The following night's sleep did not go as well as the previous night. Although it is normal to have anxiety dreams under such circumstances, I didn't realize that it was normal to have three on the same night. One was a fairly reasonable fear of my (far too old to be realistic) daughter deciding she wanted nothing to do with her 'deadbeat' dad… with me trying to prevent her from marrying that Izuka guy (yes, I realize that he's dead, but dreams tend to forget that).

The next one was a bit strange; my daughter had turned out to have been eaten by alligators (native to Goldoa, of all the things) because the king of Daein didn't like her. And… he would have gotten access to her, how? Desdemona wasn't so naïve to give up her child to someone insane. Or… was she?

I shook my thoughts away, and went back to sleep for the second time. The third dream was terrible. When I say "terrible" I mean worse than my daughter marrying a racist mad scientist (who was way too old for her and DEAD) and than her getting eaten by alligators, but what happened was that Desdemona and my daughter were having a picnic. I went over to the river to get more water, and by the time I got back, they had glowing red eyes, and they both looked like they were partially eaten, and there was one of those vigilante guys from Crimea—Floyd, I believe, although he was nigh unrecognizable—who said he was trying to get revenge on my traitor ass—his words—by eating my family.

I woke up in a cold sweat. Desdemona asked me what the matter was. "Oh, it's just… I'm worried about my daughter."

Desdemona got up and she looked sad. "I shouldn't have kept her from you… I should have known this would happen."

"Well," I said, "As long as we find her, and she's alive, my fears will be quelled some."

"I… well, that will take some time," she said.

"Why?" I asked.

She sighed deeply. "As you know, Daein hasn't been friendly to laguz… I fled to Crimea, where I met a nice woman, who said she would gladly adopt my baby once she was married. We spent a couple of years in hiding in her house during the Mad King's War. She was nowhere to be found. She said she was off looking for her fiancé. This made me sadder than ever."

"Because you missed me?" I asked.

"You… I'm sorry," Desdemona said, "I know that you love me more than I love you. My disappearance must have been even harder for you."

"It's okay," I said, "I coped. I'm just glad that I vowed not to get married. If I hadn't, I could've been brother-in-law to an impressive litter by now. And then you and I would…"

"You had other options?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," I said.

"Were they pretty?" she asked.

"I suppose," I said, "But only one of them was actually a catch. The other one was sort of a…"

"Slut?" she asked.

"Close," I said, "Tease. And I think she might prefer girls…"

"You say that so calmly," Desdemona told me.

"It means nothing to me," I shrugged. "My point is that if I hadn't felt so upset at your disappearance, I might have married the other girl. Or even one of her sisters, who have since gotten married to other people. And regardless of how important it is for us to catch up, we can keep talking when we're looking for our daughter."

"You really want to be an active father, don't you?" she asked.

"I do," I said, "I really do. Which is why I've been meaning to ask you… do you remember the name of the woman who you gave your child to?"

"I don't," she said, "After I offered, she went to look for her fiancé. She didn't even tell me her name. I meant to ask her when she returned, married, to take my baby, but her husband wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise."

"Well, in that case," I asked, "Do you remember what she looked like?"

"She… was very pretty. A blonde woman. Around our age; possibly a couple years older," she said.

"And Crimean?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Do you remember what her husband looked like?" I asked.

"Yeah. He was huge. Purple hair and bearded, almost like a lion, but he was a beorc," she said.

"I know them!" I said.

"You… you know them?" she asked. "Like, personally?"

"Not well, but they fought in the war with me. One of my friends is also friends with the husband; and his—for all intents and purposes—adopted son is friends with the wife," I said.

"Do you know where they live?" Desdemona asked excitedly. "I know the house I met her in was moved out of fairly quickly."

"No, I don't," I said. "Like I said, they were nothing more than friends-of-friends. But I know someone who might know where they live. He's a friend of mine who lives in Crimea. He fought alongside the wife during the Crimean rebellion."

"Well, then are you saying we should ask him?" she asked me.

"Yes, perhaps," I said. "And it would give me an excuse to introduce you two as well."

"You sneak," she teased, "This is what you've been planning all along isn't it?"

"My main plan is to see my daughter," I said honestly, "If I can introduce people to you along the way, it's a nice bonus."