" See? That wasn't so hard. "

There wasn't really anything Ash could do to help her eye. He glanced at her, and he suddenly realized how close they were. Their faces were just inches apart and he felt his heartbeat quicken. Quickly, he turned away. "Come on," he whispered and there may or may not have been a tremor in his voice.



"Yeah, sitting down wasn't. It's going to be getting up that's going to be the problem."

" yeah...but we'll be fine. "

She doesn't question it and just follows him.

"Well...sure. If you way so."



"We're not going far, but we have to hurry. The Market keeps its own hours, and if we don't reach it in time, it will disappear."

A wild howl rang out of the darkness, and he looked back at the crowd. The Winter fey had gone back to their partying as if nothing had happened, but there was a meaner, desperate edge to their revels now, as if the promise of war had only whetted their appetite for blood. A pair of redcaps and a hag squabbled over the body of the dead goblin. Ash took her hand and pulled her on, into the shadows.

" unless we get attacked. Then i'll probably have to leave you. "

She follows, trying not to run into anything.

"Do you think I won't win or something?"





They fled through the city, Ash trying to help her by keeping to the shadows and darkness, somehow avoiding the mobs in the street. At one point, they very nearly tripped over a redcap exiting a hole in the wall. The creature snarled an insult, but then its beady eyes widened in recognition and it turned to shout a warning instead. Ash gestured sharply, and an ice dagger thunked into the creatures open mouth, silencing it forever.

The cut on her eye is clearly not getting any better. Quite the opposite- in fact, it seems to be bleeding more. However, she doesn't complain or even mention it.

" Depends on what is. "