Aye. And Neia’s daughter, my maternal grandmother, was born here too. She stood up and crossed the room, pointing to the doorway between the room they were in and the next. She wrote her name here, on the wall. And over here, this is my mother’s name.
Written in Elvish. That script looks prettier than it sounds. Sath hoped she would chuckle, but she did not. Were you born here as well?
No. Mama was not formally recognized as the Nature Walker. Our home was on a lower platform.
Can we see that? Sath hoped that she would continue to talk because he could feel her relaxing in the bond as she told him about her past.
Sath. We cannot be found here. Once I have collected a few things for our journey, we must be on our way, and this time I think we need to use magic. I have seen you shimmy down a tree headfirst, and I have no inclination to be on your back while you do that, thank you.
Sath laughed out loud and then clapped his hand over his face, eyes wide. Gin stared at him and then looked around toward the door. Nothing happened. They sat still for a long time, listening for footsteps, but none came.
Sorry.
When we can use our voices again, remind me to yell at you for that—if I can stop laughing, that is.
She was smiling at him as she stuffed a cloak, some skins of water, and a leather-bound book into her pack. Instead of making him stand up and come to her, Gin walked back over to him and around behind him. She put a hand on his shoulder and then spoke words that he recognized. “Down,” she said, and a familiar ring of magical fire formed around them. Sath smiled as he felt her fingers wind into his fur just before they winked out of the hut.
The ground came up under him even faster than usual because he had been sitting when the spell cast. Gin was moving over to where they had stowed their things and had strapped her staff back onto her haversack. “We should get going—the patrols will begin once the moon is high in the sky.” She looked up at Sath, who was still gazing up toward her hut. “Sath?”
“Sure, let’s go.” Sath glanced up at the hut one last time, confident that just before they disappeared from the hut to reappear here at the base of the giant tree, he saw someone watching them. Male or female was hard to say because the figure was wearing a cloak with the hood up.
“What’s wrong?” She had sensed his worry in the bond.
“Nothing, probably. I thought I saw someone approaching your hut as we ported out, but there is no one there now.”
“You can see clearly all the way up there?”
“Can’t you?”
“You know I can’t. Show off.” She scowled but then giggled as she handed him his pack. “What’s in here anyway, rocks?”
“Well, yes, I wanted to make sure we had enough. You never know when you might need a rock.”
“To throw at your head, you mean. Which way?” Sath glanced one last time up at the hut and saw nothing, so he looked back to Gin and pointed.
“This is. . .northeast, right?” Gin closed her eyes for a moment and then nodded warily. Sath admired her almost unerring sense of true north. “Then that’s the way we go.” He started walking and then paused, holding a hand out to her that she took. “Unless you’d prefer my tail, that is?”
“Prefer to hang on to it or-?”
“Right. Hand it is.” Sath chuckled and squeezed her hand carefully. They walked in silence again for a long time, occasionally slowing their pace to gaze up at the stars. Sath was careful of the size of his steps so that he didn’t get too far out ahead. After a long period of nothing but walking, Gin pulled her hand out of his. Sath looked down at her and found her frowning at him.
“Wait. You’re taking me to Bellesea, aren’t you?” Had she been searching his mind? Sath took a quick mental inventory. No, he could find no trace of her there, other than the low hum that was always there now. “I’m not stupid, Sath. We are heading northeast from Anyamaede. Either we are going to swim in the Dark Sea, or you are taking me back to Bellesea Keep.” She folded her arms over her chest. “And I’m just supposed to follow along like good little Gin, is that it?”
“Wait, you’ve got the wrong idea. I just want us to go back to where this started—where I—well, where we learned to be a team, Gin. I want to get back to that. I want to sleep under the stars. I want to talk around a fire, cups of ale in hand. There is no one in Bellesea anymore, remember? You took care of that.” She shook her head and took a few steps away from him, and that was when he saw it—a dark elf, running at her, arm raised and weapon glinting in the moonlight, still a ways off but closing the distance fast. “Behind you, Gin, coming in hot,” he hissed, hoping that she would remember the protocol from days past with the Fabled Ones. The look on her face told him she did, and she moved quickly past him, turning around to face the incoming enemy from just behind him.
“What do we do?” She started reciting spells that would damage their still unknown assailant, but Sath shook his head.
“I got this,” he said. “Kaboom!”
“Ka—what?”
“Watch this.” Sath retrieved the two potions from his pocket. Thankfully his Qatu vision told him which one was silver since he only had the moon for light. He waited a few more minutes with Gin tugging on his other arm and then hurled the potion to the ground between them and the assailant. It hit the forest floor and exploded, causing an
