Mythene was looking out the window, watching the last light of the Pale Lady fade over the horizon. The sun would rise soon, and the day would begin anew. She glanced over at Zami, who still slept soundly beside her, and smiled softly. She was ready for another quiet day of watching over him.

Suddenly, something changed.

His brow furrowed, and he began to shift in his sleep. Mythene frowned, seeing the pained expression that formed on his face, and crouched down beside him. She gently set her cool hand against his forehead, which burned to the touch. She frowned again when she realized he was sweating like the midst of a fever.

"Thero'shan?" She whispered, hearing him begin to breathe erratically.

Zami mumbled back, too quiet to hear, and began to stir more violently.

"Zami?" She whispered again, moving her hand down to gently caress his cheek.

He stopped moving, and she smiled, hoping she'd quelled his worries with her presence.

But then he began to thrash wildly, though he appeared to still be in a deep sleep. She frowned again and brought her hands to his shoulders.

"Zami, wake up!" She called to him, deciding it would be best to wake him from whatever malevolent dream he might be having before he ended up hurting himself.

To her surprise, he suddenly brought his hands up over hers. He gripped her hands painfully tight, before violently throwing her away. She fell backwards to the ground, looking up at him in shock. He quickly sat up, opening his eye. He gave her a quick panicked look before his other hand scrabbled to his eyepatch. He suddenly tensed, flinching like he'd just been burned.

"Thero'shan?" Mythene blinked, sitting herself back up, "What's wrong? What do you need?"

"Oh no…" Zami mumbled to himself in Orcish, hastily ripping off his eyepatch.

His eye was… gone.

"I-Impossible!" Mythene gasped, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth, "I've been with you this entire time. How could this happen?!"

Zami didn't answer. Instead, he reached up, wiping away the blood that began to drip down his cheek with the back of his hand. Mythene blinked away her surprise before hurriedly crawling over beside him. She reached out towards his eye but he batted her hand away lightly.

"Thero'shan," Mythene furrowed her brow, "What's going on? You have to speak to me."

"I can't believe dis…" Zami muttered, tenderly feeling at the empty socket with his own hand, "He really took it…"

Mythene cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"He..? He who?"

"Bwonsamdi," Zami grunted, lowering his now-bloody hand, "Da loa of da dead."

"Loa? Isn't that one of your troll gods?" Mythene asked, and Zami nodded, "What would your god of death want with you?"

Zami clenched his jaw, glancing aside. Mythene slowly narrowed her eyes, realizing he was hiding something from her.

"It don't matter," He responded elusively, clearing his throat, "I just gotta-"

"Zami," Mythene scowled, crossing her arms tightly across her chest, "Talk to me."

Zami looked back at her quickly, opening his mouth to say something. But after a minute he just sighed quietly, lowering his head slightly.

"Uhm, well..." He began uncomfortably, "Da truth is… I, er…."

"You what?" Mythene asked, still squinting at him suspiciously, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Zami said defensively, quickly looking back at her, "At least, not on purpose..."

"What did you do?" Mythene asked again, pushing his shoulders back down to the floor.

Zami blinked up at her for a minute as she loomed over him. His expression shifted slightly a few times. First surprise, then embarrassment, then dread, then defeat.

"I, uh…" He began again, voice quieter, "I… died."

Mythene perked an eyebrow, one hand moving up towards his eye. Her gaze flickered over towards the wound as she began to examine it.

"Back in Stranglethorn," Zami continued, "With dat poison…"

Mythene paused, glancing back at his face in surprise. She'd always wondered how he seemed to instantly heal from that injury, but had ultimately presumed it was part of the trolls' regenerative abilities.

"But you're still here," She said slowly, gaze drifting back to the wound.

"Cause I made a deal," Zami explained as her fingers began to tentatively feel the wound, "With Bwonsamdi."

"A deal?" Mythene glanced at him briefly, "What sort of deal?"

"Uhh, a replacement," Zami mumbled.

"Replacement? What do you mean?" She asked, determining the nature of the wound wasn't from the severed eye itself but scratches along the lining of the socket.

It was almost as if his eye had been physically plucked out.

"Uhh, y'know… somebody else… in my place," He said as he shrugged slightly.

When he did, Mythene lost her grip on his other shoulder. She managed to catch herself on the floor beside them just before her body crashed into his, but that didn't stop her from accidentally jamming her finger into his eye socket.

"Sorry," She whispered quickly as he winced in pain, "Stop moving for a second and let me heal the wound."

"You can't replace my eye," Zami snorted, turning his head aside slightly.

"No, but I can make sure you don't get an infection," She snapped, "Now stop moving."

She impatiently grabbed his tusk, which had come dangerously close to hitting her scarred cheek, and used it to tug his head back to facing forward. Zami stared up her, apparently surprised by the gesture, but at least he remained still. Gently, she set her hand over his eye socket and closed her own eyes. After exhaling deeply, she opened her eyes again and removed her hand.

"Does it feel better now?" She asked, leaning down to double check that the scratches were gone.

When Zami didn't respond, she glanced over towards his face to see him staring at her breathlessly. It only made her realize just how close they actually were. She quickly leaned away as she began to blush, trying to remind herself such a reaction was entirely unprofessional. In response, Zami cleared his throat, beginning to blush as well.

"Y-Yeah," He finally answered, "Thanks."

"Of course," She nodded quickly, glancing aside.

Then she remembered what they were previously discussing and her eyebrows shot up. She quickly turned back to face Zami, to ask who he had chosen as his replacement in death. But he had been in the midst of sitting up at the same time. And, as a result, their faces crashed right into one another.

Especially their lips.