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Upon hearing her rather serious expression when speaking of her respecting him enough for her not to mess with her family, he scratched his chin for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. "I appreciate the sentiment, Eira, I really do, but I meant that as a joke, not as something serious!" he spoke, sitting down close to the fire, allowing his legs to rest a bit. "I know you would never mean any harm to me, or my family!" his tone changed to reassuring one, with him speaking as if he would to a daughter.

Upon hearing Eira continue to discuss whatever concerns she had, his expression changed again, with him focusing his sights on the flames as she spoke and though his sight was not concentrated on her, his hearing was and he heard everything that she spoke. Upon finally voicing her concerns, his expression did not change, but instead, he himself started speaking. "It's simple, my dear Eira, it's because we are so different from them." he said, grabbing a stick and absently poking them as he spoke.

"We're so different from what they know of the world, so much so, that they are afraid that we might harm them, so they treat us with caution, afraid to trust us." he said, removing the stick from the flames and watching it burn whilst speaking. "Plus, the wasteland is not a place where you can afford to be too trusting, if you would see a giant of a man and a young woman speaking in third person, you'd be cautious as well... hell, if you remember, most of my clients were scared that I might kill them instead of save them!" he smiled at the thought and rose from the ground and approached Eira, lightly placing his hand on her shoulder.

"And if they prove to see us a threat and attack you, or me, then... well, I'm sure you know me well enough to imagine what would happen if they dared attack us!" for the briefest of moments, his sadistic side showed with a grin, however, he buried them again deeper than he already had. "But enough of this talk, we have one another and that is all that matters, now let us talk about something more light-hearted, like the liquor we'll drink by this time tomorrow!"

[hr]

Anna yawned as she stared through the window of her own little home, well, her own home was among the larger ones of this settlements, but even so, it was nothing compared to the homes in Erubesco, or at least from what she heard. She had lived most of her life within the slums of the capital, so the largest home she had seen there was smaller than what she was living here. She shook her and smiled, the things that she was thinking of now of all things, her brother would arrive here tomorrow and she wanted to be rested, but the mere excitement at the prospect of her seeing her big brother again kept her awake and energetic.

A light snore momentarily distracted her from her thoughts. Her big and brave husband, well, he was bigger than her, but then again, many people were taller than her. She could not really remember when the two decided to marry, but she answered yes without any hesitation, the happiness that moment brought her... it was the best day of her life. He warned her before that he was a mercenary in the past, that he had gathered many enemies during his working times, in fact, it was one of his enemies that had driven him here. But she did not care, she loved him and he loved her, they would both deal with this issue now if it arose again.

Her thoughts again floated back to Aran, her big, protective brother. She remembered the day that she noticed his dark thoughts, the ones where he dreamed of carving people up, not to help them, but simply for his pleasure. She remembered how hurt and how sad he looked when he saw her staring at him as if he was a monster and she was very scared of him. But she realized that same night that he had not done anything like that because of her, she was his mental crutch, the one keeping him from snapping into his calculated, sadistic self. So, the next day, she greeted him with a smile, she apologized to him and then hugged him just foe good measure, then she promised that she would always be by his side, that she would never, ever leave him if she could help it.

The large smile she saw on him afterwards all that made her feel like she had conquered a great obstacle, like nothing could go wrong with the world and though a few hitches had appeared along the road, like her having to move here, the two had been keeping contact as often as they could, he would even come visit her as much as his time allowed and though her life was far from perfect, she would not change a thing in it.

She yawned again, as she grew ever more tired. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. It would not do for her to have bags under her eyes, after all, nearly two years had passed since the two had seen one another, she had to look good in front of him. So with that thought in mind, she bid the moon goodnight and walked back to the warmth of the bed where her husband lied in a deep sleep. Tomorrow would be a good day, she would finally see her brother after such a long time.

As her body fell on the soft bed, she felt like it was draining all energy from her, compounded with the comforting warmth, it would not be long until she fell asleep. Tomorrow would not be a good day... it would be the best day for her. And with that thought in mind, Anna Seiran finally fell into a deep sleep with a large smile on her face.