A Matter of Stature

Part 10

"Flower shops might not always do that," Erwin mused unsure, glancing at another of the scouts for confirmation. "What do you think?"

"They don't," the man replied with certainty. "Trust me, I know," he showed his hands with small cuts on them, as if indicating he had to do a similar task recently. You tried to recall the man's name. His light brown hair and amber eyes didn't particularly stand out in your mind, but after a while you were able to put a name to his face. Raphel, you had heard about him before when the scouts were abuzz with the news of his engagement. His bride to be had gone to see him off at the gate and he had given her roses before leaving on the mission. You caught a brief glimpse of her, but your mind was occupied in other things and you couldn't conjure a clear picture in your memories as to what she looked like.

Tarok shook his head at his friend's clumsiness from his perch up in a tree, the tension in his eyes not easing at the lighter moment. You didn't know him too well either. You just knew that he had been in the Survey Corps for quite some time and he had a wife and two young kids at Rose. They lived very close to the gates and had been there to see him off as well, boldly declaring that they would one day be going along outside with the scouts. Though Tarok's wife was surprisingly supportive of their declarations, Tarok himself usually gently suggested that they might want to pursue a different career path. You got the impression that he assured his family so much so they wouldn't worry about him, that he assured them a little too much and the kids thought that being a scout was a lot easier than it actually was.

That was all there was, just the seven of you. Erwin, Levi, Hange, Mikasa, Raphel, Tarok and you, the others were either dead or at Rose. You could almost hear the wheels in Erwin's head turning. Did he suspect your uncle, did he see the flowers as a connection to your family? Yet the question still remained, why in the world would anyone carry a bouquet of roses into a battle field? The team was still looking around and quietly deliberating when Fluffy started howling and squirming to get out of the saddlebag on Erwin's horse. 

Everyone took it as a sign of danger and looked all around to determine where the titan was before figuring out where to head. Strangely, there was no sign of any titan anywhere. "I'll take a look higher up," Mikasa offered.

"Alright," Erwin agreed, while he went to get Fluffy out of the saddlebag, keeping a firm grasp on her leash. 

Mikasa returned from the tree top, "if there's a titan out there, it's not too big, because I didn't see anything above the trees," she informed.

You curiously looked at Fluffy, she was set on pulling Erwin in a specific direction, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the others. When there was danger, Fluffy barked and ran away, or in this case, when she was carried away from the danger, she calmed down, sensing that she was heading to safety. She never really tried to indicate which direction to travel in, she just wanted to be away from the danger. Plus this was a different signal, why was she howling like that and pulling the leash so adamantly? "Be on the lookout everyone," Erwin reminded. "Let's investigate what our little friend found."

The group began to head deeper into the forest. Through thick vegetation, Mikasa spotted a titan and alerted everyone. "It's just sitting there," she observed. 

"(Name) keep her quiet," Erwin gave you Fluffy's leash, which you held tightly, wrapped around your wrist.