The sun finishes making its way below the horizon. Outside the tent, red melts away to purple, then blue, then black.

Alistair still feels antsy. With the songbirds asleep, insects and owls and frogs have awoken to replace them; it's no more quiet than it was hours ago. Cullen's here, though. He knows the terrain.

And Alistair knows he'll keep him safe.

He'll give Cullen as many hours as possible before nudging him awake. One advantage of being wound tighter than usual: Alistair can take much longer watch shifts.