Kallian was once again trying to baby Vanea, and once again, Vanea couldn't stand for it. No, she figured it was time to remind him of a pretty important fact about the two of them in regards to age. She just hoped he would take it well…

"Kallian…" She looked at him with a sigh. "You do realize I'm older than you, yes?"

Kallian for a moment seemed to process this fact, and followed it by staring at her in horror. He looked as if she had just announced the death of his childhood pet, the way his face fell.

"How old are you, Vanea?"

"Well over two-thousand. Machina live much longer than even you High Entia." She tried to keep her voice gentle as he buried his face in his hands. "Did you not realize?"

"No, I did not…" He groaned, voice dripping with embarrassment. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"Well…" She looked away, scratching her cheek. "I honestly thought you knew. You High Entia seem smart enough to have that fact about us on record, at least for the royal family…"

"It seems we're a dumber race than either of us thought." He finally looked up, a frown on his face. "I… truly apologize for trying to act like I was older than you, then. If I had known, it never would have happened!"

"It's fine, I'm mostly stopping you because I don't want to see Egil and you argue about it. He has the whole big brother things quite under control, after all…" Even if she was more the protector type than he was.

"True, I suppose I should focus more on Tyrea…" He looked towards the assassin, a frustrated sigh escaping him. "If only she was a bit more receptive to it…"

She watched him for a moment, his lower lip quivering a bit as he looked over at Tyrea. A little sister who rejected the idea of family with her entire being. Family who didn't want to be family, even when Kallian longed for it. She could only imagine...

"There, there… give it time." She pat his shoulder. "I'm sure she'll warm to you the more we travel! I'm quite sure she's already shown at least some signs of warming, even!"

"You truly think so?" Kallian tapped his cheek and sighed. "I wish I could see what you seem to see."

"Give it time and you will!" She ruffled his hair with a smile. "You simply need patience."

Kallian fixed his hair a bit, laughing awkwardly. "Why does it feel like our roles have reversed from how I tried to act?"

"Because I'm older than you, maybe?" She snickered, covering her mouth for a second. "I'm in more of a position to baby you than you are to baby me, after all!"

"You need not remind me!" He groaned. "I still can't believe I did not realize you were older than me. Vanea, I am so sorry."

"Don't worry so much about it, Kallian!" She let out a full-blown laugh then. "Just focus on avoiding rocks when we set out today, okay?"

"Vanea, I can't tell if you're comforting me or bullying me…"


"Just what is it that you're hiding?" Tyrea walked up next to Alvis as they traversed the Leg, a frown on her face. "There's something about you that isn't quite right, so what is it?"

"Hm?" He turned his head to glance at her. "I've not a clue what you mean!"

There was that smug grin again, the one that told her he definitely knew what she was talking about. He was always like this, trying to be so sly and coy… but Tyrea didn't buy it, not for a moment! She could tell there was something hiding behind that angelic face of his.

A real devil, trying to act so innocent. Getting all cozy with the group's leader to stay out of scrutiny, even! Well… maybe the fool had really fallen head-over-heels for Egil, but that wasn't Tyrea's business.

No, but his secret was. If he was going to force her out here, he could at least have the decency to be transparent with her!

"Don't give me that, Seer!" Her voice dripped with venom. "You're always keeping something close to your chest, even when swooning over Egil."

"I do not hide anything, and I do not swoon." Alvis huffed, actually seeming a bit upset. "Swooning is for people in love, I… am not in love."

"How do you hide something so adeptly and not realize your own feelings?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Do you really expect me to believe you don't know exactly how you feel?!"

"I am not in love, I just care for him! That's all!" Alvis had more emotion in his voice than usual as he snapped, but he was quick to clear that all out. "...I am not hiding anything from you, either way."

"You are hiding something and you are in love!" Tyrea poked him in the chest, making him come to a halt as she moved in front of him. "The sooner you admit to both those things, the better it will be for the group."

Alvis went quiet for a long moment, before finally speaking. ""Alright, so maybe I am in love! But I'm not hiding anything from you!"

"You admit to being in love when you didn't realize it yourself just moments ago, but you won't admit to hiding something?!" Tyrea felt like she was about to rip her hair out. "You are so… infuriating!"

"Then don't talk to me." He stuck his tongue out and moved around her, catching up with the group.

And of course he went right to Egil, hand on the Machina's arm. Stupid Seer, avoiding her questions… One day she would get him to admit whatever it was he was hiding! No matter how long it took!

Today just happened to not be that day, that was all… Oh, that slithery snake!


A battle with some wildlife, nothing too extreme, but still enough to leave some of the group banged up a bit. Linada looked around, taking note of anyone who might need healing and… aha! Oka! She had quite the gash on her side.

Nothing a little ether couldn't fix, Linada was sure, as she aimed her rifle at her. The only problem, however, was the fact Oka was moving around. Not only could that cause more bleeding, but it made it impossible for Linada to get a clear shot.

"Stop moving, Oka. Let me help you." Linada huffed as the Nopon continued to move around and look through her satchel. "A little ether and it'll be like nothing happened!"

"Oka know that, but Oka want to- aha!" She pulled out some strange jar, presenting it proudly.

When she opened it, Linada noticed it smelled bitter… Probably didn't taste great, though she had no clue what 'taste' was really like. It didn't look great, either. A dark greenish-grey color.

Honestly, Linada had no clue what it was. Something to eat that was so bad it would knock you out and you could forget about your injury? That was about the only idea she had… Well, until Oka started to slather it on her wound.

Linada blinked once or twice, trying to register what she was seeing. "Oka, you…"

"Old Nopon remedy! To help conserve ether!" Oka nodded, as happy as could be. "So Linada can save ether for other friends! ...Or maybe even learn how to make, hm?"

Linada sighed, but gave her a small smile. "I think I'll stick to the means I have. Besides, would that even work on a Machina?"

Oka gasped. "Oh! Oka not even think about that… Oka is very sorry for insensitive, Linada!"

"It's fine! If it works for you, it could help out the High Entia and Alvis too, right?" Linada smiled at her. "Never hurts to have a few more options on the table!"

Oka perked right up, just as Linada had hoped she would. "Oh! Linada is right! Oka remedy still come in handy! Now let Oka teach Linada about super secret Nopon technique for making boo boo better!"

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do tell! We need to move on soon, after all."

"Friend just need to kiss boo boo and say pain pain go away!" Oka hopped up and down, proud of herself. "Then boo boo will be all better!"

Linada doubted that, to her very core. In fact, she was pretty sure any bit of that that helped was placebo, at best. But… whatever made Oka happy, she supposed. She didn't want to upset the mother again, not so soon.

"I see! I'll keep that in mind for the future, thank you, Oka."

"Oka happy to help!"