“I certainly hope you are right,” Gin said. “Remember, it was a long time after the gods and demigods fought for control and were beaten back by the races of Orana that we could safely travel at all through the Void. As recently as the Forest War, my kind either traveled through the bond or across the land.” Her brows furrowed. “Sometimes I think that Draoch of the Trees was wrong to stop teaching the young to use the bond. We have it, but I’m not even sure that you and I can use that part of the bond—Ben only ever used it to find me and then transport himself to me with magic when…” She paused a moment. “Well, also, the only creature I know back home that has the ability is a drake in—well, a place that Ben took me, and while I don’t want to ever go back there I suppose that I could if it meant that -”
“Now, stop that. We got here, we will find a way to get back,” Sath said, trying to sound comforting. “For now, though, we will stay here and rest until morning. We need the rest. Agreed?” Gin nodded and looked around the room as though lost. “What’s wrong?”
“I was looking for a place to stretch out, but…” She came across the room and sat down next to him. “I don’t need it really—I don’t think I’ll sleep anyway.”
“Me either,” Sath replied, smiling inwardly at how close she was. They sat in silence, Sath looking through his maps from his pack and Gin studying her spell book as she often did when she was nervous. A soft thunk from beside him drew Sath’s attention, and he chuckled at the sight of Gin’s spellbook on the floor. Her head was hanging forward, and her breathing was deep and even. She needed the sleep, clearly. Sath gathered her into his arms, careful not to wake her, and held her close as he leaned his head back against the door. It was looking like a long night ahead.
Eleven
The Log Cabin
Gin opened her eyes slowly, not sure where she was. It had been a long time since she had slept that deeply, and she wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the last time she had slept in her bed in Qatu’anari. The wooden floor under her was hard, but she smiled as she recognized Sath’s traveling cloak folded up under her head as a pillow. She had been too hard on him. She knew deep down that he really did care for her, he just had difficulty showing it. She could work with that.
“Sath?” she said, rubbing her eyes to try and bring the room into focus. She was still in the house near the forest that they found last night, but Sath was nowhere to be seen. Alarmed, Gin jumped to her feet and grabbed her staff from its resting place by the door. “SATH!” she called out. His furry head appeared at the window outside, one clawed finger up to his lips.
“Ikara’s TEETH, Gin, ssh! If we are found here, it will look like we killed these poor folks,” he hissed at her. She clambered over to the window, climbing over the broken bed frame and pushing scattered blankets and clothing out of her way. Peering out, she saw two graves with stones at the head of each and Sath leaning on a shovel. Frowning, she sprinted through the now clean living area and out the door to where he was, around the back.
“What are you doing?” she whispered. “Sath, did you bury those two wood elves we found in the house?”
“Of course I did. I don’t know your burial rites, and I needed to get the place cleaned up in case we were surprised, so—this was wrong, wasn’t it?” Sath asked, taking note of the fire raging in Gin’s ice-blue eyes.
“So wrong, Sath. SO wrong. My people are not buried in the ground. We are cremated, and then we return to the ground to help the plants to grow. Their souls may be stuck in the Underworld now!” She stamped her tiny foot in frustration.
Sath leaned on the handle of the shovel he had found in a shed behind the house. “Gin, I couldn’t have known that, and we don’t really have a way to cremate them without attracting attention,” he said with a sigh. “This was the best I could do in a hurry.”
“Why did you have to do anything?” Gin said as she crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself tightly. “Haven’t you done enough to my kind already?”
“You’d best take care what you say to me, Nature Walker. That one was over the line.” Sath rumbled as he spoke. Gin scowled back at him but said nothing, and he sighed loudly. “We need to get moving if we are going to get out ahead of whatever or whoever it was that killed these two poor souls.” He tossed the shovel to the ground and wiped his hands off on his armor. “I sound like I’m insane,” he muttered as he pushed past her and back into the house.
Gin slowly walked over to the graves and knelt down. “Mother Sephine,” she said quietly, “guide these gentle souls into the afterlife. Do not penalize them for the method in which they were laid to rest; Sath did not know the way that we do things. I beg of you to release their souls from the underworld so that they may find each other in happiness in the afterlife.” She gathered up some dirt nearby and tossed a small handful onto the top of each grave, speaking ancient Elvish words of good fortune and safe travel as she did. She stood, arms again wrapped around her midsection, and backed away from the twin
