It had been a month now since Gareicht first arrived, and they went about their normal routine, eating, socializing, cleaning, and now dancing much to Gareicht's chagrin.

            However there seemed to be something eating away at Ellava that Gareicht couldn't help but notice, she'd avert her gaze at weird times, was clumsier than normal and could be pretty red-faced at odd times too.

            Was she embarrassed about something? Is she worrying over whether to tell me something? Gareicht thought, as he was reading another letter from his captain which read, [Gareicht, how is your mission thus far? Smoothly I hope, take as much time as you need until you have a for sure success, that is all for now.

Also you may be getting more letters now from the other crew, I have not told them why you're on that particular mission, however they do miss your presence around the ship.]

He grabbed some paper to start writing his report, but put his pen back down.

            "Ellava, are you worried about something?" He asked her and her body froze.

            I knew it. He thought.

            "It's not a particular worry or concern it's just--" She began, but her body was fidgeting.

            "Your voice and your body language are telling me two different stories." He pointed out and sat by her, "Tell me what's wrong, how can I be your confidant if you don't confide in me?"

            "I'm, I'm probably just over-thinking it so there's no cause for concern." She forced out in a single breath.

            "Concern? I'm already concerned, there's no stopping that now. Just tell me what's on your mind."
            Her face went into a pout.

            "Is it really that bad?" Gareicht was rather shocked.

            She took a deep breath and turned to him but couldn't look at him right away, "Um, as you know I haven't had much social interaction with anyone," she gripped onto her dress, "so there's certain times when we end up having physical contact that just gets me too flustered, please don't make fun of me."

            He lifted his head and recalled all the times that her face turned red after them touching it was like a big neon bright sign that read Way to go, moron! started flashing in his head.

            "Who said anything about making fun of you, I certainly didn't." He had a clear gaze in his eyes, "For your situation that's normal, if anything I'm at fault for not noticing sooner."

            She nodded her head, and after another breath with quivering lips she asked him, "So to fix this problem do you...mind if we touch so I can get used to you?"

            For a moment he was pretty frozen, he wasn't appalled by what she said or anything, it was more like the embarrassed face she was making was just way too cute for her own good.

            "Sure, that's fine with me." Gareicht held out his hand and she grabbed a hold of it, her face already turning a bit pink.

            "Your hands are...really warm." She noted.   

            After a couple of minutes of silence he asked her, "So how long do you want us to hold hands like this?"

            When he heard no response, he turned to her and saw her head sliding towards his arm.

With an incredulous face he thought, Is she asleep? If she was worrying about it for that long I probably shouldn't wake her up then. He grasped at his cloak, using it to cover her body, and stayed by her side, not letting go of her hand so that she could sleep peacefully.

            "Sweet dreams." He smiled at her, and with his free hand he managed to write back to his captain, he put the letter in his pocket, rested his head against the wall and sighed.

            I want to stay...but I know that soon enough I'll be summoned back to active duty and she'll be alone again. I wish that we could remove the barrier and get her out to see the world. Maybe I can find a spell bookshop in the market tomorrow...one to remove barrier spells or something. Just something...to help her...He yawned and then fell asleep, his hand however never letting go of hers.

            The next morning he woke up before her, and when he saw her legs exposed, it brought him into a blushing state. Her beautifully sculpted legs made his blood pump fast enough to the point he ended up getting a nosebleed. He quickly covered his nose, but not before some blood ended up spraying on the floor and he quickly went into the bathroom, the blood from his pinched nose exiting into the sink. He stayed there until it stopped.

            While he locked himself in the bathroom, Ellava woke up and was shocked to see the splattered blood.

            Is Gareicht okay? Did someone try to take the spear while I was asleep? Why didn't I wake up? She didn't see him on the first floor so she raced up to the second, calling his name.

            He heard her, but didn't respond, he had to calm down first or all the blood would rush out of his nose again. Once he breathed out again, it appeared that his nosebleed had finally stopped. As he came out of the bathroom, he said "You called?"

            She felt her body collapse under her, "Oh thank Avantchadia you're okay. I saw blood and thought someone hurt you aiming for the spear."

            "Oh no, I just woke up to a nosebleed, after it stopped I was gonna clean it up, sorry for the scare."

            "Oh it was just a nosebleed?" She let out a relieved sigh, "The air is beginning to dry outside. Our season will be changing soon."

            "Ellava, I have a favor to ask."

            "What is it?" She spoke softly.

            "Could you teach me Elven?"

            "I could but what's the occasion?"

            "No it's just, whenever I go into town they never have anything in the universal language, so I always end up inconveniencing other people to translate for me."

            "Oh. I didn't even know the town was like that."

            Gareicht shut his lips, Maybe I should've left that tidbit out.

            "Um...I also have a favor to ask of you."

            "Go ahead, in exchange for helping me, I'll help you."

            "Would you...teach me how to swim?"

            "You don't know how to swim?"

            "Well...almost drowning before is still on my mind...if something like happens again and you're not here I'd at least like to be able to get through it."

            "I just thought...that it was from all the water pressure, damn I'm an idiot. If I had known earlier I would've taught you after that."  

            "Good thing the bath is the size of a pool, right?" She laughed.

"Um...if you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you going to be wearing while in the water...do you have a swimsuit?"

            This made Ellava go stiff for a moment.

            So she didn't think that far ahead...Gareicht held onto his head for a minute and sighed, "How about we discuss it over breakfast?"

            "Okay!" Her face beamed again, and she clapped her hands together and skipped over to the kitchen. He gazed at her, and a small smile appeared on his lips. She was so focused on prepping and making their food that his eyes unconsciously followed her. She kept making various expressions which made him snort because from them, he could tell exactly what she was thinking.

            Once her lips pouted, he rolled up his sleeves while chuckling and walked over to her, "Do you need help?"

            She ended up jerking up in surprise, cutting her finger in the process, "Ow! G-Gareicht! Why do you insist upon sneaking up on me!?"

            He blinked, "It wasn't my intention to scare you, I'm sorry. Let me see your wound."

            "It's, it's not that bad, it's just a little cut." Her voice showed how flustered she was.

            "Heal," He spoke, and a warm light embraced her finger.

            "You didn't have to do that!" She looked at him worried.

            He snorted again, "I wanted to, just because human mana is weak doesn't mean that using a small little healing spell will knock the wind out of me."