Crane opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, staring up at the night sky. The moon wasn't out and it was very dark. He was lying on soft grass and there didn't seem to be any trees nearby; which was strange since they had been near a forest earlier. Where was Rosethorn? Crane sat up and immediately wished he didn't. His head hurt even more now, he must have hit it during the explosion, or whatever it was.

Waiting for his eyes to adjust, Crane wondered what had happened. He had been about to tell Rosethorn, then an explosion. Now that he could see he found he was lying in a meadow. There were no trees for quite a while, nearly a mile.

"Rosethorn?" he called, stumbling to his feet, ignoring the pounding in his head.

Where was she? What if she had gotten hurt during the explosion? Oh god, what if she was dead? No, no, if he wasn't dead, he wasn't even severely hurt, why would she?

"Crane?" the grass moved a few feet away and Rosethorn's head popped up.

"Rosethorn!" Crane said and ran over to her.

He pulled her to her feet and wrapped her up in a hug. Suddenly he realized what he was doing and pulled away, embarrassed. Rosethorn was looking at him strangely. Watching her he just ached to reach out and smooth her hair and make sure she was all right. If he did…but he wasn't going to.

"What happened?" Rosethorn asked, brushing off her habit. Crane was delighted to see she had no serious wounds except for a few scrapes.

"I'm not sure. Are you okay?" he asked, meeting her gaze.

"Fine. You?" Rosethorn scanned the area, looking for any familiar landscape, or at least the horses and their packs.

There wasn't any sign of human life. No footprints or hoof prints or small sheep trail. Nothing. Where had their campsite gone and the woods surrounding it? Had the explosion thrown them farther then she had thought?

"I'm okay," Crane said, and fought back the desire to hug her again, he was so relieved she was all right.

"We need to find our horses and packs," Rosethorn said, setting off towards the forest. It was nearly a mile away. A mile of tall grass and shrubs.

"We do. Do you think perhaps the fire exploded?" he wondered.

"Not possible. We didn't have any thing explosive or flammable with us. I think it was more a natural explosion," said Rosethorn.

"Seems all our things are gone. Tents, horse, food, my book," Crane replied, looking a bit worried.

"What were you reading anyway?" Rosethorn wondered, avoiding a plant full of burrs. It was quite dark and hard to see where they were going.

"Exotic Plants. I don't know how I'm going to find another copy of that," he told her.

"Don't worry, I have a copy of that book," Rosethorn replied, turning around and smiling at him.

"You do?" Crane looked very hopeful.

"Of course I do! You're not the only plant mage at Winding Circle, Crane," she told and stared walking again, tripping over a log.

Crane grabbed Rosethorn's armed and stopped her. He was staring ahead in the grasses, listening to something.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, stepping ahead of her.

Rosethorn shook her head and listened carefully, trying to hear whatever Crane was hearing. She shook his hand off her arm then slid her hand into his. Then she heard it. It was a low whistling sound, not ten feet in front of them.

"Lets see what it is," Crane said, tugging Rosethorn along behind him, holding her hand tightly, although more for the fact that he had never held her hand before and might never get the chance to do so again then for comfort.

Soon they found themselves standing at the edge of a smoldering crater. Just that. No rock, no whatever. Just a smoking crater about five feet in diameter. It looked like a small meteorite had hit. Maybe that's what had hit their camp as well. It was just good luck neither of them was killed. Crane glanced back at Rosethorn's shocked face.

"Well," he said and walked around it, still holding her hand.

"Lets stay away from this. It gives me the creeps," Rosethorn said, yawning.

"Good idea."

***

Rosethorn, once again, watched Crane's sleeping form. She was tired of course, and she was trying to fall asleep, although it was a bit hard as she was lying on hard ground. It was chilly, and neither of them had their cloaks. They had been in the tents.

Crane opened his eyes for a second and mumbled, "I'm not really asleep."

"Neither am I," replied Rosethorn, rolling over onto her back and looking at the stars happily twinkling down at them.

"Are you cold?" Crane asked, his eyes closed, looked quite asleep as he lie curled up on the grass.

"Yes. Are you?"

"Yes."

Rosethorn turned her head and looked at Crane. He was looking the other way, at the tall wavy grass all around them. There was about a foot of space in between them. Rosethorn inched her body closer to his until they touched. She felt Crane startle. He looked over at her and this time his face was very close.

"Body heat," she explained.

Crane smiled and put his arm around her. It was true; he was much warmer like this. But it was strange, being so close to her, feeling her breath on his face. Very soon she was asleep, and so was he.

***

Rosethorn woke up to find herself still curled up next to Crane. She was on her side and facing grass. His breath was warm on her neck. Now that it was morning it was a bit warmer then it had been last night, but still, with the sun so dim, it wasn't that much warmer. Rosethorn decided to just lie there for a while and enjoy the warmth, before Crane woke up.

Crane. He really was a wonderful person. When she had slid her hand into his, god knows why she did that; he hadn't objected, just squeezed it slightly and kept going. She did get strange ideas when she was half asleep. She could barely believe was even sleeping this close to him. She hadn't been so close to him since- she had never been this close to him.

Rosethorn paused in her thoughts. She and Crane had always been friends, they just argued quite a bit. Lately, though, during this trip, it almost seemed as if- but no. That was impossible. Unless? Maybe that was what she had seen in his eyes. His beautiful, dark eyes, that always seemed to be watching her, either with amusement or reproach.

The way he did worry about her, the way he never would admit when he wasn't feeling to well. The way he was proud, even arrogant, it was all part of their relationship, which really was an odd one. Briar, she knew, thought they positively hated each other, which wasn't true but she could understand why he would think that. Poor Briar. He had really wanted to come along but Rosethorn explained this wasn't the sort of thing he could go on.

Crane stirred a bit in his sleep. Rosethorn snuggled closer to him, enjoying the closeness. It was strange, yes, but she liked it, being so close to him.

Was their relationship just friendship, or was it more? Little did Rosethorn know Crane had been having those exact same thoughts only a few days ago.

"Rosethorn?" a voice whispered in her ear.

Crane was awake.

"Hmm?"

Crane stood up, leaving a slightly warm spot on the ground where he had been laying. Stretching he peered at their surroundings in the somewhat lighter day. He looked down at Rosethorn, awake, but not up.

She rolled over and looked at him. Seeing him all dirty with messed up hair made her laugh. She stood up as well.

"You look terrible," she then informed him.

"Why thank you," he said, winking, "for your information, you look terrible as well. Sleep okay?"

Rosethorn nodded then yawned. The day was young and they still had to find their belongings, not to mention where they were. To her surprise the forest was much closer then it had seemed during the night. The meadow was only perhaps half a mile wide. Over the grass she could see a small dent in the ground where the meteorite, or whatever it was, had hit.

"Meteor shower?" Crane wondered, following Rosethorn's eyes to the hole.

"Perhaps. But how did we get all the way here? Wherever here is," she said sighing and running her fingers through her hair to make it look at least a little bit tidier.

She glanced at Crane, who was looking at the sun. It was very dim, the light over the area wasn't very bright at all, although it would get a bit lighter during noon. It was already starting to become a colder climate here, even though it should be much warmer for early fall. This winter would be horribly cold. If they didn't find their horses, she hoped they at least would find their warmer clothing.

"Lets go North. That's the direction of Moonstream's town, and if we go in a straight line we have to get somewhere," Crane suggested.

Rosethorn nodded in agreement.

"By the way, what was it you were saying before that explosion?" she asked.

"What?" Crane asked very quickly, a slight blush on his face, "I wasn't saying anything."

Rosethorn looked at him. He was acting very… suspicious. What was he hiding?

"Yes you were. You looked up at me, with the strangest of all expressions I'll admit and you said, 'Rosethorn. I…' then the explosion."

"Oh, yes, I was wasn't I?" Crane's voice took on this high pitched quality.

Rosethorn glared at him, "well?"

"I was going to say… I… I like cheese," he said then glanced at her to see her reaction.

"You like cheese?" she echoed.

"I like cheese. We hadn't packed any so I was thinking perhaps we should have gone into town to get some. It's very healthy you know," Crane added.

"Uh huh," Rosethorn said.

She didn't believe him. He was obviously lying. Why though? What could be so… horrible… that he wouldn't want to tell her that much. Rosethorn realized Crane was walking away, North, scanning the ground and the area surrounding.

"Crane!" she called, hurrying after him.

"What?" he snapped.

Rosethorn's eyes narrowed, "I won't laugh, you know."

Crane paused before replying, "I'm not so sure about that."

"Crane…" Rosethorn sighed, exasperated. What was wrong with him?

He looked away. Rosethorn grabbed his arm and turned him around.

"Crane, you can tell me anything. I won't laugh, and if you'd rather not other people knowing, I'll keep your secret," Rosethorn said, holding his gaze so he couldn't look away.

Crane didn't say anything. His dark eyes were intense as the searched Rosethorn's eyes for a hint, a sign, to give him reason to believe she wouldn't think him silly, that she wouldn't think him stupid, that she perhaps, loved him too. Nothing. Rosethorn was very good at not showing things she didn't want to be seen. Yet, with her hand still gripping his arm, it would be so easy just to lean down and kiss her.

Rosethorn, meanwhile, was staring into the intenseness of Crane's eyes, suddenly forgetting their talk before. Her heart seemed to be pounding a little more hard then usual and she felt slightly giddy at the look in his eyes.

Crane forced his eyes away from Rosethorn's. She was driving him to do crazy things. Kiss her?! It was a good thing he didn't, for if he did, he'd be in big trouble. Why did he even agree to go on this trip, all alone with Rosethorn? If there was someone else to talk to, it'd be better, but…If he wanted to talk, he had to talk to Rosethorn, which only reminded of him of how sweet her voice was. He remembered once, watching her weed her garden, speaking softly to her plants. She could be sharp sometimes but truly, she was the nicest person, he could name no one else who could make him angry while at the same time making him fall in love with her.

"Crane?" Rosethorn's voice shook him out of his thoughts. She sounded very confused.

"Sorry. Let's go," Crane said, and without looking at her, continued walking.

That wasn't the answer she wanted. She could have sworn Crane was about to kiss her, unless it was her crazy lo- Oh god, Rosethorn suddenly realized, I love him.

They walked in silence, Crane leading the way, Rosethorn following. Both were thinking madly of the other, although they were both pretty sure the other thought of them only as friends. Soon they reached the forest line and they entered, their feet now crunching leaves with every step. The forest was strangely silent, as if all the birds had migrated early. Every here and there a tree appeared to be torn up and thrown ten or twenty feet. It was very strange, but neither of the two said anything.

"Cheese?" Rosethorn suddenly asked.

Crane stopped and she almost bumped into him, which, she decided, wouldn't be so bad. He looked a bit nervous as he replied, "Cheese. I like cheese."

Crane suddenly remembered he was allergic to it, and sincerely wished Rosethorn did NOT buy any cheese at the next town in an attempt to be nice. But there was no way to fix that now. If he said it wasn't actually cheese she wouldn't believe him. The only way to fix that would be to tell her what he had really been about to say, and now that he thought over it, it hadn't been such a great idea after all.

"What in the world is that?!" Rosethorn's voice echoed behind him in amazement.

Crane turned around to where Rosethorn's was pointing and his eye's widened in astonishment.

A/N: There. How was that? The next chapter will be up soon… I hope…