The next morning, Oriel knelt behind Tassian in front of the tent. She moved his shoulder around and inspected it for any other puncture wounds or injuries that they hadn't seen beforehand. His shoulder had completely healed. She moved to sit in front of him and gently grabbed his wrapped-up hand. She unwrapped it and observed it. The puncture wounds were now pink. There were no scabs and his fingers had healed. 

"How does it look, Doctor?" he teased her. 

She looked up and him and chuckled. "A lot better, Tassian." She started to stand up but Tassian wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Oriel tried to stop the images of the panthers plunging their fangs into his skin. 

Tassian grabbed her chin and made her look at him. "You couldn't have stopped that, Eagle." He held up his hand with the ring on it. "They're after this." He reached out and put his hand over her necklace. "They'll be after yours."

Oriel shook her head quickly. "They're just after yours, Tassian."

Tassian gave her a weird look. "What do you mean?"

Oriel took a deep breath and held onto his hand, moving the ring around his finger. "They are after your ring, Tassian. They know that once this ring is off of you, you would be easier to kill." She looked up at him. "Dyso has one as well. His obsession has gone too far. They know that if they can get this ring off of you and kill you, it would be easier to get me."

Tassian shook his head. "This ring isn't coming off of my finger."

"That's why Xara was there, Tassian. Her panthers can pull you down and mangle up your hand enough to get the ring off of your finger." She leaned forward and placed her head in the crook of his neck. 

Tassian's arms wrapped around her waist tighter. "Eagle, they're not going to win."

"Xara's panthers almost did." Oriel was trying hard to be strong and not let her voice crack. She was feeling weak. Her mind was already breaking. She used to feel strong. Even without being by Tassian's side, she still felt strong and confident. Now, everything was different. 

Oriel felt Tassian shake his head. "You're wrong, Eagle." He maneuvered her so she was sitting up and looking at him. "You protected me, Eagle. I know that no one can hurt me when I'm with you. Just like how when I'm with you, no one can hurt you." He placed a small peck on her lips. "We're a team, Eagle. No one is going to separate us. Ever."

"They'd have to kill us both," Oriel added.

Tassian gave her a grim smile. "Yes, Eagle." He placed his forehead against hers for a couple of seconds before pulling away. Looking past her and sighed. "We should get going. With Xara's panthers on our trail, we need to get a good distance between them."

Oriel nodded in agreement and got off of his lap. She reached out a hand to him and pulled him up. Turning around, she saw Borus and Draya sitting near the edge of the camp waiting on them. She was thankful for them. They were her family. The family that she had been taken away from all those years ago. Oriel never thought that she would ever find them or know what had happened to them, but now she knows. They're sitting not too far in front of her. Now that she had found them, she wasn't going to let them go. 

Tassian finished packing up the tent and grabbed her hand, leading her over to Borus and Draya. Borus stood up quickly before helping Draya up. 

"How're your wounds healing, Tassian?" Draya asked him. 

Tassian moved his shoulder around and showed them his hand. "A lot better." He smiled over at Oriel. "We need to get moving."

Oriel moved around them and knelt on the ground. She outstretched her hands on the ground and asked the earth for permission to manipulate it once more. She felt the earth giving her permission and pulling the barrier together until there was no evidence that it was even there. Oriel stood back up and turned around. "Shall we?" She turned back around and started to walk in the direction of the sea. 

Draya took her position next to Oriel while Borus and Tassian walked behind them. Oriel took out her swords just in case and she heard Tassian do the same. Oriel noticed Draya side eye her and her swords but didn't comment. 

"So," Borus started slowly. "Did you two have fun last night?"

"Borus!" Draya yelled at him in surprise. 

"What?" Borus feigned fake innocence. 

Oriel turned around, surprised he would ask that. Take a quick peek over at Tassian, she noticed that he was holding back a chuckle. She rolled her eyes as she turned back around. Men, she thought to herself. 

"Borus," there was an annoyed tone to Draya's voice. "You do realize that Oriel is your sister, right?"

"Yes, I do." Borus sighed. "I was just trying to fill in the silence."

"Sometimes it's okay to be quiet," Oriel spoke up. Tassian chuckled behind her. 

Silence filled the air before Borus spoke up again. "Technically, there was nothing wrong with my question."

Draya rolled her eyes. "How do you think that?"

"Because they could have just been sleeping," Borus explained. "My question is technically innocent. But you, Mom, took it to another level." He paused. "You're the one who made it an inappropriate question."

Draya rolled her eyes and shook her head. She placed her hands on each side of her head. "You're a handful, Borus. I did not make it inappropriate."

"Yes, you did!" 

"I would say that we did have fun last night," Tassian spoke up quickly. 

Oriel spun around and gaped at him. He held back a laugh and shrugged his shoulders at her. "We did! I'm not going to lie! Don't you think we had fun?"

"Well, y-yes, but" Oriel stuttered. She was surprised that Tassian would admit that out loud with other people - more like her family - around. She rolled her eyes as she turned around quickly. She felt her cheeks start to heat up. 

Tassian continued to chuckle behind her. "That's all that you're going to hear, Borus," Tassian told him. Oriel heard a slight edge to his voice, most likely warning Borus to not push. 

Borus laughed. "I'm just glad someone is getting something right now."

"Damn it, Borus!" Draya yelled at him. "Shut up! Right now!" Oriel looked over and saw a threatening look in her eyes. Borus instantly shut up and looked everywhere except at his mother. 

Tassian stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear. "I've seen that look in your eyes before. She's your mother."

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Author note: Hi everyone! Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! This is mostly a filler chapter, but more action will come soon!