Dakota looked up from his fish before replying. An expression of gratefulness written across his face. "Thank you for that. No one really sees that, I suppose that not many are left, not saying that we are particularly great but we have always been different. You have a right to know that we are orphans, we grew up on the streets and we cared only for our friends, our adoptive family if you will. Most knights never had that, I guess that is why we are not as much of rule followers. We weren't raised for this life, the exact opposite really, yet here we are." Dakota had never told a soul that Ekon's life had been much harder than either of them would ever admit. It still was hard.

And he felt Avisa and Neima's death every single day.

Dava patted Dakota with her paw, "Thank you for trusting me with part of your story. There is no need for you to share more if you do not want to, but my ears are always open, should there be something you wanted to say." Dava breathed out in a huff, watching Anasuri fix up Ekon's wounds, "You know that Anasuri's last guard tried to kill her, which is why she didn't want to trust Ekon. I will admit I have my doubts as well. But I know you are not that kind of bear to be devious and do things like that. So, this may be awful of me, but Anasuri is my companion and I could not stand to be without her - If you find Ekon has any plans, please tell me. I promise he will not be hurt with all he has done for her... I would just not want him to remain the guard." His true kindness had been proven today, although Dava still felt an aura of mystery and some deeper secret from the Elf. Before, if anything had been revealed, she would have not hesitated to tell Anasuri and get him in the dungeon. But now... now after hearing about Ekon's troublesome history, and how he could have died right here... Dava didn't want this young man to die or be locked away. He was a good person, "I totally ruined any chance of friendship right there, huh? You telling me a secret and me doubting Ekon, even after all he has done," the panda slouched down, "I am sorry.. please understand where I am coming from, and how I do not want you, Ekon, or Anasuri to be hurt."

Dakota did his windy, bear laugh. He did not plan on telling Dava the rest of his story, because a good majority of it was Ekon's to tell. Perhaps one day Dakota would sit Dava down and explain to her exaclty why Ekon had that tattoo on his arm, or why they had started knight training so late in life. Until then, she would have to remain in the unknown.

"No, it is fine, I would be the same way if I were you. I will not be telling you anything else about our past, as it is not really my story to tell. As for Ekon being a threat... I cannot say much on that, as I was in my necklace while he was getting his assignment. What I can say is that the system we knights are in is very corrupt. I cannot name names, as that would endanger everyone, but many people blackmail knights to get them to do things. I do not know what words were exchanged when Ekon was assigned your Anasuri. But I will do my best to be sure that he doesn't try anything stupid, if he was threatened that is. Trust me, we are not easily swayed." He added internally that there was something that they both wanted, Neima and Avisa, but there was no way that they'd ever come back. So they had nothing to sway them.
Not anymore.

ts?

Hmm, to when? Ekon waking up again or maybe being healed a bit and he can walk? Or should we just skip over the whole healing process?

i think we can go over healing process maybe? unless you wanted to do something, but i don't have any ideas.)

Not really lol. Should I start or do you want to?

i can))

-

Anasuri was glad that Ekon had healed up well. He would make a full recovery, thankfully. He seemed okay to walk around a lot now - they just wouldn't take any long trips - and it would be good for the castle to see that he was fine, and he definitely did not get hurt and almost die.

He seemed almost completely better now, and had moved back into his room. She knocked on the door and called through the wood, "It might be good to go for a walk. We can stop by the kitchens - they made my favorite dessert for dinner today, and I want to grab some while it is fresh."

-

sorry this is so scattered - i am not sure what level of healed you want him to be at.)))

Ekon was doing pretty good, moving too fast caused him sharp spikes of pain in his ribcage, but other than that, he was pretty much back to normal. Dakota was out a lot more than normal, he was there just in case Ekon fell or somehow got caught back up in a fight. The bear had been keeping a close eye on Ekon, though he wouldn't quite explain why.

The knock stopped Ekon from painting, which is what he'd been doing for the past three days. The painting was a larger one, though for anyone else it had no meaning, for him it was the world.

It was simply an alley, but it was lit up by a small fire, a group of five or six kids with varying colors on their skin. A kid, seeming to be the oldest with light orange skin, played the banjo while the others danced happily around the fire. One person stood out against the rest though, her bluish-grey skin practically glowed, actually, it did. In real life and in the painting.

Ekon didn't know why he was painting the old life he'd never get back, but sometimes it helped the nightmares go away, for both him and Dakota.

The tall elf sighed and put away his brushes, he realized that his hands were splattered with paint, something that was definitely not very knightly. Unfortunately, he had no time to clean them off, so the bright colors would remain there, even if he got glaring looks from the other knights.

Despite his obvious bad luck, his clothes had remained paint free, and it wasn't like he had the energy to change out of his clothes anyways. "I will be out in a second Princess." His voice was rather soft, different than his normal, uniformed tones. Ekon quickly threw on his bracelets and slipped on some shoes and finally opened the door. Dakota stood a little ways behind him, the painting was in clear view of the door but it wasn't like Ekon wasn't allowed to paint.

It was the one enjoyable thing he could do without getting yelled at by his superiors. As all knights were allowed one thing to do only for themselves. "Sorry it took me a moment ma'am, I was not quite prepared." He looked down at his paint covered hands in an expression of mild nervousness. Ekon supposed that Anasuri probably didn't care about some paint, but he didn't want to make her look bad. Knights reflected their charges after all.

Anasuri grinned wrly, and guestured towards her own face, arms, and hair, having guessed Ekon's worries. Her arms were splattered with dark mixtures, and slightly burned in places, and her face was sooty, but like she had been trying to wash it off, and her hair was a frizzy mess, "I mostly want to get away from my station. There was kind of a small explosion and I annoyed that it didn't work. The dessert in the kitchen will be my excuse."

Dava's normally white fur also had a gray tint to it, and her pleasant expression was replaced with a scowl, "Little is putting it lightly. The whole room filled up with soot and smoke!" Anasuri ruffled the bears head, "You are correct, Dava, but it has been worse."

There had been the time her brew had blown away a chunk of the wall and destabilized the ceiling. That had not been fun to repair.