"I'm sorry." she said softly as she recognized the look on his face. More had happened than what she had originally thought. Her guess was that Morohtar had told Holly how he felt. And she had rejected him. Lairiel knew that feeling of sorrow. "It hurts." she said simply, knowing that anything else would be going too far. She got up and went to a tree, leaning against it with her back to both of the others. She looked at the road ahead of them, wondering what this journey would bring. She fingered her hair which was starting to grow long again. It was a nervous habit. With the tension between Holly and Morohtar, Lairiel wondered if they would be safe. Tension could make people do foolish things.

"Morohtar..." Holly sighed hesitantly. "I still love you too, but..." her voice trailed off unable to finish her sentence. She always hated sentences with buts in it. They almost were never good.
"But?" Morohtar asked hopefully.
"I'm not the same girl you once met. I am different now." Holly turned to face him. "I do not think you can love me the same way that you do. So much has happened..." she frowned deeply.
"Nonesense Holly. You have not changed. I could never stopping loving you." Morohtar groaned slightly.
"Lets just see how it goes ok?" Holly asked, slightly apprehensive.
Morohtar simply nodded, a little more hopeful.

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Lairiel smiled slightly as she heard the two conversing. Things were looking up a little bit, she decided. She kept watching into the distance, lost in her own thoughts.

Holly swallowed hard and crossed over to Lairiel. "You really should sleep you know? You will need your energy and your wits about you. We have a long journey ahead of us." Holly glanced from Lairiel to Morohtar. Her mind was seriously conflicted. On the one hand there was hope that it would all work out for the best. On the other she was sure they were all doomed to fail. Holly patted Lairiel's shoulder lightly before continuing on her patrol. Her mind fell back to the first day she met Morohtar.

Holly was lost in her chores. Her uncle loved coming home to a clean house. In fact he would be home shortly. As Holly predicted Durion marched into his home, two haughty men in tow dragging an elf behind them. Holly was beyond being surprised at this. It was clear her uncle was building a kind of army. For what she was not sure. Holly could only begin to imagine what this elf had ahead of him. "Is dinner ready?" Durion barked at her. Holly nodded as she continued to clean. "Good. Leave him here. We'll go and eat and deal with him after." Durion had grunted as he and his crones left and headed for the dining room. Holly waited till the sound of conversation erupted before crossing to the man that lay in the middle of the floor. "You know you are making a mess?" she had said. He simply smiled to her and apologised. He was certainly a gentleman, he helped her clean the mess he had made and finish her cleaning before Durion returned.

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Lairiel watche Holly, aware of the poison working in her blood. Exhaustion was quickly taking over her. She slid down the tree and rested her back against it, closing her eyes as sleep took her.

"Come Holly. You need to rest too." Morohtar said softly. Holly glanced to Lairiel, pursing her lips. She set a blanket over Lairiel before walking over to Morohtar. "Spell me in a bit and I will take up watch again," she said moving to sit beside him. Her head collapsed against his shoulder with exhaustion. Morohtar raised his arm and enclosed around her, pulling her into him. "If you say so," was all he said.

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Lairiel shivered, coughing in her sleep, which woke her up. She reached to her forehead which was dripping with cold sweat. Perhaps she had been wrong about the poison. She groaned inwardly as another coughing fit took her.

Morohtar disentangled himself from Holly's body, which incidently was sprawled over him. He settled her carefully and went over to Lairiel. "Are you ok?" he asked, worry creeping into his voice. He looked Lairiel up and down. "Poison?" He whispered, careful not to wake Holly and worry her.

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"I'm alright, I just.." she coughed again. "I'll be fine." she whispered so as not to wake Holly. She sat up and reached for her water flask, hoping that she wasn't wrong and that the poison wasn't bad.

"Are you sure?" He asked, handing her water flask to her. "I can go and find some help. There is bound to be a village nearby with a good healer." He peered out of the clearing and scanned the horizon for any sign of life that would suggest that people lived in the area nearby.

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"Worry about Holly, not me." she rasped out. She didn't know how white her face truly was. She tried a shaky smile. "I'll be alright. Probably just a cold." she hadn't confirmed to him if it was poison or not. She clenched her jaw at the pain in her wounds. No doubt they were festering.

"Holly is safe for now." Morohtar answered, watching with worry as Lairiel's complection pailed. "It was poison wasn't it?" He sighed heavily. "Lairiel we need to get you to a healer immediately. Poison is lethal, especially when left untreated. I would treat it myself, but I am unsure of whether I have the materials to do so." He stood and collected his pack to rumage through. "The poison will have spread through your blood stream..." his eyes widened with horror.

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She watched him, her face void of expression. "Not..lethal." why did her tongue feel so heavy and thick? And her eyelids? She forced her eyes open, refusing to worry her companions. She grabbed the tree and tried to stand.

"How can you say that? Look at yourself you can barely keep your eyes open let alone anything else. I need to get you to a healer. There is no time to waste." He stood and crossed over to Holly. "Holly?" He shook her awake. "I'm really sorry, but we've got to keep moving. We need to get to the nearest town as soon as possible. Can you ride on your own?"
Holly rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Off course I can ride on my own. What's going on? What's wrong?" She stammered, still too sleepy to piece it all together.
"We just need to find a healer. Come on, we need to go." Morohtar gathered their belongings and helped Holly up onto one of the horses. Next, he moved to help Lairiel onto the second horse.

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Lairiel bent over the horse's neck when she was finally mounted, but grabbed at the reigns and held on. "Ride with..Holly. I can manage." she gripped the saddle to hold herself on while the other held the reigns to steer the horse.

"Not a chance." Morohtar leaped onto the back of Lairiel's horse and held her close to him. "You work on preserving your energy ok?" He looked to Holly. "Are you going to be alright?" He asked, fear clawing at his insides. Now that he had Holly back and safe he could not bear to lose her again.
"I'll be fine, just look after her please," Holly pleaded with him. Hey eyes were focused on Lairiel, worry written all over her face.
"I will. Just stay close. If I go too far or fast just yell." Morohtar nudged the horse into the action, carefully sliding the reigns out of Lairiel's hand and taking them in one of his. The other held Lairiel closer, steadying her against his body. Holly fell into pace beside them.

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