Saul didn't know what to think. The taciturn demon leading him on a path through the brush inadvertently put words to the discomfort he was feeling. 10 years away from civilization didn't prepare him for a new Viscount, a new knight, and new people in need; it certainly didn't prepare him for another child. He could see that even the forest was changing. Creatures that used to roam the mountainside were now ranging more south than ever- was it a lack of food, or were they changing their hunting patterns because of something else?

  As they passed a tree, Hiday?t wrinkled his nose, pointing at a bare patch where the bark was rubbed off at around shoulder height.

  "Wapiti." He said the word with no small amount of glee, despite his expression.

  Saul nodded, and they carried on, following the trail. If Hiday?t was aware of Saul's inner turmoil, he gave no sign of it, simply guiding them deeper into the forest.

  This far in, the trees were more larch and pine than spruce, bare branches mingling with green conifers to form a canopy that sheltered a green-white forest floor of lichen, dead branches, and small shrubs. The temp was warmer, but still cold enough that a breeze prickled the skin. Saul could tell this land was untouched by man, and he loved it.

  Said canopy was being assaulted by their target, who was munching away happily on the branches it could reach. The wapiti was a healthy male with reddish-brown winter coat and a large set of antlers.

  Saul prepared to channel a spell to knock it out, but Hiday?t stopped him with a look and a hand on his arm. "Let me, sorcerer."

  And with that, Hiday?t stepped out of hiding, as casual as can be, and approached the wapiti. When it turned to face him, Saul started feeling drowsy, and a quick glance with mana sight showed that he wasn't the main focus; it was a beam of targeted emotions shooting straight into the wapiti.

  The wapiti blinked twice and then languidly laid down on its side, as if preparing to rest. Hiday?t knelt over the wapiti and murmured something Saul didn't catch before slamming the hilt of his knife into where the skull meets the neck, killing it instantly.

  Hiday?t looked up at Saul's stupefied expression, and raised one brow. "Your memories scar the land, and the land remembers. This is cleaner, I think."

  "Cleaner is a way to put it. That looked..."

  "Strange? Unnatural?"

  "I may have thought those words. I was looking for a better one."

  "Sorcerer, you called flames from your fingertips that ran across the ground like an avalanche. I told an elk to sleep."

  "...You're right. It's just-"

  "It was a good kill. The land is better for knowing this is a place of rest."

  Saul paused to think about that phrasing while Hiday?t took some rope and tied the legs together on each end. He looked at Saul and chuckled. "Regardless, it seems I'll be doing most of the heavy lifting, no?"

  "You'll be surprised, you old-timer. I'm stronger than I look."

  Hiday?t gave him an amused look. "If you like, this old-timer can give you a trick to save your legs, if you are of the mind for it. Fair warning, though, the change is rather permanent."

  "How so?"

  "Beyond stronger legs, your legs will carry traits of the wapiti."

  "As in, its strength?"

  "Like... a wapiti can walk until sundown, and carry its weight. Your legs will remember how to do that. In return, you may gain more fur, and other changes to how you move."

  Sail glanced at the carcass, which looked about 5 feet tall at the shoulder. "That sounds too good to be true."

  "It is real and present, sorcerer; we do this every birth with our newborns. This is not only safe, but makes us more than we were. You understand?"

  "I think I do." Saul paused. "Alright, ?arc?aban, I'll follow your advice."

  "You won't regret it. Just..." He paused, his face tightening. "I'm no ?arc?aban. Not anymore. I am the ?adar of the sa??ard."

  Saul winced, but Hiday?t was already waving his hand. "No need for apologies, sorcerer. You were never there, and you never knew what was. What's done is done; I have been heard. Let's leave it at that." Hiday?t clapped his hands. "Now! Enough of that. Let's focus on making you whole again. First, through your feet, dip your mana in the wapiti."

  "...excuse me?"

  Hiday?t laughed. "The feelings fresh faces make are always funny the first time. You heard me. Think of it like you're dipping your feet into mud. After it's soaked, pull it into your legs."

  Saul decided to trust him, and followed his instructions. The sensation was altogether hard to describe; he felt a kind of hollowness as his mana fell from his feet into the wapiti, and his perception of his mana was off. The best he could liken it to was dipping a brush in paint. His mana didn't become less, per say, just carried some aspect of the wapiti that he couldn't define. When he pulled it back into his legs, the effect was immediate: he could feel his legs change in a tangible way as his mana lost that 'something extra,' and deposited it into his legs. The first sensation he felt was the extra weight pushing his feet into the ground. He tested his range of motion, and found that he was as spry as when he was a soldier- stronger, too; his legs held his admittedly smaller than average weight with ease.

  He was startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder and a bemused Hiday?t. "Before you start shoving your mana into everything that moves, let's go feed my people, yeah?"

  Saul laughed, and after tying a harness on each side of the wapiti, they began the long hike back.

  Saul thought he wasn't prepared to carry a 1000 pound carcass all the way back to the encampment, even with a demon sharing the load. It wasn't until they both squared up to lift it that Saul tested the weight and found that the strain was not on his legs, but in his back. Focusing mana into his lower back solved his problem, and as they moved, he found the movement getting easier and easier.

  Now, it was still 1000 pounds, so breaks were common, but they made good progress through the forest. On one such break, Hiday?t found himself looking at Saul's face.

  "So, sorcerer, I have a question. You say that the practice of... ?u?j, your language is lacking- we call it ?at?a??as, the act of making an animal's traits our own. You had no prior knowledge of it, and yet you have fangs and a wolf's eyes."

  Saul sighed. "I thought this would come up. My mentor who taught me how to be a -sorcerer, you call it?- he was a demon."

  "That explains a lot, yet raises more questions. Did he perform ?at?a??as while you were asleep?"

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  "It was a little more rushed than all that. From what he described, I was struck across the face by one of the hunters he ran with."

  Hiday?t gave him a wide-eyed look. "And you lived? A miracle!"

  "I'm sure if it was a serious blow, I wouldn't be standing here. As it was, I didn't get much more than a shattered jaw- or I think; he was always dodgy about the details."

  "And he just had a wolf nearby?"

  Saul just shrugged, looking away. "I'd rather not think about it any more than I have to, if it's all the same to you."

  Hiday?t seemed almost hurt; he took a moment to gather himself. "I hear you, sorcerer. I understand."

  Hiday?t didn't speak another word on the trek back, and Saul didn't know whether to be thankful or not. From his vantage point at the rear of the carcass, he could see Hiday?t's hunched posture, his horns exaggerating the motion of his heavy steps. Perhaps it was best not to pry.

  They took a wide detour around the clearing where they spotted the foxes, and ended up at the encampment at mid-sunset. As they entered, the smell of cooking meat wafted over them, and Saul could see Hiday?t relax as they crossed the boundary. They were greeted with warm words and raised brows as they carried their carcass to one of the open fires, setting it down for processing. Judging from how many fires were covered with rabbits and other wapiti -and even a wolf- most of the other hunters were back already. The success of the hunt took a lot of weight off of Hiday?t's shoulders, and his demeanor softened as he heard the stories of the other hunters.

  Saul took a seat next to the elk to take some weight off his back, and Anna ran up to him, smiling (despite the disapproving looks of some older demons). "?adar! I see you came with dinner."

  "And I see you're chipper as always, Anna. Your hair is braided?"

  "K?nül wanted to practice for the ?u?t-at, or the season-change joy-gathering, and I wanted one. She added a feather at the end. Do you like it?" She did a little spin.

  "Oh, a summer festival? And the braid is very pretty; it fits you well. How was your day?"

  "My day was as good as my morning. The b?wár didn't let us play in the field to the north, but we made do. We played pas-pas until the hunters came back."

  "Pas-pas?"

  "It goes like this: I think of a thing, and you ask me about it. You get, erm," she held up ten fingers, "this many questions. If you don't know the thing, I win!"

  "Only ten questions? Sounds tricky."

  Anna smirked. "Maybe for a ?adar, but ten is too many for me."

  "Fancy yourself a guesser?"

  "Maybe so. I am a guesser, after all. Why not be fancy?"

  Saul laughed. "Maybe we should play pas-pas sometime. That sounds like a fun challenge."

  "You like challenges, ?adar?"

  "I like solving puzzles."

  They sat for a moment in comfortable silence, as one of the b?wár came over to dress the wapiti and prepare it for cooking. After a short exchange between the b?w (a tall, powerfully built female demon with no visible changes) and Anna, Anna turned to Saul. "We could play now? We have to wait on dinner, after all."

  "I'd like that."

  "I'll be the guesser!" Anna looked pleased as punch.

  Saul just smiled. He knew which one he'd think of: that silver fox.

  Anna scrunched up her face, like she could see through his head. "Does it breathe?"

  Slight surprise. "Yes."

  "Hmm... Does it sleep under a roof?"

  Amusement. "I imagine not, no."

  "Is it larger than me?"

  "No."

  "?u?j." Anna made a face and Saul laughed. "A small thing that sleeps in the open... does it eat meat?"

  "Yes."

  "Oh! Does it fly?"

  "No."

  "Ugh... You picked a hard one."

  "It's a fitting challenge for a fancy guesser. Five questions left."

  Anna held up a hand. "This many?"

  "Right."

  "We call five 'afud.' But, for my question... does it hunt its food?"

  "Yes."

  "It must hunt in a pack..." Saul felt a flicker of amusement, and she paused, a smug smile growing on her face. "Or not."

  Wait a minute... "You're feeling me out, aren't you?"

  "I am not! But," she glanced away, "maybe you're giving too much away."

  Saul just shook his head. "I can't believe you."

  "Yet you feel proud! Your words don't match your heart."

  "What did I do to deserve such a precocious child?"

  Anna smiled. "Now you're making words up!"

  "...I won't tell. I'm still waiting for a question, however."

  "Well, does it live near a river?"

  "No. Three left."

  "We say three is ?in. Hmm... I can only think of a few that you told me about when we left to hunt in the forest around our home. Is it a dhole?"

  "No, those are pack animals."

  "Then it's a fox!" Anna smiled wide, sensing his amusement before he nodded. "I won! Ah, it's hard being so quick."

  "Yet you manage somehow." Saul rolled his eyes as Anna giggled.

  Anna's eyes went to the wapiti. "So, how did you catch it?"

  "Hiday?t sang it to sleep."

  "No!" Anna's eyes were as large as saucers.

  "He walked up to it, and he sang so sweetly that it couldn't help but become our dinner."

  "...You're pulling my tail."

  "Ask him about it. Better yet, touch the wapiti and find out for yourself."

  She still had that dubious look as she tentatively reached over to the hide of the wapiti -which, after processing, looked like a white, veiny cover with scattered strips of red. She had her hand on it for all of ten seconds before she was nodding off; Saul had to catch her and pull her back onto the log. She got herself sorted rather quickly and, after they shared a good laugh, spent the rest of the time chatting excitedly about hunters from her old ?ar. Anna's small crew of K?nül, ?hm?d, and Saida came over to listen and chip in, talking about their day (Anna was ever the diligent translator).

  Saida begged him to show them how to do the trick with shaping the fire, and he just chuckled and shook his head. "When your image of fire is better, you'll be able to move it. As you are now, you're better off thinking on what your 'fire' is. These things take time, Saida."

  Dinner was warm, and loud, and busy. Saul hadn't had a meal like this in a long time, surrounded by new friends; it gave him something didn't know he was missing.

  They spent the night like the one before, talking well into the night. Anna was a comforting weight in his arms as he walked back, her tail wrapped around his arm as she slept. Not even the memory of the flames under his feet could dampen his mood, nor the looks of the guards as they let him into the fort.

  He had new moment to kindle with; a moment to treasure. He had a feeling it would come in handy in the coming days.