Legend Reborn

Chapter 9: Feelings

Monteurbem is far behind us after four days of walking. It's slow going, since the terrain is becoming steeper and rockier, but we press on nonetheless.

Feliciano is also steadily recovering, much to my relief. He wasn't in the worst shape after his run in with the thieves, but some of the bruises looked quite painful. The worst of the bruises have faded to faint purple or yellow splotches. The only thing that doesn't look promising is a cut on his left arm that won't seem to heal right.

"Really, Liza, it's okay," he says when I ask him about it for the umpteenth time.

I always ask him how he feels when we stop to rest, which we're currently doing in the shade of a scraggly little pine tree. Trees are a rare sight in the mountains, so we take advantage of them when we can. I do my best not to fuss over Feli as we rest, but it's difficult not to when I feel so responsible for what happened. Gilbert must have a sixth sense for these kinds of things because he sits down next to me and grabs my shoulders.

"Stop worrying," he tells me in a firm voice. "It's not going to help, so just calm down."

I become mesmerized by the calm behind his deep red eyes, and little by little, I can feel the tension leave my body. 

"How do you do that?" I ask curiously.

Gilbert takes his hands off my shoulders and laughs. "When you live with a worrywart like West for so long, you start to figure out how to handle someone that stresses too much. This one time-"

"Brother! Are you telling stories about me again?" Ludwig shouts. He stands up from where he was sitting between Kiku and Feli, and walks over to his brother. "You should know better than to talk about someone behind their back."

"It's not behind your back," Gil says with a grin. "You're sitting right over there."

"That doesn't matter!" Ludwig scolds. "Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you?"

The older brother strokes his face in a contemplating manor. "You could salute my awesomeness more often," Gilbert suggests.

Ludwig closes his eyes in frustration, and takes several deep breaths. I guess he must have developed a few tricks of his own on how to handle someone as annoying as Gil. The blonde Bear opens his eyes and walks away without another word.

"Kesesese," Gil laughs. "Messing around with West is another technique I've used over the years."

I decide that's not the best way to handle it from the waves of irritation coming from the tall blonde Bear. He twitches his speckled yellowish wings occasionally while casting disdainful looks at his brother.

"I don't think you should've said those things to Ludwig. He doesn't look happy," I tell Gil.

"He'll be fine!" the albino insists. "I tease him all the time."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," I murmur to myself, but Gilbert's not listening.

Not long after my conversation with Gilbert, we get moving again toward the Bear Temple. We walk until the sun sets, and then set up camp. Luckily, there's enough twigs and dried up plants around to start a small fire. Dinner's eaten in a tired silence before most of us go to bed. Ludwig is on first watch tonight, so I carefully make my way into the small tent I share with Kiku. He's already laying down, but I can tell he's not sleeping.

"Kiku," I whisper in the dark. "Is everything alright with Ludwig?"

"I believe so," he answers. "Is there any reason he shouldn't be?"

"I don't know. He just seems kind of upset lately."

"Well, now that you mention it, he has been a little touchy lately." Kiku rolls over to look at me. "Why? Do you know something?"