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This wasn\'t really the slightly whimsical detour in the plans I thought it would shape out to be. 

It was going above and beyond from that, instead, it was bogging this date down… dragging it across the goopy mud, grazing it past prickly thorny bushes, and forcing it through every whippy bendy branch…

We walked the rest of the way in silence. I don\'t think either of us even wanted to be here anymore, only forging on simply out, well… obligation, I suppose.

Once we do get there, then what? Take a seat in the dewy grass, past some smores, share some small stories over the Ria-fire? 

Irene was a pace ahead of me that was gradually turning into two. I followed her footsteps, dragging myself across the goopy mud, grazing myself past prickly thorny bushes, and forcing myself through every whippy bendy branch.

This went on until, close to our destination, Irene suddenly winded to a grinding halt that caught me off-guard, nearly crashing into her. Luckily, I swerved myself at the last instance and ended up skidding my feet directly beside her.

She was staring intensely ahead, her eyes like a predator\'s stalking the night… scouring… for long, almost eternal seconds, unblinking.

"Someone\'s there," She whispered. 

I almost didn\'t hear it. 

"Someone\'s…?"

"With Ria. But it\'s not the Fey, this presence is..." There was this panicked almost stifling urgency in her voice, and she immediately doubled her strides forward. "How well do you guys keep her hidden?" 

She was getting so far ahead that I had to call out after her as she shot past me. "Well so far, it\'s been good enough, I mean..." it took those wasted syllables, those wasted breaths, before I realized that she wasn\'t even listening… she was a speeding bullet in six-inch heels, no way she was gonna hear me anyhow.

So I just sprinted along after her in the darkness, wondering to myself just who this culprit could be… so many possibilities. A stumbling drunkard stumbling drunk, perchance? Some teenagers fancying themselves urban explorers? If it ain\'t Sera, then there\'s only a handful left that could possibly know. 

Me, Amanda, Adalia, Irene herself, and... 

"Ah crap…" 

I emerged through the final clump of bushes and out into the open space with leaves in my hair, and grime in my shoes… halting beside Irene herself, her gasps of breath strenuous but quiet.

Everything remained as is here in this place, the same wooden scenery thick with greenery, the small meadow of flowers swaying afar… and the same bed of grass where a dimly smoldering phoenix laid slumbering at peace. But huddled above Ria was another… a distinct pair of bright green eyes that stared back at me in surprise. 

"Master?" Ash stood up at once, her gaze wide, shifting from left to right. "This is… unexpected. Is this a part of your date? For what reason have you come here?"

She was dressed this time at least, dressed modestly too. It was the same jacket/jeans combo from all the way back on our first day together. Throughout all of our misadventures that outfit has gradually degraded over time, with our latest venture seeing it all torn up and its fabric bloodied. 

At this point, it was nothing more than rags and tatters, barely being held together through the fine work of a sewing needle… and still she continues to wear it regardless.

"I could ask you the same, Elf," Irene said, stern and taut. "Why are you not home? What are you doing here? Why isn\'t Sera here?" 

"She\'s here under my request, Irene," I step forward between them. "I forgot to mention, Sera is… Sera decided she wanted to stay over for tonight, so I had Ash here check up on Ria. Make sure she\'s still here and whatnot." 

"Stay over? Wait, hold on," Irene scrunched her expression. "Why? For what reason? And why did you let her?" 

I shrugged. "What\'s the alternative? Say no, and have her despise me even more?" 

"She might be up to something."

"Lady Irene, I assure you," Ash spoke out. "Sera has no malevolent intentions for doing as she did, her only motive being a whimsical sense of curiosity she couldn\'t help but want to satisfy." 

"So she says, Elf," Irene\'s gaze remained as piercing as ever. "But we believe her - why? Have we really so easily forgotten what her true goals are? What\'s she asked of you, asked of your master? Her staying over must just be a way to further that goal of hers somehow, who can say?" 

She was clearly reaching now, I could tell. Off the rails of facts, and down the cliff of speculation. So I reached a hand towards her, and rein her back a bit. "Sera despises liars, remember? Forgive the pun, but she wouldn\'t be caught dead lying herself. There\'s no grand plan of hers just waiting to be unfolded… it\'s just a sleepover." 

Her suspicions were understandable. She hasn\'t met with Sera since the last time, and during the last time, I was still pretty much within her crosshairs. But since then, circumstances have shifted, and Sera\'s mellowed out a bit… something you had to see firsthand before you could believe it.

So asking Irene to just simply take my word for it was kinda… being hopeful at best.

But eventually, after maintaining a firm reassuring smile, I finally heard Irene give that begrudging sigh of acceptance, walking forward to Ria\'s side. "Fine. You obviously know her character more than I ever will. I\'ll just trust your word and leave this in your clearly capable hands then."

Sarcasm. It was always her most attractive, most enticing quality about her bar none. Everything else about her was just fluff anyway. 

Anyway once we established Sera was in the clear, now there was this to deal with. This… this awkwardness. Having Ash here with us at this very moment was like striking a match in a gas leak. Something was gonna combust, there was just no telling what.

We met eyes again, and the moment we did, it was if we were instantly transported back to the confines of her bedroom walls, back on top of her bed… back to feeling her lips, stroking her hair, the warmth of her body pressing hard against mine. 

Neither of us both spoke a single \'nother word to each other, but from the way she immediately averted her gaze, and the way I veered mine, clearly our thoughts were but one and the same. 

Which… shit.

Just luck that we three just so happened to congregate here all at once. We couldn\'t have been hours apart, or even minutes apart, nope, where\'s the turmoil in that? 

Irene seemed oblivious to the growing tension between Ash and me, which was good, instead only fixated on Ria\'s slumbering expression, as she crouched down for a better look. 

When she went closer, Ash crept further away, making space. At the distance, she watched Irene stare away the flickering dimming cinders detaching from the strands of glowing red. 

I noticed her hands were squirming, clasped against one another. I also noticed the quick, sporadic twitches of her ears. If apprehension was a woman, then Ash was the perfect model. 

She cleared her throat, and slowly opened her mouth. "Well, seeing as you two are already here anyway. I believe my presence along with my aid is no longer required, and so as such, Master, Lady Irene, I bid you farewell, and a good evening." 

Ash bowed twice, one to the left, another to the right, and hurriedly marched away from where we came. Sparing not even a single glance, a single word to anything else. 

When walked past me, I felt my chest immediately tighten, and faintly, I could also hear her breathe in deep. I had my lips parted, I didn\'t know why… maybe there was something I wanted to say. 

Offer her a ride home, maybe… drop her off at the house. This cold a night, this lonely a night… but I knew I couldn\'t, shouldn\'t, not now, not for the rest of the night. I simply had to watch her go. 

And besides, she\'d just smile and refuse anyway and it wouldn\'t have mattered. 

Still, wouldn\'t it arouse suspicion if I didn\'t? Would it arouse more if I did? What\'s the right choice here? 

"Do you want us to drop you back at the house?" 

Ash was already a significant distance away when she stopped moving, turning back again, the gleam of emerald eyes briefly meeting mine again, before they drifted elsewhere. 

Her lips also smiled elsewhere. 

"Thank you for the kind offer, Lady Irene," She said in a gentle whisper. "But sadly, I\'m afraid I have to humbly decline. I\'ve already imposed myself enough with my presence. It is best I leave you two alone."

"No, no, it\'s really no trouble for us both. It\'s late, it\'s chilly, the next bus is ages from now," Irene continued to say, glancing at me once to ask, "I mean, you certainly won\'t mind it, right?" 

I narrowed my lips. "Ah, well - "

"Please!" Ash interjected at once, her voice loud before returning meek. "Please. It is really no issue. I prefer your time spent not on such trivial matters. I-I insist, please… enjoy yourselves tonight. You… you have to." 

"Have to?" Irene asked. "Why would you think your presence would ruin anything?" 

But there was no answer.. In a rustle of leaves, the snapping of twigs, and a smile cleanly faded, Ash was gone.