"Hillcrest," Eld corrected automatically. At least she was getting closer. One would think she'd eventually get it right by pure chance if nothing else.

He was forced to admit more and more as the ride continued that it was a good thing he had Etsu, or he'd probably develop a crush on someone like Kaze pretty quickly. As it was, if she kept up with this he still might yet...

"Why Hillcrest?" he asked. He'd figured they were from there, (or at least some of her family was), but apparently that wasn't the case. It wasn't like there was a lot in Hillcrest, at least as far as normal people were concerned. Perhaps he knew someone there or something? Well, if he was the antisocial type, it was a secluded enough place that he could go there and be left alone for quite some time.

"I don't know . . ."

It was quite the predicament for her; her brother was seemingly lost, off to this place she didn't seem to have ever heard of before, a place with a name she could never remember. Hell, she might have even been looking for the wrong town!

"He's never mentioned it before. And I should know! I take care of him, you know?" Kaze declared before sighing again and leaning the side of her head against Eld's. For a moment, she pouted, before continuing: "We're always together usually. He doesn't leave my side, because-- well, you know! He's really bad with people. He's really easily agitated and scared and all that sort, so he needs someone around him a lot of the time that he's familiar with. Or else he just . . ."

Her mood was going south at a fairly steady pace. Even when she was exclaiming things, she was doing it in a much more solemn tone than before. It wasn't immediate; the change in mood was gradual, and it had been sparked by something.

". . . gets lonely," Kaze whispered sadly.

"I-I can kind of understand...I think..." There was a time when he was reluctant to interact with anyone outside his family; as young child, he'd felt like an outcast in the village. It was largely thanks to Sarah's persistent attempts to drag him out of his house that he could socialize even as well as he did now.

"I-I don't have any siblings, but I do have friends who are just as close. S-So...I think I can see where you're coming from."

Though he did have to admit it was a little different; he could see in the way Sarah and Emma interacted--and Remmy, when he was alive--that even very close friends couldn't exactly imitate the relationship between siblings.

I'm really worried about him . . . Kaze thought.

It was at that point which her mood hit rock bottom. Kaze's generally flighty expression had changed into a constant frown, though Eld wouldn't be able to see it that well, and he really didn't have the option to look back at her anymore anyways. After all, were he to turn his head to look at her, he'd wind up accidentally kissing her or something. Her head was about at level with his head, after all, and she wasn't much less than a half an inch shorter than him, overall.

Nonetheless, Kaze didn't like feeling that way--sad like that. Who did? It was never a pleasant feeling. So, she decided it was necessary, now, to get out of the slump she had accidentally dug herself into.

"What are your friends like?" she asked. It was both an effort to pick herself back up and to better get to know the man who'd been kind enough to go out of his way to help her like this.

"M-My friends?" he echoed. The question kind of caught him off guard; he had to spend a minute thinking about it. He'd known them for so long that describing what they were like was tough, because he knew so many sides of them.

"W-Well...one is...kind of a hot head. T-That's Sarah. S-She's a good person, don't get me wrong, but she'd got kind of a short temper, and she's really competitive. I-I think that's just how she has fun, though. S-She can be really kind, too."

"T-There's her sister, Emma...she's a real trouble maker, and she likes to play pranks--especially on me--but she's also a good person deep down. A-And really smart too! P-Practically a genius, she picks all kinds of things up just from reading about them."

"M-Mayako is really shy, especially around people she doesn't know well, but she's a lot more open around people she's comfortable with. S-She's real sweet and kind, and she and her mother are the best cooks I know." There was a bit more he could say about Mayako especially, but...those were the kind of things she would most certainly not want him telling people, especially someone who was more or less a stranger.

"And...then there's Etsu." There was a long silence as he contemplated this. "Etsu is...really quiet. She doesn't talk much, and she's not very good at expressing herself a lot of the time, but...when she smiles, it's like...when you get a present from someone, and it's what you wanted most, except that you didn't even know it was something you wanted until you saw it. Like...the perfect present, you know? That's what it's like every time she smiles."

Yet another silence followed this as it seemed he forgot exactly what he'd been talking about in the first place. After a few moments, though, it jolted back to him. "A-And she's also really good at fishing," he added lamely, clearly embarrassed.

Kaze listened intently to Eld as he talked about his friends. As he talked, her mood lifted steadily. And he talked quite a bit, too--which was totally okay! It was great that he had friends like that, people he could talk about in such detail. Kaze could almost get a perfect picture of them in her mind. Sarah and Emma just sounded like red-heads, Mayako sounded like a shy little book worm, and Etsu . . . she got the best picture of her in her head. Eld didn't even stammer at all when he talked about her. Kaze pictured a girl, always stoic, rarely saying a word or a sentence any more than three words in length. Maybe a depressed girl that didn't think very highly of herself--but still, whenever she smiled, she could brighten the absolute worst of days!

"Awww . . ." Kaze couldn't help herself.

It was just too sweet, the way he described his friends. It made her think of a couple of her friends, too. But . . . she only had them.

"You're really lucky," she responded with a calm joy, "And-- and it must say a lot about you, too! To be able to attract and keep friends like that-- it means you must be as great and interesting as a person as you described them. What's the phrase? Ummmm . . . lizards of a leather run with each other?"

"It's "birds of a feather flock together."" By now, he was hardly even noticing that he was correcting her.

"W-Well...I guess "interesting" is one way to put it," he muttered to himself. He certainly wasn't exactly a normal guy anymore; very little about his life could be thought of as normal anymore, and he savored what little could be.

"I-I'm not all that interesting, really. S-Sometimes I wonder what they all see in me..." Of course, he'd been told some of it a few times, but it never seemed to click with him--personality-wise, anyway--that there was anything all that special or great about him.

"No way. You're really interesting to me. And I only met you today!" Kaze exclaimed. She almost said that she had only met him yesterday. "I can see why you attract a bunch of interesting people like that."

And they sounded like really great friends, too. Indeed, Eld really was lucky to have people like that in his life. Five people he could name right off the top of his head, five people that'd probably do almost anything for him. Five people that, if he were sad, would probably be there at the drop of a hat to comfort him. And he probably had more than that, too. Maybe friends not as close as those five, but still, more and more friends, and probably a lot of good acquaintances, too.

Kaze didn't have that sort of thing. Again, she thought about it. She couldn't remember their names or faces, but she knew she only had two good friends--and she felt like it was always going to be that way, too.

"I'm . . . I'm kind of envious, actually," Kaze thought aloud, "I only have a couple of good friends that really like me for who I am. No one else can stand me, though. I always get on their nerves. It sometimes makes me wonder if I really am as annoying as they say! And-- I'm sorry if I am. I don't mean it, honest."

The way she said it was like some sort of quick apology, now that she had thought about it--a heartfelt apology, definitely, but one thrown out there quickly, like when someone accidentally spilled a drink on someone they liked. Except this apology was for something kind of serious . . .

With Eld, there were two things you could count on: one was that when someone important to him was relying on him, he'd do everything he could and fight with everything he had.

The other was that, when in the presence of an attractive female, he'd somehow make an utter fool out of himself. Usually more than once.

This time it happened as he tried to protest Kaze's statement. "You're not annoy--" He meant it--it could be a little distracting, sure, but it wasn't terribly annoying or anything. Unfortunately, as he was expressing this, he turned his head reflexively in order to better assert his feeling. After all, if someone could see his face, he got his feeling across much clearer usually. What he neglected to consider was that Kaze's head was still resting on his shoulder, so part of the interruption stemmed from them clunking heads together lightly.

The more prominent part of it stemmed from, if only very briefly, his lips meeting hers.

He paused for a moment in surprise, but quickly turned back to face where he was going with such vigor that the horse whinnied in protest. "S-S-Sorry! I-I-I d-didn't m-mean--I-I-I w-was j-just......i-i-it w-was a-an a-accident!"

And just as Eld turned to reassure her, something happened. It was brief and sudden, but Kaze had felt warmth upon her lips. Her eyes grew wide and as if on instinct, she pulled her head back a little, but only after Eld, himself, looked away and apologized. For awhile, Kaze said nothing. She remained pressed up against him, yes, but Eld would be able to feel that she was tense all over, about as tense as she possibly could be--and by virtue of that, he'd be able to tell that she wasn't all that physically strong, either.

But nonetheless, Kaze didn't say anything for several long moments. She was lost in thought for that time, lost somewhere, thinking about those friends she couldn't picture anymore. They did that sort of thing, kissing.

". . . . . . I . . . . . I . . . . . ."

Eld couldn't see her face, and he was likely not going to turn around to look at her again, either. Not as long as she had her head there. Now, of course, she had backed her head away a little bit, but only by about an inch, and she wound up breaking that distance again, most likely by complete accident.

Nonetheless, as Eld could not see her face, he wouldn't be able to tell if she was upset. She was stammering, yes, definitely! And with her arms still around his shoulders, she was holding onto his shirt rather tight-like. She could have been angry. She could have been enraged, even! And maybe even want to throw Eld off the horse and yell at him for being a pervert!

But for once, Eld was lucky. Kaze wasn't upset. No, she wasn't upset at all. She was--

"I-- . . . . I'm s-sorry . . . . if . . ." Kaze's lengthy pauses and stutters were much fewer, now, and shifted drastically in tone as she continued, taking a more inquisitive tone: ". . . if I'm as a-annoying a-as . . . they say . . .?"

--hopeful? Yes, it would stand out in her tone. She even tilted her head to the side a bit, away from Eld's head, while still keeping her chin upon his shoulder, and kept her eyes transfixed on the profile of Eld's face.

Ah jeez, I really screwed up now--I kissed her! But I didn't mean to, it's not like it was a real kiss or anything, it was just our lips meeting, I mean, Mizuki would have definitely not called that a romantic or passionate kiss by any means even if it was on purpose! Etsu's the one I want to be with, not her, not that she's bad or anything but I hardly know her and I already love Etsu so--it's not like I was cheating on her or anything, but then again it's not like we're really going out right now or anything, or...man, this is way too complicated.

As a million things ran through Eld's head, he hardly noticed the tense way Kaze clung to him. He was far too flustered to pay much attention to what she was saying, so he couldn't help but take her words at face value.

"N-N-No! Y-Y-You're n-not a-annoying o-or a-anything!" he stammered quickly, both as a response to her words and as a honed instinct to placate women in these situations.

Kaze pouted a little. That was not the reaction she was hoping for! In her mind, she sighed. Truly, she had hoped that repeating what she had said would illicit the same response as before, Eld turning his head and pressing his lips against hers. It was kind of disappointing that it hadn't happened.

But still, she couldn't be too disappointed! After all, Eld had paid her a massive compliment! She wasn't searching for compliments or anything like that, but it was still nice to hear someone say that she wasn't annoying.

"W-well . . ." she trailed off, before smiling a little again, "I'm glad you think so."

Unless Eld said anything after that point, she'd go silent, contently leaning her head against Eld's against and keeping her body against his. His company was pretty nice, she had to admit! She might forget his name later, but if she were ever by this town ever again, she'd know that there was someone here that she'd want to come by and visit.

Eld was a bit confused by her reaction--as far as he could tell, she'd hardly acknowledged what happened. Granted, that was still leagues better than the kind of response he was used to getting for that kind of thing. She was older than him, though--maybe she was too mature to be bothered by an accident like that.

The rest of the trip was made in relative silence, with Eld being too embarrassed to try and strike up anymore conversations. She continued to hold onto him tightly enough to make him glad the girls were in town today; he'd never hear the end of it if any of them saw them.

After what seemed like ages to Eld but was really no longer than the trip usually took, they made it to Hillcrest. "W-Well, here we are," he stated, which would have been unnecessary to anyone else but may have been extremely necessary with how Kaze could zone out. "Y-You can get off here if you want, I've got to return the horse." There was no sense in making her wait around for that--she probably want to get on with looking for her brother.

"O-oh," she started as she came to realize where she was, "This is Billbest?"

For awhile there, she had completely blanked out--and incidentally, there was still no risk of her falling off the horse, even if she hadn't been holding onto Eld.

Nonetheless, she began to glance around. Hillcrest really wasn't a big place. Not a lot of people lived here, compared to Galaens. It was a village, for all intents and purposes--but still, it was big enough to merit the interest of bandits many months beforehand. There were enough people here to farm constantly and supply an army with food, and the citizens of Hillcrest had done it before. So, not large, but definitely not tiny, and it was surrounded by trees and rolling hills . . .

It was nice.

Kaze thought for a moment, before rethinking the idea. She really didn't know her way around here. She was bound to get lost.

"Um . . . well . . . actually, do you think you could help me out?" Kaze asked; she hadn't gotten off the horse yet, either, "I've never really been here. It all looks kind of confusion . . ."

"Hillcrest," Eld corrected automatically.

It wasn't that Eld didn't like her, but something strange had already happened between him and this woman, and experience told him that such things were rarely isolated incidents for him. If he spent much more time with her, all signs pointed towards things becoming complex and messy.

Ultimately though, he couldn't leave a girl lost in a town she was unfamiliar with no matter how much trouble it might eventually get him in. "I-I suppose...but I have to bring this stuff to my parents first," he replied, gesturing to the bags on the horse.