Balthier sighed as he heard footsteps approaching the encampment, signaling the return of the hunters. Ashe and Fran had been out gathering firewood, and when a Wyrdhare had come traipsing through the camp, Vaan had stood and raced after it, yelling something about fresh meat tonight. Penelo and Basch had, of course, followed him to make sure he came to no harm, with Basch asking the sky pirate over his shoulder to please watch the camp while they were gone. Before Balthier had had a chance to respond, they had been gone, and there had been silence. He'd settled in to quietly wait for them to return, dark thoughts racing through his mind.

Balthier calmly stood, brushing off the dirt from the back of his pants, and crossed his arms, staring at the area from whence he had heard the footsteps. Sure enough, Captain Basch soon walked through, followed by Penelo, who had her arm wrapped around Vaan, supporting him, as he trembled and muttered, eyes casting about wildly. She set him down near the tents that had been set up with an amused look on her face. Vaan sunk down quietly, his head held in his hands, and the muttering continued, too low for Balthier to make out what was being said.

"And what happened here, eh?" he asked, his annoyance put aside at the thought that Vaan might be seriously hurt. Basch turned around quickly so that his back was to the sky pirate, but not before Balthier had seen a small grin on his face. Penelo blushed as Balthier walked over towards her and Vaan, his hazel eyes upon her, one eyebrow arched gently.

"Well, we were chasing after the Wyrdhare," she began quietly, only to be interrupted by Vaan. He surged upward, hands clutching at Balthier until they found his shirt. A crazed look was in his eyes, and his hair was mussed up. The boy quaked as he held Balthier by the sleeves of his shirt, and when his voice came it was that of a madman. "The teeth! So sharp…and the fluffy ears! THE EYES, MAN! THOSE RED, GLOWING EYES!!!" He shook Balthier by the shirt as he ranted, until the sky pirate reached up and grabbed Vaan's hands, disentangling him from his shirt sleeves with a disgusted look on his face.

"Really, Vaan, you're wrinkling my shirt." said Balthier with disdain in his voice. Setting the still shaking boy back on the ground, he turned back to Penelo after taking a step back to put himself out of Vaan's reach. "You were saying?" he prompted gently.

Penelo looked down, slightly flustered. "Well, Vaan got tired of chasing after the…the bunny," she said softly with a look in Vaan's direction, hoping not to scare him into another burst of insanity.

Balthier smirked. "Do tell, my dear. Then why, I wonder, did he chase after it in the first place?" Penelo flushed again, but stared back at him as she replied.

"Vaan decided to cast some sort of spell to get the…bunny to stop running." she said, rolling her eyes. "Unfortunately, he didn't tell Basch or I what he was doing, and he just cast the first one that came to mind…which happened to be Berserk." She looked away, a smile dancing on her lips. Balthier looked between her and Vaan, and then burst out laughing. Penelo glanced back quickly, and then continued. "Of course, the bunny didn't just stop running - it attacked us, namely Vaan. There was a red glint in it's eyes, and if it hadn't been so cute, it probably would have been scary. But Vaan got the brunt of it, and, uh…I don't think he much liked it," she said, grinning. Balthier shook his head and stared at Vaan.

"And the rabbit?" he asked. "What happened to it?"

"It chased Vaan up a tree before the spell wore off and it ran away," Penelo replied, shaking her head. "Basch had to climb up to get him down."

Balthier put his hand to his forehead and cracked up. A low chuckle sounded from behind him, and he turned to see that Basch had joined in his laughter. Ashe and Fran had apparently returned in time to hear at least part of the story, and the princess chuckled too, while Fran merely rolled her eyes and smiled. Penelo giggled softly, and soon the Salikawood echoed with laughter. Vaan continued to shake.

To this day, he is still scared of bunnies, and flinches at the sight of Fran's ears…