8:21 PM

Sain walked quickly along the fort's western battlements, wearing a large smile and a twinkle in his eyes as he approached his quarry. "Dame Fiora!" he called brightly. "Why, for a moment I thought the sun was still up, so radiant is your countenance!"

Fiora didn't even try to suppress her smile. "It's not that dark out, Sain," she said, turning to look at him from where she stood. "And the sun is still up."

Sain looked out to the west, where the shimmering orb was just beginning to sink beneath the horizon. "So it is," he noted. "In that case, dear Fiora, I humbly beseech you to remain here and watch it with me!"

Fiora glanced over at him. "I... I don't know, Sain. I have a lot of work to do, and..."

"It can wait for a few minutes," Sain said, taking gentle hold of her arm. "Please. I've already besought you; I'd have to move on to begging next."

Fiora smiled again. "All right," she said. "You win."

She let Sain's arm drape around her shoulders as the two turned back to the west, leaning on the battlements as they gazed out to the horizon. The bright reds and yellows tore through the atmosphere, bathing the two watchers in a crimson sheen as they looked on. The chill of the oncoming night was ineffective on them; their hearts were already warmed simply by the experience of being there together.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Fiora breathed, her eyes reflecting the scarlet of the sinking sun.

"Not half as magnificent as you," Sain responded, mentally kicking himself for using such an obvious, unoriginal, and overall mundane line.

Fiora smiled, though; Sain could tell she was holding back laughter. Perhaps it hadn't been too bad a line; it was better than nothing, at any rate, or so he hoped.

"In Ilia, the sun would always set much earlier than this," Fiora continued. "It becomes dark while people are still tending the fields, or flying over the mountains. Sunset brings darkness, which brings danger; everyone scrambles to finish their work when the light begins to fade. But this..." Sain felt her shoulders relaxing under his arm. "This is so much different. There's none of the danger, none of the urgency. It's almost... romantic."

Almost? Sain thought, somewhat offended. But he didn't express it outwardly. "I would imagine," he said, "That a sun setting over Ilian mountains would be even more magnificent than this."

Fiora nodded. "Perhaps. But it gets so dark so quickly afterwards, you don't have much time to appreciate it." She shifted a little, still allowing Sain to keep his arm around her. "I wonder if it's any better in Bern... they don't have to worry about cold or darkness as much as we do."

Bern? Sain wondered. What a very odd thing to mention... where is she going with this?

"Sain," Fiora said, breaking into his thoughts, "May I ask you something?"

"Always." Sain elected to keep his speech more or less normal for the time being, until he could recover from his earlier bungle.

She shifted her position on the battlement's wall, gazing at Sain. "What can you tell me about Heath?"

Sain leaned back, looking at his companion in surprise. "Heath? The wyvern rider?" It wasn't necessarily the last thing he had expected to talk about, but it certainly had caught him off-guard.

"Right," Fiora said. "What do you know about him?"

Sain turned back to the still-setting sun, shoving his surprise aside as he regained his noble demeanor. "If you are considering him as a love rival for me," he said, "then you should know that he is a scoundrel, a scalawag, and all sorts of amoral things that begin with 'sc'."

Fiora's widening grin prompted him to continue: "He keeps a girl in every town, but is simultaneously unable to please any one of them. He is completely without scruple; why, his level of knavery has only been reached by the most despicable of our enemies." He thought for a moment. "And possibly Matthew. Which reminds me..." he checked his pocket, retrieving a few gold coins. "Good. He hasn't picked it yet tonight."

Fiora was almost lost in a fit of giggles by now, but the pegasus knight was seasoned enough to regain her composure quickly. "In all seriousness, though," she said, "what kind of man is he?"

"Well, as I said-"

"And no, I'm not considering him as a love rival for you," she added, then under her breath: "It wouldn't be much of a contest anyway."

Sain ignored that last quip. "Well, in all seriousness, Heath is nearly as good a man as they come. He may have been traveling with a band of blackguards when we found him, but he quickly switched to the right side." He glanced down at Fiora. "Do you remember who he tried to surrender to?"

Fiora nodded, smiling fondly. "Ninian. It was so odd... she, entirely without weapons or armor, leading a soldier and his wyvern up to Lord Hector to surrender."

"Precisely," Sain said. "Heath couldn't bring himself to harm women and children for the sake of money. Since then, he's only proved to us more and more how honorable he is, always putting the lives of others—especially civilians—before his own. He's even been speaking to Kent and I about joining the knights of Caelin once this is over." He took a deep breath. "I suppose, after tomorrow, he'll get his chance."

He chose not to add "if we succeed."

Fiora nodded, gazing into the distance. The sun was now barely visible above the woods surrounding Feran; in another few moments, it would be gone. "You seem to admire him," she said.

"Well, he doesn't have half the virtues I do," Sain replied with an exaggerated flourish, "But as I've said, he's a good man."

Fiora nodded again, still wearing the same pensive, distant look. Sain peered closer at her. "Fiora?"

"Hm?" She still didn't take her eyes from the setting sun.

"Why are you asking all this about Heath? Has he done something wrong?"

Fiora hesitated a moment before shaking her head. "No. No, he... he hasn't." She let out a heavy sigh.

"What's the matter?" Sain asked, his voice becoming soft as he held Fiora closer.

She finally looked at him, a somewhat sad expression barely visible in her eyes. "It's nothing," she said after a long hesitation. "I'm just... curious. He's been flying alongside my sisters and I ever since he joined, and I just realized I knew nothing about him, so..."

Sain nodded, letting her think he believed her obvious lie. He did notice how her voice changed when she said the words "my sisters," though.

"Look," Fiora said softly, her gaze returning to the horizon. "It's almost over."

Sain also looked toward the west, but his eyes rested on the shimmering sun only long enough to see it sink beneath the treetops before falling again on Fiora. "Well?" he asked. "Still think it's 'almost' romantic?"

Fiora laughed aloud, not trying to suppress it this time. She looked up at Sain, smiling. "Loathe as I am to admit it," she said, "I did enjoy that. Thank you, Sain."

"It was my pleasure," he said, bowing deeply. "I don't suppose I could convince you to stay here with me any longer?"

Fiora shook his head. "I need to go now. There's... there's something I need to do before I can sleep tonight." She sighed. "And I'll need to be well-rested for the battle tomorrow."

Sain sighed deeply, leaning against the wall. "I will suffer greatly each moment we are parted," he said, "but I will take comfort in the knowledge that it will make our reunion that much sweeter."

Fiora smiled. "Or you'll just find some other girl and bug her instead."

"Hey!" Sain got up, meaning to protest, but it was too late; Fiora was already walking off, laughing. He sighed again, leaning back against the battlements; he should probably let her go, for now.

He looked over his shoulder, down the western wall, to see a red-haired maiden wandering around outside the fort. She happened to look up, and their gazes met. Priscilla gave a soft smile, and waved up at him; Sain responded with a bold grin and a wave of his own. But even from high up on the battlements, Sain saw something more in Priscilla's gaze, something he knew she could see in his.

Loneliness, he thought. We are surrounded by friends, comrades, and even potential lovers, but we still look inside and find ourselves to be lonely.

He looked down the battlements to where Fiora had gone as she left. "Fly away from me if you must," he muttered, quoting a line he had said to her long ago. "But to shine so beautifully as you go... how cruel, my love, how cruel!"

8:11 PM

"Hello, Heath," Priscilla called brightly as she walked toward the unsuspecting wyvern knight.

Heath jumped at the sound of her voice, nearly hitting his head on the stone ceiling of the hallway. He spun around to face her and let out a breath he had been holding. "Priscilla! I'm sorry, milady, I didn't..." He did his best to regain his composure. "I thought you were someone else."

Priscilla lifted an eyebrow at the statement. "Really? Who?"

"It's not important," Heath said, futilely attempting to keep his tone casual, though Priscilla could hear the anxiety behind it. "What can I do for you, milady?"

Priscilla pursed her lips. "For one thing," she answered, her voice softening, "You can stop calling me 'milady.' As I've told you before, we're both part of the same army. You should treat me as another soldier... as a friend."

Heath smiled at her. "My apologies, mi... Priscilla. I never meant any offense. You are a friend, and always will be."

A wave of relief washed over Priscilla as she heard those words, but at the same time, there was something behind them... something that made her the slightest bit apprehensive, yet she couldn't quite identify it. Doing her best to shake it off, she asked: "So how are you?"

"I'm fine," Heath said, obviously lying. He still had anxiety in his tone, and kept glancing over his shoulder down the hallway.

"No, you're not," she said firmly. "What's wrong?"

Heath looked down. "It's..."

She frowned at him. He could obviously tell that she knew there was something wrong with him, but he still seemed reluctant to tell her.

"It's nothing," he said after a long pause.

Priscilla let out a sad sigh. "Heath, please? Just tell me..."

"It's nothing," he repeated, his voice strong and confident—but no more convincing than it had been before. "Hey, I should get going. Hyperion was so exhausted when we got here, he went straight to sleep when I put him in the stable, but he's bound to be awake and hungry by now. I'd better go feed him before he decides to raid Merlinus's stores again."

Priscilla hesitated a moment before giving a reluctant smile. "All right," she said. "I'll see you later."

Heath smiled back, and waved over his shoulder as he walked down the hall. Priscilla frowned at his retreating back. Something was definitely wrong, yet he didn't want to tell her...

Have I been wrong about him? She wondered. Is it possible he...?

She pushed the thoughts from her mind. It didn't matter, really. As Heath had said, she was a friend. He was bound to tell her eventually. ...she hoped.

Priscilla turned and went the opposite way from where Heath had gone. A few minutes later, she emerged into the courtyard, and moved to the center where a long-haired, blue-robed swordsman was practicing on a straw dummy. Priscilla was sure to make enough noise that he heard her approach; he turned to face her, and responded with a look of mild surprise. "Priscilla?" Guy asked, peering at her. "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you," Priscilla replied. "What are you doing?"

Guy blushed slightly, and turned back to the dummy, raising his sword. "Training," he said, a little too quickly.

"Oh," Priscilla said. She came up close to him, and lowered her voice. "Nervous about tomorrow?"

Guy lowered his eyes, and the tip of his sword dropped to the ground as well. "I... I guess..."

Priscilla lowered her gaze as well, a somber mood descending over her. "I can understand why. I don't suppose anything I say will make a difference, but-"

"Actually," Guy interrupted, turning to face her with a blank expression, "Let's not talk about it, okay?" He turned back to the dummy. "I guess I'm doing this partly to keep my mind off things."

"I'm sorry," Priscilla said sincerely. "I didn't mean to..."

"It's all right." Guy's voice was softening again. He looked at her over his shoulder. "It's not your fault, anyway. It's not just the battle tomorrow. I'm sparring with Lyn later tonight, and I want to make sure I don't make a fool of myself."

"Oh?" Priscilla stepped back. "With Lyn?"

"Yeah," Guy said, smiling nervously. "I finally got my courage up enough to challenge her this evening. We won't actually battle for another hour or two, but..." he shook his head. "If you've seen Lyn in action lately, you'd understand why I'm so nervous."

"I have," Priscilla said, smiling. Guy was right; he did have reason to worry. "But if it's just a sparring match, it shouldn't matter much, right?"

"Well, I..." Guy hesitated. "I sort of want to make a good impression..."

A look of understanding passed over Priscilla's face. "Oh..."

"No!" Guy said quickly upon seeing her expression. He turned to face her. "It's not like that! I..." He shook his head. "It's sort of a long story."

Priscilla lifted her hand, paused for a moment, and then placed it on Guy's shoulder as she smiled. "In that case, why don't you tell me about it some other time, when you're done training?"

Guy let out a sigh of relief as he returned her smile. "That sounds like a good idea. I'll see you then." With that, he turned back to the dummy. As Priscilla backed away, he cast one last smile back at her before laying into the dummy.

Priscilla left the courtyard, passing through the fort briefly before emerging outside. She just walked around Feran for some time, doing her best to shake the uneasy feeling descending on her. So what if Guy and Heath had better things to do than speak to her? Perhaps now, on this penultimate night, they just wanted to be alone...

A strange noise drew her out of her thoughts; she looked around to see Erk muttering something under his breath, eyes shut with concentration. The young mage, Nino, sat next to him, looking at him intently as he spoke. At last he opened his eyes, and looked at her; she responded with a shake of her head and a patronizing smile. Erk let out an exasperated sigh, and started to close his eyes again when he caught sight of Priscilla. He flashed a smile and brief wave at her; Nino followed his gaze, and waved to Priscilla as well. The healer smiled back at them. Erk nodded his acknowledgment before shutting his eyes again, and Priscilla continued her walk around the fort.

She didn't know what was going on. At the moment, she didn't care, either. Seeing Erk and Nino together had clinched it for her. Heath was too apprehensive about something to talk to her. Guy was training for a sparring match with Lyn. And now Erk was with Nino, perhaps practicing magic; in any case, he was too busy to notice Priscilla. No matter how much the healer told herself she didn't care, it was a lie.

She leaned against the west wall of Feran, and noticed the sun was setting. It would have been the perfect thing to watch with someone—if she had someone. Yet here she was, alone. For the first time in a long time, she felt truly alone.

She looked up, noticed Sain on the battlements, and waved up to him. Sain responded with a bold grin and wave of his own. The gesture made Priscilla feel a little better, but the unshakable feeling of loneliness still hung on her shoulders.