For Colloyd Week, Day 2: Traveling.

She would only finally get to travel through the world at sixteen, they had said. The journey would be dangerous, continually test her endurance, be full of hardship and rife with danger. And at the end of it all, she would give herself away, so that those same roads she walked on would be safe for other, future travelers.

Colette had been distracted, eyes drawn to the night skies, the two moons hanging overhead. It seemed there were more stars than before. She had counted so many back then, but the expanse was filled with far away lights, some so dim they could barely be seen, while others shined and pulsed within the black. A sound to her right caught her attention, bringing her back to the earth. "Lloyd? Are you sure you don't need…"

"Y-yeah! I got it, don't worry!" Lloyd was carrying a wooden crate, slowly edging toward an open maw of a cavern. The Fooji Mountains were so out of the way of most towns, and barely made a dent in a few maps, despite its size. Its jagged ridges made it difficult for most people to climb, and here at the lower expanse of it, it was still precarious enough, the cliffs steep, and the distance long. Lloyd had carefully parked his Rheiard to the side, amidst a grove of thin, scraggly trees so that it wouldn't just tip over.

But Colette had only stood on these precarious edges, silent as she watched the skies. She knew she needed to start paying attention better.

"I can carry that though." She rushed over to Lloyd, deeper into the cavern within the mountain, the stars soon shut out, the remembered warnings from before fading away as she focused on Lloyd's labored breathing. "I'm still not tired from before."

"Well… you already carried the rest of them down! I should manage like one…" Though he wasn't facing her, she could hear the pout in his voice, and it couldn't stop her from smiling. Following him in, she saw the flicker of the lantern within the dark, its flame still wavering brightly.

"But I really didn't mind! I did say I would come to help you, anyway."

"Yeah.." Lloyd conceded, but it didn't make him put down the crate. Instead, he hefted it higher into his arms, high enough to nearly cover his face, and thus his vision. Luckily, the way through was already cleared earlier of rocks and debris that would have been in the way.

This deep inside, it was impossible to hear the night breeze, or the soft sounds of insects. There was only Lloyd's footsteps, his tiny grumbles, and then a relieved sigh when he finally put the crate down among numerous others.

Colette had seen it many times already, with all the crates she had carried down herself. The light from the lantern bounced off those dark spheres, but barely. They mostly remained dark, as black as the few empty spaces between the stars in the night sky. Perhaps they were too deep in sleep.

After putting down the latest Exspheres they collected, Lloyd then fell backwards, the rock dust flying into the air from the force of his fall. It had been so sudden that Colette jumped from the sound.

"Lloyd!" She rushed over to him, grateful that she didn't trip herself, and knelt next to him. One hand reached for his, clasping it gently. "Are you alright?"

Lloyd had his eyes closed, his face red with exhaustion. At her touch, he opened them, looking at her quietly before saying, "My back hurts."

Confused at first, Colette had to smile again. "Well, you did just fall on your back!"

"And my arms feel so weak…" He demonstrated by trying to raise one arm, trembling and barely able to clench his fist before it dropped back to the ground. "Should have gotten Noishe to carry it."

"I still could have carried it for you!" Colette admonished. She helped Lloyd sit up against the wall, the lantern right next to them both. Its light cast dancing shadows all around them, silhouetting the front lock of Lloyd's hair against his face. She kept down the urge to brush it to the side. "I really wouldn't have minded…"

Another sigh, Lloyd gratefully gripping back her hand. "I know… Just, well…" He raised his head to her, hands still a little shaky. Now Colette worried Lloyd really would have hurt his back much worse. Carrying that many Exspheres for him would have been too much, and she knew that. Next time she'd be more adamant about it.

"We can even share carrying a box, if you wanted to?" That was more like compromising then being adamant, but it was the closest Colette could do.

Lloyd didn't reject it, but he still looked really tired. Eyes were shut again, his hand still held hers, his large palm dwarfing her own. "Hey, Colette," he said. "How long have we been traveling?"

The question had been unexpected, but Colette tried to do the math in her head. Raine's birthday had been a week ago, which they had gone to Iselia for that… then the visit to the Toize Valley Mines about two months before… "About a year?" she finally answered. "Hm, or a year and a half…"

Lloyd opened his eyes, resting the back of his head against the wall. "All that time, we've just been getting the Exspheres, haven't we?"

Colette was unsure where Lloyd was going with this, but she nodded, seating herself more comfortably next to him on the cavern wall. "Yep. That's what this journey's been about, right?"

"Mm, yeah." His gaze shifted to the Exspheres within the dark, just out of the ring of the lantern's light. "That's not fair to you though."

She didn't understand, but she remained quiet, remembering the stars from outside.

"I wanted to make this still kind of fun, you know? But we've been doing this day in and out except for small breaks… and they're barely breaks anyway." He went quiet again, looking down at his hand, still so large against her own. "I didn't want it to be like… before, or something."

They had told her that her journey would be dangerous, that it would be full of hardships and rife with danger. They had also told her that it would be the one and only journey she would ever embark on.

"I guess I do miss sleeping on a bed," she admitted. "Iselia reminded me!" Because every inn now turned them away, wary about the banning of Exspheres, about this new world that had suddenly appeared next to them.

Lloyd didn't respond, looking away from her. "If you… wanted to go home, Colette… that's okay."

"But then I wouldn't get to be with you," came her ready answer.

A flush appeared on Lloyd's cheeks, knowing. "Well…"

"Besides, you went on my journey to help me. And now I get to return the favor! That makes sense, doesn't it?"

Lloyd considered for a moment. "Is that why you came with me? Because you owed me something?"

She smiled. "Maaaybe."

"Colette, you can be mean…"

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully, keeping her hold on his hand. A finger traced around the edge of his Exsphere, this one reflecting the lantern light, coloring it in shades of dark orange among its blue surface.

"Next time, let me carry the crates, and you can make the campfire," she said. She would be more adamant about this for sure! "It'd be much harder by yourself if you had to do both things, wouldn't it?"

Whatever low mood Lloyd had been in began to dissipate at Colette's voice, where the smallest hint of a challenge could be heard. "Those two things are barely equal! And I bet I could! Eventually…" Laughter left him regardless, bouncing against the cavern walls. "I mean, I guess I should… you nearly set fire to our blankets last time."

"But I didn't though!" she said defensively.

"I mean, you almost did! I was wondering why my blanket was feeling all hot…"

"You're the one being mean here…"

Their laughter mixed, and with that sound, the stones deep within the cavern began to shine. A light blue that suffused the air, one that made their voices halt then, but not with fear. Colette looked back to Lloyd's hand, where his Exsphere also glowed a gentle blue. Another soft reminder of how alive they were, of how fragile they could be, and the sadness that they could only be safe here in the dark or they would hurt another.

Colette knew she couldn't take her place for granted. The stars were outside and she was free to see them for as long as she wished.

She tugged at his hand. "Should we go back?"

Lloyd blinked, looking at Colette, the blue light reflected in his eyes. "Ah, yeah." He struggled to stand a little, stretching out his back a little.

"I could carry you too, you know!" she added helpfully, happy to see him get flustered in mid-stretch.

"I'm not a crate!" he argued, but she could tell he had been considering that offer.

The night was still dark, the stars still out, the two moons still hanging above. The way to the mountains were impossible without flight, and though Colette did have a Rheiard of her own, she sometimes preferred to use her wings. The gifts she had received from her first journey were still worth something, even more so when Lloyd helped take away the pain they used to give her.

His hand gripped hers as they made it outside, breathing in the fresh air after the enclosed space of the cavern. "Ready to sleep?"

"Hm, I think so," she said, but she said it with hesitance, with a question hovering in the air. She knew Lloyd would take it, like a hanging fruit from a vine.

"But… what is it?"

"If you wanted to make this journey more fun, then maybe we should do something else instead."

Lloyd only looked confused. "Um, like what? It's kinda late."

She had thought her first journey would be her last, but Lloyd had taught her that didn't need to be true. The world was open to her, filled with so many things she could continue to see. Even when the days were tough, or when the people were unkind, or when the aches piled on – to wander was never easy. She had known that the moment she agreed to come with Lloyd on his journey.

Although sometimes, she did want to focus on one place. On one thing. On one feeling.

"Mm, if I tell you, it wouldn't be as fun! I guess we should just sleep then."

"Aw, what? Now I wanna know…"

But Colette would only give him one little hint. She lifted his hand in hers, opened the palm, her touch lingering. She was so small against his hand, needing to use her other to grasp it, so that she held Lloyd's single hand in both. A squeezing of his fingers, a soft press against his palm, but that wasn't the hint she meant to give. She had just been enjoying his touch.

With a smile, she traced her finger against his palm. He learned to read well, even through his gloves. And she knew he would read it well now, for sometimes she still let herself go back to it, fingertips placing themselves against where she knew the lines in his hand were, where they crossed, where they diverged, where they told her of familiar patterns.

Lloyd looked down at his hand, brow furrowed as he concentrated. She saw him mouth the words unconsciously. One blink. Then two. He raised his head back to her. "Wait-"

"I'll get the camp ready!" She summoned her wings then, pink and purple lighting the ground. "We need to get ready for bed!"

"Colette?! Wait a sec! Why did-" But she was already flying off to lower ground, away from the mountains and to where the glades were. Off to the side, she saw Lloyd rush to get his Rheiard, struggling with its weight to get on it upright.

Their journey was dangerous and full of hardships, but her smile had never been more genuine than now. And with Lloyd finally realizing, she felt it would get more fun from then on.