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Chapter II Prayers

-AIDEN-

My nose was bleeding, I had bruises on my chest and both arms, not to mention I think two broken ribs, and I didn't even know how fucked up my back was but I was hurting like a mother bitch, blood staining my orange and white fur. I guess that'll happen when you get into a fight with a guy twice your own size.

I limped up the steps onto my front porch and sat down with my back leaning against the entryway door, wiping my gross nasal blood on the porch rug.

"Wow, you look a mess." A small pink dog spoke to me with a soft feminine voice from the porch swing and I caught the distinct smell of sunflowers off her.

"Clearly I suffered more head trauma than I realized, because you are a talking dog." Which surprised me, I could've sworn my head actually made it out of that scrape in one piece. "And get off my porch swing!"

"Your head is fine Aiden, and you don't live here." She drolly remarked. She had a point, maybe it wasn't 'my' house per se, maybe it was some random nobody's house and I just needed to sit down cuz I was feeling lightheaded. "My name is Vatra by the way, pleased to meet you." She jumped off the swing and did a little bow.

"Well good for you," I tilted my head up to see if I could stop the blood from coming out but it just felt like it was going into my brain "but I don't care."

It bugged me that the dog knew my name, and normally that would've made me curious and/or angry, but I had other things on my mind at the time, like stopping all the blood from leaking out of my head.

The dog scowled at me for a moment and I glared back at it, hoping to intimidate it into leaving me alone. I realize in retrospect that I was accepting the 'talking dog' thing way too easily.

It let out a sigh and walked toward me, putting its paw on my leg. Before I could protest, a pink light shone from the dog's paw and all my injuries were gone, I didn't feel any pain at all, in fact I felt better than I had all day.

I sat there for a moment in stunned silence, Vatra grinning back at me.

"Alright fine, dog. You have my attention." I was trying to act unimpressed, but I'm pretty sure she saw right through it.

"Thank you." She bowed her head. "Care to tell me what happened to you first?"

I thought about it for a moment and decided no, I really didn't want to tell her. I had gotten into a fight that I really should've known not to get into, but when you walk in on your girlfriend in bed with another man all sense of logical reasoning kinda goes out the window.

"Fair enough." Vatra waited a few moments for me to say something before speaking again. "I'll be brief, you don't strike me as the type to have a very long attention span."

"Huh?" She was kind of annoying me, I thought I'd return the favor. Judging by her face and the growl I heard her make under her breath, I'd say I succeeded, which made me chuckle.

"I want you to leave this place and go to Caldera." She regained her ethereal demeanor pretty quickly.

"Oh, is that all?" I grumbled. Caldera was a day's cart ride away from here, plus it's the home to the Disciples of Strength, who I had no desire to associate with.

"Yes. When you head to the cart stop here, you will find two other Fionbri who will travel there with you." She sounded so confident, like she already knew my decision before I made it.

"I never said I was gonna go." I growled.

"Alright then Aiden, stay here with your girlfriend." She glared at me with a bemused look on her face.

Wow, what a bit-

Wait a tick.

Did she know about my girl problems? Nah, there's no way. It's not like she can read minds or anything! ...right? But then how did she know my name, was she watching me? Either way, it made me slightly nervous and really agitated.

"What exactly do you know about my girl-person?" Before I finished speaking she was headed down the steps. "Hey wait!"

"Just meet me and my companions at the cart stop Aiden." With that she disappeared in a flash of pink flame.

I fell back onto the ground as the door I was leaning against opened and stared up at a lovely serval woman who I presumed to be the owner of the house.

"What the hell are you doing on my property?" She yelled as I got back up on my feet.

"I'm sorry, miss." I smiled and gave a polite bow. "I didn't mean to trespass, I just needed to rest a moment."

Before she could continue her indignant ranting, I gently took her hand.

"And if I hadn't, I would never have been able to see how beautiful you are." I smiled and looked into the woman's eyes, making her blush and coyly withdraw her hand.

"Well, I guess I can forgive you this once." She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and looked away from me as she spoke.

Good sign.

"Would you perhaps like to come in for something to drink?"

Even better sign.

"That would be lovely, thank you." I bowed again and the woman motioned me inside, my curly, fluffy tail brushing up against her leg as I walked into her house.

I made eye contact with her again as she closed the door, seeing in her eyes an eagerness to know more about this charming stranger who entered her home, and a loneliness, perhaps caused by a recent breakup.

I smiled at her and she returned the gesture. I knew this was going to be a very... productive afternoon.

-AUGUST-

There had been naught but silence since we had gotten on the cart that would take us to our first stop, Ayns, a wholly unremarkable town as far as I was aware, and I could tell Noble was starting to get uncomfortable with it, so I decided I would speak up, just ramble about whatever thought I had on my mind right then.

"When I was little, my parents and I would travel in carts like this." The wooden, horse drawn cart we were in was covered by a tarp but there was a small window in the back that I looked out of. "We traveled in carts by land and we traveled at sea sometimes. But I would always get sick and sometimes I would throw up on my dad."

I didn't really even know why I was talking, I don't know if Noble was even listening but I'm sure he was.

"I haven't traveled like this since I was six years old." I continued. I stayed silent for a few moments before Noble began speaking.

"Were you and your parents close?"

I nodded. I didn't turn around to see him, but I could tell Noble wanted to say something else but was afraid to ask.

"My mom died. Dad ran off around the same time, haven't seen him since."

"I see." Noble's voice sounded cold, as if he had felt my loss himself.

"Doesn't really matter to me though." Brilliant strategy August, cover your emotions with obvious lies!

"What happened to you after your parents... left?"

"I was taken in by my mom's brother and his family." I clenched my fists as my anger started to build. "I don't really want to talk about them."

"Fair enough." Noble spoke quietly, like he could barely talk.

There were several long minutes of silence afterward. It felt like an hour had passed, but I enjoyed staring at the landscape around us so it didn't bother me all that much. Noble let out a weary sigh.

"We're going to have a fun journey," He grumbled under his breath "I can tell."

I have to admit, that made me laugh.

-PHENIX-

The sun was starting to set and we were about fifteen to twenty minutes away from the cart stop.

"Hey, North." I was staring at a small grove of trees sitting atop a hill a short distance away from the grassy plain we were standing on. Something in there was calling out to me and I figured we'd still have about an hour before it actually got dark. "I'm gonna go into those trees for a moment."

"Why?" North had finished cleaning up after our lunch and was dusting himself off, trying to wipe the grass stains from his knees.

"I dunno, I just feel like I should go in there." I shrugged and smiled at my companion. "Besides, I like nature."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Yeah. We're a fair distance away from the Ravaged Lands, and I have my sword and this thing." I showed him the bracelet I was wearing. It was comprised of several silver beads with a red runic symbol on each.

"Great, so you're going to cause a forest fire?" North stuck out his tongue teasingly.

The bracelet allowed me to use fire magic at will using my spiritual energy, without having to draw new runes on the ground or an object as most magic-users have to. North had a similar bracelet, but I didn't recognize the symbols on it.

"No, I don't think it'll be dangerous in there anyway." I tried to give him the most innocent smile I could muster, I was taking a page out of Vatra's book.

"Fine. If you really feel it's important, you should go." North sighed as he finally relented. "I'm going to pray here for a few minutes, when I'm done I'll come get you and we'll head to the cart stop."

I nodded and smiled at him before running off toward the grove. I looked back to see North getting on his knees to pray, which was funny to me because he just dusted his knees off.

He was curious in that respect, about his praying I mean, not many worshipped any sort of deity anymore. Not only did North pray and worship, he was so open and forward about it, he even wore his god's holy symbol around his neck.

I shrugged it off as I entered the grove, North's faith was endearing for the most part but I personally didn't believe in his god.

I looked around inside the grove to see if I could find what exactly was calling me here. It wasn't a very strong feeling, but even so I still enjoyed being around the trees. We green Fionbri are called to nature, it's just a part of who we are I guess.

I sat down with my back to a particularly large tree, looking around and absorbing the sights of nature, the large, majestic dark brown and grayish black trees with dark green leaves, looking up I saw a pair of red birds in one of the trees. I breathed in and caught the smells of tree bark, leaves and the various flowers that surrounded me, a splendid scent I could have been around all day. I started listening to the chirping of birds and the pitter-patter of squirrels and other small animals running around collecting food.

I closed my eyes and focused on my other senses, and started to hear an odd sound in the distance. I tried to concentrate on just that sound, and as it got closer and closer I could smell a potent scent, a mixture of grass, wet and freshly cut, and flower buds.

After turning my attention back to the sound itself I was able to place it. It was footsteps, and they were approaching fast.

I opened my eyes and jumped to my feet, I didn't expect trouble but I wanted to be ready in case there was any. Whatever was causing this person to run so fast couldn't have been good.

I started to see a figure in the distance, moving through the thick bushes and trees with no effort at all, almost dancing through the forest with catlike agility and grace. And what do you know, it was a cat. Or at least, mostly cat. It was a feline Fionbri.

Feline Fionbri weren't terribly common, although they weren't unheard of and I'd never seen one before. Curiously, instead of being several different colors like most of our kind, she was three shades of just one. Green.

She stood completely nude, allowing me to see her colors in their entirety. But I wasn't staring or anything, I just noticed is all! Her primary coat was close to a midnight green, it covered most of her body save for her chest and hands. Her secondary coat was viridian in color and her markings neon green. She had a very slender frame and a petite waist that stood out mainly because of how wide her hips were in comparison, and a fluffy mane around her neck.

"Hello there!" I waved politely as she ran frantically into sight.

She let out a loud squeal and lost her balance in her surprise, tripping on a gnarled tree root along the ground and falling face first onto the dirt with her rear end in plain view, causing me to blush and avert my eyes.

"Hi, I'm Elin!" She bounced up from the ground and onto her feet with remarkable ease, two inches from my face. "What's your name?" Her bright green eyes were practically bursting with energy and joy.

"Uh... Phenix." I backed up a few steps and looked to my right, not wanting to gaze at her body and give the wrong impression.

"What're we looking at?" She quickly closed the distance and put her arm around my shoulder, pressing her body against mine and turning to face the direction I was looking.

"U-um, n-nothing." I squirmed away from her and tripped on a tree root behind me, falling over onto my back.

"Y'know," Elin pounced on top of me, pinning me to the ground and grinning, the skin under my fur turned bright red but I was hoping she didn't notice "if I didn't know any better, I could make a great wood pun right about now." On second thought, I would've rather had her notice the blushing instead.

"Who's your friend, Phenix?" North gave me a teasing smile as he came through the foliage and saw me underneath Elin.

"My name's Elin!" She hopped off of me and went to greet North, merrily shaking his hand.

"It's nice to meet you." North seemed rather nonchalant about Elin's nudity.

"U-um, Elin?" Her back was turned to me now, so I decided it would be better if I just turned around and faced the other way.

"Yeeees?" She snuck up behind me and tried to wrap her arms around me, I just barely managed to evade her.

"Why are you naked?" I started scratching the bark of a tree to keep my mind occupied on something other than the aforementioned nudity.

In lieu of an answer, she just decided to jump on me and demand a piggyback ride. I yelled in shock and started running further into the grove trying to shake her off, but she was pretty firmly attached.

"You're funny." She laughed as I finally stopped running. "I like you!"

"Please get off me." My ears drooped, although I was kinda glad that she liked me.

"Sorry, all I heard was 'get off'!" She giggled.

"Really? What I heard was 'back into a tree repeatedly'." My snarky tone and remark made her laugh more, but she got my point and dropped off me.

North, moving leafy branches out of his path, caught up with me and Elin, the gleeful catgirl waved and gave him a big smile.

"Come on Phenix, we need to get going. It's gonna get dark soon." North said.

"Alright, I'm coming." As I walked past Elin I saw her ears droop down and her tail fall limply to the ground. "Elin, does anyone else live in this grove?"

"Nope." Her normally cheerful voice sounded cold. "Just me." She'd clearly been alone for a long time, me and North were probably the first visitors she'd had in a while. I could tell what she wanted but I knew she wasn't going to ask.

I looked over to North and he nodded, he'd come to the same conclusion.

Just as I was about to ask her if she'd like to come with us, two wolf men dressed in armor came through the brush. Their armor was dark silver with hints of green, the emblem on their chests resembled an ornate shield. They were members of the Disciples of Justice.

"Thief!" One of them yelled, Elin's ears shot straight up and the fur on her tail frizzed. She jumped behind me and pushed me toward the two men.

"What, uh, seems to be the problem here?" I asked nervously, still trying to figure out what was going on. I looked to North behind me, he took a step closer to Elin but didn't say or do anything else.

"This girl stole rations from the Disciples of Justice!" The man yelled, pointing at Elin, his companion was clearly even more enraged than he was.

"Is this true?" North's voice was almost completely devoid of emotion as he spoke, putting his hand on Elin's shoulder.

Elin nodded and whimpered in response.

"Then take her." North shoved Elin in front of me, one of the Disciples forcefully grabbed her forearm causing her to cry out.

"North, what the hell?!" I couldn't believe my friend would be that cruel, especially to a poor girl.

"She committed a crime, Phenix. She needs to be punished." North shrugged, his statement was met with agreement and thanks from the two men, who turned to walk away, dragging a struggling Elin with them.

"Wait!" I stepped forward and grabbed Elin's wrist gently, the two men stopped and turned around. "What are you going to do with her?"

"All crimes are equal, they are met with the same punishment." The man holding Elin yanked her arm, causing her to yelp and me to lose my grip on her.

"We're going to kill her." The other man said, clearly looking forward to inflicting his twisted punishment.

"That's insane!" I was starting to get enraged. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"My friend is right." North stepped up beside me, and I was relieved that he was finally taking my side. "All she did was steal, you should just cut a few of her fingers off." I smacked my forehead with my palm.

"Thank you, North, for all of your help." I sighed and gave North an aside glare before turning my attention back to the two men. "Look, this girl is my responsibility and I am not going to let you hurt her." I rarely got angry, but these men and especially North's reluctance to help were pushing me to my limit.

The two wolves looked surprised by my sudden change in demeanor, they took a step back and the one let go of Elin's arm. Elin subsequently darted behind my back, staying behind me but as far away from North as she could.

"You would defend a criminal against the Disciples of Justice?!" The first man stepped forward again. "That too is a crime worthy of death!"

The two men drew their blades, Elin quickly swept the second man's legs from under him and caused him to fall to the ground, the other's sword was met with my own before it could touch her.

"Surrender." I would not give these men another chance, if they intended to hurt someone that I was protecting I would not show them any mercy.

"You dare-" The man's statement was interrupted by Elin biting into the unarmored backside of his leg, causing him to let out a bloodcurdling scream.

He turned around to drive his blade into Elin's skull but it was stopped by North's sword. I was glad that North was still on my side, I half expected him to turn on us when the blades were drawn.

"My friend is right." North said. "You have no chance of winning this battle."

The other man rose to his feet, cursing and threatening to kill us before I put my sword to his throat.

"Please be quiet." The man happily obliged my request.

North and I took a few steps back and allowed the men to retreat back into the woods, Elin sticking her tongue out at them as they ran.

"That was really awesome you guys!" Elin happily jumped up and down before North pointed his sword at her neck, Elin freezing in place with her eyes wide in shock.

"North, what are you doing?!" I stepped between him and Elin, my own sword still drawn.

"I wasn't kidding about the fingers." North refused to lower his sword. "She committed a crime, she needs some kind of punishment."

"I'm not going to let you hurt her either." I put my left arm in front of Elin as she cowered behind me.

The silent standoff between me and North only lasted a few seconds, but naturally it seemed like forever, both of us hoping the other would stand down first. But soon enough North sheathed his sword.

"What do you intend to do with her then?" He asked, clearly seething but keeping his composure.

"I want her to come with us." I grabbed Elin's hand with my free hand.

North stood there for a moment, and he didn't look happy at all. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, putting his hand over his pendant before opening them again.

"Do what you wish." He turned and walked away.

-AIDEN-

I was running down the streets of Reand heading to the cart stop and fixing my messy hair, I couldn't stand having my hair all messed up. I'd spent a little bit too long fooling around with the serval woman whose name I had already forgotten, and was late to see my friend Tel, and I knew the kid would really chew me out for being late.

Sure enough, he was waiting for me right near the entrance to the stop, arms crossed and wearing an expression that was somewhere between 'death glare' and 'childish pout'.

Tel was a good friend of mine, almost like a little brother and he kinda looked the part too. Both our front coats were white, with his light orange marking colors contrasting my reddish orange and his sky blue second coat beautifully complimenting my stunning yellow-orange fur, not to mention his long fluffy tail was something of a babe magnet.

He had a cute, innocent charm that most ladies would swoon over and between that and my debonair allure the two of us would make a fantastic lady killing duo. Plus he smelled like mint, peaches and cream. Who could resist a boy who smells like candy? Then again, only other Fionbri notice the scent of our kind so it's not that much of a boon.

"You're late, Aiden!" Tel yelled at me, weakly hitting my arm with his small fist.

"Sorry, I was..." I grinned, recoiling from his onslaught of tiny power. "Preoccupied."

"Ugh, were you with that Matilda girl again?" Tel groaned, crossing his arms again. "I can't believe you blew me off for her again! I'm telling you she's really mean! And shifty!"

"I know." I scowled, shifting uncomfortably. "You were right, she was cheating on me." I never liked admitting other people were right.

"Oh." Tel's ears drooped and his fiery temperament was lost to a more apologetic stance. "I'm really sorry Aiden."

"Meh, don't be." I shrugged. "That relationship ran its course, I had fun." I smiled, gently stroking the fur on Tel's face. In truth her cheating on me wasn't what made me angry at her, it was just that she cheated on me first that bugged me. Getting the shit beaten out of me by her new boyfriend didn't help matters, although the thought did briefly cross my mind of how funny that man's reaction would be to the next man she had an affair with.

"You sure you're okay?" Tel hugged me. I pet the back of his head. "You seemed to really like her."

"Not any more than I like any other women." I chuckled, Tel groaned in disgust and pushed me away. "Although I did appreciate one thing she had that most women didn't, or rather two things."

"Yeah okay, forget I said anything." Tel sighed grumpily, rubbing his temples. "You kinda deserved to be cheated on."

I laughed at that, ruffling the kid's fuzzy head and putting my arm around him, pulling him close to me and making him laugh too.

"So what're you doing, kid?" I still had my arm around him, reflexively petting his forearm. "Are you still staying with me or are you going home tonight?" Tel was on his very first trip away from his hometown, his mother only letting him leave since she trusted me and we were on good terms.

"Neither actually." Tel broke away from me, practically beaming which made me slightly suspicious. "I'm going to Caldera!"

"Ah, of course. That makes sense." I stroked my muzzle, trying to appear cool, like I already knew exactly what was going on. "Actually no, what the hell?" And then I decided never mind, screw that.

"I met this cool talking feral fox and-"

"Stop right there." I put my left hand on top of Tel's muzzle. "Talking fox?" I lifted his chin up with my other hand.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I met a talking fox." Tel's innocence shone through his pretty smile like a lighthouse beacon. "She was also a Fionbri."

"Yeah..." I groaned, taking my hands off of Tel and cradling my face instead. "It's not that I don't believe you, Tel..." I sighed bitterly and closed my eyes, poking my forehead repeatedly as a force of habit. I had hoped that I would never see or hear of that fox again. "It's just... why? Why would you just do what a talking feral animal said? That's, um..." I tried to think of a kind word to use "crazy." Nailed it.

"She said you'd be coming too, so I wasn't afraid." Tel smiled again, grabbing my hands.

"Of course she did." Really, I shouldn't have even been surprised. "Well I'm not going, Tel. Why would I? Hell, why would you?" I yanked my hands away.

"Because it sounds like a lot of fun, and I've really enjoyed my time away from home." Tel's ever-present innocence was practically visible, like he saw absolutely nothing strange about the situation he was in. It was a little disturbing honestly. "How come you're not coming?" He frowned and his ears drooped again, Tel didn't exactly have much of a poker face.

"Tel, there are so many women in this town I have yet to sleep with." I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled, my sincere tone masking my inability to think of a better excuse than that one. "And I know what you're thinking, 'well there are women in Caldera too', but why would I go there when I can stay here? Plus I hear women in Caldera are ugly. Like, their faces are all busted up and such."

"I think you're just being a coward." Tel growled, shoving my arm away. It was a shockingly direct and mean spirited thing for the normally sweet kid to say and I was taken aback by it.

It made me angry that I didn't know how to respond to that, mainly because I couldn't argue.

"Listen Tel, I just don't see why I should leave my home to go on some mysterious journey with a weird stranger." I shrugged, trying to remain cool and disaffected despite my rising temper.

"Why, cuz you have no vision for your life outside the legs of random women?" Tel sneered. His sudden bitterness was actually creeping me out a bit, I'd never seen him act so cold before.

"Besides..." I growled, forcing myself to ignore that comment. "I have to take care of my mom."

"I thought you said you were scratching and clawing to get out of there?" Tel scowled, clearly getting impatient with my excuses, er, I mean reasons.

I glared back at him, staying silent. I didn't know how, but Tel had me completely figured out somehow. He was right again, I resented that I had to take care of my mother. She didn't need me, she was just using me.

"So when are you leaving anyway?" I sighed, trying to change the subject and release the rage that was building in my body, I didn't need that shit. Besides, I didn't want there to be bad blood between Tel and me when he left.

"I need to go home and pack up, then I'll come right back here and head out." Tel's voice sounded hollow as he looked down at the ground, his ears practically down to the floor. "I really want you to come with me." He looked up at me, a distraught frown on his face.

I sighed wearily, putting my hand on the kid's head. "I'll think about it." I still didn't want to go, but I didn't want to see Tel sad anymore, he was like a puppy. Literally, I guess. Canine and all.

"Thanks." Tel smiled and his ears shot up again. The prospect of me going with him really seemed to cheer him up. "I'm gonna go, please stay here 'till I come back, okay? Please?" Tel gave me a big hug.

"Yeah, yeah. I heard ya." I chuckled, ruffling the kid's head and pushing him away gently.

He gave me another big hug and then ran back to our house to pack up his shit. As I watched him run off I realized I honestly didn't want to see him leave, I'd gotten used to having the little twerp around. It didn't help that he was my only real lasting relationship.

But I didn't know what I would do out there, none of the tactics I use to survive here applied out there, I thought. Or did they? I wasn't sure, which was part of why I didn't want to leave, all the damned uncertainty. I absolutely hated that I felt this way, but I really wanted to go.

But I still wasn't sure though, I needed just one more thing to push me out the door.

-LILAC-

I was looking at myself in the mirror as I got dressed. It was really late in the day for me to be getting up, but I'd been having far too many fights with my mom to want to get up at a reasonable hour. I brushed my purple hair so that it would partially cover my left eye, I could still see of course but it looked pretty.

Well, "pretty" in a relative sense I suppose, that certainly wasn't the first word I thought of when it came to me. My figure wasn't anything impressive, my colors, white front coat surrounded by purple with bright green markings, weren't particularly appealing and who even likes neon green eyes? I always thought of myself as a very unattractive person and yet for some reason boys, and sometimes girls, were always all over me. I didn't get it.

My wardrobe didn't help much either. My parents never let me buy my own clothes, I just had to wear my mom's old worn out crap and I hated her outfits, she had the money to buy decent clothes but she spent it on alcohol instead, that bitch. I did have my favorite pink silk scarf that my dad got me though.

I looked around for a moment.

"Where the hell did my scarf go?" I could've sworn I placed it on the bed but it was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly I was distracted from my search by the smell of sunflowers.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pink dog sitting in my bedroom window holding my scarf in its mouth.

"You bitch, give me my scarf!" I grabbed for the scarf in its mouth, but it was too quick and hopped out the window before I could catch it.

I ran outside to chase after it, finding it just sitting outside my window when I opened the door. As soon as I started running after it though, it bolted. I gave chase, running through the town, and ignoring the people in my way, sometimes pushing them. I felt bad about it of course, but I thought about how dad always said to put myself first. I really wasn't good at it but I had my moments.

I chased the dog all the way to the town cart stop, almost on the outskirts of town, but I'd lost sight of it.

"Where did you go, dog?!" I called out for it, naïvely hoping it would just come running and give me the scarf back.

As I looked around for it I saw a Fionbri, his face and feet were white, his hair and markings a reddish orange and the rest of his head and hands a yellow-orange. He was wearing very nice, albeit pretty cheap, clothes and his hair was swept to one side, kinda like mine only it didn't cover his eye and it looked way sexier. And he had my scarf!

"Hey, that's my scarf!" I held my hand out to take it back from him. Normally I wouldn't be so bold with a stranger, but the scarf was really precious to me.

"Um... 'kay." He seemed a bit dazed as he handed me my scarf back.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I wrapped my beautiful pink scarf around my neck with joy.

"The stupid dog just jumped over me and dropped the thing in my hand." He ruffled his hair and let out a harsh sigh. "I don't even know who you are!"

"I'm Lilac." I took a step back, recoiling from the man's harsh tone. "And you saw that stupid dog?"

"I did." The man let out a deep breath before looking at me and smiling. He had a very charming smile, I may have blushed a little. "My name is Aiden." The man took my hand and did a little bow in front of me. I may have blushed a lot. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lilac."

"Um, thank you." I took my hand and stepped back. "But I'll bet you say that to all the girls." I stuck my tongue out at him, trying to hide my attraction to him.

"Of course." His honesty was a bit refreshing, although not what I expected. Most guys aren't so upfront about their pickup lines. "Although, in my defense, it's rare that I meet women as beautiful as you are." That smile again. Fucking swoon. "And that is not something I say to everyone."

"I see." I wasn't sure how I wanted to respond. I was used to guys hitting on me, but most of them were huge perverts who were all but slobbering on the floor for the chance to get into my pants, I wasn't used to dealing with someone so... gentlemanly.

And then I caught his scent, applewood smoke and hickory smoke blending together to make a sweet yet hearty smell. To me it was almost intoxicating. I put my hand over my nose to block it out.

"Are you okay, miss?" The man asked politely.

I nodded, slowly pulling my hand away from my face and letting that heady smell gently find its way back to my nose.

"It would be an honor to take you out for coffee sometime." Aiden closed the distance between us, holding out his hand.

I took another step back. I was flattered, and I didn't want to seem like I was blowing him off so I tried to speak but I stumbled over all my words.

"I, uh, um..." I started blushing.

He put his finger on my lips, causing me to blush further. Something about this man was, I'm not sure how to put it, familiar maybe? Something about him resonated inside me and it had nothing to do with physical attraction. Well, little to do with it anyway.

"Should I take that as a yes?" He whispered. I really wanted to say yes, which was not like me.

I could have gotten a date anytime I wanted but I always said no. Hell, it was the only time I could_bring myself to say no to a man, and that was part of why I always refused. I knew myself and I knew that I would lose myself in a relationship, I would become whatever _he wanted me to be. So why did I want to say yes to this man?

Because I was lonely, and something about him felt right for some reason. It was just an instinctive impression I got off him and I could always trust my instincts, they'd never led me wrong before.

I still couldn't speak so I just nodded.

"Wonderful." He took my left hand and kissed it gently. I nearly fainted.

"Hey Aiden! Who's your friend?!" I heard a high pitched male voice from behind me. I turned to see a young light blue Fionbri. "I'm Tel!" He immediately grabbed for and shook my hand. He kinda smelled like candy. "Are you coming with us on our trip?"

"My name is Lilac." I did a little curtsy, inspired by Aiden. "What trip are you talking about?" I was intrigued.

"Me and a bunch of cool Fionbri are gonna go to Caldera!" Tel seemed to be extremely excited about this trip, which concerned me a little since I had been to Caldera before and it was not a pleasant place.

"Tel, you haven't even met these 'cool' Fionbri." Aiden sighed and stepped between Tel and I, pushing the blue furred boy out of the way. "I'm sorry about my friend, he's a little overeager."

"No, it's fine." I gave a sincere smile. I couldn't believe it, but I was honestly considering the prospect of joining this boy on his trip. I was honestly thinking about leaving my home and going to Caldera, a place I didn't even like and had no idea why he was going there anyway, with a complete stranger. "I'd actually like to go on this trip."

I couldn't believe I had just said that, I don't even know why I said it but it felt right. Dad taught me how to defend myself, so I wouldn't be in danger, and the opportunity of being free from my mom or dad's controlling demands was something I just couldn't pass up.

"Yay! That's so awesome!" Tel shoved Aiden out of the way and gave me a big hug. He was so cute and enthusiastic I couldn't help but return the favor. "Aiden says he doesn't want to go." Tel crossed his arms and shot Aiden a mean, almost pouty, glare.

"Actually Tel, I've reconsidered." Aiden shrugged.

"Really!?" Tel's ears immediately perked up and his tail shot into the air and flitted all about. "What made you change your-"

Tel stopped short of finishing that sentence and just looked at me for a moment. I tried not to look too put off but I did find it slightly odd. He looked back at Aiden and gave a sly grin, Aiden scowling at him in return and causing Tel to chuckle. I didn't get it.

"So uh, when are we leaving?" I spoke up in order to break the uncomfortable moment, although I was certain it was only uncomfortable for me.

"Whenever we're ready?" Aiden looked to his pal for confirmation, getting a nod of agreement from Tel. "Whenever you're ready, m'lady." Aiden smiled at me again and bowed. I wasn't sure if his gentlemanly air was just an act but I prayed that it wasn't, it was just so charming and made me feel very comfortable around him.

"Yay, this is so cool!" Tel jumped up and down, he was an energetic little thing. "So are you ready to go, Lilac? Are ya, huh?"

"Tel, don't put pressure on the lady." Aiden put his hand on Tel's shoulder, calming the young boy down.

"No, don't worry about it. I think it's cute." My reassurance made Tel positively beam at Aiden, who looked less than amused and just rolled his eyes. "I think I'd like to go as soon as possible."

"Really? You don't have any family in this city to say goodbye to or anything?" Aiden asked, walking forward closer to me.

I thought about it, about leaving mom without saying goodbye.

"No, it's fine." I said politely. Screw that bitch.

"What about you, Aiden?" Tel caught up with Aiden and tapped him on the shoulder. "What about your mom?"

"She'll be fine on her own." Aiden sighed. He sounded bitter. "Now there is one more thing I need to attend to before we leave."

"What's that?" Tel's ears drooped as he asked.

Aiden walked right up to me and grabbed my hand, making me blush. Again. "I believe you agreed to a date, gorgeous?"

"Um, I, I guess I did." Again, why did this man find me attractive? Oh well, it could have been worse, I did manage to keep my saliva to myself. Wow, that looks way dirty when I read it back to myself.

"You're going to go on a date now?" Tel sounded highly irritated.

"Tel, I promised the pretty lady a good time." Aiden walked over to Tel and pet his fluffy head. Judging by the bemused scowl on his face, Tel didn't seem to appreciate it too much. "We won't be too long, if that'll make you feel better."

Tel sighed and nodded in concurrence, he must have known he couldn't argue with his friend. I considered telling him that we should just go now, after all I was usually the one to put my own wants last, but my gut was telling me I should let Aiden take me. On a date I mean!

As Aiden took me by the hand and lead me away, the realization dawned on me that I was about to go to a strange city with two people I had just met all because I wanted to run away from home. Maybe not my smartest decision, but I trusted my instincts and they were telling me that these two guys were ok.

-AUGUST-

I was sitting on a bench outside a cart stop in Ayns smoking and fiddling with my lighter, waiting for Noble as he secured our mode of transportation. It was getting dark and he had been taking much longer than he said he would, I was starting to get agitated.

I sighed in relief and stood up as I saw him approaching, my relief leaving as quickly as it came when I saw the perturbed look on his face.

"I'm afraid I have bad news, sir." Noble lowered his head.

"What?" I was already anxious about the trip, unexpected bad news was the last thing I needed.

"It's the middle of the prime trade season for Ayns, all the carts they have are being used to carry supplies to neighboring towns and fortresses."

"What are we doing then?" I just wanted to get straight to the point.

"It seems we have two options." Noble explained, taking in a deep breath. "One, we wait here for a cart to become available, it could take anywhere between two weeks and six months."

"That's not happening. What's the other option?" I growled.

"We walk to a fortress near here that should have a readily available to take us to our next destination. If we start now, we may make it before dawn." Noble sighed, clearly uneasy with my growing irritation and restlessness.

"So we'll be walking all night in the dangerous wilderness?" I asked.

"Yes sir." Noble nodded and looked up at me.

I dropped my cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, I needed the air around to be clean for me to concentrate. I took a deep breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. The choice was clear, and I'm glad there was a choice instead of it being thrust on me, but I still didn't like it.

"Let's start walking." I sighed.

Noble nodded and walked ahead of me toward the town gate.

-ELIN-

It was starting to get dark as the three of us exited the grove, the sky was a really pretty mix of darkening blue, pink and orange and there was a cold breeze beginning to blow that made me shiver and wish I had clothes.

"North, wait!" Phenix called out to his friend as the blue furred man walked ahead, trying to put some distance between himself and us. "Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about." North stopped dead in his tracks. "This girl is a criminal, Phenix."

"She stole so that she could eat, you idiot!" Seeing Phenix get mad at his friend scared me a little, even more than when he got mad at those mean jerks who tried to hurt me.

Phenix walked up to North and grabbed him on the shoulder, North brushed him off but turned around to face him. I stayed behind on a small hill, not wanting to make things any worse.

"I saw several animals in that grove, Phenix." North sighed bitterly. "You can't tell me she couldn't have eaten without stealing from the Disciples."

In truth, no I couldn't have. I can't stand to hurt animals, not even to eat, but I was too scared to say anything right then.

"It's not just her thievery that bothers me, Phenix." He continued, spiking my blood pressure with every angry word. "You also picked a fight with the Disciples of Justice."

"So did you." Phenix scratched the back of his head, obviously just as tense as I was.

"Only to defend you, and you should be grateful that I did." North growled.

"I didn't mean to fight them anyway, I only wanted to talk them down." Phenix sighed.

"Ah, right." North chuckled, barely holding back his anger. He was way scarier than Phenix. "It was the girl who started the fight."

I shuddered when he mentioned me, my ears drooped and my tail went limp. I was afraid he would just come over here and chop my head off or something.

"North, please." Phenix tried to reach out to his friend again but North just glared at him until he put his arm down. "She didn't mean to do anything wrong."

"And that makes the fact that she did do something wrong okay somehow?" North barked.

"Why are you getting so upset, North?" Phenix took a step back, his voice started to sound more angry too. "It's not like she murdered anyone."

"What bothers me isn't just the crime itself, Phenix. That can be forgiven." North sighed slowly, making me super tense. "It's that neither you nor that girl seem to think that either of you did anything wrong."

"I'm not any happier about what happened with those Disciples than you are, North." Phenix sighed this time, he wasn't as scary. "But what they were going to do to her wasn't right, even you have to admit that."

"I do admit that." North looked really tense and angry. "I said it then as well. But that doesn't make what she did right either."

North and Phenix glared at each other in silence for a few seconds, you could almost feel the tension. And it wasn't the sexy kind of boy on boy tension either.

"Would you defend that girl against me too, Phenix?" North put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"If you force me to." Phenix did the same.

"Stop!" I ran out to where the two guys were standing. "Please stop fighti-"

"Be quiet!" North cut me off, drawing his blade and pointing it at me.

"Don't speak to the lady that way, North!" Phenix drew his sword at North.

I couldn't stand to see the two of them fighting, they seemed like they were good friends before I came along. I didn't want to come between anyone, I didn't even want to fight the mean guys who were gonna kill me.

I raised my left hand in front of me, pointing all my fingers straight at North and Phenix who looked at me with curiosity.

"Cut them off." I tried to sound calm but I was fighting back tears.

"What?" North stepped toward me.

"North, if you touch her-" Phenix raised his sword between North and me.

"It's okay, Phenix!" I smiled at him with my eyes closed, trying to look brave. "If losing a few fingers will make you guys stop fighting, I'll do it. I'll be happy to."

There was silence, North just staring at me and Phenix clearly didn't know what to do.

And all of a sudden, North started laughing.

"What the hell's so funny?" Phenix sounded pretty angry.

"You would let me cut off your fingers just to stop us from fighting?" North ignored Phenix's words.

I nodded a few times, I was a little too frightened to say actual words.

"Elin, I'm not going to let you do that." Phenix stepped in front of me and took my right hand.

"No, it's ok." North started to walk away, sheathing his sword. "I'll let her be."

"Yay!" I took my left hand back and kissed it several times.

"Are you serious, North?" Phenix ran up behind North and put his hand on the man's shoulder again, causing North to turn around and face him. "After all that?!"

"Yes." North smiled, and it wasn't even creepy! He has a really nice smile, and such pretty green eyes. "If she's that determined to stop us from fighting, then I think she deserves a free pass just this once."

"That doesn't change that you were willing to kill her." Phenix scowled.

"I never said I was going to kill her. Nor did I intend to." North shrugged.

"I still think you're overbearing and far too quick to cast judgment." Phenix growled, putting away his own sword.

"And you are free to think that." North chuckled and turned to walk away again.

"Somewhat arrogant, too."

North shrugged and kept walking, Phenix growled in response.

"But hey!" Before Phenix could speak again I jumped between them and took Phenix's hand, dragging him toward North and grabbing his hand too. "At least we're all on the same page now, right?"

I smiled and looked at both of them. North turned around back to us and returned my smile but Phenix was still mad.

"I believe so." North put his hand on my shoulder. "Now let's go, it's dark now."

As he turned and walked away, Phenix growled and said something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

"Are you okay?" I gently nudged him.

"Are you?" Phenix's voice was soft and gentle as he held my hand.

"Yessir!" I nodded vigorously, giving a salute. I didn't want Phenix to think I had any lingering grudge against North, cuz I honestly didn't. "He was just trying to do what he thought was the right thing."

"I guess." Phenix sighed and let go of my hand. "I think he's too quick to jump to extremes though."

"Maybe you're right." I shrugged. "But he has to figure out where he draws the line for himself, no one else can make that kind of decision for him. Besides, I think I really like him."

"You're crazy too, aren't you?" Phenix chuckled.

"We're all a little crazy, Phenix." I shot him back a bright, beaming grin.

"I can't argue with that." He smiled and patted me on the shoulder.

"Come on you guys!" North waved at us from a fair distance ahead. "We're burning daylight!"

"Coming!" I grabbed Phenix by the wrist and merrily ran after my new friend, dragging my other new friend behind me.

What a great day this had been!

-AUGUST-

Noble and I had been walking along the main road for a few hours by this point, the sky was pitch dark and my legs were in serious pain. I had doubts about whether or not Noble was an ordinary animal, he hadn't complained since we began the walk, but then again neither had I.

"Noble, are you getting tired?" I had to raise my voice slightly, Noble was a fair distance ahead of me.

"A little, sir." Noble turned back to look at me. "Do you want to rest for now?"

"Only for a few minutes." I sat down on a stone beside the path to catch my breath. I wanted to get to the fort as soon as possible, but I didn't want my legs to give out on the trip and I knew if I kept walking_something_ was going to give.

Noble walked over and laid down beside my feet.

"How are you holding up, sir?" He looked up at me and smiled.

"Just fine." I pet his head a little. He seemed to enjoy it. "How're you doing?" I realized I hadn't asked him how he was feeling this whole time, I guess I assumed since the trip was his idea he would be perfectly fine the whole time but that assumption was unreasonable.

"Don't worry about me sir. I will lose energy far slower than you." He sounded somewhat weary, but he still had some enthusiasm in his voice. He looked up and grinned at me. "Because you're slow and weak is what I'm saying."

I glared back at him for a moment, him refusing to drop his smile. I couldn't help but start laughing and it didn't take long for him to laugh as well. He was a good travelling companion for me, I felt comfortable around him.

It was strange to me, I had no trouble communicating with Noble yet I felt like I was having a panic attack when I tried to talk with normal people. I just chalked it up to him being feral, even if he was smarter than most anthros I'd met.

"Where are we going, Noble?" I laid down beside Noble on the path, my back leaning against the rock and looking up at the stars, you couldn't see them very well in Dalo and I really loved looking at them. "And I don't just mean the fort, I mean what are these three cities you want me to visit and why?"

"There's a lot you don't know about, August. And telling you would do you no good, you have no useful way of dealing with the information." He sighed. I could tell he wanted to tell me, but I guess he was convinced I couldn't handle it or something. I shrugged it off, he knew more about what was going on than I did and I trusted his judgment.

"Will you at least tell me where we're going next?" I looked over at him and stroked his fur again, making him smile and visibly relax.

"From the fort we will stop in Balmora for a short while. Will that do?"

Balmora. That's where my sister lived. She may have been my stepsister, but we were far closer than I was to my stepparents, or anyone for that matter, and I hadn't seen her since I left them two years ago.

"Let's get going." I stood up and started walking down the road.

"Already?" Noble sounded disappointed but he followed along beside me without missing a beat.

"Yeah." I smiled as I thought about seeing Scarlet again. "I don't want to waste any more time."

-ELIN-

I stretched my arms and legs as far as I could, yawning myself awake. The cart ride to Caldera was gonna take all night and most of the next day so I figured I'd catch some shut-eye.

I squirmed around a bit to get comfortable in my new clothes. Phenix was happy that the nice lady who owned the cart had some spare clothes for me but I hadn't worn clothes in months so I wasn't used to 'em.

I looked outside to see if it was still really dark out, and yep, it was.

"Are we there yet?" I whispered to North, trying not to disturb Phenix who was sleeping in a pile of hay like a baby. I so wanted to cuddle with him, so cute!

Where was I? Oh right, North.

"No, you were only asleep for about two hours, Elin." He said quietly, also being mindful of cute little Phenix.

"Oh." I pouted a bit. I was hoping we'd be there by then, I don't do well in cramped places where I can't roam around and be free. "What have you been doing this whole time? Have you slept?"

"Not yet." He showed me the beautiful silver cross that hung around his neck. "I've been praying."

"Praying? What's that?" The cross was pretty looking but I had no idea what it meant.

"It means I'm talking with God." He smiled and his voice sounded so sweet, he sounded like he really loved this God person. I thought it was sweet then and I didn't even know who God was! "I'm praying that She grants us a safe journey, and that we all find our destinies on our paths. And the slightly more selfish prayer that our paths keep us together."

"Aw, that's not selfish, it's sweet!" I covered my mouth after realizing I'd accidentally raised my voice. Phenix grumbled a little bit but I think he was still asleep. I crawled over to sit right in front of North. "So what's a 'God' then?"

"It's... hard to explain." North sighed and sounded sad. And I was sad too cuz I didn't want him to be sad. "She is who guides my path."

"What do you mean?" I was suddenly really intrigued. I put my hands on my knees and leaned in real close to North.

"I rely on God to show me things which I cannot see." North closed his eyes and gripped his pendant really tightly. "She is my protector, my teacher, my guide... She is my everything."

"Aw, that's so precious." I put a hand over my heart.

"Thank you." North blushed, teehee! "She helps to show me what's right and wrong, to carry me through troubled times... She means everything to me."

"Where is she?" I looked around for a moment trying to find her and tilted my head when my search turned up naught.

"She's everywhere. Sort of." North chuckled nervously and sighed, trying to collect his thoughts. I tilted my head to the other side, trying to get across my lack of understanding what the eff he just said without using words. "As I said, it's hard to explain. But She lives inside me. As me."

"I'm kinda confused." I scratched my head. But then I had an idea! Scratching my head is a great way to get ideas apparently! "So if we cut you open, could we find her?" I gave a great big grin.

"Uh... no." North backed away an inch or two.

"But how do you know?" I busted out the sinister kitty-cat smile! "If you can't see her, and you can't see inside you, how do you know she's not in there?"

"I just know. I feel Her as clearly as I can feel you when I touch you." He put his hand on mine. "Just differently."

"I'm not sure I get it." Pout.

"And I'm not sure I can explain it any better, I'm sorry." North bowed his head.

"Don't be sorry, I think it's sweet." I took his hand and stroked it.

"Would you like to pray?" North looked up at me and smiled.

"Wait, I can talk to your insides?" I got nice and close to North's smexy chest and tried to sniff out this mystery woman.

"Well sort of." He pushed my face away from him. "I believe that God listens to all of Her children, even those that don't believe in Her."

"Which explains why the world is in tip-top shape." Phenix growled, apparently woken up during our conversation.

"What do you mean, Phenix?" I got closer to Phenix so as to involve him in the conversation, I didn't want him to feel left out.

"Nobody believes in god anymore because of the Demon War." Phenix's words made me, and North too I could tell, feel really uncomfortable.

"Is that true, North?" I looked back to him for an answer.

"I..." North let out a weary sigh. "I don't pretend to know or understand the purpose of the Demon War."

The Demon War. In some way or another we had all been affected by the war, some of us more so than others. It ruled many peoples' entire lives and destroyed countless others. Just thinking about it made me feel ill.

"There is no purpose to the war, North." Phenix barked, still lying in the hay with his eyes shut. "There's only bloodshed and death. And no amount of imaginary divine power is going to change that." After speaking, Phenix rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.

North just sighed. Turns out he'd had many, many people call him out on his beliefs, on how 'unrealistic', 'inane' and 'insulting' they were. He'd become used to people not believing in his God.

But I did, I think. I don't know why, but something about the way North talked about Her really resonated with me and I wanted to know more.

"Hey, North?" I poked him to try to get him out of his funk.

"Yes, Elin?" North didn't look at me when he responded, he just kept looking at the ground all depressed like.

"I'd like to pray with you." I smiled and grabbed North's hand with both of my hands.

North's eyes lit up and he nodded, smiling. He put his other hand over mine and said "Then I will teach you."

-LILAC-

It would be a full night's ride from Reand to Caldera. Tel and Aiden were already asleep, soundly snoozing in piles of hay, but thanks to my getting up in the late afternoon I was still awake, watching the moonlit plains outside the cart window.

It really was beautiful. All anyone seems to talk about is the Ravaged Lands, how horrible they look. I knew how horrible they were, I'd seen them first hand, but so many people forgot, didn't notice or just didn't care how beautiful the world still was outside of those lands. Despite all the damage done by the Nichts there was still happiness.

I looked at both of my travelling companions for a moment. Tel seemed like a really sweet kid, even if he was a little easily excited, and Aiden...

I thought back on our "date".

We decided to have coffee at a small shop, at one of the outside tables, the delightful smell of coffee filling the air and the sounds of other customers talking making nice background noise. Aiden pulled my chair out for me, it was really surreal having someone look out for me, even in a small way like that.

"So tell me about yourself." Aiden said as he sat down across from me.

"Well..." I brushed my hair in front of my face, I was so nervous. "I'm really into like, clothes and flowers and stuff." Wow, clothes, flowers AND stuff? Watch out Lilac, you're out of control!

Aiden chuckled. See, now you look like an idiot Lilac, good job.

"What kind of 'stuff' are you into?" He smiled like he could see right through me, and in a good way I mean.

"Well..." Nice way to start, moron. He overlooks your crippling idiocy for one moment and you completely shit all over it. "I garden. With my dad, when he's around." Why did I even say that? Hopefully he didn't hear it.

"When he's around?" Crap. "So do you live by yourself now, or..."

"No, with my mom." Why couldn't you have just said 'yeah, I totally live alone with no bitchy parents at all'? Actually, that may have been worse, never mind.

"Do you two get along?" The waitress brought us our coffee, Aiden took a sip from his and I took a big unattractive gulp from mine, trying to buy time to think of a better answer than 'fuck no'.

"We..." Another pause. Real good, genius. "We get along ok, I guess. How about you?" Yes! The invaluable 'how about you', the perfect phrase to get the other person to take over the conversation when you have no idea what to say!

"My mother and I have some issues." Aiden looked away from me for the first time since we sat down. He also dropped his smile, he obviously had some baggage with his mother, but I definitely wasn't going to press the issue.

"What about your dad?" I thought saying that was a good idea at the time...

"He's in prison." ... I was wrong. "And personally, I hope some other man makes him into a bitch and rapes him repeatedly. Then gives him a particularly embarrassing death, hopefully one that will make it into the newspapers and be accompanied by visual aids." Aiden finished his grisly rant with an eerily satisfied grin, still not looking directly at me.

I just stared with my mouth open, I was quite literally speechless.

"Went on a bit of a tangent there, sorry about that." Aiden chuckled and bowed his head.

"I-it's ok." I took a sip of my coffee to try to ease the tension. Aiden took a deep breath and smiled at me. His smile had a weird way of making me feel comfortable, even after his rather... alarming rant.

"So how 'bout you, you close with your dad? Feel free to go on a tangent if you'd like." Aiden smiled at me again and I let out a pretty embarrassing giggle at that.

"I love my dad a lot." I started thinking about my time with my dad. I realized I was starting to drift off though and snapped myself back. "My parents are divorced." Now why did you say that?

"I'm sorry to hear that, m'lady." He just called me "m'lady"! Oh my gosh, that's sounds so cute! I blushed, but I tried to hide it by taking another drink from my coffee cup. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you not live with your father if you clearly prefer him?"

"I do." I smiled. "It's just that he's called away by the Disciples a lot, so my mom looks after me while he's away."

"Your father's in the Disciples?" Aiden frowned and tilted his head. Red flag! Red flag! Abort conversation!

"He's, um..." Wow Lilac, what is your problem today? "Yeah, for the Disciples of Greatness here in town." Reand, like all the cities in the Humanitas Republic except for Gnosis, was run by the Disciples, the Disciples of Greatness being the sect that ran my home city.

I was a little worried about telling Aiden about my dad. Despite the Disciples' invaluable protection of the cities and their people from the monsters in the ravaged lands, not everyone was so keen on the way they operate. If Aiden had contention with the Disciples of Greatness, my familial connection with them might not go over so well with him.

"I see." He took another sip. Is he really thirsty or is he trying to buy time to come with a reason to leave? I knew I shouldn't have told him, damn, damn, damn! It's just like my mom always says, keep all of your honest feelings and thoughts locked inside a box in your mind! "On the bright side, if you come with us you won't have to deal with your mother for a while. Maybe you'll get lucky and we'll be gone for like four months." That smile again. Swoon!

"Y-yeah. Maybe." I was blushing again but I didn't really care this time, I was just so glad he wasn't mad at me.

"It's starting to get dark." Aiden stood up. I didn't even notice how late it was getting. "I'm gonna go pay for this. Will you be alright if I leave you alone for a moment, my lady?"

I nodded, smiling and blushing like a love struck idiot, of course. Wait, no, I didn't mean 'love'! I take that back!

Throughout our trip, Aiden kept being really nice to me, he even helped me get into the cart after I slipped and fell off the back end like a dumbass. But I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to reveal some awful secret or unbearable character trait.

Or maybe he'd leave. Like dad left.

I watched him sleep for a bit, although in retrospect that seems kinda creepy. In my defense though, the cart was really small, after I got tired of the cold breeze blowing in my face and stuck my head back inside I only had two ways to look and they were both occupied by sleeping Fionbri.

Maybe he was genuinely nice. I mean, what could he possibly want from _me_after all? My connections with the Disciples? Doubtful, he didn't know how far up my connections even went. For all he knew, my father was just some random peon. Although the Disciples of Greatness have such a strict hiring code that even the peons are usually the most badass people in any given room.

"Lilac?" Tel rubbed his eyes as he sat up, his voice weak from sleepiness. "Are you still awake? Aren't you gonna sleep?"

"Not yet." I whispered gently. "I got a late start this morning, I'm not tired yet."

"Oh, ok then." He yawned. "What'cha thinking about?"

"Um... nothing much." I really didn't want either of them to know how much I was thinking of Aiden. "How about you, got anything on your mind?"

"Nope, my mind's a blank slate." Tel gave a playful grin, I chuckled.

"Ugh, what're we talkin' about?" Aiden groaned as he awoke. "Are we talking about me?"

"No, why would we do that?" I quickly blurted out.

"Should we be talking about you?" Tel stuck his tongue out at Aiden who returned the gesture in kind.

"Are you still awake, Lilac?" Aiden sat up and turned toward me.

"Um, yeah. Why?" I bowed my head. Something about the way he looked at me... he demanded reverence. Or maybe I'm just a huge pushover, probably that.

"You should get some rest." After speaking, Aiden looked at Tel and limply waved his hand at him, obviously still exhausted. "You too, Tel."

"No way, I'm totally rested." Tel yawned the latter half of his sentence.

"Uh-huh, sure." Aiden laughed. "As for you," he pointed at me, looking me right in the eyes as he spoke "you haven't slept at all?"

"Not yet, no." I looked away from his gaze, I know that's not proper social behavior but I couldn't help it.

"Then you should sleep now, you don't want to be wandering around Caldera all tired."

"He's right, Lilac." Tel yawned and laid back down for sleep.

"Yeah, ok." I still wasn't tired, but I have a very difficult time saying no... to men. And Aiden especially it seemed.

"Good night, Lilac." Aiden smiled sweetly at me and gave me a nod before going back to sleep.

I sighed and laid down myself, a comfortable distance away from both the guys in the cart. I didn't really have any intention of sleeping, I may have had trouble saying no, but I had no trouble at all saying yes and then not doing anything about it. In fact I was quite good at it, years of practice.

I closed my eyes and started to think about what I would do in the morning. I didn't really know either of these guys, and I didn't really know why we were heading to Caldera. I had a vague idea, Tel said something about a talking dog, apparently the same dog that stole my scarf. I didn't really know why I was on this journey and I figured I should come up with a reason before I get called on it.

It didn't take me long to drift off to sleep though.

-AUGUST-

My legs were killing me, I was tired as hell and my whole body was sore, I felt as though I were about to collapse or have one of my internal organs rupture, not helped by the fact I hadn't smoked in a few hours, Noble telling me it wasn't a good idea to smoke in the open wilderness or some shit and I didn't have the energy to argue with him. We'd been walking through ugly, nigh on featureless plains for hours.

I couldn't imagine Noble was feeling much better than I was. I considered asking how he was holding up, but the effort it would take to bring my voice to bear far outweighed my interest in my companion's status. Besides, he was a good distance ahead of me, occasionally looking back to make sure I was still following him, so he couldn't have been faring that badly.

My vision was starting to blur as well, I thought maybe I should sit down and rest but I was never one to fully consider risks to my own health. I'd always had the inclination to push myself to my absolute limits, aching legs and pains in my chest be damned. Despite that, my absolute limits were far less than I would have liked, I was not much for physically exhaustive tasks.

As I rambled inside my own head, asking myself why exactly I was torturing myself like this, I noticed Noble had stopped, sitting absolutely still a few feet ahead.

I caught up to him and stared for a moment at the land before me. It took a few seconds before my vision corrected enough for me to actually see what I was looking at.

It was the ravaged lands.

The dark gray and brown dirt was unmistakable. It wasn't a very large patch of the ravaged lands, just a small "stripe" outstretching across the otherwise green terrain from a much larger area of scorched earth farther to the north of our position.

"Why're we stopped?" I managed to weakly drone out a sentence.

"Be on your guard. Nichts are near." I saw Noble look up at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Nichts? Those actually exist?" I didn't bother looking back, instead I kept staring into the distance.

"Of course they exist, August. What did you think caused the Demon War?" Noble sounded irked. The Demon War had been going on for thirty years, yet I had never seen any demons nor did I know or even hear of anyone who did.

"I thought it was just people, they just blamed it on 'demons' to make themselves look less like shitheads." I had heard about the ravaged lands but never actually seen them, and I knew that the Disciples of the Humanitas Republic occasionally did battle with rebel forces in the ravaged lands, forces that did not appreciate the Disciples coming into their towns and occupying them 'for their protection'.

"That's a common opinion of those from the outer towns, those that haven't seen the war first hand." Noble sighed, letting go of his frustration at my ignorance. "The Nichts are very real, August. It is because of them that the ravaged lands are in the sad shape that they're in."

"What do we do then?" I still wasn't quite convinced, but before today I didn't think talking feral animals existed either.

"My magic is powerful, but severely weakened while in the ravaged lands." Noble stood back up on all fours, his demeanor becoming quite serious. "You cross first and I will protect you."

I looked at the dark, bloodstained ground before me. I looked at Noble briefly then back at the ground.

"It's only about two feet of dirt." I was less than impressed.

"Yes that's true." It may have been the sleep deprivation, but I couldn't tell if Noble was messing with me or not. "Be that as it may, it could still be dangerous."

"What, no philosophical lecture about big things and small stuff?" I chuckled weakly.

"Too sleepy. Just go." "Noble growled, answering my question about whether he was feeling tired or not rather satisfactorily.

As I stepped onto the dirt a shiver went up my spine. It got stronger as I took two more feeble steps. I was beginning to panic, something was playing at my emotions like strings on a harp.

I have to keep going, I can't turn back now.

But there's something here. Something vile and wicked, I don't know what, but I know it will kill me.

I saw visions in my head. Visions of people, armed soldiers. Being maimed, killed, and even eaten, dead or alive, by demons. By Nichts? I didn't know, all I knew were that they were monsters that looked as though they had crawled out from the darkest pits of some soulless abomination's twisted imagination. They defied description, hideous, disgusting and nightmarish things that would put a sane man's own night terrors to shame.

I couldn't move.

"August!" Noble's voice snapped me back to reality.

I felt the feeling returning to my limbs, for just one moment I felt stronger than ever before, but that one moment was all I needed.

" I am not going back."

I made it to the other side of the dark stripe, feeling rather triumphant, although even more exhausted than I had been already. I was taken aback at just how difficult crossing that two feet of dirt actually was, not helped by Noble effortlessly following along right after.

"That was..." I paused to catch my breath. "That was not what I expected."

"The Nichts' presence is felt far more greatly in the ravaged lands." Noble started walking, seemingly unfazed by whatever evil presence affected me so greatly. "Now let's make haste, we are almost there."

I couldn't help getting a huge smile on my face, this damned trek was almost at an end and it was about damn time.

The sun started to rise, the light streaming directly into my face not helping my already weakening vision. After another twenty minutes I think, although given my enervation my sense of time was somewhat fucked in the ear, the fort came into view on the horizon. Just a small speck but our pace quickened as we saw it was near.

"Hail traveler!" We stopped in our tracks and looked around to see the man who called out to us, Noble standing behind me as we stood in front of a small tent. It was a jackal. There were two of them actually, a male and a female.

"What brings you so far out here on foot?" The male said to us with a smile on his face. I knew he meant well, but his delaying my night's rest was not putting him in my good graces.

The pair was camping about five minutes from the fortress. They had a campfire, a tent and a single bedroll. The male seemed to be getting ready to prepare breakfast while the girl was lying in the bedroll just barely having woken.

"We could ask you the same." I tried not to sound as tired as I was. I had no intention of masking my irritation at the man for delaying us however.

Before the man could answer, his eyes lit up. I looked in the direction he was and only saw Noble. I looked back at the man to see if my blurring vision caused me to misinterpret the trajectory of his gaze, but apparently not.

"Noble, is that you?" The man sounded happy to see my friend.

"Yes, Grayson." Noble sounded equally enthused, or at least as enthused as he could, given the night we'd had. "I'm glad to see that you two are here."

"Noble!" The girl sounded even happier than Grayson did.

She arose quickly, tripping on the bedroll and almost falling to the ground were it not for her friend catching her. He helped her get back to her feet and held her in his arms for a moment.

I could see the looks that they gave each other. The girl's was one of security and unlimited love and happiness, the man's was one of gratitude, as if he woke up every morning and thanked whatever god or god-shaped void he believed in that he, and only he, was the one to hold her heart.

"It's great to see both of you." Noble walked up to the happy couple.

"It's great to see you too, Noble!" The girl got on her knees and pet Noble's head, he really seemed to enjoy it.

"Noble, who the hell are these people and why are we still standing here talking to them?" I didn't usually enjoy being so blunt in front of strangers but I did not want to spend one more second than I had to not sleeping in a warm bed.

"August, these are Sylvia and Grayson." Noble motioned toward the girl and guy respectively as he said their names, Grayson kneeling down to pet Noble as well. "And they are going to take us to Balmora."

"Ah, a cart is what you need, eh?" Grayson's voice resounded with confidence and relaxed ease as if he didn't have a care in the world. I wasn't sure whether I should respect that kind of sereneness or hate it.

"Please tell me that there is no problem with that and we can just go right now." I felt that if there was even one more thing standing between me and my next destination I would strangle someone. Probably Grayson, because I guess I settled on 'hate'.

"Yes, of course." Grayson took Sylvia by the hand and stood up. "We can leave as soon as you're ready."

"NOW." I didn't even wait a second before responding. "We're leaving NOW."

"Indeed, it's best we leave as soon as possible, my friend." Noble tried to be polite and cover for my obvious dickness, but I could tell he was just as anxious to get going as I was.

"Then let us waste no more time here." Grayson's words were like music to my ears. "We will prepare our cart immediately." The couple gave a quick bow before Noble before heading down to the fort, motioning for us to follow.

As we entered the fortress, I noticed it wasn't in great shape. It seemed to do its job adequately, but it wasn't a place where I, or anyone I imagine, would want to spend an extended amount of time.

Thankfully we were only there a few minutes, as it took basically no time at all for Grayson to ready the cart for us to leave. He stepped up into the driver's seat and Sylvia guided us toward the back and helped Noble get in.

"You should probably get some rest while we travel." Her smile was very sweet, it made me blush slightly. I wasn't used to pretty girls talking to me.

"Thank you very much, Sylvia." Noble bowed his head graciously.

Sylvia giggled and waved at us as she ran off merrily to join her boyfriend in the front.

Noble made a small pile of hay into his bed and circled it about three times before finally settling in. I just collapsed on the floor of the cart and fell to sleep almost immediately.

We were finally done with this long night.

Thank. Fucking. God.