The moment that Sir Mathias sits up in his bed the next morning, Arania is awake and off the cot. "Well good morning to you too," he says with a chuckle.

"Sorry, sir. I am a very light sleeper," she says with embarrassment, and he just shakes his head.

"No it is a good trait to have, go bath before breakfast," he suggests. She scoops up a change of clothes, and hurries to the river. It is of course cold, but that hardly matters.

She washes the clothes that she takes off as well, so that they will have a chance to dry. Once she is completely done, she heads back and hangs the clothes up to dry. Then she hurries to the tent where they set up the kitchens. The tent is close to bursting with all the soldiers milling about. She grabs a tray and gets in line.

"So what did you do to get picked by the general?" a deep voice growls from behind her.

"I wasn't complaining about the harsh walk to reach this camp," she tells the older messenger.

"That's a load of bull and you know it. You must have done something," he says angrily.

"I am very sure that I have no clue what you are talking about," she says without turning to face the man. His gnarled hand slams down on her shoulder, no doubt to turn her around. However before it can go any further than that, she drops his legs from under him and he hits the ground hard. "You do not know me well enough to allow such familiarity," she says, still without looking at him.

"What is going on here?" a familiar voice sounds from her left, and she turns to see Sir Mathias standing there.

"This welp skipped in line and when I went to remove him he struck my legs from under me," the older man says. Arania's eyes darken in anger, but she holds her tongue.

"Is this true Demetrius?" Sir Mathias asks turning to face her.

"No sir. He is upset because I was chosen to work with you instead of him," she says with a straight face and not breaking eye contact.

"Come with me," Sir Mathias grabs her arm and pulls her from the tent. He does not say a word the entire way back to his tent. "Is this going to be a reacuring issue?" he snarls when he pushes her into the tent.

"No, perhaps next time I will just let them strike me," she huffs in annoyance at being scolded.

"I need my troops to not fight amongst themselves," he says angrily.

She turns around, grabs her clothes and shoves them back into her bag. She then slings the bag onto her shoulders, and turns back to face him. "The only way that will happen is if you swap me out for one of the more senior Messangers. Otherwise they will feel like they were cheated because you chose a lowly paige to work closely with," she tells him.

That makes him pause and think things over. Finally he shakes his head no. "I was right in my choice, and I will not change it. You will stay with me, and they will soon be too busy to care about who is working where," he says with an irritated huff.

Arania places her bag back down on the cot. "Very well, I will do what I can to avoid fighting, but I am not one to accept a beating for no reason," she explains to him.

"Yeah I got that impression already," he says while rubbing his head.

"Maybe just avoid the food tent for a few days. I'll bring you food," he says before walking out. She swears and punches the main support beam to the tent. Then curses because it moves a little more than she expected. She burries her fingers into her short black glamoured hair and pulls slightly. A part of her wishes she could take the glamour off if only for a few minutes, but in an army camp there is just no way to make sure she will go undiscovered.

She doesn't move when the tent flap opens, and Sir Mathias places a tay of food on the cot next to her. "I wasn't sure what you might like so I grabbed a little of everything," he says. Than he stays silent, and she remains hunched over gripping her hair. "Was I being too mean?" he asks.

"Why would you think that?" she relaxes a little and peaks up at him.

"Well you look close to tears," he says softly.

"I haven't cried in a long time. Though I was close just a few days ago when I lost my home. I had grown up in that home and in the blink of an eye it was just gone," she says softly. A single tear slips out and rolls down her cheek, but she doesn't care enough to wipe it away.

"May I ask what happened?" he kneels in front of her so he can see her face better.

"I was out working and when I came home it was just a pile of ashes," she whispers. Another tear leaks out, and her eyes are bright with unshed tears.

"There was a report in the lower area about a house burning down, but most people thought it was abandoned years ago," he says with a frown.

"Not abandoned just forgotten," she gives him a half smirk.

"I didn't know," he says simply.

"How could you? There is not much to say about it really. It was falling apart anyways, but it was still home," she says. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. When she opens them again the tears are gone, and she gives him a half hearted smile.

"Are you sure you will be alright?" he asks. Not fully understanding why this one person makes him feel like hugging them.

"Yeah, and thank you for the food," she says. He nods his head, and hurries out of the tent to do whatever it is a Genereal does when preparing an army for moving out. She turns towards the plate, and grimaces at the foods on it. Mostly meats, cooked in fat it looks like. She covers her mouth to keep from gagging. The only thing on the plate with any decent color is the carrots, which she nibbles on. She doesn't eat a lot though since they had been cooked in honey and were overly sweet for her preferance.

She then gets up and starts to stretch. No reason to lose her edge just because she has to stay inside for now. Sir Mathias comes back several hours later with lunch, and this tray too is loaded with meat. She watches as he looks at the food still on the tray from breakfast, and then back to the tray he had brought for lunch. He scoops up the other tray and leaves again. Did he not see her? She shrugs her shoulder and leans back against the support beam with one of the books she had found in the upper part of her masters old place.

When the General comes back in, she raises her eyebrows at him. The food tray now has different foods. While yes there is still a small amount of food, it is grilled and not swimming in oil and grease. There are more carrots as well as an apple and a pear. She gets up and comes closer and looks at the tray.

"You didn't touch any of the other food besides the carrots. You are not that fond of meat huh?" he explains.

"Not particularly no. I have a hard time digesting it most of the time," she explains.

"That is rather unusually," he comments.

"Yes, well, I have not had very much money growing up to be able to buy it that often. And when I do, it is always the leaner and cheaper meats. It is mostly just a lack of exposure," she explains to him again. This time she eats everything on her tray.

"I will keep that in mind. Do you need an escort to the bathroom?" he asks.

"No thank you," she assures him. He nods his head before taking the tray back to the kitchen tent. The next three days go in this same manner. Arania forced to stay hidden in the generals tent so that the other messengers won't try to exoress their displeasure with her again. The general continues to bring her her food.

Thankfully after the third night, the general and the troups under his command move out, and she no longer has to deal with any of the other messengers or paiges. The trek to their forward position is long and draining, but she keeps up easily.

"I am rather glad I chose you. I am certain that by now those older fellows would be grumbling in annoyance about the long hours of walking," he says trying to make light of the situation.

"What can I say sir, it is not always wise to grumble to the person who can order your death," she comments, and he laughs happily.

"Yes, well the king believes that you are far more valuable to us alive then dead, so you could complain and grumble and I would be forced to listen to it," he says happily.

"Just do not expect me to grovel at you," she says flippantly. Wearing a glamour this extensive is far more tiing than she had originally thought. She has been considering losing the fake appendage betweeen her legs for the last fifty miles. Would anyone notice?

"You must be thinking very hard on something," he ssays.

"yes, I am actually how did you know?" she asks, focusing her attention on the general.

"You have this far off look in your eyes," he says.

"I am thinking about the likely hood of me surviving this stint on the front lines," she tells him. He seems to buy it, and looks more fully at her.

"With me, they are far higher than without," he tries to assure her, but she just laughs. He seems to lose focus for a moment, and become dazed.

"That just sounds like boastiing. There is never a gaurantee in anyhting we do in life," she tells him.

"That is very true," he says distantly.