Author's Note: I'm going to try and get back on my original plan of one chapter a week, but who knows how things will go. Stick with me everyone, I promise more is on the way.

Chapter 15: Spies and Nomads

Present Day

"Hey Jaffar?" The young girl asked, her short green hair bobbing up and down.

"…" Jaffar chose to ignore her.

"Jaffar?" She tried again.

"…" Once more she was ignored.

"Jaffaaaaaaaaaaaaar!" She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, tugging on the larger man's sleeve.

"… What?" He finally responded. A part of him felt like he would regret answering her.

"When is Will coming back?" She asked, smiling brightly.

"…" He went back to ignoring her. His feeling had been dead on.

"Do you think it'll be soon?" She asked, continuing to press him.

"…" He ignored her for the fourth time this conversation. She never seemed to let it deter her.

"He promised to visit, so I'm sure he'll come by soon. Don't you think?" She asked, a bright smile filling her face as she imagined it.

Jaffar turned away from the cheerful girl as she continued cooking her meal. Sonia never did anything for the girl. He looked out the window, remembering that even back then Will would often be put in charge of the girl, a duty that had been pushed onto him. He couldn't let her dreams be punctured by the realities of life at that moment. Seeing Will's prone form on the plains of Sacae as it bled into the grass was the only image he could conjure.

"Well, what do you think?" Nino asked, holding up her well prepared dish. It seems she had made a portion for him as well.

"…I promised." He said quietly.

"What do you mean, Jaffar?" She asked, as he took the plate of food.

Jaffar shook his head ever so slightly. "…it's nothing. You're right, I'm sure he'll come again soon."

"Well this sucks…" Will said, sitting at the fire. Rath, Lyn, and Matthew were with him. The others had turned in early. Rath was a better guy than he had been given credit for, once he got to know the people of the camp, he didn't ignore them. Of course, he didn't say much to them, either. He reminded Will of Jaffar, which made him chuckle.

"What sucks?" Lyn asked, bluntly.

"Well the Marquis's attitude for one." Will said. "I also… hmm…." He trailed off. I didn't get it back from him.

"Waste of thought." Rath said. It had been one of the few times his sentences had contained more than one word.

Lyn continued to look at him suspiciously. "It's nothing." Will said quickly, waving it off.

"You're hiding something!" She accused angrily.

"Obviously, otherwise he would have told you." Matthew said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Why would you hide it from me?" She asked, staring at Will's eyes. He turned away quickly. Matthew wasn't helping right now.

"Doesn't want you to beat yourself up over it, I expect." Matthew said, waving the apple he was eating.

"I'm right here you know." Will said angrily, turning to face the thief. He glared to shut him up, but Matthew shrugged it off with a laugh.

"Well, you wouldn't tell me unless I ask. Always trying to show manners and keeping some kind of straight face. You can be harder to read than Kent." Lyn said with a sigh.

"Kent is hard to read?" Will asked, questioningly.

"Maybe not to you, but I've never learned much about all this fancy talk." Lyn said.

"Quite the Lady you'll make." Will mumbled, which Lyn couldn't catch. She guessed close enough, and Will fell silent at the glare he received. He grinned sheepishly.

"That necklace…" Rath said, suddenly from his seat. He had apparently been mulling over Will's strange comment from earlier. Lyn and Matthew turned to him, while Will made wild 'don't say it' gestures at him. "It was yours?"

It was too late now. Lyn was looking at him with the 'if-you-don't-tell-me-I'll-force-you-to-train-with-me-until-you-drop' look, and he really didn't need that. Even if she wouldn't actually carry through on the threat.

"Not quite… mine." He said, evading the question. "It was… is… was my mother's."

"Your… mother's?" Lyn asked. "Why did the Marquis have it? And your mother…"

"Dead, obviously." He said, so flatly she let out a little gasp. "Not a big surprise, is it? If I had a family, I wouldn't have been on the plains getting cut up, would I?" He said, simply. The three of them nodded slightly.

"I was wondering about that. The Marquis said something like 'this should pay for the supplies' but I had no idea what he meant at the time." Rath said. Wow, two whole sentences. Good ones at that.

Lyn was growing angry, although Will had no idea why. "You mean to tell me…" She said, voice shaking, "That you gave away one of your only possessions to… to…"

"To get the Marquis to aid us, yes." Will said darkly. "I knew it was a bad idea to ask him for aid, but Kent said we needed more people and supplies fast, because the nearer to Caelin we got, the harder it would be to get allies. It was the only way."

Lyn wanted to hit him. "You idiot! You threw away something that valuable for… for…" Again she had a hard time getting the words out.

"To keep us all alive." He said simply. He felt his temples throb angrily and realized quickly an argument was a bad idea. "If you'll excuse me, I have some plans I need to draw up…" His voice sounded shaky, as though he were holding something back. Then he was gone.

"Why did he do that? Why do something so… so…" Lyn didn't know what was wrong with her, she just couldn't put a sentence together.

"Noble? Selfless?" Matthew said, giving her some ideas. "To repent, my lady. To repent." He got up as well, and went to Will's tent. Apparently, the thief wasn't done with him.

"Hasn't he done that already? Many times over?" Lyn asked the nomad next to her, though she stared into the fire instead.

"Some sins are forgiven by others, but aren't forgiven by the people that committed them. He has yet to forgive himself for whatever has occurred." Rath said.

"I think it has something to do with this Maria person as well." Lyn said, getting up. "Since you have first watch, I'm going to go talk this over with Florina. We may come up with something."

"Maybe, but perhaps it is better to let a man have his problems. He is trying to deal with them in his own way. He has the heart of a warrior." Rath said. Lyn crumpled her nose in annoyance, but understood. She nodded and left him. Rath went back to sharpening his arrows, which he had been doing before the conversation had begun.

"Not done with me yet?" Will said, bending over some plans. He didn't need to look. He could distinguish the members of their camp by the way they walked. Good ears were the second part of a good tactician.

"Nope!" Matthew replied cheerily, entering the tent.

"What do you want?" Will asked, not entirely sure he was up to dealing with the thief right now.

"Well, I wanted to know what this necklace of yours looks like." Matthew said with a devilish grin.

Will turned. "First of all, why? Second of all, you're forbidden to go and steal it."

Matthew laughed. "Wrong answer!" He pulled a silver necklace out of his pocket, the same small cross dangling at the end.

"What the- how the- where did you get that?" Will said, amazed.

"Duh, I was pissed at the Marquis for not helping us, so I nicked the things in his pockets. He had this, and…" Matthew held up a key. "Don't know what it's for though."

At that moment, back in Araphen, The Marquis was doing some kind of odd dance in front of a door. A soldier passed by, and stopped in horror. The Marquis looked around, but continued his little dance.

"Call a thief, damn you! Or a locksmith! I've lost the key to my… umm… chamber of relieving!"

The Soldier saluted, and got out of earshot before bursting into outright laughter. His boss didn't look intimidating at all. Besides, he was tired. It was midnight, after all. The Marquis could wait until morning.

Will raised an eyebrow. "You are cruel, you know that?" He said, taking the necklace never the less.

"Thank you." Mathew said, bowing.

"Not a compliment." Will said, turning back to his work, and pocketing the locket. He definitely looked cheerier than he had a few minutes earlier, and Matthew decided to save his real interrogation for later.

"One thing though…" Will said, as Matthew made to leave. "How did you know it was mine?"

"Maria was more observant than you think." He said with a slightly more serious look.

"You spies are all the same." Will said, sighing.

"Thank you." Matthew said, bowing again.

"Not a compliment." Will said again, and Matthew left the tent. Will decided to tell everyone about it in the morning. As to how he had gotten it back… Might as well tell the truth. Matthew would boast about it anyway.

Erk was sighing constantly. He couldn't sleep, not with Serra prattling about how she could make the angelic robe work with her outfit. He wished Will had never given her the blaster thing. Screw her health, let her get hurt so she'll stop being annoying and start paying attention.

"Erky, I think it looks good at this angle, don't you? Wait… no… That won't do. Speak up, will you? It's hard to decide when you mumble things!" Serra said with a huff.

"I haven't said anything." He mumbled.

"Like that! You're so gloomy!" She stormed.

"I wouldn't be if you'd leave me alone." Erk mumbled.

"You did it again! Erky I told you to ah-ha! Now that looks good!" She said, admiring herself in her reflection. She had dragged him out to the river in the middle of the night for this? He has going to demand a raise. Yes, a raise.

He looked at Serra, who was giggling and twirling about. With a sigh, he went back to reading. If she was satisfied for the time being, it meant he had about five minutes of peace.

Dorcas and Wil were out hunting. Wil had become most valuable to the group in that area. Unfortunately, it meant that whoever went with him usually couldn't help much because he always hit his mark.

Dorcas was the perfect helper, since he didn't mind Wil doing the killing part of the hunt. He would carry the food back to camp with his much heavier physic than Wil's, but really was only there to help if a bear attacked.

"We'll have plenty of food for our journey to Caelin stocked up." Wil said, smiling as they collected the birds he had shot down.

"True." Dorcas said. "All the better for us."

"Yeah… we won't be able to risk going too far away from camp once we reach Caelin." Wil said, picking up the unbroken arrows.

"We've got enough for today." Dorca said with a small smile, before flinging the sack of prey onto his back. They headed back to camp, Wil asking about how Dorcas had met his wife, and Dorcas smiling and speaking softly of the memory.

Kent and Sain were sparring earlier, but now they were both sleeping. As these two were the scouts, it was almost imperative for them to be better rested than the others. Otherwise they might be caught unawares. They were the only ones asleep at the time, but most of the others would join them soon.

"Wow, I never thought about it that way…" Florina said, thinking hard with her arms crossed. "Rath said that, did he? And Will's mother…"

"Yes… it's just… I would rather… you know?" Lyn asked. They had talked it over for quite some time. Even though Lyn wasn't managing her words well, Florina was understanding it perfectly well.

"Shouldn't we… ask him first?" Florina said. She was worried Lyn was jumping to conclusions that wouldn't be agreeable to everyone else again. After all, Lyn was trying to treat Will like a friend, and not like a subordinate.

"I'd do it anyway." Lyn said fiercely.

Florina sighed. "But Lyn, we can't afford a big detour like that, and if Will doesn't…"

"He'll agree. I'll make him agree." Lyn saida look of fierce determination in her eyes.

Florina quickly turned her attention to stopping Lyn from charging tents. "Look, let me go ask him first, please?" Florina asked, trying to make Lyn see reason in this.

"Fine… I'll let you try it your way." Lyn said with a sigh. When Florina asked for favors, it was usual when she was acting crazy. "Go ahead, I'll wait here."

"What? A-alone?" Florina said, blushing. She had expected Lyn to want to come no matter what, to force out the answer she wanted when things didn't go her way.

"Is something wrong with that?" Lyn asked, curiously. A playful smile crossed her face.

Florina felt a tiny pang of annoyance at her friend's payback. "N-no, nothing." Florina said courageously, before leaving.

Wil and Dorcas entered camp just in time to see Florina entering Will's tent. They both glanced at each other, shrugged, and began skinning their finds to add them to the food bag.

With Rath along, they could now carry and extra couple of bags on his horse. Florina's Pegasus also took one on each side. The rest was divided between the marchers in camp, with a majority going to those who were to hang back when battle came upon them. From the looks of it, they would have enough to reach Caelin in good time.

The only problem that remained was what would happen when they got there.

"I'm popular tonight." Will said, smiling slightly as he heard the tent back pull pack. The timid steps and faltering outside of the tent had told him exactly who it was: Florina.

"Umm… what?" She asked, confused.

"First Matthew, now you. Next it'll be Erk or something." He said with a chuckle, before turning around. He saw her worried expression. "What's wrong?"

"Lyn wants to go back… to get your mother's…" Florina said quietly.

"Come on Florina, I told you before, you have got to speak up. What is it you wanted to say?" Will said, smiling in spite of the slightly reproachful words he used.

"Lyn said…" Florina began, louder this time. "That we should go back."

Will thought about this for a moment. "Is this about the necklace again?" He asked.

"Lyn said it would make us bad friends to let you give up something so precious for us." She said.

"I gave it up to help us. If I can be bold enough to call Lyn and the others friends, then it was a worthy price." He said, standing up. Florina didn't look convinced, but luckily he had another deterrent ready to go. "Look…" He said, sitting on the bed instead. The chair was a little awkward since it caused Florina to be standing while he was sitting. He motioned to Wil's bed for Flroina to sit. After a moment of hesitation she did so.

Will thought about how to say this next portion for a minute, but came up with no better way to say it than the truth of it. Florina's curious was also making him a tad bit nervous, so he ended up blurting it out. "Matthew stole it back."

"He… wha? Matthew… weh? He stole the… hweh?" Florina asked, extremely confused.

"I didn't know it when I was talking about it earlier, but Matthew had already stolen it back from the Marquis. Ask him for details, he didn't tell me much else." Will said, taking out the necklace.

"Is that it?" Florina asked, and Will nodded.

"Want to… see it?" He asked. Florina nodded with excitement, so he walked over to Wil's bed, sitting next to her before handing it to her. She held it up to the light to get a better look at it.

"Hey… there are initials engraved in it." She exclaimed, which caught Will by surprise. She handed it back to him, and he copied her previous movement, holding it up to the light.

"So there are! I've never looked at it properly before…" He said, squinting at the tiny markings. He could just make out JFR on the cross. "I see… It's my mother's name."

"Was it a gift?" Florina asked.

"Yeah. If I remember right it was given by dad as a present. It was their engagement vow, I think. J.F.R…. Those are definitely her initials."

"What do they stand for?" Florina asked.

"Jessica Fina Ray." Will said, reciting the name he had learned by heart. The sound of the name brought no joy, and Florina imagined he must not be able to recall his mother's face.

"There's also something on the back." Florina squinted. "It looks like it was added later on by a different artisan. Daughter M.S. What does that mean?"

Will looked at it as well but didn't seem to recognize it. If he did, he wasn't showing it. "Not sure myself, but it can't be that important."

Florina nodded, though she was unconvinced he knew absolutely nothing. He pocketed the necklace once more. Apparently he didn't wear it himself. "Well… thanks for showing me." She said, smiling.

"Thanks for warning me of Lyn's plans. Now go put her right." Will said, patting her on the shoulder.

Florina blushed again, and nodded, hurrying out and to her tent again, to tell Lyn about it. Wil entered only a moment later. "What's up, Mr. Charmer?" Wil asked, smiling.

Will shook his head. "Just a chat. Showed her something. Talked. No charming."

Wil shrugged, deciding not to mention the fact that Florina's face was practically glowing as she raced back to her tent. "Well, what now?" Wil asked, smiling slightly.

"I would've thought that was obvious. We sleep, and start in the morning." Wil nodded, knowing full well that Will wasn't going to sleep. He didn't seem to do much of that. Especially not since that incident a week ago.

Florina entered the tent to an agitated Lyn, who was pacing to and fro. "Well?" She asked, and Florina giggled. Despite what she said, Florina knew Lyn would follow Will's decision. Otherwise she wouldn't be pacing like that.

"He already got it back." Florina said, and Lyn looked at her.

"He did? How?" She asked, surprised.

They sat down, and Florina told her what Will had told her about how Matthew had apparently nicked it from the Marquis in revenge. Lyn nodded in triumph.

"He even let me look at it!" Florina said.

"Did he?" Lyn asked, surprised.

"Umm… yes." Florina said, blushing.

"Hey… why are you blushing? He didn't do anything to you, right?" Lyn asked dangerously.

"No no! He was really nice, like always…" Florina said, giggling again.

Lyn smiled, and then laughed as well. The two friends turned in shortly afterwards.

Erk was so glad that was over. Serra had finally been satisfied with her look with the Angelic robe, after staring at her reflection for… how long was it?

Ah yes. Two hours, thirty-four minutes, and twenty-seven seconds. How he knew this? He counted. The whole time. He wasn't sure why he did that, but he did. What a waste of time. He hadn't even read a paragraph in his book. Only pretended to.

"Something is definitely wrong with me…" He sighed, lying down. At least he didn't have to deal with Serra in a tent. Dorcas was a companion he admired. Quiet and straight to the point. No girly stuff.

Rath was still sitting outside, sharpening his arrows. At least, he was until he felt someone sit next to him. He continued to sharpen at first.

The person didn't interrupt. Strange. He put down the arrow. It was Will.

"…" Will still hadn't said anything, just sat there. For some reason, Rath felt compelled to say something, but words were not his strong suit. So the two sat in silence for a while longer.

Finally, Will broke the silence. "You know… most people get nervous."

Rath was confused, and looked at Will for clarification.

"Silence. Most people can't bear it." He clarified.

Rath looked at the stars as Will was doing. It was true. He had always found it…

"Strange, isn't it?" Will said, chuckling to himself.

Rath smiled slightly. "We think alike."

"Maybe." The young man responded. "But you know…"

"What?" Rath asked, placing the arrow into his quiver.

"There's nothing wrong with silence, occasionally." Will said, his voice a bit more thoughtful than before.

"Yes…" The nomad said. "There is nothing wrong with it."

"That's good to know." Will said.

Rath picked up the next arrow, and began to sharpen it. Will and he sat there in silence for a couple more hours, until they both went to bed, Rath waking Kent and Sain for their watch before getting some sleep under a tree.

The bald old man continued to work in his fields. His armor and spear, however, had been dusted off. His body seemed much more roughed up than it had before.

He had been training for something. It had something to do with the fate of Caelin. His road seemed set out for him already. He didn't plan to run from his destiny.

"This ought to be quite an interesting chain of events." He said, watering some plants that had not been killed by the heat. The rain would be coming soon.

Mark twirled his tome in one hand. Why he did this, he wasn't sure. It was fun. Besides, things around the castle would be boring until Will arrived. Then things would be much more fun.

"I just hope my old partner doesn't die along the way…" he sighed. "The poison wasn't too strong, but if they don't hurry their pace along…" The man shrugged. "Maybe I'll have to go find them again."