Iris awoke the next morning when a burst of warmth touched her lips. Her eyes shot wide open, and she sat bolt upright, scanning the area for the fairy. Char and Rath were already awake and rolling up their blankets.

"Good morning!" Rath called cheerfully from across the smoldering embers of last night's fire.

"Good morning," she replied absentmindedly, still searching for the fairy.

"Is something wrong?" Char asked.

She shook her head and climbed out from under the blankets. "I guess not."

"That doesn't sound very definite," Rath commented.

She hesitated, and then she said, "I could have sworn - there you are!"

The fairy was folding and rolling up her blankets, unconcerned about her outburst.

"You're not supposed to be here," she said, squatting down to look at it.

It dropped the blankets and flitted up to hover in front of her face, just for a moment, and then it darted forward to touch her lips and zipped back to the blankets. She giggled and stood up, shaking her head.

"We have a stowaway," she said, gesturing toward the little golden orb of light that shone brightly under the first rays of the rising sun.

Char came to her side and frowned down at the happy little creature. "Are you sure it's just one?"

"No, but I can't do much about it either way, can I?" she asked, smiling up at him. "What's for breakfast?"

"The same as dinner," Rath said from behind her. "And we're eating it on the move. I'd like to put as much distance as possible between us and the soldiers."

"Why did we set up so close to them?" Iris asked, taking the proffered biscuit and strip of dried meat.

"The sky was clear last night. We took the first opportunity we could to get to the ground without being seen, and then somebody was a little more concerned about waking you up than moving somewhere safer," Rath replied, smirking at Char.

The fairy added Iris' blankets to one of the two packs. Char shouldered one and tossed the other at Rath.

"Let's go," Char said firmly, refusing to take the bait.

"How far are we from the capital?" Iris asked, following Char as he set his face to the northeast.

"Three days, I think," he replied. "Sooner if we take a more direct route, but I want to avoid roads and towns as much as possible."

"Probably a good idea, although we should come up with a cover story if we meet anybody," Iris mused.

"Easy enough. We're fleeing the war," Rath provided cheerfully. "Two brothers and - what terminology would you like us to use for her, Char?" he asked teasingly.

"Humans don't use the term 'girlfriend' much, so I guess 'lover.'"

Iris blushed and kept her gaze straight ahead. "Humans also don't have names like 'Char' and 'Rath.'"

"What about 'Rina?' Is that human enough?" Rath teased.

"That will work for me. I think...Charles and Roger for the two of you." She giggled. "Although that sounds a bit formal."

"Charlie and Rog for short," Rath announced. "I can deal with that."

They walked for a while through the brightening rays of morning, dead grass crunching under their feet, the fairy flitting around happily in front of them.

"You two are usually so informal, but you call your parents 'Mother' and 'Father.' Why is that?" Iris asked.

"That would be Rath's fault," Char said.

Rath laughed. "Our parents recognized I was a hellion from an early age, and Father decided I needed a little extra incentive to show them proper respect."

Char grinned. "He said something disrespectful to Mother."

"Oh? What was it?" Iris asked, her brown eyes dancing as she looked at Rath expectantly.

He shrugged. "I was too young to remember. But Father decided no son of his was going to disrespect his wife, so I had to start calling her 'Mother.'"

"And she decided it was only fair we use the same amount of respect when we addressed Father," Char added.

"But it wasn't just the words. He started drilling us on how to treat her. Opening the door for her, pulling out her chair, all that chivalry stuff," Rath continued. "She deserved to be treated like a queen, he said."

"Is that where kissing her on the cheek comes from?" Iris asked.

"Sort of. He also said she needed to be kissed as often as possible to keep her smiling," Char supplied.

Iris smiled, looking back and forth from one brother to the other. "Well, I'd say he did a good job. You two are very respectful sons."

"Yeah, and all that chivalry stuff goes over great with the ladies, too," Rath said, grinning. "Of course, it also helps that we're ruggedly handsome and have winsomely charming personalities."

"And you're so humble," Iris observed sarcastically.

"But you can't deny it's true," Rath countered. "We never have any trouble picking up girls at parties."

"And you never have any trouble getting a drink thrown in your face," Char muttered.

"That is not a common occurrence," Rath retorted. "I have been told that I make a girl feel like she's a princess."

"Yeah, kissing another girl at the same party really helps with that impression," Char replied.

"Okay, mistakes aside, they usually know it's just a fling," Rath said, shrugging it off. "At least I pick one girl and stick with her for the night. You change dance partners like you're changing your shirt."

"Oh?" Iris asked, looking up at Char with a teasing smirk.

"You should have seen him at the party before he left to bust you out of the magic school," Rath volunteered before Char could defend himself. "I swear he danced with every girl at the party at least once. There were a couple of girls who were trying really hard to get him to kiss them, but he kept shutting them down."

"It had to seem like a normal night," Char reminded him. "That was our cover when Kelnor came asking about Iris the next morning."

"Yeah, sure, you really looked like you were suffering out there," Rath said dryly. "Of course, you were really suffering the next night, weren't you?" he asked, grinning wickedly.

"You're embarrassing Iris," Char protested, glancing sidelong at her flaming cheeks as she ducked her head.

"We'll see how embarrassed she is next weekend at Misa's party," Rath said knowingly.

"Who says I'm going to that party?" Iris asked, her voice a little too emphatic.

"You can't tell me you didn't enjoy that," Rath replied.

"I was drunk."

"And in love."

"Knock it off," Char said firmly.

"Without that amulet, the door opens to a lot more dress choices, too," Rath mused. "What would you like to see her in, Char?"

Char smacked Rath on the shoulder. "I said, knock it off," he repeated, his voice dropping dangerously low.

"Okay, okay," Rath muttered, rubbing his shoulder. "What, are you sour because you didn't get a good morning kiss? I can go on ahead if you're too embarrassed to do it in front of me." He danced away from Char's next punch. "Point proven. I'll give you two a few minutes."

Char glared at Rath's retreating back, his fists clenching at his sides. "Sorry," he muttered to Iris. "We don't have to go to the party."

She shook her head. "No, it's-" She sighed. "He's right. I did have fun at that party. But it all felt so inappropriate, too. At least, for what I grew up with. Maybe it isn't for dragons."

Char was silent for a moment, and then he said, "If you're not comfortable with it, then we won't go."

"But, I-" She stopped and looked up at Char. "But I liked dancing with you," she admitted shyly.

He smirked and looped his arm around her waist. "I really liked dancing with you."

Her brown eyes flicked down to his lips and back up to his intense green eyes. "If you're going to kiss me, you'd better do it before Rath gets back."

Char stopped and turned her to face him, keeping one hand on her waist and catching her chin with the other. He leaned in and placed a soft, chaste kiss on her lips.

She giggled. "Is that all?"

"For now," he replied, swiping his thumb across her bottom lip. "I'll save the rest for later."

He twined his hand through hers, and they started walking again. Rath was waiting further ahead for them, a teasing smirk at the ready.

"And look at that. Both of you are smiling. It's like I know what I'm doing," Rath said smugly. "Hope you two got your fill of each other, because we're not stopping for another kissing break until midday."

Char and Iris exchanged glances and smiled. They walked in silence, watching the world wake up. The warmth of the morning sun chased away the lingering chill of the night, and although there was still a cool breeze, it wasn't anything unbearable. It would have felt good if it weren't all wrong for a summer morning. Iris' smile faded as she looked around. Dead brown grass churned up with the dry soil in places where grazing animals stamped and pawed to find something nutritious. Just like what she'd seen during the second torture session with Micah. There were no cattle here anymore. Herders must have moved them on, hoping to find greener pastures elsewhere. But there wasn't any.

"Iris?"

She looked up at Char's query, and she realized her right hand was absentmindedly toying with the amulet. She released it and set her gaze straight ahead.

"Is he bothering you?"

She shook her head. "Not since two nights ago."

She didn't elaborate, and Char didn't ask any further questions. Rath, too, was uncharacteristically silent. It occurred to her that she didn't know what they saw and experienced that night. She just knew her own pain, the echoes of the fires of extraction, the tightness of her chest, the repeated questions demanding explanation for what she had done.

She didn't want to talk about it, and she didn't want to hear their side of that night, either.