Smiling contently, Elowen pressed closer to him so that their noses touched. "Ah, no wonder you did it then," she mused, squeezing his hand gently. A kiss, that's what it was called. She nodded in understanding. That other phrase he used, though, was unfamiliar to her, but the Dryad could guess what it meant. "In the forest, my people do not experience love. At least, not the romantic kind. The most we feel is our deep attachment to each other and our home." Reaching up, she cupped his face in her hands. "So I'm glad I left and found you," Wen whispered, leaning in slightly.

Suddenly, someone yanked her out of the water by her hair, causing her to yelp. Her eyes darted around and saw the knight from earlier along with two others. The familiar one had a sword drawn and pointed at Randal, while one of the others kept a grip on Elowen. "Randal!" she yelped, fearing for his safety. "If you're too good for me, I'm sure someone back home's in need of a wench~" he threatened maliciously, before turning his attention to the mage. "No need for scrawny little boys, I'm afraid." Wen watched fearfully as he raised his sword, preparing to attack. "No!"

Randal smiled leaning against her as he heard the yelp seeing the knight talk all cocky like he had won annoyed the young mage but a thing that tips him over the edge is how they were holding Wen when the beast of the man rose his sword Randal simply replied "I'm Sorry" the knight smirked in victory "Giving up already on her, pffft weak" the young mage looked into the mans eyes with eyes blue as ice as the area seemed to grow colder even if the springs were still steaming frost covered the floor around his feet as a spectral image appeared over his body, "He meant to you" the coarse voice of Edgest seemed to speak out "And too me, I was enjoying my day off" when the stone wall covered in frost shot up to jam the sword into its hard defence Villagers who stood gawking decided for the best to run out leaving the mage and the three ruffians "Now let her go, Before I hurt someone".

The Knight seemed to take the threat lightly as the Mage's wall collapsed and the ghostly wraith seemed to start slowly walking towards him "look at this illusion its almost too funny" even without his staff the spell seemed to easily form around his hand as an arrow floated in front of it firing out hitting the one lackey through the foot who wasn't holding Wen, pinning him to the ground as Randal continued his approach to the Knight the outer shell of Edgest smiling at the knight as Randals hand grew closer to his face "Bow to me!" as soon as it made contact the hissing of skin could be heard as the mage used the spell from the rainforest with much more power watching the frost creep up the knights face and his eyes roll up into the back of his head collapsing with a frostbitten mark over half his face. with the assault on the two men done the last decided to value his life and drop the dryad roughly against the freezing floor allowing Edgest to slowly fade from the realm and appear beside Randal "Go to her, make sure she is not harmed" he did not sound pleased but allowed it anyway as Randal ran up to Wen stroking her cheek with the back of his hand still slightly frosted he looked at her his eyes more brightly blue than before, "Are you okay, please be okay please!".

Staring in shock at Randal's actions, Elowen was sufficiently surprised when the man holding her let her drop onto the cold ground. Carefully, she sat up, rubbing her head where her hair had been pulled. "Yes, yes, I'm okay," she assured Randal, placing her hand over his. Her eyes drifted over to the fallen knights, watching them to see what damage the mage had done. "I see Edgest is back…" The Dryad observed their surroundings cautiously, wondering where the ghost was or if he was even still there. Eventually, her eyes once again landed on the two men crumpled on the ground.

"Are they…?" she asked fearfully, hoping they had simply been incapacitated. True, they were ruffians who needed to be taught their place, but surely Randal would not kill them. Not intentionally, anyways. Though Elowen trusted the mage in this aspect, she still felt the need to ask, and her eyes searched his face for confirmation as they sat on the frosted ground. "They are not dead, right?"

He let out a sigh of relief before nodding with a frown "however I may have used his mana up rather quickly so he's in some sort of hibernation" he slumped on the ground breathing heavily watching his breath float out due to the cold be carefully stroking her patch of hair where the man pulled her by carefully scanning the large area where tendrils of frost still coat the walls and floor, "No their still breathing" he nodded towards the small puffs of breath leaving their mouths before turning back "I couldnt think of another way to do it, so I let my anger take its toll, Im sorry" he glanced back at her with a small frown did she think he was a monster hurting to other humans so easily without hestitation.

He stood up allowing a hand to be held down to the Dryad with a sad smile "We should leave before the guards come to investigate" he looked at the sky taking in a breath of the cold this was what he had chosen when he first found Edgest, a life of danger with powers most people dread to have, looking back at the unconcious men he let out a small sigh and simply muttered "If your hand was the one that did the deed, is it fair to blame the one that forced your hand?" before sliding back on his robe to try and recieve a small amount of protection from the cold.

Standing up, the Dryad watched as the steam from the hot springs slowly melted the frost Randal had caused. She looked pitifully at the fallen knights and approached where her cloak rested on the ground. Her bag was attached to the inside, and Wen rummaged through it for a few moments before her hand emerged with a flask of mana potion that she had made. "Then this will restore them," she explained, pulling her cloak around her and crawling over to where they lay. "But don't worry; they will not wake up right away." As she administered the potion, the color returned to each man's face.

Once that was over and done with, Elowen walked towards Randal and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps both are partially to blame. But in this case, I feel your actions are just," Wen stated thoughtfully. Reaching down, she squeezed his hand with a small smile and began leading him back down the worn path toward town. They made it back to the inn without trouble, though the innkeeper looked confused upon seeing them return. "Back so soon, loves?" Wen just rubbed the back of her neck with a shrug, causing the woman to chuckle while they walked upstairs. 

Randal gave a small smile to the Innkeeper before fooling the Dryad upstairs in an uncomfortable silence before finally reaching the room Randal took his robe off wincing slightly at the frostburn cover his lower torso, an unfortunate side effect of using Edgest's mana normally harmless such as the frost but in large amounts could easily become frostbite. Looking over at Wen he frowned before whispering "I understand if you want to leave now… I mean I'm just a mage who's too weak to control himself" he ran his hand through his hair before walking to the window seeing the volcano in the distance, "I never told you why Edgest wants to see Angela did I?" he breathed in knowing his wraith would not be happy with him, "There's another Wraith out there a lot like Edgest, but this one after struggling with its partner corrupted them and turned them into a corrupted form of demonic possession, that is the only known way a Wraith and Mortal being can be seprated if the host dies or the corrupted possesion" he rubbed his eyes, "Edgest wants to see if Angela cant grant him the freedom to move on to the afterlife and be with his family".

He put the tea pot onto the small flame letting it get to a boil before adding some leaves of all colours his hands shaking violently, "And that scares me, its been three years since I became his host and Ive grown used to having him there and if he gets his wish, would I be scared of he silence in my head, waking up in the middle of the night alone" he took a deep breath "Elowen Im scared of being alone again" his face looked pained as he looked at her fully knowing he had shown too much weakness for his own good and now she was defiantly going to leave him.

With a worried expression, Elowen took some time to gather her thoughts. Clearly, Randal's condition was worse than she had initially thought, and it was imperative for him to find out if Angela could do something about it. Although, it would seem, the mage did not want to do anything about it. "Is this what Edgest wants?" If the Wraith wanted his freedom, she felt that, despite his reservations, it was Randal's duty to respect the wishes of the dead. That would make sense; the man deserved to be able to see his family. Crossing the room, Wen enveloped the mage in a warm hug, softly tracing the bits of frostbite with a frown. Unfortunately, there was no plant life inside the cosy room, otherwise she probably could have healed him.

"You do not have to be alone," she whispered into his chest. Perhaps their journeys would lead them in separate directions. Or maybe they would stay together a bit longer. "We could continue to travel together. Or maybe we could settle down? With a house and all that." She pulled away, making sure that he was okay with her suggestions. "We may not always have the same journey, and we may part for some time, but… at least we would have somewhere to return to. Someone to return to." Smiling softly, she cupped his face. "But we can figure out the details after we've been to see Mother Gaia."

The young mage nodded lightly "Ive never asked but of course thats what he wants I mean its his family and by the deities, of course, he wants to see them" as he slid his hand down slowly cupping her hand against the frostbite with a small wince he looked at her, "You have that look you had back with the dragon, Ive had worse frostbite Wen its okay that you cant heal it right now" he smiled weakly before dropping into a comfortable silence rubbing a thumb agaisnt the back of her hand.

Listening to her his frown slowly forming a smile waiting for her to look up until stroking her cheek with his spare hand "Of course I want that, Elowen I… I love you" the young man leant down kissing her lightly running a hand through her hair "After we see Angela, will the other Dryads be okay with me? I mean if they mean a lot to you, of course, I would want to see them too" kissing her forehead he went back to laying down watching the ceiling with a smile for the first time in a long time it felt like his life had a weird balance of sorts.

Elowen chuckled a bit when he mentioned the other Dryads and even thought the suggestion was so funny that she snorted. Covering her mouth, she cleared her throat and sat next to Randal on the bed. "I spent nineteen years of my life in that forest. Now that know what the rest of the world is like, I do not intend to return for some time," she explained, removing her cloak. "Someday I will introduce you to my people, I promise. But, for now, let's choose somewhere exciting." Her face lit up, and she flashed the mage a bright smile.

"What about Adeluna?" she suggested, captivated by the thought. "I've never been, of course, but I hear it is lovely and full of adventure." Enthusiastically, Wen bent down and began rummaging through Randal's bag, removing one of his books on Adeluna. "Here," she said as she shoved the book into his hands. Pointing to a map of the kingdom, she began rambling off things they could do. "Obviously there's Adeluna city, but there are also a bunch of ports around plus some ruins. And there's no telling what lies in these places." Her finger gestured to a dot marked Umbral Depths. The hunger for adventure was evident in her tone of voice. "And– don't take this the wrong way, please–it would give me a chance to do things on my own, you know?"

"Adeluna is where I grew up so I could always visit the Academy or some people I know while your off doing your own thing" he smiled before kissing her hand softly "Just be careful with Umbral Depths, Edgest as more than once mentioned how the concentration of Wraith Energy is higher there than in most places in Canelux" he sat up walking over to a pitcher pouring himself some water before tapping his finger on his chin "Actually thinking about it my parents use to own a house there, I sold all the furinture but could never bring myself to sell the house after they died we could use that to meet up after our little adventures, plus us spiltting up would make it easier to find infomation".

Sitting back down next to her, Randal slowly slid the book out of her grasp and flicked to a page of the Middle City showing a map of the estates and markets "Right here" he pointed just next to the large park with a smile "I use to play in that park when I was younger, back when I was more worried about having fun than learning about magic" the memories brought happiness but pain as well thinking about his life before being whisked off to an orphanage and the Mage's Academy, he shut the book quickly before sliding under the covers of the bed "We should get some rest if we want to catch the boat out of her?"