The fog cleared with the elf's departure. Melusine lay still, the heat of the sun beating down on her scales and warming her. Wolf trotted over and nibbled on her hair ends.

Baugulf crawled over to her spot on the road, and collapsed nearby. They lay there for several moments, both panting for breath. He from his exertion, cuts, bruises, and an arrow in the leg. She from adrenaline and lingering confusion.

Melusine turned her head to study Baugulf's scraped up and bruise spotted face. They lay with their heads only a few centimeters apart, so she had to shift away from him to examine his injuries.

"That elf got you?" She asked.

"You saw him too? Gods help us. Are you alright?"

"I'm not feeling any pain," Mel observed. She lifted the ring, still tied to the string of her collar, above her head, watching the sunlight refract along the jeweled cut edges. "He didn't seem to want to hurt me."

"I wish I could say the same." A hiss of pain sizzled between clenched teeth as Baugulf twisted the arrow out of his flesh. "Get my bag, would you?"

"Mmn." Mel dropped her ring for now and rolled onto her feet. It was soothing to hear her own footsteps again. Marie and Wolf were still tethered together by the cord of rope Baugulf had tossed Melusine earlier, so it didn't take much maneuvering to secure the magic holding bag. Melusine gave Wolf a quick pat on the neck before hurrying back over to Baugulf. "Do you need help?"

Once he'd been handed the item he requested, the knight pulled out some first aid supplies.

"It's just a flesh wound, I think. Do you know how to stitch up injuries like this?"

"My mother taught me how to suture cuts," Mel answered as she knelt down next to Baugulf.

"Your mother is a more formidable woman than I first gave her credit for." Baugulf chuckled as he pressed a cloth to the wound. "She slaughtered pigs, taught you first aid... not just how to sew clothes."

Melusine fell silent while she untied her malachite ring from its knot. He was right, of course. Melusine couldn't deny that her mother was as wise as she was nurturing. It was only after parting that Melusine realized the truth of things. Her father had always been her hero, but her mother was her rock.

"Commoners have to be resourceful in order to live. She taught me a lot more than how to sew and suture. My father was brave and smart when it counted, but my mother's steady and wise. If I had to pick one lesson she taught me that's most important, it would be how to remain steadfast in the face of suffering." Mel put her ring back on as she spoke, barely able to finish her last sentence before the pain got to be too much.

Changing forms was as slow and agonizing of a process as it always was. After Mel recovered from the ordeal of transforming, she scooted closer to Baugulf. Picking up the needle and medical thread, Melusine readied herself for the gruesome task ahead.

"You keep an awful lot of things in that bag of yours," she remarked, wanting to distract both herself and Baugulf. Arrow wounds were nasty, even when the weapon was properly removed. Mel glanced at the arrowhead beside her to check that nothing had been broken or dislodged. It was impossible to be sure without a twin arrow, but the design was simple and the arrowhead looked whole to the naked eye. Thus, she doused the wound in alcohol and began to sew the laceration shut.

"It can hold an awful lot of things," Baugulf replied through another hiss of pain. "Your notebook, for one."

"I'm keeping it in my own—very mundane—pouch, thank you." Melusine patted her small travel bag that was attached to the belt on her hip. 

"Suit yourself." Baugulf laid his head down in the dirt, staring up at the clear blue sky.

"Did you know that elf?"

"No, I'd never seen him before. But I believe I know who he was. There's only one elf the kingdom officials know of that would be this far away from Fae Forest. He's already attacked several important members of court from all around the kingdom."

"Do you know his name?"

"I do, but it's classified information."

"If I'm going to be fighting for the king, aren't I going to learn this classified information eventually? Better to tell me where there are no walls with ears." Baugulf groaned and ran a hand down his face.

"His name is Arn... he claims to be a descendant of elven royalty, and calls himself the Forgotten Prince," the knight admitted after some long minutes of further consideration.

"Arn," Melusine repeated the name on her tongue, feeling its weight and trying to ignore how she enjoyed it. "A prince, eh? He seemed more like a scoundrel to me." She knotted the suture thread and snipped the needle loose with a pair of tiny scissors.

"Good eye." Baugulf chuckled and winced. "He certainly fought like one." Melusine hummed and got to her feet. She held out her hand to her knight escort, the other resting on her thigh.

"If you're all patched up, let's get back in the saddle."

"Literally, or figuratively?" Melusine's hand was firmly grasped, and the snickering knight was assisted up.

"Both, you idiot. Now come on. You're the one always going on about time."

"Well, we are on a schedule." Baugulf let go of Melusine's hand, and she tried to ignore the warmth left behind on her skin. He went over to his grazing horse and untied the cord from her saddle, then Wolf's.

"Not much of a schedule," Mel scoffed.

"Only because I have a hard time saying no to you." The tip of Mel's nose was poked and it wrinkled in reaction. Melusine sputtered and turned away from Baugulf, climbing onto Wolf's saddle.

"Let's just leave already. Before he comes back for your other leg."

Ardes was a vast, sprawling city with comparatively low walls when put up against Belozer. Right on the cusp of the large lake known as the Serpents Body, half of the city was entirely without walls. Instead, docks and river boats formed a peaceful defense. The city horizon was like a hill, the highest point being the steepled temple in the center, dedicated to the god of merchants, travelers, and trade, Ardel.

The city streets were made of smoothed dirt, and were all well maintained. With the amount of silver flowing in the merchant citizens' coffers, it was only expected that what benefited their caravans would take priority. From a comfortable ride to their soirees and shops, to dirty business done behind closed doors and between the sheets. Not five minutes after entering the city, Melusine noticed a few inconspicuous inns with an inordinate amount of skin showing staff. Baugulf had even tried covering her eyes when she spotted the first shop like it.

"It's not as if sex is a reality that can be avoided," Melusine grumbled as she smacked Baugulf's hand away. She hurried to walk ahead of him and out of arm's reach. "My village didn't have a whole shop full of them, but there were people desperate enough for food and shelter to enter into such business."

"Surely there were less demeaning and dangerous methods to earn coin," Baugulf insisted. He hurried to catch up with Mel, unwilling to lose track of her in the crowded street.

Colors were splashed across each streetside. Passing public carriages all had bright green wheels to identify them.  Blue, yellow, red, and white tarps hung over stalls and painted shop doors. Houses and businesses were plastered with muted shades of the rainbow. One storefront was even made to look like it was made of gold. Melusine gave that one a wide berth, and began to wonder if all rich folk were eccentrics.

"Business wasn't exactly booming, Baugulf. There aren't a lot of local jobs available to people on hard times."

At most, Hathorn would receive the occasional visitor seeking a less conspicuous way into the Kavashian Empire. Rarely would the opposite be true, where a Kavash citizen chose to leave by smuggler's boat. The Serpents Tail began its journey southwest in the same mountain ranges that crossed over the national borders from surrounding Hathorn and into the Empire.

As such, her home village had to have a self reliant economy. However, it was weak from a small population of fifty and few fruitful positions to fulfill. There was a tailor, a baker, a candlemaker, a tavern that doubled as an inn, and a few farming families like Melusine's that ranched for animal products or farmed produce. Most families had to look elsewhere for work, and many of the children Melusine's age had long since been sent to cities to work as servants.

"If things are that bad, I'm surprised that the place isn't a ghost town."

"Most people are resistant to the idea of leaving their heritage behind," Melusine murmured, her eyes scanning the street vendors for something warm and baked. "I'm hungry. Let's get some stall food." She tugged on Baugulf's sleeve and stared up at him with a claw pointed to a man selling fried dough. The knight took one look at her and sighed with a fond smile as he pulled out his coin purse.

"Alright, but only one for each of us. We don't want to ruin your appetite, Miss Melusine."

"I'm not a child, it'll be fine." As soon as the coins were dropped into her palm, she scampered off to the vendor. Baugulf followed close behind, but let her take the lead.

"Now those are the famous words of a child if I've ever heard them."

"Shush. Two, please." With payment offered, the teenager received her prize. The sweet, almost floral scent of melting powdered sugar on hot oil filled Melusine's heart with warmth and excitement. "I've never had such a thing before. The only bread I've been able to eat was stale or worse, moldy. I almost don't want to eat it, just so I can savor the smell."

"Why in heavens name were you denied simple bread?" Baugulf asked with concern, nibbling on his own sugar dusted delicacy.

"Sins of the father, I suppose..." Melusine glanced at her knight escort, then tried to mimic how he ate. The sugar went right up her nose when she inhaled. Driven to turn away and cough, Mel's eyes squeezed shut against the unpleasant feeling of dusted confection caught in her nostrils.

Baugulf's normally quiet laugh burst out of him in a loud bark, his head thrown back. He snickered and let Melusine swat at his shoulder. She was careful to not use her full strength, and did so with a pawed hand to avoid scraping him up further. 

After he calmed down and had taken a few bites out of his fried dough, Baugulf invited Melusine to take a seat on a stone bench in front of a public courtyard.

"We've talked briefly about this before, but if you don't mind me asking for more details... what was your father accused of?"

"I do mind, actually." Melusine shut her eyes to hide the melancholy sting she felt from the memories. "He maintained his innocence, and that's all that matters."

"Criminals often do stubbornly insist that they were innocent." When Melusine heard that familiar point, her muscles went taut and a scowl wrinkled her chin. "I'm not saying that it's impossible to be accused of a crime you truly didn't commit, but it's also possible that he didn't want to take responsibility–"

"I told you, the man couldn't even slaughter his own pigs. How could he have committed murder?" Melusine snapped, trying and failing to keep her voice down. "No matter how drunk he was, there's no possible way my father could have taken a life!"

"Alright," Baugulf soothed, holding his hand out and slowly touching her shoulder. "Alright, I believe you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." He watched as Melusine tried to control her suddenly labored breathing. Unable to simply observe, he began to rub small circles against her back. "You don't have to tell me any more... but just know that I'm always here for you, should you want to get this off your chest."

A heavy, exhausted sigh left Melusine's parted lips. She leaned over and rested her head on Baugulf's shoulder. He stroked her hair down, successfully soothing the teenage girl.

The crime of murder might've been what got Melusine's father killed, but it wasn't the only crime he'd been accused of. He'd been ruined for years before that one fateful rainy night.