Sakamoto woke up and looked around. He was in a bed, which was something he hadn't slept in for a long time. Even at the castle, he preferred to sleep. Every part of his body ached, but surprisingly, he wasn't cold. In fact he was sweating, and felt very hot. Scorpo popped into view, and said, "Welcome to Kryta my friend." Sakamoto sat up and blinked a few times. "How?" "You fainted from exhaustion. First time using the spell or something. You didn't wake up for 4 hours, so we decided that it wasn't worth the wait for you to wake up and walk down the mountain yourself." "So how did I end up coming down the mountains?" "Talon and I build a sled. We dragged you around, then all got on it and sledded most of the way down." Sakamoto gave him a look. Scorpo laughed. "Hey, I'm not kidding. You can ask Silverwing yourself." "Whatever dude. Whatever."
Eve walked in. Somehow she looked a lot older than she did up at the castle. Wrinkles at the corner of her mouth, and bags under her eyes made it seem as if she had been crying about something. She wasn't in her armor anymore, but rather in what seemed to be monk robes like the ones Brother Mhenlo wore all the time. Scorpo's face turned. "I'll, uhh leave you two alone for now." Scorpo must have pissed her off, Sakamoto thought.
"How are you doing?" Eve came over and sat by Sakamoto. She started to brush her hand through his hair caringly. "I'm certainly doing better than when I was unconscious" "Yeah that's true." There was a long awkward silence. "Is everything alright Eve? You seem mentally preoccupied." "Yeah, it's just … well." Eve threw her head to get her bangs out of the way of her face. Sakamoto noticed that she seemed to have a bit of color in her flesh, which was usually pale due to her constant close encounters with death. Then he realized what was happening. "Are you … blushing?"
Eve was utterly embarrassed. She didn't plan for it to work out like that. She didn't plan on blushing, and making herself look like an innocent little girl, that had no experience with relationships. Especially if that's exactly what she was. "I'm sorry," she stammered. "I should let you rest up and wait until you're walking around before I ask you on a date." Ooh why did I say that? She thought suddenly. She tore herself up for that mentally, and looked back at Sakamoto to see if she should be completely embarrassed and attempt suicide again.
Sakamoto had a sort of half-smile, half-concerned look on his face. He reached up and pulled her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ears for her, then held her face. "As soon as I get enough strength to walk around, I'll take you somewhere." Eve brought her hand up and took Sakamoto's hand in hers. They stared into each other's eyes for a while. Eve finally smiled, and said, "Get some rest, cowboy."
The days stated to fly by as Sakamoto got progressively better. Talon Silverwing wanted to stay and make sure that he was alright before he took off. His own business was urgent, but he cared enough about his friends to stay and make sure all was well. Within a few days of Talon's departure, Sakamoto was able to walk about, and true to his word, he took Eve out on a couple of long walks in the Krytan countryside. Day by day as Sakamoto grew stronger and closer to a full recovery, he also grew closer and closer to Eve. Eve also started to look more and more like herself again.
"Remember when we were still young, and Verrata was all big on raising the dead, and all that controversial research that our elders kept complaining about?" Sakamoto turned his head to look at her. They were lying on the side of a hill, side by side, with Eve cuddling up against Sakamoto. "Yeah, only it wasn't my parents. It was always the school. Always complaining about something. No raising the dead, no running off to find Verrata. Hell they made me throw out the voodoo dolls I made of Verrata." "It's hard to imagine that that was the same world as it is today, with the demand for minion masters going up, and now starting to decline." "It was the common minion master that saved the day at Vizunah square." "Are you calling me a common minion master?" They both turned on their sides to face and hold each other. Eve giggled, and tapped Sakamoto's nose with her own. "Common enough for me," she whispered, then kissed him.
Finally, after a week of rest, Sakamoto decided that it was time to get going. He called upon Scorpo to take him to the temple of ages and show him the entrance to the Underworld. Scorpo made the run with him, and when they arrived at the temple of ages unscathed, even Scorpo started to wonder what SS really was and what it meant for him if he stayed with Sakamoto.
Eve had decided to stay behind in Lion's Arch for a few days. She had mentioned something about shopping, and a new wardrobe. Sakamoto wasn't sure what she was talking about since armor would take a lot of crafting materials that he knew she didn't have. Scorpo thought she just meant dye shopping and getting new colors for herself, but Sakamoto couldn't imagine her in anything but black.