I watched as Michael slowly traced his finger over the map once more, pausing at various points as he looked down to reread some of the notes made for each of the different points he stopped at. 

I couldn't begin to imagine the burden of having so many people relying on him to keep them safe, to direct them and do what was needed to keep their town up and running during such a dangerous time. Relying on him for their very survival. Yet here he was, planning out where each of his scouts and salvage teams would need to go, what they would need to take and what they should expect at different areas. What they were expected to bring back if they could and what to do if they couldn't get it.

The man was downright amazing to be able to hold everything together even as people living or just venturing outside the town were hunted relentlessly by the undead that plagued the world at large.

Even so, the one who always seemed to hold the majority of my attention was Daniel. Dear, sweet Daniel who had made it clear how he felt about me without ever speaking a single word. His silence had not once been broken, not when he'd pressed his lips to mine, his fingers curling gently through my hair as he'd leaned closer to me.

I'd grown used to his silence, the way he spoke with his eyes and had learned the meaning behind some of the gestures I'd once thought to be more pantomiming than anything else. It had taken Michael's laughter filled explanation during the long months of winter to realize that there was a whole language of gestures and hand signs to be learned. And I had been eager to learn.

Sadly, eagerness did not mean I grasped the meanings quickly. Not that I gave up, but each word of his signing was a struggle to memorize, to train my mind to accept and connect with the words I spoke. But the smile on Daniel's face with each new "word" that I learned made everything worth it.

Of course, it was also best to learn as much as I could during the quiet winter months, as once spring arrived we would all be to busy putting the plans Michael was making into action. We had supplies to restock, towns and cities to search, among other things that I had little to no experience in at this point. But I would learn.

Once he finished going over the map and writing notes into one of his notebooks, the beginnings of his instructions passed on to those involved so they could start preparing for the coming weeks, everyone slowly filed out of the room until it was only Michael, Daniel and I left behind. I pulled my journal out from the hip pouch Lucas had gifted me recently and placed it gently upon the table.

"Is there something new that happened, Sabira?" Michael's questioned me, his hand coming to rest gently upon the cover of the book. A frown appeared upon his face as I nodded, biting my lip gently as I turned my head away.

"I dreamt of the Hound," I whispered, no other words escaping my lips as silence filled the room. It was not a comfortable silence, the air feeling heavy as the two men thought over what I'd said.

Poor Daniel, I'd been so quiet since waking up this morning. But I hadn't been able to talk about the dream, too busy frantically writing it all down before I forgot... before it slipped from my grasp and was lost to me. There was also the fact that I had no idea how to tell him what I had dreamt.

How do you tell someone you cared for that one of the creatures hunting everyone down had once been a puppy nipping at your fingers as you played with it? How do you face someone knowing that their friends, their loved ones, their family had been killed by something you had helped keep alive, even if it might as well have been in another lifetime?

I had no idea how to tell them that, which is why I had taken such care to ensure I translated what I could into a language Michael could read, marking the page for him to know which one to go to.

Turning away and walking to one of the seats by the window, I grabbed a book at random and opened the pages, frowning at the writing as I began the task of reading through the words I was learning to write as well as simply read them. It sounded so easy, writing something I could already read, but connecting the two was not as easy as it seemed. I had to think hard about the words, to think about the shape of them and the meaning behind them, in order to write the words in a language the people around me could read. Otherwise, it would flow into the writing that just seemed to be second nature for me to use.

So much I wanted to learn and not enough time to learn it all before there would be too much to do to focus on such things...

It wasn't until I felt familiar hands upon my shoulders that I looked up, worried grey eyes looking down at me from Daniel's face. Setting the book aside, I placed my hands over his, the warmth of his own slowly bleeding into my cool skin. I gave a tentative smile to tell him I would be okay, dropping my hands down to clumsily make the attempt at forming the correct signs to reinforce the words I then whispered.

"I'll be okay. I am okay."

The smile that appeared on his lips, followed by what he slowly signed at me, helped me to believe the words I had given him as my smile grew stronger. Familiar words, for he signed them to me every day. I am here for you. Always.