The next thing I knew, I was on a comfy futon-like bed thingy covered pretty much head to toe in bandages... or at least a crude equivalent thereof.

The second thing I noticed as I awakened was that a bandaged-up Sydui was resting her head on my chest still, even if it was on the opposite side as before.

'I wonder if she'll slap me when she wakes up? Either way, a problem for later.' I thought to myself.

Hund stepped into the makeshift hospital building. "Oh, you're awake?"

I nodded and then gestured with my head to Sydui.

He grinned and nodded. He then spoke, a little quieter this time. "That's funny, I thought I just put your futons close together, how did this happen?" He asked, dripping with sarcasm.

I smiled back. "Thanks, I owe you one Hund."

"Make sure you rest up, we'll need you as soon as possible."

I nodded.

It took about an additional hour for Sydui to wake up.

She was confused at first, but then panicked.

She got up way too fast and almost fell backwards.

I didn't know how healed she was, and didn't want her to smack her head, so I pulled her towards me.

This had the one hundred percent non-intentional at all effect of pulling her to my chest. "Careful there Sydui, don't want you to make your injury worse."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but instead just added a bit of distance between the two of us. "So I see you had a bit of fun with me while I was sleeping." She responded accusatorially.

"Nope, when I woke up you were already like that, I just didn't want to wake you."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Ask Hund, he's a witness."

Sydui looked at where her futon was and then over to me. Her face twisted in rage. "HUND! YOUR HIDE IS MINE!"

I stifled a giggle. "Now now Sydui, you can kill Hund after you're healed... for now I wanted to properly thank you for saving my life."

She looked at me incredulously. "Saved you?! I tried to kill you!" She suddenly covered her mouth.

"Oh, that makes so much sense." I thought back to the leaves. "I suppose I'll have to be more careful in the future. Aside from that, by my count I still owe you one."

"What?!"

"You tried to kill me once, but saved me twice; once after the poisoning, once against Polimus."

"It doesn't count if I tried to kill you in the first place but then decided not to later!"

"I disagree, but we can call it even if you want."

Sydui shook her head. "No, that momentary decision can't be allowed to atone for trying to kill you."

Oh dear, she's a worrier huh?

"I'll tell you what, I'll give you two options to choose from: one, you can make it up to me, or two, you can be punished for your actions, which would make you feel better?"

She looked horrified. "What does each entail?"

"Well, I was thinking either a date or having you wear weights all day respectively."

She sighed in relief, and then froze. "Wait- isn't a date...?"

"Yep, we'd spend a bunch of time together and talk over a meal maybe."

She shook her head in disbelief. "I just told you that I tried to poison you to death and your response is to have a meal with me?"

"If you want to, I don't want to force you into it."

She looked conflicted.

"There's also a third option if you'd like to hear it."

"What is she wearing?" Hund asked me, gesturing at Sydui in the distance.

"A vest full of sand."

Hund rubbed his temples. "Yes, but why?"

"She told me about that time you guys tried to poison me."

Hund looked like a dear in the headlights.

"Oh don't worry, I don't really mind... as long as you promise not to do it again." I said with a laugh.

The fear on Hund's face turned into confusion. "You're fine with us trying to kill you?"

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"She took full responsibility immediately and she'd saved my life, so we're even as far as I'm concerned."

Hund stared into the middle distance for a while and then turned his attention to Sydui. "She's always risking her life to keep the rest of us safe... I can't imagine the stress she's under."

"Well, I'll make sure to alleviate that stress as much as possible." I replied with an overdramatic salute.

"I know you're joking, but I hadn't seen her smile until you showed up, she used to bottle up her feelings in order to protect us from all of the dangers of this world... but now, she seems so much more expressive, and so much happier."

"That makes me happy to hear." I said with the proudest smile I could muster.

It was quiet for a moment, but Hund spoke up again. "There used to be a hundred of us."

I looked at the tiny community going about their business. "What happened?"

"Tons of things, poisonous plants, animals, champions, you name it. Before the fight there were forty-one of us... now we're down to twenty-nine."

I looked down at Hund with a somber expression. "I have a project for you if you don't mind."

----------------------------------------

Sydui

Wearing a vest full of sand in this gravity was probably one of the most unpleasant punishments I've ever experienced, and I've been to prison before.

I have to say though, it really helped me reflect on my actions, and when I finally took it off again, I felt like a weight lifted from inside my stomach as well.

Now, the question became what I would wear for my 'date' as Andrew calls it.

As soon as they caught wind of the plan, all of the girls left in the village stormed my room to give me advice.

The highlights included: dress your best, accentuate your best features, and 'be yourself'... whatever that's supposed to mean.

I looked at the clothes I had, which was only a little more than I was wearing when I was called to this place.

I also wouldn't say any of it was particularly stylish... mostly dark grays and blues to help me blend in with my surroundings during night raids.

So, some of the girls worked together to make me a new shirt and pair of pants out of discarded fabric and a couple tanned hides.

I have to say, looking in the mirror with them on made me feel strangely proud of myself.

When Andrew and I met up the next day, I saw that he had cleaned himself and his clothes, but was wearing what he usually did.

He stared at me, not saying anything for a solid twenty seconds, after of which I waved my hand in front of his face.

"Oh sorry... you look really good." He said, snapping back to reality.

That feeling of pride from earlier welled up inside me again. "Thank you."

"I would have dressed up more, but I didn't have any other clothes to change into." He said apologetically.

"It's alright, I'd probably feel weird if you wore something else."

"Well, that takes a load off my conscience." He outstretched a hand toward me. "Shall we go?"

I looked at it, not sure what I was supposed to do.

Andrew answered without me having to ask. "It's a tradition from my homeworld to hold each other's hands while dating."

"Why?"

"Give it a try, I think you'll get it then."

I put my hand on his and he interlocked our fingers.

His hand was bigger than mine by a little bit, so his hand enveloped mine ever so slightly.

But more than that, it was warm... it felt like we were connected even if superficially.

I looked him in the eye and he smiled.

My heart started to beat extremely fast, but I didn't feel like I was in danger... it was just like that.

I was confused by all of these feelings that seemed to come and go without rhyme or reason.

Suddenly my stupor was broken as he repeated himself.

"Shall we go?"

I nodded. "Y-yeah."

He guided me by the hand to one of the empty buildings excitedly.

When we entered, there was a single table and two chairs placed opposite each other.

He pulled out a chair and gestured toward it.

I tentatively sat, figuring that that was the objective here.

He let go of my hand. "Okay, stay here for just a second, I'll be right back."

As he left, I stared at my hand and felt the phantasmal warmth as if I had lost a part of my own body.

When he came back, he was holding a large wooden container with a pair of folded cloths, one in each hand. "I wanted to be the one to cook it, but Juohen had a good point that I might mess it up."

He removed the lid and caused a plume of steam to flood out. After the steam dissipated, I saw several of the 'scorposquirrels'.

"These buggers taste kinda like lobster, so I figured it might be worth a shot to try steaming them."

I was dubious about this idea, but decided to accept my fate regardless of the outcome.

He used the folded cloth to grab one for each of us.

It took a little bit of doing to get at the meat, that was until Andrew taught me a technique that made the whole process much easier.

The meat was surprisingly delicious, even though it was barely seasoned due to lack of resources.

It tasted a lot like a hidvar that had been roasted in the same pot as a jildon... not that the flavor was as overpowering as a jildon tends to be.

After we had eaten, we started talking.

I was never really one for small talk, but with Andrew it felt right, it felt okay to spend the extra time talking about nothing.

Of course, in his innocence, he brought up the dreaded question:

"So, what was your childhood like?"

I pursed my lips as I searched for answer to that question. "I didn't have much of a childhood... I was the daughter of two fugitives. Second generation garbage."

He looked at me with anger. "No! You aren't garbage! As long as I'm around, you're no longer allowed to say stuff like that about yourself!"

His sudden outburst caught me off guard. "Oh... okay."

He softened. "Sorry, I do want to hear what you have to say."

I took a moment to regain my composure and continued. "I wasn't raised like most of my kind. I was born in the middle of a firefight, and it seemed like that firefight never ended. As soon as I could hold a pulsar, I was trained to use one, I was also trained with short blades for when we would attack in the night. I've killed so many people to survive it became the default solution for me... I felt hollow for so long... so when I was called and offered a new chance at life, I took it without question."

Andrew listened intently, and when he was sure I was done, he replied with a mischievous smile. "So what you're saying is that you're a sexy pirate queen is that right?"

I was taken completely aback.

It had been implied to me before, but hearing him straight up tell me that I was sexy to my face felt very different.

I was suddenly very aware of what I was wearing and how much it didn't cover.

"Uh... I guess?" My stupid mouth replied.

He burst out laughing.

I just felt awkward.

After he was finished laughing, he looked back at me. "I've actually been wondering for a while, what do you think of me?"

I didn't know to answer that. "You're dangerous... but like a powerful weapon is dangerous when you hold it... does that make any sense?"

"I think so?"

I looked down at the table and then back up at Andrew. "So, what do we do now? Is the date over?"

"I mean, nominally yes, but I did have one more thing to show you before we parted." He held out his hand again.

This time, I took it without hesitation.

When we left the sun was already setting.

He lead me to the town center where a new object stood.

It was made mostly out of wood, with small metal cups for candles.

On the face of it was a list of names with a large string of text above them, it read:

'The sacrifice of those who came before, who we honor as we live today.'

Everyone had gathered around to pay respects in whatever ways they could considering what we had.

I looked at it somberly, as I had nothing to offer other than reverence.

Andrew rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.

I leaned my head into his good arm and we stood in silence until nightfall.