silence broken. [Flashback]

[Lillis]

"Used to be a student of healing myself," she said, canting her head to one side as she regarded him. She could see so clearly through the veneer of close-to-contentedness to the profound sadness that lurked within him and trying to think of how she might melt that sadness away kept her from thinking about her own damage, her own sadness. This was the greatest healing tonic he could have given her. "Well," she breathed, leaning forward and brushing her hands together, "maybe we should press on? Still a couple hours of daylight left for traveling."

[Caelum]

"All aspects of healing," he attempted and failed to explain. At her suggestion, he groaned; but as she was right, he shoved up to his feet, brushing grass and dust from his pants before offering her hand up. Golden eyes sought her's, considering. All aspects of healing, he thought again, from heaven's floor to a battered soul. "You interested in learning with me?"

[Lillis]

She slipped her hand into his and let him pull her to her feet; she gave a squeeze to his hand before drawing away and stretching her arms up high over her head. She let out an involuntarily little squeak with the effort of elongated the whole of her, and she heaved a sigh and slackened, arms swinging as they dangled at her side. She smiled and it was something small and pretty. "Yes, I would like that," she replied, running her fingers through the thick mass of flaxen curls. In truth, the study of healing would make her feel closer to her mother, a great healer. "You have a..." She reached forward and plucked a clump of grass from the back of his leg, flicking it away. She moved to take a step forward, momentarily forgetting her temporary handicap, and cringed, glancing down at the bandaging. "How long til the bandages can come off?" There was a very morbid part of her that could not wait to see the scars.

[Caelum]

"A few more days on the inside," he frowned, glancing down at her leg. "Why don't you sit back down? I'll saddle up the horses. Or if it's bothering you, we can camp here tonight. Zeltiva can wait another half a day, Lillis." It was odd for him to say such things, this man who had been driven as though the hounds of hell were on his heels from one end of the earth to the other. Yet for Lillis, they could fall to silence for a few hours, for a few days. He could work on his papers by campfire, reorganize his notes.

[Lillis]

Lillis shook her head and planted her weight firmly on the afflicted leg, as though to test how much she could bear. "We should keep going," she said firmly. "I'm fine -- really, I can handle it." Truth be told, she felt much better being persistently active than she did in respite, no matter how much her body craved the time to heal. Distractions were a powerful tool that aided in her recovery -- or rather allowed her not to drop into a pit of hollow mourning and self-pity. She moved past him, graceless with the awkward gait of an invalid, and smiled, her hand brushing against his arm as she went by. "Really," she said again, gentler, softer, "I'm all right."

[Caelum]

Mollified by Lillis' reassurances of her own well-being, the unlikely pair proceeded on their journey to Zeltiva, city of scholars and shipwrighting. There Caelum hoped to unbury further secrets and lost knowledge regarding cosmic healing. He felt rather like a fool flailing a windmills, and a deeper part of him recognized that he was indeed just that. His skills in healing were limited, he found, though there was a haze of memory loitering especially in the moonlight of greater depths of ability that he felt must sleep now in his hands, in his mind. Surgeon's hands, they were, to look at them, and so he aimed to make them so in truth. If he wanted to heal the heavens, he had to start with healing the more corporal subjects of the universe. This, of course, did not mean he was not actively researching towards his more divine goals.

The days slipped by, blessed by gentle weather and abundant game. When Lillis was feeling up to it, they would race across open patches of land, eating the wind and trying not to hope too hard that it would wash the worst pieces of them away. By night, they would strike camp at convenient or merely picturesque locations, splitting chores and sharing meals. They failed to achieve a high level of conversation, their words typically limited to necessity; but they were neither empty or unkind for it. Each had a great deal on their mind, and each had a great deal they, perhaps, feared to unburden from their minds and onto the other's with weighty words.

It was five days since the nap in the sun-dappled woods and the moon had risen more than an hour previous. A small clearing was snuggled up between a copse of sycamore trees and the bright music of a little stream flush with trout. He had set up the tent and as Lillis set about building up the fire, he gathered up his fishing gear to walk down to the stream and settle in.

It was peaceful, he thought, a stolen piece of it to settle his soul into a state capable of wading, again and always, through his reams of research tonight. He slept very little, usually, due to his unflagging drive. Obsession, he privately acknowledged, but did not care.

[Lillis]

She waited until he'd moved away before she sat down next to her newly built fire and began to unwrap the bandages from around her leg. No longer plagued by a constant stinging in her leg, she thought it was probably safe to take the bandages off and see how the healing was progressing. Of course it was more of a morbid curiosity on Lillis' part than anything else -- she wanted to see it, wanted to familiarize herself with the new look of her body.

She unwound the bandaging and piled them up beside her, peering curiously over her knee and down her shin, where she saw a constellation of dark red scabs, thick and shell-like. "That's so gross," she whispered, not without a hint of actual, detached enthusiasm at the sight. She poked at some of the scabs tentatively and felt little pain; it was as though she was looking at something foreign, something not her own. All told, the damage was inconsistent, afflicting primarily her left shin and knee and leaving her calf primarily in tact. Her thigh boasted only a few scabs, round and firm and red, about the size of a coin. Without considering the consequences, she began to pick at one of the scabs on her thigh until she was able to partially peel it away -- she sucked in the air through her teeth and cringed. That was a most unpleasant sensation.

Rising to her feet, she moved at first with a normal gait, no longer impeded by the bandaging. But bending her knee set the scabs to cracking, and it broke with a flash of pain that ran up and down the length of her leg. So she did not bend the knee so much, moving slowly and awkwardly toward the stream where Caelum fished.

Lillis admired him quietly for a moment, the gentle, artful line of his body as he cast his line into the water. Even in the moonlight, he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

"Hey," she said at length, "want to see?" And she presented to him her affliction under the light of a waxing moon.

[Caelum]

A small brace of fish glittered in the moonlight on the bank behind him. He rested an elbow in the grass, reclined back and no longer intent on fishing itself. There was enough for their dinner and so, instead, he was listening to the music of the stream and letting his thoughts roam.

The sound of Lillis' approach had his shoulders angling around, a loose brain looping heavily against his temple. The scent of blood registered first, sharpening the strained healer's senses and narrowing his eyes on her leg. As she came to a halt and her leg became visible, he let out a sigh.

"Fine leg you've got there," he murmured, a hint of humor and resignation in his tone as he bent a knee and struggled up to a sitting position. A cant of his chin had the gold infiltrated brown of his eyes sliding up to her face. "You shouldn't poke at it, Lillis. The scab protects the wound while it heals."

[Lillis]

Two small shoulders arched in a shrug even as one delicate finger rose to tuck a few errant curls behind one small, pale ear. "Mm, I know," she acknowledged, even as she leaned forward, storm-sky eyes focused intently on the black-and-red chaos of her healing flesh. It fascinated her, some how, to be standing there, upright and mostly in one piece, after laying where she'd laid and being certain she would never rise again. She found it rather staggering, actually, how resilient she had proven to be. And while she was of decidedly mixed emotions about her survival in the face of so much death, she had to admire the persistence of her body, something she had once regarded as rather weak, rather inconsequential.

Lillis righted herself rather quickly, eyes wide and locked on his face. "Oh, should I -- is it too much? If you don't want to look at it, I'll wrap it up again. I didn't think about... if it would be unsettling for you. I'm sorry." She paused, stealing a glance down in the steely moonlight. "I just wanted to... see it, I suppose. Give it some air."

And yet, she didn't truly feel compelled to hide herself from him. She felt no real self-consciousness at all in his presence, no impulse to deceive. Perhaps it was a result of him seeing her at her most vulnerable; perhaps it was part of hitting bottom; or perhaps he had simply disarmed her.

[Caelum]

"You're right," he said abruptly, a grin shocking it's way across his face. It was not an expression the rest of him seemed to remember, but it fit all the same, not awkward like his accent or so many other things that could prove surreal. He began to reel in his fishing line. "You should see it and a little fresh air won't hurt it. It's healing beautifully, Lillis."