Kyran gave a slight nod of his head when Selenity had pointed out that if Nanashi was going to say anything he would’ve said it to him or LaRae. That was probably pretty true, but then that would also depend on if Nanashi even bothered to speak. Sometimes it felt like if you wanted to get him to open up to you and tell you what was on his mind that you had to pry it out of him because he didn’t want to bother anyone else with his own worries or concerns. He thought on it a little harder, remaining quiet while he was sitting there absently watching the others near the stream. It took him a few minutes of quietly thinking but he eventually remembered something that he could share, though he was sure that Nanashi would probably prefer that he didn’t. “…I’m ashamed to say that I forgot…” He started with a sigh. “…But Nanashi has been having pretty bad nightmares lately.” He told her. “He was having so much trouble trying to sleep that I wound up bunking with him, hoping it would help.” He added. “…The nightmares stretch all the way back to that night in the Kairava when he started going through that weird change and he nearly died on us.” He paused. “But the most recent ones have been of that hunter that he had to kill, that’s still eating him up pretty bad.” He told her quietly. “Now that we’re in the group again and there isn’t a room to hide in at night I’m afraid that the nightmares could get worse, but I hope that I’m wrong.” He paused. “Then of course there is also the fact that if he gets hit with another one out here while we’re sleeping everyone is going to know about it and that’s probably just going to do more harm to him emotionally than anything.” He let out a heavier sigh and lifted his hand to his head to kind of bury his face a little. “…I can’t believe that I forgot about that so easily …I know there’s been a lot going on and a lot on my mind but there is no excuse for forgetting something like that…” He said embarrassingly.

Selenity had already taken to her own thoughts of trying to figure out how they were going to be able to keep their eyes peeled for the hunters without causing too much unrest with everyone else. However, she did turn her gaze back to Kyran when he started to speak again and listened quietly while he started to recount the nightmares that Nanashi had been having. "...I am a little surprised that you forgot as well," she admitted softly after he had told her that he had been sharing a bed with Nanashi in hopes that it would help him. Given that he had actually taken to sleeping next to Nanashi, it honestly did surprise her that his nightmares had escaped him. She let out a quiet sigh when Kyran started to try and bury his face in his palm and then shook her head slightly before she reached over to place her hand gently on his arm. "Kyran...it doesn't matter," she told him softly, "...If it helped at all before...then just stay close to him. ...I don't believe anyone could blame him for having nightmares.... I mean, this trip has been harder on him than on anyone."

Nanashi was still hovering close by LaRae's side, although his eyes were intermittently scanning the trees for movement. The sin was lowering quickly toward the horizon, and the darkening sky was making him even more uneasy. He soon noticed, however, that the forest itself, was not growing much darker, and it took him a few moments to realize why. The silvery bark on the trees that surrounded them, glowed very dimly, or perhaps it merely reflected the light of the moons very brightly. It was hard to determine which it was, although when he started to look around at the plants that LaRae was sticking so close to, he soon realized that event he small multicolored flowers were glowing every so faintly in a few spots. It was something else altogether that really caught his attention, however. The taller flowers, which were so tightly curled in on themselves had started to glow a brilliant white which put all of the others to shame, and the petals were starting to unfurl. He blinked and moved a little closer to one, watching intently as the flower started to twist and open out into something that almost resembled a thin, delicate lily. Once the flower was completely open, which only took a minute or so, the petals seemed to glow even more vibrantly. Slowly, he raised his hand and gently laid his finger against one of the glowing petals, although moments after the touched the flower an intense warming sensation seemed to shoot through his entire hand and all the way up his arm, which caused him to gasp in surprise and pull his fingers away from the plant. Just as quickly the glow from the flower faded and the flower shriveled and curled in on itself once again, only this time the petals hung limp and dead. Nanashi stared at the plant with wide eyes for a long moment before glancing down at his tingling hand in confusion, but he rather quickly moved away from the remainder of the strange flowers, absently trying to rub that strange sensation from his arm as he did so. "Hi—I mean, Selenity...what are these?" he asked nervously.

Selenity turned her gaze in Nanashi's direction when she heard his voice. She had missed the opening of the flowers, but after taking another glance around, she realized what Nanashi must have been asking about. "They are moon flowers," she answered him calmly. "They're a special flower that only grows in this land. They only open at night when the moon is out."
"Why did it wilt when I touched it?" he asked a little more directly as he glanced back to the flower.
She blinked at Nanashi's question, not realizing that he had actually touched one. "The flowers are endowed with healing properties when they are open. Touching one to an injury can expedite the healing process...but once it gives off that power, the flower wilts."

Kyran hardly took any comfort in Selenity telling him that it didn’t matter that he had forgotten. His hand remained close to his face and he just sat there feeling kind of rotten. It was unlike him to forget something like that and his only explanation for it was that his own personal feelings and problems had completely overridden everything and everyone else’s problems seemed… well, insignificant. He hadn’t particularly even noticed that anything was off with LaRae and normally he would’ve known as quickly as Selenity had, if not sooner. He gave a weak nod of his head at her following statement. Staying close to Nanashi had in his opinion seemed to help, at least a little. Although there was no telling with them being out in the forest instead… he just hoped that everything worked out and Nanashi wasn’t having nightmares as badly as he was in the palace. He was pretty sure that was an impossibility… but he still hoped.

LaRae had gone right back to being fascinated by the flowers and other plants in the area once Aamori had managed to wrangle in Zale. She wasn’t used to seeing these types of plants and since they were stopping at a place so abundant with them she fed her curiosity. Once the sun started setting and the flowers and other fauna started to glow the way that it did she became even more intrigued. The plants in this area were so pretty and more fanciful than the ones in the earth territory. Much like Nanashi she was rather moved by watching the taller flowers bloom and present themselves, although she refrained from touching them and once she saw what happened to the one that Nanashi touched she was kind of glad that she had. They were far too pretty to force to wilt and she imagined they were just weak against being touched in any way by something not quite as organic as itself. She turned her attention towards Selenity though once she had started to answer Nanashi’s questions and quickly learned that she had been far off on her assumption. A flower with healing capabilities… that was quite unique and honestly she’d never even heard of such a thing. It was still somewhat hard to believe… but she had no real reason to doubt Selenity. “They are incredible.” She responded in an amazed tone. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything quite like it before and they’re quite beautiful for something so useful.” She was somewhat used to medicinal plants being a little more… well… not so beautiful and flowery… or glowy for that matter. Most plants with any medical relation that she recalled were more like weeds or just run of mill green plants or maybe with small, insignificant flowers… but never anything like these. “…Do other clans know about these? Or try to harvest them to grow in their own territories?” She asked curiously.

Nanashi stared back at Selenity with wide, curious eyes once she started to explain the plant's effects to him. He agreed with LaRae easily, the flowers were incredible, and he had never seen anything like them, even in all the time he spent wandering around. For now, he back off of asking questions, seeing as LaRae sounded even more interested than he did. He turned his gaze back down to his arm and absently flexed his fingers a little, still trying to work that strange tingling out of his system. It was going away, slowly, but his hand still felt as if it had fallen asleep and was in the process of waking up.

Selenity smiled slightly when LaRae showed some interest in the flowers as well, not that it surprised her. LaRae was an earth dragon after all, and her specialty seemed to be in controlling and growing plants. "These flowers are considered sacred here," she told her, "we try not to touch them unless absolutely necessary." she leaned her back against the trunk of the tree behind her and smiled slightly. "I have heard it said that when magic dwells in one place for so long, the land itself begins to form some powers of it's own. Those flowers are not the only things in this area that have adapted that way." She sighed softly and let her arms rest across the top of her knees again. "...Unfortunately, other clans have learned of these flowers before...but we try to keep their existence as nothing more than a myth. These flowers will not grow anywhere but here, and even if you cut harvest them without touching them, they are nothing more than wilted flowers at dawn. While their healing abilities are potent, they are also limited to the night when they are in bloom...so it is useless to harvest them."

"But if they're only so useful, why keep them such a secret?" Kanone piped up curiously, obviously having been listening. The flowers had caught his attention as well, and since everyone else was asking questions he thought he may as well ask a few of his own.
Selenity glanced over to Kanone when he spoke and then sighed softly. "You don't study history much, do you?" she asked simply.
"Haha...uh...no, not really," he admitted. "Why?"
"Because that seemed like a silly question coming from you," she responded simply. "The wind clan used to have the largest territory of all seven clans...and now it is the smallest. Parts of it was given up willingly to the thunder clan, but the rest was taken forcefully by the earth clan. All of the clans are constantly at war with one another...and what few alliances we hare are fragile. Our clan's strength is healing, not fighting, and if our land possesses something that another clan desires, what do you think the odds are that they will not try to drive us from our land if we cannot give them what they want? After that happens, what would happen to this forest? The land absorbs the magic of it's inhabitants...and if we leave, the magic will eventually leave with us and be replaced. Our clan is not the only thing that resides in this forest...so we cannot risk that happening," she explained thoroughly, and hopefully in terms that everyone could understand...of course she was pretty sure that Kanone was the only one naive enough not to comprehend the reasoning behind it.

LaRae listened intently while Selenity answered her questions and nodded a little weakly in response. She understood quite well what could happen if another clan wanted the flowers bad enough and learned that they could only grow on this land and at night. She was more closely woven with the less desirable aspects of her clan than she liked to admit sometimes… so she understood how very possible it could be for another clan to invade and try to claim this area, if not all of the territory. The Earth clan was somewhat greedy as far as things went and land was a big deal and worth quite a lot, especially if it came with some extra bonuses… like healing flowers. She herself had no desire to steal something like this for her clan, not that it could be stolen… at all, or so she believed after listening to Selenity answer Kanone’s silly question. She sighed softly after Selenity had finished speaking. “I think if it ever became apparent to someone with dishonorable intentions, who wanted these flowers for their clan… that these flowers would become useless without the light clan in the area… well, I believe it wouldn’t be farfetched of an idea to invade and hold a great number of the light clan hostage to keep the land fertile.” She commented with an almost disgusted look to her face. The idea was unpleasant and if she could think of a solution like that, that easily than someone like Renzo could too and if someone like him ever learned of these flowers… well… that wouldn’t bode well for the light clan.

Kanone blinked when Selenity started to give him a brief history lesson into how much territory his own clan had lost in the past, and LaRae followed up by adding another little tidbit. He stared at LaRae for a moment and then shook his head a little. "Yeesh, sorry I asked," he replied before running his hand back through his hair a little.

Selenity sighed softly when LaRae brought up the possibility that whoever invaded may keep a large number of light clan dragons hostage to keep the land as it was. "Yes...there is always that possibility as well," she responded quietly. "These flowers draw their power from the same source that I do," she informed them simply. "My magic is strongest under the light of the moon, that is where the healing magic comes from." She turned her head slightly to look at the bank of the river and then sighed softly. "Thus far, we have done a decent job of keeping them a secret from other clans. Normally, I shouldn't have said anything, but at the rate we seem to keep getting hurt, knowing their use may be helpful while we are here. Besides...I trust all of you," she told them honestly before she glanced around the clearing with a smile. She did trust everyone in the group, even Nero. His and LaRae's clans were the two most likely candidates for pulling something that LaRae had mentioned, although the Earth clan was far more adept at that sort of thing. Even still, she did not believe that LaRae would tell anyone what she knew, so she saw little reason to worry about it.

Once that conversation was finished, she stood up and stretched a little. "I am going to go take a look around. Go ahead and rest, we've still got a long ways to go."

LaRae was a little amused by Kanone’s naivety on the subject and kind of wished that she wasn’t as aware of the world around her as she was. It must be nice to not really have a care in the world as far as stuff like that went. She knew too much to be comfortable with, especially since she didn’t care for the fact that the Earth clan invaded as much as it did and all for the sake of land. She was happy enough hearing that Selenity trusted everyone, including her. She didn’t think this knowledge needed to go any further than it already had and planned to keep it to herself so long as she was able. Once the conversation was done and over with and Selenity said that they should rest she spent a little more time looking at the flowers and eventually stood up and dusted herself off so that she could go find a place to lie down and rest that wasn’t quite so close to the stream and all of those healing flowers. As soon as she found a place she was happy with that was still close to everyone else but far enough away to be considered not on top of them she sat down to make herself comfortable so that she could sleep. They’d been on these trips often enough now to know that when you were given the chance to sleep, you should take it.

Once everyone had been given the chance to lie down, everyone started to get comfortable, or at least the ones who hadn’t already done so began to settle down. Nanashi, watched quietly as LaRae moved away from the riverbank and found a place to lie down. Soon after she had found herself a spot to rest, he moved to lie down near her, although he did not lay quite as close as he normally would have. He was still rather alert and his mind had no desire to rest. He had noticed that Selenity had disappeared for a while and he was still awake when she came back an hour or more later and wound up talking to Kyran. He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but it half sounded as if they were discussing the two of them staying up to keep an eye out. He trusted that Selenity and Kyran knew what they were doing, in regards to the watch, although it still took him a lot of time to finally manage to fall asleep.

Nanashi’s sleep was never very restful from the start, although he was not very mobile. Occasionally he would whine quietly and curl in on himself, but it was never anything terribly noticeable. It was getting close to dawn, and he had been asleep for some time, when the nightmares really started to affect him. It was hard to say by looking at him what images were plaguing his mind, but whatever it was clearly terrified him. His breath was quick and ragged and he had already broken into a sweat. Soon he was groaning and twisting in his sleep, almost as if he were in some sort of pain and his teeth ground together like he was trying to keep himself from screaming. This episode was by far one of the worst he had gone through, although the simple fact that he was well aware when he fell asleep that he was not safe in a room somewhere had a tremendous amount to do with that. Even after speaking with Kyran, the idea that the hunters may come back for them during the night while they all slept still made it extremely difficult to have any peaceful dreams.

Kyran had waited up while Selenity was off looking around and spoke with her quietly once she had returned as to not disturb the others. He was completely for the two of them staying awake in shifts to keep an eye on everyone else and he let Selenity take the first watch seeing as he had been up since pretty early in the morning. He slept as well as he possibly could and didn’t fight it when a few hours later Selenity had to wake him up so that the two of them could switch positions and she could get some sleep. Once he was awake and moving he took a brief lap around the group to just make sure that everyone was still alright and that there wasn’t anyone else around who shouldn’t be. After he had finished that he went back over towards where Selenity had laid down to sleep so that he could sit, but he positioned himself somewhere in the middle as far as distance from her and distance from Nanashi went. As the night went on it hadn’t escaped his notice that Nanashi was having a fitful night’s sleep. He continued to keep a close eye on Nanashi since he’d dealt with him and these nightmares before. As soon as it started to look like it was getting pretty bad he started to stand up and move closer to Nanashi. He wanted to try and wake him up before he lost it and started screaming. He’d just wind up scaring everyone else and waking them all up and he wanted to try and keep as much attention off of this as possible for everyone’s sake but mostly for Nanashi’s. When he reached Nanashi he knelt down and carefully, quietly reached over and set his hand on Nanashi’s shoulder. He adding just a little pressure, just to try and reassure him as he spoke. “Nanashi, it’s alright.” He told him quietly, leaning a little close to him as to not have to speak so loud that he disturbed LaRae. “You’re having another nightmare, Nanashi, it’s alright… wake up.” He told him in as soothing a voice as he could muster so he didn’t alarm him.

Nanashi, at current, had no idea that he was even asleep. Much like some of the other horrible nightmares he had suffered, everything that he was seeing and everything that he felt was very real to him. Strangely enough, whenever he had the nightmares this bad, he never really remembered them when he finally woke up. Also, whenever this happened, he was usually a little difficult to wake up. Even still, he seemed at least vaguely aware that someone was near him, because as soon as Kyran touched him he tried to cower away from him with a whimper. He could feel him leaning over him as well, but of course Kyranw as not what he was seeing. Moments after Kyran had touched him, his eyes snapped open, but they were still wild and frightened. He was looking right up into Kyran's face without the slightest hint of recognition on his face. Kyran may as well have been someone standing over him with a knife to his throat. Mere seconds after his eyes had opened, he finally screamed. Just as he opened his mouth, something seemed to flip in him, and the air around him suddenly grew so hot that it waved, and seconds later the hand that Kyran had placed on him burst into flame halfway to his elbow. Nanashi's eyes widened at the sight of the fire and he scrambled way from him by a couple of feet, crawling backwards on his hands and feet until he fell on his tail again. The air around him was already starting to cool, and he still looked terrified, although after blinking a few times the look on his face changed from fear to panic as he finally started to realize that he really was awake and that no one had been trying to hurt him. He had been dreaming...except for Kyran's hand really was on fire.

Celestine, being the light sleeper that he was, was the first to respond to everything that was going on. He had already been woken up briefly by Nanashi's whining once, but tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. The instant that Nanashi screened, however, he bolted upright from where he was seated and dove out of the tree, already looking around for intruders, although all he saw was Kyran with his hand burning. "Shit!" he cursed as he moved closer. For the moment, he wasn't paying Nanashi any mind, he was a little more concerned with finding a means of putting Kyran out, although he did at least realize that he was not the only one awake. Out of the corner of his eye he had noticed Kanone on his feet and Selenity scrambling to get to hers as well, although he was by far the closest to the scene by the time they had gotten up.

Kyran startled slightly but composed himself quickly after Nanashi had woken the way he had and looked at him with such a frightened expression on his face. He had started to pull his hand back, or at least take it off Nanashi after he had looked at him the way that he had but Nanashi screamed before he got too far and before he knew it his hand and arm felt hot and within seconds of that he noticed the bright flames coming from his own arm. At first he just kind of knelt there staring at it in disbelief and then it started to kick in gradually that his arm was on fire and that he was indeed feeling pain. He skipped straight from recognition to panic in a split second in the process of falling on his tail. His first instinct was to try and pat it out with his other hand but he stopped himself just shy of thrusting his other hand into the flames and continued to panic. He was usually so composed and level headed that he would know how to handle this but he never expected Nanashi of all people to be able to use magic so it had startled him utterly and completely and he was still a little stuck in disbelief, but the fire needed to be put out. He knew that, his brain just wasn’t working properly and he wasn’t doing a damn thing other than just staring at it with an extremely alarmed look on his face.

LaRae had jerked awake as soon as she heard Nanashi scream. Her attention had first gone to Nanashi though it shifted quickly when she saw that Kyran’s hand and arm were on fire. She was on her feet within moments though she wasn’t totally sure what to do. She did kind of recognize this though because Nanashi had done something similar before, or at least she remembered waking up to fire and Nanashi most likely having been the cause. She edged closer to Nanashi and started to kneel down near him, mostly because surely one of the others who were awake could help Kyran. Too many people trying to help at once was just going to cause a problem.

Nero much like everyone else had woken up when Nanashi screamed. He had been awake off and on for the most of the night, though that was mostly because he was overly aware of what Selenity and Kyran had been doing for the night. After Nanashi’s scream however he wasn’t sure anyone was asleep. He and Reyes had woken up as had Aamori. She was still near the stream and looked as if she were contemplating doing something about the fire but at the same time she wasn’t nearly as close to Kyran as Celestine or even Selenity may have been. He could have helped to put out the fire but he hardly bothered to move and instead just kind of watched from where he was with Reyes.

Celestine didn't waste any time getting over to Kyran, although he was a little surprised the the guy wasn't doing something to try and put the flames out himself. As soon as he was in range he threw out his hand and sent a strong gust of wind directly toward Kyran. The gust started at his hand and fanned outward as it went, catching the flames. If the fire had been larger, doing this probably would have done nothing more than spread the flames, but given that it was relatively small, the strong wind blew against the flames so hard that they soon enough snuffed out like a candle. Once he was sure that the fire was out, he hurried over to Kyran's side and took a hold of his arm below the area where it had been ablaze. Celestine had reacted quickly and the fire had not been there too long, but Kyran's hand was still badly burned. "What in the seven hells just happened!?" he demanded. He hadn't seen anything, he had only heard Nanashi's scream and then saw Kyran's arm ablaze when he turned around.

Kanone finally hurried over a little closer to where Kyran was sitting, although he knew that Celestine was on the job of putting him out, so he didn't bother getting too close. He stared at Kyran's red, blistered, and thoroughly singed hand for a few moments before he glanced over to Nanashi. "What did you do?" he asked, sounding as if he was torn between being worried and angry, although his gaze seemed to opt more for worried when he actually looked at Nanashi's face.

Nanashi was still sitting a few feet away from Kyran with his knees still half drawn up as if he was prepared to continue scooting backwards on his rump, although he didn't move. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his mouth was gaping open in shock. He looked frozen, and hadn't even offered to turn his head to look at LaRae when she came to kneel beside him. His skin was soaked with sweat and his entire body was trembling slightly. Aside from that and his heavy breathing, he wasn't so much as batting an eyelid, at least not until Kanone spoke to him. He finally blinked and looked up at him, his ears immediately pinning back. "...I...I-I...," he whimpered quietly. He looked afraid again. He hadn't done this. He couldn't have done this, but of course...who else could have? He looked back to Kyran again and started to shake his head weakly, looking both frightened and apologetic. "...I...I didn't...," he whispered quietly, "I didn't...." His eyes were already starting to well with tears. What if he had done it? He didn't know how it happened, but what if it had been him? Kyran was the last person that he ever wanted to hurt, and if he blamed him for this he was sure he was going to hate him. After all, he knew from experience how excruciating it was to be set on fire.

Selenity was not very far behind Celestine when it came to getting to Kyran. She ran up behind him and placed her hands on Kyran's shoulders gently as she knelt down behind him. "What happened!?" she asked quickly, although she was directing the question more to Kyran than anyone. She did, however look up when Kanone questioned Nanashi, but she only gave him a really dirty look. Her gaze softened a little when Nanashi started to speak, or at least try to. "...Of course you didn't," she responded gently before she turned her attention back to Kyran again. She gentle started to rub her hands along his upper arms. Right now, she was more concerned with getting his hand treated than worrying about how this had happened. They could figure that out later.

Kyran continued to stare down at his arm in disbelief even for a few brief moments after Celestine had put the flames out. He still couldn’t believe it had just burst into flames like that and the only somewhat logical explanation was that it came from Nanashi. Although, given that he was a dragon half it was also kind of hard to believe that he had been the cause, but what else was there? He felt Selenity behind him, or at least touching his shoulders and turned his eyes to look over at Celestine as he had taken hold of his arm. He was in pain and quite a bit of it but he still couldn’t believe what had just happened so he wasn’t quite emoting just how much pain he was feeling at having his hand and arm burned as badly as it had been. He glanced from Celestine to Nanashi, without answering anyone’s questions. He was honestly a little speechless and he didn’t entirely know what happened other than his assumption that it had come from Nanashi. He could see how upset Nanashi was and he felt bad. He may have been the one that was seriously hurt but he cared more that Nanashi was freaked out and upset. “…Nanashi.” He started in a somewhat quiet and strained voice. He automatically cleared his throat after he heard how rough he sounded and tried again. “Nanashi, it’s alright.” He told him in a stronger sounding tone that honestly hid the pain in his voice a little better. “I’m alright, don’t worry.” He tried to reassure him. He wasn’t mad at him, he wasn’t even upset. If it had been him it was an accident and it wasn’t like he had harmed him on purpose.

LaRae couldn’t help but glare at Kanone as well when the first thing out of his mouth was to ask Nanashi what he did. She knew that something similar had happened before and that it was probably Nanashi’s fault… but that didn’t mean you had to go and make Nanashi feel even worse. He was already scared and upset, Kanone hadn’t needed to go and blatantly make him feel guilty. She reached over to Nanashi and wrapped her arms around him and pulled his upper body close to her chest and began petting his head lightly in an attempt to try and calm him down. “...It’s okay, Kyran even said so.” She told him quietly. “Celestine put the fire out and we’ve got plenty of ways of healing him up good as new.” She told him soothingly. “It’ll be okay.”

Aamori finally got up and moved away from the stream and made her way over towards the group that had gathered around Kyran and Nanashi. She was glad that Celestine had taken care of putting the fire out. She could have done it no problem but she’d have had a little more of a distance to cover and she probably would have soaked Kyran in the process. She had reached the group and stood near Kanone just about the time that Kanone had asked Nanashi what he did. She stared at Kanone for a moment and then punched him in the shoulder without much force. “Be nice, don’t make him feel worse.” She told him. “Can’t you see how shaken up he is already without you saying that.” She added as she shook her head.

Nanashi was still staring at Kanone with that wide-eyed and frightened look on his face, although by now he looked more like he wanted to just scramble to his feet and take off into the woods. He heard Kyran's words, but his eyes were locked on his hand, and he knew that he wasn't really alright. His hand was burned pretty badly, and without treatment it would probably take a long time to heal. He was so busy staring at Kyran and trying desperately to figure out what had happened that when LaRae reached over and touched him his initial response was to flinch away from her violently. It had occoured to him briefly that if this really had been his fault and the others found out, there was always a chance that they were not going to take it very well. Even now, Nanashi's trust in everyone's tolerance of him was limited. Once he determined that LaRae wasn't trying to hurt him, he didn't resist being pulled against her, at least not entirely. He was still tense and he still looked a little afraid, but at least he let her touch him. "...I don't know...what happened...," he whispered quietly after LaRae had told him that it would be okay. "...I didn't...I didn't do anything...," he repeated skeptically. Even he didn't sound too sure of that.

Kanone cringed a little when he caught dirty looks from all of the girls, and Aamori even punched him in the arm. "Ow...," he complained quietly, absently raising his hand to rub the area. He looked over at Aamori and then sighed as he looked back at Nanashi. "Geez, I'm sorry, it just slipped out, okay?" he complained. He hadn't really been paying too close attention to Nanashi at first, so he hadn't realized how frightened he looked. He hadn't meant to make matters worse, but he knew that the poor guy was probably only freaking out as bad as he was because he had said something. He let out another quiet sigh and walked over to the opposite side of Nanashi. Kyran already had every person with a healing spell up their sleeves on his back, so he didn't really need to be over there. Slowly, he knelt down beside Nanashi and reached over to place a hand on his shoulder gently, although he looked almost a little timid doing so, at least until Nanashi's only response was to flinch closer to LaRae. "...Hey...I'm sorry," he told him sincerely, "it was an accident, I know...." He rubbed Nanashi's arm lightly for a moment and then glanced up at LaRae helplessly, seeing as neither of them seemed to be doing too great of a job at calming Nanashi down right this minute.

Selenity continued to rub Kyran's shoulders gently while she knelt there, seeing as Celestine was front ant center as far as his hand was concerned. She knew that Kyran was hurting, it was evident in his voice when he first spoke, not to mention his hand looked terrible. She felt bad for Nanashi as well, although she was still more concerned with getting Kyran's hand taken care of than anything. Still, right this moment there was nothing she could do that Celestine wasn't already doing. She let out a quiet sigh when Kanone went and tried to console Nanashi along with LaRae. "...I know he is of the fire clan, but he is still a dragon half. They cannot use magic," she reminded him, assuming that was yet another thing that Kanone did not know.

Kanone blinked when Selenity backed Nanashi up by saying that he couldn't use magic. "...So what...spontaneous combustion?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. "...Look, I don't know what caused it, alright? Any way you look at it, it was still an accident."

"Hush," Celestine griped at all of them. He was trying to focus hard on Kyran's hand and had already placed his own just above Kyran's charred skin and started to try and heal. This burn was much larger and considerably worse than the last burn he had healed on Kyran. His hand emitted a pale jade colored light while cool air circled beneath his hand. Gradually, the wound started to heal, but it was much easier to focus on what he was doing without everyone bickering and talking.

Kyran felt terrible watching Nanashi flinch at every touch. He also hated the fact that nothing that was being said seemed to be having any real positive effect on him. He would have loved to have gotten up and gone over to try and hug him or something to try and reassure him it was alright. He continued to keep his attention on Nanashi even while everyone else was talking, bickering, or what have you. He hardly bothered looking at Celestine once he had started to heal his arm from the burns. He knew how easily Nanashi could beat himself up or let his mind wander so he wished there was some way to put his mind at ease but it looked like there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done, especially if LaRae wasn’t managing much. He sighed softly and shook his head a little. “…I am not entirely sure what happened either.” He said quietly with less pain noticeable in his voice. “I tried waking him up and he didn’t recognize me at first and the next thing I knew… it felt warmer, then my arm was on fire.” He said quietly, still keeping his soft, concerned eyes on Nanashi.

LaRae continued to pet Nanashi and try to sooth him even though it didn’t appear that anything she was doing or saying was really helping. She stared over at Kanone once he had come over and started trying to apologize and try to help, however he could. She let go of whatever she felt at his saying what he had because Nanashi was more important and she was just glad that he apologized and was trying to help. She stared at him sympathetically and merely continued to pet Nanashi while she held him. She hated that it seemed there was nothing she could do and nothing that Kanone could do to make Nanashi feel better. She glanced over at Kyran briefly after he had spoken and explained what had happened. She continued to sit there quietly while Celestine worked but finally piped up after Celestine was nearly done. “…I know it was an accident, but something similar to this has happened before.” She announced quietly while not letting up an inch in her petting. She held him a little tighter before she continued. “…In Kairava, after we found the relic and were recovering.” She paused. “One of those nights I woke up to narrowly getting burned. Neither of us had any explanation for why it happened, or how… but that time and this time…” She sighed quietly and continued to pet Nanashi. “…He was there and he’s the only one of us who could use that sort of magic with the exception of his being a dragon half.”

Celestine was taking his time with healing Kyran's hand, trying to make sure that he did a thorough job seeing as he was going to need his hand again soon. Of course, healing was not exactly as second nature to him as it was to Selenity, but the last he knew she had not yet learned how to heal burns. By the time he had worked his way down to Kyran's fingertips, he was noticeably more tired. Magic was a strong point with him, but using healing magic seemed to drain his power far more quickly than anything else. By the time he had finished, there was nothing more than a bit of red left over from where the worst of the burns had been. Those spots were still warm to the touch and would probably be a little sore for a while, but they would be gone by morning. Once he was finished, he let out a heavy sigh and lowered his hand back to his leg before he settled down into a more comfortable sitting position since he didn't feel like he was going to be getting right back up.

Kanone fell silent after Celestine had hushed them, but once LaRae spoke up to tell them about the previous time something like this had happened. "Geez...has it ever happened before that?" he asked, directing that question more to Nanashi than anyone seeing as he was the only one who would really be able to answer.

Nanashi was still trembling a little and his rapid breathing was only just now starting to slow a little. He seemed to finally be understanding that no one was angry with him, although that still didn't change the fact that he was afraid. Honestly, he was just afraid at this point that it was going to happen again. Of course, he remembered the first time when the pillow had caught fire. As soon as LaRae started to mention that this had happened before, his entire body tensed up again and he drew up his legs while simultaneously turning his head where his face was buried against her. At that point, his shaking just got even worse, to the point that it was as easy to see as it was to feel. He didn't want her to bring that up, but now it was a little too late. He knew that it couldn't be a coincidence. Things had happened the same way both times. Something had startled him in his sleep and then when he woke up, something caught on fire. This time...it just happened to be someone's flesh rather than a pillow. He shook his head when Kanone started questioning him, and his voice cracked when he went to respond. "No!" he sobbed, "I don't know what's going on," he told him all weakly. "I...I can't use magic... I've tried before...n-nothing happened!" He sucked in a ragged, shaky breath and tried to burrow even closer to LaRae, as if he wished that he could just disappear. His ears couldn't have possibly fallen back any further than they were, and just thinking about all of this was making him miserable.

Kanone stared at Nanashi sympathetically when he responded the way that he did and absently reached over to place his hand on his arm again. "Hey...it's okay," he told him quietly. At this point however, seeing as Kyran was healed, he found himself just glancing over to him and then getting up to move out of the way. Nanashi was upset because Kyran had been hurt, so maybe he would respond better to Kyran than to the one who had accidentally pointed the finger directly at him in the first place. He moved back a few feet, though something dawned on him as he did so. "...What if it wasn't magic?" he commented absently. He glanced down to Celestine, who was giving him a rather strange look and then shook his head. "Hey, you're practically telepathic, there isn't any incantation for that," he pointed out bluntly.

Selenity was busy looking over Kyran's hand once Celestine was finished, although she did finally move away from his shoulders so that she was sitting just beside him. She wasn't entirely sure what to say about any of this, but she could tell that talking about it right now really wasn't helping matters. "...Let's not worry about trying to figure it out right now," she said softly. "It has been taken care of...and Nanashi doesn't feel like answering a bunch of questions right now."

LaRae could tell easily as she was speaking and telling everyone about the previous incident that Nanashi would have rather she hadn’t brought it up at all. Someone had been burned this time and it wasn’t as easy a fix as putting out a fire on a pillow… and if they were all going to continue to travel together she felt that most of them should know about it on the off chance that this became a reoccurring problem. Obviously she hoped that wasn’t the case because the first time it had happened it had freaked Nanashi out quite a bit and of course this wasn’t helping him deal with it. She sighed softly and continued to hold him and pet him a little after she had finished speaking and merely glanced towards Kanone after he had asked Nanashi if it had ever happened before that. She automatically held tighter to Nanashi when he went to reply and sounded the way that he had. She felt bad for him that he was this shaken up and worse that she couldn’t seem to do anything about it. She was relieved however once Celestine had finished with Kyran because that meant that Kyran could try and make Nanashi feel a little better. She almost hated to admit it but chances were that Kyran would have a better go at it anyway.

Kyran listened quietly while everyone else spoke and watched Nanashi somewhat helplessly while Celestine worked. He wished that there was more that could be done for Nanashi but there wasn’t really anything more to be done than telling him it was alright and showing him that he wasn’t hurt that badly. He finally pried his eyes off Nanashi when he felt that Celestine was done and looked over to him. He smiled at him a little weakly. “Thank you, again.” He told him sincerely and finally started to get up. He went straight over to the space that Kanone had cleared and knelt down next to Nanashi. He reached over and set the newly healed hand down on Nanashi’s arm gently and he showed no signs of being afraid to touch him even though the last time he had, he had been burned. He rubbed Nanashi’s arm a little. “It’s alright Nanashi.” He told him in a soft tone. “I’m alright now, Celestine took care of it.” He paused. “…See.” He said and moved his arm a little so that Nanashi could look at it he wanted to.

Nanashi was thankful for LaRae's arms around him, but unfortunately, no amount of babying was going to make this alright in his eyes. He was also thankful that Selentiy was trying to get everyone to leave him be for now as well, but once again...simply not asking him any questions wasn't helping. He wanted to just disappear. Right now, he didn't feel like being near anyone. Half of him was afraid that he may hurt someone again, but the other half of him was just so ashamed of hurting Kyran that he just wanted to go hide somewhere. He could feel practically everyone in the group staring at him, and he imagined that they would have been staring at him even if he had not been curled up in a pathetic, frightened ball in LaRae's arms. If he really was the one causing these fires, then how could he control it? What if he really hurt someone? What if he cause someone's face on fire? He shook his head, trying to fling the images of what could have happened from his mind and just shut his eyes again tightly. Once again, he flinched when he felt someone else touch him, although not quite as badly as he had the first time. When he was upset, flinching was almost inevitable to him. When he heard Kyran's voice, he only seemed to try to burrow his face against LaRae all the more securely. He didn't offer to look at Kyran at all at first, although he did slowly turn his head and open his eyes to look at his hand when he offered to show it to him. It still looked a bit red, but otherwise it looked much better than it had. He stared silently at Kyran's hand for a long moment before he finally turned his head slowly and looked timidly up into Kyran's face. With his ears flattened back the way that they were, he could almost put someone in the mind of a small puppy who knew that it had done something very bad and was waiting to be punished. After a few moments, he slowly raised his hand and very gently let his fingers rest against Kyran's palm, although his hand was still shaking. Surprisingly, his usually cool hands were almost hot to the touch, although he hardly seemed to notice the difference in his own temperature. "...I...I'm sorry," he whispered quietly before he lowered his eyes again. He didn't want to believe that he was capable of doing something like this...but what other explanation was there?

Celestine looked up at Kyran tiredly and waved him off when he thanked him. "...Don't mention it," he responded quietly. He continued to sit there for a few moments and watched as Kyran went to kneel beside Nanashi. He glanced around briefly and then sighed. He was able to pick up on the fact that Nanashi was uncomfortable with everyone crowding around him better than most. If it had been him in his place, he would have felt the same way. He shifted positions and started to push himself up slowly, although he was noticeably tired now. As soon as he was on his feet, he grabbed Kanone by the arm and started to walk closer to Aamori slowly. "...Come on...leave them alone," he said quietly before he started to make his way back to where they had all been sitting before this occurred. He glanced over at Selenity, who seemed to acknowledge what he was doing, because she too started to move away from everyone and go back to where she had been before all of the excitement.

Kyran noticed the way that Nanashi flinched when he touched him but he had almost come to expect that type of reaction out him. He left his hand where Nanashi could easily see it while he waited for him to get a good look at it. Sure, it looked red still but it was nowhere near as bad off as it had been a few minutes ago. That was all thanks to Celestine of course. He was glad that Celestine had been able to do something for him because he wasn’t going to be of much use if he had no use of both of his hands. He knew that his arm would fully recover and with a little time it would look like nothing had happened to it at all. He continued to hold his hand out even once Nanashi had touched his palm. He noticed the temperature of the contact almost right away, it had been slightly delayed in part to the fact that he had just recovered from a serious burn and partly because Nanashi wasn’t out right grabbing his hand and holding onto it tightly. He didn’t say anything about it and showed no signs that it was bothering him or that anything was amiss. Instead he just smiled warmly at Nanashi and reached over with his free hand to muss his hair a little and pat his head. “I’m alright, Nanashi… so it’s okay.” He told him honestly. “I know you wouldn’t ever hurt me on purpose and if this is something that you can learn to control… well, we’ll help you however we can.” He told him in an attempt to assure him. “And if by some chance this is some weird phenomenon that keeps happening around you without you doing anything… well, we’ll figure that out too.” He told him with a small smile. “Don’t worry, alright.” He paused. “It’s no big deal… we’ll figure it out whenever you’re ready.” He told him and mussed his hair again before pulling his one hand back. He planned to let Nanashi touch his other or look at it for as long as he may need to make himself feel better.

Nanashi instinctively ducked his head away from Kyran's hand when he reached over to touch him the first time. Deep down, he knew that Kyran was not going to hit him, but he still seemed to expect it judging by the way he cringed. Nanashi had simply been beaten a few too many times to be entirely comfortable around anyone, especially if he had just done something to them. He slowly relaxed when he had time to realize that all Kyran was doing was messing up his hair a little. He raised his head again to look at him again when he reassured him that it was alright. His ears finally perked up just a little after Kyran had finished telling him that he knew that he would never hurt him on purpose. That was true for just about anyone, but especially Kyran and LaRae. He shook his head weakly when Kyran told him that they would try to help him however they could in learning to control whatever this was, if he could. "...I don't want to control it...I want it to go away," he told him quietly, his voice finally a little more steady. Gradually, he seemed to be calming down a little, especially now that the others had wandered away and he didn't feel quite so surrounded. He nodded his head weakly when Kyran told him not to worry, and this time he only briefly shut his eyes when Kyran touched the top of his head again. At that point, his eyes did trail back to the hand that Celestine had just healed and he gently ran his fingers over it lightly, just to be sure that his hand looked as if it was going to be alright. His hand did feel surprisingly cool, although that was only because he had not noticed the dramatic spike in his own temperature. He had finally stopped shaking, but his body had still not entirely cooled down. He was only a little cooler than he had been on the night that his body had tried to go trough that transformation, and just like that night, he was dripping with sweat. Fortunately, he didn't feel quite as terrible has he had that night, and his body was gradually cooling down already. After he had finished looking at Kyran's hand, he slowly leaned his head back against LaRae's collar bone and let his eyes fall to the ground. It was obvious that he was still worrying about it, but now that he was calming down he was starting to look just as tired as he was shaken. After a few moments, he finally closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. He hadn't quite focused on it before, just like he wasn't currently focusing on his temperature, but he had noticed when Kyran touched his head that his head was hurting pretty badly. Of course, he wasn't about to complain about it. It was probably just a stress headache or something anyway...although that didn't quite explain why he felt like he was suddenly about to fall back asleep sitting up.

Kyran remained silent while he waited and let Nanashi look over his hand and eventually respond to what he had said. He sighed softly after hearing Nanashi say that he didn't want to learn to control it, he just wanted it to go away. In a way he could kind of understand the feeling seeing as most dragons had to learn how to use their magic abilities at a somewhat young age. Learning abilities could be difficult and sometimes daunting, especially if you didn't have someone there to help you along the way who knew what you were going through. "Unfortunately that is not exactly something you can just wish away." He commented quietly. "The best you could probably do is learn how to use and control it, if that is possible... and then chose not to use it." He told him with a somewhat weak smile. He wished that he had something better to tell him than that... but that was the truth. If he could learn how to control it and use it as he wished he could then just decide not to use it and that would be as close to 'away' as he would probably get. He continued to watch Nanashi as he eventually let go of his hand and settled back against LaRae. It didn't really take much to notice just how tired Nanashi seemed to be... or the fact that he was still worrying over what had happened. He sighed softly and reached over to touch Nanashi's shoulder gently. "I promise you that I'm alright." He told him confidently. "And either way, we'll figure this all out together." He added. "...For now, you look exhausted... go ahead and rest a for a little while longer, there's no rush." He told him with a slight smile as he finally pulled his hand back and started to get back to his feet.

Nanashi sighed softly and lowered his head a little when Kyran told him that whatever this was that he didn't think that it was going to be something that he could simply wish away. He stared up at Kyran with a very tired, but comprehensive gaze, even if he did not look at all happy about what he was hearing. He knew what Kyran was telling him, even without being told, but that unfortunately didn't make things any easier at the moment. This power, whatever it was, it was dangerous...and it frightened him. He could have very seriously hurt someone and they were only lucky that Celestine knew how to heal burns as well as he did. Nanashi's eyes trailed over to his shoulder when Kyran reached out to touch him and then he looked up into Kyran's face when he told him that they would figure this out together. He nodded his head, although he had no idea how Kyran or anyone else was going to be able to help him with this when none of them really knew what was going on. "...Alright...," he agreed quietly when Kyran told him to go ahead and rest for a while. He took in a deep breath and then let it out in a quiet sigh before he settled against LaRae again. He fully intended to get up and move off of her so that she didn't have to hold him, but his body seemed to have other ideas. He was only resting there for a few seconds before his eyelids drooped down over his eyes, and as soon as that happened his weight fell just a little more heavily on LaRae's shoulder and he was out like a light. Judging by how quickly he fell out, it was probably going to take a little time to get him moving again. Clearly, whatever that power was, it wasn't exactly easy for him to use.

Kyran didn’t really know himself how he or anyone else would help Nanashi through whatever this power was… but he figured it would be better on Nanashi to know that he could go through this with him, Selenity… anyone really. Most of them would be willing to learn right alongside him and help him however they could. He also knew that a few of them had better connections than Nanashi did. So it was possible for some of the group to find things out for him… for example… he could very easily talk with a diplomat from the fire territory about this rather conversationally and see what they could tell him. Or any diplomat for that matter… there were ways to find things out and as long as you had the power to ask people you could learn things. Then of course Selenity had access to quite an excessive amount of knowledge so surely she could see if there was anything similar in her territories history. Celestine and Kanone could easily talk with Marius… and Aamori could talk with Lady Levana. Hell, he could probably even ask his own Uncle if he knew anything… so it wasn’t a total loss… together they would figure this out, one way or another. He wasn’t surprised when he looked back down at Nanashi after he had gotten to his feet that he had already dozed off. He just kind of stared down at him for a moment and then lifted his eyes to LaRae for a moment. “…Would you like me to move him?” He asked seeing as he was pretty sure that Nanashi was not going to wake up right away and moving him wouldn’t do much harm.

LaRae looked up at Kyran after he had asked if she wanted him to move Nanashi. She just kind of wrapped her arms around him a little more firmly as best as she could and then shook her head a little. “No, he’s fine where he is.” She told him honestly. The weight of him so suddenly had been a little startling but she didn’t mind in the slightest that he was passed out on her. She’d much rather let him sleep where he fell out than move him. He was sensitive… and this whole mess had scared him… so she’d much rather that he wake up where he fell asleep as to not startle him when he woke up. She had slept decently enough so she didn’t mind sitting up holding him for however long it took.

Kyran smiled a little weakly and gave a slight nod of his head. “If you change your mind I’ll be right over there.” He told her as he pointed towards Selenity. He smiled a little more easily when she waved him off and then he turned and headed back over to where Selenity had relocated to. Once he had reached her he wasted little time in sitting down near her and letting out a somewhat heavy sigh as he tried to relax himself a little. This trip was difficult enough as it was without all the added pressures and problems… he just wished that they could help give Nanashi some relief as soon as possible.

Selenity looked over to Kyran when he returned to her and offered him a weak smile before her gaze wandered back to Nanashi. She reached over to take a hold of Kyran's hand and looked it over briefly, just to make sure that he really was alright and then settled back against the tree. "...One thing after the next...," she commented softly. She had no idea what had just happened, but whatever it was, it had definitely given all of them a bit of a shock, especially poor Nanashi. She felt terrible for that poor guy, he couldn't seem to catch a break no matter where he went. "We should try to get moving again by noon," she told Kyran softly, "he can rest until then." Noon was still a good five or six hours away, so that should have been plenty of time for Nanashi and Celestine to recover their energies enough that walking wouldn't bother them.


Surprisingly, by the time noon started to come around, Nanashi was already starting to stir a little on his own. His head still ached a little, but it was nothing compared to earlier. His temperature had dropped back to normal as well, and although he was still a little tired he couldn't seem to stay asleep any longer. He groaned softly and started to try to open his eyes again. For the longest time, he hadn't even offered to move. One he had fallen against LaRae he had been like a rag doll. Anyone could have moved him and he wouldn't have noticed. Once he had managed to open his eyes, he had to blink a few times to clear away the blur, and even then he looked around uncertainly as if he wasn't entirely sure where he was. After a few moments, he realized that he was still resting against LaRae's shoulder. At first, he assumed that meant that he hadn't been out that long, at least until he took note of how brightly lit the sky was now. At that point, he sat yup fairly quickly and looked over to LaRae with surprise evident in his eyes. "I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to.... You...you could have moved me," he told her quietly. He wouldn't have been upset if she had put him down. Now he just felt bad for leaving her stuck holding his dead weight for however many hours it had been.

Kyran shifted his glance to Selenity momentarily while she examined his hand. Once she seemed satisfied he brought it back to himself and let it rest in his lap. He looked towards Nanashi when she commented the way that she had and just kind of nodded his head with another heavy sigh. It was almost ridiculously hard for Nanashi, or anyone lately to catch a break. He turned his eyes back to Selenity when she spoke again and told him that they should try and get moving again by noon. “…Alright.” He responded softly and continued to sit there for a moment or two longer before he caved and laid back completely so that he was laying on the ground beside the tree that Selenity was settled against. He had kind of intended to just lie there and rest without falling asleep but unfortunately once he got comfortable he dozed off.

LaRae had off and on during the hours that Nanashi was resting against her kind of dozed off herself. That usually entailed her leaning into him a little, or at least resting her head on top of his. She never really got good restorative sleep because she was still aware that she was sitting up and that she was the only thing keeping Nanashi upright. She was almost constantly in a state of awareness even if she had dozed off, not that she minded. In her eyes it was more important that Nanashi rest than her, especially right now. Plus… she had gotten some sleep prior to this. She was awake when noon rolled around and Nanashi started to wake up. She hadn’t moved very much at all from the way she had been when he fell asleep, so she was a little stiff. She couldn’t say that she was surprised to see him react the way that he did when he realized that he had been asleep on her sitting up like that for so long. She merely smiled a little. “I know.” She responded when he had said that she could have moved him. “You seemed comfortable the way you were, so I didn’t want to move you.” She told him. “…and I didn’t mind.” She added and then took a moment to stretch her arms up over her head now that he wasn’t resting against her and keeping her from stretching out. After a moment she just kind of fell backwards and stretched out completely on the ground with the result of several bones popping. Once she had stretched out she let out a contented sigh and just laid there for a moment before looking over to Nanashi. “…How’re you feeling?” She asked since that was the most important thing to her now that she had stretched out.