Thursday, June 8th, 1978, 2130

Fucking nailed it, I thought with satisfaction as Dani and I headed towards the hot spring itself.

Together.

Alone, without Ellie there to make fun of me or control the conversation. I knew I needed to make the most out of the situation before my clan-mandated coworker derailed the whole thing.

Considering the circumstances of our first meeting, Ellie had quickly endeared herself to me, which was very telling in her favor. It was nearly impossible not to smile in her presence, and she made the most out of bad situations. Not to mention casually forcing me to face my feelings regarding my family for the first time.

Good traits notwithstanding, she also had a nasty habit of talking over people and interjecting herself wholeheartedly into any conversation, however small or insignificant.

While an asset in many situations, it made it difficult for me to get closer to Dani. Based on my current showing, I wasn't skilled with relationships by any stretch of the imagination, and I would even daresay I was bad at it. However, having Ellie in the party made it even more troublesome than anticipated.

Thus, I had yet to make any progress in the last week of travel. Sure, I looked for fleeting windows to chat with Dani, sometimes finding small opportunities to show off my knowledge or do something slightly impressive. Much to my dismay, nothing had been working so far, and the best reaction I had received was a tentative smile or maybe a thumbs up.

On a brighter note, she had at least dropped the dreaded "buds," so I considered that progress, tiny as it might be.

So, when I saw Dani wandering around in the garden by herself after finishing my meal, I knew I had to take action. I hurried down the hallway back to the main lobby and fortunately made it in time to beat Ellie, whom I knew would most likely make her way out soon.

Time is scarce, I thought with determination.

As we walked nearly side by side, I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for how well I handled the last few minutes. Eon timed Dani's arrival perfectly for when I set Larvitar cutely on top of Geralt.

What girl can't resist a cute scene? Sula is a battle maniac, and I know even she appreciates a cute showing. Hell, Kiriel herself named me after a fucking female Rapidash she liked as a kid.

From what I could tell, I even managed to be nonchalant and upbeat, which I usually struggled with. Ellie went out of her way to comment on it, so I was painfully aware of my deficiencies.

I glanced over at Dani, trying to discern if my ploy had an effect. The older trainer had deep circles under her eyes and looked more fatigued than I had seen her before. Her standard, neat braid was coming undone, and her dark blue hair was frizzing up in the humid environment.

She walked with a slight limp, and I could see bandages wrapped professionally around her heels. Her eyes were faintly unfocused, and she looked like her mind was elsewhere.

I scoured my brain for the right thing to say in this situation. Dani looked tired and upset about something, but I didn't want to mess up this early in one of my few opportunities alone with her.

Frankly, I didn't have much experience dealing with other people's emotions. Kiriel and Sula, the only two women I had been around extensively, never openly indicated what they might be thinking privately. Sula would compensate with humor, preferring to screw around rather than address actual issues or approach something genuinely.

Not that I have much room to judge, I thought with vague amusement. Pot calling the kettle black, indeed.

Perhaps the most serious I had ever seen Sula was when she checked in on me before I was sent off with Ellie.

Kiriel, on the other hand, never let anything except disapproval slip out. I can't even remember the last time I had seen her happy about anything. She approached all her duties with a relentless professionalism that left no room for anything but the bottom line.

Wait, actually, I can. It was when Sula completed her circuit for the first time and lost at the conference early on. It had been a tough matchup, and Sula had been close to tears. Kiriel had smiled at her and told her she was proud of her.

I shook off the sadness and envy that leaped up in my chest at the memory.

Not that any of this helps me right now, I thought somberly as I snuck another glance back at Dani. What would Sula want me to say if she was upset about something?

Dani was difficult to talk to when Ellie was around, but I felt self-conscious when it was just the two of us. Plus, I usually managed to say something stupid or awkward. Unless we were training or talking about exercise, the only things I felt decently confident about.

Over the last week of traveling, I had struggled to recreate the sense of camaraderie I had felt when we first walked down to the beach together at the checkpoint closest to Fuchsia. I had since decided that I must have been on a high from my first win.

Fuck it, I'm just going to go for it.

I turned back to Dani and gave a slight wave, catching her attention and bringing her back to the present.

"You look r-really nice. Your hair is beautiful," I stammered awkwardly before facing ahead again. "You appear somewhat down, though. Something on your mind?"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Dani was silent for a few seconds, and I was worried that I had already buried my chances at a regular interaction when she finally responded as we hit the edge of the steaming pool.

"Thanks, Mare. I like my hair, too. It's hard to take care of it on a trip like this, so it's nice to hear something is going right! Something is bothering me, honestly. Of course, you would notice. I thought I was doing a better job," she said with a bitter laugh, looking down at the pool.

"Seems like we're fated to only talk just us when there's a body of water around," she joked shyly, finally looking directly at me with her steely grey eyes. The sadness was still there, not something that could be chased away with a fleeting word, but I could see a glimmer of something else, too.

"You might be right," I agreed. "Guess I should take that into consideration when planning the rest of our circuit."

Dani looked back at me with confusion. "What do you mean by that?

Shit. Why did I say that. I'm so stupid. SO stupid. As my heart rate increased, I felt my chances of a normal interaction slipping. She's way too perfect. Even when she's sad and looks defeated. Shit.

Reacting swiftly to combat my growing embarrassment, I jumped into the pool as gracefully as possible, managing to stick the landing. Nonetheless, water sprayed out from my entrance, sending a gentle wave over the edge.

"Oh, that feels nice," said Dani dreamily as she basked in the feeling of warm water washing over her painful-looking feet. "Would you mind turning around for a second?"

Face burning, I directed my focus to exploring the pool, doing my best to ignore the rustling sounds behind me. It was difficult to suppress my troubling hormones.

You can do this. Keep it together, Mare, think about other things.

With that thought in mind, I waded further into the water. It was already humid from the storm, and now that the temperature was cooling down, the steam was so thick I could barely see in front of me.

The water was much hotter than I expected. Sula and I had visited many public bathhouses over the years, and we even maintained a communal heated bath at the compound for the sweaty soldiers who regularly trained on the premises. This, however, was several notches above anything I'd experienced before.

This water was hot enough I felt sweat prickling in my pores after just a few seconds. After the frigid storm, the cold seemingly melted out of my leaden limbs like a blacksmith pouring molten iron from a crucible.

As I explored further, I realized that the hot spring was enormous, easily measuring twenty meters in each direction. It was circular, with a small island in the middle hosting what looked like a traditional shrine. As I got closer, my feet lost their purchase on the ground, and I was left Growlithe-paddling in the deep water.

That's odd. It's rare to find a shrine like this in a pool of all places.

I swam closer to investigate. The shrine itself was several meters tall, standing over twice my height. It was built from an inky black stone interspersed with small whitish flakes. From my studies, I tentatively identified it as snowflake obsidian. It was roughly totem-shaped, with apparently random depictions of mouths of all things.

Oh, that's clever, I thought. Ona really knows what she's doing with this place. Creepy little maws to suck up all the bad energy.

Snowflake obsidian was well known for its healing properties, so finding a massive slab of the material was a once-in-a-lifetime find. It was shocking that the monolith seemed to have only been moved here in the hopes it might slightly increase spa-goers' satisfaction if they happened to understand the symbolism.

What a waste of money for the biggest placebo effect I've ever seen.

"Mare, where are you? I can't see anything through this steam," Dani called out, interrupting my internal review of the facilities. There was an edge to her voice that didn't make sense for the situation. She sounded vaguely unsettled if I had to put a name to it.

"I'm just straight ahead! It's shaped like a big ring. The water gets deep quickly. You can probably just follow the sound of my splashing," I replied.

I wasn't kidding; there were hardly any other sounds besides the soothing sound of water flowing, so my frantic paddling was obnoxiously loud.

I'm definitely ruining the ambiance, I realized. It's not like I can paddle much quieter, though.

"Okay!"

I heard a splash and then muted cursing. "Hot-hot-hot! Shit, Mare. Why didn't you tell me it was scalding!"

I stifled a laugh. Considering her present mood, it didn't seem like the right time to find amusement in her suffering.

"You'll get used to it quickly. I promise," I assured her with a quiet chuckle. "Besides, it probably feels good on your feet. You were limping pretty good on the way over."

Dani's head popped suddenly into existence through the thick vapor, and she soon joined me in paddling. It was too dark to see anything underneath the water, but it looked like she had undone her trademark braid. Her navy hair hung limply down her back, already saturated from the heavy moisture in the air.

"Y-you weren't kidding about how deep it was," she spluttered, grimacing after she inadvertently splashed herself in the face from the jerky movements Growlithe-paddling necessitated.

I couldn't help but feel highly amused at the scene. Calm springs, thick mist, romantic lighting, and two tired teenagers flopping around with loose limbs.

Not very romantic, I concluded. I need to change things up before Ellie gets here.

"Come on, let's just soak our feet from the central piece," I suggested. "That way, we won't overheat and can still let our feet relax."

It was a decent idea. Rather than swimming around, we could actually have a conversation.

"You can do that, but I'm just going to stay in the water and hold on with my arms. I never thought I would feel warm again," she replied. "I finally feel like I'm thawing out. Especially after the incident with the fucking mystery staff of death."

"Okay, you got me there; that's a pretty good idea," I admitted.

Following Dani's suggestion, we swam up towards the central protrusion. True to her word, it was much easier to hang on to the edge of the rocky outcropping and let our bodies float languidly in the nearly boiling water.

Wait, what? Mystery staff of death? Her words finally registered with me a few seconds later.

"Ohhhh, that feels soo good," Dani groaned contentedly.

It really did. I was feeling slightly overheated from paddling, but there were more important issues at hand.

"Hold up before you fall asleep. What the hell did you mean by your last statement?"

Dani looked at me and rolled her eyes. "I mean, the water feels perfect for my tired-ass body; what else? I think I got soft in the few months between the two circuits. Weightlifting definitely doesn't translate over to hiking Arceus knows how many kilometers each day."

"You're deflecting. You wouldn't have said what you did if you didn't want to talk about it," I accused, having slightly improved my ability to read between the lines.

Dani sighed loudly, turning her body laterally in the water so that she was really only hanging on by one arm. "I guess you got me there. Point for Mare! You're not the only one who has difficulty talking about your feelings, you know? You might have been magically healed by Ellie's makeshift therapy session last week, but I still have my own shit."

Her sudden shift in tone caught me off guard, and my resolve faltered.

I scoffed, surprised at the sudden shift in the mood. "What are you talking about? There's no need to snap at me like that. Can we just go back a few seconds, and you can tell me what happened with the quote, "mystery staff of death. I'm just worried about you."

Silence rang loudly in the evening.

"Please," I added more politely, waiting patiently for her response.

"Fine," she finally relented after a long pause.