The pair of them sat atop their horses, the sun beating down on their backs. Chocolate neighed loudly, tramping her hoof on the blackened ground. It was as if she was as impatient to leave Fiume as they were.

All around them the land was black, it's flatness occasionally broken by the wooden corpses of houses, barns and sheds. The fire had spread, reaching as far as Nyal could see, but not quite hitting the main part of the city, nor had it reached the forest. They had been able to contain it that much.

In front of them stood Queen Astor, wearing the same clothing she had earlier that morning. Guards surrounded her, as well as the two men she was going to send with them. Mikhail, the lycanthrope, was covered head to toe in coarse brown hair, a huge muscular body that looked perfect for fighting off Zlohiel. The warlock, Ragen, was the complete opposite. He had an air affinity, and his appearance seemed to match it. He had straight white hair and a lithe frame. He looked like he would blow away in the wind. The two soldiers hopped onto their own horses, facing Nyal and Elora expectantly.

"Your majesty," Elora started. "We apologise for the damage we have caused to your city. We will try to find a way to fix this, once our mission has been completed."

"Don't bother, Keeper," Astor replied. "I don't see what you can do about it. We will find something, there is no doubt those in Voda, Riba or Skodur will help us out if we need to ask." Nyal was sure they would need the help. There were still farms around that held good crops, but definitely not enough to feed an entire city.

"Please, your majesty, if there is anything we can do," Elora started. He could tell she felt as guilty as he did, even though she did nothing wrong, it was all him.

"You didn't do anything," Astor said with a shake of her head, voice Nyal's thoughts. "This is not your fault. This is the dragon's doing."

Elora huffed. "We will fix this, we have to," she told the queen.

"I know you will."

There was no talking for quite a while after that, as though they were all lost in thought. Mikhail and Ragen looked worried for the journey ahead of them, sharing glances every so often when they thought no one else was looking.

Nyal took the time to once again look at the damage he had caused. Yes, he may not have been the one to start the fire, but he had let the dragon go. He hadn't even tried to look for him properly. Elora had, but he was already long gone by the time they even made it to the farms.

It had been a distraction most likely. The dragon had been caught at the ball, doing only the Gods knew what, and needed a way out where he wouldn't be caught. Apparently, setting fire to people and farms was the perfect way to do that.

What Nyal couldn't understand was Azel's role in the whole thing. The dragon must have seen their argument and talked to him, convinced him that he needed to kill Nyal. But why? What was the point of it?

He felt like he would never find the answers to his many questions, there was so much that needed explaining, but it was as though they would never find the dragon. The dragon would answer everything, if they could get him long enough to talk, which didn't seem likely.

"Ragen and Mikhail have orders to listen to anything the two of you say," Astor told them, gesturing to the two men. "They know the situation as well as I do. You can trust them with any other information you think they need to know. They are my most trusted guards."

From what Nyal could tell, the two guards didn't seem to happy with Queen Astor's words, if the looks on their faces were anything to go by. They probably didn't want to follow orders from the people who had lost the Key and caused their city to burn. He could understand it. If he were them, he wouldn't like him much either.

"Thank you, your majesty," Elora said. At least she was talking to someone, he couldn't help but think, because she certainly hadn't been talking to him since the night before. Thinking back, he realised they hadn't spoken since he told her he had seen the dragon at the Queen's ball. They had been making leeway in whatever kind of strange friendship they had, and now it was right back to the start when she didn't trust him at all. All because he messed up.

"We had best be off," he heard her say, drawing him away from his thoughts. "Thank you for your help and hospitality, and I apologise deeply for the damage done to your city."

"How many times must I tell you? It's not your fault!" the Queen told them with a shake of her head. No matter how many times they were told, it would not change their thoughts, Nyal knew that much.

Elora didn't reply, just huffed and turned her horse around. As he followed her, Nyal vaguely heard Ragen and Mikhail thanking their Queen for the opportunity to work with the Gate Keeper. He was sure they were lying just the tiniest bit, but it didn't matter. They would still help the pair as much as they could.

"Oh, and Keeper?" the Queen called causing Elora to stop and look back at her. "Good luck."

He could see Elora hesitating in front of him, but couldn't figure out why. Then she said it, "My name is Elora." He smiled sadly, proud of his companion. She had gone from someone used to not hearing their own name, to someone who used it freely and made others do the same.

He looked back briefly at the bewildered look on Queen Astor's face. After years of dealing with Elora as the Gate Keeper, not as a person with a name, he was sure it was bound to be a surprise. She said nothing, only looked at the winged woman with an expression that looked a lot like pride, before her eyes drifted to Nyals. She smiled at him, but he couldn't figure out why.

He turned away then, following after Elora, their two new companions trailing after them. They trotted away from the farms, and along the bottom of the hill Nyal and Elora had crossed when they had arrived. They were headed towards the forest.

Before they reached the bright sun bathed trees however, they had to make their way through the farms, of what was left of them. He didn't want to look; didn't want to see what he had done.

But as they continued on their way towards the forest, passing blackened fields and collapsed buildings, people began to make their way out onto the dirt streets, staring at the small group. Some stood alone, others with children, but most held what was left of their homes in their hands.

One little girl came forward, and Nyal was startled to see that it was the same little girl he had rescued in the barn the night before. She held a red flower and lifted it towards him as he passed. He stared at her, mouth wide open, fingers gently grasping the stem of the pretty red flower. He didn't know what kind, but he had seen plenty of them in the wood near Dreeva.

"Thank you, Ruby," he said, smiling down at the little girl.

More came forward then, each of them holding something. Most gave flowers, some gave food, one gave him a flask full of water that would attach to his pants. The man said it was so that he always had water with him. All of them gave their thanks, even if Nyal didn't want to accept it.

Ahead of him was Elora, looking around in confusion as Nyal once more tried to stop someone giving him their food. He glanced briefly at her and shrugged, just as surprised by the farmers' actions as she was.

"You saved us all!" someone cried, inciting a cheer through the crowd.

"Thank you, Healer!"

"Healer!"

"Healer!"

It became a sort of chant as they moved down the dirt roads, most of the farmers cried it out as they gave him their belongings. It seemed they knew him by no other name.

Even Ragen and Mikhail looked astounded by the farmer's behaviour. They must have believed that Nyal was the cause of the fires. He had told Astor what had happened during the ball. She continued to believe that he was not at fault. But no matter what people said or did, or what a queen said or did, he wouldn't believe it.

Soon enough, the crowd began to dwindle and the people only stared at him and cheered him on faintly. By the time the fields of crops began to look as they should and they had reached an area that was much less affected by the fire than the rest the people had all but disappeared. The only ones that were still around were making their way between the farms, not paying a bit of attention to the group.

The trees loomed up ahead of them. The leaves brushed together in the wind, the noise echoing in Nyal's ears. The sound was so familiar, one he treasured deeply. For him, it was a sound that meant comfort and safety.

There was no way they could take the horses all the way through the forest. It was just too dense for them to make it. They would have to stay behind in Fiume, a fact Nyal wasn't too happy about. He had gotten attached to Chocolate and Snow.

"So," he heard Ragen start. "Where exactly are we headed?"

"You'll find out," Elora replied, exactly what Nyal expected her to say as soon as Ragen asked.

"Excuse me?" Ragen replied, sounding more insulted than anything else. "Aren't we meant to be helping you? Shouldn't you be telling us where to go?"

Elora only glared, her wings twitching, while Nyal said, "Even I don't know where we're going. You'll just have to get used to it."

Ragen scoffed. "By the Gods, why did Her Majesty think this was a good idea? Working with the same people that caused the destruction of our farms, and got the Key stolen!"

"Ragen," Mikhail muttered, stopping the warlock's little tirade. "This isn't necessary."

"Says who?"

"Says me," the buff werewolf replied quietly. "They are trying to fix the problem they caused, and they need our help to do so. Obviously, there is a reason as to why they aren't telling us where we're going, so we'll just have to deal with it."

Ragen said nothing in reply, while Nyal found it odd to listen to a conversation about himself when he was right next to it. A quick glance over at Elora told him that she felt the same way, as well as seriously irritated by everything that had happened since they had arrived in Fiume.

He was sure it would only get worse though, they were coming closer and closer to facing the dragon and finding the Key. There was also the fact that Ragen and Mikhail didn't seem too happy about working with them, a fact he already knew, but was bound to escalate as time went on.

There was one good thing, Nyal realised as he trotted up beside Elora. "You used your name," he stated.

Elora glanced at him from the corner of her eye, face expressionless, giving away nothing. Her wings moved closer to her body, however. "It's my name, I should be using it."

"But you haven't for years," Nyal said, vaguely hearing Ragen and Mikhail talking in the background, probably on the same topic as before.

"I felt like a change," Elora told him. "Seems like there has been a lot of change lately."

Nyal only huffed in agreement, not able to find the right words to continue to the conversation, no matter how much he wanted to. He figured if he talked with her more, she may forgive him for what he did. He found that a large part of him favoured her opinion of him.

"I'm sorry," was the only thing he could think of to say. As far as he was aware he hadn't yet said it.

"Even Yararanje is disappointed in you, Nyal," Elora told him, never once looking in his direction. Much to his surprise, Nyal found that he didn't care all that much about Yararanje's opinion, after the way he was treating them, especially by not helping them defeat the dragon. "He thinks it was a bad decision on both our parts to bring you along. I do not agree with him."

Nyal frowned, "How so?" he asked.

"I do need you. You are a Healer, and the one thing that has a chance at defeating the dragon," Elora explained. "I may be upset about what happened in Fiume, but I know that I need you with me." He sighed, staring up at the sky with a frown. It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it was the closest thing he was going to get to forgiveness for a while. It was better than anger, better than silence, better than nothing.