Kathrine was the first one awake. After pulling herself off of Eric, she crept downstairs and began making coffee, as she usually did. The estate was always quiet in the wee hours of the morning, when the world was calm and quiet. She looked outside as the sky began to light up, and sighed. Edinmire still had smoke rising from it. The fires had all been put out, but the embers burned through the whole night. She had been useless yesterday. She couldn't help anyone in the city, and even after everyone was here, most of their wounds were patched up, except for Trace. She had listened as long as she could last night, but fell asleep before they were done, and regretted not having listened to everything. She really did want to listen, but because she is always up early, she always falls asleep early.

At least she wasn't the only one who woke up at this time.

It was regular for Barret to be downstairs. The ranger was used to being up before dawn and staying up well after, even after traveling with other people for months. In the week he had been here, he had found a favorite coffee cup, one he used every day: a plain, blue ceramic mug with a wide handle. Coffee was something he had always loved, but rarely could afford to purchase, so he was happy whenever Kat made a fresh pot. He and Kat usually sat in silence, simply happy to sit with someone else, but today, she could tell he had something on his mind. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, pulling him from his trance.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, what?"

"Do you want to talk about whatever you're thinking about?"

Barret poured another cup of coffee, and sat. "I… I'm not sure."

"We don't have to if you don't want to, it's fine." They sat for a few minutes, slowly sipping the coffee.

"Haelith."

"Hm? What about her?"

"She's…" Barret struggled to find the right words. "She's…"

"She's what?" Kathrine asked. He opened his mouth again, but she interrupted. "Whatever you are about to say, I won't say to anyone else, I promise."

He sighed, and smiled. "She's stunning. I saw her in Edinmire, and I didn't realize just how amazing she was. She's… I want to say something to her, but I don't know what. I didn't grow up around people. I didn't even grow up around my own kind. Of all the things I know, how to talk to someone like her just isn't something I learned. And I'm paralyzed with fear that I'll say something stupid, or wrong, or I'll come across as creepy or weird. What if I push her away, and never get a chance to say anything again?" He hung his head, ashamed. "I don't want to do nothing, but I'm afraid to do anything."

Kathrine sat for a few minutes, thinking. "Why don't you just talk to her for a while?"

"About what? From what we heard last night, she's known luxury like this all her life, she's not used to being on the run, she's nothing like me. I'm most at home in the wilds, where if I stop moving, I die. She couldn't be more opposite of me if Fate tried."

"Why does that matter?"

"What would I even say to her? I've never talked to another Ishtaer other than my brother and parents, and I really can't ask them for help."

"Well, how would you talk to Zen? You two seem to be close friends."

"We are, but he's different. We at least have common interests in food and hunting. That might not be much, but it was enough that we can make jokes and just talk about nothing in particular for a while. On top of that, we just spent the last four months together, talking practically every day. We're not just friends, we're more like brothers."

"Flora then."

Barret shook his head. "No, I don't think so either. She's more like a sister than anything. She's the first person in years to actually show genuine care about me. From the moment she met me, she was trying to make me feel like part of the family. And again, we spent so long together. We got invested in each others lives, we did everything together for months."

"Alright then, what makes it so different to talk to me?"

"Because you aren't Haelith. I…" He blushed, and turned to his coffee. "You aren't her. I don't know how else to put it."

"I get it." She got up and sat next to him. "I saw the way you looked at her, how you tried to avoid her gaze. It's going to be weird for a while. Actually, I recall Keith and Natani having similar issues for a while."

"What did they do?"

"Er, well… bad example… uh…" she turned away, racking her mind.

"Wait, what happened?" He was suddenly very curious.

"Well… Natani nearly died, giant stone lizards attacked us, a malicious fox tried to break her soul after turning into a dragon making her nearly die again, Keith tried to kill said fox-dragon, also nearly died, eh, things really didn't go well for a while. Actually, they've both nearly killed each other several times now, sometimes on accident, once it was nearly on purpose, and if not with magic, then with daggers. That really was the worst possible example I could give you."

"Heh, it actually explained a few things. They never told me they fought an ancient."

"Ancient? No, they had only just used magic to turn into a dragon."

Barret chuckled. "You misunderstand, and I misspoke. Ancient is a term that Ishtaer use to refer to our ancestors."

"I really don't understand now."

"All Ishtaer are descendants of dragons. How and why has been lost to time, but we do know that dragon blood is in our blood. True dragons are revered and honored. The older the dragon, the more respect they deserve. But if a dragon were to do something unforgivable, like attack innocents, or say, try to break the soul of a friend, then they find the reverse is true: they would find nothing but hate, anger, and pain."

"Strange. How do you know all of this if you never grew up around other Ishtaer?"

"I didn't grow up with anyone but my family. Mom and dad tried to teach us as much as they could, like they knew they only had so much time before they were gone. Eris, my brother, he actually knew how to read, and did so very well. He would try to find books wherever he went, and a not insignificant amount of coin was put towards his reading. He always loved to learn, and wanted to keep teaching me too."

"I see."

Again, they fell to silence, as the sun began creeping up over the trees. "Thank you. It's been nice to talk."

"I'm always here if you need me. And go talk to her, just be yourself, ask her questions, be polite! You never know, she might enjoy just talking like we have been." Barret smiled, and put his arm around her.

"I will. But not now. I actually have something else in mind." With that, he finished his coffee, and stood up. "Thanks again." As he left, he glance back with a smile, but she could see in his eyes there was something of a sadness, like he was up to something he would regret. She didn't pry, but smiled back to him sipping her coffee. Something was going to happen. She just knew it.