At least, everything seemed normal. Tensa's body felt sore, and her back hurt, but she attributed that to the time she had spent unconscious in a too-soft bed. Her body must have lost some of the hardness acquired from the hard living she had endured in the demon lands. She was certain a few days of life on the road would return her endurance to normal. That was probably why she was having strange dreams, too.
For the next few days, Vix and Tensa traveled as normal, trekking across country during the day and camping at night, a rather uneventful existence. Except that Tensa's night problems did not improve, but got worse. By the sixth day, even Vix could not help but comment.
"Look, there's no point in getting sick, then we'll just be even slower," Vix cajoled. "Let's just take a day to rest. There's decent outcrops for shelter here and the river is slow enough for us to have a good bath."
Tensa couldn't help but proffer a weak smile at that despite her tiredness. The thought of the feline-leaning Vix's fondness for water always seemed incongruous to Tensa, even though she was well aware that beastkin were more instinctually human than animal-like. Besides, Vix was probably right. Things hadn't been improving. Each night the pain had gotten worse, and seemed to spread. Last night, Tensa had nearly bitten a hole in her lip trying to keep from crying out and alerting Vix. As it was, Vix knew Tensa had slept restlessly and uncomfortably, her keen senses picking up on tell-tale signs.
Convinced, Tensa agreed with Vix, and the two found a protected site to set up camp. Excited at the prospect of finally cleaning herself, Vix hurriedly finished her preparations and looked eagerly to Tensa, who couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Sensing Tensa's approval, Vix immediately stripped off her clothes and headed for the river, certain Tensa would follow.
Despite her soreness and exhaustion, Tensa plodded through setting up her tent, then tiredly removed her clothes. While she had to encourage herself to keep going, Tensa still figured a bath might help her relax. Tensa entered the water, the ecstatic Vix too busy swimming and diving to notice.
However, when Tensa finally stood up in the shallow knee-deep waters at the edge of the river, ready to return to camp, Vix hurriedly swam over to try to convince her to stay a little longer. However, before Vix could plead, she saw something that made her heart leap into her throat.
"Tensa!" Vix called out as Tensa turned toward the bank, causing her to look back. At first, Tensa thought Vix was simply going to make conversation, but something about Vix's tone of voice and the look on her face made Tensa pause. Vix splashed through the water to Tensa's side, her gaze intensely traveling over Tensa's body. Her brow furrowed as she frowned in worry.
"Tensa...I think maybe..."