"Do you pity me?" Those words echoed in Gareicht's ears. He looked at her for a moment, her eyes a bit misty.

            "Ellava." He said.

            She looked up at him in expectation, gulping.

            "Ellava, it's true that I did pity you." Gareicht looked down at her, and she went downcast, "I saw a bit of you in myself...so I'm not going to lie, but that was when we first met. It may have been pity in the beginning--but now I genuinely care for you."

            Her face shot back up, "R...really?"

            "Weren't you the one who said you didn't want to lose faith in people? Why am I suddenly a liar in your eyes?"

            "No it's just...when you had your fever, and you said you didn't want to see that look on my face when I'm alone...it just made me feel like perhaps those were your intentions. What a relief, that was my biggest worry."

            "Your biggest? Isn't being trapped here your biggest worry?!" Gareicht flabbergasted, shouted.

            "Yeah but, being here isn't so bad, when you're not alone." She smiled, "I would like to know more about you, if that's okay."

            "More about me, what specifically?"

            "Hm, anything really?" She laughed, "Any experiences, or anything like that."

            He held his chin, in deep thought, "Let's see, um, I'm not sure how exciting this'll be but...my experiences were mainly normal. I had a normal childhood surprisingly, had a normal school career, then the incident happened, and then I went to the navy."

            "School? What's it like? I was taught some things at the monastery but I wasn't surrounded by any other children my age, so it pales in comparison."

            "It was honestly...kind of a pain, I got through it just fine. I mean there was some drama here and there but I was rarely a part of it...and when I was I ended up getting caught in the middle. Like people fighting to be first place...over something so silly, where will being first in class bring you later in life?"

            "What kind of drama were you suckered into?"

            "Oh like, when my seatmates would get into a fight and literally yell at each other between me as if I was just air, and then they'd come to me to be their mediator. A different time was when some guy who's name I don't even care to remember decided to hit on my sister."

            "Hit on what? I hope she wasn't hurt too badly."

            "Huh? No, oh I guess you've never heard what that means before. To hit on someone can mean that you're flirting with them."

            "Eh?" Her face flushed.

            He snorted a little at seeing her face, "Anyway, so this creep was trying to flirt with my sister, and she clearly told him no both physically and verbally, but he wasn't taking the hint. So he ended up following her on the way home before, when she realized she called me to come get her and she waited inside a cafe to hide amongst the other people in there. I'm normally told by other people that I have a cool-headed personality, but hearing her so terrified on the phone brought me to an utter rage. So when I went to pick her up and she pointed to him I lost control and ended up hurting him probably more than I should've. I was suspended from school for a couple of days, but in the end I won because he got expelled and had to go to a different school. My sister never had to worry about another creep after that. What happened circulated around my school and every other guy was too terrified they'd get beaten up to ever make a move on her."

"Wow. How old were you both?"

            "I'm three years older than her, she was fourteen and I was seventeen. The worst part of it was that that kid was the same age as I was. He went after someone who's childhood days were not that long ago in the past. So the aftermath of what happened for her was a blessing, until it was a school dance and no one wanted to be her date...so she made me dance with her, what a disaster that was."

            "You don't like dancing?"

            "It's not that I don't like it? I'm just not good at it." He shrugged.

            "Do you want me to teach you?"

            "Being taught by Miss Clumsy? That'd be a treat." He grinned.

            "I'm not that clumsy."

            "You literally almost fell down the stairs not that long ago." He reminded her, and she looked in the opposite direction.

            "Dancing isn't hard, as long as you're taught properly." She stood up and held out her hand, "What's the harm in trying?"

            He laughed again, and then grabbed onto her hand.

            "Then shall we dance, milady?" He joked.

            "Are you teasing me again?" Her cheeks puffed up.

            "Maybe~." He grinned, they moved slowly, as she was teaching him the steps.

            "This would probably work better if we had some musical accompaniment." She sighed, and she looked over at her organ.

            "Well we could hold this off, and I can get a radio or something."

            "Gareicht...are you just...trying to escape?"

            His body jerked, "Erm, no."

            "Gareicht." She gave him the most soulless of stares, "But what's a radio?"

            "Have you seen a music box before? It's kind of like that but it can play more than one song."

            "I've never owned a music box, but I have heard of them." She smiled, and then she stopped moving, "See, it wasn't that hard right?"

            "I'm surprised I didn't step on your feet to be honest, but I'm also surprised you didn't slip, so I guess miracles can happen."

            Her cheeks puffed up, "Hmph!"

            That's when she noticed the lights flickering, "Hm?". The lights blacked out.

            Is someone coming? They both thought simultaneously.

            Ellava called for her spear, and Gareicht pulled her in closer with one hand and held his sword sheath with the other.

            That's when they heard the thunder and lightning outside.

            "Oh, the blackout was from that." Gareicht looked up, and let go of his sword sheath.

            Ellava walked up to a window and smelled the air.

            "It doesn't smell like magic either."

            We've gotten too used to people barging in. They both thought.

"Well, since we don't have light now unless we use candles, we should probably turn in for the night." Gareicht fidgeted.

            "You're probably right," She hastily agreed. They both went to their rooms, and let their thoughts take over.

            I've only know her for a little over a week. I've only known her for a little over a week. Gareicht kept repeating in his head over and over, but his thoughts added, The mood was good though.      

                                                                                   ***

Ellava was on her bed, holding onto one of her pillows, and deep in thought like Gareicht was.

            Why am I freaking out over this...? The way he held me just felt so comforting and...natural. It doesn't mean anything. I'm over-thinking this way too much. He's probably not thinking about this at all. I have to act normally tomorrow. Normal. Normal.

            She managed to fall asleep, her face still slightly pink.