With the issue of security having been taken care of, the people of the caravan immediately start scrambling to prepare for departure. It looks like all their cargo is already loaded onto their carts, so all that's left is final inventories and head counts and various other minutiae that I have absolutely zero interest in.

As such, Yahanaseara and I are standing off to the side, keeping well out of everyone's way until it's finally time to ship out.

"Ugh..."

Heaving a sigh, I take off my glasses and start wiping their lenses with my sleeve.

"You are still angry."

I glance to the side, where I find what I'm pretty sure is Yahanaseara's blurry figure looking right at me.  Probably.

"A little bit, I guess," I mumble.

To be perfectly honest, it isn't "just a little."

Getting mistaken for a guy hit a nerve, the blatant difference in treatment after he found out that I am in fact not a guy hit another nerve, and then there's the fact that his philosophy regarding bandits is diametrically opposed to everything I've been taught my entire life.

When your house has a rat infestation, you flush them out and fucking KI-

...yeah, I need to calm down.

Deep breaths, Brigitte.

Returning my glasses to their usual resting place on my face, I open my eyes and am met with Yahanaseara's angry scowl.

"Only if you were merely 'a little bit' angry while arguing with that man," she says.

"Huh?"

I try to take a step back, only to stop midway when I realize that there's a fence right behind me.

"It does not show on your face," she says, placing a hand to her chest, but your heart does not lie."

"What? My heart?"

...hold up.

Hold up hold up hold up hooooooooooooold up.

Please please please don't be implying that you can actually like, read my thoughts or whatever... I don't know what the hell I'd do if-

"Your heart," the Elemental Spirit repeats. "Its pace increased when that fool ran his mouth, and even now it has yet to slow back down to its usual rate."

"...you can hear my heartbeat?"

"No, not your heartbeats," she shakes her head. "And it is not hearing."

Well now I'm just as confused as I am relieved.

Which is to say, very.

"Humans..." Yahanaseara heaves a sigh, "and all other creatures of flesh and blood, for that matter... you are oddly similar to my true form."

"Eh?"

"Though you are not composed of lightning, it fills your entire being," she explains. "Your very thoughts are lightning. And then that same lightning flows through your nerves, directing your movements."

Seemingly to emphasize some kind of point that I'm not quite getting, she holds her hands parallel to the ground and starts wiggling her fingers around.

It's adorable.

"It is as if your brain is the puppetmaster, your body the puppet and your nerves the strings that control it."

...huh.

That's kind of a creepy way to explain it, but I guess I do understand her overall point now.

"And although the lightning within you is even smaller than the smallest spark..."

She points a finger in the air and it's suddenly surrounded by tiny sparklies.

"...I am able to perceive it nonetheless."

Wait a minute.

"So you're saying that you can read my emotional state no matter how hard I try to hide it."

In other words, all my efforts to at least try to keep up a stoic façade around her have been completely pointless.

"Mmm..." she tilts her head and places a finger to her lips. "...not quite?"

"But you just said-"

"While I am certain that I could decipher the meanings of each shift in heartrate were I so inclined," she shrugs, "I have little care to do so."

"What, so it's just the large shifts that stand out?" I ask.

"More or less," the Elemental Spirit replies. "Though you are easy enough to read even without them."

The way she's smiling is hitting me like a punch to the chest.

"...whatever, I give up."

I heave a sigh of resignation.

"Yeah, I admit that I'm still pissed," I mumble. "But you don't have to worry about that."

"We could always leave these people to their own devices," Yahanaseara replies. "I see no reason to be as merciful as you have been with them."

"Nah, I can't go back on my word like that," I shake my head.

"...ah," she pouts. "Because it would affect your standing with the Adventurer Guild thing?"

"More because of my own pride," I shrug, "but there is that t-"

GROOOOOWL

"Uh-"

I stare at Yahanaseara, because that was most definitely not me.

"Er-"

She looks down at her stomach.

"...my apologies," she mumbles. "Even after eating so much food last night, it seems that my stomach is already empty."

"......"

God damn it, me.

Skipping a meal or two is fine when I'm by myself, but now I have someone else to worry about.

"Sorry..." I groan. "I know I said that we'd get breakfast on the way here, but I totally forgot."

"No, it is fine!" Yahanaseara shakes her head. "I do not actually need to eat, so-"

"No, this is my mistake," I say. "I'll take care of it."

Reaching into my sleeve, I pull out the emptied Daytime Bag #5. After giving it a couple of flaps to fill it with air, I start chanting.

 

Though I cross the endless expanse
My claim yet remains unbroken
Though I wade through a sea of countless impostors
I shall never lose sight of what is mine
I cast away this shell of falsehoods
So that my loyal servant may return to me

To my hand, "Travel Bag #2!"

 

As the Script surrounding me flickers out of existence, the air-filled bag I was just holding is instantly replaced with one that's got a bit more heft to it.

"Travel bag..." Yahanaseara peers at the newly-appeared luggage. "...do you have one of those for every occasion?"

"Of course I do," I reply with a thumbs-up. "An adventurer should always be prepared for any and all situations."

I reach into the bag and pull out an, uh... smaller bag. Only this one's filled with cookies.

"Here you go," I say, handing the lacy pink embroidered cookie pouch to my traveling companion. "I have the maids back home bake new batches daily just in case."

"Thank you," Yahanaseara replies, the wonder apparent on her face. "But you have not eaten either."

She's kind of reminding me of all the times that my mother would barge into my father's study while we were in the middle of pulling a magic research-related all-nighter to demand that we eat something... only less exasperated and more concerned.

It's nice.

"No worries," I say as I pull out another pouch of cookies. "There's plenty where that came from."

And so, the two of us proceed to scarf down pretty much the entirety of the edible contents of Travel Bag #2. Cookies, crackers, turkey jerky... there's only like half a baguette left by the time we're done.

And by "we," I mostly mean Yahanaseara. I'd thought that yesterday's great devouring was a fluke on account of it being her first meal in like a thousand years, but I guess she's just a naturally big eater.

It is kind of fun watching her shove cookie after cookie into her mouth until her cheeks bulge out like a chipmunk's, though.

Alas, my admiration of the adorableness of my traveling companion is cut short by the arrival of our current employer.

Good things never last.

"Erm," the middle-aged man clears his throat when he notices me looking his way, "we're just about ready to ship out."

"Alright," I nod. "I assume that you want us to sit with one of the cart drivers?"

"Y- yeah."

He flinches at my piercing gaze.

"Normally we'd want half of the escorts to be riding one of the lead carts and the other half taking the rear..."

A fairly logical way of going about things. That way, the entire caravan'll have someone to defend it against both frontal attacks and rear ambushes.

"Guess I'll be taking the lead then," I shrug.

"Then miss..."

The merchant shifts his attention towards the petite Elemental Spirit standing next to me.

"Yahanaseara," she replies.

"Ah, sorry for not catching your name earlier," he says with a practiced business smile. "I'm Nils Ortmann."

"Hm," she nods.

"So Miss Yahana..." he holds his hands together in a placating gesture, "if you wouldn't mind-"

"I will be sitting with Brigitte."

"Uh-"

I can't tell what he's more taken aback by- her refusal to follow the plan or her obvious dislike of him.

"S- sorry," he quickly catches himself, "but if we don't have someone at the back of the caravan then we'll be at risk for surprise wild animal or bandit attacks..."

In complete rejection of the man's obvious desperation, Yahanaseara closes her eyes and crosses her arms across her chest.

"There are thirty-eight people in this caravan," she says as if rattling off a memorized statement. "As well as twenty-four in the buildings surrounding us and seven walking around outside them."

"Eh?"

Nils stares at her as if she's grown another head.

"Flying in the skies to the east of where we are standing is a flock of thirteen birds."

"Wha-"

"They are headed south-southwest."

Both Nils and myself look in the direction she just indicated... and it's exactly as she said.

"I believe my point has been made."

Finally opening her eyes, Yahanaseara hits Nils with a look that I can't quite gauge. Kind of smug, kind of haughty, kind of, uh...

Ahem.

"So long as I am with your caravan, the possibility of an 'ambush' from any direction is zero."

She then takes a couple of steps towards me and latches onto my free arm.

"As such, I will be sitting with Brigitte."