Larsa's company held up the group's departure from Jahara longer than expected, but since it was Larsa nobody complained, not even Ashe. The trek of reaching Mt. Bur-omisace finally started a bit later in the morning, and crossing the Ozmone Plains took the rest of the morning after a detour was made to avoid a group of Garif warriors battling Gators.

Basch was the leader of the party, with Ashe and Larsa standing directly behind him. Vaan had kept quiet to Ashe the whole morning, and especially the rest of the group, about his nighttime meeting with the Princess. Penelo would have tried to discipline him for disturbing the her; while Vaan was sure that he'd get nothing but dirty looks from everyone else. There was no way he was going to walk the rest of the journey with that on his conscious. No, he was going to make sure that whatever happened between him and Ashe was kept between them. His only worry was if Ashe would do the same, keep it to herself. The attitude she had with him last night was unacceptable, but with everything she had gone through up to this point made that argument useless to fight over.

Of course, if someone were to ask Vaan why he went to Ashe's tent in the middle of the night, there would no doubt be a many eyebrows raised. After all, Ashe was a Princess (albeit exiled) and Vaan was one of her subjects, also she was a leader of a resistance movement and he was street thief. Vaan was known for being brazen and not caring about other people's opinions as to what he did, and what he did with Ashe was just another example of that trait.

Vaan stopped to rest with everyone else outside the Golmore Jungle, Ashe sitting on a large rock near a bunch of tall grass. She was hugging her knees up to her chest and resting her head on her knees, not out of being tired, but out of frustration. We should have gotten to the mountain by now… Her level of uneasiness was rising with each moment used for other purposes.

"Princess?"

She didn't even raise her head at the voice, for she didn't care who it was at the moment, "What?"

The steps of the person came up to stand in front of her, "You really should mind your surroundings."

A light hiss was heard from the right of Ashe as she looked up. She saw the vile face of a baby Viper, and when you mean baby it was about two feet long. Ashe gasped and backed away a few inches out of fright. Vaan had a hold of the creature by the base of the head and the tip of the tail, firmly holding onto it. "This thing's venom can make your body go numb for hours, and from an adult it can kill you."

Ashe stood up as Vaan passed her to through the reptile in a ditch rather than kill it. He made his way back and Ashe stood with arms crossed over her chest with her chin somewhat higher than before, realizing that Vaan had just saved her from injury, she was still not in the mood to talk to him for even small things. She wasn't doing it to be mean, but to up hold her pride. She was of royal birth, after all.

Ashe went and walked off before Vaan could say anything, or receive a word of gratitude, although Ashe said that in silence.

Basch and Larsa went on ahead with the others while Ashe and Vaan came up the rear. Ashe was walking slowly, hands on her stomach and visibly distracted by her own thoughts. Sure she wanted to get going but she felt more and more guilty about being rude to Vaan. So, she came to a stop at the cave entrance, and a low rumble of thunder came from the large grey clouds heading their way across the plains towards the jungle. "It's going to storm here within the hour."

Walking on in, Vaan notice Ashe stop in the first room of the jungle, surrounded by all the thick vines and trees, as well the sounds of the wildlife there was to offer. It was also dark due to the thick canopy as well as the cloud build-up with the storm approaching. Still, Ashe was going to apologize to Vaan and get it over with.

"So, you intending to ignore me the whole way to Mt. Bur-Omisace?"

Ashe ignored him, "Sorry."

Vaan stepped up next to her, and sort of glad that she had said her first word to him since the night before, "Just now or last night?"

"Both, my attitude was not what it should have been."

Vaan nodded once, accepting her apology, "It's alright."

"That's it?"

Putting his hands on his hips, "I'm never one to hold a grudge over small things."

A loud clap of thunder stopped the conversation in its track momentarily, and both the Princess and the thief looked up to what blue sky and sun could be seen through the trees slowly vanished behind dark grey clouds. Small bits of lightning flashed here and there.

Vaan sighed, "Well, good thing we got inside when we did."

The Princess silently agreed with her companion, "Now, I hope there won't be anything like this when we get to the other side of the jungle, and to the Paramina Rift."

Vaan started to walk along the path to the left, the way Fran said to go, "Then we better get moving, else we'll lose track of the others."

Ashe heard Vaan but decided to remain behind a few moments longer. From the Rift, then it's on to Bur-Omisace. Ashe could hardly wait as her excitement began to rise again. She ran after Vaan and when she did she noticed he stopped, "What's wrong?"

Vaan put up his hand, and then pointed a finger to his ear.

Ashe closed her mouth, and after a few seconds she realized that the forest had gone silent. All she heard was the rain hitting the canopy above her, at first.

Then, something slimy slapping a hard surface.

It didn't take long for it to show itself. Crawling out from between the trees just off the platform, with what looked like over a hundred eyes that matched its tentacles, was a Malboro. Ugly, green with black spots and spewing thick green gases from behind its many rows of razor sharp teeth, the Malboro was a creature reviled throughout Ivalice for its disgusting breath, known to wither all forms of plant life before it.

"Just one…" Ashe said, pulling out the small sword from her belt.

"Better recount that, Your Majesty," Vaan said, and Ashe turned around to see at least four more of the grotesque creatures coming at them from behind the one in front of the two travelers. Ashe stood ready to fight, but Vaan pulled her back by the shoulders.

"What are you doing?!"

"We need to fall back before we are surrounded!"

Vaan had to nearly pull Ashe back to the entrance platform, and it seemed that with every foot they fell back, another Malboro came out of the forest.

Ashe did kill one of the monster when it got too close, and Vaan got another with a Blizzara spell, but it easily became clear that they wouldn't be able to fight them off by themselves. Ashe was also able to figure out that there were other explosions happening deeper in the forest, meaning that Ashe and Vaan weren't the only ones fighting.

Vaan spoke after taking down another monster, "We're not going to be able to take them all on. We have to go back outside."

Ashe looked behind her and saw it pouring down rain, and the lightning flashing, and she immediately shook her head, "You jest-!"

"Ashe! We have no choice!" Vaan grabbed her hand and Ashe pulled back, but Vaan mustered enough force to drag her out of the jungle, where the Malboro chased them right to entrance, but stopped short of going outside.

Vaan kept a firm hold of Ashe's hand up until they were well beyond the jungle entrance.

Meanwhile Ashe had had enough, "Unhand me this instant-!" She got her hand free, and she fell backward into a large puddle of water.

Vaan fell to his knees on the ground, but he was able to get back up quickly, "Very well. Be that way."

Ashe got up, and she wasted no time in getting in Vaan's face, "You hand no right to stop me, nor touch me for that matter!"

Vaan heard her clearly over the heavy rain, "The fact that I saved you from certain and a vain death doesn't seem to make a bit of difference for you, huh?"

Ashe turned around, as if she were intending to head back to the Jungle. Vaan ran ahead of her and stopped her in her tracks. Obviously, Ashe was not happy, "Out of my way."

"No."

She tried to shove him aside, but Vaan moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, much to Ashe's surprise and anger, lifting her off the ground and walking away with her squirming and yelling.

"Put me down!"

Vaan stopped where they had rested earlier in the day, he finally had to set her down, "For being a Princess you act more like an immature teenager—"

Slap!

The force of Ashe's hand hitting Vaan's face was as close as one would imagine being hit with a steel wall. Vaan had fallen backwards onto a large rock, one of his hands going right to his bruised and throbbing cheek. He didn't cry out mainly because he couldn't believe how hard she had hit him. To make matters worse it she had used the hand with her rings on her fingers, adding more hurt to it.

Ashe stood over Vaan as he looked up at her, she appeared more angry than he had ever seen her, "If you ever do that to me again, I swear on my father's name that I will—"

Vaan didn't let her finish as he jumped up from the rock, grabbed Ashe by the upper arms, and spun her around to make her go onto the rock on her back. The Princess was taken aback and found herself unable to move, Vaan's strength surprising her. He hovered over her, blocking all the rain that would have been hitting her already soaked body. "You know, your temper is very unbecoming of you, Princess."

Now Ashe had to struggle a bit, "You let me go."

"Not until you fully realize our situation: first off, a cluster of Malboro have come out to feed, and if we go back there we'll end up a meal of theirs. Second, our friends are probably deep into the woods that they can't get back out here to help us. Also, in case you're oblivious, we're stuck in a storm, so we need to find shelter and wait out the storm. Finally, you being mad at me for saving your life is really not helping us any," after that explanation, Vaan let Ashe go. "So, think it over for a second, Ashe."

Ashe sat up and felt the rain, and reality, hit her hard. He was right, and she again cursed herself. "Then let us be off, but don't say a word to me unless you have to. Understand?"

For the next few minutes, the two silently did their best to navigate through the rain and mist. Vaan did keep his mouth shut for the whole thing, and Ashe only spoke when she sneezed due to the cold. This made Vaan look harder for a place to stay in. He also began to feel excessively heavy due to all the rain soaking his clothes, though he was better off than Ashe was. She had that white shirt that was laden with small jewels. Then there was the red skirt she wore, it was small to begin with, but it seemed to shrink in the rain. Of course, Vaan didn't look at her long enough to feast himself, he was higher than that, even though Ashe was indeed a sight under normal circumstances.

But, Vaan had to admit, even though she had the temper of a mean dog at times, Ashe was beautiful, even wet.

But, he kept those words to himself, of course. It was also after what seemed like forever that Vaan found something.

"Seems we can hide out here."

The 'here' he was talking about was what looked like a small tower from an airship, one of the many that were scattered all over the plains. It was imbedded into the ground, but there was what looked like a large space at least five feet off the ground. "We'll see if that's good enough."

Ashe nodded, but didn't lose the expression of discomfort she had on her face. The two had to cross a small batch of waist high grass and mud. Ashe tried to walk on the stick and stones to avoid the mud, and because of that she was moving slowly.

"You know, I can carry you across."

Ashe heard Vaan but ignored him, going on she tried to step on a thick branch but it snapped when she stepped on it. Her foot went into the mud, but she also vaulted forward, about to head first into the mud—

-Or she would have if Vaan had not caught her hand. Before she could berate him for touching her, he swooped her up into his arms, like when he caught her in the sewers of Rabanastre. Though this time it was under less than normal circumstances.

"We're going to die from drowning at the pace we're going, so this will be faster," Vaan said, stopping what he believed would be an insult or another physical retaliation.

Ashe huddled her body close to his, noticing his body was a bit warmer than her, and how she enjoyed that warmth more than she would like to admit, "Don't expect me to thank you for this."

Vaan was not surprised by her attitude, "Suit yourself." He carried her well past the mud and to the tower, and was grateful to the Gods for what he found. It was a large circular room, dry and level floor with no damage to the structure itself. "We'll stay here until the storm goes away."

Once she set foot on the ground, Ashe took off for the window on the opposite side of the room, her hands rubbing her ribs, trying to keep herself warm. Vaan opened his knapsack and pulled out the only thing that had been spared from the rain: a thick fur blanket. It wasn't very big, meant to be for a small or medium sized bed. He also had a thin sheet of cloth that was bigger than the blanket. The only bad thing was Vaan had not packed a pillow, so his empty knapsack would have to do.

"Better make yourself comfortable. The storms out here can last for days," Vaan said, setting up the bed on the ground, "You can sleep and I'll keep watch."

"Turn around."

Vaan didn't even ask why, instead he humored her, and looked back at the window she had stood at. He saw her leggings and shirt under the curve of the window. Oh… It was more obvious now. Wet clothes. Vaan himself took off the vest he wore and rolled up his pant legs to his knees.

Ashe went on over and sat down, not looking at Vaan, and the thief guessed it was over the fact that she might have to sit out the storm for far longer than she had thought. That or she was from the waist up nude. More than likely both. "Anything else you want to tell me? If it isn't important, good night then," Ashe said rather rudely, covering herself with the blanket. Her constant shivering was obvious to Vaan.

"If you're not warm enough, I can help with my—"

Though he couldn't see it, Ashe's eyes went extra wide, knowing exactly what he was implying, which in her current state she blatantly and outright refused, "You will not—" Ashe felt her threat go on deaf ears as Vaan shifted himself under the blanket, putting his bare chest up against Ashe's bare back. Ashe gasped, and blushed a crimson red in her face, as well as wrapping her arms around her chest, and did so just in time as Vaan's left arm came and wrapped itself around her waist, just above her navel. "Vaan!"

Vaan smiled, not intimidated, "I swear my intentions are purely honorable."

Wanting to argue, but suddenly feeling too tired to care, Ashe just stomached it and closed her eyes, "You better be."

And with that, the two fell asleep to the sound of heavy rain.