The full moon rose lazy into the night sky. Its light showing three men walking drunkenly towards a fort. Two of the men sing a merry song of love and loss. The third follows behind, deep in thought. He raises a bottle of wine to his lips and takes a swig.
He glares at the back of one of the men. His anger showing clearly on his face. The thought of putting an arrow in the back of the man's head leaps into his mind but vanishes quickly as the alcohol kicks in. He stops and watches the two drunken men continue on. He turns to his left and walks into the nearby woods.
The hoot of an owl fills the air as he sits down by a tree. Leaning his head back he begins to cry softly. No sound escapes his lips but small noises. "Shinon is that you?" says a voice further into the woods. Rising angrily Shinon faces the source of the voice ready to beat some silence into whoever is there.
From the trees emerges Mist her hands filled with white flowers. "Shinon are you alright?" she asks when she sees the tears still on his cheeks. "I'm fine" he replies as he flops back onto the ground and takes another swig of wine.
Mist crouches down next to him and snatches the half empty bottle from his hands. "Hey give its back" he slurs as he reaches for the bottle. "No you have had enough I think" she says as she empties the bottle on the ground. Shinon slumps back against the tree his face sullen.
"Come on Shinon tell me what's wrong" Mist pleads as she seats herself next to the drunk marksman. "Why do should you care it's not like we've ever been chummy before" Shinon barks. "Well we've never hated each other either have we?" she asks. Shinon turns his head and glares the other way not wanting to meet the girls gaze.
"Fine I'll leave you alone" says Mist as she gets up to leave. She walks by him but stops as Shinon tugs on her skirt. "Sit back down Mist I'm drunk enough that I don't care if I tell you" Shinon shuffles himself over to let Mist sit down. "So what's the matter?" Mist asks as she sits down.
"All right but you won't believe it when I tell you" Shinon says looking at the young woman seated next to him. "Well here it goes it all starts with why I actually taught Rolf how to use a bow. Well I did it because he was your friend."
Mist stares at Shinon and says "but why would he being my friend matter?" "Because one of the best ways to win over someone is to get along with their friends." Shinon pauses briefly and continues. "I'm a pervert I guess but I was willing to wait for you to grow up. I had planned to approach your father when you got older, but he died."
"So that's it then" says Mist sucking in a deep breath. "I… I'm flattered but why are you crying it's not like I'm tied down now." Shinon looks at her noticing her deep blush. "Boyd said that you had agreed to marry him." "What?" Mist yells rising to her feet "How dare he say such things! The pig!"
Mist begins to march towards the fort her flowers left behind. Shinon scoops up the flowers and follows, he didn't want to miss what was going to happen.
Mist finds Boyd in the mess hall drinking with Gattrie. "Hey Mist I've got something to ask you" Boyd yells drunkenly. "No!" she yells right back. "But you don't know what I was going to ask" he whines spilling his beer. "Yes I do and the answer is NO!" she yells.
At this point Shinon walks in. Mist turns and says "Oh you brought my flowers, thanks." Glaring at Boyd she grabs Shinon's hand and says "Come on Shinon." She drags a smiling Shinon away towards her room. Back in the mess hall Boyd turns to Gattrie and says "Ike would be really mad about this if he was still here." "Probably why he's doing it" says Gattrie as he takes another drink of his ale.
