(I mean I killed off Lizzie so I think not xD. I was actually going to suggest doing something like that)

Sage snorted and shook his head. "How was it your fault? You were being reasonable. We still have no idea if the kingdom was aware of the rebellion or their plans," he pointed out, reaching over to tuck the girls hair behind her ear in a sort of soothing manner. "We warned the king and queen...the guards knew too. Nothing more could have been done. Causing a ruckus wouldn't be good."

Anya gave a weary hum, knowing he was right... she'd already said this was how she felt about the whole thing, so she doubted he needed or wanted to hear it all again. She closed her eyes slightly when he tucked her hair behind her ear and tried another small smile smile. "You're right, I suppose," she murmured quietly, obviously becoming a little more awake as she spoke. Causing a ruckus would have really just made matters worse... but she still felt like there was more she could have done. To help warn people. The king and guards knew... but no one else did. And she felt awful for that. After a little while, the girl opened her eyes and looked up at Sage in an almost apologetic way, knowing he didn't want to hear her woes like that, gave him a small squeeze, thought not enough to hurt him at all, then reached for the small bag and pulled out the box of dried berries before placing it between them... they'd need to eat if they ever planned on getting back.

Sage smiled when the girl perked up a little bit, glad that she could at least think about it in a reasonable manner. Of course she felt bad...he felt bad to. He knew it felt bad to not know, and then to know. He'd lost plenty of people. But the girl could get out of that state, which was good. Really good. He wrinkled his nose slightly at the food, but forced himself to nibble at a berry. He only ate like three before he sighed and rolled into his stomach to rest, since his back was still raw and hurt.

Anya reached for a small handful of berries, and in truth the small movement seemed to put her in agony... this bruise wasn't going to leave her peacefully, that was for sure. But it was black, so that meant it was healing. Hopefully, at least. The small half moon shaped cuts didn't look so great when she'd checked them out earlier, either. Knowing her luck they'd be infected even though they were absolutely tiny. She could deal with that though... they were so, so close to the end... and she wasn't going to let some little infection stop that from happening. She watched as Sage rolled onto his stomach, and gave a soft smile to the boy... well, that was before she noticed the slightly bloodstained back of his shirt. "What's going on there?" She asked quietly as she gently ran her nails along the top of his shoulders where he was laying.

Sage felt the muscles in his back tense up when the girl touched his back, even though the light touch didn't really hurt all that much. He shook his head and looked down at his fingers, one of which was absentmindedly drawing in the dust. "It's nothing," he murmured. "I'm fine." The girl needed to worry about getting home, not about him. Besides, there was nothing she could do about him, to help him or to hurt him....the best they could do was just get back to the castle. He hadn't seen the whip marks...he couldn't tell how bad they were, or if an infection had set in. He certainly want healthy, but the last thing he wanted was for the girl to go peeking and see something awful.

Anya furrowed her brows as a worry washed over her again. But kept on running her fingers up the top of his shoulders in an almost tickling way... she'd seen him tense up at the touch, so figured that the more she did it the less he'd to it. It wasn't on anything that should be hurting, just on the top of his shoulder blades, but he'd ask her to stop if something was hurting him, she was sure of it. She frowned softly when he said he was fine, but didn't pry... if he said it didn't matter, then it probably didn't matter. Of course, she could see from the patches of blood something was wrong, but if he didn't want to tell her then she wouldn't force him to. "Come on," she sighed. "Eat up and then we need to get going before I decide to stay out here," she murmured with a humourless cackle.

Sage didn't really mind the girl's touch, and he did relax a bit once she trailed her hand up and down his back a few times. Though, he couldn't seem to relax completely...maybe because he didn't know the condition his back was in. He wrinkled his nose slightly when she mentioned food, his stomach rolling again. He swallowed rather hard and gave the bag of food a disgusted look. "I already did," he groaned. "Do I really have to eat more?" He really didn't think he could hold anything else down. Well, he wasn't sure he could hold the few berries he'd already eaten down either, but he'd already eaten those, so he had to try at least. "Let's just get going," he sighed, forcing himself up with plenty of groaning and wincing.

Anya sighed and gave a bit of a nod before packing the fruits up. "I fine. No more food," she agreed lightly before forcing herself to get back up. She offered Sage a hand before making sure they'd picked up anything that showed they'd been there before wandering out and making a move along the track that they were meant to be going down. "We won't be walking long, maybe an hour tops... that's what the map is saying, at least..." she found herself getting more and more worried about seeing the state of the castle... and the people in it.

Sage nodded silently and bit his lip. "It'll be about that, unless we stop again," he murmured after a moment. It felt like his stomach was twisting itself in knots more and more the longer they walked, and as they entered the village, he was trying not to throw up. He had to at least act like he could hold something down. But he was visibly more jumpy the closer they got back to the castle, and if he wasn't pale or slightly green he'd be surprised. He felt like death warmed over....and it didn't help that his breathing was rasping again.

Anya shook her head, deciding that if they stop again then she was likely to try and stay away... her heart was bouncing by the time they got to the village, and she couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing just yet. When she glanced over to Sage, he just seemed pale... deathly pale, really. She'd noticed his slight jumpiness, but didn't say anything... not about his breathing, either. They were nearly home... and she just wanted to get there without anything else going down. After about an hour and a half of them walking slow, Anya finally caught sight of the castle... or, rather what was left of it. One of the turrets were completely gone, and the walls in some areas were demolished... the only bit of hope she had left was due to guards standing in the weak spots.