Notes: I had a bit of trouble sleeping recently, and this idea was born from lack of sleep, along with a couple of others that I might get to eventually.

"Saved your life." In her years of service, Morag Ladair had heard the phrase often enough. The words together were chilling, as they were often said in dangerous situations. It was not something one said lightly. At least, not until she joined forces with Zeke von Genbu.

The first time it happened, she was not even sure why he had done it. They, along with their travelling companions, had been in a small market replenishing their supplies. She had followed behind the group, watching as her fellow drivers and blades split off to pick up the things they deemed necessary. She had her own supplies to collect, and silently hoped the cosmetics vendor would have moisturizer, when she felt someone seize her roughly by the shoulders.

"Whoa, Morag, watch it!" Zeke had been the one to grab her and pull her to the side. His tone and actions worried her, with her hands immediately finding the hilts of her weapons. "I just saved your life," he told her proudly.

"What?" she demanded. A quick scan of the area showed they were not at any danger. There was not even anyone around them, save for two small Nopons trying to sell sweets. "There's no danger - "

"You could have slipped."

Morag looked down to where Zeke was pointing. She thought perhaps he meant a dangerous creature or even a hole. He was pointing at a puddle right in front of her. She scowled. He had frightened her, and put her at alert, for a puddle.

"You chose to save me from a puddle?" she demanded. She removed her hands from her weapons and crossed her arms over her chest to keep from throttling him. "That puddle isn't even an inch deep."

"Even a shallow puddle can be slick," Zeke pointed out.

It had crossed her mind to tell him that if a man wanted a woman to avoid a puddle, he did not act like it was a threat. He would instead remove his jacket and cover it. Such a suggestion would probably offend Zeke, who would in no way risk his stylish attire in order to keep anyone's feet dry. She chose only to glare at him before heading off to buy the things she required.

She tried not to show it, but Zeke's "saving her life" left her puzzled for the rest of the day. Before falling asleep that night, she vowed to not let it bother her in the morning.

It took a bit longer than the morning, but Morag soon passed it off as Zeke just being Zeke. What else could it be?

She had her doubts it would happen again, but she was soon proven wrong. The next instance of Zeke "saving her life" happened in Fonsett Village on Leftheria. They dropped in on Rex's Aunt Corrine, who had offered her home to them whenever they had need of it. They had been fed a hearty meal as Corrine regaled them with tales of Rex's exploits as a child. It had been a near stress free evening for the Special Inquisitor, but seeing Rex and Corrine happy to be reunited made her feel a little wistful for her own family. After she was finished eating, she slipped away from the group for some privacy.

It had been Zeke to come search for her. Her found her near one of the cliffs, the one the children used to practice their dives to be exact, watching the moon rise over the cloud sea. As soon as she heard someone approach, she wondered how long she had been outside. She turned to see who it was and to address him, but Zeke did not give her time to speak before he started.

"Morag, everything all ri - hey!"

She glared at him as he rushed to her side. "I'm nowhere near the cliff," she told him gruffly.

"No, look!" He pointed to her left sleeve, where a bug had, unnoticed by her, settled down. He swatted at it to shoo it away. "Phew," he said when it buzzed and flew off of her. "I saved your life again!"

Morag scoffed. "I doubt it was going to sting or bite me, and even if it tried - " she tugged at the thick material of her uniform, "it would not penetrate the sleeve, much less hit me."

"You don't know what kind of insect that is," Zeke told her. "It could be poisonous."

"I did not even know it was there," she countered. "I was not troubling it, nor was it bothering me."

"So it's a good thing I came! It could have been - ouch!" He rubbed his bare arm where the bug had landed and bit him.

"Hmm, serves you right," she said as she passed by him on her way back to Corrine's house.

She had, once, considered talking to Zeke's blade, Pandoria, about her driver's behavior and to see if anything could be done about him, but Pandoria was a bit of an oddball herself. Her mannerisms and her behavior were so much like her driver that Morag felt Pandoria would either encourage Zeke to play his silly games or whatever it was he was doing.

Whatever he thought he was doing, it was not done of malice, she knew that. No matter his behavior, she could trust him. It would be best, she decided, to ignore his "rescue attempts." If she did not encourage them, they would stop.

It turned out that her logic was flawed.

The next thing Zeke "saved" her from was, in a way, even less threatening than a bug. "On your left, Morag!" She was able to draw her weapons for once, but by the time she held them ready to attack, she heard the terrified squeak of a Bunnit and saw it's bushy tail tremble as it hopped out of view behind a large rock.

"Zeke..." she began, her tone firm and forceful. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"

"That Bunnit was coming right at you! I saved - "

"Don't you dare say it!"

Zeke's face fell. Morag feared for a second he might start crying. With a frustrated sigh, she sheathed her whipswords. He still held his weapon in hand. Unnoticed by either of them, the Bunnit peered from behind its hiding place before hopping away. Morag crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Zeke began to nervously rub the back of his head. "Come on, Morag," he began timidly. "Don't look at me like that."

"Do you think this is funny?" she demanded. "I don't appreciate being the butt of your jokes, Zeke."

"No, it's no joke!" he insisted. He then shuffled his feet and kicked up a small cloud of dirt. The words he wanted to say did not appear to be ready to come out just yet. What came out of his mouth instead was, "I don't... want to see you hurt."

"I can take care of myself," she said coldly before she left him to himself.

For days, he stayed away from her, though from time to time, Morag caught him giving her the occasional glance. If he saw her catching him looking her way, he'd turn his head. Once, she wondered if she had caught him blushing. She thought it best not to ask.

She also thought she would enjoy the lack of heroics, but she found their group was a lot quieter with Zeke in such a sad state.

Finally, she found herself unable to take his silence and sullen expression anymore. When their party decided to rest one night, she managed to bring herself to ask him if they could talk.

Zeke looked from her to Pandoria, surprised that Morag had asked if they could. "Yeah, sure, no problem. What do you need, Flamebringer?'

She looked at the others. They laughed and joked as they set up camp for the night. A fire had been started by Pyra so she could cook. Nia was mumbling to herself as she searched through their bags, certain she still had some fish left. As she looked back, she caught Pandoria giving Zeke a nudge before the blade got to her feet and joined everyone else.

"Ah, alone?"

"Oh, that kind of talk!"

Morag gritted her teeth and muttered, "I can change my mind about this, Zeke. Come on."

He got to his feet with a grin and followed her a little way away from the camp. He waited until the light from the fire was no longer in sight before he asked what was on her mind.

"What's on my mind," she began, choosing her words carefully, "is that you are not acting like yourself. Things have been rather calm with you keeping silent and not playing your little games."

"I told you it wasn't a joke."

"You say that now..."

Their trek had taken them to a nearby cliff. Someone, long ago, had put up a wooden fence to keep people off the edge. Large sections of it were missing while others appeared to hold firm. Zeke leaned his back against one of the remaining posts, crossed his arms over his chest, and waited for Morag. It was rather cute to him, seeing her trying to apologize and make nice in her own way.

"I mean it. I wouldn't lie to you, Morag." He chuckled and added, "Considering you'd beat me black and blue if I did, it would be a foolish mistake to make."

"Then why would you behave as you have been?" she demanded to know. To her embarrassment, she felt her cheeks growing warm. "You know I can handle myself, yet you've been trying to save me from things that are not even threats."

Zeke noticed the pink spots on her cheeks and smiled. "Come on, Morag, we're both adults here."

"I'm not so sure of that."

Zeke hung his head long enough to hide a small laugh. "OK, you've got me there," he admitted. "Maybe... I want to spend time with you, all right? I don't see you as someone needing rescue, but don't you think it would be nice if someone took care of you for a change? You can't take care of everyone if you don't look after yourself."

Though touched by his words, Morag heard something Zeke did not. As he spoke, she heard the sound of creaking wood. She also saw what he could not: part of the post he leaned against was starting to splinter.

"Zeke!" She hurried towards him and grabbed his hands, pulling him back just in time to prevent him from plunging into the cloud sea as he had done once before. The two of them leaned over the edge of the cliff in time to watch the old wood disappear among the clouds.

Morag looked up to Zeke, realizing she still held his hands. She released him, stepped back, and straightening her cap as it had slid askew. "Well," she said as she found her voice, "I think you and I are even now."

"What do you mean?" he asked. His heart thumped wildly, and it was not just due to him nearly falling off a cliff. That sort of thing seemed to happen regularly to him.

Morag smiled as she spoke the words he had often said to her. "I saved your life."