"I think it's a great idea." Flynn blanched as Estellise lowered her cup. There were only so many hours in the day, and an hour set aside for tea (that he made himself. After being poisoned, he still felt leery about accepting drinks from others) ofttimes was the only time they could speak about frivolous things. She only nodded at his surprised face, smiling. "You have been working yourself so hard lately, stressing yourself even more than you should. It'd been a while since you snapped at someone, but yesterday..."

"Those forms should have never been lost," came the protest.

She shook her head. "Even so. You shouldn't put yourself under such stress. And every time you come back from a date you're worse than usual." Estellise paused here, a shadow of guilt sweeping across her face. She had been the one to introduce him to most of them, trying to get his mind off Yuri and where and what he might be. A small pang of shame pulsed through his chest as he thought back to the bottle of wine in his room, not the first he had finished after such a night. "I think it'll do some good," she said instead. "We'll be fine without you for a month."

"A month!" Flynn started, looking at her incredulously. "I can't be away for that long!"

"You most certainly can." She gave him a serious look, putting her cup and saucer down. "Things are better here than you think, Flynn. It won't be too much of a problem. And Rita will be here in a week anyway so-"

Flynn closed his eyes. If he was still here when Rita arrived, he had no doubt she and Judith both would tie him up and force him on vacation. And the scary thing was he knew the teen mage could do it. He opened his eyes as he realized Estellise had trailed off, catching sight of the small smile playing on her lips. "I'm glad you two are doing well," he told her softly, watching with amusement as she started to flush.

"It's not- I mean-" Her hands raised, almost waving an unsaid accusation off. "I- It's not obvious, is it?"

"I saw the moment you realized it, so I may not be the person to ask." Estellise's head drooped, the blush still rosy on her cheeks, her hands twisting on her lap. "Lady Estellise... is everything okay?"

Catherine's legacy had lived on in more than just fear and paranoia of mind controlled soldiers. While she had never touched Estellise inappropriately, as far as Flynn could tell, something had happened that made her increasingly skittish as she broke whisper fine control on her own mind. Estellise shook her head as she looked at her fingers. "I... I just feel like I'm letting Rita down. I want to give her more, I really do, but then I... I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what's me, what's still her mind control... What if I break the last of it and..."

Flynn took one of her hands before it could twist the fabric of her dress any further. "Have you talked to Rita about this?"

A small shake of her head was the only answer. Then she exhaled, her hand tightening on his in silent fear. He squeezed back, not really sure what to say. Estellise needed to talk to Rita about these fears. Flynn knew they were ungrounded, and that she would still be there for her. But what to say to her, how to tell her everything was okay... "Your feelings for Rita were clear even before you knew them," he tried softly. "To those of us who watched you see the world and grow, we could see you care deeply for her. You will never let her down."

A tremulous smile settled on her lips, a hand coming up in case there were tears to be wiped away. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

Flynn shook his head. "Not at all. With what has happened... it's a real worry. I merely think that how you feel about her will still be there in the end."

Her hand tightened on his as her smile solidified a bit. "Thank you. I feel like I should be taking a vacation too, after all of this!" she added, her voice holding a hint of a trembling laugh at the end.

"If I have to go on one, then I think you and Rita should take one as well." He was only half joking, but Estellise considered his words as if they were all serious.

"I think... you might be right. It's been a while since I've seen the blossoms in Halure..." Estellise tilted her head as she thought. "Well, anyway, next time Judy's here, you should go with her! I'll talk to Rita when she comes by and see if she wants to go on vacation too." She nodded, decisively. "And then we'll both come back feeling better and able to take on what's going on."

Her enthusiasm was infectious. Flynn found himself smiling in return, relieved that while she might not have the answer to the questions she had, she at least had a way to explore them and a reason to relax. "I don't know if His Highness will allow both of us to be gone at the same time," he started before he caught sight of Estellise's serious face.

"He will. If he won't, I'll talk to him."

A knock on the door pulled them both from the conversation, Flynn's hand reaching for his sword before Estellise stopped him, shaking her head. "Yes?" she called, not standing.

"Your presence is needed in the Main Hall, My Lady," came a servant's voice, muffled from the door. They had learned early on that opening the door while Flynn was there may set off the paranoia that the assassinations and subsequent ferreting out of mind controlled soldiers had laid within him, and instead stood outside until they knew it was safe. Flynn clenched his hand into a fist as he lowered it, his jaw setting.

"You might be right," he told her quietly as she stood. "You and Judith. How I am... this is affecting everyone. I'll start packing tonight."

There wasn't much more, he felt, that she could say that wasn't already said by the joy suffusing her face at his words.

It was a struggle to convince himself not to bring his usual armor. The point of this vacation was to relax, not to be Commandant Flynn Scifo, and he was most recognizable in his uniform and armor. But, as he knew, he would need some way to defend himself and something to blunt any damage taken if they ran into monsters. He doubted Judith was going anywhere without a spear of her own, and he would need to figure out how to take armor that protected him, fit well, and didn't give away his station on sight.

Eventually, as the sun lit the sky, Flynn had to tell himself he was just stalling. Even if he had agreed to go on the vacation, he still couldn't shake the feeling something would go wrong if he did. It almost made him want to tell Judith no, something had arisen. But the lie felt wrong on his tongue, twisted and bitter. Not to mention that look on the princess's face... he let out a breath and picked up the bundled pack. Maybe once Judith saw how much of a dried stick he was, she would give up on trying to make him have fun and let him come back.

Except he wasn't always like that, was he? Some of the scrapes Yuri used to get blamed for he would confess were his idea, too guilty to let another take the blame for his own bad decisions... When had he changed? Flynn took one last look around before he left, the thought dogging him. He shouldn't feel like he didn't know how to have fun. He shouldn't feel like his childhood was a dream he couldn't even reach for again.

Judith waited for him still, one hand absently patting Ba'ul and murmuring as he approached. Awkward, he paused, not sure he wanted to interrupt her. He knew what the Entelexeia meant to her, and it was hard to break between their bond. After a moment, she turned, a small smile curving her lips. "I was expecting to have to convince you to come with me right about now, Flynn."

He returned her smile with a small shrug. "There isn't much choice I have. If I tried to make you leave without me, you'd tie me up and drag me along. If I tried to slip away before we took off, Princess Estellise would find me and force me back, perhaps even at sword point. And... I'm starting to realize something's wrong. I just-"

"-don't know how to fix it." Judith turned slightly, looking up at something only she could see. "You're not supposed to fix everything, Flynn. Some things you just need to let go, and move on. Live your life, instead of being stuck in a past cascading further into disaster as you try to 'fix' it." She looked at him, grave. "You can't change your past. So let's go, and live a present."

She made it sound so easy. Flynn looked up at Ba'ul, then back at Judith. If anything- "Let's give it a try."

A feral grin curled her lips as she slapped his back. "That's the spirit."

It was looking at him. Flynn reached for his fork and poked at it, certain it had grown eyes and was now looking at him. "What is this?" he asked Judith doubtfully, watching the substance quiver under his fork.

"Dinner." Deftly, she cut off a piece of her own and bravely stuck it in her mouth, her eyes half closing as she chewed. The inn wasn't too full, and not everyone was down for dinner yet. Though... Flynn watched her eat, wary of how she would react, certain the reason why people weren't down for dinner was that the food was alive. "Oh come on. It's good."

Muttering under his breath about Krityan stomachs, Flynn carefully gave his own... he hesitated to call it dinner, a try. It sat oddly on his tongue, felt strange as he chewed- and tasted actually pretty good. He looked down at his place with surprise, then back up at Judith and the half smile she wore. "What is this?" he asked again, his tone much kinder towards his meal as he took another bite.

She shrugged. "Dinner. Probably local wildlife. I've had it before. Every time it comes out looking like it should be the leftover slop from a real dish, and every time it's pretty good." Judith took another bite, then reached for her mug. Flynn found himself sucking in an alarmed breath, wanting warning her not to drink it, he hadn't known who had access to it. Pausing before the liquid hit her lips, she lowered her mug, eyes meeting his intently. "Flynn. Look around. No one knows who you are. They know who I am because I've done a few jobs in this area. But they only know you in your Commandant outfit. This isn't Zaphias; they don't know you on sight. No one is going to want to drug us."

The breath he took finally released, the grip he had taken on his fork when she started to take a drink easing slightly. This was the point of this vacation, to be around people who wouldn't know him on sight and wouldn't want to try to harm him. Flynn forced himself to relax more, taking deep breaths. "For my peace of mind, could you at least be careful?"

Her violet eyes studied his face, then dropped to her drink. "If something were to be in this drink, you could get me a Poison Bottle pretty quickly," she said lightly. "At least if I just take a sip now and wait to see if it affects me. And I could taste yours too, make sure yours is okay."

Be a taste tester for him. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't even anywhere near a solution he wanted. If she got poisoned, or worse... He shook his head and told her, "I think I would prefer it if I tasted my own." She nodded in return, and breath stopped in his throat again as she took a sip. His eyes widened as she lowered the mug, an odd look on her face. "Judith?!"

"I think we could tell if anything was in this," she told him sourly. "I forgot just how bad the beer was here." Without looking away, he watched for any sign of distress. Any sign the beer had been contaminated. After a few minutes, she wrinkled her nose at him, and stuck out her tongue. "I'm fine, Flynn. I'm just regretting taking you here for your first meal on vacation since the drinks taste like this."

Mollified, Flynn picked up his own beer, and took a sip. As soon as the warm liquid hit his tongue he understood. It tasted bitter, weak, and watery. He had better beer when he was a teenager when Yuri managed to get some on his birthday, and that had been cheap beer Flynn found out later he had stolen. After a moment, his own nerves easing as he realized nothing happened to him, Flynn regarded his mug warily. Did he really want to try to drink the rest of this? He looked up to his companion and- "Judith!"

She lowered her empty mug, wiping the last of the beer she had chugged off her lips with the back of her hand. "If you're going to drink it, it's better to get it all down at once and try not to taste it."

All he could do was look at her, mouth slightly open, shaking his head... then laugh. She was right. He tilted his head back slightly, and let the absolutely poor beer fill his mouth as he gulped it down.

Light. Sunlight was evil. He should vanquish sunlight. Flynn groaned, pressing his nose further into the pillow as his head and neck protested, a weight over his chest. His bladder spoke up in insistent counterpoint, and his stomach continued the trinity by rolling uneasily. Need for more sleep warred with the desire to use the bathroom, bodily functions winning out. Slowly, he pulled himself from the warmth and stumbled towards the bathroom. It was in a different spot than usual, but it still had everything he needed. His stomach shifted as he pulled his pants back up, scratching a spot on his bare chest as he left, then blinked at the sight in front of him.

One bed.

Probably naked Krityan twisted under those sheets from what he could see.

Memory of beer just unending mugs.

"Oh no," he moaned, his hands coming up to cover his eyes. Even that was too loud for his head. He had slept with Judith. He had sex with her. Why... she was a friend! He hadn't even looked at her that way, not like he had looked at Yuri. A female voice, cruel and cutting, rose to his mind and he shivered, repressing that memory for the moment.

"Too loud," came the answering moan, then a slight whine. "It's morning, isn't it."

Slowly, Flynn lowered his hands, seeing Judith sit up, her hair knotted in every direction. The sheet slipped under her breasts as she stretched and he looked down at the floor, knowing his face was flushed red. "Judith, I-" he started, then realized he didn't know what to say. Something like this... he looked up as he heard her snort, then blinked as he saw the barely there nightgown.

"Just be glad I cut you off when I did," she told him mildly. "Yuri never told me you were that aggressive when you were drunk!"

He blanched, the words taking on a meaning he didn't want in his mind. "I'm sorry, Judith, I didn't-! I never-!"

"Eh, he wasn't that big anyway," came the confusing careless words. "We could have taken him. That is, if you weren't so close to falling down drunk.

"Excuse me?" That didn't sound like...

She let a sly smile rest on her lips. "You drank yourself stupid, nearly got in a bar fight, puked on your shirt which is why you're only in your pants, and made a very good pillow all night. I say you had a good first day to your vacation, don't you?"

Flynn looked down at his pants, then over at the wad that would be the said shirt, and let his aching head fall back into his hands.

This was starting to become a trend. At least the last three inns they had stayed in, Flynn hadn't woken up with the giant headache brought on by large amounts of alcohol. Actually, he realized, he hadn't drank nearly as much as he had that first night. But he still found himself having moved out of his own bed during the night and woke with his face buried in Judith's impressive cleavage. Without the alcohol, at least he had a slight fuzzy memory of crawling into her bed.

The strange thing was, whenever he slept in her arms, he didn't wake in the throes of a violent nightmare. Certainly, there were times he bolted upright, terrified by what his mind had created, but he never found himself so lost in it that he lashed out at her. Today, he slowly sat up, looking down at her. The relaxed peaceful look on her face was deceptive. Flynn knew she could snap awake at a moment's notice, ready to fight. Old habits were hard to break, after all. But right now, she looked like any other woman, lost to dreams. His fingers traced the line of her cheekbone, then pulled his hand back. He didn't want to accidentally wake her.

The food at this inn wasn't exactly the best. It wasn't the worst they had tried - Flynn shuddered as he remembered the overly tasteful slop that had cramped his gut for days - but it made him want to move on to the next town Judith had in mind. After relieving himself and washing up, he frowned, thinking. He was... actually not looking forward to returning to Zaphias. The first few days that was all he could think about, what kind of trouble they were getting into, how he had to return. But now, he wanted to continue on with what he was doing. Continue having fun with Judith, finding little new towns that guilds had helped set up. That guilds helped defend when the kingdom wouldn't because they couldn't pay for it. He saw how Judith traded with them, free lodgings and food for the debt they owed Brave Vesperia when they couldn't afford to pay them. He knew they took on paying jobs, after all, they could pay the rent on their building and pay their people, but he never realized how they would help those would needed it even if they couldn't pay with Gald. How they would keep the books balanced that way. And Judith would never let them give more than they owed, paying if she knew they had already satisfied their debt. He smiled to himself about that as he returned to their room, then averted his eyes with scarlet cheeks as he caught her in the middle of a languid stretch.

"Good morning," came her sleepy purr. "So I noticed you didn't sleep in your own bed tonight. You know, we'd save a lot if we got rooms with one bed since you don't seem to be using the other one."

His ears had to be red by now. "I'm sorry for waking you," he started before she shook her head.

"I woke up before you." Judith slipped out of bed, long legs unfolding gracefully from under the blanket. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up. You're pretty warm," she teased as she walked over to him, a finger stroking under his chin.

Words stopped in his head, and Flynn just stood there, still. Her finger was still warm from the bed. Suddenly, she dropped her hand, grabbing her clothes. "Don't wait for me," she said airily. "I'm not hungry this morning and that bed wasn't that comfortable even before I got my usual bedmate. I'm going to soak as long as I can before we leave."

The warm glow of the morning seemed to center on the spot her finger touched. Even after Judith had left, he stood there until snapping himself out of it, wondering what had possessed them this morning. It wasn't... anything special, was it? Just some teasing, which she did constantly. And she wasn't shy with her touches. That one was just because he was still waking up, that's all.

The dining area had no one in it. Flynn frowned, reaching for his sword. That was something Judith wouldn't argue about, as he caught her with her polearm while dining often enough. He was glad for it, as all his mental alarms were going off. There wasn't even anyone there to serve, no one to bring out food. No one to check guests in or out. The only sound was steel clearing his sheath as Flynn moved towards the door, holding his sword up in preparation.

The grief-filled wail almost wasn't a surprise. The sudden burst of chatter as he flung the door open to the sight of the villagers backs was, coming to a halt as he blinked. Something had happened, not what he had expected but he couldn't rule out something that he had to address. Flynn sheathed his sword again, moving to press through the crowd. It was harder than he thought, everyone trying to get a look at what had happened. He wasn't about to make a path using his rank, though. The point of the vacation was to get away from that.

When he could finally see what had created the fuss, his heart lurched in his chest. A woman bent over a corpse, bloated and waterlogged. It hurt to see her, a widow or a lover so dearly tied to someone that had drowned. It wasn't- it wasn't that long ago that he thought he had lost Yuri for good. That he was dead and gone for good, and the grief he had after Zaude reflected in the woman's tears. He had to at least say something to her.

"Another suicide," he heard a woman say grimly by his side. "What is this, the third in two months? The men here must be cursed."

Suicide? That made him stop, curious. That wasn't unheard of anywhere he went, but so many in such a small village in so short a time? Flynn started to turn towards them, intent on getting more when he heard another woman talk to the first.

"At least the death was drowning again! Could you imagine dying like Olaf did last week?" He could see the one talking, a sturdy built young woman, perfect for the hard work she would have to encounter here. She shuddered, shifting her basket. "Ripped to shreds like that. And so little blood! Still keeps me up at night."

Flynn stopped, paralyzed. There was only one thing he knew of that did that. Only one person that had done just that six months ago. One person he had lost track of as he hunted who had created the fiasco in Zaphias.

Yuri...