"How big is your range?" Rhyss had an idea, after everything she'd already seen, but she still had to ask.
"I dunno. Pretty big, I guess."
That was not an ideal form of measurement, but she would take it.
"This area… is a little empty, actually. I haven't really felt much of anything, just some reinforcement magic that isn't doing so well."
He kicked a loose piece of rock.
"So what you're saying is we're more in danger of this tunnel collapsing than anything else." Bel turned over to look up at him.
"Well, unless we do something ridiculous."
"Like be chased by an undead dragon?"
Heln rolled his eyes. "I thought we were being positive."
"I'm just saying. Ugh. One thing after another." Bel pulled off her satchel to use as a pillow, though Rhyss thought it probably wasn't exceptionally comfortable. "It's like when you have finals but you also have to intern for your dad but you finally got that cute girl from script class to agree to a date. Only it smells worse and there's no heating scripts and everything is terrible."
"I don't think they're really all that comparable." Heln was smiling a little, though.
"You've never interned for Dad."
"Or dated. Honestly, this isn't a very relatable metaphor."
"Rhyss can relate, she wants to smooch girls." Bel waved a hand in her direction.
Rhyss nodded. "Well, yeah. What about you, Heln? Rather smooch boys?"
"I'd rather smooch no one, I'm aromantic."
"That's fair," Rhyss said, before turning back to Bel. "By the way, I forgot to thank you for throwing your bracelet. That was actually really smart."
"I don't like that you added actually, but yes, I am pretty brilliant." Bel's eyes were closed and it was obvious from her voice that she was not going to be awake for much longer. Rhyss thought about demanding she set up a barrier, but there didn't seem to be much need for one and Bel was clearly exhausted. "But thank you for noticing. Besides, maybe the old man will get me a cute flower one. Or I could just steal Heln's. It's pretty cute."
"No. I don't want your weird messages on it."
"Ha. Doesn't matter. Matters that we're all here. All safe."
She supposed that was true. "Bel, I'm sorry, but I saw you wincing. I'm going to ask you to sit up for me."
"Mm I'd rather not."
"Bel…"
"I'm not taking off my shirt for you."
"Trust me, you don't have anything I haven't seen, either."
Bel sat up and looked at her carefully before she answered. "Well, yeah. Like you said earlier."
"What?"
"I mean there's not much to see," Bel said, giving Rhyss a meaningful look.
Rhyss glanced at her chest. It was hard to tell with Bel's jacket, but she didn't have an ample bosom by any stretch of the imagination. "Okay?"
"Eleti alive." Bel rolled her eyes. "Well, since we're having a nice little ice breaking conversation I'm trans. There. Now you know."
Rhyss blinked. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well, I mean," Rhyss said, fidgeting awkwardly, "do you want me to, um…"
Bel rolled her eyes. "Oh for Eleti's sake, it's a padded shirt, not a medical vest. Heln, turn around."
"I'm going to sleep," Heln turned away from them.
"Perfect," Bel said.
Bel pulled up her shirt, but only enough for Rhyss to see that she had a scrape across her ribs. It wasn't nearly as bad as she'd thought it would be. Her ointment was still good as far as she could tell. In return Bel applied it to the back of Rhyss's arms where her cloak hadn't quite protected her. Her cloak was full of holes, but her armor underneath was still mostly intact, the wood scripted well enough against fire to keep her from being burned. A little charred in places, but it would get her by and would largely heal itself overtime.
Rhyss thanked Bel, who muttered something that sounded like gratitude in return and laid back down. It wasn't long after that her breathing evened out to match Heln's.
Rhyss left the armor off when she leaned against the cave wall, letting the cold soothe her a little bit and lighting up her fire script. It felt like a toothache in her chest, the lack of magic pulling at her, but it was too cold without it.
The script looked like lace made of embers, a bright and cheery orange, twisted and danced in place. It was nothing like the white-hot dragon fire. She slid down the wall a bit, determined to stay awake, to keep the script going and to keep watch. Without a barrier she thought she would feel much more vulnerable.
She didn't. With the fire, it almost felt like a night at the training grounds after a grueling day, her fellow Trainees sprawled out and sleeping while one of them kept watch. It would have been comforting, but every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the red glow of the power core.
Chapter Sixteen
Rhyss must have slept at some point, at the very least it felt like she was waking up. Her back ached and her eyes felt like they were glued shut. Her magic was back, but she still felt exhausted. She made a noise that might have been a grunt and might have been an expletive.
"Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine." Bel's voice was not the one she wanted to hear when she first woke up. Bel was more complicated than Rhyss thought and she wasn't sure that she had fully coped with that. "You are, of course, ravishing in this light. I have prepared us a fine breakfast of mushy, slightly baked fruit and mushier moss."
Rhyss wanted to know where Bel got the energy to joke around after everything they'd been through. If it was her, she would have been absolutely too exhausted. Bel reminded Rhyss of Vin in that aspect. He'd said making it light was how he coped with everything.
Thinking of Vin hurt worse than her back so she shoved it away and sat
