement, moving to put out the fire.

With a burst of energy driven by his urge to get out of the uncomfortable situation, Crow forced himself to stand up. He leaned one hand against the wall of the cave to steady himself and made his way along the edge of the space until he reached the sleeping area. Fortunately, his bed was already close to the wall, so he only had to take a few steps without support to reach it.

He laid down in a somewhat controlled descent and exhaled tiredly as soon as he rested his head. His weariness from the two-day trip hit him all at once, and he passed out, sleeping soundly as he recovered from the long walk.