What a gorgeous day!

"I already told you why!" Rowan exclaimed, exasperated. "About five times. Like I said, go challenge a different Overloridian. One of them is bound to like fighting as much as you."

Alecis rolled her eyes. How irritating.

She was still glaring at Rowan when she suddenly saw something that Rheis was looking at.

A stick.

Instantly, Alecis' mind started whirling. Without moving one tiny grass leaf, Alecis used the air to pick the thick stick. It came up behind Rowan, silently.

Alecis was glad that both Rowan and his dumb dog dæmon[woo! alliteration!] were staring at her and not at the fox by her side. If he could have smiled, he would have been, and it showed on his face.

Alecis was still glaring as the stick whacked Rowan in the back of the head. But as soon as his face fell forward, she laughed and her glare turned into a smile.

Maybe now he'll want to punch me...

Rowan jumped to his feet at once, knowing exactly what had just happened because, let's face it, it was something Alecis and her daemon were childish enough to do. He narrowed his eyes and started to advance on her, not knowing what he was going to do, but before he did anything Nym tackled the fox daemon and bit down hard on the first appendage she could get her teeth on.

'Take that!' Nym yelled, but it was in her mind because she had a mouth full of tail.

"Okay Nym, stop it," Rowan said, his anger evaporating at the comical sight. "We don't want to sink down to there level, do we?"

"No..." Nym semi-reluctantly released the daemon's tail but continued to glare at him, completely prepared for any counterattack the fox might try to pull.

Both Alecis and her dæmon yelped when Nym bit down on Rheis' tail.

At first, Alecis was stunned that the dog had attacked, but after that short second of wonder, she grinned. If the dæmon wanted to fight, that meant part of Rowan wanted to, also. Awesome.

Swiftly, Rheis turned to face the Deerhound, snarling. He had taken the bite more seriously than his clio counterpart who thoroughly enjoyed anything that meant fighting with Rowan.

"Wanna play, puppy?" he narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth.

"You aren't worth our time," Nym scoffed, turning her nose up at Rheis without letting her guard down.

'Nym,' Rowan said somewhat warningly. Nym's aggression was encouraging Alecis, he could tell by her expression. Plus he didn't want to give her stupid fox any reason to attack like Nym had.

Maybe if he just fought with her once she would leave him alone afterwards...NO. No. He couldn't start thinking like that. Fighting with Alecis could bring nothing good, no matter who won.

"I still don't understand why Charlie likes you so much. You're so boring! I mean, what do you do for fun anyways? Nap?"

Alecis was aggravated. For some reason, she kept running into Rowan, and while she would much rather be hanging out with someone from Cuir, or Charlie, or maybe... Lior..., she had to work with what she had.

All she wanted was a little fun, why did Rowan have to be such a stick in the mud?

"Well I'm obviously more likable than you," Rowan replied, annoyed that she had to bring Charlie into this. "I have friends and a girlfriend. I have a social life. What do you have? Two little siblings and a daemon? And they have to spend time with you."

"I knew it! I knew you two were still dating!"

Alecis smiled like a mad-woman. In fact, her smile reminded Rheis of the Cheshire Cat's smile. Uhhh, creepy.

"It's too bad I can't tell anyone," Alecis' face fell suddenly, "Charlie would probably be upset about that... Jeez, there's always something to rain on my parade, isn't there?"

Crestfallen, Alecis sighed.

Rowan had realized his mistake as soon as it slipped out. Well luckily he was a fast thinker, so without missing a beat he replied convincingly, "Who said I was talking about Charlie?"

It didn't matter if Alecis totally believed him or not. As long as another possibility was there, it would cast even the smallest amount of doubt, and that was all that was needed to keep anything from being proven.

"You never specified, but answer me this Rowan, who else would care enough to put up with you? No one I know, that's for sure. Charlie is just... different... Haha, I mean that in the best way possible, believe me. Charlie is a friend, but what she sees in you, I just don't understand. Like I said before, you are honestly the most boring clio I have ever met. It's a tragedy, really, that Charlie got stuck with you."

Rowan rolled his eyes. At this point he was used to the insults so they were less than a minor annoyance now.

"Like I said before Alecis, I'm more likable than you," he told her. "And if you think that Charlie is my first or last girlfriend, you're delusional. Really, if you're so much more interesting then why don't you have any friends?"

"So, what you're saying is you don't think you and Charlie are compatible enough to stay together? I'm sure she'd be interested in hearing that, Rowan." Alecis smirked.

"I already told you we're not together anymore," Rowan replied with an exasperated sigh. Of course he was feigning. "So I don't think she'd be interested at all in hearing that. But go on and tell her if you're not convinced. I don't care either way."

He didn't really feel right pretending not to care about Charlie, but he knew he had to. And if Alecis did mention this, Charlie would know it was all part of the plan and play along. As long as Charlie knew how he really felt it didn't matter what other people thought; in fact it was better if other people thought they didn't care about each other.

Alecis had a strange feeling as Rowan spoke. It was weird, something Alecis had never felt before.

"Ew, my tummy." Alecis muttered. Yuck.

She didn't feel like being mean anymore, which was also strange. It didn't make sense. Not that a lot of things about Alecis made sense, but the one thing that was pretty much always the same was that she wanted to fight with Rowan.

Rheis was still ready to fight and was a little annoyed when he realized that Alecis was ready to stop. His fur bristled as he linked minds with his clio.

"Well, Rowan, " Alecis grumbled, still unhappy, "I guess you win this time. We wont fight. Oh well, maybe next time."

She smiled even though she didn't want to.

Rowan was surprised. Never had Alecis so plainly given up like that. What was wrong with her? Maybe she was as tired of this as he was. She was smiling in a forced sort of way, which was different from her usual fake, mocking smile.

"Um...okay then..." he said uneasily. What could she possibly be thinking? "That's good, I guess...Um, are you okay?"

'WHY would you ask that?' Nym wondered. 'Who cares if she's okay or not? You are just too polite, even to people you don't like.'

"I'm, err... alright?" Alecis said, more as a question than an answer. Quickly she pulled out of her thoughts and said more surely, though it was a total lie, "I'm just tired is all. Been out here with the kids all day. Look, it's getting dark already."

Alecis pointed to the end of the valley where the sun was a bright orange, brilliant reds and yellows painted the sky. Sunset.

She took a moment and stared at how beautiful it was. Sunsets were always pretty, but to watch one in Froom Valley made it even more gorgeous.

If only Rowan wasn't here, it would be perfect. But then again, Alecis thought, she didn't really mind him at the moment. He was silent in the background.

'What an odd, bipolar moment she's having,' Nym commented, a little weirded out at the sudden change in personality.

"You're...sure about that?" Rowan asked bemusedly. It probably would be better just to leave Alecis alone now before she reverted back to her usual self, but Rowan was intrigued. What had possessed Alecis to suddenly treat him decently?

"Yes, I'm sure." Alecis nodded, not turning to look at him.

But she wanted to look at him? Didn't she?

What? No...

Rheis growled from his place in the grass. Not this again.

Nym gave a little start when Rheis growled for no apparent reason. He must have been arguing with Alecis or something, since something silent had apparently passed between them. "What's your problem?" she whispered to him. It was in a questioning manner, not a rude one.

Rowan was totally at a loss of what to think. It was as if Alecis had just been possessed by someone...kind. "...If you say so," he said slowly. "It's just, I don't know, I've never seen you like this before."

Now she knew where she knew this feeling. Oh great. Oh wonderful.

Oh no.

Rheis seconded that feeling, and he let her know it.

Once is quite enough. And this is even more uncalled for. You have to know it this time. You have to! Have you gone crazy? You must have gone crazy. There's just no way my Leci would be thinking like that...

Quickly, Alecis pushed the fox out of her mind. She was sick of listening to him. Anyways, he couldn't be right. I mean, it was true. She hated Rowan.

But why did she hate him? Was there a reason the two Overloridians hated each other?

She stayed still for a moment, thinking about this. Certainly, it was normal to hate Rowan? I mean, he's was a different Eilemaiden!

Buuut, she threw back at herself, so was Charlie! So was Lior!

Lior...

She put her head in her hands. What was wrong with her?!

Out loud, Rheis muttered, "I don't know, you tell me."

Rowan and Nym looked at each other, somewhat alarmed. Alecis was now looking quite distressed, and neither clio nor daemon were quite sure what had suddenly changed in the past few minutes.

"Okay, obviously something's wrong," Rowan said firmly, taking one step towards her. It sure did feel strange worrying for Alecis of all people, but it just didn't feel right to leave her like this. Plus, it was probably something he'd said or done. What else could it be?

Her head was still in her hands, but at his words her eyes opened wide. In her scary thoughts she had forgotten that the object of them was standing right by her.

"I actually have to go. Like, now," she said hurriedly. She didn't want to have to look him in the face so she turned in the opposite direction. Luckily, her brother and sister were both playing on that side, so it was easy to call to them.

"Lor! Eva! It's time to go!"

Quietly, Alecis said to Rowan, "I guess I'll see you later... or something, you know..." she trailed off, not wanting to say something she would regret.

And with that, Alecis turned to walk away, towards her siblings that were still playing. But as she walked, she felt a tugging. Part of her actually wanted to stay.

Rheis growled, and Alecis kept walking.

Rowan watched, slightly shocked, as Alecis hurriedly gathered up her siblings and started to leave as fast as possible. Nym tilted her head to one side as she heard Rheis growl again.

He was about to call out for her to wait, but quickly stopped himself. He didn't want her to wait...or he shouldn't, at least. But for some inexplicable reason it still felt wrong just watching her go.

'Don't let her weirdness get to you,' Nym said apprehensively, watching Rowan's face closely. 'Just forget about it. Who cares what's going on in her head, right?'

'...Right,' Rowan said slowly, not looking away until Alecis was out of sight. He shook his head and turned around. Nym was right; it was better not to dwell on this. But it was strangely hard not to. 'Well, let's go I guess.'

'Huh? Why?' Nym asked, even though she could feel the answer. There just didn't seem like a reason to stay anymore.