Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 367

Chapter 367: Done enough
Ford laughed incredulously. The stress of the journey was getting through to him. Was his mind breaking under it all, or was he simply that relieved that Mia hadn’t lost her spunk?

“You’re absolutely ludicrous,” He told her, earning a mild look of disapproval from Anaisa.

Mia blinked at him and tried to sit up. Reflexively, he put an arm beneath her shoulders to help her, grimacing and avoiding Seth’s gaze.

As soon as she was stable, Ford withdrew, keeping his eyes away from Mia’s father.

“I am not ludicrous,” She defended herself.

“Aren’t you? How long have you been unconscious? Do you even know? Do you know what time it is, or how much distance we could make before having to rest again? How long you’ll last before you run out of magic and leave us stranded somewhere less sheltered than we are now? Grow up a little, Mia, and know your limitations. You’re not invincible.”

The flash of anger flooded out before he could stop it. He didn’t like going back to his snarky, harsh demeanor, but quite frankly, he was exhausted. He ducked his head, trying to calm his mind enough to issue an apology, but none was immediately forthcoming.

Mia’s mouth hung open like a fish for several seconds before she slowly spoke back to him, her voice low and angry.

“You’re one to talk. Using your magic like you did to hide me after running out so soon before!”

Ford’s attempt to calm himself was swept away like dust in a breeze.

“I did that because someone decided to throw herself practically into the jaws of a monster. You’re welcome for saving your life! I suppose next time you won’t want me to.”

“There’s not going to be a next time because she’s never going to do something so reckless again, are you, Mia?” Seth cut in.

“You just thanked me for saving you all a moment ago!” The young woman protested with wide eyes. “Now you’re calling me reckless?”

“I didn’t call you reckless, but what you did definitely was. I can thank you for doing it because it worked out for all of us… this time. Because we were all very, very lucky. But in the future, we’re not going to repeat actions that throw us directly into danger. That’s not what our family does.” Seth’s voice was stern.

Anaisa barked a laugh so sudden that Ford was startled out of the gravity of the conversation. The redheaded woman covered her mouth with one hand.

“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry, Seth. I… thought you were joking.”

She looked away, trying to collect herself, while Seth tilted his head with incredulity.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m sorry,” She repeated. “Now that I know you’re serious, yes, I fully support that Mia and Ford and Daniel should not put themselves recklessly in danger, as they all have at various points in this whole… adventure.”

The last words seemed chosen very carefully, so Ford didn’t dare challenge it, but there was a lot more behind his maybe-sister’s words that he wanted to ask a lot of questions about.

Perhaps later.

“I didn’t see any way around it, Papa,” Mia frowned. “And I killed it.”

“Yes, you did, with Ford’s help, and we’re very proud of both of you. And very worried,” Anaisa rushed to say.

“But relax a bit. We’re not in a life or death emergency right this second, so you don’t have to pop up like a daisy and continue on your way as if nothing happened,” Grandpa took Ford’s side as he spoke to Mia, and the younger man puffed out his chest slightly.

It was good to not be on the losing side of an argument. Mia seemed to wilt, laying back down on her bedroll and turning onto her side.

“Oh,”

The single syllable hung in the air, and Mia turned her head back to speak over her shoulder. “It glows? Is it night?”

“Yes, it’s been hours,” Ford told her. “You’ve been out for a long while.”

“I suppose we can wait to leave until morning, but… why is it glowing?” She addressed the question to Grandpa instead of to Ford, which would irk him more if he hadn’t been so abrasive to her a moment ago.

“Ford had a theory about that,” The old man directed his attention to the younger, and Ford shrugged. Mia turned to him, reluctantly yet expectantly, and waited for him to speak.

“It was… in my dream, before. The monsters opened their jaws to the sky and seemed to sort of absorb the lightning into their scales until they glowed. I don’t know what it means or why I dreamed it.”

“None of us do,” Grandpa added, “but it is very interesting.”

“Hm,” Mia lay her head back down once more, staring at the monster. “It will make an unnerving nightlight, certainly, but it looks like nothing will get in to harm us.”

“If only we could get out,” Daniel remarked, and was promptly hushed.

“You can’t get out?” Mia turned her face towards her young cousin.

“We can sort of sneak over it,” Grandpa clarified, “But the horses won’t go near it.”

“Well, then, I suppose we should move it, first,” She said with a yawn.

“We don’t know where is safe to touch it. After you were poisoned, it became a quandary,” Seth explained.

Mia rubbed her eyes. “Either my magic isn’t working, or there’s not a particular best place to touch it.”

“All right. Thank you, Mia. You rest some more,” Anaisa patted the girl’s hand and stood. “No reason to wait, is there? The horses will be antsy to go outside, I think.”

Ford moved to stand, but his self-proclaimed sister pointed a finger at him.

“Not you either. We’ll take care of this. You continue to rest until your magic is back, and watch over Mia. The rest of us, some ropes, and maybe the horses will deal with moving the creature out of the way. Both of you have done enough already for one day, don’t you think?”

He was going to protest, to proclaim himself fully capable of helping them, but Mia rolled onto her right side, facing him. The soft glow on her face revealed dark circles under her eyes. When she extended a hand slightly towards him, he knew he had more important work.

“Yes, Anaisa. I think we’ve done enough.”