Not until my companion requires sleep.

The seed of doubt planted as I took her in blossomed within me as I continued-likely to the benefit of the assassin I'd shared the road with, who evidently seemed more annoyed at my talking than they had been concerned about what I'd done. My brooding over if I might have overreacted a tad bit kept me quiet, after all. Sure, it felt great at the time-to vent out my annoyances by really putting the hurt out. But once my blood had cooled a bit, it just struck me as cruel. Her men at least had their suffering end quick. A brief flash of pain-then, nothing. Or, well, however reincarnation feels for more normal people, I guess.

And yet, I couldn't bring myself to give her the same release. Something about how helpless she now was, it felt just wrong to kill her. Like kids or puppies. But similarly, letting her continue like this was torturous to her, and so was hard for me to stomach tolerating. Eventually, I resolved that the proper thing to do would be to try and at least make her comfortable I can restore her. Whether as a result of my own priestly abilities raising, experiments with my alchemy producing something that can help, or finding someone else who can lend a hand.

In the meantime, I had to get her sustenance. Nanase had a stash of some kind of rations, and I lived on the stored minerals from when I was rooted until I could plant myself again, so we would be taken care of well enough. My captive-Ichika, I could find looking at her-would need something, though. Was sure enough the shadowdancer wouldn't share that I didn't bother to ask. Instead, I took advantage of Fruiting Body-using my strength to grind the ensuing nut into a powder, then mixing it with some of the fluids my tentacular portions use keep themselves moist to form a kind of slimy paste. Understandably, she was unwilling to accept the meal off the smeared tentacle ,so I just left it hanging near her. Hunger would overcome distrust eventually.

As the sun began to grow low, Nanase's movement became less even and certain-at a few points almost stumbling over herself. "Are you OK?" I had to ask-partly out of a concern I was responsible. Had some of the toxin I'd used to immobilize her before managed to hit something important? She shook her head for a moment. "Alright, just...sleepy. Don't you get tired? We've been walking all day."

"Not really. I mean, I haven't been so far. Bored and mentally drained, but not physically having to slow down. Have you ever seen a tree sleep?" I let a short pause in order to give her time to respond if she wanted. She didn't, so I continued. "Do you have something to rest on, or will we need to tough it out until we get the next town?" She seems to rummage around in her pouch for a bit before producing an entire bedroll, physical space apparently be darned. Good to know Bags of Holding are a thing here. Taking a step off the road to set up below a sizable tree, she nestled up in her bag, glaring at me like she expects me to try something until exhaustion closes her eyes. Ichika's own worries seem to have used up her energy, as she's soon asleep herself as I try and still my body to not disrupt her.