Chapter 2 – Kweh!

They had been walking for what seemed an eternity, her legs were frozen, her feet were blocks of ice.

"kkaam.." the name barely passed her now blue lips.

Kam turned and saw the nearly frozen figure behind him, "What now kid? We gotta keep moving"

She looked up, her teeth chattered, her entire body shook.

Kam sighed "come 'ere"

She slowly walked towards him, nearly stumbling along the way. Kam picked her up, her cold face and hands sent a chill down his back, he began walking as she curled into a ball in his arms.

The snow started to lift, the moonlight peeked through the gray clouds. Kam checked his watch, 8:17pm. A nearby rusted sign confirmed what he already knew and seemed to mock him, "Welcome to the Ardennes Forest, France". He had been in this horrible place for almost two weeks now, France, or at least what was left of it, for at least three months, Europe for a year, never stopping, never making any real friends just wandering, fighting, searching. Now this girl, was she what he was looking for? Was this his purpose?. He stopped himself,

"No, just get to the settlement and drop her off" he muttered to himself.

But could he just leave her? There was something about her, familiar, maybe he was just getting soft in his old age.

Asuka stirred "Kam can we stop?"

He got off the main path and headed into the tree line. Asuka jumped down and sat quietly on the ground. Kam collected some kindling and set up a small fire, he pulled out his lighter and tried to start it. Click, click, click, nothing.

"Damn" he grunted

Asuka smirked

"You think it's funny kid? We could use a Mage right about now".

Asuka looked puzzled "What's a Mage?"

He sighed "Mage, Wizard?"

She looked at him with a blank expression.

"Mages, the use this stuff called magic, they can start things like fires, or they can make lightning in their hands, some of them can fix people up, you know heal them." His expression changed, he looked to the pile of wood in front of him "One can even call a dragon…that's why the world…that's why I…"

"I'm sorry" she stopped him "can I have a go?".

He handed his lighter to him. It had a picture of a yellow bird on it, the word "kweh" written underneath.

"What's a Kweh?" she again looked to him.

"Jesus Kid, do you know anything?" he answered gruffly "It's a Chocobo they make a kweh-noise, it's meant to bring good luck, any other questions?"

She held the lighter next to the kindling and struck it, the fire roared to life. Asuka offered the lighter back to him, a grin across her face.

Kam was dumbstruck "how bout you hold on to it".

He took his pack off his back and opened it, he rached inside and handed her a can of spam and a ration bar, he took a swig from his canteen and gave her the bottle. He checked the bag, two ration bars left and a can of fruit, he could go without tonight, his stomach growled in disagreement, he pulled out his blanket and saw Asuka shiver as she ate her food. He walked over to her and threw the blanket around her.

"Try to get some sleep we're heading out early tomorrow"

"Thank you".

Returning to his side of the fire, he lay on the ground and looked at Asuka, who was staring at her new lighter. He could have sworn it was out of gas.