Chapter Text
Restless. Ena is restless. Or at least not rested. She chalks it off to the driving, a wearing and physical act, where the body sways to-and-fro against the fro-and-to of the bumpy ride. She looks at the sky, evening oranges and blues coming in. Yes, surely it was just that. Tiredness. And just on queue, in the distance, a stone arch emerges. A safe haven to park.
Ena stretches as she gets off the sandtread. She looks at that Mafuyu, who returns the gaze with a bit of a questioning look. Maybe less than a bit, more like a nanogram. She was impossibly hard to read.
"I need a lie-down. We'll continue tomorrow." Ena explains, possibly to the benefit of only herself. But Mafuyu nods, and so Ena unpacks her tent, and sets a small fire going near the rock pillar, where it might be protected from the winds.
The rhythm of setting up camp is one written on Ena's bones. A chore, mostly, but the completion of it still brings a little satisfaction to her. Even when the situation's a bit different, what with there being a new face around.
That new face is currently still sitting exactly in the same place, on that treader, to the horizon.
"Mafuyu!" Ena calls out.
The android turns around to look at Ena, and Ena's heart suddenly jumps. Restless, restless.
"It might get windy later. You'll get blown away out there."
Mafuyu hops off, and comes to the camp, silently. Ena wonders why she sounded like she was making an excuse.
...
It is fully night now. After dusting off her clothes and rearranging her items to make some room for the android, Ena leans against the wall, while Mafuyu sits by the fire.
Unbusied, Ena does not let the silence linger long. "You asked me, earlier this morning, where I was going." The fire crackles. "I didn't wake you up so that you could follow me, you know. There's a whole... desert. Full of... well, pretty much nothing. But I could find you a treader like mine. There's lots of them around."
Mafuyu is facing away from Ena. Ena smirks at a small thought inside of her, that it was probably less awkward talking like this. For one, she wouldn't need to try and read Mafuyu's face.
Mafuyu's voice is level as ever. "Are you asking me to leave?"
Ena wonders. Was she? She was suggesting it, and they weren't together for long. "I just don't want you to feel obligated to me. I don't really know where I'm going, either."
The fire sparks a bit, some explosive particle having fallen into it. From Mafuyu's stillness, it's almost like the flame, not her, is speaking. "You're trying to make it home."
Ena is caught off guard. She laughs off the sudden spike of her heartrate. "That's the other way."
"I guess."
Uncomfortable. "Then where are you going?"
This time, Mafuyu takes a moment to answer. She turns around, deep violet eyes meeting Ena's hazel. Against the fire, the light does not reflect off of Mafuyu's eyes. "Tomorrow."
"...huh?"
"We're going tomorrow, yes?"
"What do you mean?"
"That's when we're going."
"I said where, not when."
Silence.
"You failed to repair my ears."
Ena stomps her foot in the sand. "They weren't damaged!"
The night continues on.