A/N: I blame this entirely on an overactive imagination. Also, this has almost no correlation to the sequel I've typed (yes, you read that right. A sequel. Also blamed on an overactive imagination.), but it was a fun way to end it, so there you go. Enjoy.

(Legault's POV)

I leaned against Hyperion's foreleg, enjoying the warm morning sun that was shining on my face. There was just something about the morning that I connected to.

Thankfully, the heat wave we'd been suffering through for the past three days had dissipated and the warmth was now merely comfortable rather than stifling. Regardless, I only spared a moment's thought to the weather, being more concerned about a totally unrelated subject.

From where I stood, I could see the entrance to Verian's tent. He hadn't come out of it for three days, not since the fight with Karel. The swordsman himself had gone in yesterday just before lunch, but I knew he hadn't returned to his tent and nobody else had seen him after that. So, being the nosy guy I was, I decided to see if what I had told Karel had had any effect.

Though, I was pretty certain of the answer to that question already, seeing as I had been watching since just after dawn with no luck. It was now mid-morning.

Finally, some movement at the entrance to the tent caught my eye and I focused again, unconsciously holding my breath in anticipation.

I let it out the next second in disappointment as Karel emerged alone, with no evidence of what had gone on within the tent during the night. He quickly disappeared behind some other tents, presumably heading back to his own, and I continued to watch for Verian.

Now there was a puzzle. Our tactician was a veritable cornucopia of enigmatic emotions and thoughts. Not to mention the fact that he was an ex-assassin like myself.

When I had first joined up with this smorgasbord of an army, the thought that I might know the tactician as someone from the Black Fang had never occurred to me. The young man I had known only as Shadow and the tactician I knew as Verian were so different from each other, there had been no correlation in my mind. Until the fight.

I had seen the old Shadow in that fight, when he moved and used his blades. That was something that he had been unable to let go of, despite all the other changes he had made in his life. But the man who had ended the fight had been Verian, not as a tactician, but as himself, as the man he had become after leaving the Black Fang.

I looked at him now with different eyes, knowing who he had been and who he was now and wondering if Shadow had ever truly died.

"You seem to be thinking quite a bit, Hurricane." Startled out of my thoughts, I spun around to find myself looking into Verian's smiling face. He was standing not five feet from where I had been leaning on Hyperion, the wyvern continuing to doze peacefully. Trying to convince my racing heart that cardiac arrest would not be appreciated, I threw a casual grin back at the other ex-assassin.

"Mornings just seem like good times to think." I replied, forcing myself to calm down as years of training screamed at me from the back of my brain. Just because Verian had his blades with him did not mean that he wanted to fight.

The tactician nodded. "I think so, too. What were you thinking of, hm?" Inwardly, I cursed his perceptiveness, wondering if it was an inherent trait of tacticians or if it was just how he was. Outwardly, I simply continued to grin.

"Oh, not much. Just appreciating how the heat wave has passed and the weather has become much more agreeable." I said flippantly, willing him to believe the lie. The fates must not have been feeling too compliant, though, since Verian sidled closer, a look of vague amusement on his face.

"Really? 'Cause there's a clear line of sight from where you're standing to my tent and I'd be willing to bet you've been out here for a while, watching to see if anything's changed." He had stopped about two feet away and my skin crawled with the need to move away. I clamped down on the urge firmly, unwilling to show any weakness.

"Well…" There really wasn't anything I could say to that without condemning myself.

Verian nodded, almost to himself. "I thought so." He seemed to think about something for a moment, then come to a conclusion. "I told Karel I'd meet him back at that stand of pine trees we'd passed on our way here. There are plenty of bushes around, but it's pretty secluded. I'll be leaving Lyn in charge. Would that be fine?"

A reply didn't seem necessary, but I nodded anyway, already plotting for later. He just smiled and walked off, humming a tune softly as he went. Looking after him, I couldn't help but note that without the robes, he looked a lot like Raven with long hair, at least from behind. I took a moment to clear my head of all subsequent thoughts, including the one that had been lurking in my brain since that unfortunate accident at the hot springs a few weeks ago.

The other man disappeared around some tents—the same ones Karel had, I noticed—and I headed off to prepare for my own excursion. After all, I still wanted an answer to that question.

Later, I leaned back against the trunk of one of the pine trees with a satisfied smirk on my face. A job well done was always well rewarded, after all.

A/N: Like I said, pretty random stuff. I did say that, right? Anyway, I'll leave it to your imagination as to what Ver and Karel could possibly be doing to make Legault smirk like that. ...Yeah...

I'll be posting the sequel pretty soon, too. It'll be Legault/Heath centric, 'cause I just love them like that. Yup. I had fun, too. See you later!

Haliaetus