It was both easy and complicated to word such a list as short as his turned out to be, and Trowa couldn't say he was pleased with himself at the result.
He wasn't a perfectionist, and yet, frowning, he thought he couldn't connect with the words he'd lain out on the narrow notepad. He feared he was forcing himself to do things he didn't know whether he really felt.
Then again, introspection had never been a real part of being a soldier. Introspection, as a soldier, was actually a very bad idea.
He shrugged. Maybe the better way to best myself is to let come what may, he thought.
And then spent at least ten minutes re-reading his little list. Although he tried to convince himself not to be over-analytical, he thought it was probably a good tactical move to switch items #4 and #5. So, he switched them.
A light smile appeared on his lips. An amused voice, which might have resembled Duo's, drifted emptily through the silence: Though you may take the soldier out of the battle, you never take the tactics out of the soldier.
He turned in for the night well after midnight.
Outside, it was moonless and cold with swamp-moisture and darkness. But though the noises of the lively wildlife were loud outside his window, and the scent of smoke was heavy with damp- though; deep in the wilderness, wolves howled and owls hooted emptily- Trowa closed his eyes rather pleased. And he was not, in the slightest, afraid of anything in the world.
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I felt it was right for the pace of the story for this little chapter to stand alone.
The next chapter is almost finished, and will be out soon :)