The night was long for both Kharin and Leeteuk as they progressed slowly towards Corley Port down river.  For Kharin, who was getting used to dealing with shadows, a decided lack of light could have been considerably worse.  In Leeteuk’s case, each step in the night was dangerous…a misstep waiting to happen and more pain than he wanted to contemplate.  By the time dawn finally arrived, he was pale and shaking from the effort of walking and the constant pain every step caused him.

When it finally did turn light, it gave them both pause to be able to see their injuries.  At dawn’s emergence they could clearly see the expected bruises but Leeteuk’s ankle was more swollen than he had anticipated and the foot was turned at an odd angle.  It just looked decidedly wrong.  Having visual confirmation of what he had been feeling was more overwhelming than he had initially thought it would be and he was forced to sit down.  “Oh boy,” he exclaimed as he slumped onto a quickly raised stone seat and took another deep breath, returning the crutches to the earth easily.

“Teuk?” Kharin asked softly as she came closer to have a better look.  A grimace crossed her face when she reached towards the mangled limb and then pulled her hand back uncertainly.

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice just above a whisper.

She had absolutely no idea what to say just then.  Everything that came to mind was the obvious and he could already see how bad it was.  “You should soak that,” she suggested somewhat lamely, pointing at the river not that far from them.  She heard him groan and could wholly empathize with the thought, but they had nothing else and whether she liked it or not, she was going to have to see if she could set it…  A slight shudder shook her at the thought.

Leeteuk grumbled under his breath some more but there was no real fight in him.  Reluctantly, he called up another pair of crutches and lifted himself into their embrace before returning the seat to the ground and hobbling over to the water.  Kharin was right next to him, watchful and supportive.  He used a similar process to get down to the water.  If nothing else, they could get a drink too while they were here.

The cold bite of the river was painful at first and then welcomed as it helped to alleviate the constant throbbing of the broken limb.  Uncertainly, he took a moment to watch Kharin as she looked over herself, viewing the injured shoulder and turning away so she could inspect her left side.  With an annoyed sigh, he turned his gaze to his own body and pulled the neck of the shirt open to see down the front.  Colorful splotches were coming in nicely but they were tender rather than painful; one thing he was grateful for.

“I definitely bruised a rib or two,” Kharin muttered as she glared at the purplish color spreading up and down her side.  In agitation, she pulled her shirt back down and looked at Leeteuk.  Her overall mobility wasn’t greatly reduced but her range of motion with her left arm was fairly limited.  “Looks like we’ve gotten ourselves into a good little mess,” she sighed, looking up and down the river again.  They had hoped to be able to see more in the daylight but everything seemed just as bleak as it had during the night.

Perhaps the pair rested longer than they intended to but they were both getting themselves ready for what was coming next.  It was still early morning when Leeteuk looked over at Kharin and he took a weary, worried breath.  “Okay…  Let’s get this over with.”

                Reluctantly, Kharin looked at him and she bit her lip.  Leeteuk’s normally composed face was etched with nervous tension and remnants of pain the water had not been able to wash away.  It took her a moment to compose herself as her heart started to beat rapidly in response to her part.  When he pulled the mangled limb from the water, her heart fell and she swallowed hard.  Gods she didn’t want to do this…  Nervously, she nodded as she settled herself at his foot, rotating her sore arm to make sure she was going to be able to handle it.  “I’m sorry,” she told him preemptively, her own gaze nervous and uncertain.

                “Me too,” he breathed, trying to force himself to stay calm.  His ankle was slightly misaligned and turned at an awkward angle so that he cringed every time he looked at it.  When she prodded the break gently to get a feel, he couldn’t help but hiss at the pain and she jerked as if he had struck her.  “It’s okay,” he stated through clenched teeth.  “Just do what you have to.”

                “Teuk.  Don’t watch,” she warned, nervous about his reaction.  Several emotions raced across his face at the suggestion and she was mildly satisfied that he agreed with her when he lay back and covered his face with his hands.  Fervently, she wished Eleanara were here to heal it the easy way, but failing that, she understood in general what she needed to do.

                With another deep breath to steel herself, she gingerly reached down and grasped his foot, cringing when he flinched and whimpered in reaction.  She waited for him to relax slightly, hoping he wasn’t trying to wait for it, before she pulled firmly on the limb.  If she hadn’t been expecting it, she might well have stopped entirely when he screamed in agony, his back arching reactively, as she felt the bone oh so slowly grate back into place.  His other leg dug into the ground and pushed against her legs forcefully as she pulled and all she could hear was his voice screaming at her to stop.

                He was sobbing uncontrollably by the time she finished.  When she let the limb go and set it to the ground as softly as she could, she found herself shaking in reaction.  For a moment, she couldn’t even speak as she tried to pull herself together enough to bind it.  Numbly, she pulled off one of the layers of damp clothes from her shoulder and, having to improvise again, used a shaky, stationary shadow blade to cut the fabric into strips.  She knew she’d need to splint it, but for now, she just wanted to make sure it was wrapped.

                By feel and his reactions, she took the strips and wound them as firmly as she dared around the now set limb, flinching every time she pulled too tight.  “Almost done, Teuk,” she murmured, trying for the soothing tone Eleanara employed so easily.  “Just a bit more…”

                When he finally felt the pain subside to a seemingly permanent ache instead of the sharp spikes he had endured while she cared for it, Leeteuk opened his eyes and took several shuddering breaths, cringing when he tasted blood on his tongue.  Belatedly, he realized his left hand hurt and that he had bitten into the fleshy part of his hand just beneath his thumb, drawing blood without realizing it.  At last, he let out a relieved groan and let his head loll to the side weakly.  “Huh?” he was briefly disoriented when he felt hands carefully lift his shoulders and head up as Kharin slipped behind him, offering him a prop to rest against as she wrapped her good arm firmly across his chest.  He was grateful for the contact and the support.

                Little did he know she needed it as much as he did.  Kharin held Leeteuk to her and rocked gently, trying to calm herself down as much as him.  She had several emotions running through her just then, not the least of which was an incredibly strong wave of anger at Enrhyll for his construct having put them in this position.  Fear and worry warred inside and a desperate need to know the others were alright.  She fervently hoped that none of them had to go through anything like this.  Unusually patient, she waited for him to fall asleep against her before she extracted herself carefully, making sure not to wake him.

                She didn’t miss the wound he had done to himself as his left hand bled sluggishly but right now her concern was finding something to stabilize the ankle.  He could probably provide rock supports but she worried the rods would be too heavy.  Slowly, she scoured the river bank for suitable pieces of driftwood, taking note of pieces she could work with.  Eventually, she procured two relatively straight and lightweight pieces she could use and returned, setting them to the side.  She would deal with that when he woke up.

                Kharin wasn’t typically good at waiting.  Generally, she was a woman of action, but right now, she had very little desire to do much of anything.  The desire to find the others conflicted with her body’s desire for rest and her psyche’s need to come to terms with what they had just accomplished.  She laid the rest of the clothes out to dry and pawed through the rather unappetizing looking leftovers from their rations, giving them the same chance to air dry.  Periodically, she checked up and down the river, hoping against hope she would see someone…

                By midafternoon, she decided they needed to get moving again.  Regretfully, she moved next to her sleeping companion and gently shook his shoulder.  “Leeteuk,” she stated, watching him come back to consciousness groggily.  “Wake up,” she urged, already reaching for the splint pieces she had prepared.  “We need to get going.”

                With an aggrieved sigh, Leeteuk sat up and grimaced, feeling achy all over.  Slowly, he nodded as he rubbed his face with his hands, feeling slightly better for the nap but no less sore.  He almost jumped when he felt her hands on his ankle, still tender, before he forced himself to relax and concede she was splinting it.  Painfully, he grit his teeth as he watched her bind the wood to either side and finally, he was able to try standing again.  When he called the crutches and attempted his awkward walking pattern, he nodded.  “It’s better.   Not great, but better,” he assured her with a wan smile.

                “I’m glad,” she smiled weakly, picking up the clothes she had set out to dry and retrieving some of the foodstuff.  “Here,” she offered a mass of mushy looking meat.  “It’s not great but it’s edible,” she assured him with an apologetic smile.

                He simply nodded gratefully.  Food was welcome just now as they had nothing else at present.  The texture left much to be desired but at least it tasted vaguely like food.  Tentatively, he tested his ankle and immediately gave up on the idea of even trying to walk on it.  “Ergh…  That’s going to take some time,” he exhaled heavily.

                “If you break your ankle again, Teuk.  So help me,” Kharin glared at him, hands on her hips.

                An apologetic laugh escaped him.  “I have no plans on that one.”  Once was more than enough, given what he had just endured.  Not only that but his crutches were heavy…  Even slender stone still weighed more than he would have opted for if he had a choice.  “Let’s see how far we can travel today,” he encouraged, putting on as brave a face as he could.

                Kharin nodded in agreement and took up the spot directly next to him.  Determinedly, she ignored her encroaching hunger and kept an eye out for anything she might be able to try and take down.  If she did find something, she didn’t know how they would cook it…but at least it would be something.

~~~~~~

With Eleanara’s light spell bobbing above her head through the rest of the night, travel wasn’t difficult, but she was highly distracted by every flicker of something different along the bank of the river and paused frequently.  In the lead, Kyuhyun found himself constantly pulling up short to keep from walking blindly into the darkness because of it and he was getting more and more annoyed by the stops.  He couldn’t deny that she hadn’t found anything, such as someone’s shirt and one of their travel cloaks, but their companions were still persistently absent.

Not only that, but she was steadily slowing down and he was having to slow down with her because of it.  To her credit, she did not complain when she had to run to catch up to him, but the constant variation in their travel speed was beginning to grate on his nerves.  She also had a habit of running up to offer him the waterskin periodically; a gesture he found both aggravating and welcome.  Eventually, she just left it with him and he slung it over his shoulder for easy keeping.

When dawn arrived, she was able to let the light spell drop, but with a more visible area, her attention became even more fractured.  Eleanara was overwhelmed by her inability to do anything or find anyone.  Consumed by worry and a constant fear she was going to miss something, her hyper vigilance was wearing her down.  She could acknowledge it but every time she forced herself to take a breath, she would see Kyuhyun and recall how badly he had been injured.

Kyuhyun grit his teeth as the morning slowly progressed but when he heard her run off to the side again and then stumble as she had been doing more frequently, he stopped and looked back at her, an annoyed frown on his face.  His focus had been forward progression and she was holding that up.

She had found another waterskin washed up on the river bank and looked mournfully downstream for a moment before realizing she was staring and then rushed back to him.  As soon as she saw his expression, she ducked her head and winced, murmuring, “Sorry…”

He tried very hard not to stalk over to where she stood so uncertainly before him and did indeed manage a reasonable walk before he snatched her hand and dragged her along.  “Come on already,” he muttered, returning to his speed.

Determined not to be a further burden, Eleanara tried to keep up but between her healing efforts last night, the lack of food and her own generally weaker constitution, she felt herself stumbling often, dragging on Kyuhyun’s arm heavily.  Every time, she punctuated the slip with another apology.

Frustrated by her inability to keep up with him, he finally muttered, “Of all the people to be stuck with…”  His voice trailed off as he realized it was perhaps a bit harsher than he intended for it to sound.  He felt her hand slip from his as he continued forward and she purposefully stopped.  “Ugh…  What now?” he demanded as he turned around.

Eleanara was staring at him with wide hazel green eyes and her hands clenched into fists in front of her.  “Do you really dislike me so much?” she asked, her voice wavering as she spoke.

“What?” Kyuhyun asked, automatically confused, annoyance replaced with utter bafflement.  “I never said I disliked you,” he defended himself.

“But…just now you said-” she started to say before he cut her off.

“I say stuff all the time,” he grumbled, looking away from her for a moment, unable to meet the hurt in her eyes.

“And you usually mean it!” she retorted as she felt tears start to well up, unbidden.  Angrily, she scrubbed at them and stammered on, “I kn-know I’m not like the o-others.  I know I-I-I’m weak.  B-b-but that doesn’t mean I’m use-use-use…”  Her final word was lost as her face crumpled and she started crying in earnest as she covered her face with her hands and bawled.

Distinctly uncomfortable, Kyuhyun looked at Eleanara and then at everywhere but her, at a loss.  He had seen her cry before and was familiar with that, but this…  This was wholly different and it didn’t seem as if she was going to stop anytime soon.  Awkwardly, he moved closer, wishing distinctly that Kharin or Leeteuk were here.  They knew how to handle her far better than he did.  She was so different from him and especially from Kharin and Summer who at least retaliated when he started something.

Uncertainly, he reached out to grab her shoulder and was surprised when she pulled away, turning her back to him.  Well, that unusual.  “Nara,” he spoke softly, stepping closer and abruptly pulling her still crying form into the circle of his arms.

She struggled briefly, pushing against him half-heartedly.  “L-let me g-go,” she sobbed.  When he did not, she buried her face in his chest and gripped him tightly.

With a mixture of feelings, Kyuhyun continued to hold her, surprised by her seeming frailty.  The last time he had held her had been when they started this journey and she had seemed considerably more substantial then.  “It’s going to be okay, Nara,” he finally murmured, holding her close.

Her sobs calmed slowly, but her strength remained the same as she clung to him.  It felt as if she were to let go she would be washed away as if she had never been.  “I’m not useless,” she eventually murmured quietly as she turned her head to be better heard.

Kyuhyun felt a flash of annoyance and determinedly pushed it away.  “No,” he agreed after a pause.  She wasn’t fast, strong, much of a fighter or anything physical, but she definitely wasn’t useless.  “You saved me, didn’t you?” he prompted when she didn’t respond.  He felt her nod against his chest.

“But I can’t save them,” she whispered sadly, her grip on him finally relaxing.

“Not standing here, we can’t,” he replied automatically.  He cringed preemptively but was surprised when she simply nodded.

“No.  You’re right,” she assured him as she finally stepped back, scrubbing at the remnants of tears on her face in mild embarrassment.  Having spent herself crying, she felt unaccountably better but incredibly weak and tired.  As soon as Kyuhyun released her, she swayed slightly on her feet and flushed harder.  She was glad when he reached back out to steady her and she looked apologetic again.

                A semblance of his old self returning, Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and laughed with a half-smirk.  “You are nothing but trouble,” he chuckled.  Had he said that earlier, Eleanara might easily have misunderstood it, but she could hear in his tone and see in his eyes that while he meant what he said, there was no malice in it.

                “Noted,” she shrugged half-heartedly, a faint smile on her face, and laid her hand on his wrist lightly.

                “Come on,” he snorted, as he turned his back to her and knelt in front of her.  “You’re dead on your feet,” he added with a raised brow in her direction, daring her to argue.

                Eleanara sighed but didn’t even attempt to try.  She was still infinitely worried but there was nothing she could do for anyone right now.  They were both as healed as they were going to be and she had managed to wear herself out…again.  One of these days…  Resignedly, she climbed carefully to perch on his back, placing her arms loosely across his chest.

                As Kyuhyun hefted her up, she started to relax further, lulled easily by the steady rhythm of his walking pace.  Quite like he expected, it did not take her long to fall asleep.  With another amused laugh, he quietly stated again, “Nothing but trouble.”

(a/n:  Argh!  My apologies again with the formatting.  It doesn't show up until I post it here.  -_-  I hope that you are still enjoying it so far, though and thank you, as always, to my wonderful readers who continue to follow me.  At present, until things change, I intend to split the chapters into dual sections unless it makes sense otherwise.  Thank you and have a great day!  <3)