Dante took a seat on the stump a few feet away from Sūnva. Whatever tree had once been here, it had been large. Though, he had no idea what was normal here. He had seen a couple of local trees on his way to the camp and they had been scraggly, half-dead things. Hopefully, he would know one day.


    Aside from a glance, Sūnva did not react to his intrusion. Instead, she returned to her inspection of the horizon. The breeze shifted, blowing the smoke from her pipe towards him. It had a sweet scent with an aftertaste that was fresh and almost minty. He had a brief flash of nostalgia. The smell reminded him of some of the e-cigs that had been popular in his high school before he had dropped out. When she breathed out, the smoke was an azure blue. It spiraled in little eddies beyond as if driven by a turbulent current despite the tepid air. It was quite entrancing.


    This was a side of Sūnva that he hadn’t seen, though he hadn’t known her long. Maybe three weeks? As long as he had been here. Dante had this picture of her, tall, imposing, and imperious in armor that looked like it had been forged from the night sky itself. Hair the color of ruby streaming from her head that matched the carnage of the battlefield. A mythical figure of sorts. But here, clad in a loose-fitting linen shirt and leather pants, she looked like a normal woman. One who was tired, judging by the black circles under her eyes.


    Dante followed her gaze to the camp surroundings and wondered what she was thinking about. During this rest period, he had spent the vast majority of his time in the camp proper. It was large enough to lose yourself in and he needed his maps to navigate comfortably. Yesterday was the first day that he had traveled far enough to reach the camp edge. He had seen the same sight then as he did now.


    Endless fields of grass so white they appeared carved from bleached bone. As far as the eye could reach. The only things that broke up the monotony were craters and fortifications, which looked like scars upon a corpse. Last time, he had touched the grass and it had crumbled to dust in his hands.


    War appeared to be as destructive here as his world. If not more so.


    He had not stayed long last time. It was disturbing. Dante hoped that the lands beyond this were not all like this. If it were … he might have preferred death to living here.


    “What do you see?”


    Sūnva’s voice made him jump. Dante returned his gaze to her and found her staring intently at him. Her hair and eyes were a splash of color on an otherwise barren canvas. Dante held her gaze as he considered the question.


    “Failure.”


    War always is at the end of the day, he thought to himself.


    Sūnva nodded and silence descended again. She took another pull from her pipe, made a faint noise of dissatisfaction, opened a pouch, and retrieved some dried plant matter. She tamped it into the pipe and tried again. This attempt brought about the largest cloud yet. Seeming satisfied, Sūnva offered it to him with a raised eyebrow. Dante hesitated, then reached for it.


    Ah, what the hell, I gave up smoking a while ago but I could die tomorrow. She wouldn’t offer it to me if it would hurt me. Right?


    Dante took it from her and took an experimental drag of his own. It went down smoothly, tasting rather woody and rather like berries. He let it linger in his lungs and found that it made them feel chilled, like menthol in cigarettes. Letting it out, he was surprised to see that the smoke came out an iridescent white. Neither did it roil, instead glimmering in a cloud of motes of lights. He took a glance at Sūnva and saw a raised eyebrow. She did not comment on it, instead returning her gaze to the horizon.


    “It was not always this way. Was full of people and life. Oh, the Nāltios! Good times.”


    She looked rather sad, having said that, and he wondered if maybe she had once lived here. Looking back to the desolate fields he had a hard time imagining a life out here. He could not even hear the chirp of birds nor the small sounds of insects.


    “What happened?”


    He regretted the question as soon as he asked it, as a look of profound sadness, then fury passed over Sūnva’s face. Dante took another pull from the pipe to hide his discomfort. It was affecting him, he was now certain. His limbs had grown heavy and his thoughts had quieted. It was somewhat reminiscent of weed but without none of the mental fog. At least, he thought so. He would see if that held up tomorrow.


    “The Ahsmati. Vloan Betrayers. Couldn’t be happy with their duty. Turned on their L?ūs.”


    “L?ūs?”


    “Hmmm. Father or mother to son. Not quite, but close enough.”


    Dante froze and Sunva plucked the pipe from his fingers.


    Creator? Does this mean that they created the Ahsmai? So, this is a creation versus creator situation? And they had some sort of ‘duty’. Oh shit, this is sounding more and more sketchy by the second.


    Dante eyed Sūnva carefully, looking for any sign of remorse, but her face was a mask to him. Running his mind through the interactions between him and all of his companions, none of them had ever voiced regret for the war. No, he mostly had seen a lot of anger.


    Am I on the wrong side?


    Dante shook his head vigorously at the thought. He took a deep breath and tried to put his thoughts in order.


    “I can’t make conclusions yet. I don’t have the entire story. I mean, look at what they did! This goes beyond salting the land. But still, I need to figure this out. I refuse to fight in this if so.”


    With a start, he realized that Sūnva was peering at him carefully. Her piercing eyes had taken on an altogether suspicious cast. Dante schooled his facial expression while his thoughts whirled.


    Shit. Shit. Shit! She noticed something. I am guessing that being sympathetic with the enemy is considered bad. Quick, I need to think of a topic to distract her. It can''t look like an obvious evasion. But what could that be? Hmm … Maybe … yeah that could work.


    Dante broke eye contact and looked out over the desolation in what he hoped was a wistful manner. He sighed dramatically and said: “Home is very different.”


    Come on, take the bait.


    A beat of silence passed. Dante fought to keep his gaze forward and maintain the act of disinterest. He had written it off as a failure when she spoke.


    “What is your home?”


    Yes! Topic successfully changed!


    “It is called America. It is … very far from here. I am not sure how far. It is quiet, still. No war, no blood, no fear. Not like this.” He gestured at the razed fields all around. “Green.”


    By the end of it, he was not stilted. A genuine smile had found itself on his face. He was struck then by how much he missed it. Even living in poverty there was kingly compared to here. His time on the streets was excluded. At the very least, he did not go hungry here.


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    “Peaceful?”


    “Is that the word for it? Yeah, peaceful. That is, we did have wars. But they were far off things.”


    “What is it like?”


    Dante returned his gaze to her, confused. The suspicion in her eyes had died away and she leaned forward, eyes bright. It was like he was telling a fairy tale.


    “What is what like?”


    “Peace.”


    That floored him. He thought that there might be a mistranslation, but the words they used were simple and unambiguous. Still, he had to make sure.


    “You want to know what peace is like?”


    A single nod. She almost seemed embarrassed.


    Whaa … I can’t even … how do I respond to this? Am I understand that this war has been going on so long that she does not even know the idea of peace? She''s like, in her mid to late twenties? Perhaps even her parents didn’t experience peace if she is this ignorant. What is going on in this world?


    Whatever the case, it seemed like he had misjudged the scale of this war. It was no surprise that they had developed the sophisticated group magic, trenches, and chemical warfare if they had been fighting for this long. It did not paint a good picture of the state of the rest of the country. He needed to reevaluate his escape plans. That could wait until later, Sūnva was beginning to look uncomfortable. Still, how did he answer this? He had never not lived in peace until he came here.


    “It is … the ability to do what you want. To sleep soundly. To not fear the future.”


    Dante began recounting what life was like in America, though adapted so that she could understand. He stuck to memories from his childhood and the last few years of his life. Sūnva did not pry into the intervening years and he had no reason to tarnish his image in her eyes. To his amazement, she did not seem surprised by his description of modern life. Skyscrapers, cars, and bridges did not make her blink an eye. Which bode well for his adventurers once he escaped this place. There was one concept that she refused to accept.


    “So, these ‘supermarkets’ have goods from many merchants and they just lie there? Unguarded?”


    “Yes,” Dante replied, exasperated. They had been over this several times.


    “Why are they not stolen?”


    “They are unguarded, not unwatched. America knows every citizen and is good at finding them.”


    “And they all have a set price? Why do the merchants not haggle?”


    “It’s against the law.”


    “Hmmm,” Sūnva sat back and rubbed her chin with one hand. “Seems tyrannical.”


    Dante burst out laughing and could not stop. Ah, the hypocrisy! It was not the first misunderstanding of the night and ended much the same as the others. With an elbow to the ribs and an ‘ouch’. Eventually, the questions died down and he had a chance to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while.


    “When I used the pipe, why was the color and motion different?”


    “Do they not have Lapūn in America?”


    After he shook his head, she continued: “Lapūn uses your mana to cause peace. It acts differently based on the Ent of mana.”


    She brought up her palm and on it, materialized water. From thin air and without any words spoken. He needed to figure that out.


    “I have water ent, so the smoke is blue and flows. Fire would glow and snap while earth … earth is boring. Just smoke.”


    She let the water spill to the ground.


    “Never before have I seen that white glimmer. If you don’t mind, what is your ent?”


    “I do not know.”


    Sūnva looked at him like he had grown a second head.


    “That’s not possible. All enrozen nations have it. Nearly all luros lands do too. From what you have told me, America should.”


    Dante shifted uncomfortably, realizing that he may have broached a topic he shouldn’t have. One thing that quickly became clear during their conversation was that Sūnva was deeply patriotic. Which he had expected to a certain extent, given her officer status. So he had been careful in showing ignorance. He didn’t want to stand out and bring more attention to himself. In the past, he had found that playing up the translation problems worked wonders in deflecting questions. Now that he had developed basic proficiency, it didn’t fly anymore. Since he was already in this mess, he might as well be mostly truthful. He had always been awful at lying.


    “And yet the fact remains that I don’t.”


    Sūnva studied him and her suspicion seemed to morph into confusion. She shook her head.


    “Strange land you come from. One that’s advanced enough to have flying devices and ‘supermarkets’, but does not have something as simple as an Ent classification ritual. After tomorrow''s battle, we will find it.”


    Dante nodded, grateful to move away from that dangerous topic.


    “How well are you prepared for tomorrow?”


    He hesitated, unsure of how truthful he should be. That she asked the question meant that she wasn’t aware of his current situation, which surprised him. She was the one who asked Svōl to keep an eye on him.


    It’s not like it can get much worse. What is she going to do? Take away my tiny knife?


    In response, Dante pulled out the carving knife and placed it on the stump along with his nine crossbow bolts.


    “These are my weapons.”


    Sūnva looked from his straight face, to the weapons and back again.


    “Ah.”


    She considered that for a time, let out a frustrated sigh, and then grabbed a pouch from her belt. From it, she counted out five silver coins, took a look at his drab apparel, and then counted out five more. About three times the amount he had been paid when he arrived here. Then, she offered it to him. Dante stared at the veritable hoard and was tempted to reject it out of hand. It clearly pained Sūnva to part with it, her expression was tight and she looked conflicted. But, he couldn’t afford to. Survival was everything, especially now that the very real possibility that the Empire was doing evil had been raised. So, he dampened down his pride and accepted the money.


    “Thank you. One day I will return this to you.”


    “See that you do. Make sure you visit the merchants. Buy an alvos. Expensive, but worth it”


    Sūnva reached a hand back into her bag and brought out a corked philter. He recognized it as the drink that she had given him in their first meeting. The one that had brought him back from the brink of death.


    Yeah, he would definitely be doing that.


    “So, what exactly are we doing tomorrow?”


    She made a noise of frustration and threw her head back, kicking her legs.


    “Wish I knew. They never tell us, if they can help it. Usually, we serve as reinforcements or garrisons. Worse case, we join the initial fighting.”


    “Ah. That''s too bad.”


    A long silence passed then whereupon they simply enjoyed each other''s company. Dante accepted the pipe a few more times. Every time he exhaled he would inspect the faintly glowing white cloud, as if he could reveal the secrets of his mana through simple inspection.


    I might have to look into acquiring some of this myself. It’s so relaxing and I think I can go to sleep now. Probably should. I just hope it’s not addictive.


    Dante climbed to his feet and nearly stumbled as a wave of vertigo assailed him. He caught his balance but found that his sense of balance was off. A lot of it was tiredness, but it was a little too severe to be only that. A worthy cost for the peace he felt. He turned to Sūnva, who was looking at him curiously, and inclined his head.


    “I should probably turn in for the night. Need to get some sleep.”


    Sūnva seemed saddened by this and nodded. Then a thought seemed to strike her and she grinned mischievously.


    “Wish I could do the same, but I am afraid that my tent is occupied for the night.”


    She winked coyly at him and leaned forward. Her loose shirt drooped and Dante adverted his eyes from the inadvertent view that it caused. She had been hitting the pipe a lot and he did not want to take advantage


    “Shame I don’t have anywhere else to bed down.”


    Damned Svōl. Why did he do this to his boss? Especially one as caring as her. What a dick.


    “I hope that Svōl comes to his senses. I got to go, morning is approaching. Have a good night.”


    Dante inclined his head towards her, then turned and hurried in the direction of his tent. He did not think to look back at the women he had left alone. And so he missed the expression of surprise and hurt that flitted across her face.