"Listen, I understand what you did and why," King began after taking a long moment to contemplate what Annie had done. "But--"

"King, are you awake?"

Annie sprang to her feet at the sound of her father's questioning from outside the hut, [i]despite[/i] the fact that she'd been expecting him to arrive at any moment. She looked to the door, then to King, with the blood draining from her face.

"I brought food and [i]mate[/i]," Bran continued. 

"Too late," Annie murmured, more to herself than to either of the men. 

Her father continued, "We need to get up and around if we're going to get to Black Rock before nightfall."

Annie had roleplayed how she was going to deal with this moment in her head both before contemplating coming here [i]and[/i] while she sat here waiting for King to awake, time she spent studying the sleeping man and imagining lying beside him in that bed. And yet now, as she stood there over King, she'd forgotten each and every option that she'd considered.

Eventually, somehow drumming up the courage, she called out, "[i]Come in, Papa. We're waiting for you.[/i]"

Annie stepped away from the door, waiting for her father's reaction. That reaction took a bit longer than she'd expected, as Bran simply stood outside, suffering his own bit of shock at what he had heard. Finally, he threw the door open, make eye contact with his daughter, paused again, then surged inside to shut the door behind him, asking, "[i]What the hell?[/i]"

His daughter's reaction to his shock and outrage was to drop on her knees close to King, take his face in her hand's, and plant a wet kiss firmly upon his lips. Then, standing tall again and turning to face her father once more, Annie said with a firm, committed tone, "If he's infected, I'm infected, so ... I might as well go with ya'll."

Bran's eyes were wide with a combination of shock and anger. He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to this ... [i]none![/i] In the end, his response would be delayed as the door to the hut flew open yet again, this time revealing Paul, who'd heard the voice of the young woman into whom he'd long been hoping to put a baby [i]inside[/i] the quarantine hut that she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near.

"[i]What the hell?[/i]" he asked, mirroring Bran's own question.

"I'm going with the three of you," Annie repeated, "to find and rescue King's friend." 

She looked down at King, then back to her father and the man still just outside the hut, unsure of whether he was supposed to enter or not. "There's no reason not to take me now. If King is infected, I am, too." 

Paul hadn't seen the kiss, of course, but Annie's simple presence inside the quarantine hut in which King had been living for days would mean that if he was sick, she likely would be, too. She continued her reasoning, "I'm as good a sailor as either of you ... hunter and fisher, too. I've been to Black Rock before. I know the village, the people, the surroundings. You'd be stupid not to take me."

"Go outside," Bran finally spoke, his tone softly. When Annie just stared at him, her father more firmly demanded, "[i]Go outside.[/i] Wait for me out there."

Annie didn't immediately follow the instructions, not because she was contemplating resisting them but simply because she was frozen in place; she only just now realized that she was trembling deep to the core with fear over how her father would punish her. Ultimately, though -- with one last desperate glance down to King for some sort of support -- Annie hurried past her father and out the door. 

Bran moved to the door, taking hold of it and pulling it shut, the move preventing Paul from entering. After a moment, he looked to King, considered his words, then quietly -- and reluctantly -- agreed, "She's right. She's as suited for this as anyone else. And now, [i]this...![/i]"

He was obviously referring to his daughter's [i]intimate moment[/i] with the newcomer. Bran looked around, found the [i]mate[/i] his daughter had prepared for King, sat near the little fire, and poured a small cup of it for himself before offering to refill the other man's cup. He sipped at it unsweetened, grimaced a bit, then took another drink. 

"When I say Annie's as suited for this as anyone else," Bran mused, staring at the cup with a solemn expression, "I don't just mean what she said ... the fishing and sailing stuff." He took a moment, sipped more, then continued, "Two years ago ... raiders attacked the village in the middle of the night. I, um ... I won't go into too many details. It was a ... a [i]hard[/i] time for us. For most of us, anyway. Annie ... she, um..."

Bran went silent a moment, obviously disturbed by the memory. King said softly, "You don't have to ... you know ... if--"

But Bran continued, "Annie didn't hesitate. She awoke to the noise of cries and screams ... knew what was happening, sooner than most of us ... grabbed her bow..." He hesitated again, sipping at the hot drink in his hands, then looked up to King and finished, "She killed three of them ... with her bow. No hesitation whatsoever. She saw what was happening, notched an arrow, loosed it, notched another..."

He drained the last of the [i]mate[/i] from the little cup, saying, "The last man was rushing her. She didn't see him until the last moment, just before he reached her. She just ... [i]ducked[/i] out of his way and stabbed an arrow into his gut. He fell ... and Annie just stood there over him ... watching him die. I was elsewhere ... chasing away other raiders. I didn't see it. I didn't know what had happened to her until it was all over. 

"I tried to talk to her about it later," Bran continued, pouring himself another [i]mate[/i] and offering more of the drink [i]and[/i] honey to King. "She only said, 'I'm alright, Papa.' She went back to our hut ... went back to bed ... and ... when she woke up, it was as if it had never happened ... as if she'd forgotten it entirely."

Bran finished his second little cup in two big swigs, stood from the stool, looked to King for a moment, then ordered, "Get up, get dressed. We're going."

Without another word, the man exited the hut. Outside, he waved off Paul's protestations, only glared at Annie for a moment, then told them both, "Get the supplies down to the boat. We need to be on the water before the sun is in the sky. [i]Go![/i]"