When I woke up, I was smashed between Gowther and Ban inside a lopsided tent. Ban's shoulder was jammed on the side of my jaw, creating quite an uncomfortable ache in my neck. Gowther's pink locks fluttered in my eyes and I had a tart taste in my mouth. Quietly, I wedged myself out, clumsily ducking out and into the wilderness like a hot mess. Meliodas sat quietly by the lake with a fishing pole in hand.

"Hey." I groaned with a bit of grog in my voice and plopped next to him.

"Hey Lenny. Did you have fun last night?" He asked, keeping his eye at the end of his line.

I shrugged, wiping the sleep from my eyes. "Sure. We could have slept in the Boar Hat, though."

"Gotta change it up every now and then." He laughed. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

I felt heat rise in my chest. Meliodas was staring at me with an unwavering grin, adding more tension to my nerves. "Sure."

"Have you considered trying to find out what happened to your parents?" He asked, softening his voice. The question sank in my stomach like a pound of bricks.

I shrugged. "I can't look in the direction anymore, Meliodas. I felt like-like if I stop…" I trailed off, feeling my eyes water as I forced my face straight ahead. "If I stop moving forward, if I paused my life to research the past, then I don't think I will be able to put myself back together."

My teeth gritted together like heavy stone as I stared blankly into the water. I could feel his somber expression fixated on me; soft with empathy but still confused. "Maybe you can't go forward, because you need to go back."

I broke free of my shell, just for a moment. I swallowed the heat in my throat and tried to cough, but it sounded more like a cry. "Can we go wake the others now?"

Ban happily walked through the door with a dead pig under his arm; one that resembled Hawk a little too much, sans size. I cracked half a dozen eggs into the cast iron skillet before Ban slung the heavy animal onto the counter.

Hawk squealed "This is sick, Ban! How do we know that's not a cousin of mine?"

Ban pulled out a large knife; tongue hanging out of his half open mouth. "Sorry, Master. I'm hoping your cousin makes for a real good breakfast." His hand came down forcefully. I had to look away.

"If you feed me those scraps, I'll never forgive you." Hawk huffed before bouncing away.

Ban reeked sweetly of sweat, pine, and dirt. I liked it very much. "Ham and eggs?" He purred deeply, nudging me with his elbow. I grabbed the seasoning. He cleaned the meat.

I glanced up for just a moment to see Elizabeth sweeping the wooden floor, creating considerable clouds of dust in the air. Diane migrated from the table to the bar, resting her head in her hand as she sighed. "Elizabeth thinks we have to clean every time we move the Boar Hat."

"We're moving again?" Ban questioned; his voice laced in complete annoyance.

"Yeah, I thought Lenny would have told you. We're going to find out what happened to her parents."

My head started ringing. "Excuse me? What are you talking about?"

Diane's eyes watered as Elizabeth's cloud of dust swooped over her. She pulled her lips into her mouth, probably scared she would continue to bury herself with her words.

"Meliodas!" I shrieked. There was a moment of silence as I glared up the stairs, and suddenly a pan dropped. The smell of burnt eggs filled my nose, and then the yellow haired lad came strolling down. I didn't even notice that King and Gowther had burst through the front door until later.

"Well hello you guys. Sorry, had to take a morning nap."

The muscles in my face tightened. "Wha-"

Meliodas held up a finger to silence me. I zipped my mouth shut, fearing what he would do if I hadn't. "Sorry, Lenara. Frankly, if you don't want to find out what happened to your family, then that's your choice. But, I want to find out what happened to my friends." His face had turned dark. "There's something fishy going on here, and I want to know what it is."

I desperately wanted to argue with him. How I wanted to scream at him for making that decision behind my back. Would I have been this angry if he had told me? Did he even ask? Yes, Lenny. Meliodas tried.

Yes, I was filled to the brim with anger. I looked at all of their sad and confused faces. Diane was dreaded with guilt. Elizabeth's eyes were full of pity. Meliodas turned anger into emptiness, and Ban…

I actually didn't even look at him.

I bit the inside of my cheeks and walked away, up the stairs, and flopped onto a bed. Sometime later I heard Meliodas speaking, and I felt the Boar Hat begin to shift. I cried into the pillow like a baby. My parents were never dead to me. I never allowed myself to look the thought straight in the eye until Meliodas forced me. He made me stop, even though it was only with a few sentences. Finally, I'm stopping. I'm feeling everything all at once, and it is both beautiful and gut-wrenchingly painful.

My eyes were closed, and I breathed easy at rest. I can't remember the full extent of my dreams, but they were sweet. They were the kind of dreams full of peach yellow sweetness in the sky; the taste of pure vanilla and the warmth of a bare chest.

He placed his hand on my back, and I could still taste that sweetness, along with the smell of sweat and dirt. I didn't open my eyes.

"Pretty little girl." The man said to my mother. I held her hand tightly in fear. We were alone; as alone as we could be with this other man. I could remember how lovely he was. It was strange to use the word lovely to describe a man. I was tiny back then, and I hadn't yet developed the capacity to fall for someone in a grown-up way. Yes, he was lovely, sharp, and silver. I couldn't even look at him for too long.

"How could you do this? This is highly inappropriate. I don't appreciate you following me, especially when I have my daughter." As my mother spoke, I could feel his eyes flicker on me. It was only a flicker, but somehow it felt like more. The sound of crickets in the forest violated the sudden silence of the air. I hid behind my mom in fear.

"She'll be fine. She has enough magic inside her to protect herself, with or without you."

Mom raised her hand and delivered a gruesome slap to the man's face. He only laughed as I cowered beneath her. The trees began to shake, but he was still laughing. "Mom?"

There were snaps, and the wind picked up. I covered my ears and closed my eyes. Still, I could hear their muffled words through my fingers.

"I loathe you." I heard her spit at him. It was so uncharacteristic of my mother. She picked me up, threw me over her shoulder, and walked away.