One of the little side stories I wrote before going into the real thing.

One thing to know beforehand is that the JP version of Nowi's account doesn't say what she did during her captivity, just that she'd been auctioned a few times. This is how that gets translated in my head.

'I have someone with me.'

This was a thought that Nowi had recently learned to cherish with all of her being. It was something that would fill her heart with intensely ticklish flutters and give her a desire to hug something and jump up and down in joy, that something of course being Robin. (If she couldn't, then she had to suffice with a pillow.) Never had she felt this fulfilled and yet this longing at the same time. Each morning, as she opened her eyes, the knowledge of their arrangement would fill her with bubbly feelings whose bubbles, each and every one of them, seemed to burst into gushing euphoria. She then would immediately long for Robin, to see his sweet, innocent sleeping visage. To coo sweet morning calls into his ear and see his eyelids flutter open into the warmest welcoming smile. Or, vice versa for when Robin would come to her to tickle her awake in every sensory way possible. His voice tickled her ears, his smell tickled her nose, his hands tickled her skin as it brushed across Nowi's forehead, and the very sight, the very presence of him tickled her heart. This morning too, Nowi was eased awake by him, and she desperately feigned drowsiness as an excuse to cling on to Robin as long as she could. Robin chuckled during the whole ordeal, never rushing her. They spent the morning together after that, breaking fast and climbing a tree to bask in the crisp morning sunshine and listen to the songbirds while leaning into each other until it was time to get to their respective chores in the camp.

"Wow, you seem awfully happy."

Lissa commented when she noticed Nowi's expression. It indeed was a happy visage, almost to the point of drooling. The very act of remembering their morning together was enough to make Nowi fall into a trance.

"Oh! It-it kind of shows doesn't it?"

Nowi said, organizing herself briskly.

"'Kind of' doesn't cut it, sis. You were about to drool into that dough!"

Lissa giggled. She then sat next to Nowi who had been kneading a dough for a dinner roll. Now was a lazy afternoon, and today was Nowi's turn to help with the kitchen chores. Lissa grabbed one herself and asked.

"So! What's the good news? Did you get confessed to or something?"

Immediately, Nowi's lips curled into a wide smile again as her ears turned red, quite noticeable given her long ears. She also began to shake, involuntarily squeezing the dough until it started oozing through her fingers as she clenched her eyes shut. She swore she would have bellowed out in joy if others weren't in her company.

"Umm...talk about being obvious…Anyways! That's amazing! Congratulations! I'm so glad for you two."

Lissa said as she playfully poked Nowi's side. Nowi giggled and attempted to stop Lissa when she noticed something.

"Huh? You're not asking who it was?"

Nowi asked, suddenly curious. To this, Lissa raised her eyebrow and smirked.

"You guys weren't exactly discreet about it...Robin's been fawning over you in like forever and you've been licking him like an excited puppy every time you turned into a dragon. The former, you might have been able to hide but the latter...Well you're a tad too big to hide things like that. Besides, you guys are stuck together all the time ever since your first meetings."

Lissa explained. Nowi became flustered at the thought.

"Gosh! Um, is it just you or was it THAT obvious?"

"Even the guys noticed so you could say it was THAT obvious. But what's there to hide? It's such a good thing!"

"We-well it is but...it's kind of embarrassing to think everyone noticed…"

Nowi said as she put her palms on her burning cheeks.

"Aw come on, you're acting like this is your first time being in a relationship. You know it's nothing to be embarrassed with."

Lissa continued. Nowi however, made a blank expression and tilted her head.

"This isn't not my first?"

Lissa raised a questioning eyebrow to this reaction. She stared into Nowi's eyes also full of questions and then widened her eyes in surprise.

"Wait...you're not telling me...this is...this is your first time…?"

Nowi nodded.

"It is!"

"Wow! Um. Sorry, I thought, given your age and all that…"

Nowi giggled to this.

"I haven't exactly been out here a long time. See, I lived in a secret manakete village for a looooong time and there really weren't anyone around my age group and my elders., well...they like to sleep. A LOT. So not much social interaction going on there...I mostly had to keep myself entertained by myself in the forests after I ended up reading everything I had to read, aside from my occasional visits to nearby villages for bartering. It's been...maybe like a few months since I've stepped out here. Definitely my first time being outside for so long too. Lots of firsts!"

Lissa's expression darkened.

"Oh...That...That must have been so hard for you...being...being made to do things like that against your will to those scums..."

Nowi tilted her head again, as she thought there wasn't anything to be disheartened with within her explanation.

"Huh? What things?"

Lissa's visage rapidly turned red.

"Th-Things that bad people make girls do! Like...like getting naked and...and…"

Nowi's visage also rapidly turned crimson in surprise as well.

"N-NAKED?!"

She gasped. Lissa was in total confusion as was Nowi.

"Sh-Shhh! People are going to hear!"

"R,right."

Nowi put a hand on her chest to calm herself, taking a few breaths. Of course, Nowi by now realized what Lissa was referring to, a discussion that had once burst out of nowhere before while Robin had come down with the case of worry-sickness as to what Nowi had gone through during the captivity, leaving them in silent embarrassment for days. To Robin's great relief, Nowi's experience with such tragic ordeal was as blank as her reaction to the topic, and Nowi meant to keep it that way no matter what it took. She recounted her experience during her brief captivity and organized them in her mind, then leaned into Lissa's ear and spoke again in a whispering tone.

"So um. Robin and I went through this discussion before so he knows, but no nakedness involved! No sir! Not at all! I...I get what you mean. You're talking about um..involuntary sexual...stuffs right? W-Well I don't think they were interested in doing things like that to me because see, I was caged up and no one even touched me or talked to me the whole time...They didn't let me out even during auctions! Someone made it clear every time that I was not to be touched while they were auctioning me off because the Grimleal wanted me in a perfect state. Like I was worth much more to them with no stains or something…?"

She trailed off. The memories of those times seemed quite distant now, and even more so rather uneventful, so she had to pause now and then to refresh her memories..

"The people that bought me were all similar people who were carrying me closer and closer to the desert where I ended up and met you guys. Now that I think about it, I think they were like outlaw transporters acting as transport routes to the Grimleals for whatever evil they're up to….So even the guards stationed around my cage were really there to 'guard me.'"

"I was getting really cramped and tired from being stuck in a cage for so many days in warehouses with such badly cooked meals, but then gramps kind of killed them off in a scary way one morning so I took off in confusion and the rest of the story...you kind of know."

Lissa, after a while taking this all in, took a deep breath and sighed in relief. She then reached out and wove her arms around Nowi's shoulders.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you...I feared...I feared all this time that your womanhood had been irrevocably scarred…"

Nowi, although initially surprised at the gesture, returned the pressure in appreciation. This was a very pleasant surprise for Nowi; Nowi and Lissa got along along quite well given their fondness for frolickery and the like, but now that she came to think about it, they never really got to sit down and share their stories like this. On top of that, Lissa had been worried so much for her sake! Nowi remembered that Lissa was the first person who showed concern for Nowi's tale of her plight; She must have decided to put the discussion to rest in consideration of Nowi's state of mind at the time.

"Yeah...I still shudder when I think about what could have happened to me too. I'd never be myself again...But hey, as you see, I'm quite myself! You'd instantly know if there's something wrong with me. ...But thanks, Lissa...You really worried for me ever since our first meeting, didn't you?"

"Of course I did! No one deserves to go through something like that...Not my friend, least of all!"

"Lissa…"

Nowi brushed her friend's hair fondly and rested her head on top of Lissa's, deeply appreciating this gesture of friendship.

"Right! Now that that's clear...huh?"

After a while. Lissa looked up with a refreshed smile and made a very confused expression upon beholding Nowi's smiling visage, soon bursting into laughter.

"Nowi! Your face! Ahaha!"

"Huh?"

Nowi put her hand on her cheeks and realized that she had been smothering flour all over her cheeks when she cupped her hands to whisper to Lissa.

"Oh! Oops!"

"Y-You look like you grew a pair of white mustaches, Ahahaha!"

Lissa fell on her back on the bench this time, jerking with laughter.

"Heehee! You look like you grew old too! You've got flour all over your hair!"

Nowi shot back in gamesome spirit. Indeed, Lissa's hair had turned shimmery, powdery white.

"So have you! I guess you look more your age now!"

"Oh that's how it is? You look like a granny with silvery hair too! Haha!"

They continued to exchange friendly jabs and laughter for a good while until an appalled Maribelle came to drag them away to the ladies' bathhouse.

Of course, they did not hesitate to smother Maribelle in flour as well, much to her unexpected enjoyment. They play-fought until they almost turned white as ghosts and sent many a Shepherds into bemused shock as they made their way to their destination.

"So that's what happened!"

Nowi finished explaining, beaming with the fun she had during the day. As her clothings were being laundered, she was wearing one of Robin's shirts he had lent her when the company had visited Regna Ferox, where Nowi shivered greatly in the freezing weather and almost experienced hypothermia. She swore to herself never to go even near those regions; she detested the cold. Robin could no longer watch her suffering and lent her his own shirt and kept her in the folds of his cloak during the stay. Nowi found the shirt to be strangely well fitting for herself and quite enjoyed wearing it ever since then.

Robin was thoroughly amused with her tale of the day. It was simply amazing how Nowi always managed to make a given day so eventful within a few hours.

"So that's how we got those funny looking dinner rolls, huh? Mine was the best looking; It looked like...like someone tried to squeeze them in their palm very hard and the dough just oozed out between their fingers."

"Oh!"

Nowi exclaimed; That one was the one she was unconsciously squeezing in giddy embarrassment when she had been asked if she'd been confessed to. Also out of embarrassment, Nowi deftly kept those details secret from her recount. Was it really a coincidence that it ended up on Robin's plate? If it was, it was quite the sweet coincidence indeed.

"So YOU got that one. Wow! That's...that's amazing."

"It tasted amazing too. Unlike traditional dinner rolls, its...arms? branches? were crispy so it had added texture to it. I'd eat something like that again any time."

"Y-You would? Well I guess I should continue making yours like that from now on!...Oops."

Nowi burst out in excitement, but soon realized that she had disclosed her secret herself.

"Ah, so you're the one who made that? I had an inkling of a notion but hah! No wonder it tasted so good. It was definitely a cut above all the others, and even more so now that I know you made it."

Robin said with a warm, content smile and fondly gazed into Nowi's eyes.

Nowi swore her heart simply melted down. She dove into Robin's chest and pushed her cheek against its firm warmth.

"Thanks...That was really sweet of you."

She whispered with a warm, content smile and sheepishly avoided Robin's gaze, her visage turning pink.

Robin swore his heart simply melted down. He froze as Nowi dug into his chest again and continued rubbing her soft, warm cheek against the firm warmth of his chest.

"N-no problem!"

He managed to croak. His body tensed up even as he tried to return the tenderness of Nowi's gesture, making him feel as if his body had suddenly turned wooden.

'Oh, Oh, Gods. I...I don't know whether I should ask Naga to save me or keep things this way as long as possible,'

Robin thought as his heart was threatening to explode.

It became apparent later on that Naga had decided to keep things that way for a while, much to Robin's perplexed delight.