Niphru awoke to the bed shaking, opening his eyes and gng towards the sourbsp; He saw that Dawn had just id down beside him, looking a bit guilty as she met his eyes. She reached over to scratch his ears as she whispered to him, “I’m sorry for waking you up. Since you are up, though, Monti said I’m rec quickly and should be free to leave in a few days. And since he ’t do anything for you, I take you when I leave so you won’t be stuck here.”

  Niphru put signifit effort into nodding his head before putting it ba his paws. Dawn reached over and hugged him for a moment before they both attempted to get to sleep.

  The several days passed with little of note . Amilya came by to speak with Dawn at least a little every day, sometimes talking about the jouro the capital that Dawn had agreed to, other times just speaking of the vilge. On one of the days, Monti left early in the m, theurned a while ter with a child.

  After introdus and expnation, it was revealed that this was Billy, and that he had been the o Niphru’s mana stoo the infirmary. Due to his as, Niphru had recovered when Monti thought all hope was lost. Hearing this, Dawn profusely thanked him, and gave him a crushing hug while saying she would try to find a way to reward him.

  Billy opposed the idea, though, saying he did it because it was the right thing to do, and that Amilya had already decided to reward his family ter when things calmed down.

  Dawn released him and hanking him again.

  The wo days were quite b as well, but then Monti decred that Dawn was healed enough to maintain her owh and was free to leave. Dawn hugged him and thanked him for the healing, to keep helping with the st remaining patient. Monti however refused her offer, stating that he wasn’t overworked anymore, and it shouldn’t be long before they were recovered as well.

  Followialk with Monti, Dawuro Niphru, carefully stowing his mana stone ba her pouch before pig him up and heading to the door. As she opehe door Dawn waved to Monti before leaving, then turo head to the eastern wall. As they arrived, Dawn climbed up the stairs, taking a look over the field outside. It appeared that the up had already finished so she turned back, returning home instead.

  Upoering the house, Amilya stood and quickly walked over to meet them, carefully hugging Dawn as she made sure to avoid toug the injured areas of her daughter’s babsp; After being released, Dawn took Niphru back to her room and id him on her bed, theuro the living room to speak with her mother more about the pnned jouro the capital.

  As they were n to be quiet, it was effortless for Niphru to listen in on their versation, so he did so as he id there in bed. It appeared that mages were treated as nobles ohey had earheir staves. With this reminder, Amilya mentiohat there were a few groups of bandits that sometimes stopped people between the vilges and the nearby city, but that there would be no trouble if she had to use magic against them.

  Amilya alsht up that most bandit groups would actively avoid targeting mages, for multiple reasons, depending on the group. Specifically, she mentiohe Iron Quills bandit group, which had set up heir vilge, and had stopped her in the past. Apparently they stopped everyardless of if they inteo steal or not, and had thanked her for her work in keeping the pins safe, as part of her duties as a mage. Due to this, it was very likely that they would be meeting them as well.

  They also discussed how to go about entering towns, which was easier fes, it seemed. From what he heard, normal civilians were supposed to have identification that proved who they were and why they were moving around, but mages only had to demonstrate their ability to use magid agree to behave. Additionally, sometimes there would be a guard assigo watch over fn mages to make sure they didn’t cause trouble.

  After a while, Dawn stated she was getting tired, and Amilya said they would tihe talk tomorrow. A few moments ter, Niphru heard noises from the kit as Dawn came bad sat beside him on the bed. She stroked his fur as she stared at the wall for a time, then hugged him before pig him up and bringing him back to the table in the living room. Shortly afterwards, Amilya brought out a bowl of soup and two ptes of food, pg the bowl beside Niphru, and the ptes in front of herself and Dawn.

  As Amilya begaing, Dawn grabbed a bite of food and moved over to Niphru, grabbing the spoon and carefully p small amounts of soup into his mouth. Over the past several days, he had gained a little more trol, and found it much easier to swallow now than he had upon first awakening after the act.

  As Dawn fed him, she also grabbed the occasional bite from her pte. After a while, he was full, and with great effort, slightly shook his head, signaling to Dawn to stop. She nodded auro her chair, finishing off her pte of food before taking the dishes into the kit. Amilya followed her, and Niphru heard them wash the dishes before they returned.

  Amilya said she had to go take care of some things in the vilge before she could go to bed, but that they should get plenty of sleep as they were still rec. Dawn hen carried Niphru back to her room again, putting him ba the bed before closing the door and stripping to get inthtclothes. As Niphru was fag her, he could see that she did end up having scars on her back after all. The ter of her back seemed to have healed up fine, but the edges of her upper and lower back were ringed with burn scars, though they seemed to be very mild, not impeding her movements at all.

  Staring at the scarring, Niphru felt horrible yet again about having caused harm to his precious Dawn. He khat it could have been far worse, and she could even have died, but it didn’t help him feel aer. As Dawn finished ging her clothes, she turned around and spotted the look in his eyes, quickly rushing over to hold him, and telling him everything would be okay. He eventually rexed, and she carefully got into bed beside him, moving him to rest up against her side aing his head for a time before they fell asleep.