Several days passed with a similar rhythm. I spent the journey resting and training my mana channels, Jack spent the days occasionally hopping out of the wagon and returning with the odd small rodent for me after my parents deemed him not a threat and let him come and go as he pleased and my parents skirted around how they were both feeling. Thankfully as time went on I grew more in control of my mana pool and was able to stop the seeping of my magic outwards so there weren’t any more random bursts of frost. Occasionally we would stop and eat and sleep, my parents would forage nearby or we would swap stories with other travellers and the odd merchant before moving on. As we went the scenery grew warmer still till the traces of snow were practically non-existent. During this time I learned a few details regarding my parents as well as gleaning the odd snippet from context. My mother’s name was Anna, our surname was Stone and my parents adopted me from birth five years ago. Seems I wasn’t far off with my estimate. I was also able to piece together a little more about Gwynn. From what I could tell Gwynned has always been independent and headstrong from the way their parents refer to them. Despite their small frame they have been advancing at a very impressive rate for a child of their age. They had even been insisting they are neither a boy nor a girl and would get upset when referred to as such from the age of three. At least the last part made my transition less jarring coming from my prior life. From a passing comment to a merchant, we were heading towards a small town known as Farndown where my other has a sister, my Aunt Trudy.

“We won’t be staying long right?” My father Malcolm said one day. 

“Yes, yes, we’ll just stay with her while we recuperate and get our bearings don’t worry, I don’t want to spend any more time with her than you do.” 

“I… I know… I’m sorry that she’s our nearest and only help. I’ll try and find work when we arrive and earn us some coin and we can find a plot of our own or some rented lodgings so we have somewhere to retreat to should she prove too much.”

“I just worry what she’ll say when she sees Gwynn… as if she needed any more of a reason to claim us as unfit parents…”

My father wrapped his arm over my mother’s shoulders and comforted her. Sounds like Aunt Trudy might be a bit of a handful. “It’ll be okay, at least we prepped her somewhat in the letter we sent ahead so hopefully she won’t make too big a fuss when she initially sees us.”

A few more days went by and I was finally able to move my limbs without nearly passing out from the pain. Not only had I been training my mana channels but I also used it to better control my blood and energy flow to help speed up my recovery and heal my wounds. I was at least able to sit myself up and stroke Jack. I can’t believe he found me. Not only that but it seems that consuming a human consciousness greatly increased his intelligence. Through the faint traces of our old bond and hand gestures he picked up lots of tricks and training extremely quickly even being able to collect specific items should I need or relaying messages via small yips and tail wagging to my parents to let them know up top should I need changing or was peckish. For the first time in millennia, I was genuinely happy. I went foraging with my mother and father whenever we would stop, one time my father even attempted to show me how to catch a fish in a small stream by hand. The fish immediately jumped out of his hand and slapped him in the face. I laughed so hard I fell over, even Jack found it amusing. My mother seemed to grow more relaxed as the days went on too, even taking up knitting when she wasn’t taking her turn holding the reigns of Mildred. Each night the three of us would snuggle together under a blanket and sleep. Gwynn… Thank you.