There were things about Nina that Nina didn't exactly care to tell people openly. These types of things were not things she didn't want to say out of humbleness; she knew they were screwed up and she knew others knew they were screwed up. Of course, if someone were to grow close enough, she would let them in on the big secret. Those types of people were few in number. The closest friend she ever had thus far was Soleil, and it could be argued that they weren't really friends at all; if she had to be technical, Nina would consider Soleil a frenemy more than anything else. What she did to help her return everything to their proper owners was a kind thing of her to do, but sometimes, the fights they'd have left her lying awake for days.

So what were these things about Nina that she favored hiding from the rest of her fellow comrades? In the truth of the matter, it was easy to figure out, if it wasn't already known; Nina had a thing for men. Well sculpted men at that. If the guy had a broad chest or thick arms from work, chances were she was going to end up following him around, gawking at him from afar. It really wasn't a secret, but even so, she never spoke of it. She loved to watch them work and toil away in the sun, tiring their massiveness; if they pushed themselves any harder, they'd surely be the most ripped men in all the castle. That's right, boys, work away, work away...

This was why the night after working all day in the smithy, there was an underlying air of irony floating about her tent (uncharacteristically empty because she hadn't stowed away any stolen material). She had sprawled over her mattress consisting of a few blankets, feeling her sore arms pulse with exhaustion. They had become noodles, sensitive enough to have her feel each of her heartbeats in the tips of her delicate fingers. At every odd interval, she'd groan at the sudden urge to roll over; she couldn't bring herself to do so much as budge, so she would have to deal with the discomfort or get over it.

She then wondered if running away really wasn't such a bad idea.

Leave it to a visitor, however, to break such a train if thought. It stuck its head in, completely uninvited, and heaved a subtle whisper.

"Pst. Hey. Flower. You awake?"

Nina's eyes opened, and, in no hurry, rage built inside of her. Though it was miserably tired, her leg bolted up to exact a kick on the intruder's face. It fell back, repelled from the tent, with a hiss.

"Knock first, Soleil!" she bellowed; afterwards, she would feel a flush creep across her face, wondering if the entire camp was going to come investigate her ruckus. Geez, if that were the case, Corrin wouldn't hesitate to get onto her even further... But that wasn't her utmost concern. Her utmost concern, quite obviously, was fixed on Soleil, who had slowly peeked back inside the tent with a groan.

"Oh, crap!" she grumbled. "This isn't Sophie's tent..."

"Yeah, you're one off." Nina growled back. "Try looking better next time; some people are trying to sleep."

Though it was difficult to see, Soleil ran a hand over her nose; it could be best assumed that blood spewed from their nostrils.

"S-Sorry, Nina." she muttered, only to pause and tilt her head back. An additional hiss sounded. "Man, that kick... That was a nasty kick... I think you've ruined my face forever. How am I going to look cute now?"

Rashly, Nina lowered her tense leg; it thumped against the pallet.

"I didn't mean to kick you that hard. My bad. Maybe next time you'll remember not to stick your head in people's tents without asking."

"Easier said than done." Soleil looked over at her. "It's hard to see out here, you know? I could've sworn this was Sophie's tent."

"It's not."

"I know that now. Say, for the record, I didn't see you at the bathhouse today; where were you? Not in the mood to see a bunch of cute girls? Nothing much happened in there, but still... A girl doesn't like to go long without bathing, doesn't she?"

Nina groaned then, finally forcing her arms and legs back into action; with a grunt, her aching belly brought her up, where she hunched her form. It was a good thing it was dark, otherwise her expression would have scared away her company.

"Corrin put me to work again." was all she had to say to have Soleil snort, then burst into a fit of cackles. It wasn't clear to Nina whether or not the laughter was mocking, but in the end, she wasn't a fan.

"Where at this time? Glad it wasn't in the kitchen, otherwise we would've been hungry again."

"The stupid forge. He put me to work with that smelly old man Gunter in the forge! Would you believe it? Do I look like forge material to you?"

Soleil laughed again.

"The smithy? I can't see you working in the smithy, Nina; not with how small you are. I have to say, though, I bet you must've looked really cute, all sweaty and working..." she paused then, giving her a mortified glance. "Wait... You worked in the smithy? You can't go in there for a second without getting covered in sweat. Not to mention every man that walks out of there smells like a barrel of garbage."

"Yeah? So what? You calling me a stinky man?"

"And you haven't bathed today?"

"I'm too tired to go to the bathhouse."

"Nina! For Pete's sake, you need to wash all that sweat off of you! Don't you know what happens when you don't bathe after working all day?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

"You get covered in red dots! They pop up everywhere on your skin... And worst of all, those red dots are the polar opposite of cute."

Clearly disengaged, Nina rolled her eyes. With a simple motion backwards, she fell back onto her pallet, landing with a groan. Her arms sprawled out again, continuing to pulse with each dreaded heartbeat; for once, she wished her heart would stop just so she wouldn't have to feel it every other second.

"It's not like I talk to anyone anyways. Let me have the ugly bumps if it means I can go straight to bed."

"I talk to you!" Soleil argued, breeching the entrance of the tent. She crawled over to the girl and set beside her, where her knees brushed against the other's thigh. "I can't allow this to happen; you may not be the cutest, but you definitely have your charms. I won't let you lose them! We're having a bath party, you and me; just us girlfriends."

"No we're not." she moaned.

"Yes we are."

"Not."

"Are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Again, Nina's eyes bolted open, and a flush spread across her cheeks; that darn tongue of hers, getting all twisted up in the heat of another debate. She couldn't help but feel the rage bunch up inside her core, wailing like a tea kettle, threatening to erupt any second. Like earlier, it was good it was dark; not because Nina's expression would again scare Soleil away, but because Soleil's expression would have been the kickstarter of a nasty cat fight.

"Ehe... Hey Nina...

"Shut up. I know what I said, but you know for a fact that I didn't mean it."

"I'm not so sure about that; some people lie about what they really want, y'know?"

At last, from Nina's lips came a discouraged growl, and she beat her fist against the ground. This would only go to disservice her, seeing that she released a howl the moment impact was made. Her body gave a quick jolt, and she rolled over quickly.

"Leave me alone, Soleil."

"Pleeease? If you go with me, I'll consider it as an apology for kicking my nose." her hand returned to the said wound, nursing it gently. "I really did hurt, you know..." though she said nothing, the latter breathed heavily; her legs had begun to pound by now, particularly her thighs, and almost gave the sensation tingling. Before long, she almost couldn't feel them at all. Taking notice of this, Soleil leaned over, then finally cracked another smile. "Aw, I see what's wrong; your muscles are all sore from work. Come on, the warm water'll help them relax; it works all the time for me after a long day of swinging a sword around."

Nina hesitated.

"Fine." she growled at last; it was music to the other's ears. "But you're carrying me there."

Delighted, perhaps overwhelmingly pleased with herself, Soleil brought herself up to her knees, then slapped her hands together.

"Not a problem, friend of mine." and she went to work, starting by wrapping her oddly strong palms around the latter's delicate wrists. She pulled her up effortlessly, then slung her arms and head over shoulder before tugging just a little further. She crawled out of the tent then, rising to her feet...

...Only to have Nina slide off her back and hit the ground with a thud. From there, she was still, gazing tiredly up at the moon with a sigh.

"You're not good at this." Nina growled from below, not even bothering to recover herself.

"My bad, my bad; fingers slipped."

"Liar."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Then there was a pause, a pause which kept Nina on the ground, staring at her frenemy, whose face she could finally make out in the moonlight; that expression of hers seemed sincere enough, that is until she broke out into her trademark grin, cackling like a witch.

"Nice try, Nina. I'm better with words than you are, so I'm not letting my tongue slip like yours." she knelt down then, prepared to retrieve her, when she continued. "By the way, that was super funny."

That was when Nina was heavily considering to run away; just as soon as her muscles recovered, of course...

Having nobody out at the time of night it was, nothing much happened on the trek to the bathhouse. Perhaps the most interesting thing that occurred had Soleil almost run into a wall that camouflaged in the moonlight, but before that could happen, she released a laugh and turned to her right, continuing on her merry way. Nina was rather disengaged, being exhausted; she kept her face buried in Soleil's shoulders, breathing softly, poking the veil of sleep. Each time she started to take the plunge into the sweet land of dreams, Soleil would wake her up with chatter. For the most part, the chatter was stupid, mindless flapdoodle; it made Nina progressively more frustrated with each instance.

"Hmm. I wonder if I'll step on a snake out here; just a heads up, if we do run into a snake, it's every man for himself. I won't get away as quickly if I have you to lug around."

"Mmm... Kay..." she muttered in response.

To Nina's fortune, there slithered not a single serpent in their path, and at last they arrived at the source of light which was the bathhouse. Upon arriving, Soleil released a sigh, then took a deep breath.

"Ha! I can already smell that warm water." and she made her way inside; after venturing a little ways into the heart of the building, she plopped Nina, limp as a rag, down in a bench. Unresponsive, Nina didn't budge an inch to comfort herself; only when a towel smacked her face did she finally open her eyes. "I'm not your maid, so I'm not undressing you." Soleil paused. "I mean, unless you really want me to..."

"Didn't you and Corrin talk about that?"

"Yeah, yeah; I'm working on it, okay? No offense, but I think I'm doing a lot better with my problems than you are." she flashed a wink; even after several years, Nina would never be able to decipher it.

Groaning all the way, she rose, sitting up on the bench with little structure; from there, she slowly began shedding. This was a process that was prolonged; it had Soleil, who had already sat herself in the water, peeking at every odd interval.

"The slower you do it, the weirder it looks." she commented, to which Nina curtly responded:

"The more you keep looking at me, the more I consider not being your friend anymore."

Needless to say, Soleil, who obviously thought her occasional glance went unnoticed, did not bother looking again.

It was a challenge for Nina to make the simple trek from the bench to the water; the gap between the two suddenly became a long, vast desert, littered by nothing but the countless grains of sand. Even though she was rather fond of the idea of dipping into a pool of warmth, the journey was slow and exhausting.

"Ow." she sounded with each step, wrapping herself in a towel along the way. "Ow ow ow ow ow owowowowowowow..." the dip that would lower her into the water would pose as the most menacing challenge of all; such a small step had become such a beast, impressively. She released one last howl as she lowered herself into the water, plopping down without any regard to grace. From there, she didn't bother migrating her favored corner; she sat still, uninspired to change.

Soleil, from a distance, gave her a hefty applause.

"Good job."

Slowly, Nina lowered herself against a wall, heaving a sigh; Soleil didn't lie, for the water did tone down her pain. It wasn't a huge difference, but at this point, any difference at all did not go unnoticed.

"Thanks... I guess." and she closed her eyes, sinking deep enough to hide her lips beneath the surface of the pool. Tiredly, she felt herself beginning to slip once again into a state of slumber. With the heat around her, almost seeming to penetrate her skin, it was a challenge to fight the urge. Nothing really seemed to matter anymore; if she started to drown and didn't wake up, she was sure Soleil would save her, and if she didn't... Well, she was sure she wasn't missing out on much. If anything, it would be a miracle to escape such devastating pain.

"Falling asleep on me already? I thought this was supposed to be a bath party! I mean, come on, how often do you get the whole bathhouse to yourself?" her neighbor would pause shortly afterwards. "Well, I guess you could come to the bathhouse every night for privacy... But how often do you get to come here with your friend Soleil, mm?"

It took a while for Nina to answer.

"Mmm. Yeah."

"Um... Yeah...?"

"Yeah."

"Is that all you're going to say to me?"

"Mmf." and she started to sink deeper; her nose would be submerged before long, and her eyes refused to open. When it was underwater for too long, Soleil at last took the initiative to wade closer to her, her face hardening. Where a smile always was, there was a concerned frown.

"Hey you." she sounded, seating herself beside her. "How long are you going to stick your nose in the water like that?" Nina wouldn't respond, though; as a matter of fact, she started to sink even lower, at last submerging her entire head. At that moment, the other gasped, then quickly reached into the water to retrieve her. She drug her head up with ease, but she was far too conerned to bother worrying about such a thing; the foremost thing she would take notice of was the coat of red that had spread across Nina's cheeks and forehead. Of course the warm bath water was a likely contributor to such a hue, but it was such a deep shade of crimson, she was convinced there was far more at play. That, evidently, made her shake the girl's body roughly. "Y-You're not funny if this is a joke." she murmured nervously. "Come on, Nina; wake up. What's wrong with you? You can't be this tired, a-are you?"

There remained only one explanation; she knew her judgement would be hindered thanks to soaking in the warmth which was the water, but she brought a hand to the girl's forehead. No matter how much she expected it, she never wanted it to be so: Nina's forehead was scorching hot.