Zed stopped rowing and let the boat settle before looking over at Mai. She was looking down at the water, which reflected the reds of the sunset. He just watched her until she spoke up. "So, do you think the lake is a friend? Or enemy, like it's natural brethren. The Stupid Tree, and the Stupid River?"

He chuckled with her choice of wording. "Don't you think calling it's 'brethren' stupid is a bit rude?"

She gave a half thoughtful, half none caring expression. "No, because it's the truth." He only shook his head in amusement.

The Captain looked forward and noticed that Elizabeth and Lucas were quite a ways in front of them, she could barely see them. Though this would have worried her just this afternoon, she knew now that she was safe with Lucas. If she knew anything about the man, she knew that he would never hurt Elizabeth. That was enough for Mai to leave her in his care. She just hoped that he knew what she would do to him if he did hurt Lizzy in any way, shape, or form.

But putting those thoughts aside, she turned to the Thief across from her. She had almost forgotten how tall he was. Even though he was sitting down, she still had to look up to see his face clearly. Now she couldn't keep her thoughts of him from forming. There was a strong urge in her heart. She wanted to know what he wanted. Maybe she could even help him obtain it without stealing. "What is it that you're trying to get? What do you want?"

Zed looked down at her, surprised by the sudden question, but understanding her meaning. His gaze softened though when he noticed the sincere longing in her eyes. She...really wanted to know.

When he didn't answer her, she asked a different question. "Is there anything...That I could do to help you get it? What about what it's like?" What was so important that he couldn't even tell her what it was? Was it so unattainable?

He ran a hand through his bangs. She really wanted to help him...Little did the poor girl know that what he wanted was sitting right in front of him. The Thief sighed. Time to spill his guts...

"What I want is...really dense, stubborn, short tempered, oblivious and way too reliant on it's own strength..." Mai blinked as he spoke, wasn't he talking about an object?

He took a short breath, looking down at her with a soft and honest gaze. His body started moving on it's own, again cupping her cheek for the second time that day, the gentle gesture startling her. "But she's also loyal, honorable, innocent, smart, honest, funny, sweet, unbelievably cute when flustered, and is the only one that can see right through me."

Mai's brain stopped working as blood rose into her cheeks, knowing that he could feel it in his hand. The only response she could give was in a very weak voice. "I-I-I don't know weather to be happy or offended...Can I be both?" He chuckled, placing his forehead against hers, closing his eyes in relief. "As you wish..."

They stayed that way for a few minutes before a light glow caught Mai's eye. She turned her head to look at it, casing Zed's forehead to fall. He groaned quietly to himself, for the moment had been lost. He didn't look back up until he felt his sleeve being tugged on, when he did, he noticed that Mai wasn't looking at him, but upwards. When he looked up, he saw that the lights started to rise up from the shore all around them. "Zed, it's starting." Zed would be lying if he wasn't a little surprised. That was the first time she had said his name without 'dead' or 'kill' being in the same sentence.

She moved to where she was sitting next to him on the same bench. Because the seat was small, their sides were touching, but they both refused to make the moment more awkward by commenting and instead focused their attention on the lights, which now started to fall slowly towards the lake.

Mai hesitated a moment before taking his hand shyly, he looked down at her in surprise again. She looked back up at him with a smile. "So what are you going to do now that you finally got what you wanted?"

He blinked down at her, thinking it over briefly. "I...didn't think I would get this far." She raised a brow at him as he continued. "But, for now, I'll just hold onto it."

She chuckled. "So you haven't thought up to this point?"

"Nope, not really." Was his simple reply.

Mai leaned onto his arm, too short to reach his shoulder. "Well, for one you have to stop with your habit of taking and giving back." She smiled in amusement when he flinched slightly.

He looked down at her. "Y-You knew about that..?"

She nodded. "Of course I did. I just...didn't know why at the time, but now I understand it."

Zed waited a moment to think it through. "So...you're not angry about it?"

Her calm reaction threw him for a loop. "I am, but for different reasons."

The thief glanced back up at the lights that surrounded them before turning back to her. "Reasons?"

She nodded. "You involved innocent bystanders, endangering their possessions so that you could obtain something you wanted. That's pretty selfish." He glanced away, feeling a bit offended until she finished. "But.. It was pretty sweet of you to go through so much trouble. I know that getting my attention can be a pretty hard thing to gain."

She laughed ruefully as he looked back at her, a smile growing on his face. "Well, you are pretty dense."

She stopped laughing, glaring up at him. "W-What!? I-I am not! Wait a minute, you said something like that this afternoon...You meant me, didn't you?!"

He laughed. "What? Who? Me? Nooo..."

Thus another fun and small argument started between the two until they both started laughing. Soon enough, the lanterns had all diminished, leaving only the sky and stars. Mai looked over and noticed that Lucas had started rowing again. "Oh, guess its time to go." He took the hint and took a hold of the oars reluctantly, mumbling to himself about not wanting to leave yet, but started rowing back towards the dock anyways.