This time we get a little Dash and Sassy without Ozzie. Don't worry. Ozzie and Hudson get a piece of their own a little later on.

 
Sebastian, Ozzie, "Hudson" and I spent a bit of time gathering supplies and getting things ready for our trek north. We soon left this mountain behind us and found our way to the plains. From here we could see more foothills and mountains to the north. Looking down on the river flowing silently and gleaming silver in the late afternoon sun, my thoughts went back to my friend Serpentina and I turn away from the company so that they can not see how upset I am about leaving her.

While the others set up camp, I slipped away to look the country over and saw a couple of canyons leading north that looked slightly familiar to me. When I come back to the camp, Dash seems to be in another funny mood and I decide the best thing is to leave him alone for a bit. I get busy making dinner and boiling water for tea. While the water is boiling, I take out my flute and play some music to lift my own spirits.

Our dinner and tea are soon ready and I tell the others. Hudson comes on the run and begins to help herself to the food. Ozzie, the gentleman, comes to the fire as if it were a state banquet. Dash just stands there by himself, muttering and talking to himself. I hesitate to bother him, but I like to have everyone at dinner before I eat; so I go to him. "Hey, are you okay?" I gingerly touch his shoulder with my hand. He jumps as if my touch were electric. "Time to eat, if you are hungry." He slumps his shoulders and follows me to the fire for his dinner.

After dinner and cleaning up, we all relax in camp. I wish I knew more about this Dash and whether he always acts like this or is it the poison in him. I take out a large tree branch that I am fashioning in to a walking stick and begin to whittle and carve on it. Ozzie has told me earlier that of all of us, Dash is probably the strongest. I found this hard to believe but then, I figure, he is probably expending a lot of his energy fighting this poison. He does seem to be getting better as long as he is left to himself. I carve a large snake on the handle of my stick; it looks like Serpentina and again, I turn my head so that they can't see me crying.

Putting my knife and my stick away for the moment, I turn and suddenly Dash is standing there before me. "Do you need something?" I ask him. For a moment, he stands there looking at me. My heart begins to beat a bit faster; despite his bad behavior, he is gorgeous and there is no doubt about that. It's more than the man's looks, though. There's a sense of nobility about him, despite his odd mood changes and habit of starring into the distance.

"No," he says after a long pause. I shrug it off, but he quickly changes his tone. "Well, yeah. Something."

I don't say anything; I'll let him say his peace, whatever it might be.

"I'm..." He sighs, closing his eyes briefly. His stare is quite intent as he looks at me. "I'm sorry if I've been a pain. It was the .. Actually, nevermind the drugs; I was always told not to ruin an apology with an excuse. Aleena's been helping me through a mind link."

I look at him quizzically wondering why he is telling me this. I fix my eyes on his and thinks for a bit and finally say, "Well, um, I guess that's okay. If it helps you feel better then it is fine." I twirl my flute absentmindedly with my fingers. Nervous habit. Maybe he has more to say.

Oddly, his nose briefly flares in what I suspect is anger. Since he's looking past me and not at me now, and since it passes immediately, I assume he isn't angry at me, although I'm certainly confused by him. Perhaps sensing this, he tries to explain. "She's been an ally of mine for a while now. You two'd probably get along; she's a smart girl. Charming. It's a long story and I don't want to bore you with it. Weird story too. But you've been going out of your way to help us and I've probably been acting like a jerk, hmm?"

I look at him and slowly reach my hand up to gently and gingerly touch his shoulder. "Maybe so, but we all have times when we are a little unpleasant, especially when we don't feel well. I am sure that I would enjoy meeting your friend." I stand facing him and I gently massage his shoulder and neck, hoping that will give him a bit of relief as well. He lets out a sigh, giving me the impression it's working. "How would it be, if you and I just started over then?" I take my hand from his shoulder and extend it for him to shake. "Hi, my name is Sassy Snake. It is a pleasure to meet you." I bow and then I slowly rise and flash him a bright smile.

He blinks twice with a confused look on his face, but shrugs it off. "Ah.. of course, why not? I'm Sebastian Dash, 'Dashing Rogue,' at you service." With that, he flashes me this charming smile, with a nearly mischievous look in his face. Rather than immediately shaking my hand, he does this sweeping courtesy, which is almost a bow. Then he takes my hand to his lips, kissing it. It's obvious every movement he makes has a shadow of pain, no matter how well he tries to hide it. "My friends, which is to say my friend, the stranger neither of us trust, and I hail from another dimension. A world like yours, in some ways, but not one you could get to through travel alone. Or at least, that's how it's been described to me."

Despite myself, I giggle slightly. "Here I was thinking that I was the stranger here and all of the time you and your friends were. How do you know about Mountaincenter then? Are you sure Lady Whiteclaw will be there to heal you?" I wonder other things like how are you going to return to your dimension and what are your plans after the poison has left you? I don't say them but I do think them. I realize that it is now my duty to lead Dash and his friends to Mountaincenter if I can; but then I remember the dream and the swords flashing and fighting and I wonder what all that could mean. I am not too keen to go in to battle. There is usually lots of blood there. As I think of this, inadvertently my nostrils flare and a look of revulsion comes over my face.

I can tell by the uncertain, apologetic look in his eyes that he misunderstands.

"No, wait! I was just thinking of something else entirely. Please forgive me. It wasn't you at all." I take his hand and look him in the face and explain that I was thinking of battles and blood and how that upsets me and I hope that he can understand. I say, "The last thing I wanted to do was offend you or make you angry with me after we had just started over again. Please Dash, please forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive," he says, smiling and giving my hand a squeeze. "I really do appreciate you letting us accompany you home. I have a feeling the worst is ahead of me in terms of recovering, so it's also nice to have someone to help me look out for Ozzie. Thank you."

I think to myself, "Look after Ozzie?" I wonder what this means. Finally I move closer to him and whisper in his ear "Does that mean you don't trust Hudson?" I look over to where Hudson and Ozzie are talking and wonder what they have in common. I hope that Dash isn't thinking that he won't be around to take care of Ozzie. I look up in to the moonlit sky and I am suddenly aware of his presence, so near to me, and I wonder what he is thinking and what he thinks of me. I want to take this slowly so, for right now, I enjoy having him near and holding his hand and feeling the tingling warmth that seems to flow between us.

Sebastian seems to consider the question, but shakes his head. "Don't say anything, but no, I don't, but we can't exactly abandon her, so the best we can do is keep an eye on her. I'm sure once we get to Lady Whiteclaw, this will all sort itself out." Dash's eyes suddenly fall. He looks crestfallen. This time, I'm sure it isn't anything I said because I hadn't said anything! Before I can think on it further, he looks back up to me, smiling again. As cheesy as it must sound, his smile fills me with confidence and a sense of adventure. Once more, I get the impression this man has broken many a heart in his day, intentional or not.

"My mind's prone to drifting. Probably the drugs," he says. "I'll need to sleep soon. We'll have to figure who's keeping an eye on the camp first. But we have time before that. Maybe you could tell me a little about yourself to take my mind off my other worries and regrets?"

"Me?"

The question took me off guard.

"Well, there is really not a lot to tell you about me." I sigh a bit and hold his hand perhaps a bit firmer but enjoy his closeness. "Guess I am kind of boring compared to other people. I am studying medicine and music perhaps with a view of combining them in a sort of musical therapy. I was out hiking and tried to tap a tree for energy but instead I wound up here. Up until I met you all, I had been having a bit of a rough week."

I smile at him and squeeze his hand gently. "It's kind of nice I met up with you though, because maybe I was feeling that my life needed a focus and a purpose. Have you ever felt like that?" I look deeply in to his eyes and figures that he probably has felt this way; maybe everyone does from time to time. I'm sure he's no exception. "I'm not sure what else I can tell you about myself. I learned about the woods and the animals from my mother and I learned lots about music from my father. He was a good musician. He could play most instruments by just picking them up and playing them. He kind of had a natural ability with them."

I look a bit concerned for him. "Is this tiring you out? You look like you could use a good rest." I gently knead his shoulders and neck. I offer to take the first watch if he wants to get some sleep, but he shakes his head, insisting we could press on for at least another hour or two before it gets too dark.

"Besides, we.." he starts to say as he glazes into the distance. His face goes a bit pale. "Oh, man, that isn't good."

I follow his beautiful eyes to the north and could suddenly make out several dark forms against the distant scenery. I hadn't even noticed them before, although I have a pretty good idea from stories they aren't good.

"Some kind of.. dark form creatures," I say.

"Probably dangerous," Dash says. "Lot of 'em too. We'd best get Ozzie and .. his.. ahh. 'friend.' We might need to fall back in quick order here."

I reach for my crossbow and ready it for action. I move toward the fire to gather what equipment and supplies I can in case we have to run. I think of the terrain and where good places for cover and hiding are, if it should come to that. I think about distances and where potential targets will strike in the camp. I think of what I have heard about these dark form creatures and I don't like much of what I can remember. I see Dash dashing around trying to find Ozzie and Hudson so we can make a united stand against these creatures. I briefly close my eyes and concentrate and focus trying to sense any creatures that I might be able to communicate with, but that is no good at all so I quickly give it up. I load my crossbow and look around and see that Dash is returning with Ozzie and Hudson. I turn and look to him. "What shall we do? Can they be fought, can they be defeated?" There are other questions in my mind, but I tuck them away for now, remembering not to overload Dash. Right now it looks like he has quite a lot to deal with. I crouch low and raise my crossbow and aim it toward the north ready for whatever happens as Dash looks long and hard.

"We're not going to find out, we're falling back." Dash says, a hard, determined look on his face. I had guessed- wrongly- that meant he planned for us to fight. I'm a little relieved we won't be. "Aleena's close enough that if I focus, I can sense her. She has the Bearsmasher siblings- allies of ours, and she mentioned that they had plenty of backup. We'll meet up with them, if possible, and decide if this is a fight we need to fight."

I sincerely hope it isn't.

Nice to see Dash starting to act a little friendlier towards Sassy! We won't see her writing after this for a few missions where she'll meet Dash in his world rather than hers. We're going a little out of order next, with Dash meeting up with Aleena and Konall. Then we'll duck back to about the same time as this solo to see what Ozzie and "Hudson" are up to about the time of this Sassy/ Dash piece.