The Ascension

Reunion

It was about sunset when Aster came to the town of Roihan, and not long after she came to the center of the place- a brief walk, considering the town only had twenty buildings- she heard Wren's voice.

She ran towards it for a few seconds, then fell into a steady walk. No need to look so alarmed. Her wounds had mostly healed, though the cuts in her coat still suggested their presence. If she could find a shawl, she might be able to cover them up and look fully normal.

She found Wren unconscious in another man's arms, and was too taken aback by the stranger's looks to feel fully angry about it. He was seriously good looking. Different looking, but really good about it. It may feel repetitive to reiterate Senya's appearance, but it was honestly very important to Aster at the time. Very key to the next few events. He was just that gorgeous.

The mysterious boy dropped Wren, and Aster ran after him, tackling him to the ground a few seconds into the chase. He was likely a lot stronger than she was, but he seemed to give in when she kneeled on his chest.

"What did you do to Wren?"

The boy didn't meet her eyes. "He seriously just hit his head on a pole. Nothing else happened."

"Why did you run then?"

"Do you know how much blood you're covered in?" He stopped for a moment and thought about it. "I guess that makes sense, you and him being together. A couple of traveling murderers or something."

"We're not maniacs, and this is just wolf's blood. I'm going to go wake Wren up and check your story."

"He might-" The man started, but failed to finish his thought. He got up and meekly followed Aster to Wren, who was starting to regain consciousness.

"What happened?" Aster asked.

At the sight of her, Wren fainted again.

Aster sighed. "I'm taking him to the inn. You're coming with me."

She bought a room using money she found in Wren's pockets, and put Wren on the bed. The innkeeper smiled nervously at the man with her- if she had been present an hour ago, she would have known Wren's excuse for freeing Senya was that he was escorting him to Baased city prison. The innkeeper was not pleased to see him staying another night.

Aster unrolled Wren's sleeping bag and took her coat off to use as a pillow. She was exhausted, but had no way to ensure that the mysterious boy wouldn't run away if she let herself sleep.

Luckily, before she had a chance to worry too much about her suspiciously alluring prisoner, Wren woke up.

"Senya." He groaned, and Senya almost on cue gave an exaggerated glance towards Aster, a face that seemed to be prompting her to laugh. But Aster rarely laughed, and certainly did not find now to be an appropriate time.

"Wren, are you alright?" Aster leaned over him, checking his forehead for fever automatically even if it didn't make much sense to do so.

"Eug, I'm fine." He sat up slowly and clutched his head. "Just ran into a pole."

At that Aster could have laughed. So Senya wasn't a killer then? He legitimately was a random guy off the streets who had been concerned with Wren's wellbeing? That was a nice occurrence. Aster wouldn't have liked to be dealing with any sort of madman in this mad quest.

Wren continued to groan as he further woke up and his head stopped spinning. "Though-" He said simply, and then frowned like he was remembering a bad dream. "I thought-" He took a moment to confirm his thoughts until he realized he hadn't been imagining Aster's death. "You're dead!" He scurried back on the bed until he bumped into the headboard.