It had been a week since they entered Xadia. Rayla was on edge. She knew they were being hunted. She could feel it. There was that deep sense of dread, of impending doom. She felt it in the cold, still spring air. The sounds of the nature around her seemed...off.

A branch snapped, she jerked her head towards the sound. A dark shape ducked behind a tree. She was tired, and hoped that it was only sign of her weariness.

Humans and elves alike would both benefit from kidnapping the Dragon Prince, or by killing the young Moonshadow elf. Components from either would prove very useful to a dark mage. Moonshadow elf horns were powerful, and more so the younger the elf. As for the Dragon Prince himself, who knew what sort of dark power could be unleashed?

Elves would simply see it as the final reason to wipe the humans from the continent. Proof of the death of the heir. There had been speculation over the disappearance of the egg, but no one knew for certain of its fate.

But that wasn't the only reason the young elf was on edge. The other reason came because of her companion, Callum. The memory of what she had almost said to him was burned into her mind. It kept replaying, over and over. "What was it I had almost confessed?" she thought, "that I think of him as my best friend?" She shook her head, "that's not the sorta thin' you confess when you think they're gonna die."

Rayla knew she didn't love him. She had only known him for three weeks at this point. Exactly three weeks. Today was May 11th, and the last full moon was April 20th. She felt the waxing moon as it turned to first quarter. She became stronger as it rose.

Callum caught her attention and suggested they stop and make camp soon. She gave him a reluctant nod. They were all tired, the young dragon especially, and she knew that, but wished they could press on.

They reached a clearing suitable for camp. The human prince made to gather wood for a fire, but she shook her head.

"No fire tonight, it's too dangerous," he grumbled at her, "we'll have to huddle together for warmth."

Callum gave a sigh of reluctance before he pulled his cloak out of his pack. This is something they had done almost every night, yet hadn't gotten used to it. Things were tense between the pair since Ezran and Corvus left to return to Katolis. Rayla could tell he was uncomfortable. She was unsure as to why, but suspected that whatever it was, it was for a different reason than hers.

Every time she got close to him like this she was thrown back into the same scene. She remembered Callum gasp for air as she cradled his stiff, clammy body. She pled with him to wake up, to breathe, but it seemed her words fell upon empty air. Then, right before he woke up, when she almost...She shook the thought off. The mission was more important than whatever that was, but she still couldn't help but feel that it was her fault for what happened to him. If she hadn't tried to go save that dragon by herself, he wouldn't have had to use dark magic to come to her rescue.

Her mind was circular at this point. Mission, danger, Callum, guilt. Always in that exact order. She was hopeless.

Rayla sat down and allowed Callum to wrap his cloak around them. She leaned up against a tree behind them, and after a moment of hesitance, against him, too. Zym curled up at their feet.

"You should rest," Callum said with a gentle whisper.

She shook her head, "no, you were the one who suggested we stop. I'll take first watch."

"Rayla, you've hardly slept since we crossed the border. You need to sleep." his arguing almost sounded like begging.

"I've trained for this sorta thin', you haven't. I can handle it. Get some rest."

The last sentence sounded more like a command than a suggestion. Callum resolved that it was in his best interest to not press further, even if he disagreed.

He could tell that Rayla had been acting differently since Ez's departure. She acted uncharacteristically nervous and jittery, and at times like just a moment ago, paranoid. Callum didn't understand. The only danger they had encountered had been Sol Regem when they first crossed the border, and that seemed like only a minor setback. Rayla had explained that he was now the one who guarded the border ever since Regem Draconis's demise, and at Callum's confusion she corrected herself to say the human name for the King of the Dragons. But once Sol Regem had realized that the two of them had The Dragon Prince as their charge, he simply let them pass.

After that, they hadn't experienced anything. It had just been the two of them and the fledgling dragon, yet Rayla had insisted that they were being hunted. Callum simply wanted her to sleep, to clear her head of her tiredness. He realized that she had done just that when her head drooped into his shoulder and soft snores escaped her lips. This was something she hadn't done before.

"Looks like I get first watch after all," he whispered to himself with a slight smirk.

The night was quiet. Moonlight revealed itself through gaps in the leaves above. A cold breeze drifted across his exposed face. Callum didn't mind it much, he was plenty warm sharing his cloak with Rayla. Content with letting his mind wander, it found its way to Ezran. He hoped Corvus was doing well to protect his brother. He didn't know the soldier for more than ten minutes, but his aunt had trusted him, so Callum would do the same.

The prince was also concerned about what sort of threats the younger boy would face as king. He heard all about the coups, conspiracies, and assassination attempts Queen Aanya of Duren had to face, and she was still a few years older. There was also the matter of convincing the other four kingdoms to seek peace with the elves and dragons. Callum wasn't sure that the gesture of returning Zym back to his mother would be enough to convince their Xadian neighbors to do the same.

Rayla always tried to put on her bravest face when she said it would be enough to get the elves and dragons talking about peace with the humans, but he saw right through that. Her heart was in the right place, but he was still afraid. He was a human in Xadia, after all.

"I'm a human in Xadia," he thought as it began to make sense to him, "that's why Rayla's so paranoid." He sighed at his revelation, partly because he had been oblivious to the fact that his race had been banished. She had been right about not trusting Soren and Claudia back at the Moon Nexus, so he resolved that he should trust her now.

Rayla stirred in her sleep for a moment before settling into a new position, and Callum was reminded she was there. He wondered if she was going to be angry with him for letting her sleep, but shook that thought off. He knew she needed the sleep, and he was going to let her as long as she needed.

Still, he struggled to fight off his own grogginess He wished he could join her in her slumber, but knew he couldn't. His eyelids drooped as his head began to lean to the side. His cheek brushed up against one of Rayla's horns. The softness of its texture came to his surprise. Callum jerked his head straight and hoped he didn't disturb her, and was relieved that she only inhaled sharply before resuming her snores.

He didn't last much longer than that. Sleep claimed him within minutes, her hair like a pillow to him as he rested between her horns.

Author's Notes:

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