Venn stood in silence at the top of the cliff. They had climbed up here to this lonely flat spot the day before to set up camp. The others were still asleep, so Venn watched the sunrise.

The mountains before him were much higher than where he stood. Their tops glittered with snow. Cold wind blew around him, whipping his short black hair around. He zipped his jacket the rest of the way.

The sky was bright orange and pink. The drifting clouds were lit up yellow. No red. Perfect. It would be a good day to start heading back.

Brielle stepped out of the tent she and Venn shared. She stretched, then froze when she saw Venn. He was standing so close to the edge the toes of his hiking boots hung over the edge. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that an unexpected tap on the shoulder would send him over the edge. She slowly started to make her way toward him. "Lucky the wind isn't blowing hard, hm?"

Venn didn't react. He didn't seem to have heard her, lost in whatever thoughts he was having. He swayed a bit in a particularly strong gust of wind.

Brielle sped up her pace and quickly pulled Venn away from the edge. Venn started in alarm and turned as she dragged him back. The distant look in his eyes vanished in moments, replaced by confusion. "Brielle, what...?"

Brielle crossed her arms. "You could have fallen! Your toes weren't even on solid ground!"

Venn frowned, looking back at the cliff. "I didn't think I was that close..."

Brielle's heart was still pounding. "You weren't... weren't going to..." she couldnt bring herself to finish.

Venn pulled her close to him. "No. I wouldn't do that to you. I was just... lost in thought I guess." He gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

Brielle pulled away and grabbed his arm. She hauled him away from the tent Zip and Giovanni shared. The place they had camped wasn't large, but there were three large white pines. Brielle pulled Venn between the trees before she turned on him. "YOU almost gave me a heart attack!"

Venn opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again when Brielle glared at him. His black eyes were apologetic and even faintly guilty.

"What if that rock had collapsed? You know how dangerous cliff edges are. They're not always solid enough to support weight. That's not even mentioning the wind! It almost blew you over!" Brielle continued to glare.

Venn leaned back against one of the trees. He hunched his shoulders and looked down. "I'm sorry..."

Brielle kept glaring. Venn ran a hand through his hair. It was a motion he repeated hundreds of times in a day, but each one was different and that one motion showed his mood, once you knew him well. What he had just done had squeezed his fingers tighter, pushed harder on his skull and, as a result, pulled on his hair. He was annoyed.

Nothing in his expression gave away his irritation. His mouth was drawn into a thin line and he regarded the ground with a flat gaze, but that was his resting expression.

The way his fingers dug into his leg told her all she needed to know. He wasn't annoyed wth her. He was annoyed with himself.

Brielle immediately walked over and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry. You just scared me."

Venn wove his fingers into Brielle's hair absently. "I know. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful from now on."

Brielle looked up at him with one raised eyebrow.

Venn smirked. "No. I'm not going to tell you specifically what I'm being careful about. That would just come back to bite me."

Brielle laughed a bit and kissed his nose. "I love you, Blöd."

"Well good. Your affections are mirrored."