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"Duck..."

"Where?"

Naya hisses as she grabs an unsuspecting Ronan by the collar of his shirt, pulling him to the ground as they clumsily scramble behind one of the trees- not that suddenly they were invisible to whatever it is they were hiding from, as the tree barely covered them.

Bringing a hand up to her mouth, Naya gestures for Ronan to stay silent, the boy's eyes going wide as his hand automatically moves to rest on the handle of his dagger, ready for easy access if needed be.

Was it a spirit?

A Fire one?

Perhaps Earth?

Were there multiple-?

"Shhh, there are mortal up ahead"

"Mortals?" Ronan repeats, now rather confused at why they were hiding, "Like... humans?"

"Yes humans" Naya whispers, slowly peering around the tree trunk so that she could assess the threat ahead.

"Like... the same kind as Leah?" He asks, to which Naya looks back at him with her eyebrows furrowed, "I'm just saying, mortals are the least of our worries right now, they're practically harmless, look at them!"

Up ahead were a group of maybe eight human beings- they were in a range of ages, one looking around the same age as them two- late teens, early twenties, rolled up trousers and a cap on with a rather large rucksack loaded onto their back, to which Ronan guesses they were backpacking, just passing through.

There were then two couples, both looking in their fifties, both hand in hand as they were huddled together talking amicably with the odd hand gesture. Naya lets her eyes fall onto their intertwined hands, her heart skipping a beat as she veils the pang of hurt that ricocheted through her body with a gentle smile.

Even with their muted voices and soft eyes, Naya couldn't help but envy their bright smiles. Her mind couldn't help but to remind her of golden waves and soft skin.

Would her and Leah still be so happy at fifty? Sixty? Seventy?

Their pinkies still linked as their hands swayed back and forth as they walked. That twinkle of embarrassment in Leah's eyes as they pass the café, remembering Naya's nervous stuttering and clumsy fingers. The warmth that came from their embrace...

She hopes so.

And she can't wait until she had successfully finished her quest, until she can finally hold Leah in her arms once more...

Apart from a few stragglers who didn't look awake enough to even be standing, Ronan noticed an elderly woman, hunched over her walking stick at the front of the group, her eyes trained onto the road ahead.

None of these looked dangerous enough to be hiding behind a tree for. To Ronan, they couldn't look more ordinary.

Naya narrows her eyes, tilting her head to the side to gesture at the old woman, "She could easily floor you-"

"With those eyes?" Ronan teases, to which he can see Naya clench her jaw at his antics.

"With that stick"

"Come on.." He laughs, gradually rising to his feet and dusting off his jeans, he understood that it had been a long day- week, life perhaps, and with the added stress with the quest and Naya's near death experience all paired with what they learned about Arlen recently, he understood that her paranoia probably just stemmed from how shaken she was.

Unfortunately, he didn't really know how to calm her racing mind, but he could help her with how to get to Apricus, to which he hoped would be a distraction enough.

"We can cross over and walk around if it will make you feel better?"

He holds out his hand for her to take, however she just pushes off from the ground, rising on her own accord at the inkling of him pandering towards her.

She didn't like it when someone acted as though they were walking on eggshells, it did nothing but put her more on edge.

"I'm just saying..." She mumbles, her eyes drifting from Ronan to the group gathered before them, "We should be wary-"

Just as she is about to finish, there's a deafening horn that sounds, causing both hunters to practically jump out of their skins, turning quickly to try and locate the noise, Ronan's athame now drawn.

Barrelling towards them, in all it's metal cage-y glory was a massive vehicle, obviously dropping by for the people gathered ahead as they begin walking to the side of the road expectedly.

Ronan doesn't drop his dagger yet, waiting till the large bus pulls up and stops just by them, one of the women from the group of two couples waving to whoever was inside before the doors fold open.

"What.." Naya whispers, unsure with what is happening.

"To the canyon?" The woman asks firmly, and yet once she receives the answer she wants, she turns back around to the group with a smile, "Yes, this is ours! Everybody board carefully!"

"No.." Ronan laughs breathlessly, taking a step forward before Naya grabs his arm, holding him back.

"What are you doing?"

The boy just shrugs, pointing to the big bus that was stationed before them, "This will cut down our travel time astronomically"

He manages to shake his arm out of Naya grip so that he can approach the group, all smiles as he gets ready to charm his way onto the bus.

From where Naya is stood, she can't help but drop her head into her hands as Ronan immediately approaches the elderly woman.

"Do you need any help, ma'am?"

Naya can only imagine how this woman's face has lit up, especially with how fond her reply is.

Turning around the hunter comes face to face with Ronan slowly making his way towards the bus, a hand on the elderly woman's back as he guides her to the vehicle, reminding her to be careful of the step.

Ronan only takes his eyes off of her for a second, and that's to stick his tongue out at Naya.

Rolling her eyes as she watches Ronan charm his way to the front of the line with the woman, Naya's eyes then go wide as he goes to take a step onto the bus.

"What are you doing?" She whispers harshly, at his side in an instance.

Calmly, he turns to the hunter, a smile sitting comfortably on his face as he explains, "We said it ourselves that on foot it would take too long"

And just like that, he helps the elderly woman onto the bus as he follows on, not sparing Naya another glance. Defeated, she quickly tags onto him, not wishing to end up in the middle of the crowd of mortals.

They swiftly make their way to the back of the bus, settling into the corner so that Naya can curl up on herself, resting her head against the cool glass of the window.

Ronan's expression slips as he allows a flicker of concern to dance within his eyes before he even realises, quickly snapping them shut before Naya could see and it make her feel any weaker.

"Did you grab anything from Arlen's table that could calm your nerves?" He whispers, distracting both of them as he peers into his own bag to have a look. Unlike usual, Arlen didn't send them off for this quest.

With such awful awkwardness hanging within the air between them, Arlen had left their small home early in the morning to let the two hunters set off calmly, however, despite his repeated insistence that the two should pick up some knowledge of natural remedies to help them in a bind, neither Naya nor Ronan quite knew where to start.

Before they left, they both just shoved as much as they could into their bags- plenty of remedies and superstitious potions to hopefully keep them safe.

"I'll be fine just as long as we don't interact with any-"

Before Naya could even finish, she cuts herself off with a groan. The elderly woman from before spotting them and rising from her seat to let the two couple sit by each other, despite their protests.

"Ah geez" Naya sighs, throwing her head back against the headrest as their visitor nears.

At this Ronan smiles, "I know you're not the biggest fan of social interaction, but how an earth did you approach Leah with such an attitude?"

"She approached me" Naya mumbles, "And it was entirely different to this"

"Oh yeah?"

With a cheeky smile, he goes to encourage Naya to continue to recount old memories of the two of them, however she sees what he's doing and instead, uses her hand to push his face, directing his gaze away from her as the elderly woman gives him another smile before taking a seat next to him.

"Yeah..."