"You're not a very talkative one, are you?" Vito asked the silent Sigyn. She hadn't said a word since they parted with the others, not even to assure him, and he wanted to see if he would get a reaction. She seemed to turn towards him, but he couldn't be certain as he only saw that fiery shiny form of her. She didn't respond. However, she did have an air of curiosity about her, but perhaps that was a result of his wishful thinking.

"Well, I guess that answers it," he continued, refusing to let it affect his spirit. He had received some training while traveling with Vigilante, so silence wasn't all that bad. Those two definitely had some common traits. He smiled to himself, thinking about the assassin, he would miss her. Who would have thought?

They had traveled about an hour away from the border when he somehow sensed that they were approaching a village. It was like a small buzz around him, announcing several people in close proximity to each other. He wondered if they should stop or not. It was getting awfully late, or early depending on how you saw it, and they weren't likely to find the inn open. They might as well go around it instead of through it to avoid attention, not that it was likely that anyone would see them at this hour.

"We should go around it," Necia said, plain and simple, not even telling him of the village. He chose to ignore her lack of information, he didn't want to start a fight over nothing.

"So you do talk after all," he said cheerily.

He could have sworn that she smirked in response to that, but he couldn't be certain. Perhaps it wasn't so bad being blind, he saw what she felt anyway without having to decipher her facial expression.

"I do talk, silly boy."

Her tone wasn't offensive, rather it was filled with some kind of undercurrent, and he found that it matched the temper she gave off to his new weird vision.

"I don't know if I agree with your last statement. However, I'm much in favor of going around this little village."

She didn't answer this time, but they moved off the track and rode into the forest. After a couple of meters he got scratched on his chin by a twig and he swore under his breath.

"Why can't horses understand that there's a rider on top of them? They always seem to care only for themselves: happily stepping forwards as long as they can avoid branches," he said, mildly agitated.

Necia chuckled in front of him, and that managed to take away a bit of the sting from the scratch. After a second one, however, he decided that it was best if he simply leaned down over the horse's neck all the time, which of course had the Sigyn laughing all the harder.

"You are a most interesting Human," she stated as her laughing calmed down, making him harrumph in response. He was used to being made fun off, but not so much from strangers. He looked at her, and the small burst of irritation died immediately. She was amused, but in a very warm way. He couldn't find anything witty to return so he just sat up, shrugged and smiled wryly. He shouldn't have...he was immediately knocked over by an unyielding bough. The pressure of his back against the horse's had the horse fleeing, which ended up with him on the ground and out of breath. All accompanied by a peeling laughter.

"This is not funny," he said.

That didn't make her stop laughing, but she did sober up a bit. "...then I don't know what is," she replied eventually. "I'll get the horse back, stay where you are, I'll find you."

"I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking..." he huffed, but she was no longer there to hear it. He let out a sigh and suddenly felt very vulnerable. Everything that had happened to him came crashing back now when he was left alone. There was no one there to see his smile falter or his posture sag in defeat. The pain he felt from the fall also helped to bring the feeling of inadequacy. His stomach writhed, as if the rest wasn't enough, he was now hungry on top of it. Why in the Destroyer's name had he started this quest?Going off alone without the others. It was beyond foolish.

He was blind. He wouldn't be able to fight which he had already shown when the soldiers attacked before they crossed the border. He had been in the way, providing an easy target that the other ones had to protect.

"You seem deep in thought Human. Worry will gain you nothing. Let's go!"

He twitched at the sound of her voice as he hadn't heard her approach. He rose slowly, carefully trying to make out the structures before him. He could see some things, but they came as forms, shapes and glowing colors instead of their normal appearance. Perhaps he would learn what they meant, but right now he felt very much alone in this strange new world. He felt a hand tighten around his arm and he was utterly ashamed that he needed the help. She guided him forwards and helped him get onto his horse again.

"You have no need to blush Human, you are very brave."

Although it was kind of her to say so, the words didn't help.

"I'm called Vito, please use my name freely," he said rather bitterly.

"Ah, I see. However, I think I like the sound of Human better. Vito is kind of droll, isn't it?" she was laughing at him again, but this time in silence. She might as well have stuck her tongue out. He realized that she had made him forget about his embarrassment by taunting him, so he couldn't really stay irritated with her.

"Well, Necia is a bit obvious too don't you think? Fiery, passionate, couldn't your parents have picked something a little more imaginative?"

She only laughed, seemingly un-offended.

"Your insults are coming along Human, I'll need to teach you some finesse though."

He could have sworn that she winked at him.

"Did you just wink?"

"Did you see that?" her tone changed immediately from mirthful to astonished.

"Not really, it just felt like you were winking at me. I guess I saw your mood, or your intention perhaps. I can't see details like that."

"Oh, cool. I better remember that in days to come."

"Why?" he asked.

He could tell that she was looking at him, perhaps raising an eyebrow or something, but this expression was much harder to assess.

"Did you raise your eyebrow?"

"This is awesome!" she cried out, all happy and excited.

"Why?"

"You're going to become a master at negotiating if you can assess stuff like that. No one else would have seen that raised eyebrow."

"Huh?"

He became more and more confused with everything she said.

"I just felt like raising an eyebrow, but I didn't do it. Remind me never to play poker with you!"

Now it was his time to laugh, something that he hadn't done in a very long while. The feeling it produced released something within him, and suddenly he couldn't stop. He just laughed, and laughed, and laughed until his stomach cramped.

"You are not only very interesting Human, you are also totally mad by the looks of it," she said which had him laugh a bit more even if his stomach protested wildly.

-----

"So, do we go around or through?"

Vigilante's question was definitely a valid one. Qumo couldn't really answer it based on anything else than what his intuition told him. It had been decades since he had been inside of Westerland, and at that time he wouldn't have hesitated to call at the inn. Now he wasn't so sure. All the accounts he had received from this closed country over the last few years were disconcerting to say the least. He was very much afraid that they were in over their heads.

"I guess we better find out if our disguises will hold," Milo answered, even if the question wasn't addressed to him. Actually it was the first thing he had said in over two days that included more than a yes or no, hence why Vigilante hadn't even bothered including the Nyx from the start.

"So you do talk after all, I'm quite astonished!" she said, and Qumo could hear the anger behind that sarcasm.

"Vigilante, you have taken the art of riling to a whole new level, but please, I don't really want to get into this right now. We are outside a village and an argument between you two is clearly something that should be avoided at this point," he said and stared hard into her surly face. He chose to ignore her silent retort. They had better things to argue about right now. He was happy that Milo was talking again, but he hadn't been surprised at the silence either.

"Damn it, I'm being childish," he heard her murmur. He smiled at that. He looked at Milo and he saw the Nyx twitching a little, as if there was a smile hiding behind that façade of his.

"I think Milo has a point, perhaps this is good place to prod this culture a little. I got some veils from the Sigyns," he said while rummaging around in his saddlebags until he found the silky fabric. "Do you have something to paint your eyes with Vigilante?" he asked her. She stared back, shooting him a look that said really?

"Okay, I guess that settles it," he said and gave one veil to Milo.

"I don't think they'll buy it. We have the wrong clothes," the Nyx grumbled.

"Ah, you're right, but the Sigyns thought of that too." He dug a little deeper in the bag and drew out clothes made out of rough fabric. He held up the first piece of clothing and threw it to Vigilante.

She held the garment in front of her, assessed it and then exclaimed: "I'm not wearing this. I'll not be able to fight!", clearly appalled at the dress. "Are there more men's clothes? Please tell me there's more."

"No, I'm sorry. We can buy some though if we're not exposed during our little visit," he answered to her pleading.

"Not a word of this to anyone!" she said sternly. Then she jumped off her horse and stalked into the woods to change. Apparently that was enough to break the ice, Milo started laughing softly and Qumo couldn't help but chime in.