Act 2

It's the next day, Auun and Kishay rode all through the night, the storm is clearing in favour of more agreeable weather. They are resting in the middle of nowhere, they had to stop not only to think about what to do, but also because Eizarel is near collapsing.
They devise a plan with one of Auun's maps to go to to the redwoods where Kishay would ask for protection and asylum from the Redwood Elves and Auun would take the fastest way to the south and then back to Drifeyer. He shouldn't be going back the way he came because ppl are probably looking for him as well. Auun isn't keen on visiting the Redwood Elves bc negative reputation.
Auun asks Kishay why he didn't just go to the Redwoods in the first place instead of barely surviving out in the wild but Kishay doesn't answer.
Auun generally starts asking Kishay a shitload of personal questions and Kishay gets more and more irritated by it.

We see another excrept of their journey, about a week later. Auun has come to the conclusion that he dislikes Kishay and gives us all the reasons why. He is starting to wonder why he even made such a fuss about finding him in the first place.
Kishay in turn positively hates Auun and still largely ignores him. Kishay is also still injured which is slowing them down and Auun's dreams are getting worse, the medicine doesn't seem to help anymore.
Maybe establish the sky whales as a moment where they both just marvel at it, because sky whales are rare. (Setup for Jaaf's escape later).
Then there is a scene again where they're resting and it looks like they're about to get attacked again but this time it's a false alarm. (Keep this chapter relatively short because there isn't much happening, except for some more characterisation.)

Auun and Kishay have been staying with the nomads for a few days. They gave Kishay a horse to ride with them, but the nomads aren't in too much of a hurry and not all of them can ride that fast, also they have a lot of baggage to carry and some of them are even on foot. Kishay's wounds were also treated, but Auun still has the dream problem.
Here would also be a good opportunity to highlight the differences between elvish and human culture, but since we're viewing the story through an elvish lens, the humans are gonna be the weirdos here.
Then Auun and Kishay get attacked again in the middle of the Nomads (by a bird person from above), and because they don't want to pull the nomads into this, they decide to part from them and take a detour through the eerie fen in the hopes of losing any of the remaining persuers they might still have.
The Nomads are horrified at that idea and try to keep them from going through the fen, but Auun and Kishay agree for once and thus the nomads give Kishay the horse as a parting gift.

Auun and Kishay enter the eerie fen and Auun's sense that something is wrong instantly skyrockets. This is so, so much worse than the fog devourer they just left behind and the magic in his blood is singing. It's so bad indeed that he tells Kishay about it. Kishay agrees that something seems off, but he also knows that they need to keep going. The fen is a weird place, of course, it's a wetland but there is also some weird type of smoke/fog hovering over the ground, a rotten smell coming from it. The water is dark, almost black and you can't see what's on the ground. They decide not to step into the water at any cost. There is high growing grass and trees with grey leaves that hinder their view even more and their voices also strangely echo when they speak. There are strange plants (some of them carnivorous) and strange animal sounds, as well as some whispers in the air. When night falls, there are strange lights floating through the air. And voices that sing, almost like siren songs (except that sirens don't exist in this world).
Auun is getting more and more delirious by itand the magic still coursing through his veins, and Kishay is generally terrified. The fen is kind of playing with their psyche. They wander around, not knowing if they're still on the right path, daybreak comes again but not much changes.
They spend two days like this, but on the third day, when they think they might have almost reached the end of the fen, they walk right into the nest? of a horrible creature that dwells in the fen. It feeds on memories, stories and life experiences, because it's bound to the fen and can't leave. In a way it's a really creepy escapist.
The beast singles out Kishay and captures him, starting to drain his life energy. The beast doesn't just consume the memories or stories and whatnot, it also sucks out the life and everything that makes someone who they are, to absorb as much otherness as possible. Also the beast singled out Kishay because he has started hollowing out already, which means easier access.
Kishay being powerless in the situation, snaps Auun to attention and he is trying to help Kishay because even though he doesn't like him, Kishay is Drifeyer's and his only chance.
The beast can speak, maybe via telepathy? and Auun tries to strike a deal with it. The beast somehow discovers Auun's storybook and demands it in exchange for Kishay's life. Auun, delirious as he already is, is in a moral quandry, because his storybook is his most valued possession and he doesn't want to give it up, in a way it's his life (which is also why the beast chose it), but he knows that he has to safe Kishay and thus he agrees with the deal.
The beast gets the book and consumes it somehow, but in the end the book is still there but all the pages are empty.
Kishay is released too and even though he took damage, it's not life threatening or anything. The beast retreats into the waters of the fen. Auun, devastated, goes to pick up his now empty book and suddenly falls to the floor. He becomes unresponsive and goes completely still, except for some shallow breathing.

Auun comes to not knowing where he is. He feels that there is something strange going on when he realizes that Kishay is in the room. Auun wants to know what happened and Kishay explains that they are biund together until the rune wears off. Auun isn't too fond of the soul bond but thanks Kishay for saving his life anyways. They then test the bond to see what exactly it entails and realize that the bond is more profound than they had thought. They can feel the other's feelings (not all the time, it's usually more like a generally positive or negative undercurrent, but when their emotions are strong, the other feels them too), they can catch flashes of the other's thoughts sometimes and maybe they can even send each other messages, but it's not like telepathy exctly, it's a lot more like conveying a certain vibe^tm to the other who then instinctively knows what the sender meant and they sometimes catch fragments of each others' dreams. They also can't stray too far away from each other. Auun is still weak and can't leave bed for a few more days and Kishay is healing from the attack of the beast and the physical injuries he sustained in previous fights. The two agree to stay in the redwoods for a while to get used to the bond and to heal from their injuries. This chapter mainly serves as exposition to show the reader what the bond is and how it works, as well as the adjustments they need to make to accomodate each other. They need to learn to put mental barriers in place etc.