Much to my relief, the night is as uneventful as it gets. It's just six-ish straight hours of me sitting in one place, with a certain someone sleeping like a baby with her head resting on my lap.

Somewhere around the sixth hour or so, the other caravan people start to wake up and get packed up for the second leg of our trip. A couple of these folks give me a quiet wave of thanks for keeping guard for the night, which I'd be lying if I tried to claim that I didn't appreciate.

And right as the dark blue of the night sky begins to lighten into its pre-dawn coloration, it seems that my role as a pillow is finally coming to an end.

"Mmmm..."

Letting out a cute little groan, Yahanaseara stirs from her face-up position on my lap and rolls over to her side so that she's facing me.

Then she clumsily reaches her arms around me.

"!!!"

And pulls in tight so that her face is buried into my freaking stomach.

It goes without saying that my internal panic is real and palpable, but I'm also currently in the middle of a field of strangers and indulging my urge to freak the hell out would only serve to worsen the embarrassment and probably give me an aneurysm or something.

So instead I just freeze up until her grip finally relaxes.

"Mine..." Yahanaseara mumbles to herself as she finally rolls back to being face-up.

And then her long eyelashes flutter open.

"!?!?!?!?!?"

A numbing tingle shoots through my thighs, forcibly freezing me in place as the Elemental Spirit lying on my lap does the same.

"Er-" Yahanaseara stammers. "I- I did not mean to-"

"It's fine, I get it," I sigh. "Now if you wouldn't mind..."

"Ah- of course!"

She quickly pushes herself upright, freeing me of both her pleasant warmth and whatever the hell she just did to stop me from moving...

...dammit, my legs are still half-asleep.

But at least her panicking was subdued enough to not cause a scene... aside from a few knowing nods from the caravan guys who decided to help keep watch anyways, nobody even so much as glances our way.

And to keep it that way, I stay down here on the ground until I'm sure that my legs won't give out.

"...nngh..."

smack smack smack

stomp stomp stomp

My father says that limbs going to sleep is caused by pinched nerves, but Uncle Niklaus always insisted that it was restricted bloodflow that was the real culprit...

...but regardless of what actually causes it, remedies of a percussive nature seem to be effective in reversing its effects.

"Sorry..." Yahanaseara mumbles while watching me punch the feeling back into my legs. "I should have realized that my actions would lead to-"

"Don't-"

smack

"-worry about-"

stomp

"-it."

shake shake shake

shake shake shake

...okay, it's mostly better.

"I could've always pushed you off if you were really bothering me," I say while giving my entire body a nice long stretch.

"But even so..."

She lowers her head in penitence.

"I sti-"

And then freezes mid-bow.

"Wh... what in the..."

Slowly, she brings her hands to her face. And then pats around it. And then spreads said patting across the entire vertical circumference of her head.

I can feel my face warping into a shit-eating grin, and I make no efforts to stop it.

"Brigitte, why-"

Because the expression she's making right now is just too perfect.

"Need a mirror?" I ask in the most casually asshole way I can.

And the glare she shoots my way sends a chill down my spine.

my dear, you're especially adorable when you're angry~

"I cannot believe this..."

Grumbling under her breath, she reaches into the upper portion of her robes and produces a... is that a pocket mirror?

Stolen story; please report.

It's made of two rounded rectangular pieces that form an outer shell, with an exterior made at least partially of some kind of metal, I think... it's got some kind of design on it but she's standing too far away for my garbage vision to be able to make out.

As she flips it open and uses it to get a proper look at herself, her frown deepens.

Which only makes my smile grow.

"Brigitte."

The coldest tone that she's taken in the short time I've known her.

"Yes?"

The warmest tone that I've ever used while speaking to her.

"What in the world possessed you to do this to my hair?"

She points to her head, which is, well...

dammit it's taking everything I've got to keep from laughing my ass off right now

"I got bored," I shrug.

"Bored?" She repeats, shooting me another glare that makes me feel kinda weird.

"Well I had to stay up all night..." I say as casually as I can, "and a certain someone decided to use me as a pillow so it's not like I could pace around like I'd usually do..."

"......"

"...and with a great big pile of fluffy hair right there in front of me, my instincts as a big sister kicked in."

"What does this have to do with being a big sister?"

Her mood seems to have lowered in intensity from "angry" to just "annoyed."

Still cute, but not quite as much so.

"Well I haven't braided any hair since I left home," I smile. "It's nice and relaxing, you know?"

"It is 'relaxing' to take my hair and braid it around my entire head as if it was some kind of helmet?"

pfft

"...stop laughing."

dammit the way she's pouting at me right now-

"Ju- hahaha just think of it as pay- bwahahaha payback for sneaking into my bed the other day- snrk"

oh man trying not to laugh too hard is making my stomach hurt so bad

"Fine, I understand," Yahanaseara grumbles through gritted teeth. "I will do my best not to impose upon your personal space in the future, so I would appreciate it if you would in turn refrain from using my hair as a plaything."

Ah, so her hair is a sore point.

That just makes me want to do this again sometime.

"But didn't you say that there weren't any boundaries between us?"

"Geh-"

Her eyes widen.

"Th- that is true..."

Pouting all the while, she takes a few moments frantically working to undo the braids that I looped around her chin like a helmet's straps.

"...but even so, I would really appreciate it if you would refrain from doing strange things with my hair."

"I'll take that under consideration," I reply.

"Brigitte, please."

"Hey, what if I'm struck with another flash of artistic inspiration?"

And then I walk over to her and assist her in undoing my overnight masterpiece. Since my work was so thorough, it takes a little while to finally get everything undone.

After the final braid's undone, Yahanaseara runs her hands through her hair a couple of times to make sure that there aren't any leftover knots in her mane of crackling floof, gives it a couple of shakes...

...and just like that, her lovely hair returns to its normal state of aesthetically-pleasing messiness.

I'm just a little bit jealous. Just a little bit.

"Hm."

I look down at the double-layered blankets that are still spread on the ground, then examine my clothes.

While I'm not actually dirty, I do have that unpleasant grimy feeling that one tends to get after a night's sleep...

...despite the fact that I didn't sleep...

"...meh."

Since why not, I walk over to the still-adorably annoyed Yahanaseara and place a hand on her shoulder.

I long for that exquisite absence

For the space between spaces

For the eradication of the incomplete

Devoid of the debris of existence

There is only that which is whole

A perfect state of perfection

Exterior Erasure.

After the invocation of my little spell, I remove my arm and give my clothes a quick brush-down.

"...yeah, that's better," I nod to myself.

"Er-" Yahanaseara looks down at her hands. "What did you just do? I feel... nice?"

"Exterior Erasure, it gets rid of all particulate matter on your skin and clothes." I reply. "Since it's not like we can bathe out here in the middle of nowhere, I figured that you might appreciate not having to feel gross for the rest of the day."

"...hm."

She looks inside her robe, then runs her hands through her hair again and slides back her sleeves.

"Yes, this is nice."

Her frowns and pouts are cute and all, but I still think I like her smile the best.

"Thank you, Brigitte."

"No problem," I reply.

With the issue of morning hygiene out of the way, I proceed to throw the night's blankets and cushions back into Camping Bag #1 and swap that out for Travel Bag #3, grabbing something to for us to eat on the road before replacing that one with Empty Bag #1.

I have no idea how I'd manage without my luggage system, I swear to God.

"Alright..."

Giving my staff a little twirl, I motion for Yahanaseara to follow me back to the cart that we rode out here.

Unsurprisingly, the driver is right there waiting for us.

"Good morning!" He cheerfully calls out.

"Good morning," I return the greeting.

"The guys said that you pulled watch for the entire night all by yourself?"

"Yeah," I shrug.

"Well I appreciate your hard work," he replies. "That couldn't have been fun."

"Eh, I'm used to it."

"I guess you'd have to be in order to make it to the top of the Silver-rank!"

With another friendly laugh, the driver whose name I'm starting to feel guilty about not asking about presents our makeshift seating area for the second time.

"Hop in whenever you're ready," he says. "We'll probably be leaving within the next ten minutes or so, and then we ought to make it to Hovora by late afternoon."

"Thanks."

After another quick bagswap to bring out the Cushions of Infinite Comfort, the two of us take our seats and wait for the start of the second leg of this little journey.

"..."

I glance over at Yahanaseara, who's presently gazing off into the distance.

"...are you still mad at me?" I ask.

"Hm?"

She glances right back at me.

"No, what makes you think that?"

"Well you're being awfully quiet..."

"I was simply deep in thought," she replies. "About how my kind savior has quite the mischievous side to her."

"Er-"

Shit, now I actually feel guilty.

"Sorry to disappoint..."

"I am not disappointed," she replies. "It is just that you are the first person who knows what I actually am to ever treat me with such... irreverence."

"Eheh..."

Maybe I went a bit too far last night after all.

"The people of my village... and even my brother... they all treated me with a sense of fear and awe," she says. "Yet I sense none of that from you at all."

"What's there to fear?" I shrug.

From my perspective, she's just another adorable girl who thinks way too highly of me.

Not that I'd ever say that out loud.

"Just another sign that things really have changed..." Yahanaseara mumbles to herself.

And then she turns to me, flashing those glittering emeralds that she calls eyes.

"You can go to sleep if you would like," she says to me in a decidedly gentler tone than before. "I know that you are tired."

"Eh..." I shrug. "I'm still good for the rest of the trip."

"But then you are liable to waste time oversleeping once we make it to whatever lodgings you had planned for us to take at our destination."

"......"

Shit.

"Good point," I groan.

"There is no need to worry about keeping watch while we are in transit," she says, pumping her tiny little fist in a guts pose. "Should any danger come our way, I shall detect it long before it becomes an actual problem."

"..."

A thought crosses my mind.

"This isn't a ploy to convince me to fall asleep on your lap so you can do weird shit to my hair, is it?"

"Eh!?"

The same look as when one of my sisters gets caught messing around in my room.

"I- I would not..." she mumbles.

"Heh."

I give her floof a little fluff and then lean against the crates to my left.

Since she's sitting to my right.

"I guess I'll take you up on that offer, though," I say, letting out a loooong yawn.

And then I promptly pass the hell out.

............

.........

......

...

I'm jolted awake a splitsecond before a tiny hand squeezes around mine.

"Brig-"

"I feel it too."

Returning her squeeze with one hand, I grip my staff with the other.

And a familiar fire swells within my chest.

One that my mother stoked within me a long, long time ago.