Both Nina and Soleil, an unfortunate pair, awoke with a dreadfully stuffy nose. To add on to their affliction, both shared a sore throat and coughed more often than usual. It was obvious to any who looked, including themselves. They were sick, all thanks to yesterday's bout of rain. Leave it to Soleil to smile while sniffling up a storm just to keep a river from streaming out of her nose.

"Heh. Now you really look like hell, Nina."

After awakening more, they diagnosed themselves with colds, mild in nature, but miserable nonetheless. While loafing around their camp, watching a stream of smoke rise from the smoldering pile of ash in the center, they began to actually talk to one another. At last, they verbally acknowledged their ailment.

"Looks like that rain got us," Nina grumbled, leaning against the side of her pack. "We're both sick."

"I think we should take a break then. You know... since we're sick and all..."

"There's not much time to waste. We need to cover as much ground as we can while the sun's out."

"Come on, how about until noon?"

"Eleven."

"Eleven thirty."

"Eleven twenty."

"Eleven twenty-five."

"Eleven twenty-three."

"Eleven twenty-four."

They paused, staring at one another awkwardly. Nina heaved before long, then nodded slowly before slouching back against her pillow.

"Eleven twenty-four it is," she whispered, then promptly went back to sleep.

When they at last got to socializing after an additional hour of napping, nothing terribly exciting happened. After a bout of relentless insisting, Soleil had her way and was allowed to toil with Nina's hair, which had become an oily and nappy mess. A few dozen strokes of a brush tamed it, however, and she proceeded to reshape them into a signature pair of braids. While she worked behind her, Nina said little besides occasionally hissing after a pull of the wrong strand. When she was done, Soleil leaned back to marvel upon her masterpiece. Sure, Nina's hair frayed at certain parts down the shaft of either twin, but it looked perfectly fine.

"Not as hellish now." She gave Nina a hefty pat on the back. "We should stop at the nearest body of water we find to get your head washed. My fingers feel really oily."

"Don't blame me. You're the one who wanted to fix it." With the intention to inspect it, she pulled one of her braids over her shoulder. She found no reason to redo them, so she left them alone. "But you're right when you say I could use a bath... Same for you."

Soleil chuckled before retrieving the brush. While running it through her own hair, also a tangled mat, she managed her constant intervals of coughing by holding her breath. It made her throat burn, however, so she decided that she had to settle with coughing. At her side, Nina began rummaging through the loot they gathered from their visitors the night before. The pocket watch happened to catch her interest. It was a pretty piece of jewelry, being crafted from an untainted breed of steel and decorated by intricate floral patterns on its crown. When she opened it and compared its readings to the position of the beaming sun in the sky, she would conclude that its time was accurate.

"This will be useful," she suggested. "If something happens to our compass, I can make a substitute with this. One of the guys I had a crush on back in my Deeprealm taught me how to find south with a watch." She released a sigh. "Boy, was he a cute one too. I sure wish he hadn't noticed me that one night I followed him home. I didn't see much of him after that." She sniffled, not because she was upset, but because her sickness buffeted her with a runny nose.

"Sounds just like you," Soleil commented. "You're weird like that, always going around and shoving your nose in people's business. Why do you like spying on people? I've been meaning to ask."

Nina, with a huff, crossed her arms.

"Like heck I know how to answer that. It's like asking someone why they like their favorite color. They just do and they can't explain why." She looked at her once getting through another sniffle. "I'll play at your game. Why do you always have to flirt with every girl you see?"

"First off, I don't flirt with every girl I see. Some of them just aren't cute."

"Great character you got there, only wanting to interact with the ones who look cute."

"Oh yeah? Well you don't like any guys unless they're a hulking frame of muscle."

"I do not! I'll gladly watch any boy I come across... ehe... especially if he has a few friends with him..."

"Weirdo."

"You're the weirdo. It's normal for girls our age to like boys. What's your excuse?"

"Um... I'm special?"

"Try again."

Soleil paused while a flush spread across her cheeks. She grinned slyly at her, then narrowed her eyes. The way she leaned back against her pack made her seem as though nothing in the world set her at dismay. What she didn't know, however, was the fact that Nina, being experienced when it came to watching people, happened to know what that certain glint in her eye meant.

Soleil knew the answer to Nina's question, and it was miraculous that she was especially secretive of it.

"Maybe I'll tell you one day. I just don't think I'm ready yet."

"Way to convince me you trust me," Nina sighed. "And you were the one who said you wanted us to be traveling partners. If you can't trust me with a secret, how can you trust me when we're out in the wilderness all the time?"

The point seemed to catch the other off guard, seeing that her eyes, once contently closed, opened again. They exchanged glances before her puffy eyes wandered up to the lovely blue sky.

"Hm... Good point. How about we cut ourselves a deal? If you really want to know, I'll tell you..."

"There's a catch." Nina rolled her eyes, unamused.

"Naturally," Soleil chuckled. "You just have to give me something in exchange too: tell me all about you and your father. I want the deepest, darkest, dirtiest details, please."

Almost immediately, her listener groaned, then leaned her head backward. Based off of her tone, she wasn't eager to accept the offer.

"Of course it comes to that..." she murmured.

"No need to worry. I'm willing to offer an alternative: you can also give me the biggest kiss on the cheek... or on the lips if you're feeling like it... Yeah, let's change it to the lips instead." Returned had her devious grin, but it was left in the wake of such dangerous words. It was alone with the cold, dreary air of silence. Soleil didn't get the nicest of looks, but then again, it wasn't as if she expected anything different.

"I can't believe you just said that to me." Nina scowled after a few coughs (Soleil debated over whether the coughs were due to her being sick or choking on her saliva in surprise. She concluded it was the latter for the sake of her own satisfaction). "You know what? I really don't want to know that badly. No deal."

"Shucks. There goes a really interesting conversation. Oh well. Don't worry, I have a feeling that we'll spill at some point or another on this trip. Maybe it'll be when we barely escape the narrow clutches of death and realize how much we truly lov-"

"Oh, would you look at the time," Nina began, gazing get down at her newly acquired pocket watch. She held it up for display. "It's eleven twenty-four." The motions she made as she rose compensated for her lack of voicing commands. Reluctantly, Soleil followed her onto her feet and began preparing to depart.

They continued onward, Nina in the lead. It was because she was in the lead they were slowed. She was still shouldering both loads despite Soleil's annoying attempts to sway her ideas elsewhere. When she realized she was not going to win, Soleil took to the next best thing, which was annoying her with attempts to help. One would have, at one point, considered the actions thoughtful of Soleil. She did things such as offering Nina their canteen every other minute, slipping the tips of her fingers on the meat of her shoulder to tame it into relaxation, and serenading her with a soothing melody... which was horrible, in all actuality. Though neither realized it, there was actually something good that came out of those things. They were distracting. Therefore, they passed the time much quicker.

The nearby road steadily began to blend in with the ground, for grass (or any signs of vegetation) was scarce. Before long, they were impressed to see even one tree intrude in their path, for it stood alone on the horizon, seeking companionship it would only receive for a short while when they came into union. The tree wouldn't have its company for long; Soleil and Nina betrayed it by abandoning it in their tracks, left behind to fade as a memory.

Neither party was somber over the ordeal.

The desert that became their path was what had Nina work up a sweat, which would be cooled by the breeze of the distant ocean. Being worrisome failed to cooperate with her cold. She coughed a time or two when concern truly got the best of her, and each pair caught the attention of Soleil.

"Still not feeling well? Getting up and moving a bunch usually distracts me when I'm sick, but I guess it doesn't work for everyone..." she commented while handing the canteen to her for the umpteenth time. Nina actually accepted it for a change, and she took a hefty serving of water when she did.

"Being out in the open like this is dangerous," she answered before taking another gulp. "If more reinforcements come marching through here, there's no way we can hide from them. We'll have no choice but to hope for the best in the event of an encounter."

"Yeah, but we're Hoshidan now, aren't we? I doubt they'll suspect a thing and just leave us alone."

"No way. My money says..." she coughed. "...that we can only fool normal folk like villagers and farmers, maybe most merchants if we step up our game. That's good enough to keep us safe from being reported and having authorities on our tail, but Hoshidan soldiers themselves? They're trained to notice even the slightest of differences between themselves and Nohrians for the sake of detecting who's friend and who's foe pretending to be friend. We haven't had the time to seriously adapt to the ways of Hoshidans, so we don't know everything about Hoshidan customs down to the most intricate detail. If we screw up even a little bit, they're bound to get suspicious."

Soleil's eyes, carefree still, wandered up to the sky, which was rich blue with friendly clouds. A thumb ran over her chin meticulously, but it was mostly for looks.

"By intricate details, I guess you would mean knowing stuff like folklore or figures of speech we don't use in Nohr. Sort of like how we have the legend of the Haunted Cavalier?"

Nina turned her head to gaze at her strangely before her expression dropped into a puzzled scowl.

"Haunted Cavalier?" she echoed.

"Yeah. You know... The Haunted Cavalier."

"I don't know what that is."

"Yes you do. Every Nohrian's been told the Legend of the Haunted Cavalier."

"Well I haven't."

"Yes you have."

"Haven't."

"Have."

"Haven't."

"Yes."

"No."

When Soleil realized Nina was serious, she jumped back in surprise, eyes wide with both awe and disgust.

"Y-You really haven't? But that story is probably as old as Nohr itself. It's a linchpin of our culture! There must've been someone who at least mentioned it. Since you're always spying on everyone, there's no way you couldn'tve seen some people gathered around a campfire on a moonless night, muttering vernacular of old."

"Nope."

"Then what about your dad? It's a parent's duty to relay stories to their children so the flame won't die. Didn't he tell it to you as a bedtime story so you'll be scared into never sleeping again? That's what my Dad did when he came to visit me when I was younger..." She froze when Nina's puzzled scowl devolved into a regular scowl. An awkward grin spread across her face in attempt to calm her. "Heh heh... Sorry to bring that up again... um..." She looked away. "It's not that huge of a deal. It's just a dumb ol' story about a ghost cavalier that has no torso. He was just a floating head and limbs that'd chase people on his horse at night. There was some kind of unimportant back story... Something about a knight that died in battle and had his body chopped up by his enemies. Now he haunts all the country in search of the parts he's missing."

Nina narrowed her eyes.

"And parents tell this story to their children?"

"Yeah. I could hardly sleep for weeks and would cry every time sunset came before I was home. It took one of the men in my band several years later to tell me the story was fake." A hand went behind her head to scratch awkwardly, and her head hesitantly slid to the side. "I can hardly believe you. You must not be Nohrian at all."

With an apathetic shrug, her neighbor sighed.

"Who knows? At least it could help me later on. The less Nohrian we act, the more likely we are to slip under the enemy's radar."

"Why can't we just try to avoid the Hoshidans altogether? Can't we just wander off the main road to get out of the way?"

While shaking her head, Nina went to retrieve the map resting in one of the few fanny packs strapped to her hips. She unfolded it, then presented its contents. It had suffered from the wrath of the rain, but the wounds were mild, having only afflicted its sides. It remained readable, a godsend in their situation. The thought of having something happen to it made Nina consider making a crude copy within the bounds of one of her notebooks.

"The road will make our trip the fastest since it keeps us from getting lost, so we shouldn't stray too far from it, especially now that we're all the way out here in the boonies. The trail blends in with the sand so much it'll almost be impossible to find if we lose it."

"Like how we lost it now?"

Nina froze, then dared to let her eyes wander down. One could only imagine the horror which was her eyes when she found nothing under her feet besides dust that had hardened over millennia, just as uniform as the sea that stretched as far as they could gaze. She gave way to a gasp, then, in complete disregard for the map, violently stuffed the sheet of paper back into its home. She scurried around for a moment, eyes fixed intently on the ground in panic. Her gaze grew wider with each passing moment.

"Wh-Where did it go?" she exclaimed, terrified. She backtracked a ways quickly in attempt to scavenge even the slightest trace of their lost friend. Soleil followed close behind, albeit nonchalant. "It couldn'tve disappeared that quickly! All I did was show you the map for five seconds and now it's g-" Nina froze once finding what she sought: a patch of light dirt. It housed evident signs of traffic. Though she should've been relieved, she became more worried at the sight. "Oh no..."

"Something wrong?" Soleil caught up to her, joining her in gazing at the subject in question.

"The trail looks like it's been masked. A bad breeze must have thrown some sand over it before we got here. The road just ends here and fades into the rest of the ground." Soleil could have easily figured that out herself, but she chose to take the easy way out and accept her words as truth. She didn't appear to be too affected by the news, hence why her square shoulders relaxed.

"I'm not worried," she commented, perhaps in an attempt to evoke envy. "We can just head east until we hit the coastline and follow it from there, can't we?"

With a groan, Nina fished out the compass, read it, then looked up at the sky herself.

"We can, but I have no idea if we'll accidentally waltz into the Wind Tribe's territory on the way there."

"What's wrong with the Wind Tribe? Are they not friendly?"

"I honestly don't have any interest in finding out. My best guess says no."

"You think everything won't go your way."

"Yeah? Well I can say that sort of thinking's never gotten me in trouble before. How about yourself, Miss Optimism?"

"Ditto." Soleil's arms crossed, her face displaying a rather smug leer as she peered down at the shorter. The look, as expected, probed at the little ego bubble in Nina's chest, and she viciously rose in order to defend it. One would wonder why such a thing got Nina so terribly worked up, but the answer was relatively simple: she had no better ideas to fall back on, and Soleil's appeared to be the only available option. Any other direction, besides backtracking, would have them wandering aimlessly through the desert for heaven knew how long. They had plenty of water, but not an unlimited supply. It was vital that they found the coast in case they ran out, otherwise they might die in their wandering.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," she grumbled at last, tapping her foot on the ground.

"Well, we don't have all day for you to come up with another idea." For the sake of entertaining herself, Soleil kicked up a cloud of dust, which, thanks to the wind, blew into Nina's sickly eyes. While growling, she closed them to begin rubbing.

"I know, I know..." She yanked out the map again, where she found it crumpled from its last mishandling, then began to give it an in-depth study. A few squints of the eye, alongside turning the map multiple, and unnecessary, directions, had her relieve it and observe their bland surroundings. "Instead of north, we'll go east. Once we get to the shore, we'll stick to it and head north again. Hopefully, we'll pass the Wind Tribe's territory. Even if we do intersect their boundaries, I'm sure the shore is the very edge, so we'll be able to slip by if we miss a patrol."

With a smile, Soleil nodded.

"Good to see you can still use your head even when you're sick. Just lead the way..." When Nina began to walk, presumably east, she leaned a little closer. "And can I have my pack now?"

She was denied the permission once again.

The scenery of their current environment, compared to being surrounded by the ambient of lush trees and glades, was boring. Very boring. The vastness of sand hid nothing from them besides themselves, and they didn't seem to find themselves worthy of their attention. They conversed every now and then, but it seemed as though the desert sapped them of creativity. Not a single subject seemed to grasp their interest. Even an argument over boys and girls became a boring controversy of the past.

Having nothing better to do, Soleil went back to her old tactics, which were trying to retrieve her pack from Nina again. When that didn't work, she started to make the load easier again by committing her good, but annoying, deeds. She handed Nina their canteen far more often than earlier since the sun was beating them down. Nina refused to drink, seeing the urgency of conservation. So, Soleil then tried to give her a massage, which evidently made her feel awkward, for she constantly shrugged her hand off her shoulder with a grumble. Soleil was left with one final choice.

"Hey. I wrote a song about you." Before Nina could object to her presentation, she commenced to sing, harmonizing with the wind... very poorly.

"Nina, oh Nina,

Ply of arrows and pen,

The enigmatic, uncanny kind...

Her strands back in twirls,

One with the lunar glen,

How I wish that she were mine...

Nina, oh Nina.

Licker for a knife,

Yourself all hers to pry,

Slender and curved,

Enisled, her life,

For her, oh, I would die.

Nina, oh Nina,

Her eyes verdant as ill,

But with lips so soft and-"

"Alright, alright, I've heard enough," Nina growled disapprovingly. Her frown made it clear that she debated which she hated more: the singing or the lyrics. Flushing, and grinning, Soleil squinted her eyes and eased closer (uncomfortably close) and chuckled.

"Oh, and she doesn't like it when people talk about her either. Heh heh heh..."

They stopped momentarily to pull lunch, the leftovers from last night's rabbit, out of the smaller bag before promptly continuing. They chose to walk as they ate, kicking up dust that would eventually land on their food. Some bites would show themselves to be crunchier than others. By the time they were done eating, they would be glad to eventually feel the breeze growing stronger. The mightier the winds, Nina said, the closer the ocean.

They would arrive at the shore by nightfall, guided by the golden glow of their lantern, which they set down to be the center of camp. The change of scenery ignited a spark of excitement for them both, namely Soleil, whose stuffy nose took a whiff of the ocean's breeze.

"Ah! Nothing like the smell of the sea. Even though it's filthy, who can explain such a marvelous fragrance?" She began to strip shortly afterward, urging Nina to do the same as she excitedly made her way to the tide. Nina chose to stay behind, face hard as could be. It had grown apathetic, being well aware of the fact that the ocean was plagued by salt. Salt didn't go too well with open wounds... But she decided that would have to be something Soleil could figure out herself. An exclamation would confirm her suspicions just moments afterward. "Mm... The water's moderate, wonderful, and... Gah! Salty! Crap! It's salty!"

A little while later, being fully clothed again, Soleil found herself beside the lantern, fixated on the sand where her fingers doodled pictures. Nina sat at her side, unwrapping the improv gauze around her injured arm to reveal a hideous wound. In the center of a circle of red was the shortened butt of an arrow, which had been severed. The arrow tip remained hiding within blood, clots, and a certain cloudy, white substance that made Nina sigh in relief. The noise drew Soleil's curiosity, and head, upward.

"Well? What's the news, doc?"

"Not bad. At least I don't think it's bad... It looks like everything I was taught to look for."

"Really? Can I see?" When she struggled to peer over her shoulder, she would meet a palm, Nina's palm, that covered her eyes.

"You probably don't want to," she muttered as she pushed her away. "It looks okay to pull out, though. Are you ready?"

Her eyes widened, and she cowered timidly.

"I-Is it gonna hurt?"

"Probably. Just hold still and I'll try to make this quick."

"Heh... No no no no no no no..." Soleil inched away, holding up the hand of her good arm. "It's really not so bad after all, having this thing inside me. We can just keep it there. No biggie. Let's leave it alone."

It wasn't a good sign to see Nina frown.

"What? Are you afraid or something?"

"Afraid? Me? Pft. No way. I'm not afraid. I just think we should wait a little longer... You know, just to be safe." She hoped, prayed even, that Nina didn't notice that she continued to ease at her distance. She began to depart from the light and be consumed by the darkness.

Nina noticed, and it did not take long for her to follow.

"Quit running from me. If you want this thing to heal sooner, you need to sit still and let me fix it."

"I-I said I don't want it fixed. Just leave it alone."

"It'll get infected if it stays in there for too long."

"Nothing wrong with a little infection, right? It'll make my immune system stronger."

"That's not how it works. Sit still."

"N-No thanks."

Horror spread across her face when, in a matter of suddenness, Nina pounced on her body and pinned her down. From there, a struggle began. Had it not been for that blasted arrowhead lodged in her arm, Soleil was confident that she would have eventually emerged victor of the wrestling match. She was at a disadvantage, though, and Nina used that to deliver her to a swift demise. Only once or twice was Soleil able to roll her way on top. One such instance had her chuckle darkly as she looked down at her partner's flustered expression.

Between heaves, and coughs, Nina grit her teeth and displayed a nasty scowl.

"What's... so... funny...?" she hissed from below, every breath deepening the redness spreading across her cheeks.

"I bet you can't guess what we look like, rolling around like this. Heh heh heh..." A fist promptly whacked her jaw, which ended the fight and left Soleil lying on the sand, groaning uncomfortably. While bringing herself up, Nina continued to heave.

"Your inappropriate comments aren't going to stop me," she growled as the other at last rolled onto her back. "Do you want to hold still now?"

After a pause, Soleil began to look around, hoping to plot an escape route. She didn't know who she was dealing with, however. She was dealing with Nina, a thief who dabbled deep into the belly of evasion and plotted every possible route within her surroundings. Before she even made her move, she knew where Soleil was to head, and immediately went to block her. The moment she began to roll away, Soleil was alarmed by the arm that held her back. Brute force wasn't going to get her out of this, seeing that hers wasn't accessible. Though surrendering should have been her safest, and least painful, option, she refused to take it and continued to attempt to flee.

In the midst of her struggle, she was brought to a pause. The pause owed its existence to a bloodcurdling screech, who owed its existence to a stiff pair of fingers that pinched the end of the severed arrow in her arm. The other arm thrashed, throwing fistfuls of sand every direction it could bend. Even her legs joined in, for they commenced to kick up a storm. Her pitch heightened when the arrowhead began to slide out, brushing against the walls of her tender wound. The process, in reality, was far quicker than it felt. Just seconds after pinching the end, Nina slowly guided it outward.

Soleil's screaming was interrupted by the arrow, which landed on her stomach. When Soleil picked it up too look at it, Nina cleared her throat and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Good job. That wasn't so bad, now, was it? Have yourself a souvenir to remember the trip."