The ride to the city of Aldahab was... awkward, to say the least. Mariya was always at least ten paces ahead of the boys. Furthermore, whenever one of them tried to get closer, she would just urge her camel to go faster, keeping the two parties at a sort of strange equilibrium. It also didn't help that Connor was a whining bitch half the time.

"Can't we try shouting at her?" He would say.

"You've tried; she ignored you," Would come the inevitable reply from an obviously tired Malkov.

"Let's do it one last time, to be sure?" Which would almost certainly provoke the usage of puppy-dog eyes.

"You've been parroting the same phrase five times today! Shut up!" Only to be shot down once again by his heartless(logical) teammate.

"Then... what do we do?" He looked worriedly at the profile of Mariya.

In response, all Malkov could do was sigh and try to soothe the impatient Connor, "Look, we have a whole journey ahead of us, and until the death of Aite, she won't be able to run away; be a bit patient, okay?"

"..." He pouted, clearly unsatisfied.

"Okay?" He repeated, this time a bit more sterner.

Eventually, Connor slowly nodded, "Okay..."

Malkov looked at his friend exasperatedly. Ever since the incident, Connor had been a lot more outgoing, childish, and frankly friendly. Sure, he still kept a certain air of unapproachability when interacting with strangers, but that can be remedied with time.

'This probably would've been him the whole time had his parent not died...' He had come to this conclusion fairly early, and it stung. The present Connor was an absolute joy to be with, a far cry from the depressed, revenge-mongering maniac from before, and he wanted to keep it that way... even after this whole fiasco.

So he'd done it: when Connor slept, and it was Mariya's turn to keep watch, he talked to her. It hadn't been easy. Still, she was willing to listen at the very least.

"What?" She bluntly asked when she noticed him getting out of the tent.

"Help me," She looked ambivalent when he spoke; she surely knew where he was going with this, and she didn't like it, not one bit. But... on account of him being her only friend after the last one decided to be a dick, she craned her head towards him to show she was paying attention.

"It's about Connor," Mariya tsked; she knew it: it really was about that bastard.

Maybe she wasn't good at hiding her emotions, or he was just particularly good at deciphering faces, it didn't really matter, since he began to plead before she could even say anything, "Please just give me the benefit of the doubt,"

Stolen novel; please report.

"...Fine," Now her attention was fully on him, which she showed by completely facing him, temporarily ignoring her lookout duties.

"I know you're mad—"

"Ya fuckin' think?"

He winced. But chose to press on despite her obvious hostility; some things had to be addressed, especially when he knew the situation wasn't irreconcilable, "...And you probably hate his guts,"

"Again, ya fuckin' think?" He sighed.

"Look, give him a chance, will you?" Again, he pleaded.

"No."

"Plea—"

"NO." She glared at him, "And that is final,"

Malkov was struck speechless. Though he hastily recovered and began to argue, "Wha— Have you seen him?!"

She raised an eyebrow, beckoning him to continue.

"Look at how he is now! And look at when he was before! I fucking dare you to tell me he hasn't changed," He growled. It seemed he couldn't take a passive approach to this.

"..." Her stoic mask finally began to crack. Indeed, she noticed the changes, and although she was all for it, Mariya still couldn't it in herself to forgive him, "I admit he improved, but that's not why I'm angry,"

"What is it, then? Why can't you give him another chance?"

"It's just— I just..." She struggled to speak, tears threatening to fall, "I-I-I-I-I just... w-wish he'd think about us for a second, y'know? Like the king said, *sniffle* s-since I've met him back at Kurelain, he's never c-c-cared!"

The tears finally began to fall, cascading violently down her cheeks before falling onto the cold desert sand, "And now, h-h-he suddenly starts to change? I can't bring myself to trust him! Y-Yeah, maybe he's really changed, and I'd love to go back to being friends, but... I just don't wanna be hurt again..."

Malkov recoiled; he didn't expect her to open up like this... to allow herself the vulnerability that came with talking about messy feelings... It didn't take long before he knew what he had to do, and without even a moment to reaffirm the notion in his own head, he did it.

"!!!" Her breath softly hitched, he... he...

"Don't be afraid," He hugged her with ferocity, like a mother bear hugging her cubs: one hand on her waist and another on her back, gently rubbing her as if she was a child to be consoled...

The two stayed like this for minutes, content to just be in each other's embrace. Eventually, Malkov broke the comfortable silence that'd been present.

"I promise you," He began, letting her go to look at her squarely in the eye, "He'll never hurt you again,"

"Really?"

"Really," He nodded solemnly, "Hell, I'll be the first in line to kick his ass if he does! And nothing's gonna stop me,"

The two chuckled at his little declaration, which was quickly segued into another subject.

"On the topic of kicking his ass, how good are you with the thing Sephrates gave you?" Mariya looked curiously at Malkov's sword.

In response, he only smiled and said, "We're almost at Aldahab; you can see me in action then~!"

"Hmph! I don't need to know anyway!" In a huff, she ignored him and went back to her job.

He smirked at her immature reaction, but he didn't call it out and just went back to the tent he shared with Connor.

'Hum... let's sleep when I— hm?' He was going to sleep. However, he suddenly felt something damp touch his hand. Squinting his eyes to focus on the source of that wetness, he was in for a surprise:

There, right next to Connor's sleeping face, was a small puddle of water...

It didn't take a genius to know where it came from, and his face lit up before finally settling on a more gentle expression, 'Ah... I guess there really is nothing for her to fear after all...' With that thought in mind, he got into his sleeping bag and promptly fell asleep...