Cold wind whipped around Lyn and stung at her eyes as she held onto Florina atop her pegasus. She'd spent the majority of the journey to the Dragon's Gate with her friend in the skies, save for the times when Marc called meetings, during all of which she kept her presence impassive and brief before excusing herself. Overall, she avoided being on the ground, and all because she was avoiding one person.

She had not spoken to Hector since his confession in Ostia. Nor had she eaten with him, or trained with him, or smiled at him; any accidental eye contact between the two of them was met with an awkward dart of her eyes and near scurry away. Perhaps it didn't suit her – she prided herself in being strong and confrontational – but there was no way she knew how to react to it. Hector didn't ask for an answer, but she felt that he deserved one.

Unfortunately, Lyn didn't have an answer for Hector, and much less herself.

In one part, she was frustrated. She should have known that putting herself in such a situation wouldn't make her any less confused than she already was – instead, she ended up even more lost with her relationship with Hector. Before, she thought that maybe he would come out and say he was messing with her, that he didn't think about her that way, but instead he said the near opposite. There was no going back from it - the kiss was irreversible.

The kiss!

He'd actually done that, without any regard for the fact that they were in public or that everyone in Ostia knew who he was. As always, he made himself quite clear, so it wasn't Hector that perplexed her. The issue of their relationship, rather, was a matter of her feelings for him.

Lyn rested her chin on Florina's shoulder from behind. "Florina…" she said. "What do you think of Hector?"

"Lord Hector? He scared me at first… but I think he's nicer than he seems."

"Fair enough."

The pegasus knight kept her eyes on the sky before them as she guided Huey to a lower altitude. "Um… aren't the two of you… you know…"

"What?"

"Serra told me you were 'seeing' each other…"

"We aren't," Lyn replied too quickly. "I mean, we… it's hard to explain."

"You aren't on bad terms, are you?"

"No!" Again, Lyn's response was too fast. "I mean, I haven't been around him for a while, but… it's not because I don't like him. I just… I'm not sure how to face him."

"Did something happen?"

Lyn sighed. "We… he… he kissed me," she replied, hiding her face on Florina's back.

"He kissed you?!" she exclaimed at an octave higher than her friend's confession.

For the first time in weeks, Lyn found herself chuckling. She was nineteen; kissing people shouldn't be such a big deal to her, and it wasn't – except this was Hector. "Can you believe it? He told me he was in love with me…"

"I believe it," Florina replied shyly, and Lyn snapped her head up to face her as best she could. "I saw… how he looks at you. Serra said she's noticed it too, how he really admires you."

"I didn't think he gave away his heart that easily…" But what was it he said before he kissed her? The woman he lost his heart to… Lyn had immediately acted as though it didn't make sense. Why her? It wasn't that she was inadequate, but that she hadn't considered herself in such a situation in so long. The last time she thought about falling in love was when her mother was still alive, when she got asked every morning over breakfast what she thought of the others her age in the tribe. Back then, falling in love meant something different to her.

So what did it mean now?

She closed her eyes and buried her face in Florina's feathery lavender hair, and only one person came to mind.