Just when Eva was on the cusp of giving up on getting any answer at all more than a glare from Jasper, the woman spoke up a reply. The islander wasn't sure what surprised her more: whether she was actually sad that there really was a time they wouldn't see each other anymore, or surprised for the fact that Jasper spoke without hesitation about her dragon's intuition being so wrong. Was there something wrong with her that didn't make he a good mate? The feeling of inadequacy for Eva was a foreign one and didn't settle happily between her ego and confidence. She was also reminded this journey was a temporary one and somehow managed to feel upset about it being so. Just why would she care? Of course, she currently cared about her company because they were needed and having someone along she could actually touch was a heavenly added bonus, but was there something sparked under all that that might of been the root to this sudden sadness she felt? The islander sighed softly and leaned herself against one of the trees for a brief rest. Her head was starting to spin and she could feel her vision slowly doubling on her. Was that why she was so hellbent on having all these paltry emotions? They<i>were</i>halfway to the cave by now, so if she was starting to get a fever, now would be about the time. She'd be no good to Jasper in that woman's weakened state if she was weakened as well. She needed to find a place to cool down, and soon.<br/><br/>She'd been focusing so hard on their surroundings and trying to case out a stream or river nearby that when Jasper finally decided to burst the silence with her question, Eva was only able to hear part of it. "Mmmn? Ya, Jaspah. Aye'd show ya in da book, baht'ja can't read it! Ya jus' gonna hafta trust meh on dis..." Eva let that bit sink in a little to her partner, perhaps being somewhat harsher than normal as she now had her own reasons for wanting the trip to to the cave to be much shorter.<br/><br/>It wasn't until a little later in the journey, with a mouth full of beef jerky that Jasper asked the islander more about the book. Eva's face was already partially flushed from the fever slowly boiling away inside her body, but her cheeks managed to get a few tints even darker at the questions. It wasn't the questions themselves that seeked to embarrass Eva so, but rather the answers themselves. She'd found a particularly juicy detail about Jasper's unique genitalia that she had long since decided she was taking to the grave; or if a situation arise where she wanted to take the dragon rider's breath away. The compound of the heat getting to her as well as the burdensome sadness she felt at their inevitable parting,<i>and</i>the utter confusion<i>at</i>that feeling had the islander swaying softly in place. Eventually, she found a tree to lean against and signaled Jasper to stop with a few waves of her hand while she still had the woman's attention. Her face was seriously flushed at this point with her lips parted, letting the continuous shifts of air in and out of her damaged lungs in a capacity her nose just couldn't handle anymore. Her symptoms might of been a little easier to spot had she been a normal human and actually sweat; instead, the sweat evaporated immediately, leaving a thin cloud vapor about her person. She shrugged the pack off her shoulders, grimacing a little bit when the sound it uttered hitting the forest floor made a much heavier thud than she'd hoped for. Having just wanted to carry her own weight, despite being injured, she'd hoped it would go unnoticed. In the meantime, she panted softly and gestured somewhere to her right. "First rivah.... aye seen all day. Aye need ta take a dip and regulate mai self." She panted softly, leaning her head back against the tree a moment. The longer she stayed like that, the more the predator in Jasper would see her as prey, or something easy for the taking. She couldn't have that.<i>Wouldn't</i>have that. Eva pointed as sternly at Jasper as she could, though it still faltered weakly towards the end. "Stay. Aye'll be back." The islander, now free of her pack and hopefully her company as well, made her way off to the river she'd heard a few minutes ago.<br/><br/>By the time she finally reached the water's edge, she was leaning against one of the trees, heavily panting and staring at the water rushing by. The current wasn't too strong, but she was also weaker than normal. When the tree she leaned against started to char and burn under her weight, she knew it didn't matter anymore and she just needed to cool down. Staying to the more shallow of the waters after having stripped of her clothes, she knelt down in the water and whimpered softly. It felt amazing, but hurt at the same time because she'd waited so long. Her head was pounding and the water around her was threatening to boil and burn away. The islander refused to move further into the water for fear of being rushed away by the current, so instead she stayed to the shallows and waited for the water to calm her as her double vision played tricks on her with the surrounding environment. "Dis be bad, mon..." she muttered to herself, "Bombaclad fer waitin' sah long...."