She took a step forward and shifted her weight off the tree, grabbing her side as pain lanced up her abdomen and promptly faceplanting back into the moss, followed by a stream of unpleasant words.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
She grunted and pushed herself up off the ground, trying to stand back up but only able to somewhat lift herself onto all fours. The look on her face was a mix of pain, frustration, and overall displeasure with the entire situation as blood began to leak through the bandage again.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James gently put a hand on her back. She was bleeding again. He didn't think he had to state the obvious.
With a final sigh, he looked down at the ground, trying to level with her. He kept his voice low. "Look. Trust me. I know how it feels. You don't want to be cared for. You don't want to be dependent on anyone. You don't want to feel vulnerable. I promise. I won't hurt you. Just let me... carry you, okay? We can't stay here much longer."
She hesitated and pushed herself to her knees, grunting in pain. "Fine."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James was relieved she finally agreed, and carefully slipped his arm under hers as he pulled her up slowly, and then swept his other arm under her legs. He looked down at the dog briefly, assuming it would follow as he walked.
"I'm going to meet up with Ari and Amy again outside Gardey. But I won't leave you stranded. Once you're stable enough to walk on your own, you have no obligation to stay with us. And if you still hold ill will against Amy I'll just... bring you into town instead and drop you off at a doctor."
She looked up sharply. "I won't hurt the werewolf if you let me stay. Truly." She hadn't stayed in one place more than a few days in years, lest she get recognized. To her knowledge her face wasn't widely known - she'd always been good at keeping her mask on, back in the day - but she didn't want to risk it. Not injured, without her sword, and no protection but her wits and her dog. Now, moving more slowly, it would also make it more likely she'd be caught up to. The single eye nowadays helped her somewhat but...the risk scared her. Last time she'd gotten lazy about being careful she'd lost an eye; next time, she didn't want to lose a head, and back then she was able to fight.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"..." James looked down at her with a blank expression, but he was skeptical.
He hadn't expected her to desire to stay with them so readily. He'd been pretty confident she would insist on separating since she didn't seem to like them at all, and actively refused help. She had to be... quite desperate, but understandably so. He had a feeling it was solely on the basis of her lack and her wounds that she agreed, but a part of him did wonder if she was lying about Amy.
People who saw werewolves as monsters and hunted them as a profession were not so eager or quick to change their worldview. So of course, he didn't expect an instant change from her, but he did worry that she was lying so she could stay close to Amy and just hurt Amy when they weren't looking. That would be stupid of course, at least, in her state, but he'd been betrayed under many circumstances.
He met her eye.
"If that's what you want, and you'll meet that condition, then... alright."
She nodded once and went silent, frustrated at herself for agreeing so readily. She should've pretended to hesitate more - not let him realize how desperate she truly was.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James nodded slightly, looking back at the dog following. He almost found it ironic that Tasha would have a dog that looked to be half-wolf when she hunted werewolves, among other things.
It would've been funny if he had more of a dark sense of humor.
"Yes," she affirmed, her one-word answer not very conversational.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James stared out blankly into the forest as he walked. He was silent for a minute. Tasha was giving him nothing to work with conversationally, and he understood why. But he needed to at least know a little more about her if she was going to be traveling with them. She'd established no baseline for trust, and though he would've felt terrible for leaving her behind, he still wasn't eager to keep her around.
"And how long have you been... hunting 'monsters?'"
"Since I was eleven," she said, her tone distinctly icier than it'd been before. This was not a road she wanted to go down: her past was hers alone and it wasn't one she liked remembering.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
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