* LAMBS BECOME LIONS.

    She had lost track of how long their party had spent on and off in battle that day, the sun beating down mercilessly upon every sordid battle and enervated step along the unobscurred path that Nanna began to wonder if even the Maker Himself was determined to deny them rest until finally mercy manifested in a shaded mountainside clearing. Relief and weariness weighed thickly over the camp as they settled by the shielding stones, a quiet word of thanks sent skyward for the shape of land that would take the brunt of defense off the weary party. Gratefulness aside, Nanna grimaced as she began to feel the pull of her limbs that already felt like anchors tied to her wrists and weighing on her eyelids, longing desperately as the others did for a bedroll and a long, undisturbed night.

    But when the time came, naturally she had been the first to volunteer for night’s watch.

    A heavy sigh rounded the young mage’s slender shoulders, quieting the note of longing and envy swelling up within her as the bleached flash of tent cloth and the warm crackle of fire dancing in the corner of her eye. But Nanna was determined to ignore it, silencing any voice of ache or protest from within and set herself to work placing her protective wards from her place on the ground. After all, how horrid a girl would she be were she to expect those who’d fought so valiantly to endure it longer when she remained so capable? A rueful smile touched her lips. No, she could never ask such a thing; not when she’d been the one so often protected.

    Reverie fades with the familiar warmth of her presence, the elven mage settling at her side with a similar fatigue. Her smile warmed and brightened as hazel hues drift down to Mei’s pleasantly lazing form.