Ryker fell to his hands and knees... but still held onto Eke's hand.

".....please...." he said quietly.

"Please... not... not right now." he said further.

"You... you can kill a bear or something later, I promise." he went on, almost seeming to bargain with... something... now.

"......" he was then silent, before he rose up to his feet... and then collapsed on his ass, leaning against a nearby tree.

"...................................I'm fine." he told Eke, his voice sounding more like... himself.

Ryker silently accepted the candy and popped it in his mouth.

"Mm." he mumbled.

"I can't promise I won't submit to my curse if we're attacked." he then told Eke.

"If direct danger comes for either of us, that curse will come back and take over." he said.

"I know it will." he warned him.

Ryker just looked at Eke, before wrapping his arm around him, and holding him close.

"Hey." he said.

"Listen... it's clear this had made you exhausted." he told him.

"Do you want to set up here?" he asked.

"At the very least, we'll use the tent and you can be warm?"

"It's not about the distance we put behind us." Ryker said.

"It's about what's in front of us, and what we do around us." he told him.

"So, seriously, let's set up the tent and the sleeping rolls, and rest." he suggested.

"It'll be fine." he assured him.

"You can get some sleep, and I'll try and do so as well."

Ryker just sighed as he heard Eke sobbing, but he concerned himself with getting everything ready. It only took about 5 minutes or so, and he poked his head out from inside the rather spacious tent.

"Yoo-hoo." he called to Eke.

"Everything's set up." he said.

"Amazingly warm in here, too." he told him.

"So come on in." he finished, before disappearing back inside.

As soon as he went into the tent, Eke noticed it really WAS pretty warm inside it. He also noticed the bedrolls on the ground, as well as the sleeping bags, made for a comfortable sleeping surface.

"All right, get comfy." Ryker told him, laying back.

"Sleep if you need to." he said.

"Not like we have a real destination in mind." he chuckled.

"So, buck up a bit. I'm depressed enough for the two of us." he then added with a smirk.

"Eh?" Ryker muttered.

"A burden?" he asked. "You still on about that?" he asked further.

"How can you be tired of being something you're not?" he asked him.

"Look, obviously you feel the way you feel." he then said.

"All I can do is try and convince you of the truth. You're not a burden."

Ryker smirked as Eke stated that laying closer to Ryker was better.

"I'm not." he said.

"Seriously. I'm not." he assured him.

"I've been travelling alone for a lot of my life." he told him. "Anyone willing to stick with me is the furthest thing from a burden." he said further.

"And it's not like I have some end goal destination, so you needing to rest a lot is... well... nothing for me. It's not keeping me for anywhere I need to be." he shrugged.

"I know." Ryker replied.

"I'll get you used to it." he told him.

He then held onto Eke with the hand that the younger male had grasped, and sighed quietly.

'I'll try, anyway.' he then thought.

With that, he stared at the ceiling, and closed his own eyes, wondering about his future... how much of it there might be.

Ryker didn't sleep. He just continued to lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.

As he laid back, he wondered if they would ever encounter his mother.

Was this elder dragon actually looking for Eke?

Would they encounter more dragons in the future?

What was going on with his curse? Why did it feel differently, all of a sudden? It seemed like whenever Eke revealed more information about his mother, the presence inside the shard seemed to grow... angrier?