The thing that woke Nina in the morning (or maybe it was still night. She wasn't entirely certain at the time) was the tiny prickles that came from cool drops of water splattering upon her face. She assumed, maybe even hoped, the sensation was a mere projection of her hyper imagination and decided to shrug it off. In doing so, she would continue her visit in the realm of slumber. However, as more time passed, the drops became more persistent and, soon enough, annoying. No matter what she did, no pit of sleep could possibly take her hand and drag her into the land of escape, an unfortunate thing, for soon enough, Nina eyes bolted open, displaying fire in their depths.
The sky, she observed, definitely hinted at morning, but made the ultimate answer ambiguous. It was light gray as if the clouds began a secret affair with the sun. She could still see, but the sight of the sky took away any sense of gratitude. Her not being a morning person could have also been a reasonable culprit, but the dark dots pelting the dirt surrounding her seemed far more suspicious. Wetness began to beat her head, which coaxed out a growl.
"Just what we needed," she muttered. "All I can hope is that this doesn't turn into a storm."
Soleil appeared to have already roused before her, so breaking the news would do neither of them much good. Upon further observation of their quaint little camp, Nina found her at the end of slipping into one of their spare pieces of clothing. A wise choice, Nina would later think to herself. It was best that Soleil wore garments that hid her wound to avoid any unwanted questions.
"Nothing wrong with a little rain, right?" her neighbor asked the moment her head popped out of the collar of the top. Like usual, she grinned.
As she rose, Nina released a groan contrary to Soleil's chipper tone, then proceeded to stretch the furthest her limbs would allow, almost to the point where it hurt. Her eyes darted around, dazed from awakening, before she heaved a sigh.
"Not when you're outside all day," she answered blandly.
"But haven't you danced in the rain before? It's the greatest feeling."
"Haven't you caught a cold before? It's not the greatest feeling." She paused, alarmed at her own snappiness (which Soleil didn't deserve at the moment), and shook her head quickly. "Sorry. I'm still half asleep. Have you eaten yet?"
Soleil shrugged as she looked at an awkward direction.
"Sort of. I snacked on a few crackers when I woke up," she giggled. "You know, since they'll be soggy in a bit."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Nina checked what was now a smoldering pile of ash, gave it a good kick, then forgot all about it by turning to their two pairs of luggage. As she picked the plumper up, heaving all the way, she beckoned Soleil forth. "We should get going. We need to cover as much ground as we can in case this rain gets bad later."
"But you haven't eaten." Soleil offered a helping hand by hauling the load further atop her back. In response, Nina attempted to shoo the matter off with a shake of the head.
"Don't worry. I'll eat while we walk."
Eat while they walked she did. She munched on the aforementioned crackers as they journeyed on, their sandals beating against the moistening ground. The further they traveled, the softer the dirt road became, which presented a few obstacles such as lengthy puddles. A quick look at the compass told them that the storm was likely traveling south. Favorable, seeing that they were headed north toward the coastline. What wasn't favorable, however, was the sight of their vision becoming congested by a cloud of fog. It wasn't the thickest Nina had seen, but it wasn't the mildest either. With the fog, worst of all, came a slightly heavier shower of rain.
Before long, Soleil, once the embodiment of enthusiasm over the subject of rain, shivered and occasionally glanced over at her partner. Her hair, still unbraided from last night's disguise, became a wet and matted mess. She looked almost like a completely different person. If she were to peer into one of the many puddles they were forced to trudge through, Soleil would have seen that the rain altered her identity as well, for where once there was volume and silkiness atop her head, there was flatness and oil. It was because Soleil could not see herself she was the first to crack a joke.
"Hate to say this, but you look like hell, Nina." A snicker from her deviant lips followed. Her audience, a tough crowd, wasn't as amused, most likely because she didn't have to peer into a puddle to see the irony that lingered ever so silently between them.
Not a surprise to them, the road was not busy at all. If anything, they'd put good money on the bet that they were the only souls that occupied it for a good ways... That is until a distant, and alarming, melody emerged ahead of them, overpowering the orchestra of water beating water. It was marching, Nina was the first to recognize, and thanks to their handicap, the sounds of rain, it was difficult to distinguish what it came from. Her best guess was that it wasn't from anything she'd care to see, so she took the initiative to tug Soleil to the side of the road, where they camped out behind a small rock. It wasn't a large rock, so it was necessary that they huddled the closest they could. Given the distress of the situation, not a single comment was uttered from Soleil.
The marching only grew louder, to their dismay, which made their muscles tighten. Voices of men rang just over their hiding place, and it was dreadfully close. The sounds of flapping wings soared overhead, then the brays of angered steeds. Then suddenly, as if to to add to their horror and add to their horror only, the marching came to a screeching halt.
If they happened to choose to look, a suicidal move they didn't bother taking, they would have found men of Hoshido gathered in uniform lines, all stiff as boards. Their eyes were fixed forward as though nothing surrounding them was captivating, and their faces remained cold and stale. They had been hardened by the grueling process of war and training. The man in front, a leader presumably, happened to scan around upon stopping. Upon his expression formed the brand of suspicion and skepticism as his eyes moved gracefully along the land of fog. Not even the rain could stop him.
"Men," he announced forcefully. "It is vital that we are always on watch in places such as these. With our vision hindered, it is the prime opportunity for an ambush the Nohrians would surely embrace..." He began to stride then, dirtying his shoes further in the mud. He hovered over to the rock on the side of the road, which he gazed upon grimly. He paused before it, then, in a swift movement that had his naginata ready for action, he circled around it. "Like the scum that is hiding from... us?" What he found, contrary to his original figuring, was nothing but grass and water behind it. Not a soul lingered besides his own.
The leader was sharp, obviously, but not sharp enough. Just a little ways down the road, cloaked by the cover of clouds, Nina and Soleil carried on quickly. Each step they would try to muffle, and each breath became a chore. They were not caught in the end, but anxiety kept them horrified and as thorough as they could be. Fear silenced them for a good ways, and they kept far from the main road. Even though the rain began to give them chills and other unpleasantries, they pushed onward.
At a certain point, when she figured it was safe enough, Nina paused, turn around, and release a delayed huff.
"Looks like Corrin is going to have some issues. The Hoshidans're already sending in reinforcements..."
Whether or not her word had merit was the least of their concerns. They trudged through the rain, giving not a care to the thought of being afflicted by a sort of illness (which was sure to creep up on them eventually). They carried onward, prejudice of the road. The most recent encounter with the Hoshidans left them frightened, even though, when they were by themselves, they were confident in their disguises. Nina continuously tended to the fear in Soleil by reminding her that they could never be too sure.
The further north they traveled, the less rain they saw. Such a godsend came with a less desirable price: the cold winds from the distant ocean, which sat well with neither of them, being soaking wet. Soleil happened to be mature enough not to buzz on about how much her wound hurt from each shiver that rushed up her body, but her face wasn't, for it bore every mark of pain of which an expression could tattle. She kept her arm dormant as it swung at her side, and she never dared to make a decision as foolish as moving it. Their coldness ultimately slowed them, but not by much. Nina was persistent when it came to marching on. What time they wasted hiding in Izumo the day before had to be compensated at all costs. The idea of compensation, to neither of their liking, drove them to carry on, even when the sun had fallen.
It was utterly miserable.
Sore feet.
Nappy hair.
Shivering cold.
A painful arm.
Excruciating exhaustion.
All those factors made them furiously sigh upon deciding to stop for the night. Nina even caved into her urge to not save their sticks of fire starter. A fire was well needed, and they weren't hesitant to huddle around it as though it were an object of worship. Upon being dry enough, they eventually rose again to redress in their spare sets of clothes. Soleil would have to return to the top that was missing an arm, and, lucky for her, Nina still had hers unscathed. The soaked pair lingered beside the fire to be sapped of their moisture.
Once returning to the warmth, they began rummaging through their bags to study the damage the rain had done. To their relief, they found nothing terribly ruined, but that was before they reached into Nina's bag, where they kept their food. The crackers, as Soleil predicted, were ruined, as were the few loaves of bread beneath them. Upon pulling mush out, they heaved a sigh. A desperate sort. Any good news would do them extraordinarily well.
"So much for conservation," Nina mused. "The crackers and the bread were all we had besides some meat, and we need to save that for when the weather starts to cool off..."
While running a finger down her jaw, Soleil's gaze wandered up to the undisturbed night sky. It was pretty, but the present refused to allow her to appreciate it.
"We can eat the packed meat and hunt tomorrow," she suggested, to which Nina stiffly shook her head.
"The meat that's been packed for us has been cured, so they'll last us for a while. Instead of eating them now, we should hunt until winter moves in. It'll be here before we know it." To Soleil's surprise, she rose again, then headed toward the heavier pack. It did not take long for her to figure what it was she reached for, for soon enough, Nina began pulling out handfuls of shiny new arrows. Slightly concerned, Soleil staggered to her feet, which delivered her to Nina's side.
"H-Hey, you're not going hunting now, are you?"
From the bag came a small, but compact, yumi, which its handler inspected. Having found no faults in the weapon, she turned to her neighbor.
"Most of the animals that make a good meal are nocturnal, so yes, I suppose I am."
"But we've been walking all day and you've been carrying both bags. I can't let you go out and work some more. You need to rest for a while."
They locked eyes, a sure sign of opposition.
"Oh. I figured you wouldn't want to hunt because your arm was hurting." She held out the yumi as if she were prepared to offer it. "Was I mistaken?"
Soleil blinked.
"No... Not really. I don't know how to shoot a bow. You do. And I'm pretty sure there's little use in trying to catch a cute rabbit with a sword..."
"Uh-huh. Thought so. Since you can't, I'll go." She turned around, popping a knuckle or two in anticipation for her journey into the woods. "I'll be back in a minute, so don't worry. Try drying some things while you're waiting."
"W-Wait." Soleil rushed up to her again. "Let me go with you. I know you said for me not to worry, but really... I can't help myself. There's no telling what's out there. And what if you get lost? If we both get lost together, it won't be as bad. We wouldn't have to worry about regrouping to continue. We can just keep on toward the capital from wherever it is we're at."
There was plenty of sincerity in those brown eyes of hers, which made sense if any stopped to ponder further on the matter. Even though Nina was stubborn at times, it didn't mean she wasn't reasonable. A compromise was clearly the only solution that would appease either of them, so she left the foot of the woods to return to one of the packs, into which she proceeded to dig. When her hand returned to the surface, it held one of the distress firecrackers, which she knocked upon to test its faithfulness.
"Tell you what. I'll take one of these. If I fire it, it'll mean that I'm calling for you to come find me. I'll either be lost, not likely, or under attack by something I can't handle on my own, slightly more likely. Can we agree on that?"
Soleil's response wasn't quite as cooperative. Her eyes dulled with worry as she took the cracker from Nina's hands. It was a pretty little thing, its shaft decorated by ribbons and red paint, white on its top. To use a thing designed for entertainment as an emergency tool was a strange thought that had her momentarily pause.
"We only have three, though, so I'd hate to waste it on something we can avoid..."
"Take it or leave it, Soleil," Nina muttered.
"Okay, okay... Bossy." She shoved the firework back into her hands.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Did you call me bossy?"
"No."
"Yes you did."
"Then why did you ask?"
The simplest of questions, so Soleil proved, could end the strangest of arguments. Upon contemplating, Nina's eyes narrowed, her lips frowned, and she whipped around with all the force she could muster. A simple glance over her shoulder showed that she would not go any further into the debate. She realized she had been united with bitter defeat.
"I'll be back in a minute. Don't do anything dumb while I'm gone, got it?"
Before Soleil could ask what was considered dumb, Nina strode away, where she disappeared into the thicket. It was with that, she ultimately decided that dumb would have to be hers to define. Whatever it was Soleil was going to do, Nina didn't have to worry too much of it, for she had been sidetracked by focus. The night was a dangerous place, but she was no stranger. If anything, she and the night were good pals... or maybe frenemies like she was with Soleil, for the night enjoyed playing a good trick on her from time to time.
Prowling lowly through the thicket was a sort of remedy for her. Though she was as alert as a working hound, the inky sense of loneliness was the perfect climate to unknot and let her eyes close. A few seconds' worth of leaving them shut allowed her to open them again, vision improved. Of course, it was not improved much, but any sort of improvement was an improvement she was more than willing to accept. Her senses sharpened into tiny blades, all ready to attack, but in return, she became sensitive. It wasn't entirely a good thing, for, just behind her, where they had set up camp, she could hear Soleil singing in the distance. It wasn't good singing, neither was it quiet, so Nina decided to plow deeper into the woods in hopes of escaping the racket.
At last, she became one with the silence. Only the slightest of rustles from bushes interrupted their consummation, but she knew when those rustles were indebted to her and when they weren't. Those that weren't, unfortunately, weren't as common as hers, but each time one came about, her eyes darted around her surroundings furiously. Little animals scurrying about were sure to cross her path eventually, no matter how long it took.
Nina wasn't exactly a master hunter by any means, but she could definitely pull a successful outing if she really, really wanted to. Today happened to be one of those days given the circumstances. If she didn't have her way, she and Soleil weren't going to be chipper. Empty stomachs were never chipper, especially when it only had bland crackers the meal before. Oh, her belly was growling now, just thinking of the possibilities. Rabbit jerky, deer brisket, owl breast... Well, she wasn't sure how she was going to prepare anything like that once she acquired the meat, but she was more than willing to play the operation by ear.
Her attentive ears, at last, picked up on a misfortunate rustle. It wasn't hers, she noted, and she immediately zeroed in on the target. The simplest of movements of her visitor were soft, yet, in a climate of silence, they had quite the volume. It was very easy for her to spot the brown tuft of fur that protruded from the ground. It wasn't large at all, but in the eyes of someone who was beginning to grow hungry, it was big enough. A buck with tall ears was what it was, and long before it could detect danger and hop away, it was quickly shot down by an arrow. It didn't suffer much, she figured, and took her prize with a detestable air of smug victory. By those same ears, she held it up, and she studied its face as it bathed in the moonlight, which sneaked a peek through the canopy.
"Soleil eats a lot more than I do, but she didn't work much today. You'll do just fine." The rabbit didn't give a response. It was a good thing that it didn't because Nina wasn't wanting one. Instead, she proceeded to recover her arrow from its side and return it to the quiver strapped to the small of her back. Things were going surprisingly well thus far, to her astonishment. But... being studious when it came to observing patterns, Nina was sure that, at any given moment, something was going to go horribly wrong. That's just how things worked for her, and she happened to evolve to be able to handle those sorts of issues.
Something did go wrong.
It didn't happen to her directly, but she was soon going to get involved. It, instead, happened to Soleil first, who was still at camp, minding her own business. She was busy, engrossed in the activity of "not doing anything dumb", when she happened to feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise. Soleil wasn't quite as sensitive, nor perceptive, as Nina, but that didn't mean she never had her moments. She could sense when a person was angry or upset, and could act accordingly, but only a time or two had she ever been able to detect someone approaching one of her blind spots. It was a mere stroke of luck to suddenly have her senses sharpen. She whirled around to find someone behind her. It was a man. A stranger man.
His attire was similar to Nina's uniform when they were with the army, except the bulky hat that decorated his head. His cape looked large, lofty, and weighty. His boots were thick and dirty. Either of his calves gave a home to a knife, both sheathed and strapped. A quiver of arrows hung from his hip. A bow was clutched in his hand. Most alarming of all, he was spectating their packs like a shopper striding down isles of merchandise. Almost immediately, Soleil stood and, with her only good arm, drew the kodachi that had yet to kiss the crimson wine of blood. The moment their eyes locked, the intruder halted his slow trek toward their things. In a nonthreatening fashion, his free hand reached up and tipped his hat.
"Good night," he greeted with a smooth, charming tone. It was a good thing Nina wasn't the one experiencing the encounter, otherwise she surely would have been swooned into oblivion.
With no hat to tip, Soleil returned the motion with a nod.
"Hey." She gave the stranger the benefit of the doubt. So long as he posed little threat, she wouldn't pounce on him. It wasn't entirely for his good. It was for hers. A fight with a bad arm was a fight she was sure to lose, so it was best that she avoided one at all costs. "Do you need something?"
"No, actually. My buddies and I were just passing through."
Soleil's pupils shrunk before they worriedly began to dart around. Not once did her attention leave the man before her, but she took half of it and exerted it on the surrounding darkness. Though they were hard to make out, it was undeniable that there happened to stand two men more just out of range of the light, and they steadily prowled closer. Quickly afterward, she grew tense and abandoned any hope of the encounter being friendly.
"Where're you on your way to?"
"We go wherever we want, really. And you?"
"The capital."
"Oh, so you must be a traveling merchant then. I should've known by the way your clothes look. Strange, though. I've never seen your kind wield weapons like swords. Most I've seen have either lances or bows."
Lances or bows. Interesting terminology. The man, and his allies assumably, were foreigners just like she and Nina. If his choice of words didn't give it away, the faint accent surely would. Should he be a man of similar nationality, chances were he would be able to draw the same conclusions about her as well. At the time, she wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Regardless, she felt the urge to surrender her ground and make a beeline into the thicket. If she did that, she could reasonably assume what would happen next. Akin to the likes of Nina, these men were thieves. If she fled and returned when the threat passed, everything they had would surely be gone.
Soleil had to do the only thing she could do, and that was force the biggest grin she could possibly muster. It was a flawless tactic that left her opponents stunned each and every time. A time such as now was of no exception.
"This is great!" she exclaimed. "You know, I've been looking for some good travel buddies lately. With all this war stuff going on, I could really use someone to watch my back. You sound and look like you're from Nohr. I'm Nohrian too, believe it or not. The funny clothes just help with business here in the east."
The man, taken back, raised a brow.
"Really, now?" he replied.
"No leg-pulling here. I bet we can get along real well. If you guys want to join me, I'd be more than happy to split the profits from my sales with you. No strings attached! It just gets real lonely and frightening out here all alone. You know, I wouldn't have anyone to help me if I got hurt or something." She approached the man as she, in a leap of hopeful faith, sheathed the kodachi. It wasn't something she wanted to do by any means, but it was a task necessity called for. When she was near the bags, she proceeded to dig inside hers. When her hand returned, it returned with a second firework. "What do you say we celebrate our union with some fireworks? These don't sell well over here because they scare people, so I've been wanting to use one." Evidently puzzled, her audience watched as she brought the firecracker to the fire Nina had made, lit the fuse, then stuck it in the ground. Her feet quickly took her to the stranger's side, where she shielded her ears with her hands.
"Careful, these suckers are loud. You won't be able to hear for a while if you don't cover up!"
The man didn't heed her warning. Instead, he chose to give her the most suspicious of stares, both ears vulnerable. A shrill, however, did finally cause him to draw his hands to either side of his skull. All watched as a flare howled upward, and, with a green and white explosion in the sky, a boom cracked across the land.
The commotion frightened away another buck Nina encountered on her way back to camp. At first, she was angry to see the little thing hop away, but concern arrived to distract her. Her head raised, puzzled, but intuitive. The canopy made it difficult to see much of the sky, but bits of green where there shouldn't have been green happened to catch her eyes. She rose where she once crouched, then collected the rabbit laying at her side. Quickly gathering her bow and arrows soon had her weaving through the trees the quickest her feet could take her.
They only discussed what it meant when Nina launched a firework, but it could best be assumed that the same applied to Soleil: she called for help.
Nina hadn't strayed too far from camp, which, in turn, meant that the dash was brief and effortless. The real problem was what she encountered upon arriving, and it caused her to pause and linger in the thicket. Beside the road stood Soleil, who was chatting with three strange men. She was smiling and laughing as though she told a joke, but Nina knew better. That was her frenemy, and Nina knew when her frenemy forced a laugh, no matter how convincing it seemed.
Further observation confirmed her suspicions, for she took note of the stranger's attire. They were outlaws, similar to she and Niles' past, and Soleil clearly felt threatened. There was no time to second guess her intuition. Something had to be done quickly before something poor came from the situation.
Reluctantly, Nina, as she continued to hide in the shelter of the thicket, quietly reached into her quiver.
Soleil was unaware of Nina's presence, just like the rest of the men that surrounded her. She was a decent actor, but that was as far as her talent extended. Just decent. Sweat began to spill from her crown, so she had to maintain her distance from her visitors to hide her glistening face in the dark. They could not know she was nervous, otherwise it would surely spell out disaster. She was happy. She was chipper. That was the way she was going to be and that was the way she was going to remain until Nina came to assist her. Or would Nina come at all? What if she thought she made a mistake that caused the firework to go off? What if she didn't hear it? No, that was a stupid thought. Anyone for a good ways could probably hear that firework.
"Wow! That thing sure was pretty, wasn't it? I wonder why the Hoshidans don't buy many of these." She turned back to the man near her, only to be horrified to find him drawing near her packs once again. She improvised the best she could. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, friend. We have to get to know one another a little better before I let you get in my stuff. I'm sure you understand, right? How about we start with names? You and your friends got one?"
The man narrowed his eyes, then turned back to her. They locked eyes, and when they did, Soleil had to admit that she fought the urge to cower. Cowering wouldn't make her cool, though, would it? She had to maintain that stout posture that faltered against nothing... not necessarily because she was attempting to impress anyone, but because she wanted to keep her little ego polished.
Before the man could open his mouth, to her surprise, the stranger would be brought to gasps and tears. An arrow flew out of nowhere and lodged itself in the side of his neck. He was very much beyond repair, and both seemed to acknowledge it. Soleil was the more relieved of the two, of course, but still backed away.
Good. Nina did know what her signal meant.
"Dammit! She's got an... accomplice!" the wounded stranger croaked. He sunk to his knees, hands fighting not to struggle against the arrow that had afflicted him. "Get them!"
The other two men split. One headed toward the thicket from which the arrow had flown, the other headed straight for Soleil. He drew an arrow from his quiver, but would be surprised to find Soleil rush close to him, close enough that his bow did him no good. With her kodachi drawn, she took multiple swipes at him, all of which he blocked precisely with his once useless bow. What he wasn't expecting, however, was another arrow to whip out of the thicket. It struck his upper bicep, drawing a scream.
"Ha! You're just like me now!" Soleil gushed. When his shield fell, she grasped the opportunity to strike him on the opposite arm, rendering him defenseless. The urgency of the situation demanded that Soleil cut him down, and, to preserve their safety, she complied.
Nina did not stay and watch what Soleil would do to the man after she shot him, for she was far more fixed on the division that was making his way to her position. The night would make it difficult for him to find her, thankfully, but even so, she felt her shoulders tense as a swear escaped her lips. She relieved her fighting stance to find herself a tree to scale. There weren't any that struck her as perfect in the immediate area, but the one with which she settled definitely sufficed. She had herself perched on a comfortable branch by the time her pursuer wandered along, completely oblivious to her hiding. Though it was dark, what little adaptation her eyes had of the dark allowed her to spy on him. On a lower note, it also granted her the ability to draw one last arrow.
When Nina returned to Soleil, she carried the remains of the buck, which she promptly delivered before the fire. While tending to a stinging arm, Soleil observed it before cracking an awkward smile. Out of relief, Nina willingly smiled back.
"So," the latter started. "Anything happen while I was gone?"
When it came to cooking game, the two were evidently amateurs, and it quickly became obvious that they would have to sharpen their skills. They spent a good time arguing over which parts they should and shouldn't eat, but all their bickering came to an end when they agreed to cook the legs and other clusters of muscle. For the first time, the pan in Soleil's bag came into use, and it accomplished its job well. The fruits of their labor didn't taste good, but it luckily didn't taste bad either. The only thing that was wrong with the picture were the two bodies laying near their camp. Not too far into dinner, Soleil turned and caught eye of them. That gaze awkwardly went to her partner afterward.
"I sure wish it didn't have to come to... uh... taking those guys out," she commented solemnly. "What're we going to do now that they're... um... dead...?"
Nina didn't turn to them, but she knew what Soleil meant. After another bite into the piece she was working on, she eyed up to the sky.
"I guess they won't be needing their stuff anymore. We'll take what we can carry and leave them here."
Soleil appeared taken back.
"That's... barbaric," she commented.
"They were outlaws, so it's not like they would've done any different if they killed us first."
"I dunno... Maybe they would've left us alone."
"Trust me. They wouldn'tve."
"Would too."
"Would not."
"Would."
"Wouldn't."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
Like most, their argument faded from words and into a heated match of staring. They stared, long enough to make their eyes sting and spill tears, until Soleil was the first to cave. With defeat, she clamped her eyes shut, released a huff, then looked away.
"Okay. Fine. You win." She leaned back, then turned once more back to the subjects in question. In particular, the leader with an arrow in his neck.
"I'll compromise with you. We'll check them for money, weapons, and food. Whatever's left we'll leave."
"Are we burying them?"
"No. We don't have the time."
Their conversation ended on a short note. Despite their exhaustion, they were able to gather the strength the drag their intruders near the fire, where they could see. There, they inspected their stiffening bodies and managed to salvage a few valuables. With the bodies having been thieves, it made sense to find a few luxuries, such as a shiny pocket watch, a few strings of jewelry, a decent amount of gold marks, and plenty of extra arrows for Nina.
When it came to disposing of the bodies, they hid them in the border of the woods. Both of them, Nina in particular, managed to gather enough respect to take the men's hats and set them over their faces. While walking back to their camp, Soleil's body, including her sore arm, gave way to a furious shiver.
"I feel dirty now," she moaned. "What I'd give for a bath."
"There're no bodies of freshwater for a good ways... unless we run into a spring that's not marked on the map. Sorry if that makes things worse."
"No you're not."
"Are too."
"Are not."
When they went to bed, they didn't say much. The air about them was too tense. Too afraid. Their fear was to such an extreme that Soleil had a difficult time sleeping. Every once in a while, she awoke and surveyed the area. Even the softest breeze alarmed her. Even the least suspicious sights had her eyes widen, hand itching to dive for her blade. Despite her worry, nothing ever came of those things.
The night was long, and the morning was bound to be worse.