Ray was leaning against a large rock, doing his best to keep his tired eyes open as the fire snapped calmly, flames leaping out to attack the darkness and shadows around them. Brandon had awakened Ray about an hour ago, but to the dragon it felt like days as he did his best to stay awake. He hadn't actually noticed that he was drifting off to sleep again until a loud snap from the fire caused him to open his eyes and sit up, startled. With a sigh, he settled himself back down and glanced around the small camp. Janet was a few feet away on Ray's right. She had fallen asleep with her knees pulled up under her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Across the fire from Ray, Jason was sprawled out, his head propped up against a pile of brush, and he was snoring loudly. Far to the right of Jason, Brandon was leaning up against a tree, his arms across his chest and his rapier at his side. Even asleep, the windian guard seemed oddly alert. Lying between Brandon and Ray, Lucy was curled up as close as she could get to the dying fire, shivering a little whenever a gust of wind would pass through the camp. Ray wasn't surprised. She doesn't even have some sort of a coat, and that doesn't look like a very warm dress she's wearing. He thought as he watched the windian. He had to admit, even Janet's dress looked warmer then compared to what Lucy had on.

Lucy stirred a bit in her restless sleep, shuddering and muttering quietly as she tried to edge her way even closer to the fire. Ray sighed as he watched her, feeling sorry for the cold windian.

"It's not a very warm fire..." The dragon watched Lucy for a while, waiting for a response. After a moment of silence, he began to wonder if she was really awake or just moving like that in her sleep. With a sigh, he began to settle himself against the rock again when he heard Lucy's quiet reply.

"At least it's casting enough light to keep anything from bothering us." Her voice was quiet and seemed to echo the sleepiness she felt. "How much longer until sunrise?"

Ray glanced up at the sky for a moment before shrugging. "Few hours... I don't know how long I was asleep before Brandon woke me up." He heard Lucy sigh.

"At least you've been able to sleep."

Ray glanced over at the windian, raising an eyebrow curiously at her. "You can't sleep?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Lucy answered. "I don't know... I don't know if I've been asleep or if I've been living this weird reality... nothing seems right..."

Ray nodded, more to himself then to Lucy. "I'm sure a few of us are feeling like that right now..." He glanced back and forth from the sleeping Janet to the snoring Jason. "Those two shouldn't even be here..."

"None of us should be here, this is stupid." Lucy sighed loudly and finally worked herself into a sitting position.

Ray gave her a curious look. "Why do you say that? It's destiny, isn't it?"

"Destiny?" Lucy glanced over at Ray, her eyes void of emotion, but Ray could sense a hurt tone in her voice. "Destiny chose the wrong people..."

Ray glanced around at the small camp again and shrugged lightly. "That remains to be seen..." He sighed lightly. "But Janet and Jason came on their own..."

"I wasn't talking about them." Lucy's eyes had a tinge of bitterness in them now as she stared into the flickering fire.

Ray sighed quietly. "If you didn't want to do this, then why are you here now?"

"I guess I have to... like you said... it's destiny... and I guess it could be considered my fault anyway that the king is sick..."

"Now don't say that. Why would you think something like that?"

Lucy sighed loudly. "It's a curse, right? These stupid feathers of mine..."

"That's a silly thing to say." Ray glanced over at her. "Brandon has black wings. Do you think he's responsible for anything bad that's been happening?"

"Brandon wasn't a Nina."

"You're not a Nina either, you're Lucy."

Lucy fell silent again as she stared into the fire. Ray continued to study her face, watching her for any type of reaction.

"Why are you here anyway?" Lucy's voice had once again drained itself of all emotion. Ray had gotten used to hearing it like that. She seemed to talk like that whenever she had something on her mind.

"It's my job, I guess. Kind of an inherited thing." He offered a light chuckle. "Light dragons have some odd knack for running out and beating up on demons... and besides, I told you I'd do this anyway."

Lucy didn't respond right away as she stared at the fire. "I can't believe you still remember that." Her voice seemed to have lightened up a bit, allowing a bit of wonder to slip into it.

Ray shrugged. "A promise is a promise, right?" There was another moment of silence before Lucy spoke up again, changing the subject.

"It's getting warmer. I think the sun will be coming up soon."

Ray nodded. "Going to try and get some sleep while you still can?"

Lucy shuddered. "I don't know... every time I close my eyes I see that weird face... but, I suppose I should try." Ray watched as the windian made herself comfortable and closed her eyes, slowly drifting back into a dreamless sleep. He studied her in envy, wishing he could do the same, but reminded himself that he had already stated he would watch the fire until morning. With a sigh, he settled himself against the rock again and gazed up at the sky, his mind wandering contently. Once again Ray hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until the light shaking of Lucy's hand on his shoulder roused him that morning.

Ray's eyes shot open as he sat up.

"What? Huh? The fire! What time is it?" He glanced around, startled and half-forgetting where he was.

Lucy watched the stressed dragon for a moment before speaking in her normal, emotionless monotone voice. "It's a little past dawn, about 8 o'clock. Don't worry about the fire, it hadn't even died out before Brandon woke up. Why didn't you wake up Jason if you were going to fall asleep?" Her question seemed to hold an accusing tone to it.

"I didn't know I was going to fall asleep." Ray sighed as he calmed himself down from his waking shock. Brandon was busy getting Jason to wake up, and Janet was stretching, yawning widely.

"If we get started now, we can make it to Forest Cape at about noon and see get some food there." Brandon said as he kicked Jason roughly in the side, causing him to roll over with a groan and finally sit up.

"I'm up already, damn... you don't have to beat me into getting up or anything." Jason rubbed his side and muttered through clenched teeth.

"Good. I might have had to use my sword next time." Brandon made his way over to the fireplace and nudged the cooling remains around with his boot. "I'm assuming no one else considered to bring much money with them." The shaking heads of Brandon's party members confirmed his assumptions. "Well then, perhaps someone will let us work for food or something."

"Oh, so the Royal Windian guard didn't even think ahead far enough to bring some zenny along with him?" Jason had made his way to a standing position and was stretching as he eyed Brandon scornfully. Brandon turned to meet Jason's gaze with his own heavy stare.

"I brought zenny, but only for emergencies. Which you might find yourself in rather quickly if you don't ease up a bit on your traveling partners."

"Is that a threat?" Jason raised a taunting eyebrow at Brandon. Janet sighed in annoyance.

"Only Jason would like to start the day off with a good and bloody fight... really gets you pumped for the morning."

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up!"

"Will you both just calm down?" Lucy sighed loudly.

Ray nodded in agreement with her before giving Jason a sharp glare. "Stop picking fights with everyone. If you don't want to deal with us, just head back now."

Jason muttered a few choice words under his breath but made no real reply to the dragon.

"Alright then..." Ray was beginning to feel a bit more confident about leading this particular group. At least more so now then he had been when they had first started out. "Let's get going. You said we should get there around noon, right?" He glanced at Brandon who nodded.

"If we make good time. Which means leaving now and not stopping for any longer then necessary."

There were a few groans from the more hungry party members, but the group finally began to head for Forest Cape, the promise of having lunch there being motivation most of them.