As a note, this story is in connection to the third chapter of To Die, another Lost Odyssey story of mine. It's not exactly necessary to understand what's going on, but it may help clear up some things!

Sarah watched as Kaim rubbed his neck. It had been a long day for them both, and it was nice to finally be back in Tosca. She had to admit, though, that she was feeling worn and frazzled, too. The long hike up the mountain, on top of the pirate attack that morning, left her drained and weak, and she could only imagine Kaim felt so much worse. She let out a slow sigh and Kaim turned his head. "Tired?"

"Very." Sarah walked over to him and gently laid a hand on his back. She contemplated whether she should use her zephyr on him but wasn't sure if that was overstepping her boundaries. She was still very new to this closeness, in being in a relationship, and she didn't know if Kaim wanted the touch of her fingers on his body, or in what way he wanted her to be around him at all. Not like we didn't just kiss down in the mountain, though, she thought to herself. She felt a blush rise to her face as she brought her fingers to her lips. Without realizing it she was just standing there, rubbing her hand in a repetitive circular motion on his back. It wasn't until Kaim laughed that she snapped out of it. She wasn't thinking about doing anything at all, and then she noticed that she wasn't even using any white magic to help him on top of it. "W-what?" she stammered.

"You're so red."

Sarah huffed and moved her hand away. She turned her head so Kaim couldn't see the growing redder blush on her face, and almost jumped when she felt his warm hand lay on her back. He returned the circle touch, and Sarah relaxed. She had no qualms about his touch, and she was sure Kaim took notice. "I don't know why that's so relaxing," he murmured, adding another hand, and using his thumbs to push into the tense flesh of back.

Kaim dug all his fingers in a little, and Sarah could have fallen to her knees. "Please tell me my new boyfriend is a masseuse."

"I'm sorry to disappoint, darling," Kaim replied with a laugh. He trailed his hands down her spine, but Sarah thought it didn't matter. It still felt good. "This is about all I know how to do."

Sarah sighed, and rested her hand on his, stilling his movements. "We're all busted up."

"Still a little shaky?"

"Those pirates were a little concerning, yes, but we made it out." Sarah closed her eyes. "And with only a few marks to my boat."

Kaim led her to her little loveseat in her living room. The place was cleaner than usual, and she thanked her three-month past self for remembering to tidy up. She rested her head on his shoulder, taking off her glasses to make herself comfortable. With a caress of lips to her forehead, he joined his head on hers in return.

They woke up seven hours later. It was three in the morning when Sarah peeked open an eye. Somehow, she had fallen into Kaim's lap and he had leaned over the armrest to set his head on a hand. She quickly sat up, feeling even worse than she did when she had fallen asleep. Her back protested, and she laid a hand on it. "Oh, Kaim."

He snored in reply. She couldn't hide the grin. She decided to watch him for a moment. His mouth was slightly opened, with hair strewn across his face. One strand of it caught in the corner of his mouth and moved with his breathing, but she noticed that he looked so very calm. He looked even younger in sleep, and so much less weary. It was almost as if he didn't live through seven hundred years of wars and battles.

Of course, he had other moments, better moments, in his long life. Sarah wondered if this was how he might have looked when he wasn't looking into an enemy's eyes as they fought to death. She reached out and carefully pulled his hair behind his ear. He stirred, but ultimately didn't open his eyes. She smiled again when another light snore exited him and let out a giggle when he woke himself up because of it. "Time?"

"Three-ten." Sarah said with a frown. She stood up, feeling muscles burn and her back crack. She groaned and stretched. "We fell asleep."

Kaim rubbed his neck again, and Sarah thought of something. She hit her fist into her hand, saying, "I know!"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember where the road forked before we got here?" Kaim answered her with a slow nod. "Well, there's a hot spring down that way!" She turned to face him fully. "With that and my zephyr we should be feeling as good as new!"

"Is it a long distance away?"

"A little? Probably a five hour walk from the fork in the road." Sarah lifted a finger to her chin. "And we'll have to be careful. When I take anyone to these springs, we have to go in a large group because there are some monsters out there. Nothing too tough, but still a bit of an inconvenience."

Kaim slowly stood up, and she could see him hold his stomach. The bullet wounds had healed, but she could still imagine they would be sore even after rebirth. She moved to put a hand on him, but he shook his head. "Let's go to this place. You're tired enough as it is."

"I think we still have a few apples and some bread from our journey. We can eat a light breakfast when we get down there!" Sarah smiled at her little plan. It was almost like they were planning their first date. She turned away from him, so he couldn't see her suddenly giddy smile. She didn't need any more teasing from him this early morning.

By three-thirty, they were packed and ready to go. Sarah closed the door after her, and they started their walk down the mountain of Tosca. It didn't seem like long ago they were just walking up, and Sarah reminded herself that it had only been hours. If only she had thought of this before they made their trip all the way to the top.

Kaim intertwined their hands, and she thought she couldn't get much happier. As they reached the edge of the Mountain Village, Sarah lifted her staff and conjured up a small ball of light. She pushed it a little ahead, and it shined just enough that they could see a few feet in front of them.

Going down the mountain was less exhausting than going up to Tosca, so Sarah felt calm and excited about their trip. Kaim, on the other hand, was a little warier. She could tell because he was asking her different questions. His third question: "What kinds of monsters could we run into?"

"Medium sized frog looking things. Oh, they're so slimy! I hate them, but they're fairly weak. So much so that they probably will be more spooked of us. Um, I've seen some bats before, the demon kinds from the Black Cave. I believe they won't be out by the time we get to the fork because it'll be almost daybreak."

Sarah thought, but couldn't come up with any more. "I've never seen anything big, and most of them I can scare away with a little blast of light or loud noise. Lots of different wildlife, though. We might see some deer or other wild things."

With a nod, he continued, "what kind of terrain are we looking at?"

"What kind of question is that?" Sarah laughed into the still darkness of the morning.

"I just want to make sure we'll be okay."

"We'll be fine, Mr. Mercenary," she teased.

They reached the fork in the road and she pulled him along. The early morning light was just cresting the mountainside, but Sarah kept the little ball of light floating in front of them. She looked up at Kaim, who seemed to relax a little bit after her reassurance. He walked with the smallest hint of a smile and squeezed her hand when he noticed her staring. She flushed a little and turned away. They walked on in silence until the sun shown itself through the trees. Sarah let go of Kaim so that she could finally press the ball of light into her palm, where it disappeared into nothingness. "A nice little trick you've got there."

"One of the first things I was able to conjure up in this world." Sarah entangled her hand with Kaim's again. "After the five of us separated when we woke up, it was the first thing I did. I couldn't see, and everything was blurry. It took a few months for me to realize that my eyesight was actually pretty terrible, but that's beside the point." Sarah adjusted her glasses and she could hear Kaim's soft chuckle when she did it. She cleared her throat and continued. "Now black magic is not my forte, but white magic is, and it just so happens that creating a little ball of light falls into that category. It does no one any harm; and though it hardly could be used in battle, it allows me to see in the dark when I need to. I was able to do it within moments after waking up, but I couldn't tell you back then why I could. The whole concept of magic in this world was new to me!"

"That's how I felt when I picked up a sword for the first time." Kaim looked off in the distance as he talked. "Like muscle memory. I knew exactly what to do, even though there was no recollection of it."

"Did you join into a war right away?"

Kaim nodded. "I remember the first fight I ever lent myself towards. It ended in failure," he said, laughing a little bitterly. "But that's when I realized I couldn't die."

Sarah wanted to ask for more of the story but didn't know if she should intrude into his past. So, she stayed quiet and hopeful and was rewarded when Kaim continued anyway. "It was a victory for Uhra, a loss for a neighboring country. I remember a soldier surprising me. Cut me open from gut to shoulder and I died not so swiftly after."

"I'm sorry."

Kaim shook his head. "Nothing to apologize over. I remembering my last thought was there wasn't any way I was made to wake up in this world without any idea of what I was supposed to do, only to die weeks later. Everything went black, and then some hours later, I woke up."

"Did you go straight into your next battle?"

"Well, I had to dig myself out of the ground first."

"No way!" Sarah gasped, stopping. Kaim looked back, eyebrow raised. "They buried you?" she asked.

"I did look to be dead."

"But!" Sarah couldn't argue that. The first time she died it took many hours for her to wake up again. If it had been anyone else but Kaim who found her, she could imagine they would be digging a hole too. "I mean…"

"They didn't want decomposing bodies to attract monsters, so the Uhran army dug up graves and laid us to rest." Kaim almost seemed to smile. Like this was a good, funny memory to go back on. "I scared the guard who was digging the next hole a few places from mine."

Sarah found her footing again and shook her head as she started walking. "I just can't believe."

"I didn't come back to life as quickly back then."

"What did you think? Of all of it?" Sarah started again when Kaim gave her a tilt of his head, not understanding. "I mean, coming back to life? No matter how you died?"

"At first it was a blessing. I felt unstoppable." Kaim frowned. "And after about fifty years I grew tired of charging in headfirst. It was becoming bothersome to wake up after dying in different places, under and above the earth. For a while I didn't want anything to do with fighting."

"Why didn't you stop?" Sarah asked, looking at the ground.

"I did. But it never lasted long. I would find something to occupy my time for a little bit, but then I'd get an itch, like something I couldn't scratch unless I was in a battle. Some starving nation needed help with a skirmish, some King who needed to get rid of bad men. There was always some job and there was always someone who knew my skill. I was always suggested to whomever was hiring mercenary work." Kaim sighed. "And you can't ignore mortals and royalty forever. They start to hunt you down."

There was a silence that came between them. Sarah wouldn't call it awkward, but it was tinged in sadness. Of strife and restlessness. Sarah was at a loss for words for once, not knowing how to comfort the man beside her, or even knowing if he needed it. Kaim sighed. "I'm sorry," he said.

"There's nothing to apologize for," she said in return. She then asked, "is it lonely work?"

"Sometimes." Kaim kicked a rock as they walked down the path. "I had some friends in the armies I joined, even a few who I traveled with until they couldn't anymore, but unfortunately, we are gifted with a longevity that outlasts companionship."

There was a bitterness in that last statement, and Sarah could feel it sink into her to stay. She didn't want him feeling like that. She brought his hand up to her mouth and left a little kiss. Kaim turned towards her. "I won't outlast our relationship. I promise for as long as we both shall live that I'll stay by your side." She gave him her best smile.

Kaim quickly looked away a little embarrassed, though there was a little strangled noise that came from his throat that gave him away. Sarah watched in delight as he scratched his head a little, looking lost for words. And is he blushing? Oh, my, goodness! I did it! she thought to herself. She giggled a little, basking in the thought that she finally managed to get him uncomfortable after all these years of him doing the same to her.

After a moment—too quick to end her boasting on the inside—he composed himself, and Sarah watched as he side-eyed her with a grin on his face. "Sounds like you're saying vows."

"Ah!" Sarah made a big deal of letting go of his hand and set both of hers under her glasses, and over her eyes. She walked a little ahead of him. The feeling of triumph turned into mortification, and his barking laugh behind her did not help. When she finally uncovered her eyes, she turned and crossed his arms. Kaim caught up, and she just sighed. She continued to walk, refusing to uncross her arms and let him hold her hand.

"I know you can't stay mad."

"I can if I want to!" Sarah smiled, but wiped it off her face to turn back to him. "I can't believe you, Kaim Argonar. Fourteen hours into our courtship, and you're saying such…such…"

"Peculiar?" he supplied.

"Things!" she finished.

Kaim laughed again, and Sarah held her face forward. When she felt her heart and heated cheeks return to normal, she allowed Kaim to wrap his hand around her shoulder. She leaned in close and was happy to note that Kaim was a pretty affectionate person, and, possibly, a little touch-starved.

An hour later they ran into their first frog. They had just begun their walk through a narrow passage with trees all around them. The frog leapt out from a tall bush, and Sarah shrieked in fright. It was as if the frog didn't even notice them as it hopped on past. She held a hand to her chest. They looked around the area but didn't see any more out in the open. "I hate how slimy they are."

"I can hear it," he admitted, playfully rubbing an ear.

"Oh, ha-ha." Sarah eyed around one last time before braving another step.

An hour later they started their deep decent into the mountain. The path was even more narrow, barely able to fit two people walking side by side. The edge of the path dropped off several feet, ending in mud and smaller boulders. This area was prone to get slippery in the rain, and they had to be careful as the edge of the path could break easier because of it. Sarah thought they should be okay, though, as the rainy season had stopped a few weeks before.

They were getting nearer, just only a little more than halfway to the hot springs, when they ran into three frogs. Kaim chased them away, and like she had said earlier, they were more scared of them than they feared the little things. Sarah still hated them and was relieved to have Kaim at her side. "They're out a little more than I expected," she said to him as they continued their walk down.

"Do they not usually come out as much?"

Sarah twisted her mouth thinking of any reason. "Despite my hatred of them, I did study these monsters for a little bit. It could be their mating season."

"That's just our luck," Kaim replied with a sigh.

And as if on cue, they stared to hear more and more chirps and ribbits coming from all around them. Sarah blanched. "Of course."

They were pretty much harmless, so they didn't worry much about it.

Until they discovered that they didn't have to be so little.

Sarah held her staff tightly in her fist. She had never seen such a towering thing, and when it moved, its legs hit the earth with a reverberating sound. It was a deep purple color, with golden eyes that twitched constantly in every direction. Its skin shown in the sun, allowing them to see just how much slime it produced; running off into the ground underneath it. Kaim pulled out his sword looking like he could enjoy a little exercise. Sarah glanced at him, before her eyes locked onto the creepy frog.

Suddenly she felt like she couldn't move. She was fixated on one of its yellow-slotted eyes and found that she couldn't even blink without having to think hard about it. There was a sudden heavy feeling, like the air was getting hot and falling on her shoulders in thick waves. The energy coming from the frog was surprising enough that she had dropped her staff and it lay forgotten at her feet. She took in little short gasps. What was going on? Why did she feel all locked up?

There were some muffled noises, and a shout that sounded too far away, and then Kaim was pushing her behind him. Not realizing until it was too late that he had pushed her to try to get her behind him, Sarah started moving sideways, too fast, towards the edge of the path. It wasn't until she looked over to her left before she realized that her stumbling was leading her downwards, and she tried to move her feet in the opposite direction.

Instead, her ankle twisted, and she fell headfirst off the ledge.

. . .

Kaim saw the monster as a game. A game he was going to win and, fortunately for him, it was going to lose. He could see it working, thinking, maybe trying to cast something, but he wasn't going to fall for it. It was too slow to figure him out anyway. He slid his sword out of his belt and readied himself for an attack.

Before he could make the first move, he noticed that the frog wasn't facing him. A little confused he followed its eye and noticed that Sarah was entranced beside him. So it was aiming a spell, just not at him. "Sarah, snap out of it!"

Sarah did not even acknowledge him. She stood staring at the beast, eyes wide, pupils dilating. "Sarah!" he yelled again, and when she didn't move as the frog leaned forward towards her, he did the first thing that came to mind. He used his right hand to pull and push her behind him, and the left hand, with his weapon in it, to strike the frog; but he realized too late that he used a little too much force with her, forgetting that the road they walked on was narrow. As he quickly stabbed at the thing, he watched as Sarah stumbled right off the edge of the path.

"Sarah!" he screamed, pulling his sword out of the large beast in front of him. He launched himself off the path beside him, landed, and turned to her. She hit her head on the short fall and that seemed to finally be pulling her back to her senses. She was blinking and taking short breaths in. Kaim set his sword down, and carefully moved her head towards him. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes?" Sarah blinked up at him, still looking to clear her senses. "What happened?"

"I…" Kaim felt a sudden wave of guilt overcome him. He pushed her off the ledge. He's the one who did it. How could he do that to her? Could she forgive him? "I—"

Sarah hissed in pain. She sat up and held her left boot. Kaim carefully moved her shaking fingers and started to untie it. He held her leg up by her calf and carefully slid the boot off her foot. "Oh. Ow!"

Kaim opened his mouth to apologize but stopped when he saw her ankle. It was already swollen, probably sprained. He looked helplessly up at Sarah. She took in a deep breath and said. "Put it down, and can you grab my staff? I dropped it somewhere up there." She added, with a tilt of her head, "I think.

Kaim, as gently as he could, set her leg onto the ground. Sarah hissed again, and he couldn't find it in him to look at her. He felt sick to his stomach, and kept replaying the scene in his head. With a lump in his throat, he climbed the slope to retrieve her staff. The frog lay several feet away, dead, and he cursed at it.

After jumping down again, he handed Sarah her staff. "Hold my ankle out. It hurts to much for me to move. A little magic should at least make the swelling go down and set it straight."

She closed her eyes and waved her staff in a little circle above her ankle. After a minute her brow furrowed. She waved it again and let out a breath. "So that's what happened."

"What's wrong?"

"Seems that frog sealed up my magic." Sarah let her arm fall and looked up at him. She chewed on her lip. "I don't…I can't walk."

Kaim set out to find a few sturdy branches, as Sarah strapped her staff to her pack. When he found what he needed, he made his way back to where Sarah sat. She was sitting with her pack on, and wincing as she tried in vain to move her foot in an upright position. Kaim kneeled beside her and carefully untied the laces of her unused boot. "Here hold these on each side," he said, handing her the heavy sticks. "I'm going to tie it tight so that your ankle won't move." Kaim did as he told her, listening as she made sharp intakes of breath. It reminded him that this was his fault, and the waves of guilt were crashing into him again. When he finished tying and making sure the splint wasn't going to move, he helped her to her wobbly feet and bent his knees. "Lean down and wrap your arms around my neck."

Sarah leaned over him and he held onto her legs a little above the knees. When he straightened out, he supported her bottom with his wrists and hands. "Sorry."

"It's, um, okay."

"Comfortable?"

"Better, yes."

Kaim looked up. With Sarah holding onto him tightly, he was able to climb up the short wall of rocks and dirt and looked at either direction. They were two hours from the fork in the road and just about the same distance to the hot springs. While it would be nice to rest at the hot springs, he didn't know if Sarah even wanted to go anymore. But when he turned towards the direction of Tosca, Sarah interjected, "let's keep going."

"Are you sure?"

Sarah nodded. "That magic should wear off in time and I'll be able to heal myself then. I want to show you the hot springs! We've come too far."

Kaim gave a quick nod, adjusted his passenger on his back, and sidestepped the decaying beast to walk down the path. As he carefully made his way, he could feel and hear Sarah slip into sleep. The magic seal that was on her must be making her tired, and it was just as well. Kaim didn't think he could bear her telling him how this was his fault.

The walk was quiet, save Sarah's soft snores in Kaim's ears, but his thoughts were not. He couldn't think straight through his shame. Sarah's words echoed back to him. Fourteen hours. It was all it took for him to mess things up. He had pushed her, his dear Sarah, down a hill. She had hit her head and sprained—if not worse! —her ankle because of it. Never in his life had he ever hurt any one of his partners, and then there was Sarah. Sarah would always be in his life, and their first good memory together was tainted by his stupidity, his recklessness, his—

"What's on your mind, Kaim?" Sarah suddenly asked with a little slur in her words. The breath on his ear made him momentarily forget his troubles, but he took his time trying to find the words to answer her. "Come on," she prodded.

"I'm just thinking," he finally started. He adjusted Sarah on his back again, as he carefully began another descent downwards on the path. "On how I ruined our first date," he finished with a sigh.

There was a little gasp. He felt Sarah's finger curl around his chin and forcibly move his face towards her. "You think this is a first date?" Kaim nodded hesitantly. Maybe he was looking at this wrong. Maybe they weren't even really dating. Maybe after all of this she didn't even consider them a couple anymore.

That can't be true, he thought.

He frowned as he slowly came to terms with his revelation, but then came Sarah's excited voice. "I do too!"

"What?"

"This is a first date!" She leaned her cheek on his, and he could feel her eyelashes fluttering against him. "I was worried you didn't see it that way, or you'd make fun of me."

"I wouldn't."

"So says the man who teased me earlier today," Sarah reminded him. She laughed a little. Kaim couldn't find the humor to respond. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's not a very good first date."

"What do you mean?"

"Sarah." Kaim paused and shifted her up against his back. She held on a little tighter as he flexed and shook one arm at a time to circulate the blood again. "This is the worst first date I've been on."

"Oh?" Kaim turned his head to look at her. She looked very dejected, a frown on her lips and she wouldn't look at him. He blinked for a few moments. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Sorry?"

"I did kind of ruin things didn't I?"

Kaim walked over to a high flat stone and gently set Sarah upon it so he could look at her face to face. She was turning hers away. "Hey." She didn't move. Kaim bent down and looked around to her face. She bit her lip. "It's not you. It's me."

"Don't use that cliché line!" But it worked. She was smiling. He smiled back.

"It's true. I was the one that pushed you." Kaim's smile drifted off his face. "I should be the one apologizing."

"You don't need to do that." Sarah kicked her good heel against the rock she sat on. "If I was paying more attention…if I hadn't gotten in the way."

"You weren't in the way!"

"Yes, I was! Gods if only I wasn't so weak—"

"You're not weak."

Sarah started to laugh. After a few moments she was holding her stomach and wiping at the tears were coming down her face, though Kaim couldn't tell if the wet drops were because she was laughing or if they were tears being held back from earlier. "This can go back and forth all day long!" She wiped her cheeks more. "It's my fault, no it's mine. But really it's mine, truly its mine!" She sniffed a few times, and let some tears fall unbidden. Kaim took a thumb to clear them away. "I'm so tired. I shouldn't be laughing this hard, but that damned seal…"

"Agree to disagree?" Kaim asked, bringing her back.

Sarah shook her head. "Let's just say it was the frog's fault. He was the one that trapped me in a spell."

"He is the reason why I had to push you."

Sarah nodded. "There. All settled?"

Kaim nodded, a smile coming back to his face. "As long as you don't hate me for it."

"I could never hate you." She was so serious that he was taken aback a little. Blushing a little, he turned around the helped her onto his back again, happy to note that she didn't notice the pink on his cheeks. She snuggled into his neck, sighing, "you're so comfortable."

"You'd think that would be untrue." Kaim started his walk down again.

"You'd think," she parroted back to him. "Too bad we're almost there."

Just another two miles and they came upon the spring in a clearing of trees. It was bigger than Kaim thought, and it lay just before the mouth of a cave that was nestled into the mountain. He and Sarah looked over the steam and around the area. They were alone, not a monster in sight. Sarah patted his shoulder, and he found another tall rock she could sit on. She unstrapped her staff from her back and tried to use magic again. Kaim watched her as he took off his sword and leaned it against the rock she sat on. She wasn't even able to produce a small ball of light. "No use."

"Nothing a little soothing soak can't fix." Kaim was already pulling his boots off. He set them next to the rock and then worked on his shirt.

He noticed Sarah stare at his abdomen, and he looked down at the bullet scars left from their fight yesterday morning. She lifted a hand, and with hesitant fingers, traced one of the scars. Her touch to his skin was a little electrifying and he took a small step back. He hoped she didn't hear how his heart was hammering in his chest.

"I'm sorry!" She pulled her hands into her lap, as if she didn't want to touch him again.

"No, it's nothing," Kaim tried to reassure her. He needed to take that step back. Get yourself together, Argonar, he chided himself. It was like he was dealing with a crush.

Instead he focused on his shirt that he gripped in his hands. With a deep breath in, he folded it and set it next to his boots. He then shifted his hands to his belt before he heard a little squeak behind him. When he didn't pause in his movements, Sarah made a squawk. "Kaim!"

"What?" He turned to her, belt half off. She was shielding her eyes, but he could see her pink cheeks. A smile grew on his lips when he figured that she didn't have men undressing so casually in front of her most of her life. "What are you embarrassed about?"

"I mean we've known each other for three hundred years, but…" She took a chance to peek at him, and only turned to him fully when she saw that he hadn't taken his pants off yet. "Still," she ended lamely.

He chuckled, and she pouted. "Okay, well I'll keep my underthings on. You too."

"Me?" she sputtered. "I mean, can't I just leave my clothes on—?"

"If I must carry you home," Kaim interrupted. "In case you can't heal your leg, you're not going to be soaking wet and dragging me down with your water-heavy clothes."

Her mouth opened and closed and Kaim thought she'd make an impressively cute fish, before she jerked her head up and down. So, she brought shaky fingers up to her blouse, and Kaim turned back around to pull off his pants. The pants were folded, and he stood waiting until she ahem'd before he turned back around. She had taken off her blouse, leaving on her brassiere, and needed help with her own traveling trousers. He helped her off the rock, and with reddened cheeks, she carefully kicked off her pants.

Kaim noticed that she was trying to cover herself, and he looked up at her face, eyes not darting down. "I won't look if you don't want me to," he promised.

"Thank you," came her quiet reply.

With his clothes nice and neatly folded next to his boots, and Sarah's strewn on and around the rock, he helped her through the soft grass. It was only three steps to walk to the water, so she just leaned on him for support. He saw her trying her hardest not to look at him in just his undershorts. He didn't mind any way. After so many years of living with dirty militia men, he was not body shy.

He stepped into the spring. There was no gradual entry into the water, so it was quite the jump down; the warm water coming up to his chest. Without turning around to look up at her, Kaim motioned for Sarah to come in; letting her use any part of him to comfortably lower herself to the water. She used his shoulders to gently sit onto the ground, and slide into the water. The warm water did wonders for the two of them, and soon they found a spot on the edge of the pool where a rock jutted out to sit. Sarah leaned her head back onto the grass and didn't move. Kaim found himself doing the same.

After around ten minutes, he could feel Sarah stirring beside him. He opened his eyes to see her trying to lift her leg under the water. After a few more struggles and winces, she turned pitiful eyes over to Kaim. He smiled and reached over to lift her leg. "Even though I don't have my staff on me, I can feel healing properties in this water. If I can just focus I should be able to heal myself," she explained, resting her hands on either side of her leg. Kaim watched as she closed her eyes and scrunched up her face.

There was a moment where nothing happened. The only sounds were the birds taking flight in through the trees. And then Kaim started to feel the spring get even warmer. It was almost uncomfortable, and he was going to ask Sarah if everything was okay, but then suddenly she was moving her toes. She opened her eyes and laughed as the wiggling turned into her turning her foot left and right. "Much better!" she exclaimed and started pulling at the ties that kept her splint together. She threw them over to the rock they undressed at.

Sarah was able to move around the spring on her own, now, and Kaim liked watching her swim from one end to the other. At one point, she took off her glasses and dunked her head underneath the warm water. When she resurfaced he was there to push her hair away from her face.

"It's so messy when it gets wet!" She was red in the face and Kaim couldn't tell if she was embarrassed about their clothing situation, the heat of the water, or if it was from his gentle touch. Kaim bent over and caught her in a kiss. When they broke apart, she held a hand to her lips and couldn't quite look him in the eye. "I feel as if I will never get used to this."

"Get used to what?" Kaim asked, eyebrow shooting up. Sarah sent him a look of feigned annoyance. "Bathing with your boyfriend of twenty-four hours?" he finished, teasingly. This time the look wasn't feigned, and he could hear her audible gasp.

She took one step away from him, and then moved her arms to splash at him. Kaim returned the wave, and they spent the next few minutes playing in the water, until Kaim had her backed up against the bank. With a breathless laugh, she kissed the corner of his mouth. He raised hands to her face and locked her in another, deeper, kiss; only stopping when they both needed to breathe, reconnecting straight after.

Next week I start teaching again, so who knows when I'll update. I'm a very sporadic updater, so I'll see you when I see you! Thank you for reading! (Who knows. I might sneak in another chapter before the 20th!)