As the moon's light shone through the flaps of the carriage, all movements ceased. With Bronya's instructions, they set up camp. In half an hour, three tents were pitched. Surrounding a blazing campfire.
Not far from their camp, sat their carriage. Their horse already was fast asleep, snoring till there was nothing for tomorrow.
Under the moon's light, accompanied with the campfire, four sat. Their fifth member hid herself near the carriage eating her portion of food. Simple rations of dried meats and fruits.
Per usual, Bronya was talking her head off- Talking with her mouthful, and at times coughing. Only Roth partook in listening, contributing at a rare chance. Meanwhile Fei and Lucian, telepathically conversed.
"Hey you two lovebirds, are you going to join in on the conversation?" Bronya said, pointing at them with a fork in hand. "You've been looking at each other, eating your food. You're obviously having loveydovey talk!" She accused them with a smug look on her face.
'Is she serious?' Lucian with a bored look.
…
'Fei, don't let her get to you…'
Fei's face immediately turned a tomato red, even Lucian couldn't help but comment internally on her reaction. Thus, bringing her to an ultimate shade of red. 'Cute.' Lucian's mind wandered, causing Fei to turn away from him.
'Woops… Heh… You know, the more you look away the worse it'll get right?'
…
"See?! And you didn't believe me you old ma- AH! Why did you do that?!"
"Stop it."
"Hmph… Fine!"
'And she comments on us being loveydovey, those two are like a married couple.'
…
They both watched as Bronya covered her head, crocodile tears welling up in her eyes. Whilst Roth just gave her a dumbfounded look. The third party watched with slight interest, she just ate her food in silence.
"If you stop making comments, your forehead won't be a target."
An anguished cry came from her, as another pelting struck her again. "Roth!" Was her scream of defiance, signaling for him to stop. He went back to his food without another thought, turning away from her glares.
'They really are a married couple.'
Mm…
A few curses came from Bronya's lips. She sat on the ground, crossing her arms. With her lips twitching into a pout. This scene brought a question to Fei's and Lucian's mind; how old is she exactly? She looks older than them, and as an elf too. A wood elf specifically, so how many years old is she?
Their question lingered for a while, from finishing their food to preparing for the night. Suddenly, Bronya strolled up to them. She stood in front of their view, with one hand on her hip.
"Little Fei, the girls will be sharing a tent, the two guys will sleep in their own tents." She proclaimed with a smug look. She continued after hearing a slight "eh?" escape Fei's mouth. "It's normal for that to happen, when Rothie and I paired with others." Her hand pointed towards Haru, who seemed to be hiding behind the carriage. "She'll be with us too, I'm not just talking about you."
"Um… Why can't she just sleep next to me?"
"Oh?"
"What?"
"Do you two have "fun" at night? Is that what we're interrupting? It's to prevent certain things, we don't want to have a little Lucian or Fei running around."
'Fei, just go ahead… We don't want them to think like that.' Lucian thought with defeat. If they did sleep in the same tent, it'll just keep bringing these comments. His heart, nor Fei's could deal with the embarrassment from those thoughts. Seeing her smirk increase in mass, he shook his head in defeat. "First of all, no we don't do "that." Second of all, we'll just follow your rules then."
"Good!" She exclaimed, leaning in after a second. She pointed at Fei, with a stern look and in a manner like a mother lecturing her kid. "Don't you go sneaking into his tent at night, got it?"
"Y-Y-Yes…"
"Good. Either way… If you try, you'll be caught by Rothie. Or me."
"I-I G- got it…" Fei mumbled, avoiding her intense "glare".
But underneath her words, there was a slight sadistic joy she got from the tease. Minutes later, she stood straight up. Her satisfaction cup filled to the brim, she felt like she could rest like a baby.
She pulled Haru, who had a horrified expression on her face, into her tent. Glancing back at Fei and beckoning her. Soon after, Fei followed, her ears flopped to the side. Anxiety assaulted her heart, will I be okay? This question popped in her mind turning her head slightly to look at Lucian.
'Make sure to sleep well, I'll see you in the morning.' Lucian called out to her in their minds. She turned towards him with a worried frown. He merely waved at her with a small smile. 'Bronya won't do anything to you, don't worry.'
Mm… Okay…
Once she got into the tent, Lucian felt their connection get cut. 'She's…' He sucked in his teeth. Following it up with the shake of his head. 'She'll be alright, don't worry…' Soon, he went to his tent, and fell asleep after a long period of time passing.
Although, half way through his dreams, he heard the flaps of the tent open up. He cautiously raised his head, only slightly when a familiar cold washed over him.
"I-I'm sorry… I-I I couldn't sl-sleep.." Fei's voice quietly came after.
"It's alright… We'll just have to deal with Bronya in the morning. Hahaha… Come and lay down"
"Mm…"
"We can talk with them in the morning, but if we can't convince them you'll have to get used to it." Lucian said, turning over to look at Fei. She was curled up into a ball, but her eyes were wide open.
"O-Okay…"
"Good night…"
"Mm… G-Good night…"
Soon, both fell back to sleep. Not for an extended period, soon, they were jolted up by Bronya's voice booming across the campground.
"WAKE UP YOU TWO! IT'S MORNING~!"
"It's barely even sunrise! Why are you being so loud to wake us up?!"
"Oh, ho that's where Little Fei went. She couldn't sleep two minutes without you, huh?"
"Oh shut it! Don't give us that look, nothing went on you pervert!"
"Oh don't play like- OW! ROTH?!"
"You deserve that."
"..."
Shortly after that early wake up call, all got dressed into their usual attires. Quickly eating breakfast then going onto the road.
During which, Fei rummaged through one of their bags. Pulling out a small book, scratched onto the cover were the words: Basics of Nuwa. If they were travelling for over four months, it would be best to learn the language spoken; it would be much more effective to learn, that was one reason.
Whilst Fei stared daggers into it, Lucian leaned over with a weird gleam in his eyes. A language filled with vowels, consonants and weird symbols. That's all he could understand from each page. Like a vast chasm, from Common to Nuwa it'd be a long time to understand it.
As each page flipped, it became much more complex. Rather it did not help with a wood elf constantly yammering on about teases and such. Amidst of it, Lucian felt an urge to snatch it and throw it at that being.
"Um… Wh- Whato are you reading… Miss Fei?" Haru popped up.
"Don't interrupt their-"
"She's trying to learn Nuwa. Don't listen to that dunce over there with everything." Lucian replied without looking up.
"..."
"Uhm… What is Nuwa?"
"It's the language spoken in your home nation."
"O-Oh… Um, then why does Miss Fei not know ito?" Upon her name being called, Fei's ears perked up.
"She wasn't raised in Nuwanushi." Lucian said, finally looking up at Haru. "She's lived with my family and me for a while now." He explained whilst leaning forward. Hesitance welled up in his throat, internally, he felt like a pendulum was deciding what he wanted to say.
"Oh- Oh… Uh… I-I see…"
"Hm…? Wait, she has? So that means you guys were children when you first met?"
"Mhm, why- Don't you dare say anything else…"
"Aww, such a cute story."
"Well, then how long have you and Roth known each other? You two act like an old married couple."
"Oh, we've known each other for…" Bronya raised her finger to her mouth, with a ch, ch sound, she continued. "Seven, seven years now." Suddenly, a rose tint flushed her cheeks. "What do you mean by an old married couple?! We're companions!"
"Then why are you blushing?"
"..."
Now, Lucian rested his chin on his hand. 'Oh, how the tables have turned.' This popped inside his mind, his lips twisted into a smile. His target waved her hands in embarrassment, a giant target appeared all over her body.
"Quiet down back there."
"Fine, but we have known each other for a long time. We've known each since I was six." Lucian elaborated after patting his leg and leaning back next to Fei. 'Hm?' Reason unknown to him, she pushed her book directly in front of her nose.
After finally calming down, with a pat to her chest, Bronya brought up a question. "So who's older you or her?"
"Oh… I am, she's younger by six months." Lucian claimed without hesitation. His smile softened as his mind wandered back then. Which quickly turned away when he saw Bronya's expression changed. "Don't you dare say anything else! How many times are you going to try that!"
"Bah, you're boring aren't ya! It's going to be a long trip! Lighten up ya two!"
"If you stop trying to tease us we might! Personally I don't mind it, but you're going to fry her brain before we even get into the first hour!"
'Although I wouldn't mind seeing that.'
"Oh c'mooon…. Y'know, nevermind."
For an extended period of time, they fell silent again. Bronya suddenly started tapping on the floorboards, when a thought occurred in her mind. She stuck her hand in a bag, then pulled out a small broken watch.
She brought it close to her eye, then twisted her head to look across her. "You three want to hear a little old trick from the old Rothie?"
"Hm? What are you even talking about?"
"Rothie, what time is it?"
"Hm… twelve thirty."
"Ha! Wrong, it's twelve twenty seven."
"Oh? Not that much off, long ears."
"Seems like your little party trick isn't all that accurate!" A cackle escaped the deepest pits of Bronya's throat. "Ya have to practice that more if you want to be a timekeeper."
"Why don't you read the time without that little thing?"
"Because I can't…"
Small grunts came from the driver's seat. Were they in victory? Or something else, this question popped in everyone's mind.
'Why would she even make fun of someone's skill… if she can't use it herself?' Lucian and Fei thought.
"Hey, Roth, how were you able to do that? Do you have a watch too?" The former asked out of curiosity.
"Look at the shadows, the direction of the sun." He quickly briefed about his "skill". Underneath his monotone voice, there was a hint of pride.
"Huh, that's… Okay."
"He's terrible at explaining stuff, don't bother asking him… It's a skill he's "mastered" over the years of being a merc."
After many hours had passed on the road, there was a sudden jolt. Everyone raised their heads to look at Roth through the flaps. His focus was evident, looking towards the right. A frown visible on his lips.
"Rothie? What's wrong?"
I smell something… Fei said to Lucian whilst covering her nose. Her eyebrows furrowed in disgust. Following her words, he raised his head in the air, with an audible sniff.
Hints of smoke entered his nose, was there a fire over there? He couldn't help but question. 'Let's see what they do.' At the front, Bronya and Roth were conversing. She was leaning through the flaps, head bobbing up and down.
They- They don't know what to do… They're saying it's bad…
'We might need to investigate… Roth did tell us what we might have to do.' Lucian shrugged his shoulders.
A sudden voice broke their conversation. It sounded like Haru, but it was not at the same time. "It's a fire you two… If you used your thinker up here, you wouldn't need to ask each other!" Haru exclaimed, tapping her head. "Why don't you and white fox right there take a look out there? That'd be better than sitting on your butt and wondering what to do."
"Uh… What? Why just us two?" Lucian inquired, he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. What's with the sudden change in how she talks…?
"Hey, Lucian. Roth wants you to go with him, I'll guard the carriage."
"Oh… So the big guy and this guy here are going?"
"Hm…? Yeah?" Bronya replied following Lucian's example of furrowed eyebrows. As well as tilting her head. "These two will be safe, don't worry."
"Alright."
Yet, as he tried to scoot away, he felt a tugging at his sleeve. Quickly, he calmed Fei down. Giving her a reassuring smile throughout it. Once outside the carriage, in the distance a smoldering village sat. Most homes were demolished, crumbled to the ground with boards strewn about.
Lucian's eyes widened at this sight. What went through here…? Did this village get attacked? As his thoughts wandered, he felt something enter the deepest pits of his stomach.
"Hey, calm yourself Kid." Roth's voice pulled him into reality. "Here." When he stood not far from Lucian, he outstretched his arm, in his palms was a familiar short sword. "Maybe a monster attack, we have to be prepared."
"T-Thanks…"
"Keep contact with Long Ear. She'll be our back up."
'Fei? Are you still connected?' Lucian called out to her, despite feeling the connection, he felt it was necessary to call out. For a moment there were static noises, till her voice resounded in his head.
Y-Yes I'm here…
'Stay connected to me… There's something bad going on out here.'
W-W-What's going on? B-Bronya's asking- H-Help… Haru's trying to pull at my ear…
'Just sit still, and somehow.. A village got destroyed, Roth and I will be investigating.' Lucian explained, taking a deep breath in. Roth gave him a glance, tilting his head as if asking. "Are you ready?"
"Let's go."