After spending the night walking, Kandy had been fortunate enough to find a town built around an oasis in the desert to spend the day.

He didn’t go to sleep immediately, however, and instead began pulling items out of his hairband’s holding space.

It was all of the merchandise that had been on display or stored in the stall.

All of the stuff that hadn’t been out for public display was completely worthless, at least monetarily. They were also frequently identical to pieces that were up for display—clearly, the stall owner was no stranger to pulling the scam he’d tried pulling on Kandy.

He packed the items back into the stall and put the whole thing back into his holding space. With a wide grin, Kandy fell back onto the bed and covered himself with a rough blanket.

Taraji. Would she like these gifts?

He really hoped so.

***

It took several more days—even with Kandy running at his highest sustainable speed—before he reached that special little village.

He’d arrived several hours after the sun had risen, as he’d simply refused to camp in the desert another night. The fact that he’d been so close to the girl who made his heart flutter was simply the cherry on top.

Having experienced the residents’ “friendly” attitude the previous time he’d been in town, Kandy didn’t even bother speaking with anyone. Instead, he paid his dues and set up a tent in the guest area, where many others were already fast asleep.

As he sluggishly set up his tent for the day, he didn’t even notice the pair of eyes staring at him from the edge of camp.

When Kandy woke up some time later, the sun had set and the air was cool. He left the tent and was greeted by a breeze of cool wind. Kandy looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Taraji.

Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found.

Still, Kandy made his way through the camp, then the town. Eventually, he arrived at the well in the center of town.

A crowd had gathered around it. Some were praying, some were trying to purchase water and other supplies from the townsfolk, and some, like him, were simply observing.

There were far more present than the first time he’d been here, and it brought some feeling of home to him. Perhaps Taraji was somewhere here, busy at work selling jugs or water.

He walked around the periphery of the town center, trying to catch even just the smallest glimpse of the girl. But as the minutes passed, and he finished his umpteenth loop around the well, Taraji was still nowhere to be found.

Kandy sighed. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be. He stepped forward and joined a line in front of one of the townsfolk selling water and food.

At that moment, someone poked his shoulder from behind.

“Hm?” Kandy turned his head, half-expecting an angry townsperson to be mad at him for breathing the wrong way or something along those lines.

Instead, his eyes grew large and his heart thumped against his chest with the power of a rampaging bull.

“Taraji!” Kandy wasn’t sure what to say, but thankfully Taraji did.

“I was wondering when I would see you again.”

“I—uh, likewise!”

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“Let’s get out of line. I can sell you water and my dad sells food.”

She paused for a minute. “Only if you want, of course.”

Kandy promptly nodded and the two dipped out of line and made their way into a street that, while not empty, was far less packed.

“Why are there so many people here?” Kandy asked as they continued to walk.

“There was a big duel in Arundu, and everyone’s traveling back home.” Taraji looked around, then leaned in and whispered, “Apparently the result of the fight was a huge letdown. The challenger ran away from the duel and surrendered.”

“Ha… yeah, what a wimp, right?” Kandy nervously replied.

“Hm. I don’t think so. All the guys ever talk about is fight, fight, fight. It’s nice to see someone… different.”

“Ha, yeah…. different.” It took all of Kandy’s willpower to not respond with anything concerning how he’d just spent the last few weeks fighting for his life in the Crow’s Nest.

Or how he was on his way to assassinate some big shot.

There was an awkward silence, but thankfully they soon arrived at their destination.

“This is my home. I have two brothers, but they are out working tonight, selling water and fruit. My parents are away as well, but I am not sure what they are doing. Perhaps they are gathering supplies from the caves.”

Taraji opened the door and stepped inside, motioning for Kandy to follow.

“Wait, what is there to gather in the caves?” Kandy asked as he crossed the sandstone door frame. He’d hid from the sun in the mouths of many caves and under many outcrops, but aside from Jabari’s lair he’d never actually explored one.

“There are many things, but it is understandable that you do not know. Wild caves are incredibly dangerous to clear. Cave-ins, terrifying monsters… dangers beyond imagination. But my people have lived here for many centuries, if not longer. The nearby caves were cleared long ago and have been kept that way.

“There are still some dangers, but they are greatly reduced. My family owns one of the caves nearby and we farm some mushrooms inside. There are also some wild plants that grow in the cave that are quite useful to us.”

“Hm.” Kandy didn’t say much, but internally he’d made up his mind to explore a cave once he’d accomplished his mission.

Taraji seemed to be staring at him expectantly. Kandy wasn’t quite sure what to do, so he pulled out a box and opened it to reveal the bracelet the stall owner had shown him in Arundu.

“Here, I bought you a present.”

“Oh! It’s beautiful!” Taraji reached forward and pulled the bracelet out of the box. “How much did this cost? It must have been a lot!”

“It wasn’t too bad.”

Taraji suddenly leaned forward and hugged Kandy, wrapping him in a tight hug. But when Kandy moved to reciprocate, she suddenly stepped backwards and frowned.

“You smell terrible and you’re all sweaty,” she chirped. “Here, unwrap yourself and go bathe. It’s the door on your right.”

She smiled as she pushed Kandy towards the door. “And please don’t use all of our water.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“And don’t bandage yourself when you’re done. I want to see you.”

Kandy nodded as he entered the bathing room. Not wanting to leave Taraji alone for long, he swiftly stripped himself, unraveled the mess of bandages, and picked up the nearest bucket of water.

As it turned out, several days of sprinting through the desert had caused him to accumulate a substantial layer of grimey sweat.

He rubbed and rubbed and rubbed, trying to remove as much of it as he could, but something about the water seemed to be particularly cleansing, and the grime, dead skin cells, and more continued to be washed away.

By the time the filth stopped flowing from his pores, Kandy guiltily realized that he’d used over half of the water in the buckets.

“Ahh…hm.” Kandy fumbled around for his hair tie, which he’d taken off for the bath.

From it, he pulled out a few jugs of water and began replacing the water he’d used. After replacing most of what he’d used, Kandy put the empty jugs back in the holding space of his hair tie and grinned.

“Yep, that’ll do it.”

Pleased with his efforts and cleanliness, Kandy quickly clothed himself and exited the bathroom.

In the decorative white cloak that the Boomtown residents had crafted him and cleansed of his filth, Kandy looked like a born-and-bred noble.

Even Taraji, who’d been waiting seated at a table in the corner of the room, seemed taken aback by Kandy’s appearance.

After her initial shock, though, Taraji sprung up from her chair and rushed forward, examining Kandy from all sides.

“Wow! You really clean up well!” she patted Kandy’s shoulders and poked at his sides a bit, making him squirm.

“Come, I have something to show you upstairs!”

Kandy’s heart pounded as he thought back to all the wild stories he’d heard but not really understood floating around the bandit camp.

Was what he thought was about to happen, going to happen?

His heart beat maddeningly against his chest, so loudly that he thought Taraji would hear it. His stomach tightened as the ascended the stairs, and—

“Look! Isn’t the night sky so pretty?!” Taraji exclaimed. “You can see all the stars here, far away from all the torches and people.”

To his credit, Kandy was able to hold himself back from saying that the stars looked even brighter in the middle of the desert.

“It’s beautiful.” Kandy stood with his head craned towards the sky. After what he felt was an appropriate amount of time, he glanced down at Taraji, only to see that she was still staring up into the sky with wonder.

Yeah. Beautiful.