Date: Day 6 of the Journey to Narshia
Location: Eastern Hills, Near the Arven River
---
The road was easy. The kind of easy that makes you nervous.
No bandits. No monsters. Just wind rolling over golden hills and the occasional hawk circling too high to matter. We kept our pace steady. No carriages — too much attention. Just cloaks, boots, and the long trail ahead.
They laughed more today. Anna and Riya argued about spice ratios in travel rations. Leander and Gideon debated blade weights and balance like philosophers disguised as fighters.
Me? I walked. And listened. And watched.
That's when she asked to talk.
Cerena.
---
She sat on a flat rock by the riverbank, watching the water move with that same look she'd worn since day one — soft smile, sharp eyes. She tossed a flat stone across the surface, watching the ripples vanish into silence.
>"You always walk at the back," she said without turning.
>"You see more from the rear," I replied.
>"Do you always watch?"
>"When I can."
She turned slightly toward me. Her expression stayed gentle, but something behind it shifted — like she was carving meaning from every word I didn't say.
>"Do you believe different people — different minds, different lives — can ever truly understand each other?"
>"Yes," I said. "But only if they stop trying to prove they're right."
She smiled. A quiet one, like a secret thought had been confirmed.
>"Do you think instinct is more dangerous than knowledge?"
>"Knowledge hesitates. Instinct doesn't," I answered. "So yes. Instinct."
She nodded slowly, flicking another stone into the stream.
>"Would you rather be forgotten entirely… or remembered wrongly?"
I paused, letting the wind fill the silence. The sun dipped behind the hills, casting gold and violet over the grass.
>"I don't care if I'm remembered," I said. "I care if the choices I made mattered."
She stared at me, calm and deliberate. Then, after a beat:
>"You're not like the others."
>"Neither are you."
That was when she turned fully. Not to walk away, not to flirt — just to confirm. To see if I'd noticed what she was hiding.
>"You noticed," she said softly.
"From the shop," I replied. "You asked my name before the shopkeeper even finished greeting you."
She blinked once, then gave a light laugh.
>"I thought I was being subtle."
"You weren't."
"Do you mind?"
"…No."
---
The fire crackled warm by the camp. The others had noticed.
Alice didn't glare. But her eyes tracked every move Cerena made like she was marking danger, just in case.
Lily stayed calm, but her flames were hotter than usual when she boiled the tea.
Anna leaned closer to Riya, her voice low. "Did she really ask him that many questions?"
Riya nodded. "Seventeen. I counted."
Leander stretched out his legs beside them, smirking. "I say we give her two more before we stage an intervention."
"Only two?" Anna asked. "You're going soft."
Gideon sat near the edge of the camp, polishing his shield. Silently. Slowly.
Elric blew on his tea and mused aloud, "Curiosity is the path to discovery… or disaster. Depends where it leads."
"She smiles a lot," Riya said after a moment.
Alice, her tone flat: "She smiles too much."
Lily, staring into the fire: "And she watches Nitsuo too closely."
No one disagreed.
---
Later, I sat on my bedroll, writing.
There are questions meant to explore.
And others meant to expose.
She's clever. Too clever to be harmless. But not yet dangerous.
If curiosity is a fire, then tonight, it only flickered.
But I've seen flames before.
And I've learned to keep watch.
Even while smiling back.
— Nitsuo, the Silent Tactician