It was curious really. Sylvanus found himself watching the two Carendlians. They were acting funny. It was not unusual for them to be close together, but… it was different than their usual. Some of the actions were usual between them, but it was the expressions on their faces.
The young sorceress had a soft flush on her cheeks, and the prince's eyes looked softer than usual. Sylv did not understand it. Of course he had seen people act like that to each other before, yet why they would do so remained a mystery to him.
It was probably one of those things he was too young to understand.
More importantly it seemed Nils was done cooking breakfast. He hopped over and helped her spoon the porridge into bowls. He brought two bowls over to their companions and went back for his. Happily he dug into the food.
Nils was staring at him, so he tilted his head studying her back. She muttered under her breath, "Green huh?"
Ah. She had been studying his eyes. Of course, he nodded to himself. It was fun figuring out what people were thinking. He hummed to himself. Focusing back on the food, he ate it hungrily.
Nils chuckled. "There's more if you want it, Sylv."
He paused, somewhat unused to hearing his own name. He was glad he had told her it. Of course he was. Just it took him a bit off guard to hear it. Still, he smiled. "Aye! I am rather hungry!"
"I figured." She smiled softly, a look of satisfaction on her face that again Sylv did not understand. And because he did not understand it he felt curious about it. He did want to understand his friends. His companions. Especially his future queen.
Obviously to do so, he needed to keep an eye on her. Yep. That was the obvious thing here to do. He needed to know and he could probably figure it out if he just watched her. So he fixed his eyes more or less on her, making sure to do it subtly enough that she would not notice.
She did not, and Sylv watched his friend for the rest of the morning before they set out again. But he still had no answer to why she had been so satisfied. It was frustrating not to know. But it would be okay. Some day he would.
Some things you just couldn't learn in a day.
When they set out, he turned his attention to finding them the best calculated route he could. He listened to the whispers all around him too, so that he might know what was out there that could be dangerous. Of course, he could take most things – even now. But why put his friends' lives at risk?
As the day passed, he noticed that he felt a bit off. He was ravenous. More so than usual. And he could feel his own temperature fluctuating – more worrying because of the frequency than anything else. He didn't really have a set temperature that felt comfortable to him – no matter how cold or hot he got he always felt fine. But this… was somewhat uncomfortable.
What really worried him was the fact that it felt like his feel of the life around him was going in and out. Yet he clamped his mouth shut and did not really say anything to the others. For it couldn't be anything really. Perhaps they had gone through some natural fluctuation that had messed with his senses.
He did hope it would go away sooner rather than later though. Especially because this was not the time to feel like curling into a ball after eating. So why did he feel like doing so? There was no accounting for it, so therefore it could not be anything important.
As evening fell though he was relieved as they stopped to set up camp. By now, he really felt quite off. He ate more than usual, before retiring to sit with his back to a stone. Everything seemed silent, and his ears felt like they were stuffed with cobwebs.
"Sylv? Are you okay?" Nils leaned over him, looking concerned.
He smiled at her. "I do… feel a little off. But I am sure it is nothing."
She felt his head. "You are burning up."
"Not exactly unusual. I don't fully have control over my own temperatures yet."
"And now, you're freezing." She didn't remove her hand. "Like literally. Your skin feels like ice. I think you might be sick."
"I don't get sick." Sylv had never been sick in his life. He frowned. And neither had his father. He was pretty sure any illness was killed by their internal magic pretty quickly.
She sighed. "I won't pretend to know. You are a dragon after all. I know that dragons are built different. Are you sure you are okay?"
"I might be having some sort of mana fluctuation. But it should be better by morning." He patted his lap, inviting her to lay her head on him as she normally did. She did so. And he gazed down at her, again his curiosity eating at him.
After she fell asleep, he looked up into the sky. Were the stars supposed to dance like that? He tried to reach up to rub his eyes, but could not get his arm to move. Instead, he slid to the side and his head fell on the dirt. There was something comforting in the earthy smell…
Blackness encroached his vision.