The lazy ride back to the ranch was noticeably longer than getting to town but no one was complaining, least of all the child passengers.
Navi only left for a short while to hop around the wildflowers in search of some more nectar to snack on, but she wasn't too surprised to return and find Link and Maron napping in the corner as the wagon rocked back and forth down the dirt road.
It had, after all, been such a busy day, so Navi curled up on top of a create near Link's head to rest too.

Chapter 13
Play Time

When the wagon finally came to a rickety stop, Link and Navi sprung awake while Maron opened her eyes more sluggishly as she was far more accustomed to the sudden changes in speed compared to her forest-dwelling friends.

"ah, we're home…" She yawned, covering her mouth as she stretched her arm before making her way to the back of the wagon to dismount. "Want to stay for supper? I'll ask papa."

"I don't know…" Link was starting to feel hungry, but after a quick consultation with his fairy, a fair point was made.

"Do you really want to walk through those parts of the woods at night?" Navi held her wrists together and moved her hands to mimic the snapping jaws of the Mosstrap plants.

"One second papa!" Maron called waving to her father as he beckoned her to come do her chores. "I need to go, please think about staying!" Maron disappeared behind the canvas walls.

Link and Navi disembarked the wagon just as the driver was making his way around to start unloading the unsold produce.
"What's your name again, Link? Can you take this to the barn?"

"Uh…-" Before he could answer, Link was suddenly handed a small case of eggs lined with straw. "where's the barn?"

The driver didn't hear, he was already pulling heavier boxes closer to the edge.

"I'll show you, it's that place where the horses live," Navi waved her boy to follow.

As he was about to step into the barn, Maron was just rushing out.
The two nearly collided, but Maron was well trained in the art of dodging near disasters with eggs and the likes.

"Wrong barn, eggs go over that way." Taking an end of the case, Maron showed Link exactly where it went. "Have you decided to stay for supper yet?"

"We can't…" Link said with genuine remorse as they entered the barn. "The forest gets dangerous at night, I don't want to get trapped in dark."

"oh…" Disappointed lasted for all of a second before another idea popped into Maron's head "you could spend the night?"

"And leave in the morning?" Navi spun around to Link. "That's not bad! If we start early, you might be sleeping in your own bed by tomorrow night if we're quick enough."

Before Link could come to a decision, Maron was once again called by her father.
"Why aren't you dressed yet?"

"I'm just showing Link where the eggs go, I'll be quick. But eh, is it okay if he stays with us tonight?"

Looking at the boy who caused such a ruckus that morning, Maron's father wasn't overly keen.
"I don't know, won't his folk be missing him if he stayed here?"

"Link doesn't have a muma or papa. I told you he's a fairy boy-…" With wide eyes, Maron turned to the boy in green beside her. A grin stretched across her face as her eyes locked on Navi. "I wasn't making it up! See!? He does have a fairy!"

At Maron's request, Navi followed the girl to meet her father. It wasn't as much of a 'Told you so' as Maron was hoping for, as her father was more interested in getting chores done than fairies.
Despite proving her honesty, she was simply asked to show Link what he needs to know so she could go upstairs and change into her work clothes.

"okay…" Maron lowered her head as she turned away. But not a few steps away did her father's hand land on her shoulder.

"Put your chickens to bed, then you can play with your new friend until supper."

"Re-Really?" Her face lit up, looking at her father's soft smile.
With a high skip in her step, Maron ran to meet up with Link to finish his task.
"Just over here." Maron ran ahead to open the door for Link to enter. "On that table."

Once the eggs were stacked in the proper place, Link was then led back to the house.
Navi stayed vigilant, doing her best to stay out of the chicken's sight in case they started chasing her again.

Back in the house, Maron invited Link to make himself at home while she rushed upstairs to quickly get dressed. And quick she was.
The thundering boom of her excited boots racing down the stairs gave both her guests a small fright.

"Rounding up chickens don't take too long, and most will be in bed already. We just need to find the few nesting where they shouldn't be."

"Okay… Is Navi going to be alright?"

Navi felt obligated to stick by Link's side, but going out there could prove deadly for herself, harmful to Link, and disruptive to everyone else.
"I'll come but, I'll be up in the air. Watching."

While Link and Maron tried to round up and lure chickens to their coops, Link found the biggest challenge when it came to catching them was his fear of hurting them.
They'd hop out of his hands whenever he came close to grabbing one.

"Just have your hands out like this, act natural, then…" The hen tried to run, but was easily lifted by the little girl. "want to hold her?"

Link was visibly nervous but really wanted to hold one for himself.

As Maron instructed him on how to receive the flighty bird, Link braced himself, but Maron didn't let go until she was sure Link had a sure hold.

"See? You can stroke her head if you like~" Maron cheerfully brushed her finger down the bird's speckled white feathers.

"Like this?" Link let go with the hand furthest from him, freeing one wing that started flapping like crazy. When he tried to hold the chicken like before, he only held under the wing, meaning the flapping didn't stop.
Each 'correction' only made it worse, and the more frantic the bird got, the less he could hear Maron's instruction to just put her down.
In fact, Link was unconsciously rising the bird higher above his head to the point where the talon-like feet were able to scratch his face.
"Aaaahh! Maron!" Link didn't know what to do with the flapping and the scratching and the yelling and the clucking.

Maron was trying desperately to get the bird from him, but Link obviously had his eyes tightly shut and couldn't hear a thing she was saying.
Plus, having been around chickens most of her life, Maron found this to be one of the funniest things she'd encountered on the farm.
"Link, put her down, just put her down!" She had to hold back her laughing since both of them were getting more and more stressed.

Then soon, what started funny was suddenly turning grim, as from out of nowhere, four more chickens leapt at Link, scratching and flapping at his face as the boy fell backwards on himself and all Maron could do was watch in horror while his outstretched hand sink into a cloud of feathers.

Looking back to the house, Maron could see her papa, her uncle, and the hired hands all watching with amused smirks.
With so little work left to do today, everyone felt they were entitled to enjoy the show.

"I, I'll save you myself!" Maron started grabbing chickens and carrying them to the coop one by one, shutting the door behind each of them so they don't escape. "Just a few more!"

Link was on his knees, hunched over and protecting his face against the ground as some chickens continued to peck at him while the top hen merrily stood on his back looking very proud of herself.
When a second hen tried to join her, she too was pecked by the top until the other fell to the ground.

"Leave him alone!" Maron left the top hen until the end. She may be standing on Link's back but her dominating presence kept the other girls in line, which just happened to be a good thing for Maron. "You too, Eggna." Maron lifted the top hen to her coop and shut the door behind. "Phew, that was scary, are you alright?"

As Link lay traumatised by the chicken assault for the second time that day, he wondered what in the world he did to deserve it.

"Stop being dead," Navi encouraged as she hovered over his lifeless body. "C'mon, up you get."

Eyeing up his smirking blue fairy from the corner of his vision, Link sat back up before eventually climbing to his feet.
"chickens are evil…" He sighed.

"Oh no, they misbehave sometimes but they're really sweet!" Maron walked to the side of the coop where a roof panel can be lifted open. "Come see how cute they are on their perches~"

"Fine, let me see…"

As soon as Maron opened the roof, a loud series of clucking started and Link was hit by three chickens leaping out at once.

"NOOOoooo!"

The only thing louder than Link's cry of terror and Maron's desperation to save him, was the howling laughter of the men watching from the house.

The two were allowed to play outside while supper was getting prepared, so it was Maron's idea to play in the barn where the freshly harvested straw was kept. It was in there that Maron told Link to sit down while she attempted to clean him up a little.

"Why does that keep happening?" Link wept as Maron wiped the dirt from his various scratches and shallow cuts.

"I really don't know, they've never done that to me before…"

"It might have been my fault… I wanted to see what they looked like sleeping so, I was right behind you…" Navi sheepishly admitted.

"It was You!" Link stood up, ready to chase her before Maron stopped him. "Bad friend, Navi!" He declared.

"Friend? I'm nearly sixteen! Think I'd be friends with a little kid like you?" The fairy retorted, making a snort as she laughed as Link growled under his breath. "Our relationship is a partnership. Want to be my friend, grow up~!"

Link pouted as the Fairy gleefully stuck her tongue at him.

"How about a Prend?" Maron suggested. "Or a Fartner?"

"Fartner!" Link announced, pointing his finger at the fairy. "You're a Fartner, Navi!"

Navi hovered there, her eyes wide as she realised how her legacy will be remembered.
"I'm a fartner…" She cried into her hands while Maron and Link shared a laugh. "Rose will never shut up about this…"

As stingy as some of Links sores were, their silly argument did cheer him up some and when Maron asked if he wanted to play a game with her, he felt more than up for it.

"Okay, follow me!" Maron led Link to the back of the barn where a ladder would bring them both to the upper floor. Maron walked straight to the edge of where the second floor ended before turning on her heel and waving her friends goodbye.

"Maron!" Link and Navi jolted forward. They looked down expecting to see her hurt or unconscious, instead they see her spread out with her middle section swallowed by a pile of straw.

"Jump!" She called up.

"Um…" Link took a deep breath, then stepped off the edge. It was frightening for most of the fall, but the landing was soft and springy. It actually felt nicer than landing in water, plus he was still dry when he climbed out. "Can we do that again?"

"Yeah! But this time…" Maron looked him up and down. "Can, can you do a flip?"

Link, who always looked confused at the world around him, with eyes filled with wonder and mystery, suddenly look very confident and focused.

Navi hovered by, watching the boy and girl run laps up and down the ladder, laughing and screaming with joy as they flipped, spun and cartwheeled into the straw below.
She really wish she could join in, but she wasn't all that convinced the landing would make such a difference to one her weight.
Besides, watching them was fun in its own way.

Starting to feel worn out from all the exertion, Maron waited in the pool of straw for Link.

"Wooo~!" Link rolled backwards in the air and landed right beside her, sending a small mist of straw over the girl. "That was fun!" He cheered, looking over at her as he sat up.

"Yeah…" She agreed, breathing heavily. "I've never got to… play with… anyone, before…" She gasped, smiling up at him.

It wasn't just her though.
Link was one of the few brave enough to do flips into the water. But doing so would yield disapprovment from fairies, and the event two days ago showed how dangerous it was for the younger kids.
To finally be allowed to enjoy himself was just as freeing for Link as it was it was for Maron to have someone to play with.

But as Maron continued to stare up at him, she started to feel something was off.
He was looking at her, but his eyes were aimed lower than her face.
She was well aware that her shirt lifted slightly after her last fall, but it didn't bother her until after she noticed Link staring. "What are you looking at?" She demanded, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pushing it down past her waist to cover up.
Link tilted his head, not breaking his stare.

While the children were playing in the barn, one of the ranch hands came across Link's bag and sword in the wagon and was on his way to return it to him.
As he approached the barn, he overheard, something…

"Why do you want me to show you that?" Whispered Maron's shy voice.
"I've never seen one before, I'll show you mine if you show me yours…"
"I don't really care, this is kinda weird...but... Just a small look, okay..."

Bag dropped on the ground, Mr Ranch-hand ran back to urgently talk to Maron's father.
"They're just kids, Talon…" He pleaded as his boss came charging out of the house and sprinted towards the barn. "We all played it at some point! Show mercy! He's just a boy!"
For a large man, Talon could move when he had to.

Kicking the barn doors open, Talon walked in to see Maron standing there holding her shirt up just below her ribs with Link staring at her tummy.

"What's going on?" He demanded, eyes adjusting to the red mist.

"Link's never seen a belly button before, papa!" Maron laughed at the absurdity of her own words.

"What?" His eyes shot to the boy, the fascination on his face was too genuine. "What are you talking about? Everyone has one!"

"That's what I said, but…"

"Back home, I'm the only one who a hole there!" Link announced with amazement as he failed to take his eyes from Maron.

"Don't call it that…" Talon grumbled, relaxing his arms and his finger. "Is that all that was going on in here?"

"Yeah…" Maron finally noticed what her father was carrying. "Um, why do you have the crossbow?"

"For this…" He pointed and shot at Link, aiming right for the boy's face.

"NO!"

Link and Navi just stood there, more scared of the Maron's scream than anything else.
After all, even if the crossbow was loaded, they didn't know what it was or what it was supposed to do.

"I thought it would scare him a little more than that…" Talon sighed as he walked away.

"Stupid papa!" Maron ran at him and started pounding her tiny fists on his bouncing belly.

Ignoring his daughter's knitting needle arms, Talon did advise the children that supper would be ready soon and they should come back to the house.
So after brushing the straw from their clothes and hair, Link and Maron tidied up some of the mess their game made before running towards the house.

Navi had only been inside a person's house the few times when she was a lone wanderer. She'd sneak in and hide on a shelf for the night or when it was raining. This was her first time being allowed to freely look at all the furniture and ornament decorated walls and shelves.
She looked with awe at a small figurine of a soldier.
With a smile, she held the soldier's hand and pretended just for a moment she was the height of a Hylian.

"Nice to meet you," She giggled, looking into the soldier's dead wooden eyes. "Hmm?" She leaned in, tilting to turn her ear to his mouth. "Ugh! How dare you!" She pushed the wooden man, but it found balance on its heels and leaning on its downward pointing sword. "Don't talk to him, He's a creep!"

The two children laughed at Navi's antics. Maron even reached up to bring the figure down so she could play with Navi. "I have more toys upstairs, come with me!"

Following Maron, Link and Navi dashed in pursuit.
While Maron climbed the steps on the tips of her toes, Link scaled them on all fours like climbing a ladder as Navi simply flew behind.

In the girl's room, Maron searched for a doll or figure that would be a servable size to match the soldier or Navi.
Link wondered about, eyes locked on one specific point.
Something he thought to be a window at first glance, turned out to have another person on the other side, but he was mistaken once again.

"what…?" He held his hand on the silver glass, feeling the cold touch in return.

"C'mon Link. You've seen your reflection before, you must have!" Navi flew over. Although the same could be said about herself from looking in rivers and even the muggy surface of Link's sword showed a little resemblance of a face.
Navi was still captivated by the perfect recreation of her being in the mirror.
"Do I really look like that?" Leaning in so close, she could make out the tiny details of her face that rivers and streams couldn't show before. "Oh! I wonder if I'll get to see myself tonight!"

"What do you mean?" Maron asked, returning to the two playing by the mirror.

"Navi can't see in the dark." Link explained as his fingers ran through his dark blond hair. "my eyes are blue…"

"You didn't know?"

"they always looked grey to me."

"Eh hem!" Maron cleared her throat. "I have the other toy." She held out a figure of a knight on a horse. "I'll be this one, you have the one holding the sword." Maron thought it made the most sense to have it that way.

Navi had never needed to use her imagination much before. Toys weren't a thing for her growing up.
But seeing these two figures and the horse like this, it made her feel huge. Despite this, the idea of playing this way made her feel like her personhood was being undermined by those she considered her friends.
"I'm not a toy…" She started, looking up at Maron, trying to hide the sadness behind her eyes.

"no…" Maron took a tiny piece of straw from the floor and tied it into a small bow to place on Navi's head like a golden crown. "you're a queen!"

Navi looked at her reflection next to the figures. It was almost breathtaking.
"A, queen?" Navi turned to her two knights, trying to ignore the children behind and only see them. "I, am Navi. Your queen!"

Maron's horse tilted forward to bow, Link's knight copied her movements.
"What are your orders?" Maron asked in a manly but giggly voice.

The time spent playing felt a lot shorter than it was by the time Maron's father called up that supper was ready.
Maron returned the soldier figure to its place downstairs then she and Link found a spot to sit together at the table while Navi sat on Link's shoulder.

Uncle Ingo brought soup and bread in. Seeing there was still work to do, Maron excused herself to help her papa carry in the treen tableware.

"You just going to sit there and stare?" Ingo asked, giving a snide glance at the boy sitting at the table.

"Easy. He's a guest." Talon called.

"Link," Maron called though. "Can you grab the jug of water?"

Link nodded. If he were to sit there and guess how he could help them, he'd be puzzling all night. Having a task set to him made getting involved so much easier.

When they were all able to sit down together, the sitting arrangement was different to usual for the Koopa family.
Maron would often sit at the head with her father and uncle on either side sharing her corners. But she clearly wanted to sit beside her new friend, so Talon took the head this time.
The soup was soon poured and small cuttings of bread were dished out, both of which Link was unfamiliar with but was eager to try.
However, before he tucked in, he noticed the three beside him lower their heads with their eyes shut.

"We are thankful for this meal. And may the four watch over and protect our family," They said in unison."Link," Talon gave the boy a soft glance. "Do you have anything to say?"

Link looked between the three of them. The room was quiet as they waited for his answer.
"L-like what?" He asked, feeling nervous by their stares.

"Do you not have a protector in the forest?" Maron asked.

"We do, I just don't know what to say."

Uncle Ingo was rolling his eyes impatiently. Praying to his own family's deities before supper took long enough without trying to learn a stranger how to pray to his own.

"It's just a way to say 'thank you' to your protector," Talon explained.

"Oh…" Link lowered his head along with everyone else. "thank you, tree."

Talon heard the quiet hissing escaping from his shaking daughter, who was trying so desperately not to laugh.
"Okay let's just eat."

Link and Navi stared into the bowl not too sure what to make of it. It smelled nice, but it looked strange. Like someone had bled into it.
Hand hovering over the cutlery, Link tried to spot which one the others were using to eat with.

"Careful, it's hot." Maron warned, subtly showing him with a twist of her wrist that she was holding the spoon.

"Right…" Spoon in hand, Link tasted the soup. The taste was strange. Sweet, but there was a bitterness to it too. The flavour was unknown to him. "What is this?"

"Tomato with carrots, onion and a potato." Ingo answered as he ripped his bread in half to dip in.

"oh…" Link had eaten some of those raw in the past. The only thing he couldn't finish was the onions he'd come across in the forest. "This is really good."

"You're letting the fairy have some too?" Talon asked, raising his brow as the boy held his spoon to his shoulder. "How did you get it to be your pet?"

"pet… I am not a pet…" Navi grumbled, walking along Link's shoulder to stand her head behind his ear.

"Navi's my friend." Link explained.

"She's the best!" Maron added, handing a small tearing of soup soaked bread to the small fairy.

The men gave each other a look before returning to their meals.
"Some imagination," Ingo muttered.

"What do you mean?" Asked his niece.

"Just the way you two are acting. You talk like it can understand you."

Link and Maron took offence on behalf of Navi on this one.
"What does that mean?" Link demanded.

But the fairy sighed to herself, shaking her head to him.
"It doesn't matter Link," She muttered.

"Of course it matters!" Maron answered before turning her stare to Ingo. "You're being mean, Uncle!"

Ingo and Talon shared another look, this one more of admiration than surprise.
"See what I mean?" he chuckled.

"What are you talking about now?" Link demanded.

"Be quiet for now, Link…" Navi told him as she flew across the table and stopped before the two staring men staring at her. Clearing her throat, she loudly declared; "You both look stupid!"

Maron covered her mouth, waiting for her father and uncle to get angry or yell. But neither of them reacted at all.

"See?" Navi sighed as she returned to Link's side.

"See what?" Looking to her elders, Maron slowly started to realise Navi was saying. "They can't hear you?"

"How can they not hear you?" Link asked.

"It doesn't matter, so please just let it go before something happens." Navi remembered befriending someone during her solo travels. When the little boy wouldn't stop 'pretending' he could talk to fairies, he was eventually smacked for lying.
It's okay for children to have fun, but to insist and keep insisting they know more than their elders, that's just not allowed.
What's worse is the children who don't let it go. They grow up with people thinking they're mad.
"I'm sorry, I've made a huge mistake… I'm going to stop talking until we're back in the woods." The last thing Navi wanted was Maron getting in trouble or having her mind brought into question. "Just tell them you're joking, please."

"no…" Link stood up and walked to the foot of the table with his back to his hosts.

"Sit down lad, no need to get in a huff 'bout it." Talon stated. "Yer soup will get cold-"

"Maron, point to someone." Link asked, keeping his back turned but now crossing his arms.

Ingo raised an eyebrow as his niece pointed at him.

"Who is it?" The boy asked his fairy. "Ingo. She pointed at Ingo."

Talon sat up, eyes fixed on the fairy.
"How did ye work that out?" He demanded, but the boy didn't turn around. "Well, how many fingers do I have?"

After asking his fairy, the boy answered ten.
Yet before anyone could smugly repute him, Link followed up by specifying Talon has ten fingers, but is only holding up four of them.
Navi wasn't willing to be caught out with that one a second time.

"Okay…" Ingo leaned forward, holding up two hands. "What about me?"

"….Eight." Link answered without saying a word to his fairy first.

"Incredible," Talon looked to his grinning daughter. "how long have you known?"

"Just today. I was surprised too."

As he returned to the table, Link thought of all the time's Navi kept quiet around people. Suddenly her shyness made a lot of sense.

"Come here, say something in my ear." Ingo pulled his hair aside so the fairy could speak directly to him unobstructed. Link and Maron could hear the fairy quite well, and Ingo seemed to hear something that time. "That hurts!" He hissed, twisting a finger in his ear.

"You heard something?" Taron asked.

"Nothing intelligent." Ingo snorted. "Just a noise."

"No need to be like that." Taron stared at the boy and his fairy from across the table. "You really are an odd pair, aren't you… Tell us about the forest, I have an interest now."

After a meal and a somewhat lengthy discussion about the woods and the Kokiri way of life, Maron was struggling to keep her eyes open. However, at the mention of Bedtime, she found new life and asked to stay up just a little longer. Talon allowed her to, but she was to go and get ready for bed soon.

Ingo took some glowing red coals from the oven and placed them in lidded iron pans. Each one was placed at the foot of everyone's bed.
Talon went into the basement where he kept all the homebrewed whiskeys.
Maron took Link and Navi out through her bedroom window to enjoy the night sky before bed.

"I've never seen so many stars…" Link would usually have his view blocked by branches. But lying out on the roof under a clear and majestic sky was simply beautiful.

"I can see the moon, at least." Navi shrugged with a pout as she curled up on his chest. The stars were indeed bright, but her eyes were brighter. So she was staring up at nothing at all. But that didn't stop the children from talking about what she was missing.

"Papa!" Maron called down when she saw her father walking around the outside with his two bottles in his hand."Pass us one up!"

"Not until you're old like me, love!" He called up.

"Aww!" She moaned with a smile as she lay back down beside Link. Despite her playfulness, knowing that her father will be non-existent for the rest of the night troubled her. "let's go to bed, Link."

Her papa had asked earlier that Link sleep in the spare room, but he won't be sound of mind long enough to enforce or even remember that rule being said.

Crawling back through to her room, Maron made her way to her dresser to get the nightgown she sleeps in.
Running on habit, she started undressing, forgetting the boy who would be crawling in behind her.
"Oh!" She pulled her gown back over her bare chest and turned her back to him. "Link, can you wait outside while I get dressed?" She asked, opening the bedroom door for him.

"Oh, alright…"

Maron let out a defeated sigh as the boy crawled back out through the window.
"outside…" She muttered to herself before checking to see if he was really gone. "th-Thank you!" Shutting the door back over, she kept an eye out to make sure he wasn't going to try peeking at her.

Waiting on the word to return, Link turned his attention from the sky and back towards Hyrule castle. Torches and candles dotted faint lights like stars all over the structure and the city below.

"I wish you could see this, Navi."

"I swear you're doing this to annoy me now." Navi thumped him with her tiny fist.

Maron soon stuck her head out to allow them back in.
Most of the candles had already been blown out by Maron by the time he'd come in. Navi resumed holding onto him until a place for her to sleep the night could be made.

"One minute…" Maron folded her work shirt over four times and made a nice comfy place for the fairy to lay down.

"Thank you, Maron." Navi stretched out tall as her wings pulled up into little buds before she curled up on the soft fabric. "Oh wait!" Navi flew over to the mirror. "Blow the candle out- Aouch!" She wined after smacking face-first into the reflective screen.

Link was already relaxing into the cosy bed when he heard Maron blow out the candle. The room became pitch black apart from the night-time sky through the window and Navi's luminescent body.

Sitting up to see, Link smiled as Navi saw her own glow staring back.
"I'm kinda scary looking… aren't I?" She sighed, turning away from her reflection.

"No, you're not scary." Link encouraged, but everyone heard his yawn.

"We should really go to bed,"
Since Maron was kind enough to bring the folded shirt with her, Navi didn't have to search for long to find her resting place for the night.

Maron left the doused candle on the dresser and made her way over to the bed.
"Do you have straw beds in the forest?"

"We don't even have straw in the forest!"

After a moment of consideration, Maron carefully crawled over him and rolled over to her side. "I like being near the wall," She whispered as she slid in under the quilt.
Link hadn't used a blanket back home since before he was a toddler. Children of the forest just wear their clothes to bed.

Looking at the girl sharing the bed with him.
Going over everything that happened in just one day was dizzying for the boy. It almost didn't feel real. But Maron was most definitely real, and he was very glad to have her beside him.
For he was certain that if he had slept out under a tree, he'd have woken up thinking she along with everything that happened was just a dream.

The two stared silently at each other until one after the other, their eyes slowly shut over for the night.