A Better Place

by Waywatcher

I can remember a world where I was safe, where war was a notion meant for more violent countries, and where the internet gave me unlimited entertainment and knowledge with a few keystrokes. That world is not this one, and I miss it dearly. At least I have Morgan to keep me alive and sane, and I can provide some use to this world with my knowledge of Awakening. Self-insert.

12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.

On the road again. Well, for a moment at least. How are they going to get Nah out? Who knows? I don't… yet. I'll have to figure it out if I'm going to write it.

Just a heads up, this is a longer chapter.

---

"You don't spit into the wind." I sing under my breath. "You don't pull the mask of that old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim."

The group has been understandably tense since Morgan and Kjelle's confrontation yesterday. That tension has so far manifested as a refusal by the two to talk to each other, and our group splitting into two pairs as we march (granted, we're always in two pairs, but in this case specifically…) with Kjelle and Noire staying a dozen or so meters in front of us at all times as we travel.

Morgan has been unusually quiet for the most part. I don't really think it has much to do with Kjelle though. She's muttering plans under her breath, and will occasionally speak up to bounce something off me to see if I can find any faults. The most common problem she's running into is our simple lack of manpower. We can't attack the mansion head-on with our limited numbers, especially with the knowledge that there might be mire users.

Stealth plans fall apart with the possibility of shifting walls. Nah's paralogue has walls rising and falling, and that will totally screw with our ability to get around quickly or remember paths, and that's not taking into account the possibility that the walls can be actively controlled. So far, Morgan's best plan involves trying to get into the mansion as a servant to scope the place out, but that's risky as none of us are particularly skilled at deception nor know how to do usual servant tasks. It's not that we couldn't do them (with the exception of me, as I might not know how something works) but that we couldn't do them well enough to pass as actually skilled servants. We'd either get fired or found out real quick.

Still, Morgan continues to mull over possibilities, and I avoid distracting her by keeping my voice down. Travelling is infinitely more dull without being able to talk to Morgan all that often.

"I should have asked for a better view." Morgan says suddenly, just before lunch. "I just- I can't make a detailed plan without knowing the terrain. I don't know where the entrances are going to be, or the windows, or if there's a river entry somewhere for bringing in supplies. We're going to have to scout. At the very least I need to know what's outside of the manor."

"We'll scout when we get there then." I say. "No problem. You can't be expected to plan for everything."

"But I'm a tactician, that's my job." Morgan grumbles.

"Boy, being a tactician is tough. Got to plan for four-hundred headed hydras when invading a manor." I say sarcastically.

"You know what I mean." Morgan huffs.

"Yeah, but you also see my point." I retort. "You're a genius, not a literal god that can process all possible variables of any situation in one day. Actually, I don't think Sothis can do that either, so you'd have to be more than a god… dess. Goddess technically." Are all the Fire Emblem gods female? I don't know enough about the pre-Awakening games to be able to answer that. I think there's one called Yune…?

"But how am I supposed to prove my mental superiority if I don't have a detailed and complete battle plan ready before I've even gotten a proper look at the location we'll be dealing with?" Morgan asks rhetorically. "It doesn't matter if I'm a genius if no one knows Nathan! I have to rub it in their faces!"

Ah, so we've delved into joke territory. I'm going to assume my point was made and Morgan is now transitioning into our usual routine as an acknowledgement of that. "They're not going to know if your plan is last-minute or not. As long as the plan is fantastic and they are sufficiently outsmarted, you can consider their senses of self-worth sufficiently annihilated." I say. "And you can loudly proclaim your superiority to everyone in earshot… after we leave the island and the earshot of any friends the mansion owner might have."

"And you'll keep reminding me of how much of an utter genius I am, right?"

"I do that already." I remind her. A grin crosses my face as something comes to mind. "And I thought it was insults you liked."

Morgan shrugs, also smiling. "Insults, compliments, as long as it's about me."

"Shameless. Absolutely shameless."

"What? I just enjoy getting feedback of all kinds." Morgan says with faux innocence.

"Feedback is it now?" I scoff. "Suuure. 'Feedback'. Right, got it. It has nothing to do with being the center of attention."

"Well I never said that." She says, grinning widely. "So more compliments please!"

"It never occurred to you that I already flatter you too much?"

"You can flatter someone too much?"

In hindsight that's very in-character of her to say. "You're lucky you're cute."

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Morgan says, and holds her head high and tosses her hair over her shoulder. "It's a result of my brilliant mind."

"Because physical attractiveness has always been correlated with intelligence." I say dryly.

"Of course." Morgan preens. "That's why I'm vastly superior to everyone else in every conceivable way. I can't believe you managed to land me without even considering this."

"I suppose I have an astounding amount of good luck then."

"Damn straight!"

###

Despite how developed the island is, there are surprisingly few inns outside of the port town. Morgan thinks it might be because, due to this being a place for rich people, if you come further into the island it's probably because you own a place so inns are unnecessary because there are rarely any travellers.

And so, despite being right near town, we are forced to find somewhere to camp for the night as the only inns that do exist there are absurdly expensive.

So that's how our group finds itself nestled between a fallen tree and a rocky hill several dozen meters away from a main path.

You can see a distinct difference in flora on this island compared to the Feroxi mainland. The Feroxi mainland had pine and other coniferous trees for the most part, the ones that survive well in the cold. This island has some more tropical trees, I think, though I don't recognize any in particular so I can't say for sure. Basically, I don't see any palm trees. I'm not familiar with other tropical tree types. For all I know, these trees are entirely unique to this world. I'm assuming the trees are tropical due to large leaf sizes, but I don't know botany so I have no idea if that's relevant or not.

I wonder if mangroves exist in this world. I've seen some when I've gone on vacation before. They're super cool.

There are also different animals, and this I do know something about. When it comes to islands, they tend to have very unique ecosystems and might have species that you won't find anywhere else due to being sheltered away from the rest of the world. Admittedly that makes them especially vulnerable to invasive species, as being so sheltered means that the species on the island might lack tools to deal with new threats. Not that invasive species aren't always a problem, but they cause extra damage to islands.

Anyhow, for animals, I've seen what I think is an albatross, some lizards (which I didn't see at all in Ferox), a toad, and some weird mammal that I can't identify. A mongoose maybe? It sort of reminded me of… yungoos.

It was probably a mongoose then. Noire shot it and we ate it. I don't think mongooses are something you usually eat on Earth, and I can see why. They taste awful.

In addition to all that, we suddenly don't need our extra blankets anymore. It's now warm enough, due to use moving south and it becoming spring, that the weather isn't as cold. It's not too warm that I can't snuggle with Morgan around the fire at least.

Knowing Morgan's interest in games, I've recently taken to explaining any and every game I can remember. I think I'm just whetting her appetite to actually be able to play them at some point, based on how often she says some variant of "I have to play that!"

Kjelle has been brooding the entire day in silence. She puts intense focus into maintaining her spear and trains quietly off to the side of the camp. I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been more arguing, but Kjelle hasn't brought up the confrontation at all. I don't know if that's a good sign and she's accepted Morgan's leadership or if she's stewing in spite.

Noire has been similarly quiet, though that's not unusual for her. She was never chatty before and I don't think that's going to change. I have no idea how much the conflict has affected her because she really just doesn't talk.

I'm tempted to try and talk to Noire, but considering the last time I tried to do that didn't go so well I refrain from trying.

I must also admit I'm worried for how we're going to free Nah. I doubt this is something I'm going to be able to avoid, I'm almost certainly going to have to participate. I won't complain, but I am worried. If we end up fighting, I'm the most likely member of our team to die or get injured due to my inexperience. I'm hoping Morgan thinks of a plan that involves deception rather than combat, but considering the manor owner might be grimleal I don't have high hopes.

###

"I can see for miles!"

"Morgan, you're on my shoulders, not a tower."

"I should have done this earlier! Why didn't I think of this?!"

"You tried. There were too many trees."

"This is great!"

"You've stated as much several times." I don't see what's so fantastic about it, but I won't complain if she's enjoying herself.

"Don't pretend you don't like it too!" Morgan huffs. "You have a cute girl's thighs around your head! That's the best thing ever, and don't you try and deny it!"

Ignoring, of course, the fact that she has very bulky pants on which kinda reduces anything even vaguely exciting about it, but I'm not about to say that. I wouldn't put it past Morgan to do something weird if I mentioned that. Lewd girl…

Morgan is so much different than I expected considering how she is in the games. There are some similar traits of course, like her absolute shamelessness when it comes to her own decisions. I remember supports where she flagrantly manipulates people with maybe a token apology at the end but no real indication that she felt bad for her manipulation. There's also her sadism of course, which she has in small amounts both in supports and in reality. The differences in Morgan are pretty noticeable though. There's obviously the fact that she's a lewd girl which wouldn't come up in game because, well, it's a Nintendo game. Family friendly and all that bullshit. Her massive ego, which I think is half joke half real, wasn't really touched upon in game either.

"No retort? I was right on the nose, wasn't I?" Morgan preens. She squeezes her legs around my neck. "I know, I'm a genius, and my thighs are great."

"Uh-huh, sure." I say, and absently pat her lower leg. "We'll go with that."

"Aww, c'mon, at least play along!" Morgan pouts. "Indulge your girlfriend!"

"I do that literally all the time." I remind her. "And besides…" I poke her thigh. "Your chicken legs ain't gonna do shit for no one!"

"How dare you!" Morgan gasps while smiling. "I'll have you know I put in a lot of effort to keep myself as toned as I am! Tone! You hear that!? Not skinny!"

"Who cares about tone?" I scoff. "I demand thickness!"

"Oh that's how it is?" Morgan huffs. "I'm too much of a thin bitch, huh? You only go for women with thighs the size of your head? Probably chests too."

"Exactly." I say, and try to sound as snobby and pretentious as possible. "A thin waist is required however. The hourglass figure is paramount! The more exaggerated the better! Waists the size of a dime! Hips larger than a horse! That is what I desire!"

Morgan snorts. "Very high standards you have there."

"Not only for women! Men have their own standards they must meet!" I proclaim. They must have ten pack abs, chest muscles the size of window frames, and boulders for biceps!"

"You don't even meet your own standards."

"I'm working on it!" I say indignantly. "Perfection is not achieved overnight! Honestly, your expectations are so unrealistic!"

Morgan promptly starts laughing, and I can't hold character and follow suit a moment later.

###

So there it is. The manor. The outer wall of the manor at least. As you might have expected, whoever owns the manor also owns a lot of surrounding land, so we can't actually see the manor proper from here. Nah is in there somewhere.

"I can't see over the wall." Morgan grumbles. Even sitting on my shoulders, the outer hedge is too tall for her. Strictly speaking it's the hedge that is blocking her view and not the wall itself, because the hedge is behind the wall, but that's just technicalities. "Maybe Noire could see?"

"She'd probably have to sit on your shoulders to maybe be able to look over." I point out. "It might be better to find a tall tree to climb than to try and peek over the hedges like this."

"M-Maybe we can get a tour?" Noire suggests. "I-If we flatter the owner enough, he might be happy to show us around."

That is an interesting idea. I didn't expect that from Noire. Morgan seems to agree. "That might be something we can do! We do have some cute girls in our group… and Kjelle and Nathan. It would depend on how open the owner is though, or if we can even get in contact with him. How are your acting skills by the way? Can you do the shy, bashful type? Not the way you are usually, I mean shy, bashful, and interested. If you're standoffish it won't help."

"I-I can. I've done it before." Noire nods. I'm now slightly concerned about why she would have had to act that part before.

"And you." Morgan looks at Kjelle. "Can you restrain your battlelust for an hour or two if you have to?"

"I can." Kjelle says curtly. There's no hostility in her tone despite Morgan's slight jab. She's completely serious. "However I am needed, combat or otherwise, I will perform. For Nah's sake."

Thankfully Morgan is acute, so she picks up on Kjelle's attitude change, and the reason for it, and treats it with appropriate respect. "Cool. There's a chance, if we can somehow get a tour, that we'll have to leave weapons behind. If you can play the part of a knight aspirant, maybe we convince them to let you keep your lance."

"This is all theoretical at the moment?" Kjelle asks.

"Yeah." Morgan nods. "But it never hurts to run through ideas."

"In that case." Kjelle says. "There is a possibility that there are others who can give us the information we need. Thieves who have infiltrated successfully, bribable guards, or even a political, social, or business enemy who might be willing to give us some help."

"Also a good idea." Morgan nods. "Either way, we're going to have to do some asking around. We need info."

Getting info turns out to be more difficult than expected, and it also turns out that Noire is our best way of getting it.

Asking around shops and the tavern (sorry "fine drink establishments", apparently "tavern" is too common for the people of this town) we get absolutely no luck trying to find anything out. People raise their eyebrows at us, brush off our (made up) reasons for wanting information, and generally give me the impression that they either know we're bulshitting them or just don't want to talk with sketchy outsiders. I don't know if it's because we might look poor (I do at least) or just because we're from outside, but they stonewall any attempts we make to get information.

And then Noire says "l-let me try", walks up to a random merchant, and starts talking. I know the saying is cliche, but it really is like someone flipped a switch. Noire's entire demeanor shifts, and visibly so. Even the way she carries herself changes. She goes from hunching and shuffling to standing straight, holding her head high, and walking with confidence. She doesn't frown or glance around furtively, but stares her target directly in the eye and smiles warmly. When she starts talking with the merchant (we can't quite hear what's being said because there's too much other noise), he responds much more openly and calmly than people have been with us so far.

"What the heck?" Morgan whispers. She glances at Kjelle. "Did you know she could do that?"

"I did." Kjelle admits. "It's just as strange to me every time. Noire has always been good at putting on a front when she needs to, but she avoids doing it whenever she can."

Okay then. I guess Noire has some hidden depths. Gotta remember she's more than a game character. Still, I didn't figure she was capable of faking such confidence.

So, uh, anyhow… Noire is apparently good at getting information out of people. She simpers and smiles and laughs and brings her hand up to her chest in surprise and… it's really just weird to see her do that. She's been shy the whole time, for literal months, and now this?

The merchant points Noire to somewhere and she smiles and thanks them before striding off in that direction. The rest of us follow at a safe distance. If Noire can handle this, we shouldn't get in the way.

So Noire goes around talking to people while the rest of us watch in surprise. Morgan is very unsubtly trying to listen in on Noire's conversations to moderate success. She actually takes out her notebook and starts scribbling down notes. I peer over her shoulder to see what she's writing… only to be reminded I can't read the language here. Right.

It's surprising how infrequently I need to read. It's infrequent enough that I often forget I'm effectively illiterate.

"I think it might have something to do with word choice." Morgan says, answering my unasked question. "And she's using very particular body language. Confident, but not aggressive. Curious, but in a way that doesn't seem intrusive. Notice how she does take the shy role when talking despite confidence otherwise. One leg kicks the ground a bit or hooks around the other and all that, and she kinda turns her head away. Noire really knows how to make use of girlish charms. Who knew, huh?"

Morgan picked up all that from a few minutes of observation? Okay then. I just assumed it was working because Noire was less blatantly suspicious than the rest of us, and because she's a pretty face. That works too though.

Noire does her best, and when she eventually comes back to us she has this to say: "Apparently that manor belongs to someone called Sir Bernard Von Drachen. He's been here for nearly a decade. Apparently he's friendly, but doesn't get along with church-types."

That makes sense for a grimleal.

"And how can we get in contact with him?" Morgan questions. "Did you ask?"

Noire nods. "He actually runs the town's inn and shows up there often. It's not unusual for him to befriend travellers and invite them for a tour of the mansion."

"Well that's hella suspicious." I say. "Good find Noire."

"Yeah." Morgan agrees. "But, uh, you can stop with the act if you want."

Noire, who up until this point had still been standing tall and smiling, quickly hunches and her expression returns to her usual nervous one. "I-It's so uncomfortable doing that…"

Kjelle pats her on the back. "You did well."

This gives us an easy lead. Now we just need to find out how to make use of it.

"I think our plan has to involve befriending Bernard." Morgan says. "It's too easy a path not to use. The problem is that we don't know if we'll get out of the manor in order to be able to use any scouting information we get. I think it's obvious that this whole 'befriending travellers' thing is a way for him to search for people to take. Even if it isn't, we don't know that and have to assume it is."

"So we need to scout anyway." Kjelle says. "And then make a plan around being able to get in via befriending Bernard."

"Exactly." Morgan says. "So we still might need a big tree."

"There is a chance…" I say. "That Bernard doesn't capture everyone who he invites, just the people that show potential. So if, say, I were to befriend him and somehow get a tour first, it's unlikely he'd see anything useful in me and I'd return without issue."

"Too risky." Morgan says. "Besides, you're too suspicious. Your accent is all wrong, you use weird idioms and terms, and you know way too much about way too much. If you let anything suspicious slip, you might get in trouble."

"Ah, alright." I mumble. Of course my plan would suck. My suggestions have always been the least useful.

"If we had someone who could be not-suspicious we might be able to do that plan." Morgan acknowledges, "but as of right now that's not viable."

"Okay." I know Morgan doesn't intend it, but her comment really feels like she's rubbing in how poorly thought-out my plan was.

"We still have time today." Kjelle says. "We should find that tree if that's actually our plan."

"Okay then!" Morgan claps her hands. "Tree time!"

Bernards's estate has the main road on the west side (too many people for us to climb something) and some farms to the south (I guess it would be impractical to import all their food. You want some stuff fresh after all) with too many farmers visible for us to feel comfortable climbing a tree, even if we're at a considerable distance. East, however, is forest.

Finding a suitably tall tree isn't exactly difficult, but it sure does take a long time to find one we can climb without being suspicious. Most of the trees are along a main path with people occasionally walking along it, so we obviously can't use those. There is a forest around the back of the estate, but that's problematic because the forest extends into Bernard's land, and blocks our view.

"We might be able to sneak in that way." Morgan points out. "Those trees will hide us as well."

Morgan climbs a tree in the forest anyways to check if there are guards in the forest. She doesn't see anything, which is good news for us. We now know of a great entrance or exit point. Fleeing into the woods is a decent way to lose people. Probably. I'd have to ask Morgan.

The north side of the estate has more forest. In particular, there's a large river that dips into and out of the estate, and people are stopped from entering by large iron gates.

"Guards." Morgan says quietly as we walk closer, and she nudges us into walking further out. "Now that's odd. Only the front entrance had guards before this. Why does this side and this side alone warrant guards otherwise?"

"M-Maybe it's easy for people to get in through the river?" Noire suggests.

"Well it's not exactly difficult to climb the fence elsewhere." Morgan notes. "Unless the fence is enchanted…"

That would be problematic. We'd have to find a different way to get in. "Maybe we can test it? Throw a rock or a stick at the fence and see if it burns up or gets zapped?"

"That's… not the kind of enchantment I was thinking of." Morgan mutters. "I was thinking of a force rebounder."

Kjelle and Noire both nod, and Kjelle speaks. "Those are fairly standard for anyone who has something to protect and enough money to spend on protecting it. If you throw something at a force rebounding wall, it's going to launch it right back at twice the speed. If you try to climb one, you'll get punted off when you try to grab it or plant your feet. Spells get rebounded too. If you want to get past a force rebounding wall you need to disenchant it, go straight over, use so much power that the enchantment doesn't have enough power of it's own to effectively reflect it, or have a magic "key" so-to-speak that lets you interact with it safely. I imagine the guards have one such item."

"If the fence is enchanted." Noire mutters.

"Well we can still test." I say. "Just throw something at an angle so it bounces away, right?"

"I suppose that works." Kjelle shrugs. "Let's do that after we scout though. There's a chance that Bernard has the fence enchanted to alert him if someone messes with it. If we're going to test the fence, we need to leave right after."

After we're sure the guards haven't noticed us, Morgan climbs another tree to peer over the hedges while the rest of us hide in the brush. When she climbs back down, she has this to say: "So... there's a building there. Looks sorta like a storage shed. It goes overtop of the river, totally covers it. There's also a secondary interior wall around just the shed with guards there too."

Okay, that's a dead-ringer for "suspicious as hell". It would probably show up in the dictionary under "suspicious". Do dictionaries exist in this world? If I remember correctly, dictionaries were a more modern creation.

"Interesting, but not our problem." Kjelle says. "It's not like Nah is going to be kept in the shed."

"So we know we need to get out through the east probably." Morgan says. "Where this river isn't. That will provide us cover as we run."

"We need to test the fence." I say. "So we know if we can climb it or not if we're going to get out."

"Right, right." Morgan nods. "Let's go back around to the east side where there aren't any guards."

We do so, and I'm given the "honor" or testing the fence. I find a random branch, pull back my arm, and launch the branch at the fence at an angle. The branch sails awkwardly through the air, and just when it looks like it's about to hit the fence it clashes with something that flashes bright white and sends the branch smashing into the dirt where it snaps apart on impact.

"Yep, that's a force rebounder." Kjelle mutters. "We're going to need another way over the wall."

"Or a key." Morgan reminds her. "Let's leave for now. We don't know if they have an alert system or not."

###

We find the inn Bernard owns and, finding it to be surprisingly reasonably priced, check into it. I also spend nearly half an hour pestering Kjelle with questions about the force rebounder, and I learned that for military use it's actually not that helpful because you need a stupid amount of power to be able to reflect something like a catapult boulder, and strong enchantements generally can't be kept active by passive energy intake and need dedicated magic flows and that would be very costly to keep up.

Apparently enchantments have continuous power requirements, but minor enchantments can just pull from the general mana of the world around them to sustain themselves. If you want a powerful enchantment, or even something like a normal force rebounder, you need something extra. Either you need to feed the enchantment manually with your own power be it continuously or like charging a battery, or you need something else to do it for you like a dedicated mana gem or crystal.

Mana gems and crystals have two general categories. Containers, and generators. Mana containers are something you can deposit energy into and take it out again at a later date. Mana generators passively create mana (more so than normal anyways, as technically everything passively generates mana) in a constant flow. Whether a certain crystal or gem is a generator or container tends to depend on exactly what sort of gem or crystal it is. In addition, almost any gem can be turned into a mana container, even if it was a generator or simply not magic before, but mana generators are all only naturally occurring with no known way to create them. Also, just because certain types of gems can be mana generators or containers does not guarantee they will be. Rubies can be containers, but not all rubies are containers. Some are just rubies.

"Bernard is probably using a generator to power the force rebounder." Kjelle theorizes. "If he has enough money, he should be able to get a generator. They're rare, but not so rare as to be exclusive to only the military or royalty."

Long explanation short, mana containers and generators exist, force rebounders are (usually) anti-personnel defences due to energy economy, and the enchantment is likely powered by a mana generator.

"What acts as a key?" I ask. "You said something about a key that lets you interact with the gate safely?"

"It might not be a literal key." Kjelle says. "Badges, or some sign of employment, is usually enchanted to let the wearer bypass the force rebounder of their employer's estate. I could even be the uniform itself."

"Can you sense magic?" I ask Morgan. "If we take down a guard, can you figure out what's enchanted?"

"Definitely." Morgan nods. "Sensing mana is a super basic mage skill. Remember the resistance charm I gave you? That's how I knew you needed it. I can sense you have zero mana."

"Doesn't that just mean he isn't magic?" Noire mumbles. "It says nothing about his resistance."

"You know magic?" Morgan asks, surprised. "Well, yeah, technically you're right, but I've tested his resistance too"

"You have?" I blink. "How?"

"The shaving spell." Morgan says simply. "Using a spell on yourself bypasses your resistance, because your body doesn't recognize your own magic as something it needs to resist, and that means my resistance to my own spells is effectively nothing. Because I spend just as little power using the shaving spell on you as myself, I therefore know you have literally zero magic resistance or I'd have to use at least some extra power."

"Oh." I never did ask how she knew I had no resistance. I guess that explains that.

"So anyhow." Morgan waves her hand to get our focus. "Tomorrow we need more info. What we got today was nice, but we don't want to be going in blind. We need to talk to a servant, or someone who's actually been inside the manor before. We need some sort of idea of how the manor is laid out and where we should be looking for Nah. Having a vague escape path is nice and all, but we really need more."

"We can only get so intrusive before we make ourselves suspicious." Kjelle warns. "We will have to accept uncertainty at some point and take action regardless."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy." I chime in. "Not that having a plan isn't helpful, but…"

"I know, I know." Morgan says. "Are we going to go with the mercenary cover story again?"

"I don't see why not." Kjelle says. "Unless you have a different idea?"

"Well Morgan does look grimleal." I remind everyone. "We could try to concoct a plan with that. Actually, if she's going to wear her coat, it's going to be necessary that we have an explanation for that I think."

"Fair point." Morgan frowns. "I don't like the idea of not having my coat though. I don't have anything else that can keep all my tools on me at once."

"It could be useful to be seen as grimleal." I suggest. "Maybe you can get Bernard to show you to Nah."

"Maybe…" Morgan nods. "And the rest of you are my naive, unknowing companions who I've suckered into helping me."

"Or we're in on it." Kjelle suggests. "Hired help perhaps."

"And I'm here because Validar sent me to check on Bernard's process." Morgan muses. "Of course, there might be an issue if Bernard was acting alone and Validar isn't supposed to know."

"Doesn't mean Validar doesn't know." I remind her. "If Validar is a super strong sorcerer, it should be conceivable that he can scry on people. We don't have to justify how Validar supposedly knows. Let Bernard be paranoid that his actions are being monitored."

"Good idea!" Morgan grins. "Gotta love mind games!"

"Indeed…" I'm going to trust that if Morgan likes the plan it must have some merit. I really have no frame of reference for what makes a good plan.

###

Our attempts to find more information the next day are mostly for naught. We can't ask questions that are too specific without looking sketchy, so we instead prepare for our infiltration. We practice our cover stories, dagger (as those might be the only weapons we can sneak in if for some reasons we aren't allowed to bring weapons, though Morgan should be able to hide a tome in her coat because her coat is huge) and hand-to-hand combat, and our search method (when in doubt, go down, because usually prisons are underground, and try to go wherever you see a lot of guards if you can find a way past them).

We're going to try and stick together because we're going to need the manpower. One person, even if that person is Kjelle in full armor, is going to get overwhelmed by enough guards and potentially an angry grimleal.

Morgan is extremely frustrated at the lack of a floor plan for us to reference, or at least a vague idea of how the manor is laid out. Not that I think we really ever had a chance of getting a floor plan. When you attack an enemy fort they don't just leave a drawing of the layout lying around for anyone to find.

There's one last thing I want to do before we try and get into the manor. I have no idea if it's going to work or not. It probably won't actually.

I remembered that Nah can talk to Naga directly. It's brought up in her support with… male Morgan I think. So I have an idea. Maybe not a good idea, but an idea. So if Nah can talk with Naga, is it possible I can get Naga to pass a message to Nah? I don't expect Naga to talk to me exactly, but I know she does exist and can probably hear prayers, so it stands to reason that Naga might be able to hear me if I call to her. This goes especially if she was at all involved in me coming to this world.

So again, I'm not sure if she'll actually hear me, but it can't hurt to try and pass a message to Nah, right?

That's how I find myself in a church. Everyone else is either back at the inn or shopping, I'm here alone. The church is mostly empty at the moment. I guess there's no service planned to happen soon…? I don't know how churches work and don't really care to. I was atheist back on Earth, and even here I really don't care to suck up to a deity (if any even exist in Awakening, because Naga and Grima aren't deities exactly). I'm at this church purely to try and pass a message, not to hear about the glory of Naga or whatever bullshit the priests try to sell people.

Well, okay, maybe it's not bullshit in this world. That was my cynicism talking. I just don't want to deal with religious stuff.

I don't even know if I'm allowed to just walk into a church like this, but no one stopped me. There's a single priestess (cleric? Priestess? Are those interchangeable in this world?) who glanced my way when I stepped through the door, and she hasn't told me to leave yet so I assume I'm allowed to be here.

I don't know what the protocol is for giving prayer though. Do I sit on a bench? Kneel near the podium/lectern thing at the front? Maybe near one of the statues of Naga at the side? Hell if I know!

I go with sitting on a bench in a corner, if just to be as unobtrusive as possible. I don't have a prayer bead or a bible or anything, so I have hope that closing my eyes and clasping my hands works.

I feel like an idiot even trying this, and I also feel vaguely annoyed that I'm giving prayer to anyone at all (well, more like asking a favor than giving prayer). I'm trying not to sneer at this whole situation because I don't want to be scorning Naga when I'm trying to get her to listen to me.

"How does this work?" I muse while clasping my hands and closing my eyes. "Oh great Naga…? No, that would be disingenuous. Maybe just be honest? Hey Naga! I want you to pass a message on to Nah! It would be nice if she could know we're coming, and that me and Morgan are friends because she has no idea who we are! If you could pass that on I'd appreciate it!"

As you might expect, I get no response. I have no idea if Naga heard me or not. Then again, even if she did hear me I don't think she'd exactly be eager to tell me that she heard. So far all my thoughts concerning Naga have been that she might have dragged me to this world and that I am maybe really mad at her.

I still intend on asking her about my situation if possible. If I have to wait for her to appear to everyone when Grima rises to yell at her, dammit I will. I don't care if she's a deity, or even if she had good intentions! If she brought me here I am going to chew her out!

Sitting in the church when it's all quiet is rather disconcerting. I can hear the priestess sweeping dust at the far end of the room thanks to the rounded roof helping with the acoustics of the building. I can't decide if this place is peaceful or creepy. It's obviously supposed to be the former, but the soft scratching of the broom is mildly distracting, the benches aren't actually all that comfortable, and the abundance of light shining through stained-glass windows is more irritating than it is comforting or awe-inspiring.

Of course, I'm predisposed to dislike churches and Naga, so I won't even pretend my feelings have any sort of objectivity to them.

"How long should I stay here?" I ask myself. "How does this work? Do I just repeat the request over and over? That's how praying works, right? Am I thinking too much about this? Do I only need to ask once?"

I guess I'd only know how much I need to repeat myself if I knew the mechanics of receiving prayer. Does Naga hear them all at once? Can she parse them? Does she hear them all the time or does she have to actively listen for them? Can she hear some prayers more strongly than others? If so, what factors influence that? Faith? Magic power? Personal connection like in Nah or Tiki's case? Cosmic importance, like being relevant to Grima's fall?

Hmm… I want to ask Naga how it works, but that would be a huge waste of her time. If I get a chance to talk to her I'm going to have to (maybe) chew her out and ask how to get home first, and then go with inane questions if she's not in a hurry.

"I say that like someone who's functionally a deity isn't always going to be busy. Poor Naga." I muse. "Stuck at her job with no vacation, and people always needing her help for petty and for serious reasons. It's like being a surgeon with an unending stream of operations to do. If you step away, even for a second, you're costing someone their life, but it's at the expense of having one of your own."

At least, that's what I imagine it must be like. I don't actually know. She does apparently have time to spare to chat with Nah.

"Maybe Naga split her consciousness? Can she focus on multiple things at once? Isn't she just a powerful manakete though? Or is she a dragon that turns into a person, rather than a person that turns into a dragon?" I think. "Is that a distinction that exists? Are there true dragons? How much am I getting wrong?"

My knowledge on dragons is a bit shaky. I can't remember if there actually is a distinction between dragon and manakete besides taking a human form, because I vaguely remember something about dragonstones being sealing devices. What does that mean for Nah actually? Is her "true form" a dragon, or is her human form her true form? Was she born as a dragon? How does getting a dragonstone work?

Questions to ask Nah I suppose. You know, as long as she doesn't assume I'm creepy like Noire does and refuses to talk to me. That's a very distinct possibility in my mind.

"I'm not even talking to Naga, I'm just having idle thoughts." I recognize. With that in mind, I decide to leave the church. I made an attempt to contact Naga and it was probably worthless, but that's over with now and I head back to the inn. We've been made aware that Bernard, if he does show up at all, comes by in the evenings to share food and drinks with guests.

We have to hope we can catch Bernard's attention if he does show up, and we're hoping that Morgan's coat will accomplish that for us. In our travels so far no one has really commented on the coat, but we've been in Ferox for the most part and they're probably not as paranoid about grimleal as Ylissians. There is the possibility that Morgan's coat isn't as obviously grimleal as I think it is, but considering both Kjelle and Noire seem to believe that it can pass as grimleal I must not be too far off.

We strategically stretch out the time we spend having dinner at the inn to maximize the chance of running into Bernard. We slowly sip drinks for nearly an hour before even ordering food, and the first round of food we get are small appetizers to nibble on. By this point we're all pretty hungry, and we realize that not all of us have to wait here just Morgan because of her coat, so Kjelle and Noire have their meals and leave me and Morgan to wait.

I suppose I could leave too, but that would make me a bad boyfriend if I left Morgan to sit in the dining room for hours while I did… probably nothing up in our room. Besides, as I've established before, Morgan is my entertainment in this world. There is literally nothing else that holds my interest at the moment.

This leaves me and Morgan with an unspecified number of hours to burn with no guarantee that Bernard will even show up. With this in mind, I fetch chess and barrels from our room because we might be in for a long night.

I lose, as you probably expect. This is Morgan we're talking about. Me losing is a forgone conclusion. Yes, it's frustrating, but it's something to burn time and Morgan seems to enjoy trying to teach me.

"Nathan."

"Yeah?" I stare at the chessboard, fairly sure I'm losing this round in three-to-four turns.

"So, I know we're in a public space and all." She says. "But can I sit in your lap?"

"Uh…" I glance around. No one is really paying attention to us, and while this place is mildly upper class it still has a tavern vibe. I suppose it wouldn't be too out of place? "Sure."

If I sound nervous, then Morgan doesn't comment. She eagerly gets out of her seat and slips onto my lap where. She promptly slumps against me and lets out a long breath, and when I tentatively wrap my arms around her she nuzzles against my shoulder.

"You're…" I trail off before saying anything. That was a weird response from her.

No, not weird. I'm just being stupid. After three seconds of thought I understand what's going on.

"Stressed?" I ask quietly, and tighten my grip.

"Just a little." She mutters. "We're waiting for someone who is quite probably a crazy kidnapper trying to help resurrect an ancient evil dragon, and I'm responsible for convincing him to give us a tour."

Yeah, okay, fair enough. "You'll be fine. You're the best."

Morgan rolls her eyes. "I know."

"You probably have the most confidence I've ever seen in a human being." I say, and I'm being totally honest. Morgan's self-confidence and self-assuredness is absurd. "You have nothing to worry about. You're smart, you can apparently fake confidence because I didn't notice anything off until you sighed, and not to mention you're cute as fuck. You'll be fine."

"I know." Morgan repeats. "I just wanted to snuggle to make myself feel better." She tilts her head up to look at me. "And Nathan, I'm pretty sure you not noticing isn't a good indicator that I can fake something, because you're sort of oblivious."

"Fair." I mumble. Ouch, but fair. "Sorry."

"I'm not blaming you, just stating a fact." Morgan says. "You're bad at reading emotions, it's not a big deal."

She really shouldn't need to be comforting me when she's the one who's stressed out. I seem to make everything about me by accident. "Yeah, sorry-"

"Nathan, stop apologizing."

"Uh, right." I fall silent for a moment. I'm really messing this up, aren't I? What do I do? "I- fuck, I'm trying to find some way to comfort you but anytime I try something it just ends up with you reassuring me about something."

"Oh." Morgan blinks. "Well… okay, yeah. I guess that did just happen. I'm used to seeing when you're nervous and trying to stop it, so I reassured you on impulse."

"And I appreciate it." I say. "But c'mon, at least let me do something here."

"You're giving hugs, that's something."

"So I'm a squeeze toy?" I question. "Or, well, someone who gives squeezes?"

Morgan quirks an eyebrow. I guess she's never heard that term before. "Not just that, but I only really needed a hug this time around. It's not like I'm outright panicked or anything."

The "not like you usually are" is implied but unsaid. Am I blowing this out of proportion again? I really can't do this relationship thing…

"I'm really not helping, am I?" Morgan says quietly.

"I- no." I say honestly. "Unless it's me who's not helping."

"What?"

"Well, you have to keep reassuring me about things-"

"We just went over that!"

"And you just did it again by explaining you only needed a hug."

"I did?" Morgan frowns. "Oh, I guess I did. But you were asking if I only cared about hugs and not anything else from you."

"That… that's also true." I groan. "Ahhh…"

"Okay, there's something we're not getting across." Morgan frowns. "This sort-of sort-of not argument is confusing me now. So you know what? Just talk, and I'll stay quiet for a bit. I keep cutting you off. I'll talk after."

Okay, okay, gotta try and explain this. How do I explain this? Is it just me being weird? I'm second-guessing myself. What do I do? What do I say? How do I say it? Fuck, fuck, fuck. What do I do?

"Okay, I said I wouldn't talk, but please don't panic." Morgan says quickly. Her hands come up to find my face, warm and comforting. "I- I'm sorry if it's something I said, really! Just talk! Please? I'm not trying to freak you out here!"

I force myself to take a breath. Maybe before there might have been some mutual miscommunication, but now it is certainly me making things worse because I made myself panic. I also better stop thinking about this because I'm going to go down the guilt spiral at this rate and make things even worse. Stop blowing things out of proportion Nathan. "I… feel like I can't do anything for you. At all. Like, in this case, you are the one who's worried, and I try to say something to help, and it ends up with you reassuring me. And also just in general I feel like I'm doing nothing. I'm always the one panicking, and you're always the one reassuring, and I always confide in you because I always have something I need to get off my chest and you're just happy-go-lucky most of the time because you have confidence through the roof for some reason. I always feel like I'm messing up our conversations too. You always need to tell me to stop doing something because I'm fucking something up. Even now I feel like I'm messing something up, like I'm being whiny and petty. I… I don't know how to explain it beyond that. You've been babysitting me the entire time we've known each other, and I'm acutely aware of it."

Morgan waits a few seconds, checking to see if I'm going to continue, then takes her turn. "Okay… uh… right. Not what I expected. I was expecting something along the lines of "you keep telling me what to do and interrupting me!" or "you keep belittling me!" I wasn't expecting you to be thinking you weren't doing anything."

I'm sorely tempted to explain more, but I need to let her talk like she let me talk.

"So, I actually have a question before I go on." Morgan says. "Because I'm starting to suspect something. When you say sorry, is it always because you think you've done something wrong?"

"Not… necessarily." I say. "Sometimes, yes, but I'd also apologize if I bumped into someone, or if they bumped into me. It's just a politeness thing. If something goes wrong for any reason, say sorry, even if it's not your fault."

"Okay." Morgan rubs her forehead. "Because one of the things I've been paying attention to is when you apologize because you do it so often, and I assumed it was because you thought you had done something wrong, so whenever you apologized without a good reason I made sure to stop you because I assumed you were catastrophizing again. Also, remember that I said I'd take care of you? I take that seriously you know! Uh, and maybe I've been overbearing a bit because of it?"

"Not really." I mutter.

"Shush! I'm not done!" Morgan pouts. "So, anyhow, I've really been focusing on you, because as I've mentioned before I'm really not all that worried about my general situation. I'm not a naturally nervous person I guess. So because I can ignore my problems pretty easily, I focus on helping you, because you're cute, and nice, and I like you, and you panic every once in a while and it's fine because I like you and so I feel good helping you. I never really considered that you might have thought you weren't doing anything, because you're sort of the one doing more than I am on an everyday basis you know?"

"What?" I frown. That doesn't sound right. "I call bullshit."

"Then I call counter bullshit." Morgan huffs. "Need I remind you who the one is who carries me around all the time? Or who doesn't mind spending hours explaining things or singing just to entertain me? Or who will accompany me no matter what I'm doing just because they want to be around me? And did you think I didn't notice your obvious adoration? You're not exactly subtle Nathan!"

"I suppose." I guess that's correct? But all of those things are also out of self-interest. It's not nearly as benevolent as Morgan makes it sound. I do that to keep myself entertained as well. At the same time… "This was a stupid arguement wasn't it?"

"Just a little." Morgan nods. "It was only because you felt useless and I was still trying to control our interactions despite more-or less asking for reassurance."

"I guess you're always in control so it's weird when I try to take the lead."

"Basically." Morgan agrees. "I remember back when we met you were in charge and I was following. Strange that the opposite is so normal now, huh?"

"Yeah." I nod. "Though it feels a lot more comfortable when you're in charge. I feel like you actually know what you're doing most of the time."

"I only sorta do." Morgan shrugs. "Honestly, sometimes I don't know if my ideas are good or not, but I know for sure it's better to have a plan and stick to it than to have no plan, regardless of what that plan is. And when it comes to leadership, sheer confidence goes a long way in reassuring other people."

"Ahh…"

"But anyhow, I'll try and remember to actually let you reassure me." Morgan says with a smile, probably realizing how weird that sentence sounds. "Kinda rude of me to ask for reassurance then immediately shut you down."

"That's not exactly what happened." I mutter. "You thought I was guilt spiraling."

"Details." Morgan waves it off.

I poke her in the cheek. "Hey, don't just shrug off my mistakes. I did make some."

"Okay, fine, can we stop this argument now?" Morgan says.

"Oh, uh, sure." I say. Did that even count as an argument? It wasn't really an argument was it? More like a miscommunication. We never got angry at each other so I don't think it counts as an argument. Whatever. That's not something that's important at the moment.

"Also, maybe we should get food, because I'm really starting to get hungry now." Morgan says. She slides out of my lap and goes back to her chair, though she drags it around the table to be closer to me. "I'm not sure Bernard is going to show up."

"Gotcha."

I don't know if we're lucky or unlucky. About half an hour later when we're just finishing our food, when we notice a man wearing a high-collared dark crimson vest over a deep purple shirt. It looks remarkably like a suit you'd see back on Earth, though with different colours. His pants aren't dress pants though. They're dark grey with crimson lines down the legs and quite baggy. They're actually like Morgan's pants, just a different colour. The guy looks somewhat old with short, well-kept silver-white hair and a wrinkled but kindly face. He's medium height, very thin, and doesn't doesn't seem to be particularly muscular or obviously weak one way or another. He's actually kind of generic besides his clothes.

I say we may be lucky or unlucky to notice him because he's very obviously Bernard. He's going around talking to guests, so either he's randomly chatty, he's a host, or he owns the place.

It's obviously the last one.

"You see him too?" Morgan murmurs to me. She appears to be focusing on her food, but is actually tracking the man from the corner of her eye as he moves around the room. "Ready?"

"I-I guess." I say. "Remember, we don't know if he's grimleal for sure-"

"I know Nathan. I'll do some probing." Morgan reassures. "Leave it to me. All you have to do is look cute."

Very funny Morgan. I don't comment though. Bernard is coming to our table, there's no more time for banter. It's showtime… for Morgan.

"Greetings travellers." The man says when he stops next to our table. "Have you been enjoying the town? Have your other companions already retired? I was hoping to be able to speak with them as well."

I'm sorry, what? He knows that we have other companions? He did research on us apparently, or got info from the guest list. Very interesting, and slightly worrying.

"The town has been… tolerable." Morgan says. She's relaxed back into her seat with her head tilted up so she's basically looking down her nose at him. Her expression is convincingly bored and indifferent. "We are here on business you see."

"Oh?" The man quirks an eyebrow. "But I've been rude, I suppose I should introduce myself first." He extends a hand to Morgan. "I am Bernard Von Drachen. I run Ylisse's only dark magic academy, and am a prominent supplier of rare ritual components for powerful mages. Diamond dust, mana gems, that sort of thing."

"I'm Morgan." Morgan says flatly. "He's Nathan. We're here to retrieve something valuable for our master, and I do believe you are in possession of that thing."

"Oh?" Bernard straightens himself a bit. "Really now? I was not expecting anyone of your description, though I am quite busy so it is possible I forgot. Remind me what it is you are trying to obtain?"

Morgan goes right for the throat, metaphorically. "We're here for the manakete."

Morgan, I thought you said you were going to do some probing. What happened to that? Unless this is supposed to be probing somehow.

"A manakete?" The man says. His response is suitably surprised, though his eyes now carefully scan Morgan and noticeably settle on the eye patterns on her sleeves for a few moments. "Are you quite sure you have the right person? If something has happened to the Voice-"

"He won't appreciate you playing dumb, Bernard." Morgan cuts him off, speaking in a calm, even tone. "He is not a patient man."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bernard says a bit more harshly. "Who is "he"?"

"Come now." I say. I rest one arm on the table and use my knuckles to prop my head up. "Surely you did not think he would not take interest in you having obtained a member of the divine dragon tribe. It is quite the find after all."

Bernard is trying to keep up his calm appearance, but I know he's not quite calm. His body language gives him away. Whereas before his arms were calmly resting on the table when he spoke, now one is tensely pulled against his body with fingers pulled into something like a fist, and the other is gripping the first hand's wrist. That's self-hugging right there, albeit subtly, and it's a sign of feeling nervous and needing to comfort yourself. I imagine he feels like he's being put on the spot, which he is, but if we were throwing baseless accusations you'd expect him to be indignant considering his position of power, not defensive. "As I said already, I know nothing about the discovery of a divine dragon."

Morgan speaks again. "Do you not? Was it one of your underlings? My, that's such a shame. He seemed quite delighted that you had managed to find a divine dragon. I suppose his praise will have to go to one of them then."

That's a devious move Morgan. She's using the carrot and the stick approach. A threat of not wanting to disappoint Validar, and the potential promise of earning good standing if Bernard cooperates. Very clever. I suppose I somewhat helped facilitate that too by mentioning that it was an achievement to find a manakete. Yay, I helped!

That sounds so childish of me…

"Now just a second." Bernard says. He straightens his vest and holds his head high. I suppose he's also given up on pretending he doesn't know about Nah. "I admittedly never saw the girl transform, but now that I give it some thought I did find some girl with some unusual qualities. Pointed ears, a magical stone, that sort of thing. I had been meaning to look into her odd qualities at a later date, but I suppose she fits the description of a manakete."

That's the most flimsy excuse I've ever heard, but I guess it doesn't have to be good. We're at the point where we both know the other party is in on the whole grimleal thing, so elegant social maneuvering is less necessary.

"The poor dear must have gotten terribly lost." Morgan says, which indirectly reminds us that we're in a public place and can't talk about sensitive grimleal matters in plain terms. Even Bernard seems to have forgotten, because he quickly glances at the other tables around us. Thankfully no one is really paying attention to us. "He would be so happy to help her find her way back home and have a chance to talk with her. He's quite interested in manaketes, as you know." Morgan pauses, then says. "You did know, correct?"

"I was aware." Bernard says indignantly.

"That begs the question why you did not send her to him earlier then." Morgan says with a faint sneer on her face. "But I suppose the mistake can be forgiven. We shall come to retrieve her tomorrow. Please have her ready by lunch."

"Now hold on, I still have some tests I want to conduct." Bernard says in a lower tone so others can't hear. "I have been meaning to extract some blood from her, if you can just give me a few days-"

"Validar is not patient." Morgan snaps, and finally name drops the person we've been vaguely referring to this entire time. "If you want some blood samples, you can request them from him after the manakete has been delivered. He will look more favourably upon your request if there are no delays."

"I- fine." Bernard snarls. He's not even being subtle anymore. "I will have her prepared. Arrive at noon, sharp, no later. I am a busy man."

"Do not think-" I add "-you can get away with trying to rush a blood extraction tonight, von Drachen. We need the manakete in good health. The next few weeks will not be kind to her."

Bernard's fists curl, and I'm glad I shoved that in there. It only occurred to me at the last moment that the time pressure might make him feel inclined to get what he wants now, before we take her away. It's good that I shut that down even if it doesn't endear us to him.

Bernard leaves us soon after that. He strides right out of the room without talking to anyone else.

"I hope Nah is going to be okay." I mumble once I feel safe again. "He still might try something."

"We can't do anything about it." Morgan says. "Besides, this is better overall. If we can avoid a fight, that's good." Even though she says this, she's still frowning.

"It doesn't sit right with you either, does it?"

"Yeah, it really doesn't." She admits. "I wish we could rush in there and help her, but that would be suicide."

"I'm worried we've just given him time to prepare. We literally told him when we were coming." I mutter. "This could still go bad."

"It could." Morgan agrees. "But be confident. He'll probably try and accuse us of something tomorrow, or make a power play to try and keep Nah. We need to stay calm, remind him that we come from Validar and Validar is scary, and keep acting like we know he won't dare hurt us because of Validar. Confidence is everything here."

"Got it." I take a deep breath in, and let it out. "Sorry for butting in by the way, I figured you were being a bit too confrontational and thought a lighter approach in addition to yours might help."

"And it was probably a good idea." Morgan muses. "I was thinking that Grimleal were all hardcore, right? So any sort of kindness or consideration would be out of place and I needed to be tough and unforgiving."

"You might be right." I shrug. "I really don't know their inner workings. It was a gamble for me to do that in retrospect."

"Ah, not really." Morgan waves it off. "I had a plan in case you said something wrong."

"You did?"

"Well sure. I look grimleal and you don't, right? If you said something too off, I could claim you were a favored servant or something. I could pretend to be some rich, bratty girl who dragged her unqualified servant around."

"Wouldn't that seem unrealistic?"

"Probably not. As long as I seemed dangerous it wouldn't matter what you said all that much." Morgan explains. "Because if I make myself look important enough or strong enough, it doesn't matter how eccentric I look because I have some reason to be able to get away with it. So it was fine. I planned for that."

"Sometimes you're scarily good, you know that?"

"I know." Morgan says. "Just a side-effect of how awesome I am."

###

I dearly, desperately want this to go well. I'm antsy all day as we prepare to go pick up Nah. I hope nothing happened to her last night, I hope Bernard won't be problematic, I hope we don't have to make use of our knowledge of the forest out back and knocking out a guard so we can get a key to deal with the force rebounder. That's the backup plan. The backup plan to the backup plan is to climb a tree and hop the fence that way, because there has to be a tree near the fence we can climb over in the forest section.

Morgan apparently has some additional plans if those don't work, like using her wind magic and my axe to fell a tree onto the fence and pray it's enough to surpass the rebounder to create a path for us.

Hopefully it won't come to that, of course. If all goes well our preparation will be useless and we'll walk out of this town with Nah within the hour.

I mean, let's be honest, the chance of that actually happening is super low. Someone is going to get stabbed, and I hope it's not me.

Our group marches straight up to the front gate of Bernard's estate. Bernard is there, and it looks like he has several guards with him as well as what… I'm fairly sure… oh shit…

"Risen." Kjelle mutters. Her eyes flick from the guards to Bernard to the Risen, assessing all their weapons and armor. "Silver weapons. This is not a fight we'll win easily."

At least she thinks we'll win. I'm not so confident. I don't see Nah, and that's a bad sign.

"Bernard." Morgan calls when we arrive at the gate. The gate is open, leaving less than a dozen meters between us and Bernard's twenty guards and Risen. "Do you have the manakete ready as I asked?"

"I do." Bernard says. He's much calmer than yesterday, probably because he's surrounded by guards. He even looks haughty.

"Then bring her out." Morgan demands. "As you said, you are busy, and I would rather return to Validar sooner than later."

"Would you now?" Bernard crosses his arms. "Because something interesting happened last night."

"Do tell." Morgan says. She tilts up her head to stare down her nose at him. "But make it quick."

"I spoke with Validar to verify your mission." Bernard says. "And he gave you no such order. You simply want my manakete."

Okay, interesting. First of all, he's totally lying to us. He said "he gave you no such order" implying that Validar actually knows who we are at all and that we're actually grimleal. Validar doesn't know us, and we're not grimleal at all. So Bernard here is lying to our face, probably because he thinks we are grimleal like him, but that we're acting out of self-interest.

This also means, if Morgan noticed (which, because I'm an idiot and if I noticed it she absolutely has) she can bullshit her way through this because Bernard doesn't actually know we're not grimleal, he's trying to test us.

"Oh really now?" Morgan says. She smiles thinly and, to everyone's surprise, walks forward into the group of guards and risen. The guards hastily point their weapons at her, and Morgan brushes them aside with her hand without a single trace of fear. She marches right up to a startled Bernard Von Drachen, grabs him by the collar, and pulls his face down to her level. Surrounded by Risen and guards who could kill her at any moment, Morgan doesn't spare them a glance while saying: "Cut the bullshit Drachen. Give us the manakete. Validar is not known for his patience, and I've lost mine. I better see that manakete up here in five minutes, dragonstone and all, or you'll lose your petty life here and your freedom to experiment. A single specimen is not an unmanageable request." She released the shocked man, and shoves him back. "Five minutes starts now."

"I-" Bernard sputters. "You cannot-!"

"I'm waiting." Morgan interrupts with an icy tone. She doesn't even bother to move away from the guards and the risen after her little demonstration. She waits right there in the middle of them, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.

So, after what can only be called a power move, Bernard goes scrambling back into his manor. He shouts some bluster back at us, trying to salvage his dignity, but he's lost. He has well and truly lost.

It actually takes about seven minutes for Bernard to fetch Nah, and he does fetch Nah. When he comes walking through the front door again, he's pushing a manacled Nah in front of him.

Nah, surprisingly, doesn't look any worse for wear. She's scoffing and holding her head high despite her situation. If I had to take a bet on what imprisoned royalty would look like, Nah is it. Haughty, indignant, not at all afraid, and with a nice-looking dress.

I still say she looks like a doll though, mostly due to that dress. She looked like a doll in the game art, and she does in reality.

Bernard brings Nah to Morgan, and Morgan grabs the girl by the shoulder with one hand and extends the other. "Dragonstone."

With a snarl, Bernard roughly pulls the stone from his pocket and all but slams it into Morgan's hand. Morgan smiles with unrestrained smugness.

"Thank you for your cooperation." She says mockingly, then turns and leads Nah back to our group.

Nah apparently knows better than to show excitement at the moment, because she keeps her expression as an indignant sneer as she approaches. Kjelle also keeps her expression schooled, though Noire is noticeably twitchy now that Nah is in reach.

Morgan leads us away from the manor, keeping Nah out in front. Five steps, ten steps, twenty steps. I force myself not to look back at the gateway. We're actually going to get away with this somehow. I can't believe we're actually getting away with this. What the fuck. Our deception actually worked? We didn't have to kill a guard and take his stuff? We didn't have to escape into the forest? We don't have to deal with the force rebounder? What miracle is this?

I'd say praise Naga, except this was all Morgan. Good job Morgan!

As soon as we're out of eyesight of the manor, Noire hastily pulls out a lockpick from her pocket (which I didn't know she had, though since her father is Gaius maybe that's not a surprise) and gets the manacles off Nah. Nah lets out a long, shaky breath, and properly meets our eyes for the first time.

"Nah." Kjelle says simply.

"Kjelle." Nah nods tiredly. "Noire."

"Nah." Noire sniffles. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine." Nah reassures. "That jerk wasn't very happy last night, but he didn't do anything to me. He kept telling me I was in so much trouble and that I should be begging to stay with him rather than go with you."

"I mean, we are kinda scary." Morgan brags. She passes the dragonstone to Nah. "Bernard was quaking in his boots! I'm Morgan by the way."

"Nice to meet you." Nah says politely. She then turns to me. "You're Nathan, right?"

"I- uh- yeah." How does she know that? "Hi."

Then Nah promptly drops a bomb on me. "Naga wants to talk with you."

"What?" Kjelle asks sharply. "I'm sorry, Naga wants to talk to him?"

"Yes." Nah says simply. "He's the outworlder, right?"

"So that's the term?" I mutter. "Uh, yeah, that's me."

"Naga said she needed to clear some things up with you." Nah said. "She would have done a dream talk already, but apparently you have no magic signature so she can't connect to you at all."

"Ah." So apparently my lack of magic and resistance is going to be a recurring problem. Not only do I have zero resistance, but I can't be located by magic because I have no "signature". "I hope that can be changed. I'd much rather be able to be found if I'm in trouble…"

Morgan takes out her notebook and scribbles something down.

"Anyhow." Nah says. She hands her dragonstone to me, and I handle it with great care. "Hold this while you sleep. It will serve as a conduit for Naga."

"Okay." I squeak. "And you're okay with me holding on this for the day?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Nah questions. "You just saved me, right? It's not like you aren't trustworthy."

Fair point. "How did you know about me anyways? How does Naga know about me?"

"Well I know about you two-" Nah points to me and Morgan "-from Naga, and I can't speak for her. All I know is that she said you were an outworlder and that you know a lot about this world and about the Shepherds."

"Very true." I nod.

"And me?" Morgan asks eagerly. "Naga mentioned me?"

"Yeah. She didn't have much to say about you though except that you were with him." Nah shrugs. "Naga was more concerned with Nathan for some reason."

"She was probably intimidated by my awesomeness." Morgan decides.

"You are pretty awesome." I agree. "You just bullied a grimleal!"

"Fuck yes I did!" Morgan says proudly. "More compliments!"

"You're so smart, and cute, and powerful." I list, and ruffle her hair. "And very scary."

"Woo!" Morgan sticks her fists up in the air. "Scary Morgan!"

Nah glances towards the other girls and points to me and Morgan. Kjelle sighs. "Yes, that's normal."

"You get used to it…" Noire adds with an air of resignation.

"Welcome to the team!" Morgan says cheerfully, and throws an arm around Nah's shoulders. "You're absolutely going to regret it!"

"Great." Nah says flatly. "By the way, I'm really tired, so can we get back to your inn so I can sleep?"

"We actually have to leave town immediately." Morgan says apologetically. "Bernard owns the inn, and he's not going to be happy with us if he learns we lied to him. We need distance."

"I-If you want to rest…" I say hesitantly. Is this going to sound too forward? Everyone but Morgan thinks I'm weird already, what's one more distrustful girl to the list? "I don't mind giving you a ride. Morgan piggybacks all the time, so I'm used to it if you want to sleep as we move."

Nah stares at me for a solid two seconds, and I fidget uncomfortably. I was too forward. It was a bad idea to offer. Of course it was. I can never do anything right when it comes to talking to people. "Honestly… yeah, thanks. I'm not going to be able to march today."

"Oh." Uh. Okay. She's fine with it. That's unexpected. That's good. I kneel down a bit so she can climb on my back. "Here you go."

Nah is noticeably lighter than Morgan, though I don't know how much of that is because Morgan carries four heavy books in her coat and who-knows-how-much miscellaneous junk. I carefully adjust her so I don't feel like she's going to fall off.

"Good?"

"Fine." Nah says. She already sounds exhausted, and lets out a deep, long breath near my ear. "Don't talk to me for the next hour or two please…"

"Okay." I whisper. "Sleep well."

Nah mumbles something incomprehensible in response.

"She's cute." Morgan says after a few seconds, when Nah has closed her eyes. "I think she's going to be a lot of fun."

"She can still hear you." I scold. "Shush Morgan."

"Fine…"

###

There's a subdued sense of urgency in our march after we retrieve our things from the inn. We don't even stop to buy Nah some new things and get the hell out of town.

Incidentally, Nah has her ring. Or, well, her mother's ring. It only occurred to me as we were leaving that we never checked if Bernard took it from her, but she mumbled back that yes, she still has it. I guess Bernard wasn't interested in it.

Also, I'm low-key panicking even more than I was earlier, because now I am scheduled for a meeting with Naga tonight. Naga. You know, the dragon sorta-goddess. On one hand, I just got my opportunity to yell at Naga. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I'm going to have the confidence to yell at Naga or if I even have a good reason to. I haven't confirmed if she's responsible for my situation or not.

Then again, she apparently knows about me, so that might be a sign she was somehow involved with this whole ordeal.

"Focus on something else. Literally anything else." I tell myself. All of us are trying not to talk at the moment so Nah can sleep, so distraction is actually a tall order here. My talk with Naga at night could very well decide my future. It could decide if I should even be spending effort to get home, or if it's even possible, or if there's some other reason I can't go home.

I might be stuck here. I might be stuck here. That's a very real possibility. It was before, but I could push it to the back of my mind because it wasn't an immediate issue. I barely had a plan for my life when I lived on Earth, and was already kind of useless there. What am I going to do in this world? I have some vague ideas of selling board games, but I've never run a business, I don't know if I have enough skill to be able to make board games to even a vaguely acceptable level of quality. I also won't have my family as a support network. In this world I literally just have Morgan, and that's assuming she won't get tired of me at some point.

"Don't think so negatively." I scold myself. "Morgan has made it clear she's fine with you, don't catastrophize."

With Morgan's help I imagine I can get by, but I'm not exactly looking forward to it. I just hope I don't end up being a burden to whatever Morgan's life plans are, because the only thing I'd hate more than the difficulty of creating a new life is being a burden on someone else's. I'm also acting under the assumption that my relationship with Morgan is going to progress to the extent that we'll be living together, which is not at all a certainty.

I hope it does though, if I'm stuck here. I like Morgan. I've never had someone who I'm so eager to spend time with, but also makes me so incredibly nervous whenever she makes a lewd joke or teases me. Half my life in this world has been Morgan. Talking with Morgan, confiding in her, playing with her. My life revolves around her right now, and that's terrifying to consider.

"Please wake up soon Nah. I don't want to be stuck in my own thoughts for any longer."

###

I don't know if night time comes too quickly or not quickly enough. There's some talking around the campfire at night with Nah being awake. Kjelle and Noire and Morgan have plenty of questions to ask, but I'm too distracted to pay much attention. I do end up hearing that Nah was locked up in that manor for about three months, and that she'd been wandering the island for almost five months before that and surviving by charity and theft (usually by snagging livestock in her dragon form).

The one other question that grabs my attention is from Morgan, and isn't about Nah but about what she knows. "Hey Nah?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know Olivia?"

"Inigo's mom? Not that well. We only talked once or twice."

"Who's she married too?" Morgan asks intensely. "Inigo's father?"

Nah thinks for a moment. "I think it was someone called Robin? A tactician if I remember correctly."

"Right." Morgan's grin could not be wider if she tried. She sits back and leans against me with unbridled happiness. "Right."

"What?" Nah asks, now wary. "What's so funny?"

"Not funny." Morgan says. "I finally know who my mother is. I knew my father was Robin, but not who my mother was because of my amnesia."

"Oh." Nah blinks. "I never heard of Inigo having a sister…"

"Weird, but not my problem." Morgan hums. "I know who my mother is~! I have a brother~!" She turns to me. "Nathan! Your predictions were right! Tell me about Mom and Inigo! I already know but I want to hear it again!"

You're very excited, aren't you Morgan? I suppose she has good reason to be excited though. I'd be excited too to find out who my mother was if I had no idea. "Well, your mother is a skilled dancer…"

I do my very best to describe Olivia and Inigo, and despite me only offering bare-bones descriptions Morgan eagerly listens, knowing that she's hearing about the people that are definitively her family.

I finish my explanation by saying: "Inigo might know who you are. I'm not sure why no one else would know who you are if he supposedly does, so that might be a difference between this world and the game that he doesn't know, but there is a chance he will."

"I hope he does. I want to know what I was like." Morgan says. "Ooh, I can't wait to mess with him!"

"Wait." Nah says, looking confused. "What game are you talking about?"

I quickly catch her up on my situation. Considering she already knew I was an outworlder beforehand, she's not nearly as weirded-out by what I tell her. "Oh, that's cool."

"Isn't it?" Morgan says eagerly. "You have to hear some of the songs from his world! They're ridiculous!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Nah says slowly. "For later."

We're about to go to sleep, and I am hella worried. I'm going to talk to Naga. Naga. This is going to go terrible. I'm terrible at talking to people to begin with, and now I have to talk to Naga? This is bad. This is very bad.

Thankfully Morgan is observant, and more than willing to provide comfort. She lies down before I do, says "head here" and pats her chest (or where it would be on her bedroll). I tentatively lay my head down on that spot and Morgan wraps her arms around it.

"It'll be fine." Morgan murmurs while running her fingers through my hair. "If you can go home, great, if you can't, you've got me."

"Right." I say, my voice hoarse. "Right."

And that's how I fall asleep, desperately hoping that this nighttime talk will go well.

###

Apparently Naga's dreamscape talk looks like the living room of my house. I'm sitting in one of the big chairs and, looking extremely out of place in such a modern setting, Naga sits across from me on the couch.

Naga is tall. Really tall. I think she's almost as tall as Mariana, and that was seven feet let me remind you! Her outfit is exactly the same as in the game as well. I was honestly expecting something less skimpy, but hey, if she likes it then I'm not going to tell her no.

"Eric." She says as a greeting. "Or, I suppose you are going as Nathan now, aren't you?"

I am." I say. I feel oddly calm at the moment. I was worried not that long ago. How strange. "I thought you couldn't locate me, how do you know that?"

"Through Morgan." Naga says. "She does not pray often, and when she does it is not intended that I hear, but so long as I am addressed I can hear, and I have been listening for your companions specifically."

So Morgan occasionally mentions me in prayers. Probably "Naga help Nathan not be an idiot" or something. I guess sarcastic comments still count as prayers for the purposes of Naga hearing. Interesting. "How does prayer work anyways? Do you hear every little comment, is it all at once?"

"Perhaps we should focus on more important matters?" Naga suggests gently. "I have limited power, and with Grima in our future I cannot afford to contact you again before his fall."

That implies she might talk to me afterwards. Though considering how unnecessary my questions just were I highly doubt that. "Right, uh, but first. Can I get home? Before Grima, after Grima, whatever. Can I get home?" That question isn't important to killing Grima, but there's no way I'm going to let this slide. "And are you responsible?"

"I suppose this question was inevitable." She murmurs. "Yes, I am responsible, yes, you can get home, but I would not recommend it seeing as you are dead in your world and explaining your new life and second body would be quite a hassle."

"I- what?"

"You died." Naga says softly. "By what your world would call a heart attack."

"A heart attack?" I whisper in disbelief. "I… but…"

"I know not the exact circumstances." Naga murmurs. "However, I was searching for recently deceased souls who could be of use to my world, knowing that my world took the form of games and books in worlds beyond the outrealms. You were the first to fit my criteria, and I did not have the power to waste searching for more."

"I assume you mean that I know enough about the game to predict future events." I say.

"Precisely."

So I died, Naga found my soul and knew I was knowledgeable about Awakening, and with her not being willing to waste power searching for others she took me to help this world.

Not only did I die for basically no reason, but the only reason I'm here is because Naga basically had no other choice. She basically stuck her magic hand into a bin and grabbed the first vaguely useful thing she could find, regardless of quality, and that thing is me.

"Why is my body different?" I ask next. I can process what that means for me later. Naga is using limited time here. I need to get the important questions out of the way.

"You needed something useful to help you survive, and you were unwilling to accept a magic item." Naga says. "I do believe you were hysterical at the time, but I complied with your wish and was forced to come up with a different solution to your frailty."

Great. So my body is my fault. Wonderful.

"It can be fixed. Speak with Miriel." Naga reassures. "With the childrens' protection, you need not your new body."

That's good. Okay, that's one positive thing. "Right, okay. Sorry. I had to get those out of the way. What did you want to talk about?"

"That was what I wanted to talk about." Naga says. "I owe you answers for seemingly ripping you from your world. In recreating your brain and placing your soul back in it, your memory was returned to what it was before we spoke the first time."

So we've talked before, and I was hysterical. Probably because I died. "You could have talked to me through Nah instead. You didn't have to waste your power on this."

"It is my choice for what I will use my power, and this was a private matter." Naga murmurs. "I have enough power for what I must do later, do not be concerned."

"Okay." I mumble. It's weird to consider that Naga is wasting some of her valuable power just to bring me peace of mind. It's not that I don't appreciate it, but it really does seem like a pointless use of her power. A somewhat-goddess used her mighty divine power to… help me with my insecurities.

Well, okay, she explained why the heck I was here and gave extremely vital information for the course of my life, so perhaps it's a bit less useless than I'm making it out to be, but she still used her limited power when there's an evil artificial dragon in our future just to talk to me. I'm not sure if I feel honored or if I feel horrible for being such an anxiety-ridden mess that Naga herself has to sort me out.

"You would do well to accept that the decisions of others do not always center on your actions." Naga murmurs, and rises from her seat. "This conversation would have happened regardless of your actions. It was my feeling of duty that led to this, not anything to do with you."

Right. So I'm a moron again. Great.

"I must be going." She murmurs. "I will leave you with this dream, however, if you wish to wander your hometown. When you wish to wake, enter the cabinet under your stairs. Either that, or wait until you wait up naturally."

With that, Naga rises from her seat and strides out of the room and out the door. I can't see her walking down the driveway after that so she must have vanished, and I'm left with a dream world of my home town.

I could probably spend time thinking about the conversation we just had, but I'm not going to waste this opportunity. I thought I'd never be able to see home again.

I go to my room first. It's exactly like I remember. Two bookshelves, one large and filled with novels and some comic book… what are they called? Omnibusses? I think it's omnibusses. The shorter bookshelf has all my university textbooks and personal artbooks (the drawings are terrible, I never put in enough effort). My bed looks the same as always, and when I lie down on it it feels just the same.

I investigate my computer next, and am surprised to find it actually works. I know when it comes to dreams you usually can't read words correctly due to some right brain left brain thing, but I can read everything fine here. This must be a special dream because of the Naga magic. I put on my headphones, open up youtube, and go to my favourite song list. I think there's a few videos missing, so this world must be based strictly on my memory. It can only show me what I remember.

Still, I run through all the songs I can recall. I probably spend hours on my computer, revelling in hearing the songs in their proper quality. Whenever I can't remember how a specific song goes, the song buffers and refuses to load.

I'm glad I got this opportunity to hear these songs again. Who knows how long I had before I truly started to forget them? I'll happily delay that time for as long as I can.

I don't stay in my room forever though. I'm tempted to turn on my Switch or my DS, but I have more important things to look at before I turn to those. I've spent two and a half hours on my computer if the time shown in the corner is at all accurate. I take my phone with me to have a mobile time source.

I take quick glances inside the rooms of my siblings. My siblings who I won't see again. Their rooms have their lights on, but with no occupants. One room has an active laptop with a half-written play on the screen. The other room has a DS, abandoned in the middle of a Pokemon battle. The third is messy, like it always was. Chip bags, soda cans, plates with pizza crusts. My youngest sibling was never particularly clean.

"Even in my dream you can't clean up your shit Dan." I murmur, and kick aside a Tostitos bag.

Last is my parents' room. Unlike all of the kids', it's not dusty and the sheets are properly tucked in. That's not what I'm here to see though. I reach under the bed and pull out a large plastic bin, which I then open.

Mom and Dad kept all our important photos in this bin. I was never very sentimental before, but as you can expect that's changed now. A disturbing number of the photo albums are blank, but I manage to find one single album that has viewable photos. I can see my parents' faces for the first time in half a year, and my siblings, and my siblings when they were younger. My parents wedding photo is also there at the very end.

I take the photo album back to my room, and after a moment's thought I also fetch my brothers' DS, Computer, and even a stupid plate and array them on the floor.

I know I won't be going into that cabinet. I'll be waiting to wake up and taking the full time I have.

The house looks the same, but no part of it holds as much emotional weight as the bedrooms so I don't spend much time there. Assuming this dream took hold as soon as it could, I should still have at least four hours left, if not more.

I do have a few places I want to visit that aren't in the house. Thankfully they don't take too long to walk to. I throw on my hoodie- I'm in my old body apparently, I didn't even notice. I miss this. Weak, frail, probably not the healthiest, but it's me- and begin my walk.

Asphalt roads seem so unnatural now after weeks of dirt or cobble. Sidewalks are the same case. Most places we've gone don't have sidewalks. I walk ten minutes down the main street to a mall, and then to the basement to the bowling alley I always went to. They served the best chicken strips and fries, hands down. I don't stay there for long though. There's no food to eat after all, I just wanted to see this place again.

The same goes for my second destination. I walk five more minutes down the road to my high school. Just like everywhere else, the doors are unlocked and I can walk right in. I never saw half of the rooms, so they all end up being carbon copies of the few I do remember.

Believe it or not, those two buildings are the only other places I care to visit. I didn't get out much, and didn't care for most of the places I went.

With all of that done, I wander back home. I then go around grabbing anything I can think to care about. I grab old toys, game consoles, and some of my parents' favourite books and hoard them all in my room. By the time I have everything I want, the floor is almost totally unnavigable, with only a thin path to my desk and computer.

I'm at three hours and thirty minutes spent. That's just under half the time I expect to have, and two and a half hours away from the absolute minimum. I proceed to spend the entire rest of my available time in my room, which I suppose is very fitting. Once a shut-in always a shut-in.

There's a temptation to play Awakening with my free time, but I push that aside. This might be- no, it will be my last to play any of these games in any fashion. I can't waste it. I play a bit of Pokemon, a bit of Darkest Dungeon, a bit of Bravely Second even, and some Three Houses.

Four hours total have passed since this dream started, then five, then six, then seven, then eight. At eight and a half hours, while I'm in the middle of playing Three Houses, I start to feel tired.

Feeling tired must mean I'm going to wake up soon. My time is up. I've been feeling a bit numb for this entire dream. Sometimes I was elated, like when I could hear the songs I've been singing properly for the first time in months, but for the most part I've been in a daze. Now, with the imminent, unavoidable fact that this dream world is going to disappear along with my last chance to experience my old world in any way, I can feel the tears start to well up again.

Despite my blurred vision, I toss my switch aside and grab the picture album. I can fight waking up for just a bit, and I make use of it to flip through all those pictures again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again-

Eventually my vision is swimming, not from tears but from exhaustion. I can't fight waking up any longer. I want to stubbornly cling to this world, just to be able to see it and touch it and listen to it for just a bit longer. Just one more song, just one more game, just another hour, just one more flip through the album. Just let me sleep for another hour, or day, or month, or year.

I curl up in my bed, clutching the album.

"I'm losing it all again." I think as my eyes are forced to droop as I continue to stare at the last photo in the album, and a black curtain drops over my vision. "And it's so much worse because I know it's coming."

My eyes close, and the album slips from my hands. I don't hear it hit the floor, or feel my body fall back on my bed.

---

Okay, so, not that long ago I mentioned a trigger. This is the first trigger. Nathan now knows he's stuck here, so putting actual effort towards things is now mandatory.

Probably a Morgan chapter next time, because Nathan won't be any fun for the next little while as he gets himself together.