My dreams were feverish, and I have no idea how long I was asleep for. There was a blur of images swirling in my head and I could barely keep them coherent. By the time I woke up, I could only remember feeling incredibly hungry and a dull throbbing in my skull. The first thing I did once I was awake as try to roll over, but my back coursed with pain as I moved. With some effort, I managed to slowly rise up onto my knees and let my eyes adjust to the room.

There weren’t any windows, so it was fairly dark inside. A small crack under the door was letting some light in, and I noticed an odd lump of fabric on the other side of the entrance and hidden from the light. Squinting my eyes, I figured out it was Senna inside a small blanket cocoon.

She could at least sleep on the other bed. I thought to myself. But I can imagine she’d tell me she wanted to sleep in a way where she could watch me. Hopefully it hasn’t been too long since I fell asleep. Senna hasn’t had human contact outside of me and Simon in decades, there’s no telling what might set her off.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on my upper back. The skin I could reach was seemingly healed, but it was a little numb to the touch. After I got up, I looked for some clothes to put on. There was a neatly folded shirt and pair of old pants near the bed which I assumed where for me. Once I was dressed I moved over to where Senna was sleeping and crouched down in front of her. While I was careful not to move her too much and wake her, I pulled on the blanket to see her face.

A small, brief panic came over me when I realized she wasn’t breathing, and then I made a mental note to slap myself later for being an idiot. The scar was barely visible in the low lighting, but it was still noticeable. I quietly debated waking her up but decided it would be better to let her get some rest after what happened. Treading carefully, I made my out into the hallway.

There was a good amount of light outside, so I assumed it was early in the afternoon at the latest. Downstairs was fairly quiet compared to the times I would visit at night, and I made my way there barefoot. Once actually on the ground floor, one of the barkeeps spotted me right away and finished cleaning a mug before rushing towards me. It took a second to remember, but her name was Lily.

“Whoa there! Are you sure you should be moving about? You looked like you were left on the coals for too long.”

“You’re looking great too, Lily. I’m fine enough to be walking at least. Could I have something to drink? Feels like my head is going to burst...” I muttered, rubbing on of my temples.

We moved over to a table and she got me a small glass of water. It was a little cool, and helped wake me up while I drank it in one go. Once I set it down, she was already getting me some bread off of the counter.

“Hey, you don’t need to go that far. I’ll get something later from my—" I started to answer before my memory came back. “Oh... right.”

She placed a few slices of bread with butter in front of me and patted my shoulder. “Just take it easy, alright? Don’t want you bleeding all over those clothes or anything. Your friend was the one who bought them after all.”

I took a bite and cocked and eyebrow at her, swallowing before I spoke. “What? Senna had some money on her when we got here?”

“Nope, she started working here last night.” Lily answered before sitting down at the table with me. “Poor girl was stiff as a board when she first started, but by the end of it she was moving just as fast as the others. A little too fast sometimes! That girl was very adamant about keeping you safe though. Whenever I checked in on you two, I’d find her in some odd position, just staring at you in bed.”

A whole day of sleeping? Guess that explains why I’ve felt so stiff, on top of my injuries. Is it really alright for me to depend on Senna for money right now? I guess without my cabin there’s not many other options. We’ll have to stay here for as long as we can and try to stay low. I should also try and find out something about whatever Edward covered my back with.

“Can’t say I’m happy about having to rely on others like this. Glad that Senna hasn’t caused you any trouble though. She’s a good person, but... a bit of a recluse.”

“Pot calling the kettle black on that one, don’t you think? How much more isolated can you get than a hunter living by himself most of the month?” Lily asked with a laugh.

“Well you’d be surprised...” I answered before standing back up. “Either way, I should try and help out as well if I’m going to be staying here very long. If you have anything I can do let me know about it.”

“You can start by going back upstairs and getting some more rest. Senna is probably still asleep up there, but you should wake her up at some point and let her know you’re alright. Even though she was doing her best to hide it, you could tell she was thinking about you the whole time she was working.”

I nodded, but didn’t have anything I could add before I returned to our room. The place was still poorly lit compared to the downstairs, so I waited in the doorway for my eyes to adjust. A little portion of Senna’s blanket was poking out from where she was avoiding the light. Careful not to be too loud, I walked up and knelt down next to her.

Very slowly, I put a hand on her shoulder and rocked her side to side. Her face scrunched up, but she didn’t wake up any more than that. I tried doing it a little harder, but she only pulled the blanket down and grabbed my arm. She held it against her chest and whimpered in her sleep.

I guess if she’s used to sleeping in a hole in the ground, there’s no surprise if she’s a heavy sleeper. Her grip squeezed me lightly as I thought to myself. It’s strange though, it doesn’t feel like she’s all that strong right now. Maybe in her dream she’s actually holding onto my arm as well. It actually makes her look really cute.

We both stayed like that for a bit until she started pressing her lips against my forearm. The hair must’ve bothered her because she started stirring again. Her eyes slowly fluttered open while she nuzzled me. It took another minute or so before she realized she was awake and looked up into my eyes.

“Hello again, Senna. Did you sleep—" I managed to get out before she yanked me towards her and held me on the ground. “Gah! Senna, what’re you doing?!”

“S-Shut up!” She answered, pressing her face into my chest and shivering.

Once again I could tell she was holding herself back to not hurt me. I just pet her head slowly and hugged her back, waiting for her panic to die down. A few times it almost sounded like she was whimpering or about to cry. When she was finally composed enough to pull her face away, she still kept her arms wrapped around me.

“You left me alone for a whole day...” she muttered before pulling a hand free and tapping my chest with her fist repeatedly.

“I know, sorry for nearly dying there. Lily told me you worked hard while I was in bed, though. Thank you, Senna.”

“Well it was a pain having to deal with humans so close. Being ordered around by them was especially painful, but thankfully I didn’t have to hurt any of them. The only person I want to take orders from is you, Leo.” She added, letting go of me and moving back onto her knees.

I let the statement pass without comment, and lifted myself back up, the skin on my back stretched and made me groan with pain. Senna looked worried, but I held a hand up to calm her down. I pretended to stretch my arms while I waited to make sure there wasn’t any blood coming out. Confident it was fine, I got back up to my feet with Senna rushing to my side at the same time. She locked herself around my left arm with a determined look.

“Without my house, we’re going to have to be here for a while, alright? I won’t force you to work for Lily if you don’t want to, but either way I’m going to try and convince her to let me work as well.”

“Leo...” Senna started before mumbling in hesitation. “Do you hate me?”

“What? Why would I hate you?”

“I told you I was going to keep you safe and protect you, but then I let Edward hurt you so badly, and even your cabin... Especially since I scared you before then and told you I was going to keep you from contacting anyone.” She squeezed her face into my arm and hid her scar. “How can you forgive me when I’m acting like such a monster...?”

“You’re not a monster, Senna. Just because you’re acting a little strange after something traumatic happened, doesn’t mean you’re—"

“But I AM acting strange, right? You should stay here and heal up, and I’ll go back to your cabin and live there. Maybe in a while I can fix it with my hands or something, and then you won’t have to see me again.”

It took a few seconds for my mind to catch up with her words. Her whole body was quivering now and she was tearing up fast. Without wasting time, I gently brought her in front of me and started to pet her hair. I led both of us back to my bed and sat down so she was kneeling on the floor. She wasn’t crying yet, but I could tell the second I stopped petting and hugging her that she was going to lose control.

“Listen to me. Don’t say things like that. You’re very important to me, alright, Senna? Not just to protect me, but that I need to keep you safe as well. Whatever the situation we’re in now, and going forward, we’re going to have to face it with the other. I don’t really have anything left, bar you. No running off, and no getting hurt on purpose anymore. Okay?”

She nodded slowly, but sniffled a few times. The both of us stayed quiet for a while as Senna composed herself. Before she could fully get the tears out of her eyes, however, the door to our room opened slowly. Lily’s head peeked in suddenly.

“Hey, how’re you two...?” She started to ask before her eyes adjusted enough to see us. “Oh, guess that’s a, um... sorry for the intrusion!”

I reached my hand out to stop her, but the door was closed before I could speak. My hand immediately went back to petting Senna’s head as I let out a sigh. She didn’t seem to acknowledge the intrusion at all. After a while she pulled away and moved to my side, gesturing for me to lift my shirt so she could inspect my back. Once I did, she got behind me and silently ran her fingers over a few spots. Her touch was gentle enough that I would twitch at certain points, but never get hurt from it.

“This doesn’t look right... the skin is darker than it should be. It looks like whatever that stuff was isn’t preventing you from healing, and it isn’t generating any of that vapor stuff either.” Senna said in a calm voice before moving back into view with a scowl. “I wish Edward were here so I could kill him again for what he did to you...”

“Well considering what Edward looked like, I’d say I got off easy if all that happens is that my back got scarred.” I replied, rubbing my shoulder. “Have you fed on any animals or eaten meat while we’ve been here?”

“N-No! I’ve been waiting for you to get better so I can just feed on you. Feeding on anyone else seems disgusting to me now. Going without blood for a while isn’t that hard, and I can probably nibble on some meat for now. When you’re all healed up, I’ll definitely want to drink more of it, okay?”

“Let’s hope I heal up quickly then.” I said, giving her a pat on the head. “We should also try and think of what we’re going to do in the future. For now though, let’s focus on explaining to Lily what she actually walked in on...”