Lily paced awkwardly around the room.

"This sucks," she said to nobody in particular. Everybody in the room had long since stopped paying attention to her mumbling, but thinking out loud helped her to work out the nerves.

More than anything else in the world, Lily hated standing around and doing nothing. But with the battle raging outside, she was forced to do exactly that; wait until they were sent in, if they ever even were. She’d been waiting for the day when she’d have to fight her first real battle ever since she left England. She’d trained and prepared for it. But she never prepared herself for all of the damn waiting. The waiting was the worst part. It gave her time to think about what the hell she’d gone and gotten herself into, and about all of the people who were going to be trying to kill her as soon as she stepped out onto the beach.

She stopped pacing and leaned against the wall. She glanced over at the male cargo. His being on board was probably the reason they were so far away from the action. Can’t risk reducing the breeding stock, after all. She couldn’t decide whether she should be thanking him for keeping her away from the danger or cursing him for making her stand around waiting for it.

She suddenly realized that she'd been absentmindedly tapping her foot the entire time she'd been standing there. She really couldn't ever seem to hold still. She sighed heavily and sat down.

"So," she asked the room. "Has anybody got a deck of cards?"