[Maelstrom]

As a general rule, the kasuga called Pilgrim did not like to dream. He avoided sleep as often as he could before his death; now reborn into undeath when that need was so much less, Pilgrim slept even more rarely. Why did he so dislike this normal nocturnal activity?

Dreams are a time when the unconscious mind breaks free and reveals itself. When dreaming, the day's events are analyzed, broken down, and stitched together in new and strange patterns. Dreaming can help people to work through events and deal with them, and to look at problems in new ways in order to solve them.

But for Pilgrim, dreams were a nightly foray into the land of his fears, rather than helpful constructs. His nightmares had continued after his death, but they had become more muted, more faded, less real and frightening. But all that had changed with the chimerantala's venom. Pilgrim's living nightmares paled in comparison to these vividly horrible poison-laced creations. Pilgram ran through a sinister landscape of red and black, trying to escape from something formless and frightening. But while his body fought the venom, for his mind there was no escape.

[Maelstrom]

The night passed slowly. Every now and then Fornax would have to leave for supplies, and every time he came back he nearly sagged with relief to see that Pilgrim was still alive and fighting the poison. And he was fighting; his dreams became worse as the night went on, he thrashed, screamed, babbled nonsense, until Fornax was afraid to leave, thinking that the kasuga might hurt himself while he was gone. Near dawn the screaming got so bad that the blaze aries was forced to gag Pilgrim, because he was afraid that the noise would attract attention that they could ill afford.

[Maelstrom]

Pale light was beginning to taint the eastern sky. Fornax raised his head from where it rested on his forelegs. Dawn, he thought tiredly. He was exhausted, both from exercise and emotional anguish. The only reason he was able to lay here now was that Pilgrim had gone suddenly quiet and relaxed about a half of an hour ago. Fornax had only been able to sag with relief and collapse. He needed to sleep soon, or he would be useless to both of them. But he dared not sleep until Pilgrim woke up. If Pilgrim woke, then he would be able to make a full recovery. But if he didn't...Pilgrim would slip away quietly at least.

[Maelstrom]

The battlefield kasuga floated in a sea of warm darkness. He felt nothing but a kind of calm lassitude, a peaceful laziness that discouraged thought. Who was he? Why did it matter, the void whispered. He supposed that it didn't matter much, and stopped trying to think when it was so much easier to float and simply exist. But something nagged at him, pushed and pulled his mind back into thinking. Why was he here? Where was here? The void tried to slap the thoughts down again, but they kept returning to prick his consciousness. Fine, he conceded, and following the trail of thoughts, Pilgrim woke.

[Maelstrom]

Fornax shook himself awake. He must really be tired if he had dozed off this easily. He turned his head to check on Pilgrim, expecting to see the kasuga still unconscious and unaware. Instead, he was gifted with the sight of his friend's eyes fluttering open. The kasuga groaned; Pilgrim would undoubtedly be feeling horrible after his near-death experience. "Pilgrim!" the aries shouted, stumbling to his feet to rush over to his friend's side.

[Maelstrom]

Pilgrim woke - and almost wished that he had chosen to stay cocooned in the warm darkness. His entire being ached fiercely, centered on his flank. How had this happened? Pilgrim groped through his memories before now, and was hit by a rush of memory. The chimerantala, the chase, the ambush, their failure and his wounding. Yes, he remembered it all now. That didn't make his body hurt any less, though. Pilgrim's stomach gurgled, and he was abruptly aware of his great hunger and thirst.

[Maelstrom]

Realizing that Pilgrim would need nourishment before he could do anything else, Fornax fetched water. He had no food left to offer Pilgrim; that would have to be remedied first, the aries decided. Gently he nudged the kasuga's head to the side and dribbled and little cool water into his mouth. Pilgrim seemed to wake a little further, because he opened his eyes a little wider and his attention seemed less scattered. Fornax made sure to just let Pilgrim drink a little at a time because the kasuga's movements were still very clumsy.

[Maelstrom]

Pilgrim's head cleared a little more with each sip of the clear springwater he drank. It was like being reborn again, he decided. Or at least the feelings were similar, like one was rediscovering their own body, becoming reaquainted with the old rhythems and tides of the blood. He felt the rush of life that had been granted to him for a third time; Pilgrim could not help but think of his own fortune at that. Few were allowed to live twice, but the Purities had granted him three times the gift!

[Maelstrom]

Seeing that Pilgrim was more aware, Fornax began to talk to him. "Pilgrim, do you remember what happened? Don't try to talk yet, just nod."
The kasuga's head wobbled a little, but it was recognizable as a nod.
"Good. Do you feel any pain? Any burning?"
To the first question, the kasuga nodded, but did not move for the second.
"Where?"
Pilgrim made a vague motion at his flank, then laid his head down. The effort of holding it up was too much.
"You can go back to sleep if you're tired. We'll be here for a while."
Pilgrim stopped trying to cling to consciousness and slipped off into sleep.

[Maelstrom]

Pilgrim's dreams were still strange, but they were peaceful if a little bit wistful. He wandered through misty landscapes of mixed past and present. The images of his past should have bothered him as they did during daylight, but instead they inspired only a little sadness and nostalgia. Perhaps he had begun to accept what pained him and heal? When the kasuga surfaced into wakefulness, he remembered nothing of his dreams.

[Maelstrom]

When he raised his head weakly to look for Fornax, Pilgrim felt a brief flash of fear. The blaze aries was not there! Had something happened, had someone or something snuck into their bolthole and carried him off? The kasuga shook his head weakly at his own foolishness; in all likelihood the aries was merely out finding supplies. The kasuga spent the rest of the short time before the aries returned contemplating whether or not he would make it to the spring. He would kill for a drink right then...

[Maelstrom]

Fornax's forraging was surprisingly successful. Nori Volcano was not an area that could be described in any way as 'soft'. The rocky landscape was mostly barren, a forrest of stone and gravel. There was little vegetation and water was hard to find; few species of animals were hardy enough to survive.

Fornax had stumbled upon a cluster of berry bushes in a stone hollow off of the main trails, a stroke of incredible luck. He was held up now only by his determination and the adrenaline from discovering Pilgrim had survived. To him, it was as if the Purities had decided to watch out for them. He whispered them a silent prayer as he gathered the small, tart gooseberries that were newly ripe.

[Maelstrom]

Last night the aries had exhausted most of the nearby food sources that were easily found, so he had been forced to go farther afield than he would have liked. No matter, it had been a good decision since it had brought the pair of them such a bounty. He began to head back, stopping here and there to check for grasses or roots. He made sure to never completely deplete one area of its resources. It was proper land management and good planning for the future not to destroy an area's food sources.

[Maelstrom]

He was in no particular hurry himself to head back; he was confident that Pilgrim would eventually be alright. It would be some time before he was recovered completely, but now that he had woken Fornax could only feel as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Though that had not known each other long, both had felt comfortable with the other. Words had not been neccessary to build a friendship between them. Shared experience and camraderie had established a rapport that it took others years to create. It was that friendship that he had feared the loss of, and his grief had evaporated leaving him light.

[Maelstrom]

Had he been human, he would have whistled merrily as he headed back to the camp. Lucky indeed; he was bringing back gooseberries, a few onions and some tough grasses. Pilgrim would get most of the berries, since he would need the high sugar foods full of calories to heal faster.