Maeyune woke feeling worse than when she'd fallen asleep. Her mouth was parched, her stomach a rumbling fiend, and there were knots the size of her fist in her back. Her black hair lay strewn across her face, and she saw flakes of dirt collected in their strands.

To her further discomfort, she had developed a cold sweat while she'd slept. The synthetic fabric of her battlesuit's jacket and pants stuck to her in an uncomfortable, second skin.

There was a slight sting in her left cheek. When she ran her fingers across it, she realized she'd slept with her head in hand and her moon bracelet pressed against her face. The energy-less, silver cuff had left behind a shallow imprint.

That was when she felt the heavy layer of grime on her skin. She cringed. A hot bath would have been nice at the moment--or water in general. Yes, she needed water.

After haphazardly inspecting herself, she scanned her surroundings. Darkness had not yet relented its hold. It was still night; she hadn't slept long.

There was no more light illuminating their small space. Reo had put out the fire. The bulbs they had collected from the mother ships were empty shells, and when Maeyune touched them, their cold surfaces told her they had been dead a long time.

But despite the lack of light, the area was still warm.

Maeyune glanced up and saw the translucent dome standing over her--around her. Its surface eddied with gold and emerald hues. A few feet from her lay a dark figure who shared the same space underneath the heat dome. Reo had moved closer to her--to minimize the shield's coverage, she presumed.

He lay on his back, with one hand underneath his head and the other on his stomach. His knee was up, and he appeared as if he were merely basking in the night.

The sight of the sun warrior brought back the memory of their argument, and for a hopeful second, she thought it had all been a dream. When a minute passed by and she realized it hadn't been a dream, a scorching flush of embarrassment spread across her face.

He knew now. He knew that she had feelings for him. Even if she had never declared it aloud, she had said enough--had reacted enough--for him to piece it together.

And yet, he had given no indication of wanting to return those feelings. He had appeared uncomfortable, if anything.

Now, they were forced to remain in each other's company until they reached the base. Could her luck take anymore of a turn for the worst?

She remembered the words that had flown between them. They hadn't been insults, but rather truths that had revealed the extent of their differences.

He doesn't trust me. After all that we have already been through.

The thought pained her.

Obligated allies--that was what they were to each other. She wasn't even certain she could call them friends at this point. Perhaps the only reason they hadn't destroyed each other yet was because of the preexisting relationship between them--the natural bond between Shivra and Yunra.

And then a thought hit her.

Trust had never been a problem for her, because she'd had the ability to read others like an open book. She couldn't help but wonder if that had blinded her, had made her naive. She had failed to realize that individuals like Ristoff and Jaysek could discover a way to deceive her.

But what was it like for Reo to never know when someone could be trusted?

As she contemplated the answer to that question, the frustration in her chest began to ease.

For the sun warrior, trust was something earned. Reo was not open to leaps of faith, for he knew betrayal. He had seen it in the face of Jaysek, but he had experienced it long before that.

She recalled all that she knew of Reo's past, of the deaths of his two friends that had altered his life. The Beran scientist, Dodge Everly, had played a large role in Reo's childhood; he had been a father-figure to Reo. Dodge's daughter, Kyra, had been Reo's first love.

Maeyune remembered what had become of the Everly's. In the vision Reo had allowed her to see, Maeyune had witnessed his discovery of the experiments on celestial children.

Dodge, who had been prepared to expose the truth, had fallen victim to his traitor colleagues and the Wobeck's black smoke. Reo had been forced to watch as the people he'd thought he trusted had murdered his friend, which in turn had roused the devastating wrath of the Sun Goddess and had ultimately killed Kyra.

The event changed Reo for the worst, Maeyune thought.

It had thrust him into a world of resentment and deception. It had birthed the crimson knight, a demonic entity that yearned for blood and death. She couldn't imagine all that he had experienced during those three years he'd gone into hiding. Fighting and women and stirring trouble with merchants whose pockets ran deep--that was all a side to him that Maeyune didn't know, but a side that she realized she could understand.

Before the final years of his youth, Reo had wanted to live as any normal human being, to compensate for his lack of a childhood.

In the end, Maeyune could not blame Reo for regarding her with such caution. After all, they had met each other in the prime of their strengths--two powerful strangers who'd known nothing about the other and had been expected to work together. Given their brief history of both violent rivalry and mutual partnership, it was no wonder he was confused on whether to trust her or not.

If he didn't trust her, then it wasn't as if she could make him. And if he had wanted to act on that mistrust, he would have done so a long time ago. He was the one with all the power now.

She ran her eyes over his shield a second time and pushed aside the doubt. He had at least tried to keep her warm through the night.

Damn him, she thought.

She wanted to prolong this frustration with him--if only to help her ignore her jumbled heart--but his gesture of compassion wasn't helping.

She stirred to a sitting position. Reo's eyes opened, and his head turned to follow her movement.

"How much time has passed?" she asked, pressing palms into her tired eyes.

"A few hours." His voice was clear and wakeful.

She rubbed at the stings of lethargy in her eyes before she looked at him. "You didn't sleep?"

"Only for a bit," he said with nonchalance. He spoke as if they had never argued, as if she had never exposed her feelings for him, as if the world was not currently in danger from a massive Wobeck invasion.

He nodded to his right. It didn't take her long to realize he was motioning east. "The sun should be rising soon. I can feel it."

It wasn't fast enough.

She searched the sky through the forest's branches, and when she found what she had been looking for, her heart sank. The moon was still visible. Against the bleak darkness, its white splendor was a sphere of sprinkles.

Her heart clenched.

So, it hadn't been a dream after all.

Inhaling a deep breath, she ran her fingertips against her temples, then down her neck and over both shoulders. The massage only provided temporary comfort for her stiff muscles.

The last time she'd slept on hard ground had been at the age of sixteen, when Master Jorin had sent her and her team on a survival trek out in the woods for several weeks. With magic, they would have survived easily. Meera and Benny's water generated from their life force energies would have maintained their thirst, and Clover's fire would have kept them warm at night.

Master Jorin, however, had ordered no use of power. For those weeks alone in the wilderness, they'd each worn an anti-energy cuff-technology that the Suolani scientists had managed to take from the Nomenians. Maeyune and the others had been forced to survive without magic, and if they were to have returned to the temple without those cuffs, Master Jorin would have commanded another month in the wild.

Maeyune, though, wouldn't have minded another month. She had loved the time spent in the company of her friends and away from prodding scientists and military officials.

She recalled something Trix had once said to her and the others: "You're just like me now!" he had exclaimed. "Human. Better get used to it."

A sad smile touched Maeyune's lips.

Master Jorin had always expected them to prepare for the worst. She wondered what he thought now of the moon's destruction, what he thought of her and if she remembered her training.

In the corner of her eye, she caught Reo yawning. A little into his yawn, he said, "We've got some time before the sunrise, so if you want to catch more shut-eye--"

"I'm awake," she said. It wasn't entirely true, but hunger and thirst outweighed her need for rest.

Her knees gave a hesitant wobble when she stood, and the world rushed into her head. She closed her eyes and took in a breath of cold, musty air to find some sense of equilibrium.

You must live.

They had been Shivra's final words to her. She clung tight to every syllable, taking in another breath.

Eventually, her dizziness departed, along with the last tendrils of sleep. She opened her eyes and glanced northward, toward the Beran base Reo had mentioned before.

Reo sat up and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand.

"Are you alright to keep moving?" she asked.

He rose to his feet and brushed off dirt from his pants. "The sooner we move, the sooner I get a nice, hot shower."

Beneath the dull light of his heat shield, she espied his rumpled hair and the scruff that had grown on his face, giving him the look of someone older. He was as bedraggled and exhausted in appearance as she was. But as he assembled his alien weapons, he moved with the determination of an experienced soldier--and that only increased the allure of his weathered looks.

The sun warrior was no longer that boy she had met over a month ago. The war against the Iron Prophet and the Wobeck had turned him into a man.

Warmth roused at the pit of her stomach. She didn't realize she had been staring at him until he looked at her, waiting for her to pack. Before her thoughts could betray her, she turned immediately away from him and gathered her things.

There was no point anymore. The more she focused on her heart's predicament, the more irate she was from hunger. She was beyond exhausted--mentally and physically--and thinking about rejection only worsened her situation.

It was easier for her to be civil. They both wanted space. The only strength she had left anyway was designated to finding water and food.

They were silent as they cleared the area and erased all indications of their presence. But when she slung her makeshift sack over her shoulder and faced him again, she saw a frown of deep concentration woven into his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I just remembered the strangest dream I had about water, right before I woke up..."

"Water?"

"Yeah," he murmured. He paused a moment to speculate his own thoughts. Then, he pointed northwest. "Up ahead."

She furrowed her brow.

"I could practically smell it in the dream, too," he said. "I mean, I am pretty thirsty, so it might be some heightened awareness."

Incredulity clouded her dark eyes. "You dreamed of a nearby water source?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely positive I did," he said. "I mean--I have no idea how I know. I just know." His gaze grew distant. "It was weird. I felt a...presence in my head, someone or something that wasn't Yunra. I think it was Vaius trying to say something to us."

Vaius? It didn't alleviate her frown. "Well, I'm not privy to such conversation."

Her words carried resentment. She hadn't meant to sound jealous, and she wanted to apologize for it. But Reo only offered a look of awkward sympathy, and it made her far too weary to care.

If the planet's soul was communicating somehow, then she clearly wasn't an ideal choice for conversation. Reo still had his powers and was perhaps now the favored god incarnate.

Feeling neglected, it irritated some part of her. She didn't know which part.

Heavens, she needed food.

"I had a dream about water for a reason," Reo said. "We should at least look into it."

Too thirsty and hungry to disagree, she nodded. Frankly, she was more than willing to follow this heightened awareness of his. It was something.

(Continued to Part 2)