The group walked for what would have felt like an eternity, had Larea's attention not been elsewhere. She was still preoccupied with thoughts of the various ways their journey could go wrong, and it mostly stayed that way for hours, until they eventually came to a stop - or at least most of them did. Larea, on the other hand, didn't notice until she eventually stepped straight into Ahmaht, the collision finally breaking her from her thoughts. She stared ahead in stunned silence for a moment, a light blush crossing her cheeks as she gave an embarrassed smile, realizing what happened. When Zel mentioned lunch and headed into some nearby shade, despite her lack of hunger she followed him anyway. It would be nice to cool off for a bit.<br/><br/>She was handed some basic food, and, not being one to deny kindness, slowly nibbled away at it as they once again sat in silence. Not the typical 'nobody has anything to say' silence, either. No, this was the deafening, awkward kind, and it certainly wasn't doing her nerves any favors. After what felt like an agonizingly long time, Zel stood up, his movement being one that drew attention; not because it was particularly extravagant, but because it was the only real movement any of them had made in a while. After taking a deep breath, Zel began speaking. He brought up the almost-palpable nervousness and awkwardness they had all been feeling - hell, even Ahmaht was being quiet - and attempted to quell them. For Larea, at least, it wasn't entirely effective. Yes, it did none of them any good for her to be terrified of the journey that lay before them, but it wasn't an emotion so easily silenced after the events of the previous night.<br/><br/>After a while of Zel speaking and Larea staring awkwardly at the ground while listening, Zel started assigning jobs. It was Ahmaht's duty to regale them with his entertaining stories; not a bad idea, really. As for Sigrun, she was to stand around and look incompetent until they arrived in town and bought her a new weapon. Larea's job was simple, all she had to do was smile.<br/><br/>...<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Wait, what?</span>Larea's face lit up like a candle as his words sunk in, and her eyes snapped up to meet his as he gave her a smile and explained his reasoning. Her cheeks flushed even harder as he continued, and when he left her with a question, it was all she could do to pause for a moment before nodding shyly, a slight smile forming on her lips. He was getting better with words.<br/><br/>Now that business was settled, Zel turned back to the road, and Larea awkwardly placed the remainder of her food onto her notepad and balanced it with both arms as she stood up, following after him with somewhat renewed faith. Everything had worked out well so far; who was to say it wouldn't continue that way?