In theory, traveling together had seemed like a good decision. Both Levy and Cabre had something to gain from it after all. Upon arriving at their destination, Cabre would be rewarded with never having to do a Celestial mission again and Levy would hopefully get some answers. The traveling part, wasn’t as cut and dry, however.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Levy asked, peeking over Cabre shoulder.

Cabre glared, yanking his arm and navigation pad away from the mans prying eyes.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Cabre growled. “Will you just leave me be while I figure this out?”

Levy raised his brows.

“Sorry for trying to help.” He crossed his arms, turning his back to Cabre.

Levy took a few paces, glancing over his shoulder at Cabre with a huff, watching as he grumbled, fiddling with his navigation pad. He rolled his eyes and pulled his map from his bag, looking it over. Since leaving Foolshope, they’d been traveling south. He wasn’t entirely sure where they were on the map, but he had a pretty good guess. He pulled his compass out, double-checking their trajectory before making his way over to Cabre again.

“I’m figuring it out!” Cabre snapped.

Levy glared. Cabre hadn’t even looked up at him. He continued to mash buttons on his wrist pad, seemingly getting nowhere and making no progress.

 “I didn’t say you weren’t.” Levy chided. “But this might be faster.”

Cabre turned, looking to Levy as he waved the paper map and compass back and forth. Cabre looked back to his navigation pad and groaned, taking a step closer to Levy. Levy smiled, turning his gaze to Cabre. In return, Cabre glared at him before looking down at the map.

“So where are we?” He said angrily.

Levy tucked the compass neatly into the crook of his hand, using his now free one to point to a spot in the dunes. Below them to the north was Foolshope. Above them, slightly to the left, was a black dot labeled Shadowford. Scattered around the map were red x’s

“Somewhere around here.” He said. “We should probably stop by Shadowford for supplies before we make camp tonight. We can sleep here.”

He moved his hand to point at one of the red-marked spots just above the town. He raised his brows, looking to Cabre for approval. He sighed as he saw that Cabre seemed hesitant.

“What’s there?” He asked, pointing to the red mark above Shadowford.

“That’s a landmark rock. All the red marks are ones that I’ve found. Pretty helpful when trying to find places to camp.” He said proudly.

Cabre pulled his mouth back tight against his cheeks and furrowed his brows.

“Why don’t we just stop and stay the night in Shadowford.” He asked.

“You want to get back to camp sooner, right?” Levy raised a brow, propping his fist against his waist.

Cabre glared and nodded. “Yeah, so?”

“It won’t take us long to get to Shadowford so unless you want to waste half the day in a town that’s only good for supplies, we should move on when we’re done.”

Reluctantly, Cabre nodded his agreement before they set off again. Almost instantly, an awkward silence settled in around the pair. The only thing that made traveling bearable were the clouds that continued to coat the sky. Rays of sun peeked through their thin blanket here and there, but with them, the heat would have been unforgiving.

“So…” Cabre started weakly.

Levy raised a brow, looking over at Cabre before quickly checking the compass.

“You’ve tried to find the Legion camp before?” He hesitated. “I noticed on the map a bit spot you’d circled.”

Levy’s face flushed.

“Yeah, what about it?” He said, avoiding eye contact.

Cabre shrugged.

“Nothing, nothing. Just… interesting, I guess.” He raised his hands defensively.

The silence settled in again. For the next couple hours, that was the way it pretty much stayed. Neither one had anything interesting they wanted to talk about and while they were curious about each other, it wasn’t enough to be so forward about it. Before long, Shadowford came into view. Climbing over a dune, there the town sat atop an odd camber in the earth. It was flat for the most part and was a similar color to landmark rocks but much larger. There were a few steady buildings here and there, but, like most other settlements, tents were in the majority here. The two made their way up the pathway carved into the rock and into the quaint town. There were few people out and about until they made it to the center where a market filled with all sorts of colorful characters were bustling about. Levy kept his eyes to himself, keeping track of trouble where he could see it brewing in his peripheral vision. Cabre, on the other hand, couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering. He’d been to very few settlements in his lifetime and was curious to take it all in. Noticing his wandering, Levy grabbed Cabre by the wrist and led them to an open cart. He quickly eyed their goods.

“Two portions of your kabobs, please.” He said pulling a few coin from the pouch on his belt.

Then he quickly looked to Cabre.

“Keep your eyes down will ya.” He scowled.

Cabre glared back. “I’m not doing anything.

“You’ve been eyeing this place like it’s a sweets shop. If you don’t cut it out, you’ll find us in a heap of trouble.” Levy snapped.

He turned back to the shop lady and thanked her with a smile as she handed over two kabobs. Cabre reached for one, but Levy jerked his hand away leading them to the edge of the square.

‘Great! He’s not even gonna let me eat?” Cabre grumbled.

Finding an unoccupied bench, Levy sat, waiting for Cabre before handing one of the kabobs over. Cabre looked over the odd collection of meat and greens stuck onto the stick. It seemed to be covered in some sort of amber-colored sauce. It was like nothing he’d ever seen. His eyes shone with interest as he studied the odd food. Not only did it look delicious, but it smelled just as good. Back at Camp Primary, the food was bland, tasteless, and had no smell. Except on bad days. On bad days it smelled absolutely vile. Those days, Cabre and Yvonne skipped the cafeteria and ate spare rations instead.

“What? Never seen a kabob before?” Levy raised a brow.

Cabre glared over to him, seeing now that his companion had already scarfed down nearly his entire portion. Then he reached a hand over.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll gladly take it.”

Cabre jerked his hand away.

“I’ll eat as fast or slow as I like, thank you.” Cabre retorted.

Levy shrugged and turned his attention back to his meal. Cabre quickly did the same, curious to see what this new food tasted like. Though hesitant, he took a bite. The meat was tender, easy to chew, and probably would have been bland on its own. That being said it still would have been better than what the Legion had. It was miles better paired with the subtle crunch of the veggies. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it added just the right flavor to the meal, and the amber sauce added just the right amount of sweetness to the whole thing. He hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until now and, seeing as lunchtime was upon them, he wasn’t surprised. He quickly dug into the kabob, scarfing it down nearly as fast as Levy had.

“So how much-” Levy paused, his eyes going wide as he looked to Cabre. “You alright there?”

Cabre’s eyes shone as he turned to Levy, his mouth full of food.

“This is delicious.” He managed to get out as he chewed.

Levy smiled and rolled his eyes.

“What were you saying?” Cabre asked, swallowing.

“How much water do you have?”

Cabre pulled his canteen from his pack and shook it. Unfortunately, he was met with the gentle swooshing of what could only be enough water to coat the bottom of the container.

“Not much.” He replied.

Levy nodded and stood, making his way back into the crowded market. Cabre quickly stood, doing his best to follow as the man weaved his way seamlessly between the market-goers. The two made it to the town's water well without any trouble and made their way out of town and back on the road.

“It’s not the best idea to stay in places like that for too long.” Levy said, sliding down a sand dune.

“Why’s that?” Cabe asked, following suit.

“Smaller towns become a hub for bandit gangs and other trouble makers. One wrong step and they won’t hesitate to make you their next target.” Levy replied.

Cabre raised his brows. “Huh.”

“We should get in and out of Diremore just as quick when we stop there.” Levy added.

Cabre furrowed his brows, trying to recall the map. He didn’t remember any other towns between here and where he knew Camp Primary was. He searched his memory before the name finally came back to him.

“Wait! Isn’t that further east? We shouldn’t need to stop there.” He remarked.

“It’ll be safer, just trust me.”

Cabre glared. “It’ll be faster if we skip it.”

Levy glared back at Cabre.

“Why is it that big of a problem!” Cabre argued.

Levy growled and turned away. “You didn’t even have enough water to get you from Foolshope back to your camp.”

Cabre’s face flushed. He wasn’t wrong about that. He’d been wrong about his calculations once already, but still. If they walked fast enough, they could make it to Camp before he ran out again, right? The rest of the trip to the landmark rock was just as quiet as the beginning of the journey and twice as awkward after their argument. Maybe now that they would be stopped, Levy would at least be willing to talk about it. Looking over the map again wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway.