Frey wasn't sure why she was feeling so jittery the morning after, but she would figure it out.

Maybe it was the medicine Dolce had given her. Then again, maybe it was the fact that Leon and Dolce had checked in on her in the first place. It made her feel like she was...well, needed. Frey felt rather strange admitting it, though.

Vishnal had woken her up at the usual time. When Frey had woken up, her head was clear. Almost too clear. She wondered if was because she was finally going somewhere besides her farm, or if the medicine had really worked wonders on her. Not surprisingly, Vishnal had picked up on it. He was always able to sense those kinds of things.

"Well, Princess…" Vishnal looked pleasantly surprised. "You seem better today. Excited for something?"

"Do I?" Frey asked, sitting up in her bed and rubbing her eyes.

"Yes." Vishnal smiled warmly and handed her a plate of stacked pancakes. "Oh, and Clorica made these. She thought you would need some for your health, but you seem so healthy already! Did something happen?"

"Um…" Frey took a forkful of the pancakes, trying to think past anything else besides seeing Dolce and Leon yesterday. "Well...not exactly."

"Really?" Vishnal looked both surprised and slightly suspicious.

"I'm meeting with Dolce today." Frey said quickly.

"Dolce?" Vishnal slowly nodded. He looked as though he was still trying to figure out what had cured Frey so quickly, despite multiple visits to the clinic.

"Yeah. Dolce."

"Well, have fun!" Vishnal hesitated slightly. "Oh, but Princess...you really must tell me what has...rejuvenated you so quickly. Are you sure it wasn't some kind of magic?"

"Magic? I don't think so." Frey laughed as she finished up her food.

"Is that so? Well...I'm glad you're back to normal, Princess. I missed you." Vishnal admitted, a slight blush on his face.

"Thank you…" Frey whispered as he left her room quietly. She carefully set the empty plate on her table, knowing that Clorica would come by to pick it up later. She ran a brush through her hair and changed into her regular clothes. She didn't know what had cured her like that so quickly, but she knew one thing for sure; she would never leave Vishnal hanging like that ever again. Well...she didn't want to leave any of her friends feeling worried for her. She figured they would be surprised of her sudden recovery, so she decided to fake a slow recovery. After all, no one knew she had recovered this quickly, besides Vishnal. Frey paused and took a deep breath before heading out the door, embracing the fresh autumn air. First thing, she would look for Dolce. She had promised to talk to her…

After awhile of wandering around the not-quite-awake town, she found Dolce sitting in front of the clinic, examining the ground. She glanced up as she saw Frey approaching.

"Hello," the other girl murmured. She had a scarf wrapped around her neck, and cheeks and ear tips were flushed from the cold air.

"Hi." Frey smiled as she walked up to Dolce, tugging on her scarf. "I wanted to thank you for that medicine. It really helped."

"Oh...that stuff?" Dolce glanced down at the ground again and shook her head. "It's not that big of a deal, really."

"But...it helped…" Frey protested. She couldn't see why Dolce was being so modest about it, especially when her condition could have gotten worse…

"That medicine was the work of Nancy and Jones, not mine."

"Well, I guess I'll have to thank them, then." Dolce nodded. Before Frey knew it, she was being distant again. Frey sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "Do you...do you still want to go somewhere with me?" Dolce's eyes widened a little, and she nodded quickly.

"Yes," she replied, tugging at the brooch on her chest. Dolce had switched back to regular clothing, presumably since it had gotten colder…

Which was a shame. Frey had really liked that sundress. Really, really.

Not that she would tell Dolce something like that. Telling her that would probably just embarrass or irritate her.

"You okay?" Frey asked, cocking her head. "Your face is flushed."

"It's the cold." Dolce muttered, bringing a gloved hand up to her scarf. Her breath was coming out in little clouds.

"You sure? You weren't out here for too long, were you?" Frey asked, taking a step toward her. Dolce looked away. "Dolce." Frey tried again. Dolce just shook her head. But before Frey could open her mouth, she saw a familiar blur of purple shoot towards them and run into Dolce.

"DOLLY! I'm back!" Pico shrieked, wrapping her arms around Dolce's waist. Dolce groaned and whirled around, shoving Pico away from her.

"What do you want? I thought I told you to leave me alone!" Dolce snarled, grabbing Pico by the neck. She was nearly throttling her. Frey backed away.

"Um, Dolce…"

"Ouch! I know, Dolly!" Pico glanced up at Frey for a second. "But I need to make sure that Frey doesn't have milady all to herself! She can't just sweep you away without letting me know, first!"

"Pico…" Frey felt her face go hot as she looked down at the ground.

"I know, Frey! I just can't have you stealing my Dolly away from me, now can I?"

"I'm not stealing away anyone…" That was when Dolce snapped with annoyance.

"Go away, Pico." Dolce muttered, flicking a talisman out of her pocket. "Frey can have me if she wants to! I want to spend time with her, so can't you just respect that?!" Pico paused, her shiny green eyes widening a little.

"Dolly…" she whimpered, her bottom lip quivering slightly. Dolce let out an exasperated sigh.

"Leave me be, Pico. I want to be with Frey now." Pico nodded pathetically, drifting up into the sky and vanishing. Frey had watched the whole thing, wide-eyed and speechless. The two of them might have squabbled, but she had never seen them having a full-on argument. Especially not an argument about her.

"Dolce…" Frey couldn't muster up anymore words to say. Dolce looked at her, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Dolce muttered. Frey shook her head quickly. The last thing she wanted to see was Dolce getting irritated again.

"No, um…" Frey sighed, forfeiting trying to be calm about it. "It's just...I don't think I've ever seen you get that upset with Pico before…" Dolce nodded and scrubbed at her eyes tiredly. Frey looked at Dolce closely. Something was definitely off. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't know…" Without even knowing why, Frey took hold of Dolce's wrist, squeezing it gently.

"Hey. Let's go somewhere, okay?" Dolce hesitated and looked up. Her eyes looked shiny and watered down. Still, she nodded anyway. Frey tugged on her wrist and walked across the sleepy town, and toward the Observatory. There probably weren't many people awake at this hour, maybe with the exception of Forte training somewhere, and Vishnal and Clorica...the shops and tourist attractions were just opening. Frey silently climbed the steps to the Observatory, Dolce trailing not too far behind. Once they reached the top, Frey inhaled, letting the fresh air filling her lungs.

"I shouldn't have done that," said Dolce suddenly. She was standing right next to her. Frey looked at her with surprise.

"What?"

"That thing with Pico. I made you uncomfortable, and I upset Pico. That was rotten of me." Frey shook her head slowly.

"It's okay. I understand." She paused, then smirked just a little. "So, I can have you when I want to, huh?"

"No. You know what I meant." Dolce's head snapped up to look at Frey sharply. "Geez...I didn't mean to put it like that."

"What did you mean by it, Dolce?" Frey muttered softly.

"I don't know." Dolce replied, rubbing the back of her neck solemnly.

"Dolce…" Frey frowned and stepped closer, practically pressing her against the railing.

"Frey." Dolce's voice was cautious. Frey would have heeded that caution, except she couldn't get over the fact that Dolce smelled faintly like pine and Moondrop flowers… "I didn't mean anything by it, truthfully."

Without even considering the intention or logic behind it, Frey took hold of Dolce's hand and squeezed gently. Dolce looked up with surprise.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Frey muttered, staying still for a moment before tugging Dolce's silky gloves off and losing her own. She ran her fingers over her palm, etching down the memory of Dolce's skin inside her head. It's for comforting her. Nothing else, she told herself. Hopefully it could bring some sense back to Dolce. She had never seen what her hands looked like without gloves.

They were covered with faint scratches and they were slender, and almost pale. Like porcelain. Frey was afraid that they'd shatter if she handled them wrong. She glanced up, realising Dolce had gone silent. Some sort of strong urge panged in Frey's chest. She wanted to take Dolce's hands firmly and lock her down. She brushed her thumb across her palm again and finally dropped her hands, tugging her gloves back on. Dolce stared at her, cheeks flushed. bewildered face.

"What was that for?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper. It was then that Frey noticed her shivering. She pressed her hand up to her chest and kept it there.

"Nothing. Just wanted to comfort you." Frey suddenly realised that adrenaline was coursing through her, like she had just something completely daring and out of the ordinary.

Dolce swallowed and opened her mouth as if to say something, but she closed her mouth again, clutching her gloves nervously. "Sorry," Frey replied quickly.

"Do it again…" Dolce whispered, placing her gloves back into her pockets neatly.

"What?" Frey looked up with shock, feeling embarrassed. She hastily took off her own gloves. "Oh, okay…" She smiled bashfully and laughed a little, shaking her head. Touching Dolce's hands was like treading on uncharted territory. You would never know what would happen next. But somehow...it fulfilled Frey...gave her some kind of comfort or pleasure she had never known of before.

"Alright. Show me your hands, Dolce…"