{-Sharena-}

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. Since she wasn't technically actually assigned anything, Sharena just trained with the Heroes. It was pretty fun most of the time. She even forced herself not to get a sixth cookie (even though Anna told her she could have six and thus she was totally allowed to get one more). Once she brought back some for the others and spent a couple minutes explaining to one of the older Heroes—who apparently knew she had a limit on how many cookies Anna let her have in a day—that the thirteen cookies weren't all for her.

At sundown she began finding Fauna.

"How do you think we can fix this problem?" Fauna was standing between two Heroes. "No, killing each other is not one of those solutions." The Heroes looked at each other with the most dumbfounded, confused expressions ever.

Sharena waved. "Hey, Fauna! You almost ready?"

Fauna glanced over at her. "Not in the slightest. Can you go on ahead and I'll catch up with you?"

"It's kind of far away and you have no idea where you're going," Sharena answered with a sigh.

"Then can you give me ten minutes?"

"Fine, but if we miss it then it's on you."

Seeming pleased, Fauna turned back to the Heroes. Sharena, figuring it was going to take Fauna more than ten minutes, wandered to her room and changed into more casual clothing. She met up with Fauna at the castle's gate.

"Can I ask where we're going?" Fauna followed closely behind Sharena.

"It's a secret," Sharena sang playfully. "But you can try guessing if you want!"

"Wait, should I be concerned?" Fauna asked carefully. "You and secrets don't mix well. Last time you told me that, you led me to loud noises and the sky started doing weird stuff."

Sharena laughed. "They're called fireworks, you know. And there's nothing to be concerned about! I just needed a tag-along and Alfonse is apparently doing something else so you're my next best substitute."

"If this is supposed to be giving me the warm and fuzzies then it isn't working…"

"Fauna, nothing new gives you the warm and fuzzies."

"That's not true. There's…um…"

"If you need to think about it then I'm probably right."

They walked for a while longer. They reached their destination, and Sharena waved Fauna through the entrance.

Fauna looked around, awed by the candlelit streets and soft music. "It's kinda like my old village."

"That was not my intention at all," Sharena admitted. "Me and Zacharias used to go here all the time between lessons. Alfonse has been here a couple times before, but he never liked it; I don't even think Anna knows this place exists." She shrugged. "I like visiting when I can. Now, come on. You haven't even seen the best thing yet!"

Sharena led Fauna to the center of the village. The music was louder here, accompanied by dancing. They weaved past until they got to a fountain. Flower petals and candles floated in the water, giving the area a peaceful feeling. She sat down at the edge and gestured for Fauna to sit beside her.

"Askr keeps getting prettier the longer I'm here," Fauna breathed. "It's quickly becoming a second home, thanks to you guys." Fauna, being a Hero, was from a world other than Askr; she never really said which one it was, though, and none of them pushed for an answer. After spending over a year here, it was good to hear she was considering it home.

"I pride myself in making sure all Heroes are comfortable here," Sharena pointed out. "That's practically my one consistent role besides dragging Alfonse around." She guessed some political person would find a way to claim it as something she was "required" to do as the princess of Askr. But if she was required to do it, she probably either wouldn't be doing it or wouldn't enjoy it.

"It's kind of weird that…almost everything I know about him comes from you," Fauna said quietly.

It took a minute to realize who she was referring to. "Well, I'm the only one who'd talk about it." Sharena brushed her hand against the water, looking at her contorted reflection in the candlelight. "We were all close and he spent a lot of time with each of us. Alfonse avoids the subject whenever it comes up and honestly I don't blame him for it. Anna only talks about him now like he purposely meant to do those things. I just feel bad because you landed right in the middle of it."

Someone walked up to them, startling her. It wasn't hard to recognize him as the person Anna had been looking for—Natheniel. "Excuse me, ladies, but I think you're who I've been trying to find."

"Really? Who are they?" Fauna sounded a lot calmer than she probably was. Sharena, personally, felt both victorious at finding him and the sinking feeling of oh-gods-we're-screwed—though she wasn't quite sure why.

"Fauna and Princess Sharena," he answered simply. "Which I believe are the two of you. You see, I think I screwed something up so I'm going to try to fix it and so far I've only succeeded in getting lost." He shot them an innocent smile.

She knew he didn't want to hurt them. But she kept fighting the urge to run off anyway, recognizing the feeling of some kind of danger he gave her. The girls exchanged wary looks before turning back to their visitor.

"How did you get lost if you used to live in a version of Askr?" Sharena asked dryly. "Unless it's really different than here."

"I got dropped off at a weird spot," he replied, seemingly not noticing her tone. "Spent a while wandering for a bit and avoiding the Heroes. Hey, did I leave a bad impression on you guys? You don't have to look so hostile. I'm here to help, really."

Fauna leaned closer to Sharena. "How about we just bring him back to the castle and let Anna take care of it?"

"That would be great but, uh…" Sharena sighed. "Don't freak out, but she doesn't know we're here. I told her we were going home. And we would've already been there by now, so saying we found him on the way there wouldn't make sense." She really had planned that, when they were done, they'd go to the royal castle; it was closer, and they also wouldn't need to explain why they were gone for a few hours and came back from the opposite direction of the stargazing hill.

"Then you'll just have to tell her we had a change of plans," Fauna suggested. "I really thought for a moment the two of you were actually being honest with each other."

"Oh, that never happens," Natheniel cut in. "Neither of them told the other anything so the other only returned it by telling them even less." He was so matter-of-fact as he stated it that it just seemed weird.

Fauna frowned, getting up. "Here I thought a six-year-old's communication skills were lacking," she muttered. "We'll go back to Anna. And I am not talking for you."

(A/N: Just a reminder that Fauna never calls Zacharias by name. It is not an understatement to say she was literally his replacement. Poor Fauna.)