Author's Note: Hello everybody! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I haven't forgotten you! I've just been very busy. That being said, here is the latest chapter. I hope you like it.

"So Lamont," I said as we walked along in the desert heat. It was. . .sweltering. I didn't want to complain, I really didn't. I did my best not to let it get to me or to tip him off to how bothered I was. I could handle this. It was day five of our trek through the desert. Or was it six? I had lost track of the days and it felt as if there was no end in sight. "How did you learn how to fight?"

He kept up his steady pace and I matched it so that we could walk side by side. "I had formal instruction," he said simply.

"You mean like. . .somebody taught you?" I asked.

"That is correct," he said. "I was instructed on merely the basics, though. The rest is knowledge I gained out of necessity, in the heat of battle."

I sped up to walk a little ahead of him and then walked backwards where I could face him, my hands behind my back. "Oh? Please, do tell." I was truly interested. What battles had he been in before? He was so. . .refined. It was hard for me to imagine somebody like him having to go into a battle. With the way he cut down that wolf before, though, perhaps I was wrong. . .

"I. . .became ensconced in somewhat of a situation. It was a long time ago, a different journey. I traveled with people who I would be lucky enough to call my friends. It was during this time that I truly learned," he said, looking at me directly. "We do what we must when the situation calls for it. You see, that is why I have the utmost confidence that you will do just fine."

"Just fine?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Fantastic?" he tried again.

I smiled happily. "I'll do my best not to let you down!"

The next thing I knew, he was grabbing my arm. "Lydian, look out!" he yelled as he yanked me back in the right direction and pushed me behind his back.

I peeked around him just in time to see a wolf running straight toward us. One wolf. I could handle that! I couldn't handle it before, but I knew I could now. It was awesome of him to try and protect me like that, but how would I learn and grow if I let him take care of every situation? At least it wasn't a cactoid again. Those things were prickly, yet deceivingly cute. That was a combination that just didn't bode well, you know?

"Let me do it," I said, tugging on his sleeve before I appeared from behind him.

With a quick movement, I pulled the spear from where it was attached to my back and held it before me, ready. When the wolf wasn't too far off, I used the length of the weapon to hit it without letting it get too close to me. It yelped and then altered its strategy. It tried to circle around me. Instead of letting it do that, though, I started mirroring its movements. Together we were moving in a counter-clockwise circle, the same distance apart from one another.

The wolf finally got tired of this and tried to run at me. I whacked it again with a side swipe. And then. . .I tripped, falling back onto the sand. It all happened rather quickly. The wolf saw that as his opportunity and dashed toward me. Lamont rushed forward, his swords ready. And me? I reacted immediately, not wanting to give an inch even though I'd lost my footing. I strengthened my hold on the spear and thrust it forward, piercing the wolf and watching as it disappeared.

Lamont stopped in his tracks, a little befuddled. A second later, though, he smiled and came forward. He knelt down to pick up the loot left behind by the wolf before he extended his hand to me. I let him help me up yet again before I dusted myself off, the sand falling back to the ground.

"Fantastic," he said once more.

"Thanks," I said, accepting his praise. I knew I wasn't truly fantastic yet. Perhaps I never would really be. I'd do my absolute best, though, not to let him down.

By nightfall, we'd reached Nalbina Fortress. Little did I know, we'd be staying there for a while. Lamont had explained that he couldn't be absolutely sure that we hadn't been followed. And even if they hadn't figured out where we were heading yet, perhaps they would come this way soon enough. Lamont figured it'd be sooner rather than later considering how close this place was to Rabanastre.

He wanted to hide within the confines of this city to throw them off our trail. It was just our luck that the town was right at the beginning of a week long celebration. It was an annual celebration to commemorate the completion of the rebuilding of the fortress as well as the expansion of the town. As a result, they celebrated this achievement every year. This is what would give us our advantage. With so much celebration going on and even more people than normal visiting, we would blend right in. We'd be a faceless blur in the minds of those we crossed.

It was an interesting week. When the sun rose over the desert sands, Lamont would take me back into the Estersand. He would watch as I fought the various monsters in the area, letting me get in precious time to train. He always stepped in if one of them managed to overwhelm me. It was getting easier and easier for me to strike them down, though. I felt stronger somehow. It's not that I had developed muscles or anything. I felt a curious inner strength that was growing slowly, but steadily.

When training was over for the day, we'd return to the town and blend into the festivities. It was so enjoyable! People were everywhere. There was so much to see. There was dancing in the streets and vendors with different products for sale aside from your standard potions, techniks, weapons, etc. . . In the newly constructed town square, there was a statue. It was a really tall, golden statue that shone bright whenever the sunlight hit it.

It was a little awe-inspiring, really. It was also rather sad. You see, it was a statue constructed in remembrance of Prince Rasler. I'd heard about it, but now I was finally getting to see it. News through the grapevine said that Queen Ashelia had funded the construction of the statue and it had been finished just in time for the very first celebration of the completed town.

I could imagine how she must have felt, to always have that loss in the back of her mind. I mean, I'd lost my mom and I lived with that every day. This was different, though, her situation. Hers was different from mine and I realized that. What she had dealt with. . .Not only had she lost her father, but she'd lost her prince as well.

I took a step back from the statue and glanced around, trying to locate Lamont. He was standing against a nearby building, watching people dance with a worried look on his face. With a sigh, I made my way over and decided there must have been something I could do.

"Hey," I said as I came to a stop before him. "It'd be a shame to miss out on this fun." I pointed my thumb behind me toward the people dancing.

"Be that your tactful way of requesting me to dance?" he asked me with a somewhat amused expression.

I laughed and shook my head. "Uh, no. I mean, I can't dance. It's not that I have two left feet or anything, I've just never learned. I was just suggesting that we take a walk around or something if you'd like."

He didn't answer me with words. He used his hands to push against the wall and propel himself away from his spot against the building before walking in a random direction. I joined him and we decided to veer off toward one of the side streets that included the homes of the town's residents. The sun was starting to set so one by one, people who were home were starting to light a candle and sit it in front of a window in their home. I wasn't sure what the meaning of the candles was, though I suppose it must have had something to do with the celebration. The effect of so many candles lending their soft light to the street as the sun was setting, though, was beautiful.

I let out a wistful sigh. With so many beautiful sights, it was easy to almost forget just what Lamont and I were tangled up in. It was easy to lose a little focus on the journey we'd just barely started.

"Hey Lamont," I said quietly, almost afraid to break the companionable silence that had fallen between us. "What's up with those candles. They're beautiful, but do they have some kind of significance you know about?"

He looked a little sad as he considered my question. "From what I have come to understand, the citizens light candles during this week of celebration in remembrance of all the people who lost their lives during the battle all those years ago. It is not a requirement of any sort. Rather, it is a choice that each person makes if they feel it in their heart."

The candles just got a little less beautiful or a little more beautiful depending on how I thought about it. In the end, I decided that it really was a beautiful notion. People had died, but they hadn't been forgotten. Even if the people lighting the candles didn't know any of those who died, at least they were still being thought about.

"I like it," I said to him finally, softly. "If something were to ever happen to me, I think I'd be comforted by knowing that there was somebody out there who cared enough to light a candle for me."

I knew that something like that wasn't about to become a tradition in Rabanastre, but maybe it could be my own little tradition. Every year, maybe I'd light a candle and sit it in front of the window. And just maybe, wherever my mother was, she'd know that I was thinking about her.

"Were something ever to happen to you, I daresay I would light one," he said as I looked up at him. "A candle, I mean," he added as if he needed to clarify.

I was smiling before I knew it. Here was this guy who barely knew me or anything about me. And yet I felt as if we were already friends. So what I said next were true words from the heart. "Yeah, I feel the same way. I'd light one for you, too. That being said, don't you dare go out and give me a reason to light one in the first place. Alright?"

"Most unfortunately, I imagine that would be easier said than done," he said as he pulled me back into the shadows and pointed. Some of the men who had been following us were walking down the main street. They couldn't see us where we were. Even with the candles, it was still dark enough to conceal us.

Lamont and I backed up slowly until they were out of sight. Then we turned and hurried back down the street we'd come up. I looked down an alley as we passed it and got an idea.

"Hey," I whispered to Lamont, who had passed me when I stopped. "This way."

He spared a moment to look around and make sure we weren't being followed before hurrying over to the alley where I was. Somebody had left a ladder propped against the side of the building and while it had already been established that we were pretty good at climbing buildings without one, this certainly made it an easier task given the circumstances.

We hopped from building to building, keeping our footsteps light so that nobody below would hear us. From there, we made our way to building we'd been sleeping on so far. We laid on our stomachs and peered over the side of the building. Now that those guys had caught up to us, we'd probably have to stay on top of that building for the rest of the night. I could certainly have worse company, though, all things considered.