Full dawn was still little more than a glimmer on the horizon when Kharin woke Eun Mi from her sound sleep.  Both were still quite tired from the journey so far and the fight the other day had not helped either of them to feel rested in the least.  Still, the elementalist knew they had to get moving as soon as possible and Kharin figured that Eun Mi would be of a similar thought.  “Dawn?” Eun Mi asked sleepily as she cracked one tired eye, reluctantly stirring when Kharin nodded in the poor light.

                As the healer quietly got up and attended to Glory, Kharin picked through the packs and found food enough that could be called breakfast.  She was grateful now to Yong-Soo who had managed to hunt for them so successfully and the reminder of the young man brought him to mind.  Idly, she wondered how he was doing…  A touch at her shoulder called her back to the more pressing matter at hand and Eun Mi handed her a waterskin that was partially full.  They hadn’t had a chance to refill the containers so were drinking sparingly, giving Glory as much as they could spare in the time being.

                She was just finishing the piece of cooked meat, getting dry now since it hadn’t been properly prepared for a journey, and sighed, “I am ready when you are.”

                “Yeah.  Me too,” Kharin sighed heavily as she dusted her hands off on her pants and hefted the packs up to drape them over the mule who stolidly accepted the weight and then shifted from foot to foot, her ears swiveling back and forth at the various sounds she could pick up on.

                Eun Mi stepped up to make sure the packs were secure, briefly showing Kharin how best to settle them before she took one more walk around camp to make sure they hadn’t missed anything.  The elementalist ran her hand lightly over the maul that was still hanging from one of the straps, offsetting the weight of the packs slightly.  In the early morning hours, it was easy to see that the roads were still clear and no one else had yet caught up to them to provide any sort of company while on the road.

                In relative silence, Eun Mi clambered back onto Glory and reached down to help haul Kharin up, the young woman having more difficulty than normal due to her lamentable soreness from riding the other day.  As she achingly settled herself, her arms firmly wrapped around the healer’s ribs, she sighed, “Let’s go,” already feeling the ache of riding another day sinking into her muscles.

                Quietly, the healer clucked at Glory and reluctantly, the creature started to plod forward at a slow pace, her gait uncomfortable at first.  Despite the fact that Kharin wanted to get moving as quickly as possible, Eun Mi let her amble along, her body shifting with the steps in a more practiced maneuver.  She could feel the elementalist getting impatient and fidgety behind her and finally offered an explanation, “I’m just giving her a chance to get warmed up.  She’s not used to carrying us any more than you’re used to riding her,” the young woman chuckled softly with an affectionate pat on the mule’s shoulder.

                As Kharin had nothing she could really argue about, she grumbled quietly under her breath and waited as best she could.  To distract herself, she kept an eye on the road behind them, noticing in the distance there were tiny figures that were on the move again.  It looked like they weren’t the only ones with places to be.

                After what seemed an interminably long time, Eun Mi finally convinced Glory to move at a pace that was faster than a slow walk.  It was still not nearly fast enough for Kharin but it was a step in the right direction, in more ways than one.  When they did not close the distance enough to cause any concern, she focused ahead, wary of another attack from more of those things.  She had nothing to go on at all that there would be any further attempts, but she would much rather be ready than caught unawares.

                Painfully slowly, the sun moved above the horizon and the road fell away under the hooves of their ride, a steady clop-clop sound along the packed dirt.  Left to their own devices, both women were beset by worrisome thoughts and emotions.  It would be almost a relief for something else to happen to distract them from their concern for the others.

                Nearly a full day had gone by since they had seen their companions and neither Leeteuk nor Siwon had been fully healed.  In fact, the former might well have been more broken from their fight the other day…  That was a highly depressing thought considering Kharin could clearly remember how painful the injury had been…both in simply dealing with it and in the setting of it.

                Fervently, she hoped that Eleanara was free enough to help him, provided that the young woman was still alright herself.  Siwon had been able to keep them up to date on what had been happening but now that even that was gone, it gave her plenty more to fret over.  His last report had not been comforting, to say the least.  Unconsciously, she tightened her grip around Eun Mi’s ribs and then felt a hand cover hers in quiet assurance.  “We’re going to get there,” she told the healer determinedly, her voice low and muffled behind the other woman’s back.

                Eun Mi didn’t even question it.  She nodded once and chirped an affirmative in the back of before she nudged Glory with her heels, prompting the mule to a slightly faster pace.  She leaned further over the creature’s neck and willed her to maintain, wishing there was something more she could do to get them there faster.  It was a useless wish and she acknowledged it as such, but that did not keep her from trying anyway.

                Kharin, on the other hand, had other concerns, or at least prospective ones.  She still didn’t know what she would be able to do should there be more constructs as it was probable she would have to protect Eun Mi.  The elementalist knew she didn’t want to try and drag them and the mule into the shadow realm as she had no idea how the creature would react.  It would be quite cruel if it somehow got away and then just kept running…  More so was the fact that there was not much shadow to be found in the general area and she would ultimately prefer not to be walking until dark.  That was just not her idea of practical.  Even she didn’t prefer to stay in shadow and it was her element.

                So what did that leave her with?  Certainly she could fight well enough but if it was anything like the last confrontation, then they would both be overwhelmed.  She wanted to avoid that too.  Considering Eun Mi was his half-sister, there was no telling what he’d do if he saw her again.

                In quiet frustration, she sighed.  What good was shadow if all it could do was hurt or make things…disappear?  She had been able to make those men forget what they had seen with a veil of shadow.  What if she could do the same but to everyone and everything that saw them?  That would keep them all out of danger.  Quickly, she glanced ahead and smiled as she saw a small group of three travelers heading the opposite direction.  “Let me know if they act odd,” she spoke quietly to Eun Mi who jumped slightly at the sudden sound of her voice.

                “O-okay,” she stuttered softly, uncertain as she looked over her shoulder to see Kharin frowning in concentration with her eyes closed.  As requested, she looked back at the three travelers, waving as they waved at her in greeting, and then gasped as things looked slightly different.  Her vision shimmered…no, it was as if there was a veil of some sort that was being pulled around them.  It reminded her of looking through water until the shimmering sensation stopped and darkened.

                Glory responded with confusion as she was not immune to the difference they now faced.  The curtain that had been pulled around them was still see-through, but everything was shadowy and harder to see.  Abruptly, her focus shifted to the travelers and she gasped again when they seemed utterly oblivious to them.  Their eyes looked right through them as if they weren’t there at all.  “They can’t see us…” she whispered quietly, her hand coming to in surprise.

                At the admission, Kharin opened her eyes to see for herself and nearly lost her concentration as she had to orient to the new view she was given.  The veil waivered slightly and the travelers looked curious for a moment before she was back in control and they ‘forgot’ the women and the mule were there at all.

                “What are you doing?” Eun Mi asked in no small amount of awe.  In the fight, everything had happened so fast and there had been little time to focus on what the elementalists may or may not have been able to do.  This, though…  She could not ignore the power of this display and it made her nervous.

                Kharin waited until they had passed the trio and were further down the road before she dropped the veil, content that she could manage it.  She took a deep, relieved breath and then laughed softly, almost giddy with her success.  There was one she hadn’t read about in the book her ancestors had left her.

               Carefully, she forced herself to relax and released Eun Mi’s waist to shake out her arms.  “I made them forget we were here,” she explained at last with a glance back at the travelers who had not looked behind them.  Those few others behind them heading the direction they were, were not close enough to see the difference, or could easily explain their appearance and such as a trick of the vision.

                Eun Mi remained quiet as the knowledge sank in.  That was a very powerful thing indeed…to be able to make one forget.  “Is it permanent?” she asked into the ensuing silence.

                The elementalist sat up straighter and turned her head to the side as she thought about it.  “I’m really not sure,” she admitted after a pause.  “I didn’t hurt them, though,” she added, as if that could make it better.

                The healer frowned and felt her stomach knot.  No, she hadn’t hurt them but she had tampered with their memories completely without their knowledge or permission.  “Can you restore the memories that you make them forget?” she asked next, much quieter this time.  An extended pause met her question so that she had to look over her shoulder to see why she had not answered.

                “I don’t know,” Kharin admitted again when she was forced to confront that possibility as well.

                “So you just play with their memories, never mind what repercussions it might have on them?” the healer demanded, more afraid of the power than she had been before.  The physical attacks she could understand but this power was something she could not defend herself against or run away from.  It acted on one without their knowledge that anything was even the matter.  Gods forbid she decide she want to do something with that ability that was for ill…

                Her elation faded at Eun Mi’s reaction and Kharin felt her annoyance rise to the front, pressing and determined.  “Hey!” she snapped, making the healer jump slightly.  “Would you rather I just kill them then?  Because that has been the alternative for most of the confrontations we’ve had.”

                Eun Mi had to pause at that.  Neither situation was ideal and she was disinclined to just let it go at that.  “No…but you can’t just tamper with people like that.  It’s not right,” she ended stubbornly.

                Kharin felt like pulling her hair at the oversimplified point of defiance.  “And it’s right that your brother is doing what he’s doing?”

                “That’s different,” Eun Mi started to say but Kharin kept going.

                “Right that our friends have been injured at his hands?  That he has now taken them for his own reason?!” the elementalist snarled.

                “Of course he’s wrong,” the healer tried to interject.

                Kharin growled through her teeth and added a final line, “And I suppose you’d rather I drag us through the shadow realm where shadow constructs can follow to save your hide.  Or that I should just leave you to fend for yourself if they come?  It’s not as if they left Yong-Soo alone,” she pointed out angrily.  “I know!  I should just fight them all, toe to toe, like we tried when they first came at us.  That’s real smart,” she snorted and crossed her arms over her chest.

                Eun Mi felt her ears burning at the words flying behind her.  She pulled Glory up abruptly and felt Kharin bump into her when she was unprepared for the stop.  The mule pulled at the restraint nervously and side stepped awkwardly before settling down.  “And who said I needed your protection?!” she demanded angrily, perturbed that the elementalist would think she needed such babysitting.

                “I did!” Kharin answered abruptly.  “When you decided you had to come with me to find the others, you became my charge because you damn well can’t protect yourself!”

                “Yes I can!” Eun Mi retorted sharply.

                “How?” was the elementalist’s more calm reply.

                The healer floundered for a few seconds as she gestured ineffectively and futilely tried to come up with a reasonable, respectable answer.  Defeated, she slumped forward and sighed dejectedly, “I don’t know.”  She had never learned to fight like her cousin had and it was not something her mother had ever pressed her to do either.  The only thing she could do well was run away and even that only worked to some extent.  Given her inability to fight, why had she come along?

                Kharin placed a surprisingly gentle hand on Eun Mi’s shoulder and turned her enough to look her in the face.  “I don’t pretend to enjoy everything that I do or am able to do,” she stated honestly.  She really had struggled with the destructive nature of her power after their first real fight, but it was her power and she certainly wasn’t going to run away from it.  “Sometimes we just have to do things we don’t want to.”  There was really no other way to explain it.  It wasn’t as if she wanted to fight in this war, but because of how things had ended up, here she was.

                For a moment, it looked as if Eun Mi was going to say something, but then Kharin stiffened and frowned as she looked ahead.  The healer turned around to see what she was looking at and her eyes widened in fright as their fears materialized in front of them.  In the midmorning hour, more constructs appeared on the road and in the air.  They still seemed intent upon the most recent travelers they had come upon but it was only a matter of time before they made it to the two women.

                Kharin took a deep breath and nodded to herself.  “Just keep moving forward, Eun Mi.  If this doesn’t work, I’ll think of something,” she promised the young woman in front of her.  At least there weren’t as many as the last time.  That alone gave her more hope than she had before.  Determinedly, she closed her eyes and held tight to Eun Mi again as she envisioned the veil she had made earlier.  Slowly, she tightened the shadow ‘fabric’ around them, enclosing them in the semi-opaque mesh once more.

                Her concentration slipped slightly when Glory started moving and she jerked, her sense of balance disturbed again.  The fabric thinned slightly and then reformed seamlessly.  As they closed the distance between the constructs and themselves, Kharin recognized the feel of the shadow constructs and immediately after that, she felt an enormous draw on reserves as the veil struggled to make the elemental constructs turn away.

                The shadow elementalist gasped as she realized instantly that they were entirely unlike human minds.  Whereas the travelers had felt like a gentle push against her barrier, their thoughts easy to turn aside, the constructs felt more as if they were using a battering ram against a wooden door.  Fiercely, she steeled herself and ignored everything beyond her veil, praying that Eun Mi would be able to guide them around the constructs should they try to head directly over them.

                The healer gripped Glory’s reins so hard her hands ached.  Her eyes were wide in her face as she stared at the approaching constructs.  They seemed oblivious to the fact that they were here until they got close enough at which point they seemed confused.  The light and wind constructs floated overhead, casually sweeping back and forth across the road but the shadow construct nearest them looked at their space quizzically.

                It paced back and forth, completely ignoring the cowering travelers they had alarmed.  The ground nearby rippled as an earth construct swam slowly past them, ignorant of their presence, or so it would appear.  With a firm hand on the skittish mule, Eun Mi angled them away from the shadow construct.  “Come on,” she breathed quietly, her body trembling as the shadow construct still seemed confused, like it could sense that something was a bit off.  Its companion continued on down the path, oblivious.

                “Just a little longer,” Eun Mi breathed over her shoulder at Kharin when she felt the other woman shudder.  As much as she wanted to make the mule run, she dared not for fear of alerting the construct to their presence by sound alone.

                The shadow construct remained where it was and it was with aching slowness that they finally pulled away.  Kharin remained tense even after she felt their attention shift from her and ease up from the veil she had maintained.  Distressingly, she felt a headache coming on when she continued to try and maintain their cover.  “Are they out of sight?” she whispered quietly with her eyes still tightly shut.

                Eun Mi shifted to see better and then shook her head.  “No, but I don’t think they’ll be able to see us this far out,” she assured the other woman with a worried glance at her riding companion.

                Kharin wanted to maintain the veil just a bit longer to be on the safe side but she found that she couldn’t.  A particularly sharp pain in her temples drove her to stop preemptively and she leaned against Eun Mi heavily, hiding her face against the other woman’s back to cut down on the hurtful light that stabbed her eyes when she opened them carefully.  “Well it worked…” she groaned miserably.  Slowly, she forced herself to take several deep breaths and gradually the muscles in her back and shoulders started to relax.  Her headache subsided to a more tolerable level, though it was still quite severe, if not debilitating.

                “Are you alright?” Eun Mi asked softly while she peered over her shoulder.  All traces of her irritation from earlier were gone, replaced by worry and relief.

                “I’m fine,” Kharin stated tiredly, waving away her concern.  “Let’s just keep going,” she urged instead, tightening her grip around the other woman as she rested her head against her back with eyes closed and a moderately tense expression.

                Still concerned, Eun Mi nodded her head at last and nudged Glory into a faster pace, eager to be away from this place and as close to the capitol as possible.  Urgently, they pressed on, overtaking several travelers on foot and marking their faces as little more than blurs in their passage.  They paused briefly a little after midday for food and water, during which time Kharin sat with her head in her hands, still nursing the dull, persistent ache that resided there.  Sustenance helped to soothe it just that much more and then they were on their way again.  They both prayed that there would be no more constructs on their path.  Neither Kharin nor Eun Mi knew what they would do if they ran into another group…

                Off in the distance, they could see the occasional farmstead and they did skirt around one small village off the main road in the earlier part of the afternoon.  The pair declined to stop for anything more than refilling their water, though Eun Mi would have liked to have gotten better food for Glory.  Grass would have to suffice for now as there was plenty of that to be found and the feed would simply weigh her down more.  Determinedly, they pressed on as the sky gradually began to darken with the sun racing them to the horizon.

                Their hearts and bodies were weary as the light slowly faded and Glory had long since slowed to a fast walk.  Tired eyes peered ahead almost desperately and Kharin was grateful only that the horrid headache had finally faded.  Conversation between them had been sparse all day after they had evaded the constructs and it seemed as if a pall had settled over them.  That changed though, when they both noticed the large structure in the distance that rose above the ground, still far away yet, but they could see the capitol city of Lornhaldt.

                “There it is,” Eun Mi sighed, remembering the city fondly, with the exception of her half-brother.

                “Soon,” Kharin promised herself as she allowed the tentative feeling of relief to wash over her.

                Both understood that they would not be able to make the city with the light they had left and while they may have been able to make it through the night, they both badly needed the rest.  As much as she wanted to argue otherwise, Kharin acknowledged that she was about tapped out.  A lot of good she would be if she got to the city and couldn’t gain entrance or even function as she needed to because she did not rest like she should have.  Reluctantly, they stopped for the night, eating what they could and leaving just enough for the morning.  Water they shared freely and Eun Mi refused to budge on taking the first watch.  With reluctance, Kharin allowed herself to lay down first and was out before she even had time to worry about falling asleep.

(a/n:  Hello my wonderful readers!  It saddens me that I had posted this and then that hiccup occured with the site but hopefully things are back on track!  Given the circumstances, I do apologize for updating so late and can only hope you enjoyed it.  I am presently working on the next piece and hope to have it up soon.  Thank you to my readers, both silent and otherwise, for continuing to follow me.  As always, I love to hear what you think but in the meantime, have a spectacular day!  <3 )