[VanimaEdhel]

Izrênna awoke to the gentle dancing of early morning light on her face. It was still almost completely dark, but a gentle finger of light was creeping over the horizon. Deorlin sat where she had left him, but he was gently shaking her awake. She rolled over and sat up quickly, pulling an arrow to her bow and preparing to aim. She committed this action out of habit, not out of necessity, and, after he gave her a startled look, she guiltily lowered the tip of her arrow.

"It is morning," Deorlin explained, "I thought you would want me to wake you. We should probably prepare to start out. They are a good ways ahead of us if we are to catch up. We can have a very quick breakfast, then ride after them. If we do not stop during the day, except when it is necessary for both my safety and that of the horse, we should gain sufficient ground on the others. We may arrive in time."

Izrênna sat up slowly and looked at Deorlin. He assumed they were going. She guessed that meant that he was feeling better...or that he was even more incredibly foolhardy than she had originally imagined. Izrênna hoped that it was the first. She realized that Deorlin was still looking at her and waiting.

Izrênna brought herself to a kneeling position and checked his wounds quietly. The leg wound was going to get better, Izrênna could see, much to her joy, and it would not cause too many problems on the road. The other wounds were already healing quite rapidly, much to her relief, as well.

"We can eat these," she said, fairly numbly, going over to her pack and tossing him some cram. "It is not a pleasure to eat, but you wanted a quick breakfast."

"No, no, this is good," Deorlin said.

The two ate in silence, then Izrênna packed up. She decided to leave all that was not completely necessary, as she wanted the load that the horse was carrying to be fairly light, thus hopefully making the horse more swift and agile.

Deorlin sat quietly while Izrênna packed up. After the horse was saddled and packed, Izrênna brought him over to where Deorlin was seated. She debated how to get the large man onto the horse. Finally, she crouched down, putting Deorlin's arm around her shoulders. He aided her in lifting him up, and used his arms, which were mostly unharmed, to help pull himself onto the horse. She pulled herself up behind him, and urged the horse forward in the direction that the company had taken.

The horse sprung forward, for Izrênna had found many things to leave behind, and moved even more quickly than he had when Izrênna was riding by herself. The horse and the riders moved quickly and quietly across the land, as the sun slowly rose in the heavens, creating more light on the brilliant day that was ahead...