Seeing is Believing by Sasha L. Miller Page A

Ty's shoulder. Ty didn't flinch away for once, and before he could think the better of it, he reached out and poked Reid's shoulder in return.
    Reid promptly overbalanced and fell backwards, to Ty's surprise—Reid's surprise too, evidently. He sat up looking a little less amused, which couldn't be anything but good in Ty's opinion. Ty stared stonily at Reid, not willing to give first. Reid stared back, his lips twitching, and his amusement made a quick recovery.
    "I can help you bathe," Reid offered after a moment. "Wash your back, make sure you still remember what soap is—"
    "Fine, I'll bathe," Ty snapped, wondering if he truly was that offensive. Probably. "But you're not coming with me."
    "Modest?" Reid asked, smirking as he dumped a small towel and a bar of soap in Ty's lap.
    "Sure," Ty muttered, carefully climbing to his feet and ignoring how much it ached to do so. "Which way?"
    Reid pointed wordlessly and Ty trudged in that direction, focusing on the ground and not tripping instead of the eyes he could feel on his back as he made his way through the forest.
    *~*~*
    The stream was freezing. It was late spring, by the temperatures outside, but the spring was still icy cold. Probably runoff from the snow on the mountains melting. Ty was shivering before he'd finished scrubbing his fingernails, but he resolutely pushed on. If he caught a cold he could blame it on Reid.
    He was just scrubbing his hair clean when he heard Reid's voice from the trees.
    "Well, aren't you scrawny," Reid drawled, wandering down the soft dirt streambed. "Didn't they feed you in prison?"
    "Three course meals every day," Ty snapped, turning his back on Reid and focusing on scrubbing the dirt from his hair. What he wouldn't give for a hot bath, with proper soap and the time to soak away a year's worth of dirt and grim.
    "Clean clothes," Reid said after a minute. "I know you'll miss the smelly rags you were wearing—"
    "Go away," Ty ordered, sick to death of hearing Reid's disparaging comments. He hadn't asked for Reid to rescue him. Reid didn't have to be so damn rude.
    Reid laughed, and Ty saw him sit down out of the corner of his eye. "Ari wants to make sure you don't drown," Reid told him cheerfully, sounding far too pleased with himself. "And we can't have you wandering around lost in the woods."
    Ty snorted and tried to work his fingers through the tangles snarling his hair. Giving it up after a minute—perhaps he should just cut it, though a proper bath and an oil treatment might set it to rights—Ty scrambled out of the freezing water and up onto the bank.
    Ignoring Reid's blatant staring, Ty quickly toweled off, nearly falling over a few times when he tried to move in a way his muscles didn't want to go. Reid didn't move from his lazy sprawl, forcing Ty to cross over to where he was sitting to get the fresh clothing.
    Ty did his best to ignore the mage, tugging on the new clothing awkwardly. It was slightly too big, but not as big as Ty had expected. It also smelled strongly of horse, but that wasn't surprising. Everything smelled of horse. Even the soap.
    "Where are we going?" Ty asked as he tugged on the shirt.
    "Melari," Reid answered after a moment. Ty nodded, collecting his discarded prison-issue clothes.
    Melari made sense. It was out of the country, past the closest border, and much more tolerant of mages. There were rumors they actually taught magic to anyone who wanted to learn.
    "Is that where the Vasijile are based?" Ty asked curiously, waiting as Reid climbed to his feet a bit stiffly.
    "Perhaps," Reid replied vaguely, which Ty couldn't really fault him for. The Vasijile were highly sought after by the King's Mages (and therefore, the king). Ty could probably buy his way into the ranks of the King's Mages by delivering Reid, Ari, and Caj.
    Except he hadn't been jailed for a magical infarction, so perhaps he could simply return to his jail cell instead of being summarily executed.
    "It's a three week trip?" Ty asked, trying