Ella nodded in response to Sage's explanation, taking the bottle of water though not looking him in the eye once. It felt too..awkward. Plus, she still was as unhappy about being stuck with him as she was yesterday. Once Sage had gone into the tent Ella sat herself down against the same tree as last night, crossing her legs and picking at the apple she had swiped out the bag a little bit before. Having to just sit there and keep guard in what seemed like a fairly safe area for hours just gave her time to think. About everything from her father and the win they secured some time ago, and then to Sage, and then to the siutation they were in right now. If this was a story, the reader would most definitely be shocked. After about a hour or so Ella started to get frustrated, angry about the fact her thoughts were moving too slow for her to make any sense of them. She looked down at the apple she was holding, only eating about half before tossing the other half into the river and watching as it hit the bottom, churning up stones which added to the small splash.

Sage had passed out pretty quickly once he let himself relax enough to fall asleep. It really didn't take much, as he'd been on the verge of passing out for the past couple of hours. He needed food, and water....and he needed them soon, he knew that. He'd had a small drink earlier, but he would need more. He just didn't want to waste anything by eating or drinking and then just ...throwing it all back up. It didn't make sense and it really didn't help their situation. He'd have to take it slow, and hope he didn't die in the meantime.

He woke a couple of hours later, knowing it would start getting dark soon and they'd have to keep moving. He hauled himself up and dragged himself over to the bags, where he sipped at water groggily for a bit before becoming to chance at a handful of nuts and berries. They seemed to settle well enough, so he left it at that, not wanting to tempt fate or whatever. After that though, he moved to clean up the camp area....making sure it looked like they hadn't been there. It was all absentmindedly....he was admittedly still half asleep, and hed done it countless times before.

Ella had been incrdibly zoned out the whole time Sage had been sleeping, watching the water in the stream or spiders and various other horrendous looking bugs scurry past, and so jumped at his arrival. Once she had recovered, she turned to face him, fiddling with the empty water bottle with a frown. "Do you..feel any better?" She asked, crossing her legs so she could tuen to face him a little easier. It wasnt like she cared, but it was better to ask than watch him move around in silence. Mostly. She stood up a little bit after, brushig herself off and wincing at the numbness in her legs., deciding it was better to help Sage clear everything up than simply just stand there and watch. It was awkward, and she felt a little mean.

Sage had paused slightly when the girl spoke up, glancing over at her, admittedly rather surprised she had asked anything at all, let alone that. His gaze flicked back to the bag he was packing though, resuming his activities after a moment. "I'm fine," he finally mused. He really still felt terrible....but torture tends to do that to you. He wasn't completely starving after eating the nuts and berries, but he definitely wasn't full either....they only did so much. But it was better to go slow than make himself sick. He did think to murmur a soet of thanks when she moved to help him pack everything, and soon enough they were on their way again.

Ella was rather sore by the time they had actually set off again. Mostly from sitting down for hours on end without hardly moving, partly because of the wound. She winced as she felt the bandage slip a little, though didn't pay too much attention to it and started off in the direction they had been walking. She had no idea where her or Sage were going, nor was she in the mood to talk to him and ask. Instead, Ella just simply followed. Soon enough they came out the forest for a bit and to a rather large clearing, and she started to feel the burn as they made their way up a hill. "Genuinely do you have any clue where we're going? Did you know anything about a different group in the area?" she asked, deciding it was better to hit him with the double question.

Sage had sort of wished the girl would start grabbing, so he had a way to take his mind off of everything. Instead, she stayed boringly quiet, and so he focused on just keeping his breathing steady and not getting dizzy and falling over. Which was also sort of necessary, he supposed, but it still left plenty of room for less than stellar thoughts. When the girl finally did speak up, he glanced back at her with a shrug. "no," he mused. "All I know if they have all the groups in the area captured, so I'm following their trail and I'm going to get my family back," he added bluntly, hissing as he nearly stumbled over a tree root in their path and had to work to keep his balance, which made his body scream at him.

Ella sighed at his blunt answers, letting out a rather audible groan. She was hoping he would have a slightly better answer for either of her questions than that. "You know, I know you're not a comedian or anything but you could be a little less boring." She said, her tone teasing. She carefully picked her way over a bunch of broken bushes, frowning at the nettles lining her legs. "I also get you arent the biggest fan of me but clearly, we are stuck together. SO, start talking." She added with mock demand. "After all once youve found your..family you wont have to see me again, nor will you have to worry about whatever you say being thrown out to everyone else." Ella's tone sounded just as amused as it had, doing her best to fid the energy to keep it that way. "Dont falll" she added, clearly mocking him.

Sage had cast a slightly annoyed glance at the sky in response to the girl's comments, then gave her a glance over his shoulder. "You're not very exciting yourself, ya know," he drawled, admittedly a bit breathless. Though, at her next comment he couldn't help but snort and snap, "No, i was planning on becoming best friends with someone who helped torture me for a week and a half," before taking in a calming breath. "What exactly do you want me to talk about," he finally asked tiredly, turning to stop and face the girl. "It's not like you care about anything I have to say," he added, before turnign to start walking again. He was trying to stay calm and not snap, since they did need to work together...but then she'd teased him and he'd stopped walking, whirling to face the girl. "I could very well leave you here or kill you, which has in fact crossed my mind multiple times," he growled. "So if you're going to stick around with me then you're going to have to put up with the fact that you and your perople are the ones who did this to me so you could at the very least keep your mouth shut about it."

As Sage finally started talking Ella raised her eyebrows. She hadnt expected him to say so much, but then again she was intentionslly irritating him. She simply just stared forward as they walked and he spoke, making no effort to make it sound like she was listening although she very much was. Evenyually, after he was done she just shot him an amused smile. "Well at least you said something." She chuckled, stopping to look at Sage without tripping over anything consdering the ground had become rather choppy. "And i've thought multiple times about doing the samr thing, doesnt mean im going to. I dont like you very much either." She said with a frown, watching a rather large rodent rush past. She shook off the oncoming shiver and looked back up at him, letting out a sigh. "Or what? You'll actually kill me?" She asked, looking him in the eye with a smile. Testing him wasnt exactly the smartest idea Ella had had, but what else could she do.

Sage knew the girl didn't care what he was talking about about, and he personally didn't care to talk to somewhere who thought she could order him around and torture him as she pleased. Especially since she was hurt herself, and they were about the same age. He shot a glare over his shoulder at her, giving her a pretty clear warning look. He really was trying to be as nice as possible....but she really wasn't helping. "Yeah, well, see what happens if you keep pushing youe luck," he grumbled to her in response to her comments, fully meaning every word. It wasn't really much of a bluff. A cruel smile formed on his face in response to her question and he chuckled slightly. "believe me, there's much worse things o could do than kill you," he mused slowly. It was true, and she'd know it....and she honestly deserved some of it, after what she'd done to him, he figured. But he did need her, so he'd have to put up with her for at least a little while yet.