As soon as we hit the edge of town we decided to keep going and find horses in the next town. We set out at around one and mostly walked in silence until Thu’ane had the idea to start singing. Then the headmaster started humming and then I guess all the others decided to chime in. I decided to not sing since I prefer to travel in silence.

“Come on, Kyle, you’ve got a voice that won over that one noble.” Thu’ane says.” She was ready to give you everything after you sang for her.”

“Please don’t bring that up. I don’t want to remember that time, there was too much drinks and that noble would not get off me.” I say remembering her and the headache afterwards.” I’m just glad you were able to get what we came for before she took me to her room.”

“Oh come on, you would've had an excellent night with her!” He says.

“Yeah but I had just started out with Jess and…. Yeah.” I say stopping myself before I said too much.

“Oh yeah, you had just summoned the courage to ask her before we set out. Oh good times.” Thu’ane says keeping it going.

“Please don’t remind me of all my awkwardness and not in front of Claire. I don’t want her to know how hopeless I was.” I say covering her ears.

“Yeah you were pretty bad back then.” He says.” I felt like your older brother pushing you onto girls and helping you summon courage.”

“Funny thing was, my awkward charm worked more than your charm.” I say.

He slaps his hands to his face and says,” Don’t remind me. I was pissed when I realized that. My whole world fell apart when I found out that noble lady was all over you instead of me!”

I start laughing and say.” You were way too forward back then, girls didn’t like that very much.”

“I know, but I mean there were a few who fell for it.” He says.

“Yeah, surprisingly the uptight ones were the ones to fall for that. I was not expecting the maid to fall for that.” I say.

“You guys have a lot of stories together don’t you?” Rivers says.” Reminds me of my old journeys.”

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“Yeah, I bet with your wild personality now I bet you were the exact same when you were younger.” I say.

“You’d be surprised, I wasn’t always like this.” She says.” But I’d rather leave my past behind me, not too proud of myself when I was younger.”

“Oh come on that just makes me want to hear more about it.” Thu’ane says.

“In time I might tell you, but for now I wanna hear more from you two.” She says.

“I would also like to hear more about your adventures.” Claire says.” Especially about your awkward charm and that noble.”

I could hear the intensity in her voice and I give a death glare at Thu’ane, now he’s done it.” Really? Because I’d rather go back to singing.”

“No I think if I heard about this amazing charm of yours, I’d feel much better.” She says grabbing my by the collar.

I start to laugh nervously and then I hear a rustle in the bushes and I push her behind me.” What was that?” I say and we all look at the bush. Out pops a black dog that whines at me.” How could I forget Smokey?”

I embrace him and apologize to him. I told him my mind was on other things and he was just happy to see me.” I don’t deserve your everlasting love Smokey. Thank you for saving me though.” I whisper in his ear. He turns his head in confusion and I just pat his head.

“Is the kitty here?” He asks me. I nod and point to Beth who is in a conversation with Ryan. Smokey sprints over to her and barks at her. I found out she plays with him when I was too busy so now she’s his favorite. He licks her hand and goes off to find a stick.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook just yet.” Claire says.

“I figured. I’m going to kill you Thu’ane.” I say to him.” I just want to know why you’re so mad about it.”

“That’s none of your business.” She says.

I hear the headmaster laugh and I know somewhere she lost me.”This really takes me back.” She says.

Edward sighs and says,” You may be an excellent fighter but you will never understand women will you?”

I turn to him and say,” Please teach me. I need to know what I did and why she’s upset.”

“I’m afraid that really can’t be taught, but only through experience can it be learned.” He says.

I stop and let the party keep going for a bit. Even now I can’t find the answers I need, just more questions. Ryan taps my shoulder and I come back to reality.” I believe she might be jealous due to the fact that you’ve never used that awkward charm on her.”

I couldn’t say anything, I was just blown away by two things. He was listening to the conversation enough to know what was the issue and that him, of all people, would know what I did wrong. There’s more to him than I originally thought.

Smokey returns with a stick and drops it my feet. He turns his head to the side and I pick it up.” I really have my work cut out for me. At least it’ll be interesting.” I say to him. I throw the stick and run to join up with the party. They decided to sing again and this time I whistled the melody.