"Why could you not just follow orders!" Luxa was yelling. She gestured wildly to the gnawers laying at her side. "What are we supposed to do now!"

"Continue the quest?!" Carter yelled back. "Stop the Overlander, you said. If I had done that we could have both been killed. Is that what you wanted?!"

"I'm starting to think it would have been preferable! Everything is ruined now and it is going to be incredibly more difficult from this point out."

"Oh don't be so dramatic. It was one lousy gnawer. You killed the other one let me remind you. This quest is not ruined with their death."

"It might be!" Luxa was clearly not done arguing even as Carter was shaking his head and turning away. "Before we had the element of surprise. They didn't know we were here and we could have gotten much farther before they did. When their two scouts do not return, what will they think? They will know we were here and we did not even get any useful information out of the exchange, just more blood on our hands. If we had time to question them we would at least not be going in completely blind."

Carter said nothing in reply, just huffing and walking a short distance away. Luxa scowled at his retreating back, yelling after him, "We will have to leave the fliers!" Carter merely raised his hand in dismissal. Luxa let out what sounded like a growl of frustration before spinning on her heel to suddenly face Gregor and Hazard who were standing off to the side. They both jumped a little under her withering gaze.

"Hazard, come help me." She ordered. Hazard moved like a flash, quickly running to his cousin's side. Clearly he did not want to be on the receiving end of his cousins anger.

Gregor who was still a bit dazed about everything that had just happened ran to catch up with them. "Wait, why do we have to leave the bats, er, fliers?" Traveling with them would have made the trip easy, a mere flight between him and his sister. Sure they would've had to stop to rest and eat, but walking, that would increase the trip length significantly. How many more days would it take to reach his sister now?

"It is too dangerous. There is no shelter here and now that the gnawers know we are here they will be looking for us. The fliers are too easy to spot in the air and it would be near impossible for them to travel through the grass on foot." Luxa did not slow her power walk, but when the returned to the campsite she buried her face in Aurora's fur. Gregor knew she did not make this decision lightly.

The next 20 minutes passed quickly. The group passed the time in relative silence, packing up the little belongings they had brought and trying to cover up their presence in the area as much as possible. At one point Luxa, Carter, and Howard all gathered around the vague and incomplete map one of them had brought from the city. Gregor could hear them arguing about the best route to take. He sat to the side with Hazard, both of them ripping up the grass by their feet in boredom, feeling much younger than they should.

It wasn't until they had at least a general plan that the fliers left. All the Underlanders seemed pained to see them go and anxious once they left. Gregor could understand; he might not have the same connection to them, but he would miss them, both because their journey was about to get a lot harder and for their company.

The group began walking quietly, following Luxa. It was clear to all of them that she was still in a mood and none of them wanted to put themselves in the line of fire. Gregor fell to the back of the line with Hazard. He didn't think Luxa had any reason to be mad at him but he didn't want to take the chance. It was clear being separated from her bond was just making everything harder to handle for Luxa.

They walked in silence, and peace, for several hours. The Underlanders seemed to have gotten used to the light and Howard even stopped to examine the flowers more closely. They were making good time and the worst that had happened was a few ill placed roots that Gregor had the bad luck to trip over.

By the time they stopped for lunch Luxa seemed to have calmed down. She was helping Howard divide the rations when Gregor chanced looking over at her. When she caught his eye and smiled, his heart skipped a beat. He was relieved she wasn't mad, he told himself, nothing more. But he couldn't stop grinning to himself as he helped Hazard unpack the water.

Gregor thought about going over and talking to her, you know, as friends. But by the time he was done helping Hazard, she was gone. A sudden jolt of panic struck and he had to resist the urge to call out her name. It subsided slightly when he saw Howard plopped own in the grass eating his meager lunch portion.

Something in his face must have betrayed him because Howard called over to him from his resting place. Gregor joined him trying to keep the look of panic at bay. "She's with Carter," Howard says as Gregor plops down beside him. Howard laughs as he hands Gregor a piece of bread, watching his expression shift from panic to annoyance to embarrassment.

"I wasn't … That's not… I was just wondering," Gregor finally manages to get out, looking away and hoping his blush doesn't show through his tan.

"Do not worry Overlander," Howard says good naturedly, slapping Gregor on the shoulder, "you are not the only one who does not like my cousin's new fiancé."

"Yeah, the guy's a dick," Hazard adds suddenly joining them on the grass. He grabs his own lunch from the bag and begins to eat.

Gregor looks between the two surprised. "Then why is she with him?" The question blurts out before he can stop it.

"Blah, blah, blah, politics, politics, politics," Hazard supplies unhelpfully while Howard snickers behind his lunch.

"Politics?!" Gregor asks, both confused and angry. "You mean she doesn't even like the guy?"

"I am sure she likes him a little," Howard responds, in a way that Gregor finds to be far too casual.

"Do you really think our cousin would marry someone she didn't like at all?" Hazard laughs as if the idea is hilarious. It is a bit ridiculous, but Gregor doesn't feel like laughing.

"But yes, for the most part it is a political move," Harvard adds only adding to Gregor's confusion.

"I don't get it," he says, "how did this even happen?"

Howard sighs before explaining. "The past few years were rough in the Underland. Food was scarce and people were angry and scared. It was no ones fault really, just bad luck. But of course they blamed the Queen. She was so young when she was crowned and many people said she was still too young. They questioned the council and spread all sorts of conspiracy theories. They wanted someone new in charge, someone more in touch with the regular citizens." Hazard snorts at this part.

"Carter comes from a prominent agricultural family out in the border lands. The thought was that by marrying him the people would believe he could give advice and advocate for their needs."

"The only thing Carter advocates for is himself," Hazard mumbles through a mouth full of food.

Gregor is still in shock. In a way it makes sense: what he had seen of their relationship was hardly typical. He had only been around for a few day, and their relationship had already had more ups and downs than the entire span of his last relationship. "But why him?" He finally asks. "How does she even know him?"

"He's been around," Howard says, "I was much more familiar with him from my time in the Riverlands, but like I said, he's from a prominent family. They all know each other in some way or another."

"But how can she like someone she's being forced to marry?" Gregor asks again confused and more than a little frustrated.

"Give it a break, Overlander," Hazard says rolling his eyes. "It's not like she didn't like you or didn't wait for you."

"This is true," Howard says with a shrug. "Trust me," he adds despite Gregor's offended gaping, "there was lots and lots and lots of waiting."

"Oh Gregor," Hazard mimics, voice going high and squeaky, "are you ever going to come back? You promised and now all I can do is sigh and be boring even though my dear cousin is trying to do his homework. I just don't-"

Hazard froze as a figure appeared beside them. Luxa was a truly terrifying sight in that moment, feet spread, hands on hips, scowl in place, and thunder in her eyes. "If you're done discussing my personal life, I think it's time we keep moving." She glances between Howard and Hazard, and the two seemed to physically shrink under the weight of their cousin's stare. She didn't look at Gregor, but he couldn't help feeling embarrassed and bad that he had initiated the conversation. The three boys scrambled to their feet as she turned away, nearly marching to grab her pack and head back into the brush.