Inside the guest house, Huo Lohse busied herself finding some cold water and sterile cloth to clean Philige's face with. Standig had hit hard, and in addition to a fat, cut lower lip, Philige's teeth had shredded the inside of his left cheek. Fortunately, his teeth all seemed to be ok.

Lolo was crying so hard that her hands were shaking. She could barely wring out the cloth let alone apply it properly to the cut.

Philige smiled a now excessively crooked smile. "Hey, Lolo," he said, taking her hands to help steady her, "let me do that."

She surrendered the cloth and flopped down next to him on the bench, blubbering about how she couldn't believe Standig would punch him and how tense her relationship with Standig had become and how angry she was with someone who was supposed to be one of her closest friends and how much she regretted dragging Philige into their squabble and how upset she was that Philige had gotten hurt and how much she appreciated his understanding and….

Philige took her face in his hands, hushing her rambling and wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "Lolo, if you don't stop, I might just kiss you."

Her eyes widened as she registered what he'd said. "I-I didn't know…."

"Well, now you do." Philige released her face and sighed. "To be honest, I didn't tell you before because I thought you and Standig might, you know, have some kind of understanding."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say.

"Frankly, I'm still not sure if you and Standig are more than just friends or not." He paused, half hoping, half dreading that Lolo would clarify her relationship with Standig, but when she didn't, he continued. "I know that now is not the time for you to even try to think about relationships and romance and dating, so I won't put any pressure on you or anything. Just keep me in mind for when you are ready to think about it someday?"

Lolo nodded, clearly still processing everything he had said.

"Well, my head is no longer spinning, so I should get going." He stood up slowly. "Knowing everything now, do you still want to join me for a walk tomorrow evening?"

Lolo stood up, searching his face. There was a gentleness and hope there that brought her an enormous sense of warmth and comfort, and it struck her that, though they bore a family resemblance, Standig and Philige looked nothing alike. "Of course I do."

Philige had expected her to make up some excuse not to join him or say she needed some time to think or something, so her response left him floundering. "Well, uh, that's-that's great!" He shuffled backwards toward the door. "I'll see you tomorrow then." Distracted, he lost track of where he was and bumped into the door.

The more awkward his exit, the more endearing he was to Lolo. She found herself wanting to steady Philige's nerves, so before Philige could blunder his way completely out the door, she wrapped her arms around his waist and waited for him to relax and hug her back. "Thank you for telling me, Philige. I will remember." She released him. "And, where Standig is concerned, we are close, but he’s never given me any reason to believe that we are more than just friends."

Processing her response, Philige smiled and nodded.

"Good-night, Philige."

"Good-night, Lolo."

***

Huo Lohse woke up early the next morning feeling noticeably lighter. In a way, it felt like she was waking up for the first time since the massacre. Instead of dragging to get to practice, Lolo got to the hidden courtyard before anyone else and enjoyed the peace and quiet in the new morning light.

“Lolo?”

“Good morning, Fortus!”

Fortus was obviously surprised to see her and even more surprised to find her… normal-- almost like her old self again. “You’re early... and chipper,” he observed.

“I suppose I am in a good mood this morning,” Lolo nodded.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what’s changed? Literally overnight?”

“I had a good talk with someone yesterday,” Lolo connected.

“Hm.” He decided to test her. “So, how good of a mood are you in?” Fortus dared to tease Lolo by pulling her obnoxiously close as though he planned to kiss her.

“Not that good,” she said, putting her hand in between their faces.

“I know we're only friends, but sometimes kissing just feels good, you know?” Lolo's bubbly laugh sounded like a long-forgotten favorite song to Fortus, and he grinned toothily.

“Then find another girl to feel good with. No one’s stopping you.”

“Yeah, but you’re safer,” he continued, drawing her even closer.

“Really? You think another girl stands a better chance at beating you up?”

“Not what I meant.” Fortus rolled his eyes. “With you, there are no entanglements.”

“Doesn’t that kind of defeat the point of kissing?”

“Not necessarily.” He laughed, pleasantly surprised by the banter. “Come on. You know you enjoyed kissing me before.”

Lolo chortled. “Funny. I remember chapped lips and how sick of each other we were.”

“Ok, fair. But the first few times were fun,” he winked.

“Fortus, solicit my kisses one more time, and I’ll make sure you regret it.”

“Alright. Just checking,” he grinned and released her. “I kind of miss it sometimes.”

“Miss what exactly?”

“Oh, having a girlfriend, well, fake girlfriend.”

“What’s stopping you, then?”

“It’s kind of an awkward time to be seeking romance. War. Training. Stuff. I don’t really have time for a relationship.”

“I’m sure there are plenty of girls out there willing to look past your short-comings, Fortus. You’re certainly handsome and charming enough.”

“It’s more than that, Lolo. Don’t let it get to your head or anything, but you kind of ruined me for just any girl.”

“How so?”

“Well, for starters, we were friends first. And you know how picky I am about who my friends are. And then you’re more than just a pretty face, if you know what I mean. You even managed to be my first kiss. Your only major failing is that I don’t have those feelings for you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Which part?”

“That I was your first kiss.”

“Yes, you were.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Why not?”

“Well,” Lolo blushed, “you were too good at it.”

Fortus snorted. “Thank you for the compliment, I guess? But really, you were my first kiss. And last. Actually, you’re the only girl I’ve ever kissed.”

Lolo scowled. “That needs to change. I’m sure you could find a willing volunteer if you’d bother to look for one.”

Fortus just shook his head. “Well, even if you won’t kiss me, you must be in a pretty good mood today. A week ago, you’d have tried to rip my head off if I’d teased you like that.”

She grimaced. “Sorry you’ve had to deal with a murderous version of me the last while.”

He waved her off. “Don’t apologize. I get it. I felt the same way after I lost my father.”

“But still. Thanks for putting up with me.” Lolo paused. “Fortus, does it get any easier?”

“Does what get any easier?”

“The grief.”

Fortus sighed and took a seat on the ground. Lolo joined him. “It still hurts. Sometimes, I’ll think about writing home to tell my father about our training or ask him for advice, and then I remember, and the pain starts all over again. But you get used to it. I mean, it’s not really the sort of thing that you get used to, but you learn how to deal with it.” Fortus saw the sadness in Lolo’s eyes and quickly changed the subject. “So! Who was it that put you in this good mood?”

“You mean, who did I talk to yesterday?” Lolo clarified.

“You say tomato….”

“Fine. I talked with the Bear Tribe leader.”

“Philige?”

“You say tomato….” Lolo teased.

“Huh. What did you two talk about?”

“Life. Grief. Love. Stuff. It was nice. I actually felt like someone understood how I’ve been feeling. Actually, I think he helped me understand how I’ve been feeling. You know, Philige and Standig lost both of their parents when they were young. Standig was too little to really remember everything, but Philige was eleven.”

To Lolo’s confusion, Fortus chuckled.

“What? I don’t think I said anything funny.”

“Oh, no. Sorry Lolo. It isn’t anything you said.” Fortus continued to laugh. “It’s just that Philige finally made a move.”

“What are you talking about?”

“After talking about life and stuff, did he confess that he has feelings for you?”

Lolo stared at Fortus, mouth hanging open. “How could you possibly know that?!”

Fortus just continued to laugh. “It was a little obvious.”

“What was obvious?!”

“The way he looks at you.”

Lolo continued staring at Fortus as though he had two heads, baffled and awe-struck.

“You have to understand, Lolo, I’ve been trained my whole life to observe people for tactical information. Emotional attachments come with tactical strengths and weaknesses, so I pay attention to them.”

“Ok, Mr. Love Expert. Explain!”

“There’s not much to explain, really. He just looks at you the way a guy looks at a girl he has feelings for.” Fortus shrugged like this was elementary. “You really didn’t notice?”

“No! I had no idea!”

“Oh. Well, he does. Actually, he has been for a while.”

“He has?”

“Well, yeah.”

“When did you first notice this?” Lolo was reeling.

“Honestly, I first suspected that he might have feelings for you during our Bear Tribe exchange. But I’m not certain that even he was aware of it then.”

“Four years ago? No way.”

“Yes, way. You remember how during the Purple Fever epidemic, Philige took a turn for the worse and you were up all night taking care of him?”

“Yeah. His fever was out of control and we couldn’t wake him up. Why?”

“You passed out hard next to his bed. Remember?”

“I suppose. I mostly just remember waking up in one of the beds.”

“Well, before Standig moved you to the bed, Philige woke up and tried to wake you. He kept it pretty cool, but there was an expression of panic on his face that seemed to suggest more than a normal amount of concern. And then he kept glancing over at you while you slept as though wanting to make sure that you really were ok. Of course, at that time, I didn’t know what kinds of feelings he had. Frankly, it could have been a more familial affection too, like a brother-sister thing, but that’s when I first noticed.”

“So when did you figure out that his feelings were, uh, not familial?”

“When he welcomed us here for our primordial training.” Fortus’s matter-of-fact tone was almost infuriating. “He looked at you the entire time. I mean, his brother was standing right there, but he chose to look at and talk to you. It was almost like the rest of us weren’t even there. And then he was unusually flustered. Philige’s a pretty level-headed guy. Was that the first time he’d seen you since the Bear Tribe exchange?”

“Uh, I suppose it was. Yes.”

“Well, that explains why he was so distracted at least.”

“What does?”

“Well, think about it, Lolo. He maybe had an inkling of his feelings for you when you were, what, fifteen? But he probably just assumed his affection for you was brotherly. I mean, you are close to Standig, and Philige is more than five years older than you. But then you walked in all grown up, beautiful, and super available, and suddenly, those feelings couldn’t be dismissed as something else.”

“Psh!” Lolo shifted uncomfortably under the compliment. “You make me sound way more impressive than I actually am.”

“How so? I’ve told you before, Lolo, I’d have to be blind not to notice how pretty you are, and I’m not the only one. Besides, you’ve grown up a lot from that tom-boyish Wolf Tribe princess.”

Lolo rolled her eyes.

“I’m serious, Lolo. You are quite the catch!”

“Why? Because I’m a primordial?”

“Well, that doesn’t hurt,” Fortus grinned his stupidly charming smile at her.

“You know what I don’t get?” Lolo shook her head at Fortus.

“What?”

“How someone with absolutely zero real relationship experience can have so much to say on the subject.”

“If you don’t want to hear what I have to say-”

“No, no, no. That’s not what I meant,” Lolo backtracked. “You just seem to know a lot for someone that’s never even dated.”

“I haven’t given any dating advice! I’ve just explained my observations,” Fortus huffed.

“Well, then, give me some now.”

“Oh, so now you want my advice?” Fortus teased.

“Well, you’re a guy. And you’re also my only dating experience….” Lolo proceeded cautiously. “And you’re obviously better at reading people than me.”

“Well, that’s the truth. No offense Lolo, but you suck at reading people.”

“Hey! That’s not true! I’m very good at reading things like trustworthiness and intentions.”

“Rephrase, you suck at reading men. You couldn’t even see that Philige was attracted to you!”

Lolo stuck her bottom lip out and scrunched up her nose. “I can’t argue with that.”

“So, Lolo, Philige confessed to you. What did he say?”

“Just that. He has feelings for me, but he doesn’t expect anything, and he hopes I’ll keep him in mind for when I’m ready to date.”

“Interesting,” Fortus nodded approvingly.

“What is?”

“'Just that he waited this long to tell you about his feelings and then expressed a willingness to wait even longer for you to be ready. He’s playing a long game.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he can see a relationship between the two of you going somewhere. He’s looking for a real relationship, Lolo. A serious one.”

Lolo frowned. “Tell me then, what do you think?”

“About Philige?”

She nodded.

“He’s a good guy. You could do worse for yourself.”

“Meaning I could do better?”

“Lolo, you could basically choose anyone you wanted. But that’s not what I meant. I can respect Philige. He’s obviously the patient and faithful type, and he’s sensitive to your feelings which will probably be an important thing for you given your past experiences with men. He’s also a good leader that actually cares about his people. I don’t know. If he’s the right guy for you, I don’t have anything against him.”

“Good to know. Then what are the downsides?”

“From what I can anticipate at this point, mostly conflict of interest things.”

“For example….”

“For example, he’s the Bear Tribe leader. You’re a primordial and the Wolf Tribe princess. If you ended up getting married, you’d also become the Bear Tribe queen. That’s a lot of really big hats to juggle. And between now and a hypothetical then, you’d have to learn how to balance your relationship against your individual roles and responsibilities.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“But I’m sure he already has. Clearly, he still thinks it could work somehow. I guess the only question is, do you have any feelings for him?”

“I don’t know yet,” Lolo said honestly.

“When he told you that he had feelings for you, what did you say?”

“'Just that I’d remember.”

“That's something, at least. Knowing you, if you didn’t like him at least a little, you wouldn’t string him along. You must at least not dislike him.”

“As a person, I’ve always liked Philige. He’s always been Standig’s older brother to me, but we’ve had our share of moments together too. You’re right, though, I don’t dislike him. He’s kind and thoughtful, and I trust him. And he has a knack for knowing what I need even when I don’t.”

Fortus seemed surprised and a little amused. “I take it then that yesterday wasn’t the first time you’ve had a good talk with him.”

“Your powers of observation continue to impress. Of course, you’re right. He was the one that helped me sort out my feelings after the Purple Fever burned out. The thing is, I don’t know what I bring to the table.”

“How so?”

“Well, he always seems to know how to help me, but what do I do for him? I don’t really want to be in a relationship that feels unbalanced, you know?”

“Lolo, there has to be a reason why he likes you. Remember, he sought you out, not the other way around. You may help him in ways you simply don’t understand yet.”

“It’s possible, I guess.”

“Knowing now that you have a history, I wonder why he took so long to confess to you."

“I actually might know the answer to that. He told me that he didn’t tell me earlier because of Standig.”

“Standig?”

“That’s what he said, “Lolo shrugged.

“So, the plot thickens.”

“'Gonna catch me up to speed?”

Fortus laughed. “Lolo, I’ve been trying to understand Standig for years. He’s unusually difficult to read, he’s terrible at communicating his feelings especially, and as soon as I think I understand him, he changes again. The one thing that never seems to change is how fiercely loyal he is to you. Even recently, through two months of brutal fighting, he still refuses to give up on you. But I can only speculate as to why.”

“Speculate then.”

“The obvious answer is that he has feelings for you.”

“As I told Philige yesterday, Standig has never given me any reason to think that we are more than just friends. What else have you got?”

“If he doesn’t have romantic feelings for you, he could have those brother-sister feelings we were talking about earlier. Or he could also just be a really loyal friend. You were his first friend, after all. He trusts you, you understand him probably better than anyone, and the two of you are really, really close with all that weird head merging stuff you used to do together.”

Lolo sighed. “Unless Standig tells me otherwise, I assume that we are just friends. Recently, I've even questioned that assertion. Personally, I think of Standig the way I think about my brothers. All my brothers came in pairs. Standig kind of feels like the twin I never got. We can even fight like siblings.”

“That’s convenient,” Fortus teased, earning a funny look from Lolo. “I’m just saying, if you did end up marrying Philige, Standig really would be your brother.”

“That’s a weird thought.”

“Which part? Standig being your brother or you marrying Philige?”

Lolo shuddered. “One step at a time!” Fortus laughed at her discomfort, and Lolo shoved him. “Geez! I thought we were discussing whether or not I even like Philige. You’ve already got me married to him!”

Fortus was still laughing when Ulana, Jadu and Standig emerged from the tunnel.

“What’s so funny?” Ulana asked.

“Never mind,” Lolo said and stood up. “Fortus just thinks it’s funny to make me uncomfortable.”

“Oh?” Ulana raised her eyebrows. “What kind of uncomfortable are we talking about?”

Lolo caught sight of Standig’s unreadable face and picked an easy out. “Fortus tried using our history together as an excuse to kiss me just for the fun of it.”

“Hey! That’s not-”

Lolo shot him a warning look and Fortus shut up. “Did you or did you not tease me about kissing you?”

Fortus rolled his eyes and stood up to throw his arm around her shoulders. “Admit it. Weren’t you just the least bit tempted?”

Lolo tried to scowl at him, but couldn’t keep a straight face against the return of his boyish grin. Instead, she ended up giggling. “Let’s start training, shall we?”

Fortus kept his arm around Lolo's shoulders as they walked into the forest for their morning meditation. "It's good to have you back, Lolo. I've missed you."