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

Okay, Morgan time! There's a few things that I need Morgan for at this point, mostly in terms of things that she isn't going to say out loud so her POV is necessary to communicate it. Nothing plot-vital, but seeing as the characters are the focus of this story more so than the plot I'd say it's still important.

I've been trying to shake Nathan awake for nearly ten minutes before he finally opens his eyes. I can instantly tell what the result of his chat with Naga must have been. Even before he's fully awake his body language tells it all. He curls into a ball with fists clenched tightly and held against his chest.

He can't get home, and I'm not foolish enough to think anything I can say right now is going to make much of a difference. This is not something he'll get over in a day. Still, I play my part as a good girlfriend and embrace him as best I can with his curled position.

I'm not sure if Nathan realized it, but I had quite a bit at stake on the result of that talk as well. Not as much as Nathan of course. His entire future hung in the balance of whatever Naga told him, but for me this talk was going to decide if I had a potential long-term romantic partner or not, or if that board game business suggestion Nathan made was something to seriously consider (as I don't think I'd bother if he wasn't going to be around around, as much as I might like board games). Those are the only two things that come to mind, but they're significant.

There's no way I'm going to be able to admit, for a very long time, that I was hoping this would be the result. I was hoping Nathan wouldn't be able to find his way home. That's a horrible thing to want, I know. It's selfish. I'm not saying that I wouldn't have helped Nathan get home if he would, I absolutely would have, but I wanted him to stay. He's my closest companion, and a romantic one at that. Can you blame me for wanting him to stay in my life?

Sure, he's easily panicked, generally nervous, socially awkward, not a fighter, and has few practical skills, but that skill problem can be fixed, he's intelligent in a general sense, he's always been willing to entertain me with a song or an explanation of some weird thing from his world, he's always willing to play games with me even if he loses literally all the time and happily indulges my quirks unless there's a good reason not to, his social awkwardness can actually be kind of adorable when it's not too extreme, and add on to that the fact that he so obviously adores me is a plus in my book (it's always nice to know you're loved). Also, he's cute. That might change if we can get his old body back somehow, but that's fine. Cuteness is a bonus, not a necessity.

I've also been consciously holding back on some shows of affection or flirtation. I didn't want to risk myself getting more attached to Nathan if he was going to be leaving. That limit is off now, but I'll have to hold back a bit longer because this is not an appropriate time for this stuff.

Just something else to work into my plans for the future I suppose.

"Come on Nathan, breakfast is going to get cold." I say, pulling him by the arm. He slowly and silently follows with his eyes already starting to redden. Before he grabs his food though, he hands Nah's dragonstone back to her. I'm surprised he remembered.

Still, I know today is going to be a very long day. The only question is how long that's going to be.

I can say for certain travelling is a lot less fun without Nathan for entertainment. No jokes, no roleplay, no songs. He walks silently at the back of the group with his eyes on the road at all times, and more than once I have to nudge him to keep up the pace.

I could mention all the little interactions I have with Nathan through the day, but none of them are particularly notable. Just know that I kept an eye on him.

In other news, I got to see a dragon! Nah showed us a transformation because she hadn't transformed in months and it was driving her nuts. She's… smaller than I expected. Don't get me wrong, she's about the size of a wyvern, but I always imagined dragons as bulky, church-sized, fire-breathing behemoths and not skinny sparkly seaweed monsters.

Still, a dragon is a dragon. A seaweed dragon is still cool.

"Can I ride you sometime?" I ask eagerly. "I want to ride a dragon! Dragon rider Morgan!"

"No." Nah replies curtly. Her voice is all distorted and weird. I didn't know she could talk in dragon form! "Kjelle, please don't tell me she's just like Owain."

Kjelle's response is quick and flat. "She is."

"I guess it was too much to ask to be rid of him entirely." Nah grumbles.

Sourpuss. "Owain sounds like a lot of fun! You're just boring!" I taunt.

"I think the term you're looking for is 'mature'." Nah scoffs. She turns her back to me and flares her wings. "I'm going to fly a bit. Don't bother me."

The seaweed dragon takes to the air. "I wonder how those thin wings keep her up in the air." I say aloud. "Maybe magic is involved."

"According to all known laws of aviation…" Nathan mumbles from next to me. His expression is trying to be a smile, but it comes off as a grimace more than anything. I appreciate the attempt at least. "A bee should not be able to fly."

"Is that a joke?"

"Sort of." He sighs. "One of those weird things that's not quite a joke and not quite a meme. I can't explain why it's funny."

"Your world is weird Nathan."

"Yeah. I know."

Well that was mildly depressing. You know what's not depressing? Talking to Nah after she comes down from flying! I've got questions for her. "Hey, hey Nah."

"What?" She sounds exasperated already. How rude! I'm being friendly here! It's probably because I'm cute and she thinks I'm competition. That has to be it. Not that thing about Owain, nope, it's because I'm cute. Too bad for her I'm number one at literally everything because I'm just that awesome. She'll have to accept her defeat!

"Are manaketes people who turn into a dragon using a stone, or are they dragons that turn into people and put their power into stones?" I ask. "Which one is their true form?"

"Well I'm only half manakete." Nah says. "So I'm a special case, but for normal manaketes they're technically dragons that turn into people. Granted, from what Mom told me you can be born in human form with two manakete parents if they're in human form during the whole pregnancy, so…"

"It's weird and complicated?"

"Pretty much." Nah nods. "For me, I think my human form is my normal one. I'm a half-breed. Half human half dragon. I don't know if that technically makes me a manakete at all, actually…"

"Well you can turn into a dragon."

"Yeah, but a manakete is technically a dragon that has confined their power to a dragonstone." Nah explains. "They're still dragons, it's just that manakete is what you call a dragon that has undergone that process. I'm not a dragon, I'm half dragon, and my human form might be my normal form, so I don't know if that makes me a manakete, a reverse manakete. or if I'm just a girl with some dragon magic."

"Wait." I say. "So manaketes were actually dragons? Like, full-blooded dragons?"

"Yep. They just hide it."

"Woaaah." I say. "When Nathan told me about them, I thought dragons and manaketes were two different things."

"Nope. Manaketes are just a subset of dragon."

"Cool…"

"Any more questions you just can't bear to hold in?" Nah asks. She's being sarcastic. I know she's being sarcastic. I also don't care.

"Yes! How old are you? Who's your father? What's Inigo like? Do you like board games? Do you know any good ones? Where did you get those clothes? Do you know you look like a doll?" I take a deep breath after the last question, then smile and eagerly await a response.

"Eighteen, Ricken, he's a womanizer, they're fine, no, I bought them, yes and I hate that people keep mentioning it." Nah responds flatly. "Happy?"

"Yes! I bet they keep mentioning it because you're cute. Not as cute as me, but pretty cute!"

"Sure." Nah's says. "Now don't talk to me for, like, two hours. You're exhausting."

###

In our haste to leave town, we didn't get a tent or bedroll for Nah (Kjelle donated her own bedroll, and she, Noire, and Nah all managed to squeeze into one tent) so we remedy that when we reach town that afternoon.

My legs ache from walking all day when we get back from the market though. I didn't get the usual piggyback from Nathan, so I'm feeling the burn this time. "My poor legs..."

"That means you're improving." Kjelle says. "You want that feeling."

"No, I really don't." I respond. "I'm not a masochist like you."

Kjelle's lips thin. "You're a poor excuse for a soldier then. If you're not constantly striving to improve, how do you expect to be able to defend others?"

"Hey, I said I wasn't a masochist, not that I wasn't trying to be better." I protest. "I practice my magic!"

"Magic isn't everything." Kjelle insists.

I roll my eyes. "Neither is physical training."

"You should at least be able to get through a march. That's the bare minimum of being a soldier." Kjelle says.

"I did get through a march. I did so today!" I retort.

"And you complained for the last half an hour. Clearly you're out of shape if a normal march is unusually hard on you." Kjelle insists. "Even Laruent could march without issue, and he's a mage like yourself."

"Good for him." I say. "I don't care."

"You cannot afford to be so lazy." Kjelle scolds. "For your own good as well as the good of others, you need to put in more effort."

"You just don't like that I have a boyfriend who will give me rides."

"No." Kjelle says flatly. "I honestly couldn't care less about that. As long as you keep up your training, I have no issue with you occasionally getting rides. I want us to all survive and be ready for Grima's rise, and all the battles that are going to come with the Valm campaign, and that means constant training."

"None of that is going to happen for at least two years if Nathan's info is accurate." I remind her. "But I suppose I can see your point. I've been a bit negligent. I could stand to walk a bit more."

"That's all I ask." Kjelle says. She then hesitates, closes her eyes for a moment, and continues speaking. "I realize we're not on the best of terms, so let me make the situation clear: I don't like you, and it's because you can't seem to take anything seriously. Worse than not liking you though, I don't trust you. In this case I don't trust you for the same main reason I don't like you, and I don't think I can reasonably be expected to follow the lead of someone I don't trust."

Okay, I guess this is a serious conversation now. I've admittedly been putting off this conversation for a few days, so now is as good a time as ever. "I do take things seriously, I just don't address them as such. No need for undue doom and gloom! I was very serious about Nah, but I also realized we hadn't taken a proper break for months. I probably could have handled the situation better, but I stand by my reasoning. Leaving three hours earlier wasn't going to make a difference, and we knew Nah wasn't in immediate danger."

"I suppose." Kjelle says, though she clearly doesn't like my response. "Let me put it this way. Would you have had the same reaction if it was Nathan in Nah's position, or your father?"

"Of course not."

"Would you have been alright with me insisting we not leave to find them immediately once we knew how to find them?"

"I mean, depending on your reason I might have accepted it. Not sure I'd be happy about it though."

"There's my point." Kjelle says. She crosses her arms. "And now imagine that I told you, regardless of how much I actually meant it, that the reason we aren't going to help them immediately is because I want to go shopping."

"Okay, point taken, I handled it badly." I huff.

"But is the point really taken? Are you actually listening?" Kjelle asks sharply. "I wouldn't put it past you to ignore me because you're confident in your own decisions. I know full well how much of an ego you have."

"Rude!" I pout. I know she has a point though. My ego has gotten me into trouble before, like on the boat. "I'm listening!"

Kjelle is unmoved. "I'll believe it when I see evidence. I've said my part. It's up to you to decide what to do about it."

Well screw you too. You have a point and I'll keep it in mind, but screw you.

###

"Why are your ears pointed?"

"I don't know."

"Do you fly by physical means or magical?"

"I don't know."

"What are your favourite colors?"

"Blue and green. Light green."

I scribble that down. "Are we friends?"

"Not yet."

"Why are you so cute?"

"Luck."

"Are you sure you won't-"

"You're not getting a ride anytime soon."

"Aww…"

###

So, remember how I said we went out to get a tent for Nah? Specifically, that was me, Kjelle, and Nah. Noire and Nathan stayed behind at the inn where we rented rooms. That's important, because I come back to find them actually talking to each other.

This is important because Noire and Nathan almost never talk to each other. They're both shy and awkward, Noire is somewhat disturbed about Nathan's future knowledge, and Nathan constantly fumbles his words when under pressure (such as when talking to an attractive girl like Noire). So this situation is really unprecedented.

The two of them are in mine and Nathan's room, and I heard them through the door, so you better bet I put my ear to that thing and start listening!

"-could talk to Morgan." Noire is saying.

"I will." Nathan responds. His voice is dull and hoarse. "Didn't want to in the morning, and not with everyone around. Probably after dinner."

"Ah." Noire says. "I-I didn't mean to be presumptuous or anything, b-but Morgan doesn't remember anything, and I know what it's like to realize you won't be going home, so I-I thought I might be able to help…"

"And I appreciate it." Nathan says. "You… you're better now, right? Mostly?"

"Oh! W-Well, mostly." Noire says. "I-It's not the old world that I miss so much as I miss how my mother used to be before Grima. I've had a long time to get used to it."

"If it's any condolence…" Nathan offers hesitantly. "The game endings tend to have Tharja turn out better than her future version, all from everything I've seen from this world so far negative traits tend to be less prominent, so there's hope."

"That's… that's good." Noire whispers. "I hope it turns out well."

The two of them fall quiet, and I take this opportunity to slink away from the door. I'll probably mention later that I overheard, but I don't want to barge in now.

"How very in-character for Nathan to turn the situation around to Noire." I muse silently. That's not the first time he's done something of the sort. Whenever he receives help, he seems to feel obliged to offer something in return. "But he talks to Noire before me? Really? C'mon… I wanted to help!"

I'm not actually too annoyed. Noire saw that she had enough in common with his situation to try and offer comfort, and did so. She very rightfully recognized that I haven't gone through the same thing. My amnesia is a different case. I can only mourn what might have been, whereas those two can mourn family and friends and all sorts of other things with complete and painful clarity.

"Or maybe she's just trying to steal my boyfriend because she can't bear to lose to me." I joke to myself. "I'm so cute she's intimidated by me, clearly that's it!"

The joke would be a lot more fun if someone were around to hear it. I can imagine Nathan either expanding on the joke or throwing out a compliment like he usually does. I could also tease him about how he's awkward around Noire because she's hot, that's always fun. Oh, or we could fall into the old standby of me being the center of his "collection" of girls! That's always a fun scenario to play with.

It hasn't been a day and I'm already missing my banter with Nathan. I really need other friends, if only so I have other people to vent my energy on when me and Nathan are separated for more than a few hours.

I'm glad to see Nathan and Noire talking though. Nathan could use another friend.

###

I know the talk is coming because of what I overheard, so I'm ready when Nathan quietly murmurs "I'm not going home." when we retire to our room after dinner.

"I assumed as much." I reply gently. "Is it not possible to recreate the portal?"

"I think it is." He says, to my surprise. "Naga said it was possible for me to get home."

What? "Why aren't you going to go home then?"

"Because there, I'm dead." He rasps. "Heart attack. If I went back, even if I could get my old body, I'd still have to explain that away, and no explanation would convince them that I don't have brain damage or some mental illness. That's not taking into account that I would have a second body either. There's no way I could explain that."

I'm not sure if it's better or worse that he could technically get home but doing so would effectively be worse than staying here. On one hand he has closure, and on the other it must feel like the universe is spitting in his face and taunting him that he can get home but it won't improve his situation.

"So I'm stuck here." He continues dully. "Though it's not all bad news."

"Oh?"

"Apparently I can get my old body back in some fashion. Naga said to talk to Miriel."

"Ooh! That is good news!" I say with maybe a bit too much eagerness. I really want to see what he looks like okay? Also, can I just say how weird it is that he can casually mention that he talked to Naga now? That is weird, right?

"I hope getting my body back isn't painful. I don't like pain." He mutters.

"But it would be worth it, right?"

"I think you underestimate how squeamish I am."

"Anesthetic spells exist." I reassure him. "If that helps."

"It does." He flops onto the bed on his back. "Kinda."

When he doesn't speak for a minute, I pipe up again. "Was that it?"

"More or less." He murmurs. "I won't get to talk to my family ever again, which is depressing of course, but I imagine I'll get over that eventually. I have you."

"Of course you do!" Normally I'd add a joke about how I'm so awesome that I make up for any loss, but that would be insensitive right now. "A cute girlfriend doesn't make up for everything, but it's pretty sweet!"

"Yeah." He says softly. "Thanks Morgan."

Don't give me doe eyes now! You're sad! Don't tempt me while you're sad! Stop being cute! "No problem!" I chirp, and also flop onto the bed. "So… is this the part where we cuddle?"

"If you want."

I poke him in the cheek. "Nathan, you're the one who's distraught. The question is if it's what you want."

His voice is barely audible, and he turns his head away as he speaks. "Yes please."

Stop. Being. Cute. Also, why are you acting nervous? I offered this literally five seconds ago. It's not like I'm suddenly going to refuse. This isn't the time to tackle his paranoia though. We can deal with that later. Now is the time for hugs!

Despite the generally horrible circumstances surrounding this, it's a pleasant way to spend the evening. I can imagine it will be much more fun in the future when he's not in mourning.

"I wonder what this will be like when he gets his old body too." I muse. Apparently he was shorter than he is now. I have to wonder if I'll be taller than him at some point. Assuming, of course, I can grow. Being taller than him would be fun. He could be the one on my lap when we sit around the fire. Hehe…

Focus! Not the time for that. Naga, maybe Kjelle is right and I can't be serious. I can't help but look forward to better times though! Things will get better, and it will be great when they do, and so I look forward to them. Simple. I want to enjoy life! Is that so wrong?

I'm still getting distracted. Focus Morgan! Someone as awesome as you can focus for a few hours on comforting someone.

###

It takes a few days before Nathan starts to come out of his cuddle-and-cry state. It starts with a joke (albeit a really weak one), and an offer of a ride which I accept (I know Kjelle told me to exercise more, and I will, but I'm not going to turn down the first gesture Nathan offers me while recovering from his funk).

A welcome side-effect of this ordeal is that Noire is less of a recluse in our group. After her and Nathan's heart-to-heart, she's occasionally willing to contribute to a conversation that isn't about our trip. Not frequently, but sometimes, and that's an improvement.

For example, Nathan is asking about dark magic. Specifically "How is it different from anima? I know the games say that it's addictive or that it relies on negative emotion or something, but this world isn't exactly like the games so I thought I'd ask."

Noire speaks up before I can, because (I guess thanks to Tharja) she actually knows something about dark magic. "D-Dark magic doesn't rely on negative emotion exactly. It's just a lot easier to recall and induce intense negative emotion on a whim than positive emotions. There are dark magic spells for growing plants and curing sickness, but it's hard to force yourself to feel love or joy, especially when dealing with a potentially stressful situation."

"So negative emotion is simply more practical?"

"Y-Yes." She nods. "I-I actually know a curse or two that are based on positive emotion."

"Sorry, a curse that's based on positivity?" I ask.

"Yes. A curse is a permanent effect with a specific trigger to remove it. The effect doesn't necessarily have to be bad." Noire explains. "I-I know a curse that helps ease muscle aches as long as you don't use too much energy, and another that lets you walk on water as long as you keep your breathing steady."

"Those are really specific requirements to keep the curses going." I point out. "And why not just have a permanent effect? Why have dispel criteria at all?"

"It actually makes the curse easier to cast." Noire explains. "H-Having a dispel criteria means you don't have to put as much energy towards making sure the curse sticks around. For that water walking curse, I only have to make sure the spell sticks around so long as they keep their breathing steady, which is one effect, so I don't have to put any energy into making sure it stays around if you cough, or if you turn into a boar, of anything like that."

"So you can skimp on other parts of the casting to make the curse easier to cast." Nathan says. "The easier the curse is to dispel, the easier it is to cast and sustain."

"Exactly. That's why it's hard to make powerful permanent effects, because they have to have so many conditions to keep them from being negated and counter-spelled." Noire murmurs. "That's why cursing is so easy to learn too, because the power requirements to get started with basic curses are so low, and can be supplemented by emotion, that even someone who can't normally conjure a spark of flame for the life of them can usually manage a small curse."

"That also means the more strict the condition, the harder the curse is to cast, right?"

"Yes." Noire nods. "And some things that are called curses aren't technically curses at all. A spell that causes you to slowly wither away isn't technically a curse unless there's intentional weakness in the spell structure to make it easier to cast. If there isn't, then it's just a nasty enchantment."

"Huh." I muse. "That sounds very useful. Maybe I'll have to learn to curse."

"It's easy." Nathan jokes. "Fuck, shit, goddamnit."

"I never thought of that!" I cry. "I'm already a cursing master!"

"Don't you mean a fucking master?" Nathan says with a smile. "Because then it's a curse?"

"Of course! I should have thought of that!" I say. "I'm a fucking master of cursing!"

Noire silently shakes her head and exits the conversation. I'm glad she participated though. Now if we can just get her to roleplay everything will be perfect!

###

Nah gets along surprisingly well with everyone. She's not particularly close to anyone, but she doesn't have a natural animosity towards anyone either. She doesn't mind training or talking about training so she gets along with Kjelle, she and Noire have quiet conversations around the fire about various things (I hear their parents mentioned sometimes, as well as some of the other future kids), she puts up with my questions with only minor irritation if I'm particularly insistent, and she indulges Nathan's questions in exchange for the occasional piggyback ride.

Maybe that's what I need to get Nah to like me more. A bribe! Nathan can offer rides, so I need to offer something else. Maybe money? I have a lot of that. That might be too blatant though. I need to be subtle. What does Nah like? Maybe I can buy her friendship with a new… uh… hair clip.

I really need to find out what she likes. I should also write it down. I have notes for Nathan but no one else. I should start writing down what everyone likes in case I need to bribe them in the future! Genius idea Morgan! This is why you're a master tactician! Twenty steps ahead!

When I proudly tell Nathan about my plan, he gives a flat look and says "Morgan, that's a great idea for all the wrong reasons."

"What? Bribery is a great reason!"

"It's really not."

"What then?"

"So you never forget gift ideas when it's someone's birthday, or Christmas."

"What's Christmas?"

"Uh… religious holiday. You give gifts to people."

"I thought you were atheist."

"I am, but my family wasn't, and it's not like I'm going to pass up an opportunity to get gifts and eat good food."

Very pragmatic of you Nathan. I approve! I also have no idea if a holiday like that exists in this world. Specific holidays are something that I can't remember. "But what's wrong with bribing people?" I ask petulantly.

"If I seriously have to answer that question, I'm very concerned." Nathan replies. "Though I suppose if you're bribing the bad guys it could be useful sometimes."

"Bribe the guards, kill the lords! Take their money!" I proclaim in our usual over dramatic fashion.

"Then forge their wills and take their land!" He adds, jumping into the act. "And slaughter all their remaining family so none can oppose you!"

"Gut the ranks of royalty and nobility! Become the only ruler left!" I cry. "Become a living god in the eyes of others! Blood! Money! Sex! All of it at your fingertips!"

"Grima himself will gawk at the size of your empire!" Nathan proclaims. "All hail Morgan, the Thieving Queen!"

"All hail me!" I shout, and just for effect I stick a hand up in the air and let fly some small sparks. I'm grinning like an idiot at this point. "The best briber in the history of bribing! The best forger on the planet! An all-around scumbag if I wasn't so Naga-damned cute, and I'm the best at that too! Anyone who I can't swindle I can charm the pants off! Literally if I want!"

Kjelle cuts in. "Do you have to be disgusting every single time you two do an act?"

"It's not disgusting, you're just a prude." I protest. "And I don't do it every time!"

"Just frequently." Nathan points out, and pokes me in the nose. "Lewd girl."

I have a strong temptation to nibble his finger or make a lewd comment, but I hold off. I don't want to give Kjelle even more evidence against me. It would be fun to see Nathan sputter though. Or maybe he'd play along, I don't know, but I think embarrassment would be more likely. That's fine though. More chances for me to press the attack and- okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. "You know it and you love it!"

"I mean, you're not wrong." He admits nervously. "Uh, but for now, down girl."

I can't help my wide grin. "Woof."

"Can you two not?!" Kjelle barks.

"You're no fun." I pout. Someday I'm actually going to get to go further with my lewd jokes, and it will be a glorious day indeed.

###

It's my job to get us transport to Ylisse, and it's to my surprise when Nathan offers to help. I accept of course.

Nathan sucks at talking to people. I'm not being mean, that's just a fact. Still, he's making an effort to help, so I won't turn him down. If he learns now he'll be able to do it on his own in the future. Getting transport isn't difficult exactly, you just need to be careful about negotiating the price… which is something Nathan absolutely can't do, so I'll probably have to step in for that.

I have to wonder just how many basic things Nathan doesn't know how to do. He was a shut-in before, and by his own admission either didn't know how to and/or wasn't comfortable doing very normal things. I remember that time I asked Nathan to see if a shop had a whetstone, and due to an unnecessary amount of politeness he ended up buying it instead and for a ridiculously high price because he has no sense of money.

Fear not Nathan! Your incredible girlfriend will show you how to be a functional human being! Wait, that sounds mean. Uh... I will teach you life skills! Yeah, that sounds better. I, your incredibly intelligent and awesome and cute and humble girlfriend will teach you life skills!

Or at least I'll support you while you fumble your way through learning them if it's not something I can teach.

"So we want something relatively cheap." I remind him. "All the half-decent passenger ships are going to be for the super rich people. We want a cargo ship like last time, or maybe a merchant vessel if they don't mind some tag-alongs."

"O-Okay." He mumbles. "How do we tell who's a merchant captain? Wouldn't they look like passenger ship captains?"

I wonder what he thinks a merchant captain looks like. I could just tell him what we're looking for, or I could make this a learning experience. "What do you think?"

Nathan glances to me and back to our surroundings. We're at the dockyard on the south side of the island. He hesitantly points to a woman with a simple, light blue shirt and long, baggy, brown-beige pants.

I can tell even from this distance that the material of her clothes are quite high quality. She's might look like she's dressed in simple clothes, but those are costly simple clothes, and Nathan seems to have missed the two rings on her fingers that look like they're made of gold and silver. They're simple bands, but those are also not cheap. If that lady is a merchant, she's a hella rich one. "I'm fairly sure she owns a passenger ship Nathan." That's probably how she has so much money to spend: because she gouges rich people for her job.

"Oh." He cringes. "Then... him?"

This time he points to a rather rough-looking man dressed in woolen browns and beiges with a wide-brimmed brown hat tied to his head with a cord. I'm pretty sure Nathan picked him out just because he has a hat and most people are wearing bandannas. It's not the worse guess he could have made. If someone is going to stand out from the crowd of generic sailors, it's not too unreasonable to assume they're mildly important. Judging by the fact that this man is hauling crates rather than directing other people, however, I'm fairly sure that's another bad guess. "No again."

"Oh." He starts looking again, and I grab his shoulder. He tried, and he's only going to depress himself if he makes another mistake. Time to solve and explain it for him.

"Try him." I say, and point to a fairly safe guess. The man doesn't look too different from anyone else around him. He's got a bandanna and weather worn, beige and brown clothes. "It's not the dress that's important necessarily, look at the behavior. He's giving orders, right? He's also talking to that dockhand with a ledger, maybe about inventory or just how long he plans to be here or whatever, but that's not something any old crewmate is going to do. If he's not the captain, he's at least a first mate or someone important on the ship."

Nathan nods in understanding. "Right. That makes sense. Should have been looking at actions."

I stare at Nathan while he watches the captain. After several seconds, I nudge Nathan with my shoulder. "And now we go and ask if he's leaving port soon, and if we can buy a ride."

"R-Right." He pauses for a second, probably expecting me to lead, and when I don't he finally realizes that I'm making him do this. He wanted to come along and help, so that's what I'm facilitating. "Me?"

"I'll be right beside you." I say, and wrap myself around one of his arms. "But yes, you. You wanted to help, right?"

"Right." He says. His voice is unsteady, I can feel the tension in his arm, and I can see the way his fingers come together and squeeze each other. I have to wonder how he got through life before if just talking to people is nerve-wracking. "O-Okay, let's go."

We weave our way through the various sailors and dockhands and over to the captain. Nathan waits until the captain is no longer speaking with the man with the ledger, takes a deep breath, and approaches.

"P-Pardon me." Nathan says. The captain doesn't notice at all due to Nathan's quiet voice, and so Nathan has to repeat himself but louder. "Pardon me!"

The captain turns to face us with his brow furrowed. I know that's confusion on his face, but I'm expecting Nathan to think it's annoyance. Judging by how his arm tightens in mine, I think I'm right. "What? What is it? Was there another form? Are you from the dockmaster too?"

"I- We- No." Nathan stutters. "W-We wish to inquire if you are captaining a ship that is returning t-to Ylisse soon."

That's very formal, and totally unlike how Nathan normally speaks. Considering we're talking to a captain, likely of a cargo ship, it's probably to Nathan's detriment to be speaking so formally because it's going to make him sound high-class, and cross-class interactions are less likely to go over smoothly due to animosity between the members of those classes. It's not an unbridgeable gap, but it is an unnecessary extra complication. I'm going to guess that didn't occur to Nathan though. Maybe the formal speech is a stress-response.

The captain crosses his arms and scrutinizes Nathan, taking in the shabby clothes but clean-shaven face, as well as me clinging to his arm. I grin and wink at the captain, and he raises an eyebrow. "And if I am?"

"We would like to purchase passage for five if that is the case." Nathan says. "Only, of course, if you have space for us."

"What business do a Chon'sinese and a Plegian have in Ylisse?" The captain asks suspiciously.

I'm not sure if I should regard that question as being xenophobic or not. His tone suggests xenophobia, but it is a legitimate question (disregarding the fact that we're already in Ylisse, and even if we weren't we'd be crossing from the Feroxi border).

"We're visiting family in Ylisstol." Nathan says. His stammers have stopped, and his explanation sounds oddly rehearsed. Has he been in situations like this before? "We were doing some mercenary work up in Ferox, and had to stop by this island to pick the last of our group because she was visiting family of her own."

The Captain still looks cautious, but he doesn't question our motive further. "Well a cargo ship is a crowded place. We don't have much extra space. It'll cost ya to come along."

"Thirty copper per person." I cut in, knowing that Nathan can't negotiate price. Thirty is probably a bit low. The food cost per person is probably around twenty-eight copper for a week long trip (two meals a day that are worth around two copper), and adding onto that the space we'll take up and the fact that we won't be helping at all around the boat and it's reasonable for him to ask for more than thirty. However, if he only wants to offer super basic food like bread and water, or maybe just soup, then thirty copper is actually reasonable, and we'll decline because I don't want to eat bread and water for seven days.

"Two silver. Each." He counters. That's ridiculously high. Let me remind you that staying at an inn in Ferox for one day was less than ten copper for one room, and less than twenty for two, and meals only cost maybe three copper each if you're getting basic stuff. If we want to go by some sort of calculation... let's say seven copper for a room a day, so seven times seven for one room for a week is forty-nine, and then each individual meal is three copper, so that's five people times three meals that cost three copper times seven days which is one-hundred and eighty-nine copper, so for all of us that would be two-hundred and thirty-eight copper, or two silver and thirty-eight copper total, not individually. Even if we allow meals to cost a bit more, which is absurd to consider because three copper per meal is already quite a bit for basic foodstuff, it's nowhere near worth two silver a person.

"If you're charging us that, we better be getting some damn fine food and two good rooms." I scoff. Next to offer something more reasonable, but a bit lower than I'm willing to go. "Fifty each. That's more than enough to cover some decent food for each of us." Either that's two meals a day worth three copper, or three meals worth two, which would amount to forty-two copper each in both cases. Either way, if I'm paying more than a copper for one meal, I better be getting some vegetables or meat.

For reference, a single basic loaf of bread is worth about one copper. A single loaf of bread could also probably feed two people for a meal if they only had bread. My point is, if I'm paying two-to-three copper per meal, I better get more than bread unless you're giving me multiple full loaves. It doesn't have to be much more, but it has to be something.

"I think you're underestimating just how much two rooms on my ship is worth." The captain huffs.

"We can take one." I say. "As long as there's at least four mattresses."

"Four?"

"Four."

"It would have to be hammocks. We don't got the money to waste on mattresses."

Ahh, that might be a bad sign. "Do you have modern barrels for food and water storage?"

T

"What? You mean the two-walled ones?" The captain says. "'Course I do. Any self-respectin' captain would. They're the reason we don't got any mattresses."

That's a relief at least. "Well that's fine then. We can take one room if it will fit five people." We can just use our bedrolls and blankets if need be. "So, fifty is fine? Two and a half silver total?"

"Seventy each." He shoots out.

"Don't insult me." I scoff. "My offer is perfectly reasonable. Two copper for a simple meal per person is already pushing it considering what you can offer if you're tight on money, and assuming that's three meals a day for a week, that's forty-two copper per person. That leaves eight copper per person to cover the room, which is forty whole copper, which is far more than enough. I could have argued to pay forty-five copper a person. If anything, I'm being generous here, because if you have a room you can spare in the first place you weren't getting any money from it and whatever I offer is just a bonus."

The captain stares me down, and I return his stare with utter confidence. I know I'm right. It's up to him if he wants to be stubborn and ruin his chances at some solid money by getting greedy. As it turns out, he's not that stupid, and he reluctantly nods his head. "Fifty per person, one room, good food. We leave in two days, sunup. Got more cargo coming tomorrow."

"Good." I say with a smug grin. "I'll give you your money when we're about to leave. In the meantime…" I fish two silver out of my coin pouch and hand them to him. "Get your men some proper mattresses man, and some good food for everyone while you're at it. I don't want to be eating bread and water."

He stares in surprise at the extra money, and then swiftly pockets it. "Alrighty then, welcome aboard Miss…?"

How quickly his distrust changes when I throw a bit of money around. Predictable. "Morgan." I say, and then lean into Nathan. "And Nathan."

"Miss Morgan, Sir Nathan." He nods. "Is there anything else."

It really is comical how his demeanor has changed. "We're good, thank you Captain. We'll see you in two days then, sunrise."

I cheerfully lead Nathan away from the docks with our mission accomplished. That was shaky at the start but turned out fine.

"You did well Nathan!" I chirp. Well, he did well after I pointed him in the right direction. For someone with next to no social skills by their own admittance, that went fine.

"I couldn't even find a captain. I got it wrong twice." He mumbles.

"The actual talk went fine." I say. "You didn't annoy him and got our desires across. Don't worry."

"But-"

"Don't. Worry." I repeat a bit more forcefully. "You did fine and you'll improve next time. Don't angst over it."

"Okay…"

You worry too much Nathan. That would be belittling to say though, especially considering he probably knows that already.

"Thanks Morgan." He mumbles, and gives me a one-armed squeeze. "For staying next to me."

Sap. "What? Are you saying you wouldn't have stayed next to me in the same situation?" I say teasingly.

"O-Of course I would have! I was thanking you to be polite!" He stammers, apparently missing the tease.

"It was a joke Nathan." I reassure him. "And it was no problem. I'm more than happy to do that if it makes you feel better."

"Oh…"

Hmm, I need to relieve some of his anxiety. Time for flirty Morgan! I tighten my grip on his arm and pull it against my body. "And besides, you totally enjoy having a cute girl pressing herself into you, didn't you?"

His face rapidly turns red, though he does squeak out "Yes."

Never underestimate the power of flirtation! Guaranteed to improve your mood, especially if it's me, because I'm awesome.

###

So I know I'm a super cute, flirty, dirty-minded, mildly boyfriend-obsessed young girl, but I'm also a warrior. I just don't show it all that often because it's not fun to act all "hur dur I can stab people!" That's Kjelle's job. I like being able to flirt, joke, and generally be frivolous. It's fun.

So for the most part it's when we spar that the group is reminded that yes, I do in fact know how to fight. I can't usually beat Kjelle due to her armor, but I'm slowly learning how to exploit the weak points in her armor and how her fighting style leaves them open. Noire I can usually beat in a dagger fight. She's not a pushover, but she is an archer primarily. She has enough skill to not be helpless.

I think she'd do better with having a sword as a backup weapon though, or maybe a spear. A dagger is a bit too short-ranged for the battlefield.

Nah I can't spar with. She's a dragon. Her fire doesn't have a "not horribly painful" setting. She'd probably thrash all of us due to her raw strength and resilience though. Dragons are strong.

And then, Nathan. Nathan sucks. I'm sure that's not a surprise. Fighting him is not an exercise in how quickly I can win, in fact it's not really a competition at all. With Nathan I'm teaching because his skill level is too low to pose a proper threat at the moment.

It's a different story if we do hand-to-hand where his raw strength is enough to be a threat, but with weapons he's almost helpless. Even with hand-to-hand I win every round. It doesn't help that he's extremely pain-averse, so he doesn't use his more useful options against me like grabs because that ends up with me kneeing him in the gut or kicking him in the shins most of the time. Though to be fair, if it were an actual fight I'd be kneeing him in the groin and without free hands he really wouldn't have a way to defend against that even if I were grabbed.

Well actually that's not true, he does come up with a way to stop me. Once he manages to land a bear-hug on me and lift me up, he twists his hips to the side and forces his thigh between my legs, then quickly uses one hand to hike my legs around his waist and take a wide stance.

Don't get me wrong, this position is incredibly impractical. Has has to stand with his legs oddly spread apart, rely on the fact that I can't get my own legs back around to his front, and also he has to use one hand to keep my hips pressed against him and only has one arm to keep my arms pinned, and I could still probably bite him like this, but credit where credit is due he did solve his problem to some extent.

I still managed to slip a hand free and chop at his throat, which ends his grab and allows me the opportunity to hop around behind him and force his arms behind his back as he's trying to recover his breath, but he did better this time! Good job Nathan!

He takes a small sip of vulnerary after our spar to get rid of the discomfort lingering around his throat from my chop. From the face he makes, I guess the taste of vulnerary still doesn't agree with him.

"You did better!" I praise.

"I still sucked."

"Well yeah, but that's because you won't do proper grabs." I huff. "Just wrestle next time, you're bigger and stronger than me! You can pin me easily if you can get a hold of me! Just press me into the ground and pin my hands above my head."

"Uh, sure." He mumbles, seemingly minorly embarrassed.

"I know it's kinky." I say, as it just now occurs to me that the position I suggested could be construed as intimate. "But I swear I'm being serious. That is a good position for subduing me. Just make sure my legs are either outside yours, or that you're sitting on my hips or waist so I can't kick you, and that you quickly get a grip on my arms or wrists, or else I can do some serious damage."

"Okay."

"Besides, I'm sure we'll both enjoy it." I quip. Nathan rolls his eyes and, to my surprise, pats me on the head.

"Sure Morgan." He says. "Whatever you say."

"Are you patronizing me?" I pout.

"Yes." He says, with a hint of tease in his voice. "I'm older than you, remember? I'm allowed to patronize you."

"Oh, is that how it works?" I say with a smile. "If you being patronizing gets me pats on the head, I'll happily accept it."

"Though maybe we should keep training rather than flirting." Nathan suggests.

"We can do both." I chirp.

"Or that." He agrees, wearing a smile that looks slightly tired. I wonder if today is a bad day for him. He stopped volunteering his inner turmoil about being stuck in this world a few days after talking with Naga, probably so he doesn't sound whiny, but I'm not foolish enough to assume that he's suddenly better.

At least he's improving. I have to be satisfied with that. I wish he'd say more though, or at least ask for hugs when he needs them.

###

Our accommodations on the ship are bare-bones as I expected. The room is small, not even four meters by four meters, and can barely fit all of us. We're fairly cramped when we sleep, though we're plenty used to that since we sleep in small tents and I always sleep in the same bed as Nathan when we stay at inns anyhow. The mattresses, newly bought, might as well be the floor for how little space there is. I imagine in the future bunk beds will be set up to help with the space issue.

It's only in retrospect that I realize how weird that inn thing is actually. During my first week of life that I can remember, I was totally okay with crawling into bed with a random stranger, and it's carried on from then. I'm more than familiar with Nathan now, but I wasn't before. He had probably saved my life, so there's that, but in hindsight that was a questionable decision made out of loneliness and a desperation for comfort.

Not that you'd have been able to tell, because I can hide my emotions rather well behind a cheery facade.

Anyhow. Our trip is a lot less eventful than last time. Learning from last time, Noire doesn't hide away from the sailors and I make sure not to antagonize them too much. We make ourselves decently social, and me and Nathan even play some barrels with them. The food is fine with vegetables, fruits, bread and meat, and the water is okay. Nothing really happens beyond that.

The week passes without little of note happening. I'm glad to get off the boat where it isn't cramped, and where I don't have Kjelle in the same room as me telling me to stop having fun when I flirt with Nathan.

It would be nice to have a few days I can spend with Nathan alone, where I don't have to worry about Kjelle being a killjoy or having to hold back on what we do when we return to our inn or camp for the same reason. I've had to hold back on anything too forward due to the others (mainly Kjelle). I think that's something I have to put in the back of my mind for later though. Maybe once we're to Ylisstol.

We're going to get to Ylisstol soon now that I think of it. I mean, it will probably take a month and a bit to get to Ylisstol (we don't have snow slowing us down this time), but that means in a month I might be seeing my father. I don't know if I'm excited or worried. Maybe both. Definitely both. I still don't know what to say to him. I really hope everything goes smoothly. Everything should go well. I am awesome, but awesomeness doesn't mean everything goes perfectly.

Anyhow. Ylisse looks a lot different from Ferox, and a lot different from the island of money. The trees don't have huge leaves or pine needles, but generally have smaller leaves that aren't clustered near the top like on the island, but aren't all over the tree even near the bottom like pines. The branches start halfway up the trunk for the most part.

I don't know botany though. I assume the position of branches and leaves are significant, but I really don't know for sure.

Also, as we were walking about, I'm getting odd looks. Me specifically. I think my grimleal-like coat is finally being noticed… or maybe they just really like my coat, or my face, or me because I'm just that awesome.

Yeah, totally the last one. They sense my innate aura of awesomeness and understand on a primal level that I am to be admired and worshiped!

Maybe it's because I've got dragon blood! I think that's what Nathan said. I've got Fell lineage or something, so Grima blood, and therefore I'm part evil dragon god! I'm pretty sure that means I can officially be an evil overlord if I want, and eventually rank up to evil empress! I can be the evil dragon empress of darkness! Woo!

Except being evil is no fun if you're actually evil. Roleplaying evil is great. Actual evil? Not so much.

Also, I have to try this again. "You know, we could get to Ylisstol a lot faster if we had a dragon to ride."

"Not happening." Nah says quickly.

"Aww…"

Morgan is always a treat to write, but I had to hold off on a lot of things so as to not use all my material now. We also covered a lot of ground in this chapter both literally and in terms of things happening between characters. The group got off the island and are within two month's travel of Ylisstol, Noire and Nathan are no longer awkwardly avoiding each other, and Nah will (maybe) be Morgan's friend if Morgan can stop bugging her for more than ten minutes.

Nathan quietly recovers in this chapter. You won't see too much angsting about his family from now on out, just the side-effects of him knowing he's stuck in this world.

We're almost at Ylisstol, and Ylisstol is important because it's where the Shepherds' barracks is at. If the Shepherds are there, it means all the kids get to talk to their parents (and Nathan gets to panic about actually meeting the first generation, including Morgan's parents, which will be fun… for me. Hopefully for all of you too, but for me guaranteed).