It took the better part of three days to acquire all of the necessary supplies for our journey. On the evening of my fourth day in this new world, Hani and I sat down over supper in the common room to discuss our next move. As was our custom these days, we shared a bench, nuzzled against one another for the sheer joy of feeling each other’s presence.

“According to the map, the sea is two days walk due east,” I said, thinking aloud. “Head north along the coast for another few days, and we should reach a port city. From there, we can get to just about anywhere.”

“We still have to meet with the local lord, you know,” Hani said. 

I stared at her blankly.

“The who with the what now?”

She sighed in a way that suggested long-suffering patience nearing an end. If not for our bond, I might’ve thought she was about ready to dump my ass in the gutter at the nearest available opportunity.

“We’re supposed to meet with the lord of this province two days hence,” she said. “Did you forget to write it down?”

I flipped through the notebook, back towards the beginning of my stay in this world. Sure enough, I’d scribbled down “meet with local HMFIC” in the list of things to do. 

“No, it’s right here, it’s just been a busy week,” I said lamely. 

Hani fixed me with an even stare that seemed to cut right through my soul.

“Would that be an acceptable excuse from one of your men?” she asked.

I sighed, cheeks reddening with shame. 

“No ma’am,” I said. 

Look, there’s a reason I write everything down. Way back in the early stages of the Iraqi campaign, when I was just a wee private, I managed to get blown up twice on the same deployment. I wasn’t seriously injured, at least, not on the outside. Ruptured eardrum, bruised ribs from my vest catching a piece of shrapnel, and some massive deep tissue bruising, but that was it. I was lucky, or so I thought at the time. 

A few months later, I started getting really bad migraines, seeing double, and my balance and memory went to shit. Turns out, in addition to the nasty compound concussion I picked up, I had a ticking time bomb in my skull. One of my hematomas caused little blood clots. Most of them went away on their own, but one of the little bastards lodged in my brain, causing what was effectively a mini stroke. 

Had the clot been just a little bit bigger, it would have probably killed me. I was extremely fortunate that the docs managed to find the damn thing before the damage could spread. I had friends who weren’t so lucky, and suffered serious complications later on down the road. One of them had a full on brain bleed, and the doctors just wouldn’t listen when she complained that she was in a bad way. Ended up with a golf ball-sized mass in her skull before it was all said and done, and to this day she can’t remember faces or names she didn’t know before 2008.

As for me, I got off with a poor short-term memory. That’s why I write everything down. Doesn’t do me any good if I don’t remember to check my notebook, though. I have a mind like a steel trap when it comes to random historical facts, details about work, politics, that sort of thing, but I can’t remember dates or appointments to save my life. 

Hani decided to take pity on me. She took my face in her hands and planted a kiss on my forehead. 

“I know you struggle, my Destiny, and I plan to do everything I can to help,” she said. “But in order to do so, I need you to help me help you. It’s important that we stay on task. If we just left without seeing the lord, that could create enmity with the nobles later on down the line, and we can’t afford to do that. Not if you’re to complete the Goddess’s mission.”

The gentle warmth and concern that radiated from her soul took the sting out of her words. I’ve never been one for getting all poetic and shit. I’d never really understood what people meant when they called their lover the light of their life. But right then? I kinda got it. 

It might seem strange to an outsider that I was so smitten with someone I’d barely known for a week, but the Goddess hadn’t been kidding when she said she was stacking the deck. 

Hani was everything I’d ever wanted in a companion: she was smart, strong, compassionate, and wise beyond her years. She had the tactician’s ability to evaluate a situation and decide the best two or three courses of action in an instant, and the skill to take initiative in the absence of orders. Near as I could tell, her only weakness was insecurity. She just didn't realize how awesome she was, and had a hard time trusting herself if she stopped to think. 

“I’ll do my best,” I promised.

“I know you will,” she said gently. “Sometimes you just need to be reminded of what your best is.”

“I don’t deserve you,” I said.

“Of course you don’t,” she said haughtily, pinching my cheeks. “But I think I deserve you, and that will have to be good enough.”

“Well I suppose I’ll have to give you some sort of reward for putting up with me,” I said with a wicked grin.

Hani squealed with delight and feigned outrage as I scooped her up in my arms and marched towards the stairs. 

“Put me down, you lech!” she exclaimed, but made no move to free herself from my grasp.

To the adventurers in the common room, our antics were a familiar and welcome sight. They cheered raucously and offered a number of lewd and salacious suggestions as to what I should do to my lovely desert flower. 

“I mean, if you really want,” I said. “I suppose we can skip tonight’s sorcery exhibition.”

All of the sudden, Hani was clinging to me like an octopus. 

“We will be doing no such thing,” she said.