The day's afternoon was sunny and breezy as paws pounded against the ground and wings flapped in the air through the forest. Every now and then the cats would let out a growl and the birds would let out a screech. Their tails wagged and their feathers gently trailed behind them.

"Do you think my soldiers are doing well without me?" Lethe asked again. She had commanded her own troop before she had joined Ike on his quest.

"Sigh, it's always about your soldiers. What about me? Don't I matter to you anymore?" Ranulf half joked.

"What do you mean by that?" She questioned.

"Oh, nothing. Just nothing at all…" he dropped the subject. He tried to add a happy tone into his voice even though he was disappointed.

Lethe didn't even want to put up with him. She kept on running with a hiss.

"You're soldiers are Gallian warriors, you don't have to worry about them all the time," Ranulf replied. He got no response back, so he kept quiet the rest of the time.

Meanwhile, Giffca, Reyson, and Leanne followed the cats from a safe distance.

"Princess Leanne, what is that you hold?" the shadow spoke. She wasn't able to reply back on her own, even though she tried.

"It's a medallion that has finally been returned to us by Ike and his sister, Mist," Reyson answered for his sister.

"Ah, I see," Giffca said. He looked around him, at the sky, the trees, and the ground. "We're almost the Gallian Castle. There you will be able to meet King Caineghis."

The cats, the lion, and the herons raced to the castle. There, the herons spoke to the king about their situation. Lethe and Ranulf were given time to rest, but they didn't choose to relax at all. They decided to walk down to the training grounds to visit the troops of cats and tigers that were there.

"Hey! The commander's back!" The other laguz turned their heads the moment they arrived onto the grounds.

"Welcome back Commander Lethe!" They all cheered. Lethe had always been a serious person, Ranulf knew. There was a stern expression on her face as she walked down the line of Gallian knights that waved and cheered. As he walked behind her, he tried to smile a little.

Everyone managed to tell Lethe and Ranulf their welcome back cheers before the two of them stopped in front of the training field.

"Tell me what you meant back in the forest," Lethe commanded.

"Someone's demanding today," he said sarcastically.

"Ranulf, tell me, now!" she practically shouted at him.

"Okay, okay," he laughed, "all I was implying was that now that we're done helping Ike and friends, I wanted things to go back to the way they were between us. That's all…" Lethe remained silent for a while before she could come up with something to say. She knew it was coming, but she didn't know that Ranulf would say it so bluntly.

"Things have changed since you were gone. The war has changed us," she began.

"Arg, I know where this is gonna go…" Ranulf thought in his head. If he hadn't, Lethe would surely have his fur.

"When I was fighting alongside Ike, I learned that you should never judge your enemy, which means that Gallia should always be ready, even in peacetime," she continued.

He thought back to what she always said, "Laguz are born ready to fight."

"She really has changed… But what can I do about it now…?" Ranulf sighed.

"You're being very quiet now, what's wrong?" Lethe stared at him with a slightly worried look on her face.

"I guess we Laguz are only physically ready to fight huh?" Ranulf depressingly chuckled.

"Ranulf, you are easy going and I can't be like that. I have many errands to do for the king and for our army," Lethe explained, gazing into his eyes.

"Lethe, you don't have to change for me, but I can see it's a little too late to tell you that," Ranulf avoided her stare. Both of their tails were dead still.

Lethe turned to look out at the training field she hadn't seen for over a year. She remembered the times where she and Ranulf would train together on the very field years ago when they were both members of the army. Then she remembered when she first met Ranulf. It was her first day and he had helped her through the challenging drills. "He was so kind and even more carefree back then," she told herself. "I loved him…"

By the time Lethe was finished reminiscing and turned around to face him again, Ranulf was gone and was nowhere in sight.

In the forest, Ranulf sat on a boulder, staring at the sky. The wind blew the leaves off of their stems and they floated gently to the ground. One by one, he watched them. He took in long breathes as he spoke, "You leaves are so smooth on your descent; if only I were like you…"

Note from the Author: Well, I tried to make that as realistic as I could. If you want to read more of this, just request it and I'll do my best to finish it up.