I need someone, not just anyone

Getting back to the castle was slow moving, but with Ysmir to lean on she had an easier time of it than she might have on her own. She wasn't sure she'd ever make it back, at least not until someone noticed she was gone and came looking for her. Her limping made the trip back to the castle take forever, but at the very least Eilwen found them about half way back to the castle and she was able to send the raven on ahead to prep a few of the herbs she would need and let Ulric know so they wouldn't have to stop at the border and wait. "Thank you for doing this," she said softly to Ysmir as they neared the border, breathless from the struggle to make it here. Her head was swimming, but she was at least able to stay upright. She turned her swirled mint and lavender gaze up toward him for a moment, offering him a soft smile while she continued to lean on his shoulder. His kind face gave her something to focus on that wasn't the images that haunted her from her attacker and she was perhaps even more grateful for that than she was for his help getting back to the castle, no matter how silly that seemed.

She didn't think to ask if he would prefer to separate from her at the border. She knew he had his own pack to get back to and it was probably more than she could ask for him to continue to stay with her like this when they were hardly more than strangers, but as they approached the castle courtyard and it dawned on her that she might be testing the limits of her friendliness the thought of him leaving how made a bit of that panic from before well up in her chest. She continued to lean on him and use him to keep her balance all the way up through the castle doors and into the foyer, sighing with a bit of relief once the doors closed behind them and the outside world was closed away. "The infirmary is this way," she said, motioning down the corridor to their right, only half leading the way as she managed her way toward the familiar room. As soon as they stepped into the Infirmary she was greeted with the frantic swooping of her raven as she went from one side of the room to another, prepping the herbs and dressings to wrap Gwynevere's wound and placing them on a table beside one of the cots.

Gwyn eased herself down onto the cot with an exhausted sigh, stretching out her leg and letting Eilwen handle most of the work of making sure the bite was cleaned and treated, occasionally wincing as it was messed with. Her ears flicked back as she looked up at Ysmir again. She expected Ulric to be by at any moment to check on her, but she had made a point of telling Eilwen not to alert her mother just yet. She didn't need her mother's fretting and worrying right now. It was a small blessing that Artorias was away studying with the Armada so he wouldn't find out about this right away. "Do you... need to be going?" she asked hesitantly after a moment, hoping silently that he would say no. Eventually she would have to force herself to face what had happened and stand on her own again, but she wasn't ready for that yet.

Gwynevere | Eilwen