There was one break at about noon for everyone to rest, eat, and relieve themselves.  Once they were sure that everyone was taken car of and Sara was able to stand guard, Marik and Sai took the opportunity to also relieve themselves albeit in a slightly different manner than everyone else had.  There were a lot of suspicious gazes thrown their way after that but both Marik and Sai ignored them and continued to do their jobs like normal.  Once the hour long break was over, everyone loaded back up and the three mercs continued running with Sara in between the other two.

When evening came the convoy turned off the road and went to the campsite they had planned to be at for the night.  They had apparently been going at a much faster than anticipated pace since they had reached there by evening instead of at night.  Marik confirmed with Anthony their estimated departure time so that they could set up their night watch rotations accordingly and then went to talk to the girls, with him and Sai deciding to stay in their beast forms.

"Sara, you get to take first watch.  That way you can get a full night's sleep and do a little more running for the first half of tomorrow morning.  We should still be in a relatively safe area but I think it'd be a good idea to get some rest and make sure you're going to be okay if we have to fight anyone.  Just remember to keep stretching and massaging your muscles while you're resting tomorrow, okay?  Sai, we'll be alternating back and forth for the rest of the night.  Maybe every two or three hours?  We can kind of play it by ear.  Sound good?"

""Okay.""

"Great.  Then it's time for me to go get some sleep while I can.  Make sure to wake me up in about three to four hours, Sara.  Coming, Sai?"

"Coming!"

"Wow.  That sounds so familiar for some reason..."

Marik and Sai both snickered as the went near the wheels of one of the wagons to curl up and sleep with each other.  Sai quickly drifted off and Marik readjusted himself slightly to better snuggle into her fur.  Just before he was about to drift off himself he heard the sounds of his sister talking with one of the employees.  He woke up a little bit as he unintentionally listened.

"Hey there.  I brought you a drink to help keep you up for a bit."

"Thanks.  This will definitely help."

"Glad to hear it.  So...uh...mind some company for a bit?"

"I guess not.  We should probably not talk too loudly, though.  I want to keep my ears open for anything approaching and I don't want to accidentally keep anyone from getting their sleep."

"Fair enough.  So...why are you with those guys, by the way?"

"Huh?  What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, they kinda seem like they aren't very nice to you so far.  Not to mention they aren't like...nice at all, I guess?  They even left you on duty while they went off to screw each other during the break, right?"

"Oh.  That.  They aren't really being mean to me.  They're trying to help me out and we all know it so it's not really that big of a deal."

"They're trying to help you by treating you like garbage?  I think-"

"They aren't treating me like garbage.  I have some things to work on and if I want to stay with them then I have to work to catch up to where they're at.  Right now they have a lot more stamina than I do so my brother is just trying to help me work on that.  I won't complain about something that he even did himself."

"Ah.  So he's your brother.  Look, even if that's the case and you have a little less stamina than them that doesn't mean you should let them treat you like that.  I've seen enough people and fights in my life: I'm pretty sure you're the strongest one in the group.  There's no reason to be treated like you're at the bottom, okay?"

"*sigh* You have no idea what you're talking about.  Sure, I'm stronger than my brother but he's also stronger than me.  I spent years chasing after him to beat him in a fight because I never could and I finally did not too long ago during a quick spar.  I made the mistake of getting a little too excited that I had beaten him and believed that meant that I was absolutely stronger than him now.  I won't make that mistake ever again.  I won't ever tell him but the way that he proved that he was stronger than me as well still terrifies me.  I think that if he really wanted to he could easily become known as the strongest person in the guild or maybe even this whole kingdom.  And he swears that his wife is strong enough to not only beat him completely but that even if we teamed up to go after her we'd still stand no chance.  He doesn't lie to me, he doesn't act condescending to me for my failures, and he does whatever he can to help me make up for what I lack.  I'm with them because they're my family, my friends, and they care about me probably even more than I care about them...which would be a lot since they're pretty much the only people I even have left to care about."

"I...I see.  If he's that strong, though, how come he's so low rank, then?  Surely somebody would have heard about someone that was as strong as you think he is if he really were that strong..."

"I won't say I understand everything he does or why.  He's smarter than I am, after all.   However, he definitely is at least as strong as I think he is...maybe stronger.  And if Sai really is that much stronger than him then I can only hope the day never comes when they become truly outraged at someone.  I don't think I've ever seen either of them truly angry but I would definitely run as far away and as fast as I could to get away from either of them if I ever became the target of their anger...and then pray to every god in existence that that would be enough."

Marik tuned out whatever might be left of their conversation as he thought about it all.  He didn't realize that he had scared his sister that badly and that wasn't ever his intention.  That might be something he would have to fix before too long.  He also highly doubted that he was as good as his sister claimed him to be.  Sai might be but he had way too many weaknesses and not nearly enough strengths to be so powerful as to instill that much fear or rise to the top in the way she believed.  Maybe it just seemed like that since they were in a remote kingdom and on the beast race continent so there were far fewer users of the mystic arts around.  He would just have to correct some of those minor misunderstandings the next chance he got.  He finally drifted off to sleep with that thought.

He woke up to someone shaking his shoulders.  He blinked the sleep form his eyes and looked up to see his sister's smile looking down at him.  He grunted a little to let her know that he was awake enough and stretched as he yawned.  He looked next to him and considered waking Sai up as well but decided against it and stood up to take over the watch by himself for a while.  Sai twitched in her sleep as his warmth left her and her tail started flicking around while her forepaws stretched out in his direction.  He waved his sister to bed while smiling at the adorable actions of his fox-wife.

"Just sleep," he cooed to her softly, "I'll be right where I can see you, still."

She stopped stretching towards him as much and her tail started to settle down as he talked to her.  He gave her another smile and went near the fire to check and make sure it was still well-fed and wouldn't die out soon.  He grabbed a couple twigs from nearby and threw them in to make sure before backing off a little ways and sitting against a tree where he could overlook the majority of the camp while watching his sleeping wife.  At one point one of the employees woke up and headed off into the darkness a little ways to empty their bladder.  As they headed back to their sleeping spot, with Marik keeping and eye and ear on them the whole time, he caught their grumbling about how he wasn't doing his job on staying up for the night watch.  He would probably have to deal with that in the morning but for now he let it go and watched as the guy finally gave in and went back to bed himself.

After a couple hours he saw Sai stir and wake herself up without him having to do anything.  He smiled as he watched her cutely wobble up onto all fours and begin stretching by arching her back.  She blinked a couple of time while looking around for a bit, then sat down, swished her tail forward, and started combing through it with her paws.  After chewing out only one bur and combing through it a few more times she seemed satisfied and began looking around again in a searching manner.

"Hey," Marik said in a low and quiet voice which caused her to snap the direction of her gaze towards him.  "Morning, gorgeous.  Sleep well?"

She happily trotted over to where he was sitting and laid down next to him while starting to nuzzle her face into the fur of his side and stomach.  He smiled a little and started stroking his clawed hands through her fur carefully, making sure to pause and undo every tangle in her fur he came across.  After a little while of doing that she stirred again and sat on her haunches to look at him.

"Your turn.  You can go to sleep while I work, too."

She moved over a little to lie down on her side as his personal pillow, which he gratefully accepted, and started running her teeth and paws through the parts of his fur she could reach.  The grooming was actually incredibly soothing and it wasn't long before he drifted back to sleep for a while.  When he woke next he saw that the sky had just started to brighten up slightly even though the sun wasn't yet visible.  He stretched a bit and sat up as he realized that Sai wasn't within sight at the moment.  He looked around for a while and then noticed her trotting back to him from the other side of the camp.  He gave her a puzzled look.

"Morning, handsome.  I heard some noises from over there and went to check it out.  I was just a couple of the clients going off into the woods to screw each other, though.  I had to wait until they were done to make sure they didn't get attacked while away from everyone else."

"I see.  *sigh* Well, I was going to have a little chat with Anthony this morning anyways."

"Oh, really?"

"Mm hm.  Seems like we're getting complaints about how bad we are at our job.  Seems like one guy even tried to turn Sara against us last night."

"Oh?"

"Don't go all sadist on me, yet.  I'll take care of it in a little bit."

"Fine.  We get to do it my way next, though."

Marik walked over to where Sara was sleeping and gently shook her awake.  She blinked at him a few times and once he was sure she was actually waking up he walked over to the fire and threw some of the larger sticks in to make sure it was burning well then threw in one of the actual pieces of chopped firewood so that the cooks would have a decent fire ready.  Once he was sure that everything was set up to make the morning go as smoothly as possible, he walked back to the tree he had chosen during the night and leaned against it to watch over everyone as they woke up.

By the time another hour had passed, the sun was in the sky and most if not all of the employees were surrounding the campfire in preparation for breakfast.  Marik spotted Anthony coming from his carriage and walking towards the campfire himself so he went to give his morning greetings.

"Morning.  Sleep well?"

"Why, yes.  Thank you.  How was the night?"

"Ah, well.  I wish I could say it was good, but..."

"Oh?  Did something happen?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm severely disappointed in your employees.  Apparently you have employees that believe we should be blinding ourselves and making it easier for others to attack us instead of actually doing any guarding by just sitting near the campfire all night.  Then we also seemed to get some complaints about what my wife and I do during our personal break time while your employees are busy running way off in the middle of the night outside of where we're guarding just to have some fun themselves.  Then there's the part that has me quite irked.  You seem to also have an employee that for whatever reason believes it's best to try and turn their hired guards against each other in the middle of a trip for whatever reason..."

"I...I see."

Everyone around the campfire had stopped moving aside from a few swiveling heads that were looking around to try and discern who had done what.

"Now I can freely understand that some of your employees may as yet be somewhat inexperienced with long trips like this so I could let the actual complaints themselves go.  However, sneaking away from your guards just to have some fun and making us chase you and watch just to make sure you don't end up in danger is also putting everyone else at risk and technically goes against our contract.  In addition, trying to convince one of the guards to turn against the others, in the middle of the job no less, could actually be considered grounds for suspicion of bandit interaction, espionage, and sabotage.  Luckily, there's no worries of us actually turning on one another since we're family but I do feel that those two things in particular should be addressed.  Especially considering that I was assured that you and your company were completely trustworthy and respectable clients."

"Yes.  I can definitely see how those things should be addressed sooner rather than later.  Normally I would thank you for telling but I would have much preferred it to be in private..."

"I can understand that.  Unfortunately, I felt that I should make it known that regardless of how it may appear to those who have different jobs, we are in fact trying to do our jobs quite diligently and effectively.  I just felt it would have more impact coming directly from us rather than through you, where it might seem like you're merely trying to reassure them without any basis."

"*sigh* I do suppose that this is more effective to achieve that goal.  I also hope you never become a merchant yourself.  I feel you'd ruin all sorts of businesses that tried to cross you."

"No.  I have nowhere near enough skills or luck to ever do that successfully."

"Well, at least there's that.  Would you like to have some breakfast?"

"No, thank you.  I've noticed a few animal tracks that leads me to think I might be able to do a bit of hunting before we set off again.  Barring that we also made sure to bring our own food so as not to be a drain on any of your resources during the trip."

"Well, I daresay that my cooks are quite skilled so should any of you change your mind during the trip just let me know."

"I'll make sure to let the other two know about your offer, then.  I assume we'll be heading off within the next hour or two?"

"Let's make it two since it seems you desire to get some morning exercise and I apparently need to have a chat with my men."

"We'll be ready to go at that time, then.  I'll make sure at least one of us is within sight at all times and none of us will be too far to call so if anything should happen all anyone has to do is holler."

"Noted.  Well, enjoy your hunt."

"Thank you.  I wish you well in your chat."

Marik walked back to the girls, who had been listening in on the whole thing along with the employees, and looked Sai with a slightly smug look before reaching out stroking her head.

"Told you I'd take care of it.  Also, sorry about eavesdropping last night, Sara.  It wasn't intentional but everything was loud enough for me to hear as I was falling asleep."

"No.  That's okay.  That guy only got more and more annoying before he finally left.  Umm...how much of it did you hear by the way?"

"Enough at the beginning.  I fell asleep soon, though.  We can talk about the specifics of what I heard some other time but it's not a huge deal at the moment."

"So...like...what kinds of things did you hear?"

"*sigh* That you're afraid of me and Sai, for instance.  That made me a little sad to hear since I never intended that but it's also something to fix later, when we're done with this job.  Okay?"

"Okay..."

Sara looked down in slightly dejected manner but Marik intentionally ignored it in order to try not to make her feel worse.  He looked around for a bit and spotted what looked like the freshest small game trail around before turning back to the both of them.

"So.  With all of that out of the way, who wants to try and catch breakfast this morning?"

"Oh oh oh.  Me me.  Pick me."

Sai started hopping around in an excited manner while grinning.  Sara looked over at her inquisitively but showed no attempts to take away her fun.

"Alright.  It looks like some fat rabbit or something was over about there not too long ago and went that way.  If you can catch it within the next half an hour then we get to have juicy meat for breakfast.  If not then it'll be those weird smelling crackers we picked up the other day."

"I'm gone!"

Sai sprinted off towards the game trail and soon disappeared in the trees.  Marik looked back at Sara once he could no longer hear or see Sai anymore.

"Like I said.  Don't worry about it too much.  There's nothing that you said that you should feel about towards me.  If anything, it's good to know that that's how you feel so I can try to point out some things later.  I'm definitely not holding any grudges or negative feelings about any of it other than some minor disappointment in myself for not realizing it before now."

"*sigh* If you say so.  I kind of wanted to overcome it myself, though."

"That's pretty much the only real problem with the situation: there shouldn't be anything for you to need to overcome.  The kind of strength you saw that I have is actually considered very weak in other places.  The only reason it might be seen as strong at the moment is because it's rare around here.  Even Kiara, who rates in my books as the only person in the world that I might actually choose a newborn baby over in a fight, could probably kick my ass if we stuck to only that way of fighting.  It's just something you aren't used to or prepared for, yet."

"I guess.  Wait...you think a newborn could actually beat Kiara in a fight?"

"Is that really the main point you got from that little spiel? *sigh* I seriously and honestly dread the day she has her own child because I really believe it will beat her up immediately without even meaning to or knowing what's going on."

Marik gained a faraway look as he stared out at the forest and thought about Kiara.  He let out another sigh before shaking his head to clear it and noticed the look of incredulity on his sister's face.  He let out one more sigh and thought that this morning was just full of sighing all over the place.