Jaffar: I still don't see why I have to be dragged into all of this…

Swordchick: Well if Vaida is attacked, then the princess will be doomed. If she's with you, then she will have more than one warrior to defend her.

Matthew: …you just made that up.

Swordchick: … …So?

Legault: …that's sad.

Jaffar sat alone during the remainder of the night. Matthew and Legault found it entertaining to bring up the conversation from earlier whenever Jaffar came within hearing range, and soon the former assassin learned just to stay clear until the joke died down. But at this rate, it seemed he would be alone for a while. But that suited him fine.

"How long until we reach Badon?" Jaffar asked Kent once the two annoying thieves were distracted, arguing over who should have the first watch that night. Rath had finally shut them up moments earlier in his usual manner.

"…"

"Oh. Okay, Rath. Call me when you're done. I'll take my turn watch next," Matthew said. Then once Rath was gone, he muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Legalut, "This will be easy. He won't talk enough to wake me up, so I get a full night of sleep." Legault smirked.

Ignoring the two thieves, Kent turned to Jaffar, answering his question. "We should be there by noon tomorrow. The princess arrived a day or two ago, and Hector has been keeping her safe while we got ready to get there."

"What?" Sain cried, appearing out of nowhere as usual. "We cannot make such a fair princess wait in hiding for her gallant escort to arrive! We must move on!"

"Sain, if we are half-asleep when we reach Badon we will be of no use to her," Kent argued, turning his attention from Jaffar. Jaffar, seeing this as a good time to leave, did so.

Rath sat a distance from the others, polishing his bow. Jaffar walked over to him.

"Do you know they are playing with you? Using your silence to earn themselves more sleep?" Jaffar asked.

Rath nodded.

"Then why do you ignore it?"

Rath looked up at Jaffar for the first time. "I learn how to. Then it is mandatory."

They looked at each other for a moment, silent and unblinking, until Jaffar frowned slightly in confusion and walked off. Rath watched him leave for a moment before returning to his bow.

Jaffar sat in puzzlement in the shelter of his tent for a while, trying to decipher what Rath had said. Mandatory? Now that Jaffar thought about it, there were many occasions where only his strength and ability to disregard everything around him had saved him on many occasions. Saved him both physically and mentally.

It was to these thought that Jaffar fell asleep.

---

Jaffar was woken the next morning by a loud noise. It wasn't until he was standing bolt upright with his daggers in hands, bedroll awkwardly crumpled at his ankles, did he realize that it was Matthew. What the hell he was doing that was so noisy in this hour Jaffar did not know, but he did know that it would soon end.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Jaffar strode out into the forest. There was Matthew, doing what looked like attacking his tent.

"What are you doing?" Kent demanded, storming up to him. Kent looked like he had been abruptly woken up as well, for his hair was messy and his boots were on the wrong feet.

"There's someone in my tent!" Matthew cried. Leaping back and taking refuge behind Rath, who had just appeared. "I woke up and I saw him!"

"Did you see what he looks like?" Kent asked, grabbing his sword from where it lay on the ground near the dead campfire.

"No, just very big!"

"That's probably because you are small," Legault said, appearing out of nowhere. "He could have been Nils and you would still say he was a giant."

Matthew glared daggers at him, but still did not leave his shelter behind Rath.

Kent marched up to the tent, gingerly poking his sword tip through the entrance. "Whoever is in there, come out! Now!"

A moment or two passed in silence. Kent tightened his grip on his sword and shouted for Sain to come with him. Sain, who had just woken and looked like he was still asleep, grumbled as he left for his sword. He came up to Kent with a frying pan in his hand. He and Kent didn't notice that he had grabbed the wrong weapon, and Kent leapt into the tent with a cry, a more than slightly less enthusiastic Sain following. A few moments later, they returned, an annoyed look on their faces.

"Matthew, what exactly did you see?" Kent asked in a steady tone. And although his voice was calm, in his eyes you could see pure irritation.

"A man about the size of you, in the tent, poking through my things," Matthew said, hiding farther behind Rath. He had a new reason to hide now, seeing the look in the two knights' eyes.

Sain promptly held up a shirt. "This was caught on one of your walking sticks, about the height of Kent."

"No!" Matthew protested. "I know what I saw! It was a man, not a shirt!"

"You were probably just tired," Kent said calmingly.

"Or stupid," Legault muttered, just loud enough for Matthew to hear. Matthew's glare hardened.

Kent sighed. "Now that we're all up, we might as well set off."

At these words, Sain became fully awake. "What? Fair, fair princess, you must wait no longer! I am coming!"

Kent winced, but went to go pack. The others followed his lead, although Matthew was quite hesitant to go into his own tent. But finally after a few minutes of gingerly sneaking peeks into the tent, he finally entered, less wary than before.

A long while later, the group had finally set off. Matthew was avoiding Legault stubbornly, Legault laughing at the boy's grim determination to ignore him. Jaffar was relieved that the two were bickering, because now he could have silence. There was no disputing over how to make Jaffar a better person. And he was fine with that.

It was a quiet journey to Badon. Matthew and Legault weren't talking for the entire trip, Rath was being his usual quiet self, and Sain was practically in a trance as he thought of the princess that awaited him in the trip ahead.

Jaffar spent most of the trip thinking. Kent had said that the mission would go by faster if he was agreeable. But it would go by even faster it he ran for it right then and there. What could stop him from taking to his heels and leaving this mission for those who had a felt obligation for it? …Rath could.

Kent rode up to Jaffar. "I thank you for not leaving last night," he said. Jaffar winced. What, could this guy read minds or something? It was starting to get unnerving.

"I was sure that you would try to escape when we were all asleep," Kent continued. "But I guess you proved us wrong. Don't worry. After we get the princess it is only a few days until we reach Bern. Then you are free to leave."

"…"

"You weren't thinking of leaving were you?" Kent asked. Jaffar looked sharply up at him. He was laughing. "I was just kidding. You should have seen the look on your face. Ha!"

Jaffar looked away, his fists closing around his dagger hilts.

"Now don't sulk. It was just a joke."

"…I'm not sulking…" Jaffar argued darkly. He had said before. He was brooding.

Kent laughed. Riding away, he went along side Sain, leaving Jaffar to walk alone. Jaffar watched him for a moment, until turning away. Did they really not trust him that much? Well, they probably had a right to, due to his reputation. Jaffar's lip twitched a smile.

---

They reached Badon that evening. Sain was distraught that it had taken that long, although Kent reassured him that they were just a few hours late. Still Sain did not feel at ease until they had found the inn where they were waiting.

"What? What is a princess as fair and beauteous as this doing in an inn like this?" Sain cried, devastated.

Kent rolled his eyes. "You don't know how the princess looks, Sain. How can you compare her to this inn if you haven't even met her yet?"

Sain gave Kent a shocked look. "Kent! How could you say such a thing? Any princess is too elegant and stunning to sleep in such a place!"

Kent clamped his lips tightly together, stifling a laugh. Beside him Matthew and Legault were looking at Sain with large smirks on their faces, their eyebrows raised.

Sain frowned. "What?" he asked, and then turned around. There was the innkeeper behind him. "Oh…uh…oops…"

The innkeeper scowled at him. "So our inn is not suitable for royalty, eh?" he asked gruffly.

"No no no!" Sain cried, waving his hands before him protectively. "That is not what I meant, I-!"

The innkeeper snorted. "Ha. I don't believe it for a second. But, if you wanted to come for the princess, I would thank you. She has been a nuisance ever since she got here."

Jaffar paled. Shit. She was the kind of demanding, needy princesses. Why did he always get stuck with the annoying women?

"No, don't worry," the innkeeper said, reading Jaffar's expression. "She isn't a demanding princess. She is just very feisty. Already she has picked fights with two of the men in my bar. She is disturbing customers! I will go get her and the man protecting her for you." And with that the man left.

They all waited outside while the innkeeper went to fetch the princess and Hector. Kent was doing his best to calm the anxious Sain, Matthew and Legault were slowly becoming friends again and talking more and more (Jaffar soon realized they were talking about him again), and Rath, as usual, was waiting in silence.

Jaffar braced himself as he heard footsteps approaching. He was doomed. Doomed to a life of escort and babysitting.

Hector walked through the inn doorway, carrying the princess' luggage. Jaffar studied it. At least this princess didn't require endless amounts of possessions. There were only a few things in his arms, not hard for a horse to carry.

Then the princess walked through the door. She was very tall and beautiful, just as Sain had predicted. She was dressed not in a long, elegant dress, but in travelers clothes. So she wasn't like any of the ordinary princesses.

Sain cried out in joy, running up to her and showering her with compliments.

Jaffar sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

---

"Okay, so run this by me again," Legault said, leaning back lazily on one of the inn chairs. "Why are we waiting here instead of heading for Bern?"

"Because," Kent responded, glancing out of the window, "we are waiting for Vaida. She was supposed to find us before we set off so she could tell Prince Zephiel that we are coming."

"Why can't we just go and wait for her to find us?" Matthew asked. He was dealing with his boring situation by once again fiddling with anything near, which now happened to be a fork.

"She won't be able to find us if we do that," Kent said, frowning.

"What's your point?"

Princess Ive laughed.

Jaffar groaned mentally. Why was he stuck here? He could be somewhere else, dong something useful. Instead he was listening to a group of people until he grew insane. Jaffar tried to tune them out by examining his daggers, as if looking for any flaw. But of course there was none, and there hadn't been any when he had checked two minutes ago. But still he looked them over, spinning them idly in his hands.

"Jaffar!"

Jaffar blinked, looking around him. All eyes were on him.

"We're getting ready to go. Vaida is outside," Kent said. "Why didn't you respond the first three times I called you?"

Jaffar shrugged, putting away his weapons.

Following the others through the inn entrance, Jaffar looked up just in time to see a wyvern ready itself for landing. Instinctively he braced. Wyverns aren't known for their graceful landings. Fortunately however Vaida was a skilled rider and was able to land her wyvern without any injuries.

"I see you have the princess," Vaida commented shortly.

"No, this is just an imposter," Legault said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Vaida scowled. "Very amusing. Now are you all unharmed?"

"No, we're all going to die. The tavern down the street shot us for not tipping well enough," Matthew said just as sarcastically as Legault.

"I will be off then," Vaida said, ignoring the two thieves and picking up her wyvern's reins. "I have to inform Prince Zephiel of your whereabouts."

Kent nodded. "Good luck."

Vaida laughed. "Luck? Only the weak need luck," she said as her wyvern flew into the air.

Legault and Matthew went on for a while, either making fun of Vaida or continuing their list for ways to improve Jaffar. Jaffar promptly disappeared, knowing that he shouldn't stick around if he wanted to keep his sanity.

---

When the group was ready to go, Jaffar appeared again. He was unimaginably reluctant, but knew he couldn't try to leave again. He wouldn't be chased off. He could brave a few men and a princess, right?

Wrong.

---

That night when the group had made camp a distance from Badon, Matthew set up a little slower than usual. He was thinking hard, so it was hard to make camp quickly.

"Is something wrong?"

Matthew jerked in surprise, nearly knocking over his tent. Whirling around he saw Legault, smirking in pleasure.

"Legault!" Matthew cried, trying to settle down from the shock. "Don't do that!"

Legault's grin widened. "Is it my fault if I'm skilled? Anyways, are you going to tell me or not?"

"What?"

"What's bugging you? You're obviously irked."

"It's nothing."

Legault laughed. "You can say what you want, but you are even worse than Jaffar at hiding your emotions."

It wasn't until after he said that did he notice Jaffar standing beside him. Legault flinched slightly, but did not falter.

"It was a joke. Loosen up."

Jaffar looked at him silently for a moment before shooting a sideways glance at Matthew. The Ostian spy seemed to brace slightly. But after a moment of silence, Jaffar turned and left, disappearing into the shadows.

A few seconds after Jaffar had disappeared, Legault turned back to Matthew. "So it's Jaffar."

"What?"

"Jaffar. He's the one bugging you. Are you still angry about Leila? That was years ago."

"It isn't Jaffar."

"Yah? Well you're even stiffer than an irked Erk," Legault said. Then he blinked. "Whoa, I hadn't noticed that before," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck and looking down at the ground thoughtfully.

Matthew ignored the unintended pun. "Okay, so maybe I'm still a little mad at Jaffar."

Legault looked at him skeptically.

"Okay, maybe more than a little. But I know Leila wouldn't want me to hold it against him. He was forced to be that way. But still…"

Legault knelt beside Matthew, sitting back on his heels. "You seem to be hiding it well."

Matthew shrugged. Then he froze and whirled back to Legault. "But why am I telling you this?"

Legault smirked. "Because you're inexpressibly desperate." Then he stood and brushed of his pants. "But don't let the whole Jaffar bug you too much. If you do, it will drive you mad." He smiled. "You might even make Sain look sane." Then he blinked in surprise again. "Whoa…"

Then Legault walked off, scratching his head and wondering how many other of his former companions had odd names he could make fun of. Matthew watched him go, thinking about what he had said.

Jaffar: …That's her, isn't it? That princess is my gag girlfriend?

Swordchick&Legault&Matthew: Duh.

Jaffar: …I hate you.

Swordckick: grin