Chapter 50: New Day
Seeing that Nalira still didn’t seem okay, Shaan decided to try something grandma Isabel had used to calm him down when he was a kid: mumbling. It sounded a bit strange, but it had worked for him back then, and he could only hope it would work for Nalira too.
"...What are you doing?" Nalira slowly lifted her head and looked at Shaan with a confused expression.
"Mumbling, of course." Shaan smiled. "My grandmother used to do this kind of thing when I was scared. Just try it, it might help you get rid of your fear."
Nalira stayed quiet for a moment after hearing that. At first, Shaan assumed the idea sounded silly and that Nalira didn’t agree with him. But a few minutes later, she began humming softly along with him.
"So? How do you feel now?"
"Much better... thank you, Shaan." Nalira slowly stood up. "Good night, Shaan."
"Good night, Nalira."
Without saying anything, Nalira walked back to the campfire and rested. The atmosphere instantly fell silent, leaving only Shaan and the rumble of the rain, which was no longer as loud as before. Good—at least the thunder wouldn’t catch him off guard again tonight.
’I should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.’
Shaan still wanted to talk to Nalira about what exactly made her so afraid of thunder. But she didn’t seem willing to say anything. So, he lay down and soon drifted off into a deep sleep.
***
"Uhmm... the rain has stopped." Chelsie stepped out of the cave and looked around. "But I don’t see any sign of the Twilight Sanctum nearby."