Upon noticing, Nephyr moved his body without needing to give command. "patches-!" he shouted, voice sharp with alarm.
Patches rushed over, her usually calm expression fading into panic rippling across her face the closer she got. She lowered herself, dropping the pole to her side as she wrapped her arms around the shoulders of the figure. "Rune-!"
Beneath the dim light of the alley, the boy's gaunt face — eyes hanging open like they've never closed — became all too familiar. The person they've just saved was, in fact, the shriveling, sleepless skinny boy Elior took in.
And yet, even though it was clear he was suffering from numerous injuries, he didn't look like he was in much pain. Even Patches, who only moments prior was exuding a sense of panic, seemed to shift into pure annoyance.
"What are you doing, Rune!?" She exclaimed, slightly lifting the boy before dropping him, body crashing against the floor.
Even then, his dark eyes remained hollow — he didn't even make a sound in response. "Hi, Patches..." He murmured, slowly raising himself and scratching the back of his hair. "Oh, and you're here, too."
His pupils dragged over towards Nephyr, giving him a slight shiver down his spine. "Are you... feeling okay?"
"He's fine, Nephyr," Patches intervened, "he always is..."
"Sorry, Patchy-" The boy muttered, his hand slightly reaching out as his other met to scratch it, "I was just like... you know... walking- then they attacked me. And then... you know."
"No, I don't know. Speak clearer."
He pointed towards the animal, now standing and aimlessly staring up to each of them. "That uh... feathery dog tried to help me. It... well... it got attacked as well, and then both of you came."
Nephyr peered towards the animal, and it did actually resemble a feather-covered dog, much to his surprise. Being about the same build as a husky, it was quite large in its stature. The tongue of the creature was hanging out of its mouth, and its beady eyes shined towards him with a look of deep and compassionate kindness. Something about that felt unsettling to him.
Never mind the look, the entire creature felt unsettling to him. He still recalled what a dog was — even with his fractured memory — and this felt incredibly uncanny to look at.
Regardless, the animal seemed to suffer minimal if any major injuries at all, thus causing Nephyr to redirect his attention to the boy. "Are you sure you're okay? You got hit pretty bad..."
Patches gave a slight sigh. "If he was seriously injured, you'd know."
"How?"
"He wouldn't be moving, Nephyr. He'd be dead."
The blunt nature of her words caught him off guard. That being said, he couldn't help but agree. Upon examining the boy, he was indescribably skinny. Any major blow would probably be enough to split him straight in two.
"Anyways," Rune chimed in, "Why are you two here?"
"We were going to get some willowtree cloth, but Nephyr heard a commotion and ran over to help."
As soon as he heard those words, his eyes lit up with a slight hint of happiness. "Willowtree cloth, huh? As it just so happens, I got some right here."
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a few strands of some white cloth, though was immediately met with Patches' anger. "Rune... where'd you get that?"
"I might have stolen it."
"Is that why they attacked you?"
"So what? It was Ouni and his goons. They probably would've attacked me anyway."
She only responded with a painfully audible sigh, snatching the cloth from his hands and shoving it into Nephyr's chest before pacing out of the alley.
Nephyr turned to follow, "So- where are we going now?"
"We're not going anywhere. I have my own errands to do. I already helped you, so you can find the rest yourself. When you're done, however, go to the town square and enter a small brick building. I'll be waiting for you inside."
Almost stunned by the words, he watched in silence as she seemingly disappeared into the crowd. Turning around, hoping to speak to Rune, he was gone as well. Even the feathered dog was no longer present.
Nephyr — for the first time since this morning — was all on his own.