Chapter 8: Beginning Affections

Bloodshed now seemed to be a common fixture for the lives of the Shepards... now, they had two fights under their belts that were taxing in more ways than one... with the exalt dead, and the fight in the marsh having been won, the Shepards all now sat in wagons heading toward Ragna Ferox, and far away from Plegia... and good riddance... they would be back of course, but now...now, they just had to heal up and work toward fighting the good fight the next time... but luck never really seemed to go their way. Even if they had the greatest strategist in the world (which they quite possibly did), nothing would be able to help them know what the enemy was planning... they were practically chasing their tails in this war with how well it was going...

Not to say that Plegia wasn't going that well either. The loss of one of their best generals and by extension most of their army (As they had honored his request and spared all those who didn't fight them) had set them back a fair amount, if scouts were to be believed. But it was only a matter of time before Plegia would be ready to strike, and now ever single member of the Shepards were worried that now, they would be preparing for a last stand, and an incredibly bloody one at that... all they could do was wait and see what could happen next.

This bothered Richard more than he would care to admit. He loved being two steps ahead of the opposition, for the obvious reasons, and the fact that it would mean he could lessen any casualties for the Shepards, as one of his points of pride as a tactician was the fact that while he was in charge of strategy, the losses that the Shepards suffered were drastically lower than ever recorded in the history of Ylissian warfare. They had a large advantage in terms of not needing much in the way of reinforcements, and the fact that they had a much larger and more warlike nation on their side helped. But that didn't change the fact that the Ylissians were hungry, poorly armed, low on morale, and just all around tired...

Speaking of Richard, after the wagons had stopped for the night, he was just sitting by a large campfire, attempting to think of a good meal to make for the night, as it was his turn to help feed the army by creating the night's dinner. It wouldn't be for a while, but with the meager supplies, it required a great deal of thought. He sighed as he sat by the roaring fire, thoughts going through his head as to what to make. The only things that they had were vegetables, water, a few meat products, and a large stock of various potions and tinctures that didn't exactly make for good eating since they all had the bitter taste of various healing herbs. It didn't help matters that he could barely even consider himself to be a cook...

"Come on man, think, think!", he said to himself in an attempt to gain self-confidence, yet was currently failing due to the fact that this was getting him no closer to his solution... he sighed at leaned back in his chair... he supposed that he could pass cooking duty onto someone else, but that did seem a little mean of him... but then again, he was sure that Cordelia or Sumia or someone else would be able to take up the role without minding too much...

"You seem to be deep in thought.", said a voice behind him, causing him to jump a little.

He turned around to see who spoke to him, and immediately his heart stopped beating at a mile a minute when he saw that the person who spoke to him was Panne. He sighed and smiled at her and said, "Oh, hello Panne. I apologize about being startled, I just wasn't expecting you."

"It's quite alright.", she said, "I didn't realize that I would frighten you."

"It's alright, really.", Richard said, slight smile on his face as he went back to his thought process.

Panne tilted her head in curiosity, "What are you thinking of?"

Richard chuckled slightly, "Oh, erm, nothing much really... it's my turn today to make the meal, and honestly I don't have much to make. Although, I've just decided to pass these duties onto Sumia... she won't mind, I'm sure... at least I hope not, I'm honestly stumped over the whole thing..."

"She's kind enough. I'm sure that she would be more than willing to take on the duty of being chef for the day.", Panne reassured.

Richard nodded, "Alright then. Would you mind accompanying me then? I was hoping that we could talk a little bit more. Recent circumstances have not been permitting us to do so. And after all, I believe we did arrange for something like this?"

Panne smirked a little, in what seemed to be agreement. She then nodded, and followed the tactician away from the fire, rather unsure of where to go really, considering that neither of them really knew where Sumia was... so, rather than just languish in the silence, Richard attempted to spark conversation, and said with a slight hesitance, "So, do all shape-shifters turn into rabbits, Panne?"

She shook her head, "No. There were others, far from here. Tribes of cat-wearers and bird-wearers."

Richard looked interested, "Woah... I would have loved to see that...", his mind then started to wander a bit, as a slight grin crossed his face, "I bet that they were so cuddly and cute!"

It was right after he said that when he noticed Panne's odd look, something between confusion and possibly offense. Right when he saw the look, Richard began to backtrack, "Er... sorry. I probably shouldn't call a race of proud warriors, 'cute'."

Panne crossed her arms in slight indigence, and said, "They were not cute. At least, not like the rabbit-wearers are cute. But then, what is? Nothing."

Richard chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, deciding right then and there that he had to change the subject, "R-Right... so, did you meet any of these tribes yourself?"

Panne still had her arms folded, but her eyes became downcast, "Long ago. How they fare now, I do not know... perhaps they share the same bloody fate as my own people..."

Richard immediately picked up on the pain in Panne's voice... she obviously wasn't very comfortable talking about this subject, and of course he was the one who had to bring it up. All he could say was, "I... I didn't mean to..."

He was about to place a hand on her shoulder for comfort, but before he could, she sighed, looked up, and said, "I am sorry... there is no call for you to share in my gloom.", she then looked back toward Richard, who had since pulled back the comforting hand, "So, another question?"

"Oh...", Richard said, his mind a blank after that last exchange... all he could really do was think about what it must have been like to live through all of that, and yet still come out so strong... still, no matter how strong she was, she had come out of it with scars, of the mental, emotional, and physical variety... the fact that she was still able to conduct herself well was amazing in and of itself, really. He then realized he had spent five whole seconds without speaking just thinking about her, and he quickly had to think of something, lest the conversation would die. And thus, a thought crossed his mind, one which he felt that he would have to pat himself on the back later for. He fumbled with his words a little, but he still managed to get out, "Um... well, what do you like to eat?"

Panne shrugged, not catching his meaning, "Taguel eat many things."

Richard shook his head, "No, I mean you specifically. I'm on kitchen duty tonight, so I'll cook you whatever you want."

Panne raised an eyebrow, "What about asking Sumia to cook?"

Richard chuckled a little, "Something tells me that she wouldn't like to be bothered anyway. Besides, it was me being nosey that made you sad, right? Let me cheer you back up!"

Panne didn't know what to think upon hearing this... what was this feeling? This tightening in her chest as he spoke these words to her, with her face heating up a bit as well... she never really experienced anything like this. What was this feeling...? At first, she was going to refuse, but for some reason... a nice personalized dinner sounded heavenly after all of the things that she had recently been through... all she could really say was, "You are... oddly kind. I never would have imagined that someone would wish to make me a personalized meal..."

Richard smiled as they walked back to the fire, "Hey, it's what friends are for, right?"

Panne looked to him, "You would... call me a friend?"

"Of course.", Richard replied, "Would you call me one?"

Panne just didn't know what to think anymore. Only a few weeks prior, she would've rather die than serve in an army made entirely of man-spawn... but now? There were people here that she would actually call... friends. Donnel, Frederick, Gaius... and chief among all of them, the man who was standing right in front of her. So, all she could really say was, "Yes... of course I would."

Richard's smile grew wider, "Good to hear..."

They continued on toward the large fire, and when they reached it, Richard chuckled to himself a little and said, "So, let me guess... your favorite food is carrot stew."

Panne immediately looked over at Richard with a look of slight wonderment, and possibly shock, and asked, "...How did you know."

Not quite understanding her at first, Richard laughed a bit and said, "Sorry! I know, just because you're a rabbit doesn't mean you...", he then immediately realized what it was that she just said, "Wait, I was right?"

"...You mean... you guessed?", Panne asked, actually looking a little impressed.

"Well... actually, yeah.", Richard admitted, "I just thought that it would make for a good joke... sometimes you get lucky I suppose."

The both of them then decided to chalk it up to coincidence, and without further ado, Richard began his work, taking bucket upon bucket of water from a nearby river and dumping it all into the cauldron that was hanging above the fire. He then set to work slicing the carrots, no small feat without the help of cutting board. He instead decided to use the stool that he was sitting on as a semi-reasonable facsimile, which caused him some minor discomfort in his legs, as well as slight numbing, but he powered through. Panne meanwhile just watched as he did his work, unsure if there was anything to say or not.

Eventually, Richard completed his task, and soon added stock and some of the other veggies in the meager larder in order to make it at least have it become more filling. And soon, after watching over the cauldron and making sure that it was boiling and steaming copiously, Richard removed the cauldron from the fire and placed it down onto the ground. After fetching the bowls as well as a few wooden spoons, he ladled some of the stew into a bowl, and handed it and a spoon over to Panne, who accepted it graciously, and proceeded to take a sip of it with the spoon...

"So? How is it?", Richard asked, eager to know what she thought of it.

Panne was silent for a moment, and said, "...It's quite possibly the best carrot stew I've ever had..."

Richard was understandably a little shocked at this declaration, "Y-You mean it? It's that good?"

Panne nodded, "I don't joke when it comes to food, Richard."

Richard was silent for a moment, but chuckled to himself, "Well, I guess that means that dinner's ready. I'll go and pour some more into the bowls."

"Oh, may I have more than?", Panne asked.

Richard looked over to the rabbit-woman, and found that indeed, after looking away for no more than 5 seconds, she had already wolfed down the entirety of the stew... not a drop remained. Richard chuckled again and said, "Wow... you're hungry."

"Like I said, I don't joke about food.", Panne said, handing the bowl back to Richard, who filled it up once more. When he handed it off to her again, she took care to eat the stew more slowly, both so that she wouldn't have to go back for seconds so soon, and so that she could savor the taste of the stew to its fullest... and as the rest of the army came to dinner in order to talk and eat their cares away, she just sat there, enjoying it, and thinking about the one who made it... she needed to talk to him more...

Later that night, after dinner was completed, and all were meant to be going to sleep, Panne asked Richard if he wouldn't mind to continue talking for a while longer. Of course, he didn't mind, and soon, they both were in his tent, and just having some friendly chatter. Right now, Richard was recounting a tale...

"And so, ever since then, that horse has been giving me dirty looks whenever I so much as try to glance in Sully's direction."

The two of them laughed at the story, and Panne said, "I never thought that horses would be capable of such intelligence."

"Believe me, they are.", Richard said, "But really, that's enough about my stories. Do you have any good stories?"

Panne closed her eyes in thought... she supposed that she didn't really have much in the way of amusing stories, but she figured that she had at least one good one that Richard wouldn't know about... so, she began with, "Well, this was a long time before I joined the Shepards... when I was still living in the Warren... my little brother Bolte decided that it would be a good idea to try and climb up the tallest tree in the forest... he was... rather spirited, and smart, even if he was nothing more than a small child at the time. Anyway, he climbed the tree, and everyone had started to panic."

Richard leaned forward, curious, "Then what happened?"

"The amusing part.", Panne said with a smile, "It never occurred to any of the elders or the other adults that he could climb back down... so, while everyone was meeting and discussing the best way to save Bolte... he just showed up and said that he climbed down."

The two laughed once more. It might not have been the best story, but neither one of them cared. They were just having too much fun... but soon, the fun had to end, and it really began with Richard yawning. After that, he said, "Sorry Panne, but I'm bushed... it was fun talking to you...

"Yes, it was...", Panne said, yawning herself. She only now just noticed how tired she was, and was much too groggy to even pay attention to the fact that she had her own tent set up elsewhere. Because of this, she asked, "I apologize, but I don't think I can find my way back... do you think I could stay here for the night?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure...", Richard said, not really paying attention to what was being said.

So, Panne transformed into her beast-form truly the only way to sleep for her, and curled up onto the floor, immediately dozing off. Eventually, when Richard found something soft and warm he fell asleep on it, not knowing or caring that it was Panne.

...I'm sensing a pattern here... okay, at LEAST this time it wasn't four months... it was three months and six days. So, already, I'm getting better. (Sigh) Who am I kidding, I suck. Anyway, here's the next chapter! Please, enjoy.