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Ephemer, try as he did, could not stop Anora from going on the field trip. He begged and pleaded, but no one truly gave him the time of day. At some point, someone reminded him that everyone was partnered with another to reduce the chances of someone getting lost. That was when Ephemer petitioned to be partnered with Anora. He was shot down again due to the rule that Seventh Year students were to be paired with Eighth Year students. Something about it being a peer leading exercise. But Ephemer fought long and hard; he suggested Anora be paired with Skuld, then. Or Strelitzia. For their own reasons, both girls refused.
A compromise was eventually reached, however; Brain would be partnered with Anora. Anora herself didn't quite notice or seem to care about this arrangement. She took control of the map and happily led them through the walking trails. More than once Brain noted that she took them off the marked path, but he didn't say anything about it. If Anora noticed that they were, good. If not, then he'd redirect her. Somehow. It was rather hard to say no to her excitement for the most mundane things.
After some time, the two came to a fork in the road.
"We need to take the upper path." the young man said to her. "It's the fastest way to the outlook."
But the little look Anora was giving him illustrated that she thought differently. Brain was not amused in the slightest by the opposition.
"Anora, if we get lost..."
Anora shook her head before starting to head toward the lower path. She even made a little hop over the ditch before turning around to urge him to follow her. Brain tried very hard to stay focused. Was she purposely being this adorable, or was it simply a quirk of being a selective mute? Regardless, and despite his better judgment, Brain followed her. The two walked for two hours through the trees; Anora had a hard time concentrating on the path, distracted by every bird or woodland creature they came across to nervously jump away from it. Brain was too callous to really notice where they were going either. It was only when they got to a clearing that they stopped.
"We're lost, Anora-bird." Brain announced, rather bitterly. "I told you we should have taken the upper path."
Anora shook her head, sure that they were on the right path, as she looked at the map. Brain observed her for a moment before looking up at the sky. He gave a small tsk in noting that it was almost time for sunset.
"It's just domino after domino with you, isn't it?" Brain huffed, folding his arms as Anora continued to pour over the map. "Wouldn't listen to me so now we're lost. Had to go and waltz into a three day coma so Ephemer could make me babysit someone who clearly doesn't need it. Jiminy Cricket, Anora, even that kiss you had with Lauriam's sister somehow led to you being with Mister 'I-can't-even-let-my-girlfriend-breathe-without-me' to begin with! How does everything problematic decide to happen around you?"
Everything in Anora's body suddenly turned to ice. She looked up at him, her eyes widening, and her grip on the map tightening enough to almost crumple it.
"What did you just say?" she asked, almost in a whisper.
The young man's eyebrows lowered. He wasn't going to take back what he said; he never took back anything he said, ever.
"You're a linchpin." he accused without a hint of shame. "Everything everyone says or does comes back to you."
But Anora shook her head. "What about the kiss? About leading me to Ephemer?"
"It's nothing." the young man decided with a callous wave of his hand. "Doesn't matter now anyway, does it? You two are just so lovey-dovey in love and all."
Again, Anora quickly shook her head at him. "What about the kiss, Brain?" Anora repeated- a sense of urgency rising in her voice now. "Was there something else?"
For a subtle moment, Brain's entire body stiffened.
"Anora, we don't have time for-"
"Tell me!"
For a moment, Brain found himself recoiling at Anora. She must have been at least half a head smaller than him, but at this very moment, the fury in her eyes was enough to make her appear a foot taller.
"Fine." Brain growled. "I'll tell you. Do you remember when Strelitzia invited you for a walk? The one where she ended up kissing you on? She didn't do that because she wanted to- she did it because I told her to."
Anora's face paled slightly at hearing this, but her eyes were still stone cold. Brain took it as a sign to continue.
"I didn't expect her to kiss you." he went on, "I didn't even plan on apologizing if it wasn't for Lauriam going brother bear on me."
"But you did." came the certain rebuttal. "Why? You could have ignored him."
"Why?" Brain repeated. "Because watching two respectable kids trip over themselves for some clueless mute was getting tiring. Are you really just that dense, or do you enjoy stringing people along like that?"
The map in Anora's hands was almost a ball at this point.
"Why do you keep thinking that?" she questioned. Her voice was hard- Brain should have known then that he was overstepping. But the fire had been started, and there was still fuel to throw at it.
"Because you have no place here." came the cold answer. "Because you shouldn't stand out but you do. Because everything in this world revolves around you, and there's no escaping it! I'd tell you to get lost, but it looks like you've already got us there!"
Anora blinked once, then twice. Her eyes were starting to gloss over in tears, but a silent fury was embedded within them.
"You jerk!" she finally screeched before tossing the map blindly to the side.
She launched her whole body at him, but Brain simply side stepped out of the way. Anora, surprised, tried to turn back around to face him, but at the same time she tripped over a large tree root. The girl fell head over teacups on herself -something that surprised Brain with a jolt- before her back and head smacked the ground. She remained there for awhile; stars swimming in her eyes and a growing, throbbing pain in both her back and her foot.
When she could finally regain her senses, she carefully started to sit up again and found that Brain was now standing over her. His face all but obscured by the shadow of his hat. Anora shrunk at his presence, suddenly fearing what he would do to her. But, whatever she feared he would do, or whatever he was thinking at that moment, passed when he asked her, "Are you alright?"
Anora nodded, albeit a bit too quickly, as she looked away from his gaze. It seemed to be as good an answer as any to him, so he turned away from her.
"Come on." he decided. "We can still get back up to the trail if we don't waste any more time."
Anora nodded before she started to get up. The moment she put her weight on her right foot, she went back down again in pain. Brain heard her let out an odd squeak and turned to look at her.
"You've got to be kidding me." he grumbled under his breath.
Anora didn't give him any mind as she sat back down on the ground. Brain took a place near her foot. He located a moderately sized rock to elevate her foot slightly after taking off her shoes for her. Anora flinched as he did it. How come her foot was deciding to hurt now?
"Let me know if anything hurts." Brain informed her. Anora nodded, allowing him to gently press against various areas around her foot and ankle. When something hurt, Anora let him know with a warning hiss or a sudden exclamation of surprise. After a few minutes, Brain moved away from her, but his eyes were still trained to her foot.
"It's sprained." he informed her. In a vague tone, he added under his breath, "You're one heck of a hot mess, you know that?"
Anora flinched. In a small voice she said, "Sorry..."
Brain glanced up at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Just tell Ephemer that this was your fault, and not mine. Not that he's going to listen or anything..." With a hard sigh, Brain started to get out sports tape from his backpack. Anora wondered for a moment why he had it, but knew better than to question it right now.
"Sprains are common during hiking." Brain explained, as if he could read her mind. "Although, to be honest, I didn't expect you to be the clumsy type. Or infuriatingly stubborn."
For this, Anora did not apologize- she did give him a small nod of acknowledgment though. Brain didn't notice as he wrapped her foot and ankle tight with the sports tape. He took his time while doing so- once or twice he actually pulled the tape back up to readjust it.
"There." he decided when he was done. "That should do the trick until help arrives. But now it means we're staying here for the night."
"Why?"
Brain shot Anora a look so cold, a chill ran up the young woman's back.
"First of all, you're indisposed." he informed her in a short tone. "Second, look up."
Anora raised a curious eyebrow before looking up at the sky. The sunset was fading into night time darkness. Seeing it made Anora's heart race. Even Brain looked a bit distressed at the sight.
"If anyone notices that we're not on the bus, we may be found tonight. If not, we'll be here awhile. Do you have any camping experience?"
Anora shook her head. "It was always too cold."
Brain grimaced. "I trust the rumors of you being a fast learner are true?" he asked her. "Because you're gonna need that skill. It's going to be a long night."