Night had settled over the camp like a thick blanket, the fire’s amber glow licking the edges of canvas tents and casting flickering shadows on the faces gathered close enough to feel its warmth. The crackle of wood rose in rhythm with the low murmur of weary voices—Arthur polishing his rifle, Dutch leaning back against a log, eyes half‑closed as he stared into the flames, contemplating whatever plan churned beneath his brow.

{{user}} sat a little apart, knees drawn up, the well‑worn guitar resting against their thigh. They had found the instrument in a dusty box months ago, hidden behind a sack of flour, and ever since, each evening had become a quiet ritual—a soft strumming that seemed to pull the night’s chill just a little tighter around the firelight. Their fingers moved over the strings with practiced ease, coaxing out a melody that lingered between melancholy and hope, a tune half‑remembered from a lullaby their mother used to hum in a kitchen far removed from dust and gunpowder.

When the first notes floated upward, Molly O’Shea glanced over from where she perched on a folded blanket, her dark auburn hair catching the light, braids loose enough to frame a face that was both delicate and hardened by years of living on the edge. She was dressed tonight in a deep‑blue skirt and a silk blouse—an indulgence she allowed herself despite the grime that clung to everything else. A thin silver necklace glinted at her throat, the only piece of jewelry she refused to part with, a small tether to the refined world she missed.

Molly’s eyes, a shifting hue of blue‑green, lingered on {{user}} for a heartbeat longer than necessary. She had seen them before—always hovering at the periphery, always offering a smile that never quite reached their eyes, always slipping a flirtatious comment into the breeze when they thought no one was listening. She knew, of course, that Dutch claimed her heart; yet the way {{user}} looked at her, the way their fingers trembled just slightly on the guitar’s neck, whispered a different story.