Dyanna jumped up.

"Well, I was a great help, wasn't I?"

"Theoretically... We're not sure yet." Jill replied.

"Hmph. You will be," she sounded offended. "In any case, I want a reward. For healing your leg, I mean." she said, pointing at me.

"Reward?? But my leg is still broken, we don't know if your ointment actually worked!"

Dyanna was shocked by my statement.

"But I tell you it will work! It's just like that!"

"It doesn't matter! As long as there are no results, there will definitely be no reward for you!"

She gave a yelp of annoyance. Then she started talking again.

"Ugh, this is how we do it in my house. We give and take. What's so hard to understand??"

"What problem do YOU have understanding such a simple concept? Nothing has happened yet, so you're not getting anything! Would you trust yourself in our shoes?? I don't think so!" I said, exasperated.

"Of course I would trust myself! MY word can always be trusted!"

I sighed deeply. She didn't understand. She didn't want to understand.

Behind me, Jill watched our argument exhausted. Like a father who didn't know what to do with his children anymore.

"Let's do it like this: tomorrow morning we'll see how the situation is. If the leg is healed then you will have your reward. Okay?" He tried as much as he could to mediate between us.

I didn't see him too sure of his words. He was afraid of what this fateful "reward" might entail.

"All right. I accept it because I'm kind but that's not how you do it. You have to be ready to reciprocate when you are given something. Nothing is free in the world."

"Don't come and lecture me on how the world works because you know even less than me. You've always been closed in your bubble, the best you can do is this 'Bellet' you speak of! You can't even move silently! Without us, you'd already be boar food! YOU should reward US! Because we saved your life!!" I was starting to get furious.

"It's called 'Ballet', not 'Bellet'..." she muttered grumpily.

"What did you say??"

"Ballet! I said ballet! It's a type of dance! YOU don't know anything!"

And with that she left. Towards the forest, I don't know where. But she didn't show up again for a while.

Now we were alone, just me and Jill, among the trees and bushes, immersed in the greenery.

"What do we do now?" he asked, tense.

"Nothing. Leave her alone, she will most likely come back of her own accord. She would never survive, out there, without our help."

"Tch. Okay, you're right."

Before he turned to me I saw him, one last time, looking at the forest. Looking at the point where she had disappeared. He was concentrating on something else, thinking about something else. He was serious, like I had never seen him before.

I tried to cheer him up.

"Hey." I touched his arm.

"What is it?"

"We are alone now... It seems like a lifetime has passed since the last time."

"Hahaha, well, it's true. The girl certainly has a particular character. Bulky, you could say."

It was the perfect description. Small in height, but huge in personality. Even though I was even shorter. I couldn't speak on that.

Then I started thinking. Maybe this is the last time I'll see him laugh at something stupid I say. The last time he'll carry me up a slope just because I ask. The last time I feel like... someone cared for again.

"Why don't we spend some time together then?" I suggested.

"Doing what?"

"I don't know. What do you like to do?"

"Nothing in particular. I don't have any preferences."

"Don't you have a hobby?"

"I don't have the time or desire to cultivate a hobby."

"Hmmm. Well, for example, I've always liked running... And climbing tree branches. I mean, I liked that. Now I can't anymore."

He looked at me sad, sorry for my situation. For what I had lost.

Part of it was also my smile.

Huh, in fact he didn't know the real me. The one I had been before all this mess. Now I had changed. "I" was no longer me.

So I made a decision.

This could be our last day together and I would be myself. I would show him new parts of me, unknown parts. My smile, my happiness, my carefreeness. All things that were rarely seen anymore.

"Oooh, I have an idea! Do you know how to dance?"

"Sure, my job requires me to..."

"Oh, right... Err, but you don't know all the dances that exist, right?"

"I guess so. I know a lot of them, but probably not all of them."

"Perfect! Maybe you've never seen this one! Let's go somewhere nicer and I'll show it to you!"

He didn't seem particularly excited, but he did what I asked anyway. He was too good, really.

We didn't go straight to the destination though. On the way we looked at all the different fruits and berries that were there and every time I saw a tree suitable for climbing, I showed it to him. I was making him an expert in that field, hahaha.

When we finally got close to the river, the one in the area of ​​the famous boulder, the sky was already starting to turn red. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places in the forest. You could see the entire valley below. It was really poetic.

In all the chaos that had been there, it had already become about six in the afternoon.

Jill put me on the ground and I started thinking, very concentrated.

I tried to replicate a dance, the one my mother had taught me, and that, before her, her mother had taught her and so on. I think it was typical only in her family.

I couldn't do the steps with my legs, but at least the ones with my arms, yes.

Right. Left. Center. Then up. Then down.

The order in which the arms moved was this, simple enough to remember. But the moves were something else entirely. They required great coordination, which I lacked, and great memory, since they were very complicated.

After all the times my mother had tried to make me learn it, I remembered everything very well, but I still struggled to do the dance correctly.

But he did it perfectly.

Despite my clumsiness and my unclear directions, he moved so well. It was almost as if he had known it his whole life.

My mother would have been moved to tears, seeing her family tradition honored in such a beautiful way. I couldn't contain my smile either.

"How am I doing?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Great, don't worry. Much better than me! My mother would despair every time she tried to teach me."

"Is this dance your mother's? I've never seen it before."

"More precisely, it's a tradition in her family. All generations of women must have known it. But I'm terrible at coordination. I can't do it well. You, on the other hand, seem to have been born for this."

My words were meant to be a compliment. His ability to move, his grace. But that was not the case. I saw his expression darken.

"Oh, I didn't mean it that way..."

It was as if I had just told him that he was born to be an Entertainer.

I hadn't had any tact. None.

"No, I know, I know. Don't worry," he replied, but his face hadn't changed. He was still grim.

I had ruined the moment.

He noticed it too, and I saw that he wanted to say something, but he was hesitating. The words wouldn't come out.

Silence fell. The unbearable kind, the kind you never want to feel. The kind that makes its way onto your skin and then completely envelops you from the inside. That silence.

I looked around. I was looking for something to get the conversation going again. Something to say. Anything.

Hm? What's that? I saw a small pebble at my feet, resting right next to my ankle.

I picked it up, looking for that something. And then I noticed a detail. Of the pebble.

Its particular shape, which reminded me of a little animal. Yes, an animal. With two long ears and a little snout.

It really looked like the face of a little bunny.

Crusty! Hahaha, she definitely would have liked him. I think. She probably would've peed on his foot. But liked him.

I stayed so focused on the object I had just found that I totally forgot about the heavy silence that had trapped me until a moment before.

"Jill! Jill! Look! Doesn't this pebble remind you of a bunny?" I asked, all excited.

He came closer to me.

"Hmmm... Let me see..." he looked at it carefully. "Oooh, you're right! If you look at it from this direction the two tips look like ears. It's cute."

He liked it? No way. With his "practical" personality I would never have expected that.

An idea came to me.

"Give it here."

"What do you want to do with it?"

"It's a secret... Just give it to me."

A little reluctantly he gave it back to me and I felt a tiny bit guilty for having just separated him from his new little friend.

I took another stone nearby, a sharp one, and started to carve the pebble.

"No, don't ruin it..." he complained, displeased.

"Wait a second... Trust me."

Trust and trust. We had been talking about that all day.

Well, I guess in a trio of completely different complete strangers it was something difficult, but also necessary to talk about.

"What are you doing?"

"Wait, I said. I need to concentrate."

He took offense. And he remained silent.

I was putting all of myself into carving that bunny. So much patience, so much effort.

"Go get me some grass, please." I pointed into the distance in the green. "From those bundles over there. The long ones."

"What do you need it for?"

I didn't answer him. My eyes simply said, "Don't ask questions. Do it." And he did. Not without some complaints, though.

That day he seemed much more immature, more like a teenager.

He paced back and forth very quickly.

"Are these okay?" he asked sulkily.

"Yes! They're perfect!"

I continued my creation. I put the finishing touches, the final touches. And there you have it! The surprise was ready.

"Here!" I cheered.

He was shocked by what I had created.

But not necessarily in a bad way. The emotion on his face was complex. I wouldn't have known how to describe it.

"Is it a necklace? For me?"

"Yes! Made with my sacred hands! Do you like it? I tried to do my best with the few materials I had..."

"It's beautiful..." I could see him moved. "Thank you Nina, you... You gave me so many gifts today. Your family traditions, this rabbit... Really, thank you for everything."

I just smiled.

"Quick, put it on! Or should I put it on you?"

I asked that jokingly, but he, to my surprise, said yes. So I was forced to do it. To cover that other necklace - the one that marked him and distinguished him from others - with mine, made only for him, without any specific reason, but just for fun and for love.

He gave me a hug. It was the first time he hugged me of his own free will. He didn't like physical contact, but he did it for me anyway. He made an exception.

Thanks to that little rabbit-shaped stone, with a happy face carved on it and some grass tied to its ears to make a necklace, I had obtained such a great honor. That of his affection.

It was the perfect last day... Yes, the best ever.