I was up of my own accord the next morning, waking to the earthy scent of wet soil. Quietly, I stretched sleepy muscles as I slipped out of the tent. Dim, blue-gold light filtered through the trees, cutting striking beams in the early mist. A few birds chirped, singing songs I didn't recognize. Something about mornings made me quiet, contemplative. With how my life had just been upturned, it was comforting.

Anna had retreated to her cart to avoid the rain, returning only briefly with a tent and blankets for the horses. I think the rain put her off-kilter, taking most of the curls out of her hair and causing her boots to sink oddly into the soil. The silence told me she hadn't yet woken, or was perhaps still going through some predawn traditions. Either way, I thought it would be nice if I had some sort of breakfast ready for her.

I knelt carefully in the damp grass, putting my hand over the damp coals. A faint aura of heat, but not enough to really work with. Turning- and wincing as my back complained- I lifted the lid off the cooking crate and searched for my own addition to it. My hand closed on the spine of a book, and I pulled out the Fire tome. Anna had mentioned that magic casting of any significance for combat took a lot of time and effort- but so long as you had the aptitude...

The script inside was crisp, laid out in blocks around central diagrams that I didn't quite comprehend. The STEM major in me grumbled at the concept, but the scientist in me was still begging for an explanation. With a flex of my will, I was able to pour something into the book- and out of the circle came heat. From my outstretched fingertips, a few sparks dripped into the coals with hisses of steam and flares of light.

With a few twigs and an extra log, I was able to keep that morning fire going. I watched the sky brighten as I waited for the heat to even out, wishing I had done more camping back home. Soon, the soup from last night was warming over the fire (because Anna packed almost exclusively soup supplies). It wasn't a strong scent, but it did manage to drag Anna out of the cart. Though she looked distinctly bedraggled in what looked to be loose sleepwear, she already had a dagger clipped to her belt. It was interesting to see her hair down.

I grabbed a bowl and spoon as she approached. "Good morning," I greeted quietly, "Looks like you had an interesting night."

Anna eyed the costume sword resting next to me, putting a hand on her own dagger. After a long pause, she levelled bright red eyes at me and shrugged. Her speech came out as groggy as she looked. "Rain s'when I like to read. Stayed up reading."

I hummed in response, taking a heaping scoop of soup and pouring it into the bowl. She took it quietly, digging in with slowly growing energy. As the chorus of birds started to swell, I went back to the tent and pulled out the outer parts of my costume. Anna watched me with a gleam of interest as I ran the fabrics through my hands, inspecting every inch.

Everything had held up surprisingly well, I noticed, and upon inspection I was shocked. My costume had gained a grit it did not have before, made of subtly rougher and more durable material. The hat had long been removed in favor of letting my dirty, red-blonde hair fluff out in its usual wavy mess, but it had received the same treatment as the rest of my clothes.

And then came the sword. It had unusual heft in its sheath, and my suspicions were proved correct. Sliding out with a metallic hiss, the blade dimly reflected the dawn sun-

"Andrew," Anna hissed, making me jump, "Point that somewhere else!"

I turned, noting how the blade had reflected the sun directly into her eyes. Her hand was back on the dagger as she shaded her eyes. I gave an apologetic shrug before turning slightly. "My bad, Anna. Sorry!"

She tilted her head. "That's a very nice sword, though."

I knew very little about actual swords. "Thanks. I happen to quite like it."

A year of HEMA- essentially the sport of hitting people with longswords- had given me the bare basics about getting slammed in the ribcage. We used plastic swords, though, so we didn't even get to appreciate good looking swords. I unsheathed the long, narrow blade and gave it a few light swings. It felt very comfortable in my hands, all things considered. "And hopefully, I don't have to use it."

"Not a fan of fighting?" Anna asked, setting down her empty bowl. She put one arm up as she arched her back in a stretch, making a strange noise as she did. "Or not good at it?"

"Bit of both, honestly," I said, sheathing the blade and looking away, "I have some experience, but nothing lethal." And I didn't want to contemplate killing, honestly.

"Figured," she said, walking back to the cart,"You looked like you were about to lose your lunch over those rebels."

My stomach rolled over just thinking about it. "We're not all cut out for fighting, you know," I grumbled, "I'd much rather be back in a theatre."

Setting the sword down, I slipped into and buttoned up the deep red tunic of the Duke. The pants- or rather, the costume pants that went over my pants- went on after, because otherwise I'd look more ridiculous than usual. Looking at the Fire Tome from earlier for a long moment, I put that in one of the tunic's surprisingly large pockets.

Anna popped out of the cart shortly after, rolling her neck and stretching her arms. "Aah!" She sighed, "This is much better."

I blinked. "That was fast." She must have suited up countless times to slip on those long boots, belt up the armor plates on her legs, and put on the tunic. Unlike the Anna I remember from the game art, the one in front of me had a much more sensible tunic- no exposed collarbone or weird belt around the top of the chest. I suspected this one was more padded armor than clothing, and resolved to ask later.

"Practice," she replied with an easy smile, "And a very skilled tailor."

"Well, it works," I shrugged, looking back over at the tent. "I'll start breaking camp. Anything I should do if I finish early?"

Surveying the campsite, she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Andrew, if you finish breaking camp, that means you have finished breaking camp."

Feeling a little heat in my cheeks, I turned away. "Just trying to be helpful. No appreciation, I swear..."

Anna chuckled, and I couldn't help but smile.

[][][][][][][][]

It wasn't long after we got on the road again that the Mila Tree peered over the hilly horizon, a rolling cloud of rippling green that shone in the mid-morning glow. Somewhere in the back of my head, I registered that this meant Fire Emblem Awakening took place on a round planet, or at least a rounded disc. Useless information, but still.

"How tall is the Mila Tree, do you think?" I mused, scratching my short beard, "You said two days, and we can see it nearly a day away from arriving."

Anna looked at the slowly rising tuft of greenery and frowned. "That's a good question," she said, shrugging, "Not a clue. Maybe someone's measured it?"

The image of someone climbing the tree to drop a long measuring tape down rose to the surface of my mind, and I chuckled. Seeing Anna's strange glance in my direction, I leaned back and said, "Just picturing someone measuring it with a long rope or something."

Her expression didn't fade. "Ooookay," Anna replied, one eyebrow raised, "Guess the crazy is more than skin deep."

Guess my sense of humor wasn't entirely appreciated, but rather than accept it I rose to the challenge. "Crazy? I may be a thespian, but you're the one that grabbed a stranger off the street because the villagers called you out."

"My prices were completely reasonable!" Anna retorted with a huff, putting up a finger, "They were the unreasonable ones. And unreasonable times call for irrational measures."

That got another laugh out of me. Leaning forward, I clasped my hands together and put on a lordly, pompous accent. "Are you calling me an irrational measure?"

"Well I wouldn't call you, or this situation, rational," She said with a smirk, "You're the kind of guy who would measure a tree with a rope rather than by its shadow, after all."

I paused for a moment, mouth half-opened. I raised a finger, but she leaned over and slowly pushed it back down before patting my hand. Her smirk remained plastered across her face the entire time. "Touché."

"What, did you know that and not think of it?" Anna asked, turning back to face the road again, "Because that's even sillier."

Oh, I knew trigonometry by heart at this point- my college major demanded it. "Not sure how I forgot that. It's not as funny a mental image, though."

"Still don't get it," she replied, still smiling faintly, "But at least you're an entertaining irrational measure."

"Glad to know I'm appreciated," I said, looking out over the open fields of greenery.

Not too far ahead, the brush and shrubbery evolved into a forest that surrounded the road. Branches arched over the packed earth, casting thin beams of sunlight that rippled like water in the breeze. Shadows flickered in the gaps between trees, and something in my stomach wound itself tight.

With Anna's mention of bandits echoed through my head, I kept my eyes trained on where I'd seen the movement. "Anna," I called quietly, "Did you see-"

"Too tall to be deer," Anna answered, one hand moving to check for her dagger. "And we've been unreasonably lucky."

I looked to my sword, which was leaning against the front of the wagon. "What's our action plan? Springing the trap seems risky, so..."

Nodding, Anna tapped her chin. "I can't really figure out how many of them there are, and more importantly, how many of them have bows or magic. Springing the trap would be a gamble, and one that probably leaves us both dead. I'm thinking we make a turn, unbuckle the horse, and force them to come to us."

The knot in my stomach tightened as I laughed nervously. "You're certain it's not some deer?"

Anna nodded silently, tugging on the reins. The horse tossed its head, turning slowly- which was followed by a thump as the cart's front wheels rolled slightly off the road. She leapt down with her usual grace, swiftly moving to detach the horse from the cart. The movement was practised to perfection, no doubt done countless times. Grabbing my sword, I took a much less graceful drop off the cart. I put my hand to one of the giant pockets in my outfit (thank you, costuming) and confirmed that the Fire Tome was still there.

Looking over at the forest- and seeing that the shadows were now distinctly human- the tug of the Tome's magic started to feel comforting. I wondered if I could actually make use of sparks in a fight- because a fireball would require actual practice and time I didn't have. "Yeah, I see them. Looks like they're not very patient."

"Good," Anna replied, patting herself down and pulling another dagger out of... somewhere. She looked me up and down. "Are you ready for this?"

I looked down at my feet, left hand resting on the grip of my sword. A hundred thoughts and a thousand worries bled from my thoughts, muscles twitching and heart pumping. The soldier ripping their axe so casually out of a man's chest- I could still hear the sound. Taking a long, shuddering breath, I made eye contact with Anna. Red eyes glinted like polished steel, lips set in grim confidence. My voice came out quietly, trembling with my heartbeat. "I don't know."

Her expression twitched slightly. "Don't let me down."

Words got caught in my throat. I couldn't answer her.

[][][][][][][][]

They didn't wait long. A single man stepped out of the woods, stroking his unkempt black beard in one hand while hefting a massive axe in the other. His armor was a patchwork of Walhart's crimson and standard brown. Deserters, maybe?

"Listen," he shouted, voice thick with what I assumed was a Valmese accent, "You give up the goods and your woman, you go free. We'll even let you keep the horse and cart."

My hand clenched around my sword, and I barely managed to bite back a response. I shared a glance with Anna. Flicking her eyes towards the woods, she gestured with her chin towards the bandit. The knot in my stomach and the dull throbbing in my chest grew, contracting only slightly after a few calming breaths. I couldn't do this- but perhaps as an actor, I could pretend. Maybe even rig things in our favor.

I stepped forwards, watching Anna scan the woods for bandits. Clearing my throat and squaring my shoulders, I raised my voice to answer, wincing as it trembled. "Unfortunately, I cannot see myself parting with the woman. She is not mine to give, you see."

"The woman," Anna muttered, "Really?"

"Kill me later," I shot back, "They might think you're an easy target this way. How many?"

"I count five, including the leader," She said with a sigh, "Doable, but dangerous."

The man who I assumed was the leader spoke again, and I could nearly taste his sanguine excitement from here. " I'll give you until the count of ten before we slit your throat and take it all from ye."

"I enjoy being alive, honestly," I said, unsheathing my sword. Muscle memory directed one shoulder forward and the other back, hopefully minimizing the space the bandits could hit. "How do you feel, Anna?"

"Unless you're an artist, you can't make money when you're dead," She replied, hefting a dagger. Frowning, she looked between it and the bandit leader, who had counted to eight at that point. She drew her arm up, curling her wrist, and smirked.

The swarthy man never got to ten. He let out a pained gasp, cut short but forever burned into my memory. Blood, seeping from his mouth, oozed through his beard and onto the hilt buried in his neck. The man fell to his knees before collapsing like a puppet with cut strings. Time staggered to a halt as I watched the road grow crimson around the body.

Four men burst from the treeline, each a patchwork of soldier's leathers and stolen armor- I barely heard Anna's breath catch over the pounding of blood in my ears. Their shouting slammed into us like a wave of tar, pushing down on my knees and worming between my fingers. But it did not force me down- no way in hell am I dying here.

One more bandit was brought to his knees before they were able to get to us, sent down by a dagger planted straight in his eye. That left us with three- one closer to me, and two closer to Anna. So much for rigging things in our favor. She still had one dagger on her, and I doubted she planned to throw it.

I stepped forward, bringing my sword sideways in a sweep that the bandit blocked with their own. He grinned toothily, eyes sparking as he leaned into me. This was something I knew how to deal with- twisting my grip and placing my hand along the flat of my blade, I watched his sword jerk downwards. I yanked my guard back as he stumbled, slamming my elbow upwards into his chin.

His head snapped back with spewed profanity, sword dropping from loosened fingers. Bringing my sword around, I locked eyes as I reared back into a stab.

I couldn't do it.

Diverting course, I watched as the sword cut like butter through his shoulder armor and slide out again painted red. His arm dropped nervelessly as he collapsed, still cursing in a language I couldn't discern. Hearing the clatter of metal, I turned to check on Anna.

One of her opponents had a slit throat, and the other was using wild swings of an axe to drive her backwards. Each dodge she made was precise, calculated, and executed with such fluidity that it was like watching a dancer. I stepped out of her way, coming around to the side to try and harry the bandit.

The bandit cursed, eyes blazing, and took a wide swing that nearly took my head off as he angled to keep an eye on me. Anna stepped out of the way-

And I heard her shout, thrumming with adrenaline, as the man I'd sent down grabbed her by the ankle. The axe-swinging bandit took the chance, bringing his axe back around. Something shifted in my thoughts, sending sparks through my body. Wordlessly, I charged, ducking under his swing and burying my blade into his ribs.

Anna couldn't dodge. She could only fall backwards as she struggled to get out of the fallen bandit's grip. The axe continued despite its wielder's screams, barely missing her nose before making contact with the edge of her chin. It slammed into her shoulder and sent her in a spin before clattering to the ground as the bandit collapsed. I tried to yank my sword out of him, turning to look at the bandit who had grabbed Anna.

There was a dagger buried in his chest, hand slackening as she wriggled her way out. Wordlessly, she stood up and stomped straight on his trachea before putting a hand to her lip. "How do I look?" She said breathlessly, chest heaving.

I turned to look at her and blanked for a moment, grunting as I finally pulled my sword out of the bandit's chest. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Anna groaned. "You don't look very concerned, so I'll take that as a positive. How does the cut look?"

Calling upon my rusty first-aid training with a surprisingly clear head, I leaned forward. My voice, though, reflected the hammering of my heart and the trembling in my limbs. "N-not bad. I'm m-more worried about your shoulder."

"Yeah, me too. It didn't cut skin, luckily. You know where the-" With one hand, she fumbled with the collar of her tunic before managing to pull it down to expose her shoulder. That same hand explored the side, and she bit back a curse. "That's going to bruise quite a bit. You know where the vulneraries and staves are, right? Can you grab one of each?"

I nodded quietly as I looked away. Walking unsteadily, I hefted myself into the cart as muscles started to ache. The knot in my stomach crept back as well, reminding me of what I hadn't done. Banishing those thoughts, I grabbed the supplies and leapt out to find Anna putting a dagger through the axe bandit's neck- apparently he'd survived. She then sat down in the grass, crossing her legs.

As I approached, Anna reached out to take the Vulnerary before wincing. "Right. Hand me the staff. Take the fabric off the top of the flask and soak it, will you?"

I let her take the staff with her uninjured arm. She brought it to her shoulder and took a long, shuddering breath as it began to glow. Blinking, I turned to my task, realizing I had no idea how Vulneraries worked before Anna told me. Either she figured out I was from further away from expected, or she was used to dealing with idiots. Hopefully the latter.

Anna brought the staff down with a groan, letting it clatter to the ground. Her hand went to the injured area, prodding it gingerly. "Those are not pleasant, and I think it'll need some rest before I move it again. Healing was never my forte."

"Uh," I said, looking at the blood starting to drip down her chin, "Should I..."

Blinking, Anna looked at me oddly. "What? Just put the rag on the wound. I need to finish healing my shoulder."

Hesitantly, I knelt down in front of her and pressed the soaked rag to the cut, which ran from bottom right corner of her lip down to her chin in a slash. She hissed, one hand going to the staff as she brought it up to her shoulder. "I'm guessing this stings, but try not to move your mouth to much," I muttered, eyeing her shoulder. "Sorry, by the way."

She raised an eyebrow, rolling her eyes as the greenish healing glow of the staff illuminated both of us.

"Right, I literally just asked you not to talk," I mused. Sighing, I looked away. "I'm sorry because I should have made sure that bandit was-" My throat tightened. "I didn't make sure he was dead, and you paid for it."

Anna rolled her eyes again, dropping the staff and putting a hand over mine on the rag. I quickly removed my own hand as she rose to her feet, moving the rag to soak up some of the blood. The cut had, impressively, healed right over, leaving a light white mark in its place. I stood up as well, stepping back to give her some space. "Will that stick around? The mark from the cut, that is."

There was a pause. Anna leaned forward flicked me in the nose, making me jump slightly. "One thing at a time, Andrew. I should have been looking where I was going, and you paid it back by stabbing that guy in the ribs."

I flushed, putting a hand to my nose. "I didn't actually expect it to go straight through, and you did most of the work. That dagger throw-"

"You looked horrified. Trust me, it gets old fast," Anna commented dryly, pulling the collar of her tunic back up, "And if you're just going to butter me up, just get to the point."

If any part of my cheeks wasn't flushed, they were beet red now. I looked away. "I'm not sure there was a point."

She gave me a strange look. "...Let's just get the bodies out of the road and be on our way before you put your foot further into your mouth."

[][][][][][][][]

I'd like to say that I made some realization about the grim nature of war or felt much of anything when dumping the bodies with Anna.

I didn't. Seeing their pale, lifeless faces rang hollow in my heart, leaving only a dull throb.

[][][][][][][][]

Our combat diversion left both of us drained- Anna nearly passed out in the seat before handing me the reigns. This once again left me with my muddled thoughts, a blend of panic, doubt, and a scorched knot in my stomach.

Watching as golden light gleamed in countless leaves of the Mila Tree, my memories turned endlessly. Again and again, I watched my sword bury itself in a man's shoulder- and the thousand ways that choice would have left Anna bleeding out. And, not long after, I would have joined her. Each repetition, I saw the man's eyes, moving from fury to fear. I felt my sword cut through tendon and flesh, staining metal crimson and soil a wet brown. Shifting back into reality, I took a long, shuddering breath to calm a raging pulse. It worked, somewhat.

Gold gave way to red as the Sun reached the horizon, shining directly into my eyes. Not quite willing to let go of the reins to shade my eyes, I decided it was as good a time as any to stop for the day. "Anna," I whispered, "How about we stop here?"

She didn't stir, instead choosing to slouch onto the crook of my elbow. Cute, but I needed that to operate the cart. I shook my arm a bit, and Anna grumbled in her sleep before slowly lifting herself off. Looking vaguely in my direction and shading her eyes, Anna worked her jaw. "What is it?"

"The sun's about to set. Figured we should stop or something," I said, matching her low volume.

"Oh," she replied, shifting to face forwards, "Yeah, we should."

Something bubbled up from my throat, coming out as a strangled laugh. I let it happen, feeling the knotted pain wash away as Anna looked on strangely. "S-sorry," I said with a fading chuckle and a tear in my eye, "It's just that you're usually so... In charge, I guess."

"You are a strange man," Anna sighed, a smile working onto her face, "But at least you're the entertaining kind of weird."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I replied, gesturing with my chin towards the stretch of forest up ahead, "How about we stop up there?"

She leaned forward, squinting into the fading light. "Sure. I'd rather not be in the open tonight, so let's pull up at the edge."

[][][][][][][][]

I didn't have the patience to light the fire normally, so I used the Tome again to skip the flint and steel. Soon, we had embers soaring and swooping into the sky. Of course, unless we wanted uneven heat, we had to wait a little bit before setting up a pan. So we sat, staring into the fire, my thoughts flickering with every whorl of orange light.

"Didn't know you could use magic like that," Anna grunted, unbuckling the armor from one of her legs, "A lot of mages are terrible at precision."

I frowned, mulling over her phrasing. "As in, you didn't know I could use magic like that, or..."

Anna glanced over at me with a faint smirk. "You, specifically. Tomes usually fizzle when trying for small stuff."

"Huh," I muttered, "Any idea why?"

"Well," Anna started, unbuckling the armor on her other leg, "Magic is a very complex area of study that requires years of study to even scratch the surface on. I know that if I focus on a stick, it glows and can heal people. If I do that with certain books, I shoot cool stuff out of my hands."

I snorted, reaching over to grab the pan. "So, you have no idea."

"Yep," she said, starting on her gauntlets, "Not a clue."

Stars started to flicker into being, painting the sky in splashes of prismatic light. Crickets and night birds filled the quiet night air, a background upon which we were able to wind down after a particularly interesting day. The rustle of leaves and the crackle of wood was nearly enough to put me to sleep on its own.

Once I thought it was hot enough, I started tossing components onto the pan for one of my favorite meals.

"Stir fry, huh?" Anna said, leaning back onto a crate she'd pulled out. "I had you pegged as a soup man, given the chance." She shifted, adjusting the bedroll she'd turned into padding for her makeshift chair.

"Well," I said, shuffling the cut vegetables (I had no idea what they were, honestly) and dried meats around with a spatula, "You have a lot of surprisingly fresh ingredients, and we did soup twice in a row."

"What's wrong with three times in a row?" She fired back, putting a finger to her chin as she grinned.

"It gets boring, and I'd rather..." I took a breath, stuffing some knotted thoughts back down, "I'd rather do something that distracts me. How often do you make soup for yourself?"

"Pretty much all of the time. Preservation spells aren't that hard, just energy intensive- so I can store soup stocks for months with no real issue," She said cheerfully, her voice filled with a surprising amount of passion, "And soup is one of the best things ever invented."

"Other than money?"

"Other than money, obviously."

I shrugged, hiding a smile. That stuff about preservation magic was cool, but I was more interested in how serious she was about soup. "Really? Soup is that good?"

"Absolutely. Breakfast foods are great, but soup can be so much more than a single meal!" She waved a hand vaguely outwards, tossing a curl of red hair out of her face, "You can cook a huge pot for dinner, throw a preserving spell on it, and then have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner... Just add a little bit more each time, and you're getting huge mileage out of a single pot meal."

"So it's about money, huh? Talk about a one-track mind," I replied absently, adding a bit more water to the stir fry, "But hey, makes getting presents easy." Hearing Anna talk this much at once was bizarre and entertaining.

Anna huffed. "Okay, maybe that enhances the appeal of soup. But it's not all about money, you know. There's this..." She frowned, chewing her lip for a moment, "Soup's got this homey feel, right? It's very comforting, and on top of that you're not at all limited in ingredients."

"Uh-huh."

"And you can make soup anywhere! Buy some meat, veggies, a starch; with some basic spices you can make a little bowl of homey goodness. And you're telling me," She says, drawing my attention away from the cooking, "That you think stir fry is better than that."

Her features were cast in sharp relief by the firelight, eyes sparkling as she blew another curl of bright red hair out of her face. I blinked, shaking my head. "Uh. Well, yeah. I like soup a lot too, but sometimes I don't need my food sitting in a liquid."

"That's not a valid excuse," Anna said, "You can drink the broth after picking out the solid bits."

"Fair," I paused, trying to compose an argument, "Look. It's partially a consistency thing and partially a stylistic thing. Stir fry's got specific taste to it and the individual parts can have a distinct taste without really harming other flavors. My example? Garlic."

She groaned. "What a cop-out argument."

"No, it's perfectly valid!" I defended, scooping the stir fry onto two plates, "What kind of sauce do we have?"

"Mostly soy sauce. If you plan on making this frequently, then we can look into getting other sauces," Anna replied, accepting the plate and pulling a bottle of soy sauce out of the crate. Taking a bite of the meat, she nodded. "Good job. You were saying?"

I coughed, taking a bite of my own. "Could use some fried rice to go with it. Anyways," I started again, trying to track down my own train of thought, "I said something about garlic, right?"

Anna nodded, sprinkling sauce onto the stir fry before passing the bottle to me.

"Thanks. Garlic, right. Garlic is a really strong flavor, and if you put it in a soup, everything is now garlic flavored. In a stir fry, you can have garlic flavoring on things without it overwhelming the individual flavors, right?"

"I guess," Anna replied around a mouthful of food, giving an exaggerated, one-armed shrug as she did.

"And you can even have chopped garlic in a stir fry, no problem. Okay, maybe a small problem," I amended as Anna raised an eyebrow, "But still!"

We paused, taking a moment to eat.

Anna practically inhaled her food, and I followed along at a more sedate pace. I grinned. "Anna, this isn't soup."

"It is if I want to be," she grumbled, crossing her arms, "It makes me feel better about not having soup."

I reached out, ostensibly to flick her on the nose. I hesitated, eyes catching on the pale white slash on her chin. She took the moment and flicked my nose. "Damnit, Anna. You know you liked the stir fry, you told me as such!"

She grinned as I covered my nose. "It was good, not soup-good."

With a sigh, I pulled the pan off the fire finally and shrugged. "Your narrow-mindedness blinds you to a whole world of stir fry, Anna. If only you would open your eyes and see the truth."

Anna looked at me, eyes shining, and laughed. It wasn't like the chuckles or the stifled giggles she'd given me before- it was a genuine thing that lifted my heart and cleared my thoughts. Laughter had that effect on me, generally. I then realized that I was laughing too. The absurdity of the situation was just too much for me, and Anna was all it took to set it off.

Once all that remained was a few sniffles of laughter to break the sounds of fire and night, I wiped a tear from my eyes. "That," I said quietly, "Was nice. I think I needed that."

"Me too," Anna replied, her voice matching mine. "Andrew?"

"Yeah?"

"You're ridiculous."

"If I am, so are you."

The stars were beautiful that night. Watching them shine overhead was more than enough to lull me to sleep, happy and with a full belly.

[][][][][][][][]

Author's Note:

This chapter was completed on the 18th of May, and originally was planned to be released on the first of June. Obviously, that didn't happen.

I wanted to give you all a heads-up that this story is written in blocks before being released- at time of writing, I'm tinkering with the intro for chapter 4. Once I have this block of chapters completed, I will be releasing chapters somewhere between Saturday and Monday on a given week. The day depends on how many chapters of backlog I have and how much of a writer's block/burnout I might happen to feel.

Thanks,

Narwhal Lord