“… Lady?” She questioned between another chew of the nuts Pan called acorns. They were very sweet, and a tad smoky, but the taste bittered slightly between the time it took for her to take a bite into another. Not liking the aftertaste, she shoved a few more in her mouth, filling both her heart and stomach with their sweetness.

Pan, to their credit, didn’t say anything about her ravenous hunger and went on speaking as if she weren’t gnawing on an acorn right beside them. “Well, ‘Lady of the Lake’ is a bit on the nose, right?” They smiled at her nonplussed hum. “ I thought to make it a little shorter. I can’t just walk around calling you that all day.”

She licked the tip of her fingers as she thought it over. Having a name was better than having none, she supposed, even if it was only a shortened version of a title she wasn’t too sure she liked. Pan’s gaze bored into the side of her head as they waited for her approval. With another acorn popped into her mouth, Lady turned her head to them and said, “And I’ll just call you… Pan.”

The way Pan’s eyes lit up could have put the sun to shame. Hand folded against their chest in an exaggerated bow as they heartily crowed, “That would be nice of you, milady!”

Lady covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she laughed at their theatrics, shaking her head. With hunger eased, she picked up the stone in her lap and turned it around between her fingers. “How did you know where to find this?”

Pan’s head bobbed up, attention flicking between her and the stone curiously. Then with a glint of recognition, they smacked their lips together and waved a hand dismissively. “Learned about it from a few friends good at foraging,”

“The one you mentioned in Galdre?” Lady questioned, wondering what types of people Pan would consider their friend and just who was waiting for her in Galdre.

Pan shook their head, setting their chin in the cradle of their curled fingers. Their thumb brushed against their jaw as they spoke. “Nah, it might’ve been Marma..” They trailed off with a puzzled expression. “Or was it Bink…”

Lady blinked at them in wonder, unsure of what to make of the names floating around her head. Marma, was that short for something? And what kind of name was Bink? She tried to make up images for these faceless characters. Still, aside from what details Pan told her of their story, she couldn’t come up with anything solid. “I see…” she said, although she genuinely didn’t. “Well, I’d like to meet them sometime.”

Pan glanced at her. “No foolin’?”

“To thank them and learn,” Lady explained. It didn’t bode well that they seemed surprised anyone would want to meet their friends, but she wouldn’t admonish them for that. “I won’t be any good if I were to rely on you for everything.”

A strange look passed Pan’s eyes, their brows curving over softer eyes drifting away from her. Lady opened her mouth to question the look, but Pan’s huff and quiet laugh interrupted her. “Heh, alright, alright… if the Judgemaster gleans in your favor, then I’ll make it happen.”

The Judgemaster?

Lady considered that strange name, but with it and the oddly soft look Pan wore before, she finds there’re far too many questions for her to make sense of. If anything, there is one thing she can do. As honestly and firmly as she can muster a voice, she tells them, “You have my thanks… for everything, Pan.”

Pan’s hand falls, their eyes widened to where their brows disappeared in the curls brushing against their forehead. Its almost hard to tell with their darker complexion, but she noticed the twitch in their lips and how they ducked their head away, tweaking their earlobe. “I didn’t do much….” They chuckled, seeming bashful all of a sudden. Lady smiled, folding her hands in her lap as she let her legs fall. Pan cleared their throat against their fist, then pointed at the pouch in her still hands. “All done?”

Lady looked down at it then lifted it up by the strings, surprised by how it lay flat instead of bulging as it was when first offered to her. “.. Oh, I must have eaten more than I thought.” She cast a guilty glance toward Pan, who pinched the furthest end of the pouch then pulled it back toward them once she let go.

“All good,” they chuckled and shook their head as they tucked it away somewhere on the inside of their vest. “Better you eat something now than try picking up anything in the forest. Beside, soon as Tabasha lays eyes on you— she’ll be making a feast in your honor.”

Lady stared at them as they stood up. “Tabasha?” She watched them go through their stretches, considering what she’d been told before. With a light gesture to her head, she asked, “The head doctor?”

Pan tilted their eye and chin toward her, smiling warmly. “The very same.” Then they kicked a few sprays of dirt onto the fire until the flames were smothered under a tiny mound of soil. Their heel rubbed against the sign drawn into the ground, reminding Lady to gather up her stone before it could be crushed. She wondered why Pan simply didn’t use water from the lake to put out the fire, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, it deadened.

How could she blame them? Knowing what she did now, she wouldn’t have wanted to go near it either.