Your name is Dave Strider, you're in the town market, and you're ... kind of nervous, to be perfectly honest.

It's the first time you've been in a town since you deserted, and while you know that yeah no one here would recognize you, you're still kind of on edge. All your instincts are screaming avoid people avoid people avoid people, especially when you're near the Dersite border. The warfront is further to the east, but still. This is risky shit. This shit is riskier than a pile of poop at a casino.

"Dave?"

Jade's looking over at you kinda funny, her head cocked to one side and her eyebrows raised with something that you guess is a mixture of concern and curiosity. "You okay? You look kinda worried!"

"I'm fine," you brush her off, turning your attention back to the street and the people milling about in it, going from stall to stall. Some of them are your former customers; some of them are potential customers, too. And then some are jobless dweebs just wandering around being useless because they're not buying from you and Jade. "It's just, uh, hot out here."

"Oh, come on," she frowns at you. "I don't have to have visions to see right through that lie. What's bothering you?"

You're saved from having to answer by a young man who comes up to the front of your shared stall. Jade immediately puts on a bright smile and turns to attend him, eventually putting a few coins in the profit bag and handing over an enchanted pocketwatch in exchange. You gotta admit, you're kind of impressed by the girl's ability to sell her shit. People eat it up faster than ice cream on a hot day, which today admittedly is not.

Unfortunately for you, Jade hasn't forgotten what happened all of maybe thirty seconds ago, and immediately she turns right back to you. "So?"

You shake your head once, dismissive and suave and cool. You're fine. "It's nothing."

"Dave ..."

Fine. If she really wants to know that bad, you'll just tell her. What's the worst that could happen, she laughs at you?

You stand up from the low stool and grab her wrist and tug her to the back of the stall, to the section that's hidden from the main street by a curtain. She follows, definitely concerned now, and when you drop her wrist she grabs your hands and squeezes them. It's kind of reassuring and nice, not that you're gonna admit that anytime soon, but you kind of like having your hands held.

"It's that I'm irrationally afraid some goddamned person from my past or whatever is gonna turn up and recognize me and be like 'holy fuck it's the deserter princeling' and then they'll all want my head and probably yours too, and then everything will be shitty again and it'll be my fault because I agreed to come here and that was probably a fucking terrible idea, even though I won't be able to angst about that because I'll be fucking dead. Yeah, that's pretty much it."

It takes you a second to realize you called yourself a princeling. Shit. Please let her have missed that. Please.

"Dave," she sighs, barely audible over all the people noises from the market. "No one is going to notice you, and even if they do, we'll get out of here fine, okay?"

"Earth to Jade, I said irrationally afraid," you scowl, nervousness translating into prickly rude snappishness. Luckily, she doesn't seem offended and just squeezes your hands.

"I know," she says, voice all soft and kind, and you would be surprised except that by now you've learned that she's honestly way too nice to everyone ever, "but what am I supposed to other than assure you it's okay? I can't offer irrational solutions."

"You could try," you grumble, and she laughs. Then, to your surprise, she hugs you, laying her cheek against your shoulder and giving you a tight squeeze for a second before she pulls back. You're almost sad to let go of her, because god damn if that hug didn't feel real nice and comforting.

"C'mon," she smiles up at you. "We're nearly done! It's just about time to close up and go have lunch, okay? And then we'll go home."

Before you can reply she's ducked back into the stall proper, leaving you to your thoughts in the little private spot. You take a deep breath and run your hands through your hair, kind of frazzled. God. How does Jade stay so calm in the middle of all this? Witches are hunted too, if not officially like deserters. It's more like everyone persecutes them even though they're technically allowed to exist, if they register with the government. But everyone hates witches, for the most part.

You take another deep breath and square your shoulders, internally strapping a bit of figurative steel to your spine. Your name is Dave Strider, and you are a fucking former prince and knight of Derse, you have faced death and blood and horror, and you are not scared of a goddamn market square.

(It's not the market square, really, but the idea that being seen in it might lead to you being dragged away from this new life with Jade and being given no life at all, which is a hell of a lot worse than a new life, that scares you, but you're going to pretend it's a dumbass market square because that's easier to ridicule and therefore overcome.)

You step out into the stall again and look around. The market street is full of people, but not that many of them are looking at your booth, and most of those are looking at Jade, not you. You don't recognize a single one. They probably don't recognize you, either. And even if they did, they'd have to have suitable reason to get a guard to arrest you, and by that time you and Jade could easily have gotten the fuck out of here. There's no need to worry. There's no need.

You're still on your guard, but you try to relax and just enjoy the goddamn day. It's nice and sunny but not actually hot, and there's a slight breeze coming from the west, and it's not humid, and under all other circumstances it'd be a fucking great autumn day.

Jade's talking to another customer, a little old lady this time. You tune into the conversation as you step forward, scooting back to your spot in front of your stool. It's cramped and as you get back up there your shoulder's brushing Jade's; you kind of think she might say something, but she doesn't even do a double take. She just looks up at you with a sunny smile and goes back to talking to the lady.

"Oh," said lady is saying. "Who's your friend, dear? Finally found yourself a husband?"

Jade laughs at that and to your surprise, loops her arm around your waist and draws you against her. "Not quite yet, but the wedding's planned for spring!" she says. You are about to intelligently say huh? when she looks up at you and adds pointedly, "Right, darling?"

She's faking, for whatever reason. Okay. You decide to roll with it and ask questions later, and boy are you gonna fucking roll with it. You drape your arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze, pasting a cheesy-ass grin on your face. "Yeah," you say, kissing the top of her head for good measure. You think you catch the hint of a blush on her cheeks and have to stop yourself from grinning triumphantly. Hah. Serves her right for springing this on you out of the blue. You give the granny your most winsome smile. "She's not as excited as me."

"Lies!" Jade immediately retaliates, laughing. "Lies and slander, right there! I am too just as excited!"

Granny The-Fuck-Is-Her-Name-Anyway smiles fondly at the two of you. "Well, Jade, I'm glad for you," she says. "Thank you for the charm. I'll see you next time you're in town, dear!"

Then she walks away, and you look down at Jade. "Right. What the fuck?"

"She's a regular," Jade shrugs. "And so now, this way, if someone ever does pop up and accuse you, we have a cover story and someone who believes it! And so as far as they would know, it might just be a coincidence that you look like someone they knew."

"Oh." That's ... actually really smart of her, you think, coming up with that little false scenario. Spreading rumors in a small town and all that. You mean, it does tie things up neatly. Even if it did put you on the spot for a minute. But hey, at least if you're kinda disgruntled and embarrassed about that, you're not grumpy and nervous. "I guess ... 'kay then."

"Mhm!" Jade flashes you a sunny smile and turns away, gathering up the few display items left. The clock tower starts to chime high noon as she puts them back into her bag—much lighter now than when you came here—and fastens the straps. You do the same with the coin purse and tablecloth and slip them into a pocket on the larger bag, which you then snatch up before she can.

"What kind of fiancé would I be," you say with your most charming smile, when she looks up at you with surprise, "lettin' you carry this thing around all day?"

"Oh, come on," she laughs. "You carried it all the way up here, too!"

"So?" You shrug nonchalantly, looking around to make sure you didn't leave anything. "Point still stands." It's not heavy at all anyway; it wasn't even that heavy this morning. You've carried more shit for longer distances, when you still were a knight.

Jade makes a little frustrated noise, then shakes her head. "I swear, there is no point in arguing with you!"

You flash her a proud smirk. "Love ya too!" Then without waiting for her reply you start walking out of the booth, going a good ten or so paces down the sidewalk before you realize oh, right, you have no idea where the fuck you're going and Jade isn't next to you, she's back there closing up the booth. Well, that sure does put a damper on your plans and ability to go places, doesn't it? So you stop and turn, watching her unruly mass of dark hair bobbing through the milling throng as she darts around people to catch up to you.

"Jeez, Dave!" she scolds, no heat in her voice as she finally links her arm through yours, falling into step at your side. "I'm gonna lose you in the crowd at this rate! Thanks a lot for waiting."

"You're welcome," you answer, cavalier as ever. She lets out a cross between a laugh and indignant squawk and elbows your ribs, then just rolls her eyes and shakes her head at you. You offer her a grin and then ask, "So. Where are we going, betrothed dearest?"

"Oh my god, you're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope," you shrug. "You made your bed, now lie in it. ...But don't worry, I'll join you when we're married, and—"

"Dave!" Jade scolds, looking a little bit scandalized. "Shush!"

You figure you've probably traumatized her enough for now and desist, snickering to yourself. "Alright, alright, let's just go get some food already. We can discuss the wedding plans later."

She rolls her eyes, cheeks still a little pink, and laughs. "Yes, okay, let's just talk about something else, like lunchtime! And I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. Anyway. There's this little café I always go to—I'm friends with the lady who owns it, you see—that's just down the street, it's usually kind of busy but the food is really good and it's not super pricey either. And then we can do the grocery shopping and head on home!"

"Sounds like a plan," you agree, and arm in arm the two of you stroll off into the crowd.

A few months later.

Holy fuckballs it is cold.

That's your first thought when you wake up, and then your second is I'm a fucking idiot because you realize the reason it's so cold is that you left your window open all night and it snowed. Why did you leave your window open? A bit of stuffiness is so much better than the cold, and seriously, what the fuck were you thinking? —Then again, you obviously weren't thinking, if you forgot to close the damn thing.

You're so cold. It's so sad. Cold cold cold cold.

Leaving a window open in midwinter. You're an idiot. God.

It takes a good bit of effort to haul yourself out from under the blanket, where you're curled up into a pathetic little ball, but it's not warm enough and the thought of the fire blazing merrily in the kitchen is finally tempting enough to get your lazy ass out of bed. You slam the window shut, freshen up, and hurry downstairs to find Jade, but for once it seems like you might actually be awake earlier than her. Cool. That's what happens if you leave the goddamn window open all night. But there is no way in hell you're going back to bed, not in that room. It's a fucking freezer in there.

The fire is still hot—it's enchanted never to die down past embers, but also never to leave the hearth, which is a great idea—and you eagerly sit down on the stool in front of it, shivering still. It crackles all warm and invitingly and you find yourself starting to doze off again, just a little, which rings a few warning bells because hello yes you're balanced on a stool in front of a hearth, you really shouldn't be falling asleep in case you fall into the fire, too.

So you get up again with a sigh, and then ponder what there is to do. It's about eight in the morning—Jade probably will be up soon. May as well make some tea, you guess. And breakfast. It'll be a pleasant surprise for her.

But when she finally walks into the kitchen, it's with her head down and shoulders hunched, her entire demeanor very subdued and very wrong. She doesn't even notice you until you say kind of sharply, all concerned and shit, "Jade?"

She jerks her head up, eyes going wide for a second. "Oh—Dave! You're awake! I—I didn't realize!"

"Surprise, surprise. Yeah. Good morning. Are you okay?" you ask, cocking your head to one side. She looks like she didn't sleep too well—her body language practically screams I'm tired as fuck.

"Of course I'm okay!" she answers entirely too quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Jade." You level a skeptical glance in her direction before you remove the tea from the stove above the fire. "I have fucking eyes, and I can see you, you know. And ears. I can hear you being all cagey about something. Like, look at you, there's these dark circles under your eyes that'd put the Obsidian Tower on Derse to shame, and that's a real—wait, wait, wait, hold the fuck up," you break off, because in looking at her face and those dark smudges under her green eyes you noticed that those green eyes are kind of red and puffy and that there are tear trails on her cheeks. "Were you crying?"

She opens her mouth, then closes it again, looking away. That's answer enough. You promptly forget about the tea—if it gets cold sitting in the pot, so be it—and walk around the table to her. She doesn't move away, which you're grateful for, as you take her hands.

"Hey," you say, and then realize you have no idea what to tell her. "Hey, look at me." You're making this up as you go, oh god. You're so bad at comforting people. But she looks up at you for a second, and just as you're about to say shit I don't know what to tell you but I don't want you to be sad so please be okay, she drops her gaze and lets out this quiet, piteous wail and buries her face in your shoulder. You're left standing there awkwardly for a second before your arms remember oh yeah, the fucking obvious thing to do here is hold her, you dumbass, and then do that. When she's all snugly wrapped up against your chest, you rest your chin atop her head and rub her back kinda, not sure what to say. Finally you give up on words and figure you can just stand there and hold her.

She sniffles and takes a few deep, ragged breaths. Your concern is mounting, but you don't know where to start, so you just rub her back some more and hope that's good enough. You ... aren't sure if she's crying right now or not. You hope not, because you're even shittier at consoling crying people than you are at just comforting sad ones, but she's sniffling and clinging to you and you have a bad feeling about this.

But in the end your anxiety grows too strong and you have to break the silence. "What's wrong?" you ask quietly, running a hand gently through her hair. That seems to relax her a little, so you do it again.

Jade lets out a slow breath. "I ... had a bad dream," she says after a long moment. "About—about the day Jake and Grandpa died." Jake's her brother, the one she tells you stories about all the time. Their grandfather makes an appearance in some of these stories, too; apparently he was some sort of adventurer dude who had all sorts of cool stories to tell himself. You never really did find out what happened to him and Jake; Jade never said anything past "the war", and you never were enough of an asshole to ask.

But now... you kind of have to ask, right? You can't help her stop being sad if you don't know what she's sad about.

Then again, asking her to talk about it might really be a dick move. Especially when she's visibly upset about it. If you're gonna ask her, you should wait til she's more ready to say something, shouldn't you?

You're saved from the horrors of the deliberation process when she adds in a voice so soft you almost can't hear, "That was also the day I had to leave my old village. It—it was horrible."

"What happened?" you murmur, almost holding your breath. "I mean—if you don't wanna tell me that's cool, don't feel like you have to—"

"No, I want to," Jade cuts you off quietly. "If we're gonna be best friends and all, you should know." She takes a deep breath herself as if to steel herself. Then, pressing herself closer to you, she lifts her head.

"A bunch of us were caught in the crossfire when the front line crossed through town," she says, her voice shaky but firm, as if she's too stubborn to let herself break down midsentence. "We tried to run. Grandpa—Grandpa didn't make it out when a building collapsed, because he was making sure me and Jake and the friends we were with got out first. And then Jake—he—he took a sword to save me. And my friend and I were running and there were so many arrows and they were going to hit her, so I—I used a spell to shield her, but then she told someone the next day and everyone freaked out because I was a witch, and they said I'd go the same way as Jake and Grandpa if I didn't leave. So I left. And I came here, and I've been here since then."

Story told, she buries her face in your neck and falls silent again, her body shaking with silent tears. You let out a breath hissed through your teeth. Damn. What a thing to have a nightmare about, must be great first thing in the morning.

"God, Jade," you finally say. "God. I'm sorry. That's fucking horrible and I'm really, really sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry," she laughs humorlessly, a sad sound. "You weren't there, it's not your fault. You didn't do anything."

"No, I didn't, but I probably should have," you mutter. "I just didn't think and I was an idiot. But this isn't about that—no, stop that, don't give me that look," you frown as she blinks up at you curiously. "I'll tell you later today, okay?" If you're all spilling shit from the depths of your pasts, you figure you gotta tell her about the whole prince thing. You did tell her you came from a noble family that you just wanted to leave behind, which wasn't a lie... it just wasn't the total truth, either. But you'll take care of that later. "Just—for now, how's this sound. We'll drink tea and have breakfast and then ... shit, what is there to do right now..."

"We could go play in the snow," she suggests, bright-eyed. You aren't sure if those are tears again or if she just really wants to play in the snow.

"Ugh, really," you sigh. "That's like, for twelve-year-olds, not—oh, god, you're giving me the sad eyes, stop that, stop—dammit, Jade! Okay, fine, we'll go play in the goddamn snow. Happy? And then we'll come in and have hot cocoa and like, cling at each other for warmth because it's fucking freezing out there. Sound good?" The idea is, you're gonna be with her all day and not leave her alone to get distracted by upsetting thoughts. She might catch onto your scheme, but you don't particularly care, so long as it's successful. Even if you do have to go play in the snow. Which ... actually doesn't sound so bad. You're just complaining for complaining's sake.

"Sounds good," she affirms, but doesn't pull away. She just lays her head on your shoulder again and sighs softly, her fingers lightly drumming against your upper arm for a moment. Then she lifts her head and looks up at you, gives you a wan little smile, and kisses your cheek. "Thanks, Dave."

"No prob," you give her a tiny smile back, hoping you're not blushing because of that kiss. Damn your paleness. This is not the time to be thinking about the fact that you might be falling for her, by which you mean you might already be well and truly fucked. It's not like the constant when we get married jokes you keep making help, either, but you can pretend, right? And they usually make her laugh. Speaking of which, you may as well try one now. "Anything for my beloved fiancée, yeah?"

True to form, that elicits a little giggle. "You are such a dork," she says affectionately, giving you a squeeze. "Love you."

"Love you too," you say, a little surprised but willing to roll with it. It's been a while since she's had someone around to love, obviously, based on what she just told you. And you'd be lying if you said you didn't love her too, because she's a really good friend and the past ten months have actually been pretty great. So yeah, you love her too, you think as you let her go and step back a little. "Now hurry up and drink your tea, we have a snowball fight to start already."

She gives you that tiny half-smile again. "Yes, yes, except it's kind of hot right now, you know."

"Fine," you drag out the word dramatically. "I guess we can make breakfast in the meantime."

"Good idea," Jade agrees, a bit of the sparkle starting to return to her eyes. "More time for the snowman if we do that now!"

She turns and goes to get a pan from the cabinet, and as she puts it over the fire and cracks the eggs, you just look at her for a long moment. She already looks less upset, and not in the monotone "not upset but not good either" way that comes with hiding it. No, she's feeling more okay already. She's a fighter, your Jade. She'll be okay. The thought makes you feel better too. And who knows? Maybe the day out in the snow might be fun after all.

AN: WHOOPS well at least I warned you I hadn't written this chapter? ._. sorry guys!

Anyway, a good bit late, here's chapter 4! It's about a thousand words longer than usual if that makes up for the wait in any way :P

And guess what! I haven't started chapter 5. Sooo...we'll see on that one. I'm really hoping I'll be able to come up with a semblance of a schedule again, though I'll be doing some traveling next week so I'm not too sure how much writing I'll get done...

Thanks for reading! :) Please review!