Despite how close they were to Mossglade, Azade and Anisha elected to wait there in the camp. They wanted to allow Elaina to recover instead of just pushing on without her. She'd assured them it wasn't necessary, but she was reasonably confident that the two of them were dealing with some guilt over what had happened. It didn't matter how many times she tried to ease their guilt with explanations of how the Sleep Orb worked. The facts to them were they had slept through a fight that had nearly killed Elaina and almost led to their capture and interrogation.

Anisha had no more healing potions on hand, but it didn't matter. Between Azade and her, the two of them put together some healing poultices sourced from the forest around them. They weren't quite the quick recovery that potions were, but they were still miles ahead of merely laying there and sleeping it off for a few days.

Azade had easily retrieved her weapon from the forest, which she brought back to her undamaged. Elaina dreaded the day where her abuse of the sword was eventually going to end up destroying it. Each time she charged her sword up, like the way she had been, threatened to be the last time she'd do it at all.

It only took her two days before she was able to get up and walk around the camp without a chorus of pained complaints running through every part of her body. Though the other two pleaded with her to rest, assuring her that they wouldn't mind a little more of a wait, Elaina remained resolute that they should continue. However, she did have the caveat that she stayed in the back of the wagon again to convalesce the way she had before to give herself a little extra time to recover.

The ride was quiet once they found an old path, and Elaina spent most of it searching the dense trees for the three men that had got away, regardless of how absurd it would be for one-armed Alden to leap out of the darkness to attack them. If he hadn't bled out from losing his arm, it was likely he was holed up somewhere slowly recovering from the life-altering wound she'd dealt him.

"Not much longer," Azade assured her from the front of the wagon, "Maybe an hour or two, then you'll be free to go where you wish."

"Where will that be?" Anisha asked, turned in her seat to look back at Elaina, "Where are you off to?"

"Uh, South," Elaina answered, feeling as though she'd responded to it before.

"No, I mean, to recover. You're not just going to journey out in that shape, are you?"

Elaina pursed her lips, thinking on it for a moment before she just shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe back to Hallowell for a little bit, get a room for a few days."

"You're going to walk all the way back?" Anisha asked skeptically.

"Actually, I was hoping I could take one of these horses off your hands as part of my payment," Elaina suggested, and Anisha looked over at Azade, who gave a single nod, clearly not taking issue with the idea.

"We'll call it a bonus," Azade added, "You'll get all the coin we agreed upon, plus the horse."

Elaina knew that the horse alone was worth way more than the job, but she didn't argue for once. The fights she'd been through merited a little bit of hazard pay, even by her humble standards, "Thank you, Azade."

"You've earned it." she said softly, "Just try to not jump into any fights any time soon, alright? Take your time?"

Again, Elaina had no objection, "Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me."

Mossglade was located much deeper into the forest than Elaina had realized. As they got closer, they found a more well-traveled private road that ran to the north, likely cleared by the people of the estate itself. If Elaina had wanted, she was told that the road there connected with one of the old Solacine roads heading north, but it went in precisely the opposite direction in which she wanted to go. The front gates were located at the bottom of the hill in which Mossglade was situated. An incredibly dense grove of trees at the top kept much of the grounds concealed.

Elaina could feel the magic oozing off of nearly every bit of plant life here, and a brief look through her magical perception confirmed it in a brilliant cascade of greens and yellows. The grove of trees around the grounds' perimeter was incredibly bright, with each tree being primed and ready to come to life and attack intruders if the Mistress of the grounds deemed it necessary. Threads of sensor magic winded out into the forest from there, giving whoever tapped into them through Phyllomagic a passive perception of their surroundings for a great distance, though Elaina couldn't tell just how far that was.

The gates stood slightly out of place on the road. Though they prevented travel by way of the road, they didn't attach to fencing wrapped around the property, just a few yards in either direction before becoming hedges and other plants. Elaina knew, of course, that the plants were the more protective measure in this instance, but to the naked eye of a layman, it would have looked strange. Next to the gates, on one side, there was also a small guardhouse. It seated perhaps a maximum of two people and was covered so thickly in moss that it was actually relatively easy to miss. As they approached, a cute young woman with short black hair stepped out of the guardhouse to meet them.

"End of the line," Anisha announced as she stepped off the front of the wagon. Azade didn't move from where she was; instead, she conversed briefly with the woman, giving her instructions on how many people they would need to unload things and where it would be going.

"I wish we could have spent a little more time together," Anisha said as she came around to the back to help Elaina out. Though the sword mage was confident she could have got out on her own at this point, it was still a nice gesture, and she took it.

"Me too," Elaina agreed, getting her own pack out of the back of the wagon. She opened it briefly to look through it and make sure she had everything she needed. Near the top was the small bundle that contained the Sleeping Orb. She wasn't sure if she'd have use for it, but considering how creative the Orbonne Company had been with it, she thought she might be able to find a use for it. If nothing else, it would sell for decent coin in a pinch.

Anisha put a hand on Elaina's, "If you come back up this way, you should stop by. Just remember to wait at the gates and don't come barging in, alright?"

Elaina chuckled, motioning to the trees that towered around the grounds, "Yeah, I wouldn't want to tangle with any of the defenses set up here."

Anisha's eyes flicked to the trees nervously and then back to Elaina with a nervous smile, "Right, no. Of course."

Azade stepped off of the wagon and circled back around to the other two, placing a hand on Anisha's shoulder gently, "Would you do me a favor and run-up to the lab and see if there isn't a potion we can spare for Elaina?"

Anisha's brow went up, taken a little off guard by request, "From the stores? Is that going to be alright?"

"I'll take responsibility," Azade assured the alchemist. Satisfied with the answer, she took off into a near jog through the opened gates, moving up the winding driveway that curved behind the trees.

"I'd offer for you to come in and relax," Azade sighed as she stepped around to stand in front of Elaina, "but truth be told, if I bring you on to the grounds, there's an excellent chance you wouldn't leave anytime soon."

Elaina's brow furrowed, "Is that saying too much?"

Azade shook her head, "No, I don't think so. The place has different ways of keeping people, and it's not necessarily a bad thing, you see. But I know that settling down isn't what you want, no matter how much I'd like you to stay here with us."

"Perhaps when I'm finally a landed noble, we could visit. Either I come here, or you come out to Caledonia and see me?" Elaina asked, hopefully.

The sadness in Azade's eyes didn't vanish entirely, even as she smiled at the thought, "I'd like that. I've never been to Caledonia, and I'd like very much to see you in all your splendor when your family finally gives you what you deserve."

"Then it's a date," Elaina said with finality. Azade's smile faded, and slowly Elaina put a hand gently on the side of her face, though the gesture seemed slightly less tender with her gloves on, "I'm sure the wait will be over before you know it."

The dark-haired woman held Elaina's hand there for a moment, lowering her eyes before she closed them entirely, prolonging the moment as best she could. A gentle spring breeze ran through the trees, causing the afternoon sun to shift and shimmer around them. Elaina reached out with her other hand and pulled Azade close. She lifted her chin gently and placed a tender kiss on her lips. She wasn't going to forget her, but she knew the likelihood of seeing her again soon was unlikely. It hurt to let her go after how close they'd become, after how they had been with one another, but it meant the world to Elaina that she was willing to let her go on her way rather than try to keep her.

They held each other there in the spring afternoon for what felt like an eternity that was still too short as they stood on the precipice of separation. They kissed several times, with each ending as a move to separate before thinking better of it and reclaiming the other's lips to hold the moment for just a little while longer. Though Elaina was in her armor, there was still a sense of warmth and softness from Azade as she held her. A single tear streaked down Azade's cheek on the final kiss. The sword mage could feel her heart breaking a little inside to bring such sorrow to such a beautiful woman who'd become so attached to her.

Anisha approached slowly, trying to give them a precious few more seconds, but the moment was over,

"I uh, found this," she held up a slightly larger vial with a sparkling potion of soft milky blue inside.

Brushing the tear from her face quickly with the back of her hand, Azade nodded, "Good, good. Thank you, Anisha."

Azade reached down to her coin pouch on her belt and pulled out the payment that they had agreed upon at the start. She took Elaina's hand and placed the coins firmly in them, "You are worth much more than this, you know."

Anisha nodded in agreement and held the potion out to the redhead, who took it gratefully, "Next person you charge for work, you should raise your rates."

Elaina chuckled a little bit, her hand lingering on Azade's for a moment before she put the coins in her own coin pouch and took the potion. She knew that she should have probably saved it, considering she was technically good enough to travel. But she had no desire to put herself through such pain if she didn't have to. She popped the stopper in the top of the thick vial and immediately drank the entirety of the contents within. The potion was a little sweet and tingled all the way down. A second later, she felt the coolness of it radiate outward, and the pain of her body give way to an ache and finally just a vague tightness.

"Thank you," Elaina said, handing the vial with its stopper back over to Anisha, "That's going to make it a lot easier to travel."

The half-elf returned her smile and went about unhitching one of the horses from the wagon as the other woman from before came down the drive carrying an assortment of horse tack to outfit the horse with. Elaina was a little surprised by this, her head turning to look at Azade, "You don't need to do that. I was just going to get something back in town when I got there."

Azade waved a hand, dismissively, "It's fine. We actually don't have a lot of horses here, surprisingly. The ones we do have are meant more for farm work than they are for riding, and we have several of these just sitting around. No one's going to miss one, and you'll put it to better use."

Elaina beamed. She'd lost her own horse and everything it had well before reaching Hallowell, and now she was fully outfitted for proper traveling once again. She would leave here with her spirits lifted, a new horse, and coin in her pocket. There wasn't much more than the sword mage could ask for, really.

The young woman, whose name was evidently Taeko, took Elaina's pack and fastened it to the horse as well during her preparations. Once everything was set, she gave a dramatic flourish of her arms to present Elaina with her new mount. She gave Azade and Anisha both one final hug before hopping up onto her new horse, of which she was going to spend most of her trip coming up with the right name for. He was a healthy animal with a rich brown coat and white mane and seemed pleased to be done with the wagon as she climbed into the saddle. Likely he was meant more for this kind of work than he had been for pulling the wagon in the first place. Carrying a woman her size, even in armor, would be a welcome break.

Elaina took the reins and directed him around in a few small circles to feel his response. The horse offered her no resistance. It complied with the directions she gave, though he wasn't in any particular hurry. Elaina simply chalked it up to him, having already been walking for most of the day. She told herself she wouldn't take him far before letting him rest for a bit and have something to eat.

"You should get going," Azade said, clearly speaking against her self-interests judging by the tone of her voice, "Just a few hours left of daylight, and if you linger here any longer, the Mistress is bound to become curious about you."

Elaina nodded slightly, offering her hand to Azade, who took it with a faint smile. The redhead leaned down and brought the back of her hand to her lips, "Good luck."

Azade's face turned a little pink as she smiled girlishly. Something about the kiss on the back of the hand from a warrior in shining armor on horseback spoke to silly fantasies of her youth, "If you make me wait for too long, I'll come to find you."

The swordmage grinned at the playful threat and gave her a nod of acknowledgment, "I believe you," she said as she brought the horse about to go back the way they had come. Elaina didn't look back, afraid that it might cause her to get emotional, but she was confident that the women standing by the wagon watched her long after she had vanished beyond the tree line.