"This is . . . Galaens?" she asked again as she looked around her.

For a moment, she continued to do this, as if searching for some sign that this man with his horse was right about the town. A sign, a si--

A sign on the pharmacy, right below the name of the pharmacy, read "Galaens, twnshp, 219." The woman immediately recognized the name of the town.

"Ohhhh! Huh. It is," she remarked in momentary awe, before whispering to herself, "That's right, I'm supposed to meet someone here later."

For a brief moment, Eld's question didn't seem to register with her. Following her realization that Eld was, in fact, completely correct in saying that this was the township of Galaens, she blanked out for a second or two, just staring down the road with a spacey look in her eyes, the same way she had been staring at the pharmacy when she was accidentally following Eld, before she even recognized the fact that the pharmacy was even a building at all.

"Oh!" she proclaimed as she shook it off and turned her attention back to Eld once again, only to answer innocently, "I'm looking for someone there."

I'm really, really going to regret this. She was looking for someone. She didn't already know someone, nor was she doing business there or anything. She was looking for someone.

"I'm from there. Who are you looking for? Maybe I know them."

Oh, he did know them. He already knew exactly who it was. It was possibly the only person anyone new coming to Hillcrest has sought in the last few months. She practically didn't have to answer.

Maybe she just won't remember. He didn't really put any stock into it, though.

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm . . ."

Again, the woman lifted her right hand up, and tugged on her lower lip with her index finger--and again, she looked up to the sky. That's right, she was thinking again. It was definitely a habit of hers whenever she was trying to recall something. It wouldn't have happened twice in less than ten minutes, otherwise.

For a few seconds, this continued. Slowly but surely, her scarlet eyes, ever so bright they were, trailed down, slowly from the sky to the ground, but unlike before, it wasn't a disappointing conclusion in the least.

"Oh! My brother!" she replied proudly; yes, even prouder than before, almost a child-like pride, even, as she had figured it out entirely on her own, "He's supposed to be in Hillsbet right now."

A~nd she forgot the name of the village already.

"Hillcrest," Eld corrected automatically.

Eld felt much of the tension that had been building up leave him. Sure, his life got royally strange as of late, but he was still positive that he did not have a sister, especially one who looking nothing like him. So the chances of him being the person she was looking for were pretty much nothing.

"Well...I'm heading back right now. I can give you a ride there, if you like," he offered. She was clearly a bit...out there. Whoever her brother was, he'd have to tell him to make sure someone accompanied her if she traveled again. It was clearly not a good idea to leave her on her own.

"Who's your brother? It's not a big town, I probably know him."

"Hillcrest, right," she said with a cheeky smile, agreeing with Eld as if she had said the name of the village right all along.

Of course, Eld's question forced her to think again--once more in the same way way, looking up to the sky as if it it had her answer.

Now, the woman wasn't touched in the head or anything. She could read just fine, and could probably write just fine, too. Socializing didn't seem too difficult, either, and she was very friendly and easy to get along with . . . well, that is if the person she was socializing with had a lot of patience. She was just a bit . . . well, loopy. That was a good way of saying it--loopy, spacey, a little silly, probably ditsy, and in possession of an absolutely horrible memory.

It took a moment, but she soon leveled her gaze upon Eld. "That would be really sweet of you! And-- and-- and . . Dekishui! That's his name--Dekishui."

"Dekishui?"

That was odd; Eld didn't know anyone by that name. And he was pretty certain he'd remember a name like that; it sounded Cizokian, and there weren't that many in town.

"Guess I was wrong. I don't know him." Maybe. Then again, maybe it was a nickname or something. Or maybe she had his name wrong, although he really didn't want to think she'd forget something like that.

Climbing onto the horse, he offered her an arm to help her up. "Oh, I'm Eld, by the way," he said suddenly, realizing he'd never introduced himself.

"Eld?" she asked as she accepted his help up.

It sounded like a name she should have remembered. Yes, as a matter of fact, it was a name she had certainly heard before. When, where, and why, she couldn't really remember. As she experienced that with a lot of things, she put no stock in it. Nonetheless, she climbed up onto the horse with Eld's help, and sat still behind him without any assistance.

A very sturdy riding device, this horse! The young woman left her arms by her sides nonetheless. She seemed balanced well enough, though.

"I'm Kaze," she replied. That time, though, she did have to think--but not nearly as hard as she did before with other names. "It's nice to meet you, Eld!"

Eld hoped for her sake she'd just spaced out rather than had trouble remembering her own name. It was an interesting name to be sure; he didn't know much Cizokian, but he did know that her name was literally "Wind."

It made him wonder idly if Etsu's name meant anything. Perhaps he'd have to ask her later. Assuming she came back tonight; if she was spending the day with the girls, it was possible they'd have a sleepover or something as well.

"Nice to meet you, too." Which was true, even if she was kind of strange. Not that he really had any right to throw that accusation around anymore.

He had to glance back at her, as she wasn't holding on to him as he assumed she would need to--but actually, it seemed she could balance very well. It was kind of impressive; he wasn't a bad rider, but even he needed to hold on to the person in front of him if he was the passenger.

It was time to go, though he kept the horse at a slow pace at first, until he was sure she wasn't going to fall off...

For awhile, Kaze didn't even hold on, and she remained perfectly balanced. Moments passed, they rode out of town at a slow pace, but she wasn't even fazed by it. For the time, though, she had spaced out, and gazed off past Eld blankly. It was likely he could have ridden faster, and she still would have been fine. However, she soon blinked look to Eld in front of her at about the same time as he was checking on her, and she smiled cheekily.

But then, she leaned forward. Kaze was a little . . . close, maybe. Needlessly close, probably; she seemed to balance herself perfectly before, when she sat on the horse, and probably didn't even need to hold onto Eld. Yes, Kaze probably would have been perfectly fine, but she did wind up pressing herself against Eld's back, leaning into him really, draping her arms around his waist from behind. She even set her chin upon his right shoulder.

Now, considering the source, she couldn't possibly be intentionally seductive or flirty. If she was, it was probably entirely on accident.

Either way, Eld was in luck. The girls weren't anywhere to be seen, especially now that they were out of the town.

"So, you said you're from Chillsnest?" she asked. It was kind of a way of making small talk, except she was asking with genuine interest--about anything he could say regarding it, really.

"H-Hillcrest," Eld again corrected automatically. And he probably would keep doing it, in the same way he corrected some of Etsu's worse grammar. He really couldn't help it; it was like a reflex.

Is she doing this on purpose...? She did only start leaning into him once she'd noticed him checking on her, but perhaps she only intended to set his mind at ease so he could ride faster. He couldn't be sure.

She's not even wearing a bra. It wasn't a bad feeling, having her pressing him against him, but it made him nervous for a number of reasons. "Y-Yeah, I was born and raised there. B-But...I-I'll probably leaving sometime soon."

Why do these things always happen to me? It's not that he disliked female attention, but he already had a girl he liked, and...well...recently being popular had only caused a lot of trouble.

"Oh."

She paused briefly. Well, as brief as Kaze's pauses went. She was a bit of a flaky person, and sometimes had fairly long pauses. This one was short, though, comparatively.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kaze asked.

Eld seemed to be a little nervous. It was pretty evident, even to a person like Kaze. He stuttered a little, and she could feel the way he shook briefly. It was weird. She didn't know why he was so nervous, but she was concerned!

Incidentally, as she asked, she held onto him a little tighter and, at the same time, pressed against him with her whole body, rather than just leaning into his back with her chest. It wasn't on purpose, of course! But it probably wasn't going to make Eld any less nervous . . .

"I-I'm just fine," Eld stammered as he was squeezed from behind. He now pointedly kept his gaze on the road ahead of him, as his face was probably bright red. He had to wonder if she purposely teasing him or not; it wouldn't be the first time an older woman decided to tease him. His thoughts drifted to the pink haired seamstress he'd gone out with a few times...

She was always friendly about it, though; he couldn't tell if Kaze was oblivious to what she was doing or trying to mess with him.

Deciding that the best thing to do was just ignore it, he asked, "H-How about you? W-Where are you from?" He gathered that it wasn't from around here, and her name was definitely Cizokian, but she could have been raised elsewhere still.

Still, she remained where she was, holding onto Eld tightly. It felt a little nice, actually, being this close to a person.

"Ummmmm . . ." Kaze hummed in thought.

It shouldn't have been something she needed to think about so deeply, but Kaze certainly did. Well, then again, she also had to think pretty deep about her brother's name and her own name. More than likely, everything was susceptible to her poor memory span. After a few seconds, she came up with her answer.

"I . . . don't remember," she replied, and whereas she should have sighed, she did not. Kaze was still rather jovial about it. "But my family's always been together, where ever we go. Sometimes we split up and go our separate ways, but we always come back. My little brother, though . . ."

Again, she trailed off, but not for lack of memory . . .

So, her family traveled a lot, it seemed. He focused on that thought, rather than the way she held on to him tightly. If he could just distract himself, he'd be fine. But he didn't want to press, either--her last sentence sounded like she was reluctant to speak about the situation, rather than just not remembering.

"Is that the brother you're meeting?" he asked instead. He figured that was a safe question; she could tell him about her brother if she wanted, or she could keep her mouth shut.

Kaze nodded, "Yeah."

Little brother could have meant anything, though. They could have been separated by a year, two years, three or four--it didn't really matter, but clearly her brother was old enough to travel on his own.

"I don't know why he came here," Kaze thought aloud, "He just . . . up and disappeared the other day! And someone told me he was talking about some place called Hillyset, so I started off as quick as I could! I don't like leaving him alone."

Which may have been something that she was thinking about before, when she trailed off just a couple of seconds earlier. Clearly she didn't mind talking about it, even if it was a touchy subject. Eld was a total stranger, too, but she seemed to trust him well enough to hold onto him like this. He could very well have done a vast number of horrible things to her, but she was either ignorant to those sorts of risks, or simply trusted Eld enough just by the look on his face when she met him.

"He's not good with people," she sighed and sulked her head on Eld's shoulder.