Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 312

Chapter 312: Quandary
Ford tried not to stare at Mia too much. He was worried about her more than he wanted to say out loud, but so far she’d ignored or snapped at each of his concerns.

Anaisa cooked the evening meal while Mia stared into the fire Ford had built with dead wood.

Her eyes were hollow, her blinks slow with heavy lids. He could clearly see she was beyond tired.

Jumping to his feet, he did chores that normally would have fallen to her. He curried her horse, laid out her bedroll, since the group decided in the interest of mobility that tents wouldn’t be used tonight, and tried everything to make her evening as easy as possible.

She didn’t notice, continuing to hang on the verge of unconsciousness as she sat with her knees pulled up to her chin.

He wasn’t entirely sure she would stay awake long enough to eat.

“Do you want to lay down before supper?” He suggested as a last-ditch effort to get her to give in to her exhaustion.

Mia didn’t respond.

Grandpa pursed his lips. “Hey, Bug. Go rest a bit. Your aunt’s not the quickest cook around. Likes to make everything too fancy.”

Anaisa made a face at her father in law, but seemed to understand what he wanted. Mia sighed heavily and finally nodded.

“Fine.”

The single word was uttered not in a spirit of acquiescence, but borderline petulance. Mia didn’t even stand to move to her bedroll; Ford had laid it out close enough that she turned to crawl a little and flopped down onto the blankets with a heaving breath that made Ford more concerned than before.

“I’ll… go scout around for danger or anything,” Ford announced vaguely before he used his magic to disappear. No one reacted at all to his suggestion, except for Daniel who looked interested enough to watch the man vanish.

“Can I come?” He called.

“No,” Anaisa answered without looking up from the cookfire. “Ford can do a good enough job without your help.”

“But I’m really good at knowing stuff,” Daniel protested.

“I’m sure if he sees anything worth knowing about, he’ll ask you,” Grandpa assured the boy.

Ford remained true to his word and walked a wide perimeter around the camp before making his way back, still invisible.

As he suspected, Mia had fallen into a fitful sleep, murmuring and whimpering.

Reaching out, he took one of her hands and squeezed it, quieting her. Seth spared a look for his daughter, with a slight smile of relief as she calmed.

“I wish I knew how to help her,” He told the others.

Ford felt a little bad for eavesdropping, but maybe Seth would have still spoken even if he knew the younger man was there.

“She takes on too much,” Grandpa advised. “She needs to stop.”

“How can she?” Anaisa sighed. “I understand. She wants to fix what she thinks she broke. It’s a heavy thing to have the world wrong and not be able to mend it.”

The older men looked like they wanted to ask her more, but Daniel’s open ears were probably a deterrent to checking in too much on Anaisa’s mental health.

“Papa can make it better,” Daniel said cheerfully. “We’ll find him.”

“Of course we will,” Grandpa graced the boy with a short smile, while the others remained silent. Anaisa took her time cooking, and Ford couldn’t tell whether it was, as Grandpa said, a quest for perfection, or if the woman was delaying to give Mia a chance to sleep and Ford a chance to return.

The woman whose hand he held continued sleeping, and with his other hand Ford felt her forehead to check for fever. He couldn’t tell for certain, and brushed his fingers against her soft cheek as well.

She shuddered in her sleep, and he brushed a lock of hair away, squeezing her hand until she quieted again.

He couldn’t use words to comfort her; she wouldn’t hear anything.

So, Ford sat silently, invisibly next to her, cradling Mia’s hand to give her a bit of rest. When it seemed like dinner was finally about to be ready, he gently extricated himself from her grasp and snuck around the far side of the camp before revealing himself and walking back at an even pace.

“Anything of note?” Grandpa asked as Ford approached.

“Not that I saw,” Ford shrugged. “Mia did a good job finding the safest place for us to spend the night.”

Seth looked towards his daughter, who whimpered softly. Ford felt a pang of guilt for leaving her, but he couldn’t exactly stay invisible by her side forever. The others would eventually grow either worried or suspicious about his absence.

The mild deception made Ford feel a little bad, but he wouldn’t have to hide himself if he wasn’t so afraid Seth would lose his mind over it and kill him.

Well, probably not kill him at this point. Ford was needed. But, he’d just finally gotten his ribs and leg all healed up and didn’t care to immediately incur new injuries.

Anaisa served the food, and Mia woke from her fitful slumber to join them. She looked half-asleep, and her aunt had to coax more food into her.

“You ok, Bug?” Grandpa asked gently.

“Yes, I’m just so tired,” She smiled through a yawn.

“Are you over-exerting your powers?” He prompted. “Maybe we shouldn’t use them so much.”

“Using your magic constantly can’t be good for you,” Seth put in with a calculated glance at Ford.

The younger man’s fork paused halfway to his mouth. He wasn’t supposed to know that Mia felt a constant pull towards him. Was Seth blaming him for that? It wasn’t his fault!

He couldn’t help that… Ford hid a grimace behind a sneeze. If Mia’s powers were constantly being drained on him, how did one fix such a thing?

He wished he could just ask, but somehow, he didn’t think that would go over well. So he finished his food and remained silent.

Ford would have to try to figure this out on his own.