Fergus awoke early and immediately went down to the garden. Today was the archery tournament and he wanted to take a little time to rest and relax before he had to focus. He went to walk in the gardens, as it was somewhere he could relax and only had good memories of. As a kid he'd walk around the gardens with his family and now he usually walked around them with… He paused when he rounded the corner to where he and Gaia usually sat on a bench under a large tree his parents had planted a long time ago. There Gaia sat where she did most mornings, and he smiled.

"You beat me here this morning." He said.

"Well, I figured you'd be stressing first thing in the morning and want to relax before everything. So, I came down here to help."

"Really? I'm that predictable?"

"Yes, sir. You are. Now come lay down and relax." She said patting the bench.

"Alright." He said as he went and laid down on the bench. He put his head in her lap which shouldn't be as comfortable as it was, considering her skin was stone. She started combing her fingers through his hair as he closed his eyes and just breathed. The movement and care she took while running her fingers through his hair had him relax quite quickly and the tension left his body within moments. He just relaxed as she did what she could to help.

They stayed like this for around a half hour before she realized he had nearly fallen asleep. She let him relax for a few more minutes before she surprised him. She poked his cheek, so he'd open his eyes and then kissed him. Then she continued massaging his head.

"Sorry, you were falling asleep."

"Well, if that's my wake up I think I'll fall asleep again." He replied.

"Nice try. We should probably head back in for breakfast though." She said but made no move to get up. They sat there for a while longer before Fergus finally, but reluctantly, decided to get up. He helped her up and they walked back to the mansion hand in hand. They met Griff and Stephanie on the way as they'd been enjoying the morning themselves as they came to find the pair.

"You ready for the archery tournament?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, as much as I can be at least. How about you? Ready for your Blacksmithing competition? Sorry I won't be able to be there." Fergus replied.

"I'm about the same. Not much I can really do to prepare. I have to use the tools, equipment and materials they provide. So, it's more just waiting for the competition to start. I'm not even sure what they'll make me forge or craft. And no worries, I know my competition takes place during your tournament."

"Well, good luck. Not that I think you'll need it. Your techniques and skill speak for themselves."

"Same to you, tall man. Knock the others out of the water for me. I know you can do it. If Gaia's story about the 'overachieving brat' are anything to go by." Stephanie said as she laughed.

"You told her? Really?" Fergus asked as he turned to look at Gaia.

"What? It was funny!" Gaia said before adding. "And I was happy someone noticed how good you are."

Fergus stared at her for a bit before sighing. "Alright. I can't even get mad at that. Let's go eat before she starts calling me that in front of everyone else."

The couple followed the other pair inside and they all sat to eat. They met everyone else there as they were already eating. "There're the stars of the show today!" Titania nearly squealed.

"So, we decided on who will be going to watch which tournament. Almost all of Flora wanted to go watch Stephanie's forging competition so they'll go as well as Delilah. The rest of us will be going to watch Fergus' archery tournament. So, it's the Carrelion family and Gaia going to watch Fergus. Everyone else is going to watch Stephanie, especially her parents." The Baron stated.

"Ah, and Stephanie dear? Don't feel the need to make everyone who went to watch you items. They will likely ask, especially if you win." The baroness whispered to her.

"Alright. So, with that settled, let's dig in. We have a couple tournaments to see today!" Francois stated as he started digging into the spread of food with more gusto.

Everyone else did the same as the dining room devolved into silence outside of the sounds of eating. Once breakfast was eaten, they all divided into two groups. The group with Fergus consisted of Gaia and her bonds, the Baron and baroness, Titania, Jess, and Freya. Stephanie's group consisted of Griff, her parents, Delilah, John and Francois. They had a pretty even spread between the two and the two participants offered each other good luck before heading off in their respective directions.

Fergus' tournament was in the main colosseum as it was the main tournament for the day while Stephanie's was in a field by the forging quarter. Fergus and his group moved towards the colosseum. It took them around half an hour to reach it. Fergus split off after a quick kiss from Gaia, for good luck obviously. He followed the signs to the waiting rooms and found his. He entered and sat waiting for the tournament to begin while the rest of his group found seats close to the pit. They all wanted a good vantage point to see his technique and skills. Gaia was playing with her mana-shaping, trying to see how much she could make it change. She wanted to see as much of his display as possible, so she was going overboard. No one noticed it yet, though, so she continued.

Fergus waited for the tournament to start, and it did around two hours after he'd arrived. He wasn't first so he had to wait until it was his turn. He did but was getting nervous the longer he had to wait, until he was finally notified by a light in the room. He'd watched everyone else compete. The actual display was the same for everyone. There would be twenty targets for the participant to hit in each environment. And four environments were brought up for each person. The rules were simple, hit as many targets as quickly as possible in each environment. Some environments let you move while others were a test of pure accuracy and skill.

There were two of each environment. Two where the participants had to move around, find the targets and hit them and two where they had to hit them without moving from a specified area. The terrain changed for each person. So, while one could have the same four in a row, another could have only one shared environment with the first person and the order changed as well. The location of the targets changed in each environment as well, so it didn't help to memorize where the targets had been.

It was truly a tournament to allow the participants to showcase their archery and scouting ability. It was perfect for him, since those were his specialties. He walked out of his waiting room and to the pit where he entered to screams and cheers. Many were ladies that knew of him from his family or from noble gatherings. The ones he really cared about were all from the front bottom row. A few of which were only heard in his head.

"Good luck, Fergus!" Malachite called.

"Good luck, tall perch." This one was obviously Liv.

"Do well, Dad!" Shadow called, making him trip on the sand as he stared up at the wolf and a blushing Gaia.

"Good luck, King?" Antonio asked having heard Shadow's words. This caused his face to go red a bit before he focused back on the tournament.

"You can do it Fergus!" Gaia called down.

"You got this!" His father and mother cheered.

"Don't disappoint me." Was Titania's monotone response, but it was undermined by her big grin.

"Do it Fergus!" Freya yelled down.

He smiled at everyone's support and walked more confidently to the arena. His name was announced again before he was asked if he was ready. He nodded and summoned his root bow, having it grow from his hand as the start was called. He focused on the environment that appeared in front of him. It was a beach environment so one of the standing terrains. He focused and picked out the targets. One was nearby which he quickly hit causing it to disappear before firing rapidly at the next targets. He hit each one rapidly and in a single shot. There was only one difficult target that was on the complete other side of the arena which he had to use his homing arrow skill for.

After taking out all of the other targets the environment changed again. This time it was a jungle, and he started moving immediately as he paid attention to his surroundings, firing when he saw even the slightest hint of a target. This one took him nearly twice as long as the beach, but he struck all of the targets only missing two shots that he'd fired before realizing what he fired at weren't targets.

The next environment was the shattered terrain he'd seen Stephanie fight in. It was another standing terrain. He started firing at the targets he could see and counting before realizing he was still missing one. He jumped high using his stone ranked body to reach heights a normal human couldn't and saw it. It was hidden right behind a boulder, and he pulled his bow back as he started to plummet letting the arrow fly just before he lost sight of the target. He thought he'd missed at first when he heard the sound of wood on stone before the terrain changed. His arrow ricocheted off the boulder and into the target.

The last terrain was odd. It was a cavern, with no light. He quickly took out the arrow dagger and struck the floor making a spark that he uses to light an arrow with. He then fired it straight forward as he paid close attention to his surroundings. He memorized as much of the layout as he could before the arrow fell into water with a plopping sound. He did the same thing again in a different direction then again until he had a rough map of the terrain. He'd spotted twelve targets from where he stood and fired at the rough position of each from memory. He hit eight while missing the other four. He once again lit an arrow on fire and shot it in the direction of the four he'd missed.

He used his multi-shot skill and fired hitting three and firing the last just before the flaming arrow hit the water. Then he moved around finding each dry surface he could, as he struck the ground with the arrow dagger to create sparks illuminating the area enough to see the targets and using his homing arrow skill to hit them. Just as time was about to run out, he found and fired his shot at the last target. It was less than an inch from the target when the time limit ended and the terrain disappeared along with the target.

He sighed having not hit the last target but couldn't be too mad. He'd gotten seventy-nine out of eighty targets according to his count. He blinked as the sun came back, and the cavern disappeared. He stood there as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the brightness after being without it. Once they had he smiled and looked up at the group that came to watch him. Only to see a worrying sight. Gaia was sitting there smiling and waving, with blood running from her nose and a bit coloring her blindfold. Then she stilled and didn't move, aside from lowering her hand. It didn't look like anyone had noticed yet, so he pointed towards her trying to let the others know but everyone just assumed he was doing it as a gesture of "for you."

He ignored the announcement that rang out as he nearly sprinted into the corridor by the waiting rooms. He found a worker and pulled him aside.

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"Can I go to the stands and sit with my companions? Or would that disqualify me? Actually, you know what? I don't care. I'm going to be in the stands for a bit." He said as he sprinted away and towards the stands. He arrived a few minutes later as he nearly got lost trying to get out and to the audience. When he did, he sprinted to Gaia.

"What's going on?" He asked her.

He got no response and all of his friends and family looked over to see him and wondered why he was there.

"You'll be disqualified! Why are you up here!" The Baron asked, but the rest of his statement died on his lips when he saw the worry on Fergus' face. Titania moved immediately and looked at Gaia who Fergus had turned away from the others to speak to.

"Ok. That's bad. Fergus go back down. We'll deal with it." Titania stated reassuringly.

"She's been like this since I was down there!" He yelled.

Suddenly, Gaia seemed to stiffen, jerk and then move again. "Fergus? Why are you here?" You were just down there like a second ago." She stated.

"Gaia? Are you okay?" He asked immediately and worriedly.

"Huh? Yeah, why-" She started before holding her head as it pounded in pain.

"Gaaahh!" She cried as she held her head.

"Healer! Now!" He cried and the Baron stood.

"Healer! Here! Now!" He boomed over everything.

Gaia's screaming suddenly stopped as she let go of her head. "What? Why's everyone standing around me?" She asked.

"G-Gaia? What did you do?" Fergus asked worriedly.

"I used my mana shaping to cover the entire arena. For your entire display." She said hesitantly.

Fergus' face paled since he knew that it was extremely hard to shape her mana into a line straight ahead for an extended period of time. Let alone to cover the entire arena. "You idiot." He said as he pulled her into a hug.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"You're bleeding from your nose and eyes, and went stock still before forgetting a couple minutes of time."

"I am? I-I did?" She asked worriedly before casting halting shot on herself and gasping slightly.

"Ok. This might be somewhat bad, but also good." She said after a minute of casting her healing shot skill on herself continuously.

"What do you mean bad?" Titania asked angrily.

"Uh, I might have overtaxed my brain. So, yeah. Bleeding. Which means my regeneration started… I might be out of commission for around a half hour?" She said before slumping.

Fergus and Titania along with the rest of their companions just stared at her speechlessly as she slumped.

"I am going to kill her." Titania stated incredulously.

"Gaia?" Fergus asked even more worried but got no response.

The Baron and baroness got the healers to check her out when they arrived. The healers checked her but their diagnosis showed that she was already better, and their interference would only make her worse.

Fergus punched the stands hearing this and took her with him back to his waiting room. He was given an exception because of the situation but wouldn't have cared even if they'd disqualified him. He held her as he waited for her to wake up. She stirred right around when she'd said. Right around thirty minutes after she'd slumped forward she groaned and shifted before sitting up slowly.

Fergus hugged her tightly to him before whispering. "You have got to stop doing stupid stuff that gets you injured. Do you enjoy the pain? Because that's the only reason I can think of at this point."

"No. I just really wanted to see your performance. And I think I'll be fine from now on." She replied slowly and guiltily.

"No. Stop hurting yourself. I don't care if you saw all of it. I'm just happy you were here."

"I know, but I really wanted to… Sorry." She apologized.

"Gods, Gaia." He started before taking some deep breaths and trying to calm down. Gaia ran her fingers through his hair which helped him relax.

"What did you mean when it was also a good thing?" He asked after a few minutes and having finally calmed down after seeing she was actually alright.

"Well, I think I broke my brain. Which was the bad and then healed the damage so I can mana shape without a headache or an issue anymore." She said as he felt her do so.

He froze and looked at her before flicking her forehead. "Don't just do something that 'broke your brain' immediately after healing from it!"

"Sorry." She said as she shrunk slightly.

"Gods, you know how to make people worry." He said resigned.

"No more doing anything ridiculous. Okay? No more! You're not allowed to do anything stupid, please?" He asked genuinely frustrated and worried.

"Okay." She said quietly.

He just held her in silence for a while after that. She finally moved and settled into his lap a bit more comfortably, after about ten minutes, realizing she wasn't going to be let go of. She snuggled a bit closer as they sat, listening to his breathing and whoever was in the arena. When the tournament ended, he was reluctant to let go of her even to go get his award. He'd come in first place by only one target. It was a much closer tournament than anyone had seen in a while, especially in the stone rank league. He went out only after she promised to stay in the room and rest.

Fergus walked out into the pit, exhausted from the exertion of his demonstration, worry, and finally knowing Gaia was alright after everything. He dragged his feet but stood on the pedestal when it rose and collected his reward without looking and jumping down to return to his room. He was leaving to the sound of cheers and a few boos for leaving so quickly. He didn't care, he just wanted to go sleep and scold Gaia but knew he already had.

When he returned to the room, he found Malachite sitting outside who then turned and purred at Gaia who got up and walked over to him before climbing his shell and sitting. She'd made his chair into a couch and motioned for Fergus to sit and lay down. He did so and she massaged his head again, partly as an apology and partly helping him relax and get some sleep.

He ended up falling asleep rather quickly since it was so comfortable, and Gaia did everything in her power to ensure he rested well. She had Malachite carry them out of the colosseum where they found the others waiting for them. As she approached, she knew they were angry but as they went to move closer, she gestured to Fergus and they calmed slightly. She was still interrogated and scolded harshly on the walk back to the mansion. She knew she deserved so she took it without complaint. They did so quietly so Fergus didn't wake as he'd been stressed, worried and exhausted from his tournament.

By the time they'd arrived at the mansion, everyone was done scolding Gaia for her idiocy and recklessness. She had Malachite carry them up to his room where she curled up with him, forming Malachite's armor into more of a bed. She fell asleep beside him for a few hours, cuddled up with him.

She awoke when she heard more voices downstairs and prepared herself for more scolding. She stretched and realized Fergus was gone. He'd likely woken up and went downstairs. She had Malachite shrink and put him on her shoulder before heading downstairs ready for a thorough scolding.

She slowly walked down, being as quiet as she could. She succeeded in being unnoticed for a bit until she realized everyone was in the dining room, sitting around the table. She stepped in trying to go unnoticed but the moment she had, the room went quiet. She flinched and backpedaled leaving the room. She immediately turned and left, booking it into the gardens. She just ran through them, not paying attention to where she was going and ended up lost.

She was somewhere in the gardens and didn't know where or even what side of the hedges she should follow. So, she just sat down and shook as she shivered. It was nighttime and she'd not brought anything out with her to keep warm. She was just sitting at a dead end of a route in the maze of the gardens. She was in an area of them that was more hedge maze than garden. She just sat as she thought about everything that had happened that day.

She'd just wanted to watch Fergus' tournament with her own power, without depriving Shadow of her sight to do so. She wanted everyone to enjoy the show and enjoy it herself so she did what she thought would let her. Was it a bad idea? In hindsight, absolutely. The main issue was that she'd been so excited to watch him that she hadn't noticed how bad the headache got until it was over.

By that point, it had been horrible, and she'd actually caused damage to herself without realizing. This only caused Fergus to worry and stress causing him to almost be disqualified because of her. She didn't cry but felt guilty for everything. Everything had been her fault because she hadn't thought about it through or even noticed what was happening.

She sat where she was for a long while shivering and making her armor thicker to combat it, just enough to not make her sick. Not that it was very easy for a stone rank hunter to get sick. She was just feeling guilty and felt she needed to scold herself as well, because she'd caused more problems today than anybody else.

No one came for her for a long while. She didn't know if she even wanted anyone to look for her tonight, but she heard Titania's voice.

"Gaia!"

Gaia didn't respond, instead just sitting there and thinking about how she'd only made everyone worry. How she kept causing problems because she didn't think before doing or didn't think about the consequences for herself or others. It seemed she only thought about the consequences for others, without thinking about how the result to herself caused it to affect those she cared for.

"Gaia!" She heard Titania say, her voice closer than before.

Gaia nearly got up to move and hide again before realizing that would only make everyone else worry again. Then realized they were likely already worried because she wasn't responding and had just disappeared after running out of the mansion.

"Even now, I'm causing problems to everyone. Am I better off just being alone?" She thought to herself before shaking her head.

"No." She said aloud to herself. "I've been alone once before, and it only made me feel worse. It made me think I didn't belong anywhere, but I also really don't belong anywhere. I'm not from this world, but I'm also so different from how I was on Earth, that I can't say I belong there anymore either. Where is home for me now? Do I deserve to…" She just trailed off as she spoke to herself.

"I just hope I didn't ruin things again." She said to herself.

"Gaia!" Titania called sounding a bit more concerned this time. A few moments later Titania turned the corner and saw Gaia. She was curled up with her knees to her chest as she sat in the corner of the dead end.

"Gaia?" Titania asked concerned and quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you just leave and run?"

"Everyone went quiet when I entered. I thought I wasn't wanted. So, I ran because I didn't want to bother anyone."

Titania was silent for a moment before speaking again. "It's not that you weren't wanted, it's more no one was sure what to say so we didn't say anything. Are you okay though? You're shivering."

"I'm fine. Just a bit chilly out." She lied.

"Everyone's waiting for you. Were all worried and sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. We just didn't know what to say or do."

"Ok. I'll come back in a little while."

"Alright. Can I just stay nearby? I'm worried because you even left Malachite and your bonds behind to run."

"Yeah." Gaia replied as she nodded.

They sat in silence for a while before Gaia spoke again. "Can I ask you something? It's something I've been asking myself more and more recently. But I can't find an answer to it myself and I need some help."

"Of course." Titania replied as she sat beside Gaia, leaning against her side to share warmth.

"Where do I belong? Do I belong here? Like actually belong here? I'm not from this world, but I don't belong to Earth anymore either. I don't know where I stand anymore. I seem to only screw things up or make everyone worry. I don't know where I belong anymore. I can't seem to do anything right and either terrify everyone, or make everyone worry. What am I doing wrong? I don't try to make everything harder but that seems to be the only thing I can do." Gaia asked as she curled a little tighter and started crying quietly as she let one of the questions she'd been agonizing over for a long time out. She hadn't realized this was what the question was until today. Seeing how she only seemed to cause problems for everyone, made her wonder if she belonged with them. The worst part was that she wasn't sure if she actually did.

Titania was speechless for a bit as Gaia cried while asking something that she'd obviously been agonizing over for a while, even if she hadn't realized that was what it was about until now. Titania wanted nothing more than to confirm she did, but she didn't know herself. So, she answered as best she could. "I don't know, Gaia. That's only something you can figure out yourself. I will say this. You don't only cause problems; we wouldn't love you as much as we do if that was true. Do you cause problems? Absolutely, and way too often for our liking, but we know you're not trying to most of the time. Sometimes we wonder, but just know that the reason we worry is because we care about you. Okay?" Titania said as she wrapped her arm around Gaia gently and comfortingly.

Gaia just cried for a while as Titania's words hung in the air, and she let their meanings wash over her. It wasn't until some time later and she'd stopped crying that Gaia spoke again. "Thanks for being honest and not placating me. I needed to hear that I think. I don't know if I belong here, but I want to. I think so at least. I really don't try to cause problems or hurt myself. I'll try not to anymore. Thanks for caring Titania."

"Absolutely. I mean, I already view you as my troublesome little sister. I've got you. And if you ever need to talk, just ask. I know you have your party, but sometimes you just need to talk to someone that's not them. I talk to my mom about stuff I won't tell my party about, so I'll happily be that for you." Titania replied honestly.

"Thanks. I think I'll do that. This really helped."

They let a comfortable silence fall over them for a while as they relaxed again. Titania broke it a short while later. "We should probably head back in. I wanted to ask, why did you choose to hide here?"

"I didn't choose here. I just ended up getting lost and sat down when I realized that." Gaia replied embarrassed but almost laughing as she realized how stupid she was.

Titania giggled and the two devolved into laughter together. "You got lost. Of course you did." Titania said between giggles. "Let's go back in, shall we? I'll be beside you the entire time."

"Yeah. Let's and thank you again for listening, Titania."

"Just call me Nia or sis like Fergus does. You're basically my sister anyway." Titania said as she held Gaia's hand comfortingly and the two slowly made their way through the hedge maze and back to the mansion. They only made wrong turns three times before they reached the mansion door.

"Let's go see everyone." Said Titania.

"Let's, Nia." Gaia replied as they opened the door and stepped inside

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