Hajin eased his fingers free of Didi's sleeping grip and tucked the cloak under her hand instead.
By dusk he reached a shallow cave on the next rise, stopping twice when his ribs refused.
'Ribs, I swear, one more stop and I'm leaving you behind in this cave.'
His bedroll went under her shoulders, the pack against the wall, the core wrapped apart from tusk and sword.
He built a small fire near the mouth, cleared a patch beside it, and opened Summoner Skill.
Juna appeared on her side in the same torn top, the dressing still tied beneath it, and tried to sit. Her hand found the Insignia before her ribs, and he slid a forearm under her elbow without once pulling her.
Rest spared her another blow, but the boar's damage still waited right where it left her.
"You sent me away while I couldn't even answer," she growled, palm pressed beside the dressing.
"You needed somewhere claws couldn't reach."
"Then tell me when I get to choose that, you don't get to make disappearing your answer every time I disagree." Her ears pinned flat as she glared at the glowing tab.
He closed the tab and showed both palms, "You could barely lift your head today, and I wasn't hauling you into another fight like that."
"Sit before your legs decide for you," she snapped, jabbing a finger beside her, "half that blood is someone else's, and that still leaves plenty of yours."
"What a bedside voice." He dropped onto the spot and let the stone take the weight off his shoulders.
"I'd heal out of pure spite just to dodge your next order."
Her ears swung toward the bedroll, and her nose followed, sniffing past the fire at an unfamiliar scent.
"Palace soap, frost, fresh blood," she muttered, "what did you drag home?"
He turned a stick through the embers, keeping his voice low for the sleeper, "The one survivor I could reach, eleven escorts and the guard beside her died on that road."
He cut the last venison into thin strips with the pack's knife, then rinsed its edge clean.
"How did you get her out?"
He set the knife down by the stone, "An orb went straight through his head, and he just... kept standing, breastplate torn open, still glowing..."
"He burned his own soul and threw that thing into the trees with bare hands, long enough for me to grab her and swing clear—"
"Then I carried her two miles, and it let us go, with nothing resembling a promise about tomorrow."
"You brought its prize here," she said, eyes on the entrance, "a roof doesn't change why it might come after us."
"I brought somebody out alive, tomorrow the capital gets her back, and tonight we keep that part working."
---
Didi woke reaching for a body the cave refused to put beneath her hands.
In the dream, Gazel's light stayed beyond the mud, and every step toward him dragged her farther backward.
'Answer once, just once, even if you only tell me to leave and never come back.'
She found stone overhead and a blanket over her knees, while two strangers kept their eyes elsewhere.
'Ten years of his footsteps outside my door, and now only a fire cracking beside strangers.'
'You argued against this journey, then stood beside the wheel, and I treated that like one more reason to go.'
She pressed her knuckles to her mouth until the smell of cooked meat cut through the sobs.
She lifted her head slowly and found a cup by the bedroll, with a knife pointed away from her.
---
Hajin set down his knife as she turned toward the light, and Juna kept chewing against the wall.
"Water first," he said, sliding the cup closer, "and tell me if that head gets worse when you move."
She drew it against her chest, eyes on his torn sleeve, "The commercial street this morning, you watched my carriage window longer than anyone else did."
"Yeah, well, small road, big ambitions," he drawled, lifting a skewer clear of the embers, "apparently it wanted a second introduction."
Her fingers hovered near the darkening bruise at her temple, "Did you fight it after I fell, I remember the hand and nothing afterward?"
"Your guard made an opening, I used it to carry you out, another fight would've put us beside the fallen shields."
"What digs beneath our roads and asks about blood no archive ever taught me to recognize?"
"Something way beyond anybody I can call out here, so our answer is distance, daylight, and people better at keeping you safe."
[ NewViewer_02: took her and ran, sounds cowardly when you say it like that ]
[ DarkBlade: reaching under its hand was the risk, running kept the rescue from becoming another funeral ]
[ ShadowMage44: nobody needed another pointless fight, the survivor was the point ]
'Coward, sure, but calling it courage won't bring anyone back, and she's carrying enough tonight.'
"The others..." Her fingers tightened around the cup until its rim shook, "nobody else was breathing?"
Hajin shook his head once and let the quiet sit while she pulled the blanket closer.
[ ashley(mod): give her time, the courage argument can stop while she learns what happened ]
"Of course not." Her voice cracked on the last word, and she stared into the cup instead of at him.
He held out the skewer, cooler end first, "Eat what you can, an empty stomach just makes tomorrow harder."
She took it without demanding a better plate or any explanation about the cooking.
"Thank you, my name is Didi," she said, "Princess Didi, if that explains why the morning turned so troublesome."
"Hajin, and the one interrogating supper like it owes her money is Juna."
"It's being checked, the last piece lied about its middle," she grumbled, ears twitching toward the sizzle.
"Four inspections ought to settle it, unless the fifth finds another animal hiding in there."
She jabbed the browned edge straight at him, cheeks puffed, "Your confidence cooked the outside last time, so keep it away from this one's middle."
Didi lowered her eyes to her meal while their bickering made a little space beside the grief.
"Rest after, Your Highness," he said, nudging the water nearer her blanket, "we head back at first light."
"Thank you for carrying me and for the food, neither was a duty anyone could order from you," she murmured, chin raised despite the tremor.
She lay back against the bedroll afterward, keeping the cup close while Hajin banked the fire and cleared the skewers. He kept its glow off her bruise while Juna dragged her supporting cloth toward the dark mouth of the cave.
He set the fuller blanket within her reach, "Sleep first if that side needs it, I'll hear enough to wake you."
"Second watch is yours," she huffed, pulling the blanket over her knees, "my ears work sitting down, and your legs should learn what sitting means."
He took the deal and rested until the chill deepened, when Juna limped back and claimed his place.
"Night, chat, show's closed until sunrise," he muttered, ending the broadcast before taking her spot by the entrance.
[ Stream: Inactive | Soul accumulation: Paused | Fragment recovery: Paused ]
The closed feed left only his private controls, and then a warning opened above the embers behind him.
[ Hostile resonance detected | Carrier: Princess Didi | Bloodline: Underworld King ]
[ Historical record: Realm-key power retained by Underworld King after the Goddess of Reincarnation's betrayal, execution and fragmentation ]
[ Recommended action: Eliminate carrier to prevent future threat ]
He read the rows twice while Didi drew her knees beneath the blanket, a movement offering neither threat nor explanation. She ate his food hours after losing her protector, and the System wanted her breathing ended over her ancestry alone.
'I didn't carry you two miles just to become its damn executioner.'
"Not tonight, you creepy box," he hissed at the glowing rows, "give me an answer where she wakes up and decides what happens next."
Didi shifted in her sleep until the blanket slid from the shoulder nearest the dying fire.
He drew it back over her sleeve, careful of the bruise, and returned to the entrance.
The recommendation hung there unanswered as he settled into the watch, with dawn still far away.