Our entire group had the pleasure of sleeping in next morning. Well, almost all of us...with copious amounts of Noishe slobber and Kratos' well-aimed kicks, Lloyd and I were both roused for morning training. The old man was relentless, and tired as we were the only things we students could do was wave our swords around randomly, mumble things, and hope we'd hit each other.
Kratos watched in disgust, smacked himself in the face, and then muttered something about making us run all the way to Lake Umacy for a warm-up jog.
"Ah, breakfast. Gimme," I moaned after an hour and a half of torture, flopping down next to the fire pit like an invertibrate to stare hungrily at the pancakes Genis was cooking. While Genis was giving me nervous looks, Lloyd walked up behind the blue-clad mage and grabbed an already-made stack of ten flapjacks before dashing off, munching as he went.
"LLOYD! Give back breakfast!" Genis yelled, chasing after the thieving swordsman. I stared groggily over in their direction, and when Raine brought out a skillet I decided to make myself a sandwich instead.
"So. Where do we go after this?" Raine mused fifteen minutes later as she attempted to cook an omelette. Lloyd and Genis had come back by now, smelled Raine's cooking, and hidden under a half-burnt couch. Luckily for me, I had my sandwich and therefore no reason to suffer.
"I would presume that we would continue the regeneration journey," Kratos said, pushing away the food Raine offered him and trying not to look at it. Colette frowned a moment, and then gave the merc a pleading look.
"No Mr. Kratos, we have to save those people!"
"I agree," Sheena stated, poofing out of nowhere next to me and scaring me half to death. As Colette poked my stiff and prone body, sprawled on the ground with shock, Sheena went on. "Besides, I'm still bound to kill you if you try and attempt the journey." Kratos gave the ninja a scary look, which she returned. Wow. Someone else who could get Kratty in the ferocious glare department.
"Guys..please...tension levels too high.." I pretended to be crushed by the air and gagged, which earned me evil death glares and a swat to the head from Kratos. There was also much giggling from Lloyd and Genis under their couch, which turned to whimpers as Raine shoved a dish full of food under there (it was supposedly porridge, but I didn't think it was supposed to be green and full of small pointy things).
"Anyway," I went on, rubbing the back of my head in agony, "while we have some down time I think we should tie up loose ends. Do some good deeds. Show the world how totally awesome the Chosen is, eh?" Colette grinned widely, a sight that I think left me scarred for life.
"Well, as long as we're helping people, let's do it!" She chirped in a sugar-high sort of way, and I grimaced slightly. Eeek, hyper Colette...has she been getting into the syrup again?
"Assuming we did go along with your plan, just what would we be doing?" Raine asked matter-of-factly, before taking a bite of her "porridge" and muttering something about needing more chili peppers. "It's not like we can just go around running errands and doing laundry."
"I've been thinking about that." Reaching over into Raine's pack, I pulled out a large worn blue novel with elvish writing on the binding and held it up so the others could see. "Remember this? Boltzman's book?"
"PUT THAT BACK!" Raine shrieked suddenly, snatching the book out of my hands and holding it close to her chest, lovingly stroking it. I twitched, while everybody else just blinked. Raine looked up, a little sheepish. "I haven't finished carbon-dating it yet..."
Lotsa sweatdrops.
"Er...anyway...who recalls why we had to fetch this book from the Tower of Doom?" I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich and looking around. "Any takers?"
There was relative silence for a few minutes as the party tried to remember just why they had to fetch the book in the first place. I watched, somewhat smug, and tried not to laugh.
"OHMIGOSH PIETRO!" Sheena got it first. "I totally forgot about him! Oh no! He might be dead by now from that curse!" I nearly spat out my mouthful of sandwich. Dear Martel, I was witnessing Sheena having a panic attack! I didn't know whether to laugh or scream.
"Oh, that's right! He's that nice man who escaped from the ranch, right?" Colette asked, looking worried now. "Oh, I forgot all about him! What'll we do?"
"Well, we could go to Hima to heal him..." Raine figured slowly, flipping through Boltzman's book. "We do have time, and it's not too far..."
"Not to mention if he escaped the Asgard Ranch, he's bound to know another way in, right?" I added optimistically, a rare emotion coming from me! Holy crap, this game was doing strange things to my personality...
Kratos looked murderous at the thought of another lengthy detour. As he opened his mouth (no doubt to protest) I jumped in the air and landed on him, making poor Kratty the subject of another glomp-tackle. "Hey, chill out old man! Now you have all the time in the world to train me," I grinned evilly, squeezing his neck. Kratos froze, and went bright red as Raine and Sheena practically fell over laughing. Colette just giggled, probably not getting the implications of my actions.
Five seconds later I was flying through the air as Kratos forcibly dislodged me from his neck and scrambled to his feet, shaking. I landed face-first into the old couch that Lloyd and Genis were hiding under, the impact knocking the old thing over as I yelped and was buried under half-burnt wood, fabric, and fluffy stuffing. "What the hell was that for?" I spat, shoving rotten foam padding off of me and crawling out of the wreck. Kratos unleashed his patented Death Glare at ten times the power, and I suddenly felt like burying myself under the house's foundation.
"First rule," Kratos hissed icily, "Never do that again."
"Yes sir," I gulped, turning tail to run. "I'm just going to go drown myself in Lake Sinoa now- Dear Goddess! Lloyd! Genis!" In amongst the ruins of the couch were their still forms. "Kratty, you killed them!"
"What? I did not," he growled, taking one look and then ignoring the entire scene. Raine cast an evil look in his direction, before swooping over to tend to her brother.
"Woo, what happened to those guys?" Sheena remarked from over my shoulder, amidst Colette's flailing in the background due to loss of Lloyd. I shrugged, and leaned over to cautiously poke the comatose party members.
"I dunno, but it must have been darned-"
...hey, what's that weird smell? It vaguely resembles DEAR GOD MY NOSE IS BURNING! AHHHHHHHHH! Can't...fo..cus...
Colette and Sheena squealed as I toppled over and the world blacked out.
----------
"Ergh..."
"Oh good, I think they're coming to! Wait... Mr. Aurion... What are you doing with that water...? MR. AURION! DON'T YOU DARE!"
SPLASH.
"ACKHELPPORRIGEDROWNING!" I yelped as I shot up from the ground and looked around for the evil bowls of funky green porridge that had been chasing me with buckets of water. I got very amused and sympathetic looks in return from Kratos, Raine, Sheena, and Colette. Just try to guess who gave what.
Oh yes, and did I mention? Kratos was holding an empty bucket. It looked wet. Bastard.
Lloyd and Genis were the next ones up, and man did they wake up. Screaming at the top of their lungs, the two of them shot up and instantly grabbed each other in terror.
"Horrible...it was horrible..." Lloyd gasped, panic-stricken. "It was dark...and scary...and there were chili peppers with forks...!"
"I saw bowls of oatmeal dressed in orange and carrying a staff..." Genis moaned. I listened to them with interest as I yanked out my ponytail and started to wring out my wet hair.
"Say, Professor... Just what DID happen to us, exactly?" I asked, giving her a stern look. "I remember smelling something funny..." Raine looked a bit mortified, while Colette and Sheena started giggling and trying to muffle it. Kratos, well...he looked bored out of his skull. Nothing new there.
"...Raine?"
"You smelled that...concoction...she made," Kratos stated finally, pointing disdainfully at the evil bowl of porridge that Raine had shoved under the couch earlier at Lloyd and Genis. "Apparently, the mere smell of it was enough to knock the three of you out."
"And give us nightmares," I added, finishing wringing out my hair and pulling it back into a ponytail again.
"...and give you nightmares."
Genis and Lloyd were now staring at Raine with an undefinable look. I put it as something a tad higher than horror, and figured it was the look one gets when they've seen beyond the light. Eww, out-of-body experiences. Anyway, I took a moment to stretch before clambering to my feet and grabbing my pack. "Well guys, time doesn't wait for anybody, and especially not cooking victims, so let's go! To Hima!" I got mortified stares and an approving nod from Kratty, who also wanted to get this show on the road.
"How can you be so callous?" Raine asked, shocked. "You were all just out for nearly thirty minutes, and Lloyd and Genis even longer, you can't all have recovered yet!"
"They can ride on Noishe," I shrugged, shouldering my pack. "Pietro guys, Pietro..."
"She's right," Colette said, "We've got to save Pietro!"
...I love it when my argumentative skills win out.
----------
Lloyd and Genis did nothing but whine and moan as we trudged along the plains that day. Eventually I got so sick of their complaining about their stomaches and the funky visons they kept getting that I volunteered to take Sheena and scout ahead. She was more than happy to come with me.
"So...you see anything?" I asked the moment we were out of eye and earshot from the group.
"Nope," Sheena replied, shaking her head as she sat on a hill and looked down at me as I pretended to be some kind of safari explorer. I must have looked quite amusing. "So, is now a good time for you to tell me how you know about Zelos?"
"Hunh?" I looked up at her in confusion for a moment, before my brain remembered the promise at Luin. "Oh, right. Well Sheena, this might sound a little funky, but then again you come from an alternate world so..." As I went on to explain about my being zapped through a Gamecube to land in my favorite RPG game, Sheena's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
"Sweet Martel," she whispered when I wrapped up my explanation, "That's incredible."
"You're telling me," I said, crawling up onto the hill next to Sheena and flopping onto my back in the grass to stare up at the sky. "One moment, I was playing it, and next, I was living it. Not that I'm not enjoying this experience..." Closing my eyes, I chuckled softly to myself at the truth in that statement. Though I probably would enjoy this a little more if Kratos wasn't pounding on me with his sword all the time and I didn't have to fight all the bosses. (Yep, smite me. I'm lazy.)
Sheena mirrored me and also laid back into the grass, sighing deeply as she relaxed in the soft grass. "Ahh, this is the life... Things were never like this back in Tethe'alla."
"Mm, I'll bet," I said, cracking an eye open to look at Sheena. "A village full of ninjas must be pretty busy. Speaking of which, I've always been curious about this. Is there really a tradition of sticking a thousand needles into a liar's tounge?" To my surprise, Sheena started laughing.
"Truthfully? No, not really," she chuckled, brushing an errant strand of hair out of her face. "Even though that would be interesting. But we mostly just use that as a threat. To date, I've never heard of any liars getting pierced tounges, or else I'd have a couple dozen holes myself."
"What, you lie?" Now I was amazed. Rolling over onto my side, I stared at Sheena with an eager light in my eyes. "Tell me more!"
We spent nearly thirty minutes lying there in the grass, telling stories about our lives. Sheena told me all about her upbringing, and some of the crazier stunts she'd ever done in her childhood with Orochi and Kuchinawa. Such as stealing their resident shopkeeper's notebook of secrets and replacing it with her grandfather's journal, and using carefully placed mirrors to make it look like the village's well was empty (which caused quite an uproar). There were also the cheesier pranks, like placing eels in one's bed, endless games of Truth or Dare, and long chases through Gaoracchia Forest.
In return, I told Sheena some things about my life. I described my house and town to her, as well as brief outlines of my family and pets. I had a cat that liked to sleep under my bed named Sabella, my brother was a hopeless sports addict, and my father worked all the time. My mother was addicted to British TV. I liked to draw pictures on the computer via my faithful GIMP imaging program, and chat with my friends online for hours, as well as disappearing into my basement for hours at a time to play Tales of Symphonia.
Sheena asked me an odd question about that time. "So, if at first you thought that this...game...was not worth playing, how'd you get hooked on it?" I thought a moment, remembering.
"Well, one year my parents had a Christmas party and my friend Libby came. She brought Tales with her," I explained, "So we vanished into my basement to play it...and I was hooked the moment the opening scenes started playing."
Sheena cocked her head to the side, curious. "So...you liked the beginning of the game?"
"Well..." I thought about my real reason for liking it the moment I saw it and went deep scarlet. "That's not all I liked..." The ever-observant ninja noticed this and smirked.
"Oh yeah? Tell me," she snickered. I went even deeper red.
"Only if you promise not to tell anyone EVER."
"Promise," Sheena said, raising her hand into the air in a pledge. "And if I break it you can stick those needles in my tounge." I stared at her a moment, making sure she was serious. Sheena's deep brown eyes didn't show any sign of lying, so I went ahead and took the plunge.
"Alright... I saw Lloyd in the first scene and thought to myself 'If this game is full of hot guys like him then it's got to be worth playing!' And I turned out to be right."
Sheena went saucer-eyed. "You liked this place because of Lloyd?" When I nodded in total seriousness she burst out laughing again, only much louder this time. I started blushing as Sheena rolled around in the grass clutching her chest as her body shook with the force of her laughter.
"Umm...Sheena? Is it really that funny?" I asked after a minute, when Sheena's laughter had died down to the level of gasping, and she was sitting up wiping tears from her eyes.
"It is to me," she chuckled in between gasps for breath. "To get totally addicted to something because of one guy... Sweet Martel, you must be obsessed."
"Hey, what can I say?" I shrugged, flicking the end of my ponytail over my shoulder. "I'm a fangirl. You should have seen me tackle Kratos a while back, that was so awesome. I think I scarred him for life."
"Kratos?" Sheena blinked, not totally familiar with the members of our group yet. "Is he the tall guy in dark purple?"
"Yep, that'd be him," I nodded.
"The guy who threw you at the couch this morning?"
Nod nod.
"How the heck didja manage to tackle him?"
"The element of surprise!" I chirped. "Though I also had a kind of height advantage via Noishe..."
As Sheena opened her mouth to say something I stiffened, an unexplainable prickling traveling through my head. It felt like an ant colony having a parade across my skull. Reaching a hand up to rub my forehead, I frowned. This felt familiar...why?
"What's wrong?" The ninja across from me asked, concerned.
"I...don't know. I think...I'm sensing something..." While trying to sort out the strange prickling we both heard a sudden snort from the other side of the hill. Sheena and I looked at each other with wide eyes, then got flat on our bellies against the ground when we heard the sound of clinking armor. Crawling up to just look over the hill, we immediately ducked back into hiding with the sight of what was over there- a Velocidragon complete with rider!
As we huddled against the base of the hill I snagged a stick and scrawled in the dirt I vote we run. Sheena nodded, and just like that we took off back towards the rest of the party, which was only now coming into view over another hill in the distance.
----------
"What happened to you two?" Lloyd asked as we trotted up to the group and I immediately collapsed on the ground, energy spent for the day. All that running was coaxing my rare and mild fits of asthma to the surface, and that wasn't pleasant.
"Velocidragon...just over...next hill," Sheena gasped, only slightly winded. I envied her stamina. "Need a detour."
Kratos perked and his hand automatically went to his sword. "Velocidragon? Hmm...we are in no shape to fight, thanks to this morning's events," he announced, looking at Lloyd and Genis. The two were sitting on Noishe and still looking a little green around the gills. Raine went a slight scarlet at this and glared at Kratos, who ignored her. Looking around the landscape, he apparently spotted something worthy of interest. "Lake Umacy is not too far from here. If we hurry we can make it before nightfall."
Lake Umacy? Ooo, now we can have soap-opera drama between Sheena/Colette and the unicorn! Oh wait, that comes later after the Seal of Water...
I staggered over to Noishe and tried to climb onto his back, but failed miserably. I was just too tired. As I was about to give it up and resign myself to crawling along behind the others Noishe bent down slightly and woofed. Seeing as he was now a more respectable height for climbing on, I flailed at his neck but didn't get very far with Lloyd in the way. Speaking of him, both the swordsman and Genis were looking quite amused at my attempts to scrabble onto Noishe.
"Man, you must be tired," Lloyd commented after a minute, before reaching down to seize me under the arms and haul me up onto Noishe's shoulders. If I'd had more energy, I probably would have squealed and tried to hug the guy, but fortunately for Lloyd I was drained. "I guess you can sit up here. Try not to fall off, okay?"
"I'll try," I muttered, while making a mental note to myself to try and fall at every given opportunity, just to get Lloyd to grab me. Rabid fangirlism has no known cure.
Now that I was more-or-less settled onto Noishe, the party started off again on a detour into the woods towards Lake Umacy, all to get away from that evil Velocidragon lurking over the hill...
----------
The sun was just starting to go down when we arrived at the lake, the firey sunset turning the water a bright reddish-orange. While the able-bodied members of our party set to work making a fire at our old, previously-used campsite, Noishe plodded over towards the lake's edge and flopped down on the grass, sighing deeply. The poor dog/rabbit/protozoan thing was tired from dragging us all around the plains of Sylvarant.
Lloyd, Genis, and I rolled off Noishe's back to also sprawl in the grass, just taking in the fresh moist air from the lake. Taking a deep breath, I smiled to myself, feeling much better now compared to earlier in the day.
Man, today sure was eventful... Got trounced by Kratos, poisoned by Raine, and learned quite a bit about Sheena... I then began to wonder if I would be able to purchase a journal when we reached Hima, so I could record all this stuff.
Sitting up and stretching, I glanced over at the lake and got a sudden brain jolt. Damn, but I was forgetting something important again... Standing up, I walked over to the lake's edge and looked in. Yep, sure enough, there was the unicorn pinned under the fallen trees at the bottom of the lake, imprisoned in a large air bubble.
I took a moment to admire the sleeping creature. Personally, I've been very fond of horses all my life, but something about that unicorn spoke to me. It looked to be around sixteen hands high (that would be the horsewoman side of me speaking) and a creamy white color. The horn was a gleaming polished pearl spire, and the hooves were a shining bronze color. The mane and tail were a darker cream, and waved gently in the water.
As I stood there looking at the unicorn, Colette came trotting up next to me. "Hiya Emily!" She said cheerfully. "I guess you're feeling better now, right? Say, what's-" Her eyes widened at the sight of the unicorn, and Colette let out a delighted squeal. "Professor, look at the pretty horse in the lake!"
"Pretty horse in the lake? What-" Raine came over then, looked into the water and gasped in surprise. "A unicorn! Fantastic! I never thought I'd see one..."
Of course, all our speculating brought the rest of the party over to take a look. Genis actually got up to take a look, but Lloyd was lazy. He just rolled over and crawled to the water's edge before leaning over to look in. "Wow, a unicorn! What are they again?" I turned in time to see Raine start bashing her head against a rock.
"Mythical creatures, Lloyd. Horned horses with incredible healing powers," Kratos said, lightly kicking him in the side. "They can only be approached by pure maidens, however."
"Cool! Let's go see it!" Kratos shoved Raine over and started bashing his head against the rock. I rolled my eyes.
"That wouldn't work, Lloyd," Genis said, shaking his head. "Weren't you listening to Kratos? They can only be approached by girls."
"That's pure maidens, Genis. Not to mention that I think it'd be hard to hold your breath for that long if you tried to swim," I noted, giving Lloyd a poke to the top of the head. "Moron."
Just as Lloyd was about to shove me in the lake for the second time in my life, we heard Sheena mumbling something in the background. "Hmm? Sheena, we didn't catch that," I said, scrabbling madly at Lloyd and the ground so I wouldn't be taking another unwanted dip in Lake Umacy.
"I said, there might be a way," Sheena repeated, looking a little nervous. "If we formed a pact with Undine, the Summon Spirit of Water..."
"That would work," Raine said, coming back from abusing the rock with her head. Kratos, however, was still going at it. "But the art of summoning was lost long ago. It'd be impossible."
"Not really," Sheena countered, still looking a bit nervous. "I was actually taught how to do it. If I make a pact with a Spirit, I can summon."
"Cool!" Lloyd cheered for like the second or third time today, and gave me a shove.
"ACK!" SPLOOSH. Damn, that stupid lake must have a vendetta against me or something. Swimming to the surface, I shook some hair out of my face and then scrambled back onto the bank, where Lloyd was bent double laughing and the others were giving me somewhat sympathetic looks.
"Since I know you all don't want a repeat of last time, this'll have to do instead," I announced, and shoved Mr. Funny backwards. He yelped, windmilled a bit with his arms, but still fell in the water anyway. Grinning evilly, I happily joined in with the spontaneous laugh fest as Lloyd crawled onto the bank growling.
At about that point Kratos came over to announce that dinner was ready, and led Lloyd back to the fire so he could dry off. Sniffing the air, I made out the scent of what appeared to be some kind of stew and then trotted eagerly off back to the campsite. When I got close, however, I just stared in horror at what was for dinner.
Yes, it was stew. But not just any kind of stew.
Oyster stew. Yes, goddess-damned freshwater oyster stew. I gulped and gave it a cautious look. Would I die if I ate it?
Genis must have noticed the fact I was looking unusually pale. "What's wrong? Don't you like oysters?"
"Actually Genis, I'm severely allergic to all kinds of shellfish," I said somewhat shakily. "Oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, crabs, and lobsters all apply."
Colette looked at me with worried eyes. "What happens if you eat them?"
"I usually get an immediate allergic reaction," I replied, "Involving nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and then later a high fever and lots of hives." Everybody stared at me for probably the millionth time this journey. That was getting kind of old.
"..wow," Lloyd said finally. "So you're basically screwed. In that case, can I have your portion?" Raine dug out her staff and nailed him over the head with an evil teacher snarl. Good ol' Professor.
Kratos looked a little guilty, yet at the same time triumphant that he'd found a weakness in my character. "Should I make something different?"
"No, don't worry about it," I sighed, flopping down on a log and digging around in my pack for some bread, meat, and condiments. "I'll just make a sandwich... I'll be fine." Since that little matter was now settled, the others dug in and Lloyd stole what would have been my bowl. Oh well.
Later that evening, I sat on the edge of the lake looking out at the water. It was chilly there, so I had a blanket from my pack wrapped around my shoulders, and was yet still managing to shiver. Damn cold air... Thinking a moment, I wondered how I would possibly survive when we got to Flanoir.
That is, if I don't get killed in the Tower by either Remiel, Kratos, or Yggy... Or contract a deadly STD from Zelos Wilder. Eww.
That thought made me shiver harder.
"Hey." I looked up over my shoulder, Genis was standing there. Blinking in surprise, I adjusted my blanket and turned more to face him.
"Genis. What's up?"
"Ah, nothing." Genis plopped down on the bank beside me, a night breeze ruffling his silver locks. "Just checking up. You looked kinda lonely over here."
I chuckled lightly. "Eh, a little. Just thinking about what's ahead for us..." Genis turned his head to stare at me, sky-colored eyes wide and sparkling.
"Fortune-telling now?"
"Nope, I'd leave that to a half-elf..." I mentally hit myself in the head as Genis recoiled like I was something venomous.
"...y-you'd better not be talking about me!"
Sighing, I looked Genis' scared face over, then picked up a pebble and threw it in the lake. As the ripples died away, I cursed my lack of self-control around my mouth. Damn. Damn damn damn. I don't have any choice but to tell him now...
"Genis...look." I paused, wondering how exactly to word this so I wouldn't freak the kid out any more than he already was. "We both know that I know...a lot of things...and one of those is that you're a half-elf."
"No I'm not!" Genis turned red, getting up from the ground in preparation to walk away. My brain raced along with my heart as I quickly lunged up from the ground, using my blanket like a net. Dropping it right over top of Genis, I did a little mini-tackle on the thrashing squirming mound that was angry half-elf, and managed to pin him against my body.
Right before he kicked me in the chest. Oh dear Martel, OW.
"Genis, Genis, calm down-!" I struggled with the frantic twelve-year old for a minute more, and then his head popped out from the blanket. And he LUNGED at me. Can you believe that? The little monster tried to BITE ME. I just about screamed, and shot a quick look over at the fire. Amazing no one had come over to accuse me of child abuse or molestation yet.
Child molesting. Ew. Like I'd do that to Genis...
"Genis! Hey! Stop that! I don't care if you're a halfy or not!"
Genis paused in trying to bite my face, giving me a scrutinizing look. "...you mean that?"
"Uh-hunh. And if I put you down, will you not run away or bite me?" Genis nodded, so I carefully set him down and heaved a sigh in relief. Oh goodie, one crisis averted. "Like I said, I don't care. I prefer you as a half-elf, really, to an elf." Now Genis was transfixed.
"You do?"
"Yep. You've got powerful elfy powers and knowledge," I said, lightly poking his head, "But you've also got the kindness of a human heart." I then poked his chest. "There's no better mix, in my opinion."
Genis was practically glowing, a blush slowly spreading across his cheeks. "Wow. No one's ever told me that before..."
"Because people are stupid," I shrugged, gathering up my blanket and slinging it around my shoulders again. "Believe me, I get the same kind of rap you halfys do all the time. Where I come from, people really don't like me."
"They don't? How come?" Genis asked, tilting his head curiously to the side. I shrugged.
"Dunno, really... It perplexes me too." I suddenly yawned, a reminder that it was waaay past my bedtime and if I didn't go to sleep now, I wouldn't be able to function if Kratos tried to train me tomorrow. Bad thoughts, right there. Very bad. "...oof. I think it's time I turned in. Coming, Genis?"
"Nah," Genis said, shaking his head and throwing a small rock in the shallows of the water. "I'm not sleepy yet. Good night, Emily..."
"Good night, Genis," I yawned again, gathering up my blanket to trudge towards the fire, where I would then flop down onto my little makeshift bed and zonk out until tomorrow.