Savil had honestly not thought about whether tentacles would be good for hugs, but she supposes it makes sense.

With pets, Vanyel manages to sleep until almost noon – he was apparently pretty behind. They're definitely not going to make the rest of the journey in one leg, at this point. 

Oh Well, sometimes you do what you need to do. She read somewhere that humans need sleep like they need food and food is not a matter to fuck around with. 

Vanyel does seem to be in a better mood than the day before when they set out, although he's pretty tense. 

Lucy spends much of the day's journey quietly sympathizing with Yfandes over the difficulties of a horse body in taking care of a Vanyel. 

There's no convenient town, or farm, so they're going to have to camp off the side of the road again. Savil does manage to scout out a nice little meadow with a stream nearby, and she can cast a weather-barrier spell, which keeps it a nice temperature for sleeping and will hold off dew and rain. 

Conveniently they've covered more than half the total distance that they were planning to originally, so tomorrow will be a short leg. A couple of candlemarks on the road, which according to Savil's past experience on circuit gets busy around the harvest, but is currently quiet enough that Savil feels comfortable with Lucy spending most of it in her big form and only switching to human if her Thoughtsensing detects someone coming. Then a few more down a dirt side track much like the one they came up through, and they'll be there. 

Vanyel seems kind of terrified at the prospect. 

Lucy is careful not to leave tracks so obvious people are definitely going to be like, "A giant thing came this way and we should be alarmed." 

Vanyel's fear is pretty reasonable. She'd have all the butterflies in her stomach if she was headed to Dunwich to get Mom back. 

Since they're sleeping out in the open, Vanyel curls up against Yfandes. He's going to wake up with a sore neck if he sleeps in that position, but he definitely wants to be near her. 

Eventually he glances hopefully at Lucy. 

Lucy cuddles up on the other side of Yfandes. It turns out her tentacles are long enough to hug both Herald and Companion very comfortably. 

Maybe being snuggled by invisible tentacles ought to be weird, but it lets him wiggle into a much more comfortable position while still touching Yfandes, and it's not like anything else has been normal ever since the Thing happened, so...it's fine, it's good, and he manages to sleep remarkably well given how terrifying it is to be approaching the place where (the things he doesn't want to think about) happened. 

It is Lucy's opinion that Many tentacles are much snugglier than just two human arms. It would be valid for Vanyel to be weirded out anyway but she is glad he is not. 

She's safe with these people. She's happy with these people. She is going to solve the thing Vanyel doesn't want to think about and then things will be okay, in this little tiny corner of the world if not in general. 

In the morning, Savil doesn't seem to be particularly in a hurry to leave either. She packs up very slowly and carefully, her face unreadable. 

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Just," Savil glances away, "it's not going to be easy, seeing the place again. It's got to be a hundred times worse for Van." 

"Oh. Yeah, I bet. Um. This is probably a dumb question, but, would it help if you wore a blindfold." 

"Huh. Thank you for the suggestion." She thinks for a moment. "I don't think it would for me. I hate not being able to see what's going on. And, well, I can grit my teeth and manage. Anticipating it is probably worse than the actual thing. But it does give me an idea. It might help Van if you were to carry him. He's not going to keep his eyes closed on Yfandes, but someone who can eat wyrsa for breakfast..." 

"Okay!" 

She looks for Vanyel. 

"Vanyel? Savil had an idea. She said being where it happened would be hard for her and I said maybe it was a dumb idea but would a blindfold help and she said not for her but since I can eat wyrsa no problem, she said maybe it would be better if you rode me instead of Yfandes and didn't look." 

Vanyel, who had been busy washing up quickly in the stream, freezes. It takes him a while to answer and when he does it's in Mindspeech. :Maybe. I'm scared I won't be able to make myself actually...go there. But I don't want to get left behind either: 

"And if I wrap my tentacles all around you so you can't be seen except through them then you'll be invisible too and nobody can try to talk to you. I don't know why that's how it works but it is, like how you can see stuff I'm eating in this shape until my mouth closes. And you can just lie down and get hugs and not have to deal with things and not get left behind." 

"All right." Vanyel would have been way too embarrassed to ask for that, it's a stupid thing to need, but it does seem much easier than having to ride in and wait for the scenery to start looking familiar. 

Lucy helps him climb up her side and then snuggles him invisible. There are a lot of tentacles involved, and she's careful not to hug him so tight as to be restraining, and puts enough layers around his head that he's still invisible but there are gaps so he doesn't have trouble breathing or anything. 

...Then it occurs to her to tell Savil. She walks over, her many-legged gait smoother than a carriage or a horse. 

"Savil? I thought you should know so you don't worry, I've got Vanyel all snuggled up and when I'm covering something or someone up completely they're invisible too, like how it works when I eat, except I need to find a better metaphor because I keep thinking that one sounds threatening."

"Goodness, yes, that isn't the best metaphor. But thank you." She frowns. "It'll make it awkward to turn human again if someone's coming, when you've just gotten him cozy in there. Suppose maybe you can put your brother down and duck against the side of the road and we'll stick by you so no one runs into you. They can't actually see you." 

They depart. 

Wilbur rides more on Lucy's side than her top for easier disembarking in case of witnesses. 

It's really quiet. They only pass one traveler, on horseback and in a hurry, before Savil stops and double-checks her map. "I think this is where we turn off?" It's a narrow rutted dirt track that vanishes off into the woods. 

Vanyel, who can still hear their voices just fine, tenses up involuntarily.