The Lowroad

Commander Charlie Wildingmonte considered himself to be very patient and disciplined. However, with these drunken elves, thought with a sneer,  coming on the heels of the aggravating Hero trying to 'make amends' and prove he 'was not actually bad guy' the controlled thing to do was to punch the elf not the Hero, right? So when the drunken elf threw the first punch, Charlie felt perfectly justified during the next 14....

Shiro tried, he really did, to take stock of the elves approaching him and Charlie. Drunk enough to pick a fight, apparently racist enough to do it in full military garb. At least Shiro thought it was military due to it being similar to what he had seen during the Dawnwall fight and well their comments referencing the same fight. All his attempts were futile though as in the time it took him to turn around and make these observations the elf who had spoken launched a fist at Charlie's head. It never connected as Charlie grabbed it and added extra force to send the aggressor over the bar.

In the next instant Charlie was showing off why he is the youngest Knight Commander of the Holy Kingdom, as the other two combatants attempted to reach Shiro they instead found a flurry of elbows and fists greeting their noses, stomachs and temples. One hit the floor cold, the second tried to back away only to trip over a chair. The one who tripped attempted to scramble backward as Charlie timed a stomped to intersect with the kneecap of an outstretched leg. As the Elf screamed, Charlie loomed over his victim with a malicious grin. Shiro tackled Charlie form behind "Not like this Charlie, please we need to get out of here." He pleads. Charlie is all to glad to turn on Shiro.

A icy water douses the both of them and they turn as one to find the source.
Leopold stands nearby, another magical blast of water readied on his hands "As much fun as it would be to watch you two kill each other we have to run!" He shouts, the rest of the party appearing down the steps with gear bags hastily packed, the sound of the local peace keepers in the distance. Lily hands Shiro his pack while someone else hand Charlie his and out the door into the night they go.

Despite the speed of their exit the escape goes down hill fast.
Firstly this tiny village is on the high road and as such is nestled in the canopy of ancient trees hundreds of feet above the forest floor. (despite knowing the height there had been several times the group had noticed something large enough to rustle the leaves a few feet below the walk ways on their way in.) Meaning, they were confined to the streets limiting their possible vectors.
Secondly, the elves could fly.

Shiro had seen some of the Elven mounts before at Dawnwall and, since they had not been flying at the time, he had assumed that the feathers on them were war decorations. The elves yelled orders to surrender as their beasts kept alongside the rope bridge the group was running along. Charlie barked a command that Shiro could not quite make out and Francis hurled several gleaming daggers at the heart of the rider to the right of the bridge.

Time flowed to a crawl for Shiro as he watched one of the daggers glance off a rope that was suddenly between it and its target, the the great flying beast bank placing its belly between the attack and its rider. It screeched in pain and crashed into the bridge with flailing panic, razor sharp beak and claws slashing ropes and splintering boards.

The bridge unraveled around them and with his final thought before blackness Shiro hoped for Lily's safety and wondered where that music was coming from.

      Sometime later 
Everything hurt and it was dark

Shiro faded into a memory as the night sounds of the forest merged with those of another time:

'Another circus for me to be the star attraction of' Shiro thinks to herself as dad trots around and gloats 'we cannot even take family vacation without them making it a big spectacle'

For their kid's joint birthday party this year the parents had opted to do a family camping trip, continue the pattern of every day where Shiro was expected to fill out the dreams of her parents.
Tonight that included Father's dream of being a virulent outdoors-man, any other a time it would be Mother and father's joint dream of the highest levels of academic achievement. 
   Only Shiro could hear under the gushing of parents to complete strangers the sounds of his sister's sobs mingling with the calls of cicada

Shiro bolted aware this time, a dim barely light filtered diffusely around him, Lily was crying beside him. He did not ache as bad he expected having fallen who know how far for how long and assumed that Lily must be to thank for that. "Thank you Lily' he says genuinely 'I don't know if either of us could have survived that fall without your healing at the bottom." Lily pauses her crying while Shiro speaks but at his last words chokes on a sob and turns away from him as she tries to compose herself. "Hey' he says gently coming closer but not crossing in front of her just yet 'whats wrong?" 

After a moment of anguished debate Lily moves he left hand from where it had been grasping her right bicep, underneath were two things that took Shiro's breath away. Most obviously was that the bone was clearly broken and she had been holding it in place the best she could. Then he noticed the hand print, at first the blue and purple looked like a bruise, until he noticed that the purple had a glow about it. Figuring questions could wait till later he set about moving slowly around to find something with which to make a splint. two branches nearby did the trick nicely and he finished it of with his own belt. That done they sat and held each other, for all intents the only people alive.

Lily quickly fell asleep and Shiro sat in thought, with the half light he could not be aware of time's passage. He considered their flight from the inn and bar, trying to piece together an idea of if he should be expecting the Commander and others to come looking for them, and if they did not would the elves risk a search team for a group of drunk and disorderly humans?
Had Lily been distressed at the hand print or the broken bone? As he looked at the parts of the print he could see under the splint he decided to shrug it off, if Lily knew what it was about she would tell him upon waking. If not, well there was no one around who they could ask no was there?

Now his thoughts turned towards what to do next. Since there was no guarantee that the Elves would come looking for them, and if the Commander and the rest were not down here already they were most likely captured.

That meant Shiro and Lily were on their own. Leaving three options
Try to climb back up to the highroad, a dangerous proposition even without Lily's broken arm.

Set up a camp either here or some place they might be able to fortify
Attempt to hike in one direction, hoping that they did not walk into something worse or, with how diffused the light is, end up walking in circles forever.

As Shiro traced these ideas over and over he started to hum a little song from his world about a firefly.

Looking back he never could tell when he noticed that the light descending the trees was not a firefly, but by the time it reached the ground he had Lily awake and was ready to defend her with what strength he had left.

He was much relived to recognize the light source before it got within striking distance.