"Well, it's not normal sad. Something really bad happened to Koa. When something really bad happened to my friend, I felt sick too." Marin had broken when Willow had died. Their familiar moved to pat their cheek, sitting on their shoulder.
"Oh…" Kit fidgeted uncomfortably with his hands, his face quite pale. "But why? Why does it do that?" He asked. "I don't wanna feel sick anymore…"
"Well…" How did Marin answer? They didn't know. "When your mind doesn't want to deal with something, sometimes your body makes you feel bad so you don't want to." The mage held back a heavy sigh. They thought they were messing this up.
Kit hesitantly nodded, rubbing at his eyes with a shaky sigh. "How do I make it stop, then? If it's gonna keep doing that, how am I supposed to get through it so I don't feel sick and sad anymore?"
"I…" Marin tried off. They were truly stumped now, they didn't know. They fell quiet, thinking. Willow moved down to Kit again, gently patting his cheek to help distract him.
Kit leaned into the touch a bit, still obviously uneasy, but needing the comfort. "I wanna feel good again… I'm still happy sometimes, but then I get sad when I think about Koa."
Marin nodded a bit.
"Why don't we take a break for now?" They suggested. "We shouldn't do it all at once. It'll take some time." The mage moved their hands up to pull Kit closer, patting his back.
"Okay…" Kit yawned a bit and closed his eyes as he rested his head on Marin's shoulder, drained and pale from crying. He had pink splotches on his cheeks, and his nose was a bit red. He was also considerably less put together than usual with his hair and his clothes disheveled. "Storms are dumb…"
"Yes, storms are very dumb," Marin agreed. They ran their fingers through Kit's hair gently to help put it all back into place, pulling their cloak more around both of them. They shifted to be leaning back some, Kit resting against their chest.
Kit purred weakly at the petting, seeming to relax a bit in Marin's arms. He yawned again, and after a while, he managed to drift off to sleep in Marin's hold.
Marin stayed quiet for some time, then looked to Willow.
"How are we going to handle this?" Kit was just a child, after all, and from what he said they would be together until Marin left the area, and the mage had no idea how long that would take. Willow just shrugged, moving to sit down on Kit's head. Marin shifted a bit, looking up at the ceiling. After some time, they fell asleep as well.
Kit was awake in the morning before Marin awoke, quietly pacing the room and checking over a map. He didn't know where Marin was wanting to go, after all, so he needed to be prepared for anything. He yawned a bit, still looking pretty drained.
Marin had settled down fully onto the bed some point in the night, their cloak still around them. They let out a soft breath, shifting to sit up. They normally got up early, so it was a surprise to find Kit already up. Had they slept in?
"Good morning," the mage said, moving to check on the familiar sleeping in their hood.
Kit looked up and nodded in greeting. He seemed to have dark circles under his eyes. "Good morning… which direction would you like to head from here?" He asked Marin softly.
Marin moved to stand, rubbing at their eyes. Making their way over, they gently put an arm around Kit.
"Well, it depends. I usually walk in this direction, though." They pointed from where they had entered the area to the north. They were worried by how tired Kit looked, glancing at him.
Kit yawned again and nodded, looking back down at the map. "If we walk that direction, we'll end up back where we started, though. We'll have to go the opposite direction if you want to leave this area from a different place than from where you came. Unless you intend to return to the human towns over there, that is."
"I think walking in the opposite direction would be a good idea," Marin agreed. "How long do you think that will take to bring us to the other side?" The mage gently patted Kit's head when the child yawned, hand resting on his shoulder.
"Hmm…" Kit looked down at the map again. "Probably a few weeks, at least. Especially considering how unpredictable the weather is at the moment…" He rolled up the map and stuck it in his bag, yawning again and rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "We can head out whenever you're ready."
"Ah, I see." Marin thought a moment, yawning themself. "Well, I think some extra sleep would be good for us, what do you think?" Marin wasn't really tired, but they saw Kit was. How long had the child been up? He had been awake when Marin woke up, and they always awoke with the sun.
"Mm… if that's what you wish." Kit yawned again and stretched, his tail swaying a bit behind him. "I couldn't sleep much last night… it started storming again in the middle of the night." He explained, shuddering a bit at the thought.
"Oh," Marin said softly, offering one arm to Kit, "I'm sorry that happened." They moved over to the bed, sitting down.
"Why don't we both try to get a bit more sleep, then? It won't help us travel at all as we're tired…"
"Mm…" Kit followed Marin to the bed and huddled up beside them, seeming pretty drained. "I'm sorry for being cumbersome…" He mumbled. "I'm wasting our time by not getting enough sleep."
"You're not being cumbersome," Marin said softly. They wrapped an arm around Kit, patting his back. "It's good to take time to rest. I should be too, I've been traveling for far too long without a day of rest. We don't need to be constantly moving." The mage held Kit close, moving so they were both laying down again.
Kit nodded weakly and closed his eyes, relaxing as Marin pulled him close. "I'm… I'm not supposed to do stuff like this, though… I'm just supposed to help you. You shouldn't… you shouldn't have to help me so much…"
"You've been helping me," Marin pointed out, keeping their voice soft. "And it means a lot to me that I'm able to help you in turn." The mage ran their fingers through Kit's hair, humming softly to help him calm down.