Outside of the dungeon cave, 6:00PM—
Syla and Fedhr came out of the cave after a whole hour of slowly traversing through the cave paths, once they arrived at the surface, the two of them immediately noticed that the sun was already setting, night is coming faster than they thought and they were still deep inside the forest.
"Wahh.. The sun's gone.." Syla said as he looked into the horizon amidst the countless trees blocking her vision. "Will i make it back in time before they closed the gate.."
"You wont." Fedhr suddenly replied, telling Syla that she wouldn't be able to arrive in Beakwood before the guards closed the entrance gate. "If you want to go to Beakwood, just do it tomorrow, their gate closes earlier than other towns around here."
"Is that so.." Syla sighed. "Well, what about villages? They usually don't have any door or falling fences to close their entrance right?"
"If you run, you can reach the closest village, Boonsap in about 20 minutes, but that is if you run in a straight line, this forest is dense, and running on the uneven terrains of the forest would just cause you to tumble and possibly injure yourself."
"So it'll take atleast 40 minutes or even an hour? That's roughly the same with walking isn't it..." Syla squinted her eyes and crossed both of her arms to her chest.
"Forests are mystical." Fedhr said, he didn't give any further explanation after that.
"Errmm.. I guess you're right." Syla couldn't argue since what Fedhr said was infact true. "Well, i have no choice then.. My legs are tired, and if i don't rest now, it will hinder my combat.."
"Same with me.." Fedhr replied calmly, he then pulled his sleeves up, revealing a lot of bruises as his skin turned blue in some area.
"Woah.. That must've hurt, you got any healing potion or medicine?" Syla asked while placing her hands behind her head.
"I have a few Flarebloom leaves." Fedhr answered, he slowly reached for a small pouch on his waist.
"Hoh, i see.. But now i wonder, where should we rest.." Syla said as she looked around, there were certainly no place that they could use as a resting spot, atleast within the area near the dungeon cave.
The ground was coveres with rotting corpses, although the orcs that they killed a few hours ago had disappeared following the destruction of the dungeon core, there were still a couple corpses of animals and even humans that the orcs previously killed for their source of food.
"Urgh.. They're starting to smell bad.. The flies had already laid their eggs.." Syla said, she covered her nose with her hand.
"You're not splitting with me?" Fedhr suddenly asked Syla, his eyes met with her as if feeling curious.
"Huh?.. Ahh, uhh– I could leave you here, but i thought that it'd be a waste if we split here now.. After everything we went through.." As Syla was explaining her reason to Fedhr, her cheek gradually turned red, her tail wags violently and she hesitated to continue her speech as she thought it'd be embarrassing, but in the end Syla gave in and told Fedhr what she was thinking. "Uhh- J- Just take it as my gratitude for your help, and- I also.. Kind of want to kn- know more about you– BUT THAT'S BECAUSE You're strong! So i was curious! Who taught you swordmanship? How long have you been an adventurer?! Where did you come from!?"
Syla's face was visibly red, and her eyes couldn't stop fidgeting as she kept looking in all directions except directly at Fedhr. She also scratched her cheek multiple times with a smile.
Fedhr was initially silent, he seems to be at loss for words, though his face remained stoic for most of the time, he soon let out a faint smile while putting his sword back into his scabbard on his back.
"You're kind of cute— And as for your questions, i can answer it." He said with a small sigh of relief.
Hearing Fedhr's compliment that was obviously out of pocket and unexpected, Syla instantly felt her heart raced as her body jolted from confusion.
"C- CUTE?!.. I- UHH.. W- well, thanks for the compliment, mhm.. I get called that a lot- Ow ow!" Syla was going to act unbothered by Fedhr's word, but because of her body movements followed by her legs, she could feel her right leg convulsing in pain as her sudden movement was causing the muscle inside of it to cramp.
"Enough with that, let's find a resting spot." Fedhr abruptly said, he goes back to his usual self, unfazed and unexpressive.
"Oh right.." Syla then came back to her senses and followed Fedhr as they walked towards the woods again, in search for a place to sleep, Syla and Fedhr weaved through the nightly woods filled with unnerving noises and mysteries.
.
.
15 Minutes later—
Step!
Step!
Rustle!
Syla along with Fedhr pushed the bushes infront of them to the side before walking pass it as they arrived infront of an illuminated lake that was being sprayed with a waterfall that came from a relatively small cliff on the other side.
"Oh? This doesn't look bad." Syla said after she looked at the scenery, she was standing behind Fedhr the whole time so she couldn't really see what's exactly infront of her.
"Clean water.. We'll rest here." Fedhr said.
"You sure know your way huh, its like you've been in here before.." Syla admired Fedhr's intuition for finding such an open spot within the dense forest that normally even laying down would feel atrocious.
"...You're the one that told me there's a waterfall nearby." Fedhr responded.
"A- Ahahaha..." Syla chuckled as she walked closer to the pond.
After both Syla and Fedhr checked around the area for any monster or predators that might have nested near them, they concluded that the area was safe, and that there's nothing that was hiding or roaming around them, only a few small insects such as grasshoppers and some mosquitoes.
Thud!
"How long has it been since the last time i sat down.." Syla said while sitting and leaning to the tree behind her, she placed her satchel and sword beside her neatly before taking off her dirty cloak.
"Hm?.. Isn't this a good time to clean everything?" Syla looked at the pond and imagined her washing off her clothes and also bathing in it.
"I agree, my body's all sweaty and stained with blood.." Fedhr responded not far away, he was also sitting beneath a tree with his armor and equipment piled on his side.
"There's not gonna be a fish that's going to eat me right?" Syla asked, her face looked cautious.
"A lake this small should've filled more area, considering how the waterfall kept flowing for who knows how long.. There's most likely a hole or drainage below the water that sucks the water in- Its end point probably goes to the nearby river or perhaps even the sea." Fedhr explained.
"Hoooh.. I see, so you're saying if there's a fish living there, they would eventually be sucked into the drainage hole?" Syla responded.
"Yeah, but that is the the fishes were smaller than the drainage, if there's a bigger fish, then it'd quite be a scene to think about." Fedhr calmly added, his stare towards the waterfall looked hollow.
"...Whatever, if there's a man-eating fish there, i'll just kill it using magic." Syla aggressively declared as she stood up and began walking closed and closer to the edge of the lake.
The wave that came from the waterfall was small, compared to the waves that Syla saw on a beach, the water in this lake looked calmer than a water inside an abandoned aquariums.
"You're going to swim in that outfit?" Fedhr called Syla from behind.
Syla then looked at her body as she lowered her head, her unnecessarily charming clothes was indeed quite a hassle if she were to soak herself in water while wearing it. But then again, it would be even more of troublesome if she swam naked.
'Eh?.. Why am i only remembering the fact that im with some random guy that i just met now?' Syla thought.
'That was a close one, i genuinely almost took my clothes off infront of Fedhr..'
"Then turn around, you can take a bath after me." Syla responded, she was surprisingly calm about it and didn't get embarrassed as much as she had expected.
"You can do whatever you want." Fedhr nonchalantly answered before he moved behind the tree that he was leaning on and stared at the dark forest.
'Ehh??.. What is this? Why does he looked so uninterested!? Is he into other men!? Ehh!? Maybe that could make sense? HEehh?! I guess the signs were there!? But if he's into other men, why did he call me cute? What is this?.. Why am i kinda mad at it..' Syla's feeling was convoluted as her frustration and bewilderment mixed together to create an emotion that she had never felt before.
Syla stood still for a few seconds, her body froze at Fedhr's abnormal nature as she was thinking about what to do, then she remembered her original intention.
That night, the moons was shining brightly as its full circular shape bestowed light towards the earth and its creatures. Syla and Fedhr bathed within the everchanging woods, taking turns to clean their body and spirit before drifting to sleep as their conciousness faded into the dream world.