{-Sharena-}

Of course she'd been pushed aside the moment camp was made and Alfonse explained that Líf had been here—so then the others could have a nice "adult conversation" while she and Eir kept a look out for Líf or Thrasir. It wasn't even like Veronica and Fauna weren't part of the conversation, because both of them did talk occasionally. Sharena decided to be stubborn and watch them instead of watching in the opposite direction like she knew she was supposed to be doing, wishing she was actually any good at reading lips.

"You can tell, can't you? It's like he's there but he's not. Look at him. Isn't it obvious? I think it's obvious…" She was basically nervously rambling at this point.

"Are you talking to me, your dark creature friend, or yourself?" Eir asked, glancing at Sharena.

"Anyone who'd listen, really," she replied absently. "You don't have to pay attention if you don't want to, though, if that's what you're asking." Eir seemed fulfilled by that answer, going back to what both of them should be doing.

Lekra hummed, sitting beside Sharena. "Think of it this way: you're worrying about him now, whereas he's been worrying about you much before this all happened. What you're feeling now is what he feels on a normal basis or whenever you do something exceptionally stupid."

"You've seen my memories before you should know it's not just worry," she remarked. "And stop trying to teach me a life lesson on how ironic this is or whatever because quite honestly I don't think I care right now."

"On that last part you sounded just like Nathen whenever his guardians told him what I just told you… The longer I'm here the more I'm starting to understand why you're their dreamer." Lekra shook off the thought.

Sharena chose to ignore that statement. She didn't want to think about the nightmares right now; she had a brother to worry about, and right now he called for more of her attention. "At least before he tried to hide it. He's not even trying to act like he's not paying attention anymore. What could Líf had told him..?"

She knew what he'd told them just about as soon as they got there: he encountered Líf, they fought, but he got pretty close to losing before the rest of them came. He said the rest could be explained later, since Fauna was still dressing his cut at the time and the initial explanation was enough for Anna at the moment. Alfonse never went into much more detail than that, and she'd like to believe that that wasn't what they were talking about now. Though she was curious on what they were discussing.

"You know, I could listen to them for you. It's not like I've never spied on people before." Lekra glanced at her. "If you're really that concerned about it, that is."

"No," Sharena sighed. "For all I know they really are having a boring adult conversation. You're not here just to do my every bidding so then I don't get caught, either."

Lekra shuffled. "Well, depending on who you're talking to… I am." They noticed her confused expression pretty quickly. "That's not important at the moment—I'll tell you about it after Hel is dealt with."

She nodded, turning her attention back to the others. At least for her, it wasn't hard to tell how absent Alfonse looked; she was confident that he sounded like it, too, whenever he'd say something. "I, uh…know I just told you I wouldn't do this, but… You can read anyone's fears, right? Can you tell me what his are?"

"I would think you already have a pretty good idea of what they are," they mused. "But that's all I can tell you. Fears are meant to stay with their creators, and however much they may define a character…I can't go around exploiting weaknesses like that."

Oh, so now they were starting to understand her month's worth of lectures about privacy? When they still seemed to have trouble remembering where she'd really prefer if they didn't follow her or when they should turn around?

"Of course you can't…" she muttered, keeping the rest of her thoughts to herself. "But you know where I'm coming from with this, right? That I'm not just making this up and there is actually something worth worrying about it?" She laid down on the grass, looking up at the stars and wondering if she'd ever done this in their Askr. Probably, given how close it was to both of the castles. There wasn't many places she hadn't wandered to in order to stargaze or get away from whatever mess that was going on at the time.

"To you? Yes, absolutely. But to almost anyone else? Not so much." Lekra was being just honest enough to be a bit annoying. "Not everyone would have the kind of experience or care that you do. While I personally don't see the harm in it, I know it's something you like to feel like you have control over."

"Please don't say it like that because that makes me sound like a control freak." She frowned, hoping she'd never reach that level of obsessive. "Look. Alfonse basically works on three different modes. There's the now-normal one when there's nothing important happening, there's the once-normal one when he's off in a corner somewhere after disappearing without telling anyone, and then there's this when it's an awful cross of the two. He's standing right in front of you physically, but off thinking about something and not even mentally there. Literally a giant 'smile and wave' except he's not smiling and definitely not paying enough attention to wave. Something's seriously on his mind if he's like that, and he's not up to talk about it."

"Please don't yell at me, but once again, consider this when it's the other way around. You're concerned now because he's not talking to you, though you've got to remember that's the same feeling you give him whenever you don't tell him something. Knowing this, wouldn't you—"

"You say that like I have a choice about it anymore," Sharena pointed out bluntly. "At this point if I so much as blink weirdly then I'm going to have both Alfonse and Anna on top of me acting like I'm about to die." It wasn't like they'd listen to her if she told them to go away, either. That would probably just concern them more.

Lekra didn't respond for a couple of minutes. "I have several different points I could go with that but I have the feeling you won't like any of them so I'm just not going to say anything…"

"Well, I didn't become your dreamer so then you can patronize me, so…" she remarked. "If I'd known you were this clingy I wouldn't have had agreed to it so quickly."

If it was capable for them to blush, that's probably what they'd be doing. "I'm not clingy…" they quietly defended, though barely seemed confident about it. "I think…"

She would playfully wack them, if the gesture wouldn't just go through them. A smile had to do. "Don't worry about it too much. It is kind of annoying sometimes, but you're generally nice company besides that so it's doable."

Eir's sudden movement got Sharena's attention as the princess of the dead turned to look at her. "Would I be interrupting your conversation with the air if I were to ask you a question?"

Sharena shrugged. "It's not the air, it's Lekra. Though both of them do make me sound generally crazy." She paused. "You won't be interrupting anything; we were just about done anyways."

Eir hesitated for a moment before asking, "What if you had to do something you didn't want to? Something you'd discovered the cruelty of after agreeing to do it? Having…your whole existence at risk over a task deemed simple..?"

"Are we talking like a random character-defining question for the heck of it, or because you've just got it on your mind and wanted an opinion on it?" Sharena didn't bother getting up or really move at all. Eir didn't look like she wanted to answer that, so she continued. "Either way, it would depend on who it is for the most part. If it was someone I didn't know or don't like, then I probably wouldn't even let them try to make me do it. But if it's someone like Alfonse or Anna, then I'd question why they were asking me to do it and why I had to be the one to do it. I don't exactly understand what you're talking about when you say 'having your whole existence at risk,' though."

"She's talking about dying," Lekra mumbled in a mildly bitter tone. "Or whatever the equivalent of dying is to the daughter of death."

"It's nothing for you to worry about," was Eir's response. "That is a matter that shows no use in the current situation." She nodded slightly. "Thank you…I'll be sure to put what you said into consideration."

She went back to what she'd been doing before Sharena could question what she'd meant.

((A/N: Fun fact, in the original draft of this story's plot, Eir's question was going to be directed towards Veronica. They were supposed to have a conversation about self-harm and other sensitive subjects, but I forgot to put it in so I ended up never writing it. Veronica's answer to that question would've been "I'd just kill them. More often than not I'm their empress, which means having the right to kill them. I... don't think that would work in your situation, though."

Lekra is weird when it comes to what they will and will not do. They're willing to spy on people, but they won't tell Sharena a person's fears and follows her around like our dog does to my mom. AKA occasionally follows her into the bathroom.))