Ryker listened to Eke snoring, and sighed.

"Yep, you've over-exerted yourself." he said.

He then lifted Eke up in his arms, and started to carry him to where he heard the water getting louder, until he saw light at the end of the cavern that they were walking through.

"Finally." he muttered, as they emerged from the cavern, and he looked around.

"...looks like we escaped." he said, setting Eke down on a soft patch of grass and putting his coat under his head for him to use as a pillow.

Ryker, not being tired, himself, merely rested his arm by Eke, allowing him to grab onto it whenever he wanted to. He sat there for the 4 hours that Eke was asleep before looking at him once more, and then towards the sky.

"......hm." he muttered to himself.

"At least the rain stopped, and it looks like the clouds are dissipating..." he said further.

"Odd that that storm came outta nowhere." then mumbled, pausing for a moment.

"...the work of another dragon?" he asked under his breath.

"Here." Ryker said, taking some candy out of his pocket and handing it to Eke.

"Have some sweets." he told him.

"Just relax and take in the nature around us." he then said further.

"It's nice and calm here. It's serene and quiet." he continued.

"So just take some time to appreciate the fresh air, hey?"

Ryker raised an eyebrow, before looking to the sky.

"Eh?" he asked.

"Storm?" he asked further.

"But the sky's..." he started to say, before sighing.

"....all right." he said.

"We need to find shelter." he commented, looking around.

"And that's either back in the cavern, or we start walking and hope we find shelter."

Ryker was silent for a moment when Eke said that.

"Eke." he said.

"If I disappear for a little while, can I trust you to wait for me?" he asked.

"And I mean a little while." he stressed. "A half-hour at most." he told him.

"There's something I need to run to town to get." he said.

'Please. It's extremely important."

Ryker just smirked.

"You won't." he said.

"Seriously. I can handle a few humans." he told him.

"I've taken down bears. People? Hah." he laughed.

"But seriously, I was meaning to pick up something while we were in town, and I'll be damned if I not get it.' he then went on.

"It is absolutely necessary."

"Right, cool." Ryker said.

"Back soon. I promise." he told Eke.

With that, he took a few deep breaths, sighed to himself, and bolted off in the direction of the town.

About 20 minutes after he left, Eke noticed that the storm was rolling in, and that rain was starting to fall from the sky. After about 5 minutes, the rain was getting heavier, and he saw Ryker rushing back towards him... and he seemed to be holding something.

As he got closer, Eke saw it was a bit of a flimsy cardboard box, and he was shielding it completely from the falling rain.

Ryker approached Eke, and knelt down some.

"This." he said, opening the box.

Eke saw a gorgeous cake inside. It looked like it was made of exquisite chocolate, and had vanilla frosting weaved throughout it. The top was also frosted with the same icing, and dotted with strawberries that seemed to glisten with how fresh they looked.

"This might be a birthday spent outside in the rain, recovering from surgery in sub-optimal conditions..." he said further, pausing for a brief moment.

"But you at least deserve a cake for it."

"Yeah!" Ryker responded.

"Birthdays should always have something like a cake." he told him.

"So getting run out of town be damned." he went on. 'I'd planned to get you a cake, so I went and got you a cake." he said further.

"Oh yeah." he then muttered, taking the knife from the sheath on his leg, and cutting Eke a slice.

"Here." he said, taking the slice out.

"Go ahead and have a slice."

Ryker just smiled in return when Eke beamed as he did, and said what he said.

"Heh." he chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad." he said.

"And the best news is that they'll never find us." he told him.

"They think I ran in the opposite direction." he snickered.

"So we don't need to worry about being chased off from here."