There were no words to describe what was going in Florina's mind at that very moment because it was just that. Nothing. It was as if all time had paused. The clamor of early morning rushes outside had ceased, and the flow of cool air through the tent flap was blocked. The only thing that did not pause was her heartbeat, which increased ten-fold. Slowly, her body reanimated as she trembled and quivered. The flowers fell from her hand.

As a reflex, she caught them again, with only one making impact with the ground. She quickly scooped up that as well and pressed the roses to her heart. This did not subside her shaking nor did it comfort her in any way. She just didn't want to let go of the flowers, even though she understood their meaning very well.

Sain had chosen her. It was simple and ever so terrifying. He wanted to court her, woo her, sweep her off her feet…and that scared Florina more than anything. She had come to consider Sain a close friend, but he was nothing more than that. Had she not convinced Fiora of that not long before? How was she supposed to react to this? When it came to romantic relationships, Florina was a bit out of touch, try as she might to give Sain counseling in that area.

"F-Florina?" Fiora's sleepy voice tore her away from the flowers for just a brief second. Then new worries flooded into Florina's mind; how was she supposed to explain this to Fiora? Dear Elimine, Fiora was probably there the night before when he had laid the precious stems upon her bedroll, and she knew everything already. It would not be long before the questions came, and it would serve to be a new source of embarrassment.

"Y-yes F-Fiora?" She murmured, clutching the petals closer to her chest. She was probably crushing them, but at the moment, that really did not seem to matter much. She heard Fiora throw her blanket aside and walk over to her, but Florina did not have the courage to face her older sister at this moment. Fiora had to turn her around in order to press her lips to her forehead so that she could tell whether or not Florina's temperature was rising.

"Good, it was nothing bad," She said, seemingly satisfied as she pulled away. "Still, I'd like you to check in with Serra later today. You look paler than usual." Florina nodded, though she was really not paying attention to what Fiora was saying. Rather, she was pondering all of the bad things that could come out of this. "What's that you have there?"

"W-what? Nothing." She smiled nervously, hoping that Fiora would stop bothering her but knowing that there was a slim chance that was true. Indeed, Fiora pried her fingers open to see the semi-flattened flowers.

"These are pretty," She commented. "Where did you get them?" Florina breathed a sigh of relief and sent a quick prayer of thanks up to Elimine. Fiora still did not know.

"I, uh, found them," She said.

"Well, yes but where did you find them?" Fiora asked.

"Around." Fiora realized that she was not going to receive a straight answer out of her, and she resolved to simply forget about it. Florina could be stubborn at times, and it was a silly thing to get into an argument about where Florina found a few flowers.

"All right," She said. Grabbing her uniform, she began to dress for the day. "You rest now. I'll talk to Mark about letting you off for the day to recuperate." She gave her a quick hug. "I'm going over to the infirmary tent. They're finally going to release Kent from that prison in a few days, and I just want to make sure that he'll be fine." She hesitated a moment to see if Florina would say anything else; her sibling just nodded her head, a sign that Florina wanted to be alone as soon as possible. Without another word, she passed through the tent flap.

But even in solitude, Florina had no idea of what course action she should take. After a few painful minutes of fretting about it, she decided to seek Sain out and confront him about it. She couldn't run from this one-no, not this time. She threw on her clothes and stuffed her feet into her boots. As she was about to exit, she saw the burly black coat still laying on her bedroll. She snatched it up and then strode into the bitter air outside.

Since the previous night had been so fierce, she had forgotten where Sain's tent laid. Instead, she searched for his face among the crowd. She was afraid to ask anyone for whereabouts. Now that it was true that Sain carried some sort of feelings for her, the scandal of their potential relationship would be all the more real for her.

But there was no potential relationship, she had to remind herself. None whatsoever. She did not possess the same emotions for Sain that he had for her. Besides, she was not suited for love and romance. How many times had she told herself that? She was sure, too, that she had stated to Sain on a number of occasions. Yet he still persisted.

'He's womanizer, of course he would persist,' Florina thought to herself. She mentally slapped herself for merely thinking it. He was really a good person, even if he did have a particular fondness for women. It was only in the current situation that sent Florina's emotions into a muddle; only now would she ever think of such a thing. She was about to become one of those women after all.

Several times in her search to find Sain, Florina paused. She even turned back once or twice, but during those instances, her determination to stand for herself- for once- overrode everything else, and she would spin around again and continue on her way. The cycle would start again she began to regret her choice almost as soon as she decided to press on.

When she realized that she had been tracing a blind circle around camp, Florina gave up stubbornly once and for all. She flopped down, frustrated and confused, onto an icy boulder. The frost that glazed it over almost made her slip off, but she remained there for a good half-hour. That was where Farina found her, brooding over the stupid flowers.

"Hey sis, what are you doing here? The camp's that-a-way," She pointed to the left. The line of tents stopped just a few feet away from her spot, but it was still isolated from the rest of the army. Florina did not respond to Farina. Instead, she cradled the roses in her hands. Her hair was covering her face, and it effectively shielded the blooms from Farina's line of sight.

"What's wrong?" She asked, taking a seat next to Florina. The boulder was small, and it was hard to fit the two girls on it, even if they were both petite and light in weight. In fact, the extra person made it so much harder for Florina to keep her grip in her place.

"N-nothing," She gurgled as her eyes began to water. Oh, why was she so befuddled? Her thoughts were so jumbled, and she could not sort out the smart choices from the dumb choices from the totally humiliating choices. The last one was hard to keep up; she always had a tendency to mortify herself in front of her peers, and she was growing so tired of it. It was apart of her life and entwined with her destiny, she supposed. There would never be a time when she would not embarrass herself; so, why bother?

"Come on," Farina prodded. "You're crying. You don't cry for no reason. You cry when someone scared you badly or when a man has hurt you in some way. Which means you have a lot of reasons to cry, and face it, you're a crybaby, but you never don't have a reason."

"Stop it," Florina hissed, yet instead of retaliating at her sister, she pressed her head into her shoulder and wept. With one hand, Farina stroked Florina's hair, as if it was any comfort to the sobbing girl. She flinched when Florina suddenly seized her hands, accidentally pinching the skin in the process. The Ilian Roses were thrust into her palms.
"Um, but I thought you liked these," Farina mumbled. She inspected the stems, but there were no thorns. She sniffed it; the smell was faded but pleasant all the same. There was nothing of the sort that could provoke this kind of reaction from Florina.

"Sain gave them to me." Ok, now that explained everything. Farina instantly understood since her sister's emotional barriers were very thin and weren't used to this sort of exchange with a man.

"Do you want me to beat him up for you?" Farina joked. The head buried in the crook of her neck shook violently. With an outburst of fresh tears, Florina suddenly spewed everything to Farina- the deal, the advice, even the events of the night before.

Farina yanked herself free of the bawling girl and stood. Before she knew it, Florina was being pulled to her feet and dragged back through the encampment. She noticed that Sain's coat was trailing on the dirty ground. She snuggled up further in her arms. It might have been his but it was also soft, warm, and a good source of comfort. The flowers were now in the possession of Farina.

"Out," Farina directed Isadora as she entered her tent, Florina in tow.

"But this is my tent too," Isadora reminded her.

"Sisterly emergency," Farina excused herself. "Out…now." Isadora rolled her eyes, but as soon as she saw the stricken state Florina was in, she said her condolences through a small, sympathetic smile. Farina, meanwhile, set to work finding something in her tent. She finally pulled out a firaflask. It was a canteen protected by anima magic so that the water would not freeze inside.

"Here," She dabbed a small drop of water onto a handkerchief. She gently patted the skin around Florina's eyes to lessen the appearance of her bloodshot whites and the bags that hung under them. "Now we are going to find Sain for you, and you are going to return the coat and casually ask about the flowers. Understood?"

"I can't," Florina sniveled.

"Of course you can and you will," Farina firmly told her. "Or else I will be forced to bring up the little incident at the Drugul Festival to Lady Lyndis." Florina shrunk away and Farina sighed. "Oh, fine, I won't tell anyone. Just get out there and talk to him." She pushed Florina out in front of her. Together, they hunted him down by the meal tent. A bowl of lentil soup was warming his hands as he sipped it from the rim; any sort of utensils was precious and hard to find, even in Merlinus' cart. Farina nudged Florina forward, and the younger knight held the coat out in front of her in defense.

"Here," She hastily displayed it to him. "Y-you, um, left this." Sain smiled and with some difficulty, he hung it over his arm while still balancing the soup.

"But of course, you were so cold last night," He said. "Are you hungry? Rebecca and Lowen are cooking up a storm in there. It isn't much but what they have they are working wonders with."

"Thanks…but no," She said. Then she remembered her purpose. "And, t-thanks for h-helping me, um, last night. And…thanksfortheflowers." The last part came out as a squeak. He comprehended it for a moment, carefully dissecting the slur of words so that he could properly understand them.

"Flowers? Oh, those flowers," He said. "Well, you see, they aren't from me." The statement took a moment to digest in her mind. Who could they be from if they weren't from Sain? "There was another man in the army who liked you, and I, uh, told him you liked those flowers. I thought it would be a good step in our deal." Florina numbly nodded. She much rather preferred Sain to some random bozo.

"Who?" She asked.

"It's a secret," He said. "I can't just go telling you. Let love run its course, and you'll find out eventually." He flashed a quick grin. "I have to go. Sweet Lady Lyndis was calling for me earlier." He promptly dismissed himself, leaving Florina more disoriented than before.

This other man, who was he? Truth be told, she had been so focused on Sain that this new development twisted everything around. What if he was not as nearly handsome as Sain? What if he wasn't as funny as her favorite knight in green? What if he was not as willing to rescue Florina, as Sain had done the night before?

Wait a second, why was she thinking this way…unless…oh no! The tables had turned! She almost did not believe it even though she knew it was time to admit the fact to herself.

Florina had a crush on Sain.

XoXoXoXo

Author's Note: You all hate me right now, don't you? Just when you think they're getting together, I spring a third person into the relationship. You know the drill. Make me happy and review.

Standard disclaimers apply.