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Sam stared at Ara for a good few minutes without realizing. He only looked away when he heard Ren almost miss a branch outside the camp. He sighed and then looked back at Ara, who's arms were crossed now with one eye open.
Ara's single open eye gleamed with amusement under the flickering campfire light. "You gonna tell me why you're staring like I've grown a second head, or should I start charging admission?" Her voice was husky from sleep, but there was a sharpness underneath, the kind that made it clear she wasn't the type to let things slide.
Sam scratched the back of his neck, feeling the rough calluses there. He'd spent the last three weeks hauling supplies through the backcountry, and his hands showed it. "Just thinking," he muttered, gaze drifting to where Ren was now perched on a low branch, their silhouette sharp against the moonlit sky. "About how Ren move like you’ve got wires instead of bones."
Ara snorted and finally sat up, stretching her arms overhead with a lazy grace. She reached for the canteen beside her bedroll, taking a slow sip before adding, "Ren? They’ve just always been like that. Like a leaf that forgot to land."
A distant rustle in the underbrush made Sam tense, but Ara didn’t even glance toward the sound. Instead, she tilted her head, studying him with the same unsettling focus he’d been caught in earlier. He blinked for a moment and glanced away. But not before catching a smirk from Ara. And then a muttered word. "Simp"
Sam's ears burned at Ara's muttered jab, but before he could muster a retort, Ren dropped silently from the branch above, landing between them with the unsettling precision of a shadow detaching from a wall. Their dark eyes flicked between Sam and Ara, then settled on the untouched stew pot near the fire.
"You two bicker like old marrieds," Ren observed, scooping cold stew into their mouth with bare fingers. "Should I leave you alone?"
Ara threw a boot at Ren’s head, which they dodged without looking. "Shut up and eat your damn dinner properly," she grumbled, though there was no heat in it. Sam noticed the way her shoulders relaxed slightly when Ren settled cross-legged beside her—like a taut wire finally allowed to slacken.
The fire popped, sending embers spiraling upward. Sam cleared his throat. "So. That thing you do." He gestured vaguely at Ren’s unnerving stillness. "Is that a training thing, or...?"
Ren blinked once, slow as a cat. "Nah, I just like climbing. Have since I was a child." They said this with a grin before practically scarfing down their food and darting back off to climb more trees, or look for Dunia, could be either. Ara had suddenly sat next to Sam and smoothed her own skirt. It was quiet for a moment.
Sam felt the warmth before he registered the touch, Ara’s lips brushing his cheek, lingering just long enough for him to catch the faint scent of pine resin and woodsmoke clinging to her skin. When he turned his head, she was already standing, tossing him a smirk over her shoulder as she strode toward the treeline. "Don’t get any ideas," she called back, her voice teasing. "Just figured you looked like you needed a win."
Sam touched his cheek where her lips had been, his fingers pressing into the spot as if to anchor the sensation. Behind him, Ren made a sound halfway between a cough and a laugh, but when Sam glanced back, they were studiously examining a knot in the tree bark above them, their expression carefully blank. "Shut up," Sam muttered, though he couldn’t quite suppress the grin tugging at his mouth.
Ara vanished into the shadows between the trees, her silhouette briefly outlined by moonlight before the forest swallowed her whole. The sudden absence of her presence left the campsite feeling oddly unbalanced, like a scale tipped too far in one direction. Sam exhaled, rolling his shoulders as if to shake off the weight of whatever unspoken thing had settled between them.
Ren dropped to the ground beside him with the soundless grace of a falling leaf. "You’re staring after her like a lost puppy," they remarked, plucking a twig from Sam’s hair with exaggerated patience.
Sam swatted their hand away, but there was no real irritation in it. "I’m not staring." "Yea you are, ya simp.' they said with the biggest grin. "Its the same stare I've seen many times before. Anyway, goodnight. I'm gonna sleep in that tree now."
They hopped away and wound up in another tree branch. Sam sighed and stared off into space again. There was no denying it anymore.
He definitely liked Ara.