The sun was nowhere to be seen the past week, the sky was nothing but gray clouds and the wind was endless. Annie felt someone shake her awake.
"H-huh? Do I need to leave?"
"Perhaps... We found a body on the shore. While the clothes on it are soaked and tattered, there are signs that he used to belong to nobility of some sort. None of us could figure out who he could be."
"May I examine him? I don't think he would be a threat as long as a few others are with me."
"Of course, I'll get the guards"
Annie changed into her traveling clothes and a simple mask to protect her from the blowing sand. While she disliked how it felt around her mouth and how it messed up her sight, it was better than letting air constantly blow into her. She left her hair untouched just in case something were to happen.
When she got there, the man awoke. One of her guards gave him a mask so she could speak to him. Annie watched him attempt to form words but nothing seemed to come out of his mouth.
"Give him a bit of our food and water. I don't think he could be a threat to us. He's far too tired and malnourished."
An hour passed before he was able to speak. He gave an introduction, his name and that he was a king forced to leave his land. Emil asked if he could travel with Annie. Annie decided to agree but hesitated a bit to answer.
"I see that you're uncomfortable about this. If this can help, you could bind my arms and keep a guard with me."
Annie agreed to this. They traveled together and for some reason, Annie stayed near Emil. Everyone told her to be careful and to not get too confident but she was too eager to listen to them.
Emil wasn't much of a talker but he listened to anything the group would say to him. Annie would mostly talk about her family and her hopes for their hunt and Emil would keep her going with questions.
After a week, he decided that he was comfortable talking about his home to Annie when they were alone. Annie, unsure of how to express sympathy for Emil, kept him hydrated throughout the conversation.
"Were you scared?"
"Of course I was, but anything was better than having to constantly living in fear with Ada. I'm sure you could understand why i wanted my freedom."
"Of course of course... You do look uneasy. I'm sorry if this was too much for you to talk about"
"No, I chose to talk about this and you're handling it well. However... there are some things bothering me."
"What is it?"
"...you remind me of her. You two look so similar, I almost cried when I first saw you. I thought I drifted back to her, I nearly went back into the ocean to drown myself"
"I'm...sorry, I didn't realize I was doing that to you. I can change some things if it would help y-"
"No, don't do anything. it's slowly getting better and I need to get over it myself. I hope..." Emil started to choke on his tears.
"We can stop if you need to! Your bed is rea-" "A-are you ashamed of m-me?"
Annie sat and stared at Emil for a few seconds. "Of course not, I have no reason to. We are all fleeing from something."
They sat in silence for the rest of the night.