Feather woke up because it was quiet. It was dark, and there was no movement.

She looked around. In the flickering light of a fire, she saw outlines of big horses and tents between them.

"Up finally?" Lance was sitting on the back of the horse near her and watching the camp. Feather could tell from his tone that he wasn't pleased with her. She was up for some scolding.

"How long I've been asleep?" she asked.

"Wrong, the question is, how long you haven't been?" Lance asked back. "To fall asleep while running, how long have you been awake before that?"

Lance thought back to the time the one before him collapsed. He was genuinely concerned about the boy and guess what? He hurried there just to find out that the boy was sleeping like a baby.

Lance didn't make the caravan stop for this. He just lifted the boy to the back of his horse. That's where the second surprise came to him. The boy wasn't a boy at all. She was very boyish, thin and skinny. If not for this close contact right now he wouldn't be able to tell, but she was a girl. Even back when they fought, he hadn't noticed that the fierce youth before him was not a boy.

Lance felt a headache coming.

Not that he was against girls. But a fresh out-of-home little lady who thinks herself a great hero, a capable warrior… He was skeptical of those kinds.

Even though, he didn't intend to expose the girl. What for?

Thinking back, she never told them she was a 'he'. They all assumed it themselves.

Lance swiftly caught up with the head horse and threw the girl on it's back. The head horse didn't have any passengers, only the cargo.

"Let him sleep," he instructed the teamster and went off.

In the evening, when the camp was set, Lance let everyone go to sleep and stood guard himself while waiting for the trouble to wake up.

Feather thought carefully.

"It wasn't that long, just a couple of days?" she said weakly.

"Just a couple of days is enough for you to collapse? Your stamina is really pitiful." Lance was dismayed.

Feather sat there head-down. She didn't expect herself to fall asleep there and then either.

"I don't want to reprimand you much. I see you're a hardworking fellow. But still, I need to advise you so that you wouldn't be a bother for everyone in the future."

Feather looked down and nodded. She understood she was in the wrong.

Meanwhile, Lance continued: "What you did was irresponsible.

"Imagine, what if at the moment you collapsed we were attacked? Should everyone fend off enemies, or think about what's wrong with you?

"And that doesn't even include you're leaving the team with one fighter less. What will become of your teammates whose back you should be covering?

"If anything's the matter with you, you should without fail report it to your immediate superior. In our case that would be me. So that I can help you, and all the team won't have to suffer because of you."

Feather was listening silently to the scolding.

"Enough of that, I hope you learned your lesson," he ceased telling her off. "The night is young, and you have already slept half a day, go guard tonight. All you have to do is watch the fire so that it doesn't extinguish."

Feather shivered at the prospect. In her lowest voice she mumbled:

"I'm sorry, captain, please, anything but the fire. I won't be able to do it."

Lance frowned:

"What now?"

"You just now said to report if it's the matter with me, so… the matter is…" Feather paused to collect herself, "it is… I can't stand fire," she breathed out.

"I can't... go near the fire, I won't be able. Please, don't make me do it. I'll do anything else!"

Lance looked at the trembling child before him and shook his head. 'Troubles…'

"Well," he said, "at least, you told me before extinguishing the fire. Alright, so if you can't look after the fire, then can you walk around as a guard? That shouldn't be hard?"

Feather leaped in joy.

"Yes, thank you, captain! I'll do it! I can! I won't disappoint you!"

Lance shook his head once more at the overly enthusiastic response.

"I'll tell Axe and Sword to look after the fire then. If anything happens, go to them, alright? They are seasoned boys; they'll help you."

"Yes, sir!" Feather swiftly and soundlessly left to patrol the perimeter.

Lance sighed, he wasn't able to hear her steps at all.

'What a peculiar guy. Not to mention he's a girl, but such formidable martial skills along with nonexistent… well, everything else. Does she have any other area of expertise maybe? Interesting. I definitely should get her to the Boss to look at.'

With that, he went to the guards at the fire and told them to look after the newbie before going to sleep.

Feather had slept unexpectedly well after collapsing. She had dreamed no stupid dreams or anything, so she was back to her full health and a night shift didn't tire her at all. She was full of vigor.

While the caravan was moving on its way, Feather solemnly jogged along.

Lance came to check on her a couple of times but seeing how she was alright said nothing.

Days went by, and the caravan was steadily moving to its destination.

At first, Feather found the forest along the road very beautiful and interesting, as she had never before been out of home. Alas, over the week of travel the unchanging rows of trees by the side of the twisted road started to bore her. Nothing changed. The journey was monotonous to the extreme.

Her stamina started to slowly improve. Now she was able to run for a longer time at once before taking the rest on the horse's back. Then she would run once again.

During this week, although she didn't intentionally interact with people, she still managed to get to know everyone in the caravan.

She already knew Aster from the first evening. Her brother, Rock, was a bright boy. From time to time he would snatch Feather's horse, while she was exercising, and ride it along.

Feather got along with siblings very well. Probably her age played a role in it.

Other than the siblings, three men were traveling with the caravan. One of them was bringing his wife and daughter along.

Feather didn't interact with them much, though. The man with the daughter was overprotective towards her and was guarded against men in the caravan, especially young ones. The other two men were much older than her and were drinking and playing cards out of boredom while sitting on the back of the draft horse.

The days were long, and it was hard for Feather to tell how much of the distance they managed to cover.

Feather never imagined that traveling wasn't as interesting as the books in the library said.

In the books, there was always something new the traveler encountered. Or new people met. Or some treasures unearthed.

She had never read about it being so routine.

Even the expected bandits were nowhere to be seen.

Just as Feather was thinking about this, the caravan came to an abrupt stop.