The day was awkward as the wolves started to get ready to leave and Zahra gave Nicole her space. The girl was still recovering from her sickness and the extent of her moving was getting up to get some of the water Erlina stored at the entrance of the cave. She didn't feel like talking to Zahra just yet although she knew her rage was uncalled for and directed at the wrong person. If anyone, Zahra had it the worst and the lady still decided to help her.

By the end of the day, the wolves were ready and after brief goodbyes headed out to make some miles before the Sunset. That was the first time after their talk in the morning that Zahra entered the cave. She brought plants with her and Nicole actually recognized some of them from salads that she ate back at the castle. She didn't speak, not ready to let her anger go just yet.

"You need to learn how to survive" Zahra stated. To Nicole's surprise, she didn't sound angry at all.

She nodded and Zahra went closer with the bundle of greens she was carrying. For the next half hour, she told Nicole all the plant's names, and how to recognize them and made her taste them to see the difference of tastes. Quite a few of them had very similar tastes as Nicole tried them and some of them had unpleasant or even straight-up bad tastes. Zahra put away one of each to dry out so that they could keep it with them until Nicole was certain about them. The rest went into a salad.

To Nicole's relief, there was no meat on the menu. She has started to despise the taste of it, specifically rabbit, after having to live off of it non-stop for more than three weeks. They ate in silence as Zahra made sure the fire kept burning and that Nicole's blanket was still clean enough to be used. After dinner, they both lay down in the cave to sleep.

"I'm sorry" Nicole finally said as they settled in for the night. "I shouldn't have lashed out at you." Her pride was already beaten down by Zahra showing her a handful of edible plants so an apology wasn't going to make it too much worse.

"Tank you," Zahra said. "And I understand. But you need to learn how to let go of grief if you ever want to truly heal. Physical health isn't going to help you achieve what you want."

Nicole didn't answer. She had no idea what Zahra was talking about. Physical health was the only thing she needed to beat the dragons. That and her shapeshifting ability. The only thing she didn't have anymore. She turned away from the fire and pushed her tears down as exhaustion once more took hold of her. She fell into a dark, dreamless sleep that night.

The next day she woke up even more awake. Her symptoms had completely subsided and she could even take a small walk as Zahra prepared some kind of fried greens. She wasn't happier but she tried to enjoy the morning and smile more than she did the day before. The small walk however reminded her that she couldn't smell or hear more than a normal human anymore so she returned to the cave fairly quickly.

During breakfast, they talked about how much time it would be to get to Zahra's home. Nicole couldn't manage a journey that long yet so they stayed put for the time being. Well, they stayed in the general area of the cave anyway. For the next few days, as Nicole built up strength Zahra kept teaching her. Nicole was given different parts of plants for inspection before she'd get it's name and whether or not it was edible. Zahra also pointed out different uses for the plants as she tried to teach Nicole.

She showed Nicole how to build a fire and how to put it out efficiently. She also tried to fit in some lessons about animal tracks. To the great annoyance of Nicole, a few days weren't enough for her to pick everything up. Her fires kept going ninety percent of the time by the third day and she could identify about a dozen plants that they ate every day but the other things seemed to roll off of her. At night she either had nightmares or she saw the same dream about the creature calling out for help. Every single time she got stopped by Zahra. When she asked her one day why she only got the same answer as the seer said in her dream. She wasn't ready yet.

About a week after they met, they headed out toward Zahra's cottage. It was a full day's trip and they left the cave at daybreak. Nicole felt tired although nothing compared to the days when she was slipping into sickness. Zahra took the lead and they walked in silence until the sun was well above the horizon. At that point, Zahra gave a handful of seeds to Nicole as breakfast and she ate them too. After that, she kept picking up plants that they had been studying together asking her to try and identify them. Nicole was right only fifty percent of the time but Zahra said she was still proud of her.

They stopped for a short break around noon and Nicole built a fire successfully. They roasted some meat that Zahra caught in the morning and after they ate some, they put the rest away as an afternoon snack. They still had a lot of ground to cover and Nicole was starting to feel the strain of the journey.

They kept chatting about small things like Zahra's old home and the forest as the Sun started to get close to the horizon once again. Nicole felt exhausted, not having walked that much for two and a half weeks but she kept pushing, not exactly wanting to sleep in the forest if she didn't have to. As she thought of that she chuckled to herself thinking about the irony of it all. The one place she wanted to be now felt like a curse.

It was well after sunset that they arrived and Nicole only had the energy to eat before Zahra showed her where she could sleep. She dropped her backpack on the floor and flopped down on the construct that after her adventure looked and felt like the best-crafted mattress in all the kingdoms. She didn't even take her shoes down or pull a blanket onto herself before she was asleep. Zahra did both for her and she went to the other room to get into her own bed. Nicole still had a long way to go but Zahra had faith that in the end, the girl would choose the right path.