Show me where it hurts

It hadn’t taken him long to crash by the time they made it to the next inn, not even slipping his coat from his shoulders before they collapsed into the dusty makeshift bed. He fought sleep’s tempting tendrils as they tried to coax him under, just long enough for Lasair to drift off first, which thankfully did not take long. The bed was uncomfortable, but they couldn’t complain. Anything to ward off whatever horror they had just lived through, hoping that it would remain out of their dreams. Sometimes it did. Sometimes it didn't.

Sleep was hardly restful anymore- a mere pause in his exhaustion to be picked up again whenever he woke. He could at least appreciate the sleep when he could get it, any dreams at all typically chased away from his magic and replaced with a dark, inky shadow that pulsed and drifted like fog in his mind, still trying to find itself amongst the chaos. Perhaps that was what made him so damn tired- a magic that never slept.

He found himself gently stirring as there was movement on the bed, a sharp weight lifted off of his chest, but sleep’s stubborn grasp still held him tightly, pulling him back down with dark promises of rest. He merely shifted beneath the blankets, relaxing into the covered straw again with a tired sigh. As far as he was concerned, they were home, right? It had all been a bad dream… a nightmare… They would both wake up in their bed, in their room, a gentle breeze fluttering at the curtain...

Until something in his mind clicked, and his eyes opened slowly, blinking away the sleepy fog to reveal the dusty little inn room, warm afternoon light filtering in through the cracked window. And if that wasn’t enough, his knee throbbed from the long ride they made to even get there, making his face scrunch with each nerve-frying twinge.

It certainly had been bad, but it wasn’t a dream.

Eyelids still heavy with sleep, mind still groggy, he turned his gaze to where Lasair had turned to face him, each of her sharp features entirely unhidden, just like the glimpse he had gotten the night prior. But now, he was able to really look at her; from her sharpened jaw and teeth to the red in her eyes and now? He had to swallow his nerves, tuck away the concern that threatened to wrinkle his brow. Slowly, he was watching her become the very monster that his drug-influenced mind had created in that alleyway- the same one he had been forced to fight.

He wordlessly motioned for her to return to him, wrapping his arms around her as she did so. He let the silence linger; his eyes closing again as he buried his chin in her hair and focused solely on their breathing. A brief moment of peace, of understanding, before he brought it upon himself to be the first to speak.

“Are you okay, my love?” He murmured, tone still heavy with sleep as he reached to brush her hair from her eyes. He gently laid his hand across her own as she clenched them to her chest, running his thumb over one of her sharp claws. It was a simple, gentle question- one that she could answer as wholly or vaguely as she liked, if she wanted to at all. And he would accept it regardless.