"Ugh… what… where…"

My head is stomping like a pegasus stampede, pressure hammering harshly against my earbuds. The entire world is just… spinning around me, as if the sky was a massive blue and white whirlpool. Stupid… dragon… when he told us that his dumb crystal would take us back, he didn't mention it would give us a hangover too. What is it with these stupid Gods never giving us the full story?

"Laslow!? Odin!? One of you idiots, help me up!" I call, brushing a hand up to fix my bangs. Drunkenly, I sit up. The world still feels like it's made of smoke, nothing seems solid. My vision's finally clearing though. Looking left and right, trying to make heads or tails of where we had landed. Too much green for Nohr… but these trees didn't seem Hoshidan either. Certainly didn't look anything like Valla.

"Subaki?" I call out, slowly pushing myself up to my feet. Standing is as hard as I expected. It was as if I was at sea on a rocking frigate, instead of lost in the middle of the woods. Staying stable is its own effort, but… slowly, things stop rocking. My head stops pounding. The world stops spinning.

"Caeldori!?" I called out again, pitch jumping up as the words hung in my throat.

'"Hello? Everyone!?"

I'm only greeted by the forest's silence, so I start to look over my person. Make sure that everything is where it's supposed to be. Armor seems intact, the leather doesn't appear to be broken at any of the seams. Still, I've got grass stains blotching all over the black dye. I can feel a few blades of grass still hanging in my hair, even as I try to pull them off. Rapier seems to be intact, same with the shield. But the metal's seen better days, red paint peeling off from all the blows it's deflected. Gods, I'm a mess. Mother would be beyond irate if she saw me look like this…

I quickly bring my hands up to my mouth, yelling as strongly as my lungs can manage. "This isn't FUNNY, you guys!" But still, nothing. The only reply I get is the sound of wildlife scuttering around in the treeline that surrounds me. This is… bad. Now I'm actually starting to worry.

Start to move forwards, craning my head up to see the the angle of the sun. The orange ball of fire's just perched up above me, glowering down upon the clearing like some sort of unwanted blemish. But it's getting lower and lower. My shadow trails out behind me like a Kitsune's tail, the dusk's chill is finally starting to register. Sundown's almost here, I need to hurry.

Picking up the pace, moving into a jog. The sun's retreat is broken off as the trees cover my advance through the woods. A few birds mock me from above as they soar past, goading me into a full run. Stupid, stupid, stupid. We should've known this would have happened. Anakos created the crystal for only three people. We ended up bringing nine back home! Why didn't we think of this? Why am I such an idiot!?

"Subaki!? Caeldori!? Inigo, Owain? SOMEONE!?"

And then I finally hear it over the distance. A voice, low and male. Gruff, incomprehensible. Not a voice I've heard before. But it's a voice, it's a sign of life. Another, new voice follows. Then another, then another, then… a cry of pain, sharp and curt, coming from a young woman.

This time, the birds couldn't even keep up with me.

At the far end I find a break in the foliage. A proper road, pressed down and cobbled. Wide, with the trees around it having been uprooted and cleared. A small wagon train, three carriages each pulled by a horse was waiting there. The center wagon was uncovered, barrels and bags poking out from the top. All stacked in a uniform manner, clearly having gone through some kind of inspection. The two that lead and followed are covered, I can't see what's inside.

At the front an older man clad in armor stands puffing a pipe. Never understood why people smoke, the stuff looks and smells so… ugh.

His back faced away from the traveling direction of the caravan, clearly observing some sort of event towards the center. At the rear wagon, two younger looking soldiers seem to be talking with each other, not paying much mind themselves.

Then near the center, I see it.

On the ground a red-haired girl lay on her side, groaning loudly. Her hands clutch around her stomach, form rolling slightly. The man above her seems apathetic, the shield on his shoulder and light garb matching that of a usual mercenary. Another figure stands behind him, a female mage. In her hands are two long Naginatas, ones that seemed alien in her grip. Heck she's basically analysing them like they're some kind of ancient relic, totally enamored by the foreign weapons.

"For the last time." The mercenary barks out, moving around the injured girl with a slow and deliberate pace. His boots seemingly drawing a semi-circle in the road around her as he marches. "What are your orders!? What's a Chon'sin scouting party doing this far inside Valmese borders!?"

Valm. Ok, good. It brought us back to where we left from. That means we're back in my world… but that doesn't explain where everyone else ended up. The others wouldn't have just abandoned us like this. Not by choice. And why does he think Caeldori's from Chon'sin? Their armor's similar but… it's still pretty distinct. I guess the real question is why does he care?

Ugh, this is making less and less sense...

"I already told you." I can hear her reply, words slurred as she rolled over and tried to push herself back up onto her feet. "I don't... know what... you're talking about!" Caeldori bellows back. Even I'm reeling away, last time I ever heard her use a tone like this was when she had given Saizo's son some kind of demerit.

"Do I look like an moron, girl?" The man continues, not stopping his walk as he spoke. Each word he emotes with a flamboyantly stupid hand-gesture. "That armor's clearly Chon'sin in origin, and you don't look Valmese! So again, what in the name of the Voice are you doing here!?"

At this point, Caeldori's brought herself up to a knee, seemingly struggling to take in breath as she just glared upwards at the man. He decides to respond by throwing another kick towards her, high up between her eyes. My blade's leaving it's scabbard before I even think, ready to lunge out of the trees and end this dastard.

Luckily, I don't have to

In a flash of movement, both of her hands shoot up and clamp around his boot. Before the mercenary can even react to what was going on, the warrior-woman jerks his foot to the side, causing him to lose balance and slam into the gravel. Without missing a beat, Caeldori lunges up and straddled the man, starting to throw a flurry of strikes at his visage.

He didn't even bind her hands? Wow, this guy really is a moron.

But this buys me a great opening

As the brawl gets more and more audible, both combatants kicking and screaming, the two soldiers from before get up and grabbed their spears. The wagon they had been guarding begins to rock ever-so slightly on it's own. The older man remains still, puffing his pipe as he observed the scuffle. The mage backs away completely, clearly not wanting to get involved in the slightest. All eyes seem completely focused on the flamboyant idiot getting the pounding of a lifetime.

Quickly I rush onto the road, approaching behind the armored old man. Right as I get behind the sod, I can see his head turn ever so slightly as my feet hit the cobblestone. Too little, too late. I bring my foot against his ankle as hard as I could, staggering him down onto a knee, then smashing my hand-guard against the back of his head. All at once he just crumples to the ground. The thud's drowned out by the fight, and the others are already preoccupied as is.

From there I curve around the opposite side, the area seemingly clear of soldiers. Judging from the smacks and screams, the fistfight has been replaced by a full-on wrestling match, the two new soldiers seemingly now trying to pry Caeldori off of her target with no avail. "Get her off! Get this crazy witch off of me!"

As I reach the rear wagon, it's still rumbling and shaking on its own. OK, someone is definitely in here, and they want out. So I clamber in to finally see who it is.

In the very back, my idiot has his hands bound together against a post. His hair was down, shrouding his face and making him look like a mangy mutt. A large gash was popping from above his right eye, dried red streaking down a cheek. At first, he was too focused on his bindings to even notice me come up to the rear. But as I enter, his eyes zip down and his legs rear back, ready to strike at whomever was closing in.

As he realizes it was me, his wild eyes soften, moving his feet back and giving me ample room to move forward and cut his binds. "Thank the Gods, Selena. You had us worried sick!" He exclaims. Once he's free he rubs at the ropeburn branding his wrists.

"Me? What about you two!? I woke up and everyone was gone! Do you realize how worried I was!?" I snap back, grabbing him by the shoulders and helping him upright. Not sure if I want to kiss him or tenderize him for making me panic like he did. But before I could decide, a metallic 'CLUNK' rung through the air, followed by a man screaming in pain.

Both of us freeze, look at each other in the eyes, and utter a single name simultaneously.

"Caeldori!" We cry, scampering out of the wagon and rushing around the corner towards the brawl.

Well, former brawl. The fight was basically over.

The mercenary lay on the ground, his head tilted to the side and his body motionless except for his chest ever slightly rising and lowering. One of the spearmen is splayed out against the side of the middle wagon, head dipped behind the boards and arms clinging to the side. The second is even worse, lying face-down on the road with a small stream of red pouring from an extremely crooked nose. His pain-filled moan filled the air, a now dented metal helmet resting next to his form.

All that's left was the singular mage, holding the larger of the two naginatas as if it was some kind of pike. The tip wavers, the woman looks horrified as Caeldori's scuffed up form marched forwards. The girl brings her hands together, grinning rather evilly as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

"She reminds me of you when she's upset." Subaki observes with a nervous laugh, pulling a band from his belt and doing his hair back up into it's usual style. I couldn't help but smirk as I watched the fight reach it's terminus.

"She got it from the better half of the family." I reply, waiting for the mage to make a move.

As Caeldori moved up, the mage made a clumsy forward thrust with the weapon. Over-extending herself and losing her footing, all the while over-choreographing the strike. All it takes is for Caeldori to sidestep the blade, grabbing it at the top of the shaft and ripping it out of her grasp. She then spun around in a sharp turn, swinging the blunt end of the weapon about and smashing it harshly against her combatant's temple. With that one strike, the woman stumbles back and fell to the ground, her mage hat flying off unceremoniously and fluttering down next to her.

"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about!" Caeldori roared with finality, spinning the polearm around and holding it at her side. With a sigh, the burned out teenager just collapses down onto the roadway, clearly exhausted from having dealt with the guards.

"Now, the get front wagon ready. I'll help her inside." I say simply, not waiting for my companion to respond before rushing over to lift the depleted woman up.

"So let me get this straight." I begin, running a cloth over the blade of my rapier as we continued into the horizon. We've been riding away for well over an hour, no one has tried to follow us yet. Subaki handles the reigns of the horses as I sit next to him, all the while Caeldori remains passed out in the rear. "We end up getting sent to that field, right?"

He nods, giving the left horse a bit of a tug to have us start turning left. He's been silent this entire time, and it's started to just irritate me. He always tries to act so poised and calm. Even after we were married, he only breaks his perfect facade rarely.

"No one else was with us. Laslow, Odin, neither of their families?"

He shakes his head this time. "No, only us three. I came to first, then Caeldori. I told her to wait with you, so I could get a bearing on our surroundings"

"But instead you ran into those soldiers and got jumped. They were yelling something about Chon'sin to you too?"

Once again, the red-haired man nods slowly. His eyes seemed rather hard, focused on the road ahead of him. He doesn't look at me, he doesn't turn around to peer into the wagon behind us. He doesn't move an inch. He just keeps staring forwards, like a statue.

"So either Caeldori went looking for you-" I continue, keeping my gaze level at the side of his face as we rode on. "-or she followed them and was caught herself."

Finally he sighs, his shoulders drooping simultaneously. "Selena, I know you're upset-"

"I'm upset? I'm upset?" I start, exaspirated at the understatement. "I'm not upset Subaki."

Gritting my teeth and sheathing my sword back onto my hip, before shooting my hand up and jabbing him in the shoulder. "I'm livid! Of course Caeldori would have followed you! You should've stayed with us until I woke up!"

No reaction to the strike, instead just continuing to drive the horses onwards. "I know, I k-" He tries to answer, before I cut him off once more.

"Oh, you know? So why did you do it?"

"Because I thought the others might still be nearby!" He exclaims, clearly trying to defend his actions. "How was I supposed to know there was a squadron of soldiers who would accuse me of being an enemy spy!?"

"Even then, you could have waited for all of us to go together! Not rush off and leave us behind!" I shoot back. He's still looking at the road instead of me, and it's only making me even more angry. My hand grabs his shoulder and twists him so he's facing me. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

My Husband's normally calm and poised visage is now facing me with annoyance and frustration. "You were unconcious for almost an hour! I did what I thought was best!"

"How was that for the best!?" I lob back, fuming.

This is going nowhere, he's too damn stubborn to admit he made a mistake. For once, just once, I wish he would act the same why he did when we first started seeing each other. "I'm not some damsel in distress, Subaki! I can handle myself in a fight!"

The man's face curled into a frown, his right hand whipping up to jab a finger at me. But once again, right before he could speak his mind, the wagon behind us rumbles. A long, loud snort erupts from the flaps, reminding us both of the precious cargo we were hauling.

Shooting one last glare to each other, we both resign ourselves back to our previous activities.

This isn't over though. Not by a long shot.