The Rockrose and the Thistle

I know the kindest thing (is to never leave you alone)

TW: gore and vomit

Tommy pulled on the last bits of his armor when they were about a mile away from Silverburgh. Wilbur watched him curiously, though Tommy didn't like it. He set his sword into it's sheath and saddled back up onto Clementine.

"What're you looking at?" Tommy asked as he noticed Wilbur still watching him as they set off. Wilbur shrugged, looking back towards the open road.

"You seem awfully confident about where we're going." He commented dryly. Tommy glared.

"We're going north until we find something." He said, spurring Clementine on. Wilbur kept up on his own horse, whom he named Friend. He didn't understand the name, he didn't understand much about Wilbur.

"Well I'm pretty sure you're heading the wrong way. We need to follow the river, not go due north." Tommy glared and re-checked his creased and ink-stained maps.

"That doesn't make any sense, we'll be going straight to a mountain range." Tommy muttered, but Wilbur shook his head.

"I've made the journey before, we'll be fine." Wilbur grinned. Tommy hated Wilbur's grin, he wished he could punch it off of his smug face. But Tommy sighed and packed away his maps, looking out onto the forests by the trail, listening for a river.

Wilbur began to turn towards the water when Tommy heard the rushing of water. Wilbur hopped off of Friend, letting the grey-blue and white horse get a drink from the water.

"C'mere Clem..." Tommy said gently, also getting off of Clem to let her get a drink. "Never been this far from home, eh girl?" Clementine snorted, flicking her ear. "Well I don't like Wilbur either but he's our guide."

"I can hear you." Wilbur commented, saddling back up Friend. Tommy glared at him, giving Clementine a few more rubs on her shoulders.

"Well then stop, I am having a private conversation right now." He muttered before following suit as Wilbur began to move upstream.

They traveled in relative silence, the chirping of birds and the river and the wind being the only thing to break the silence. They rode until it was dusk, only taking short breaks to eat and give their horses a rest.

"So," Wilbur asked as they broke for lunch, "What did you do? Before all of this. You must've had a childhood or something, right?" Tommy huffed, chewing on a hard cracker.

"I learned how to fight. I wanted to be an adventurer." Tommy said, taking a swig of water. Wilbur barked out a laugh, grinning.

"You and every kid in the world. Did you do anything fun or something?"

"Why're you so nosy?" Tommy asked. Wilbur shrugged, watching as the horses grazed.

"I dunno, it's just nice to know the people who you travel with. So you just know the sword?" Tommy nodded, grinning.

"Yup! I'm the best swordfighter ever!" He boasted, though Wilbur gave him a skeptical look.

"Sure. I can swordfight a little bit, if you ever need a sparring partner I'm down." Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Sure you can, sure. You just play music." Wilbur shrugged mysteriously.

"There are a lot of dangerous things out in the world, Toms. You can't live a life like this without being able to defend yourself." Tommy hunched down a big, his hand tightening into a fist, his nails digging into his palms, nearly drawing blood.

"I already know that." Tommy muttered. He knew it better than most.

The rest of their lunch was quiet and quick, Wilbur humming a song to himself. Eventually, the brunette rose.