?rad? spent most of her watch whittling away at a branch with her knife and thinking about how she got here. Not one for many words, she was almost missed when Hiday?t had asked around for volunteers; he caught her on his second look.

  Hiday?t had asked her many times if she was certain; he'd felt her desire and her pride when she stepped forward to join the expedition. "This is an important mission, but think not on the honor this will bring you. A ?arc?aban keeps their eyes on the path they walk, and does not look to the skies. Are you sure you wish to go?"

  "I wish to learn more about humans and their magic. I'm not walking on a path of clouds, ?adar. You always said to hold your life above all but the tribe, and I still do."

  Her idle knife nicked her finger while she was thinking back on it; she'd whittled away the branch to tinder. She threw away the remains and dusted her hands off, glancing at Saul with her night eye.

  Humans were a mystery. She'd only heard tales of them from before she was a ?arc?aban, tales of great kings and terrible sorcerers that brought death and wreaked destruction to unite a race that rejected authority.

  Her b?w's warnings seemed to ring hollow now, to look at one. If she hadn't been there when Saul summoned a wildfire, he'd seem like nothing more than an odd old man with a doting affection for a demon child.

  But she was there. She witnessed a man fly higher than a hawk and rain shimmering, golden flames down on his enemies. She wanted- no, needed- something like that.

  ---

  Saul shifted, his mind slowly coming awake. His night terrors didn't show themselves this time, so he woke at his usual time before sunrise. He opened his eyes, and didn't even see a glimmer of light- the campfire had gone out in the night, and ?rad? hadn't thought to start it back. He called a memory of flame to his fingertips, and saw one eye glinting at him from the entrance.

  ?rad? nodded to him when he looked over and spotted her. He simply nodded back and moved to his knees to do a round of kindling, snuffing his flame.

  Two hours later, the sun broke over the horizon, and a groggy Anna and Cavad came to themselves to find ?rad? cooking quail on a spit, and Saul still kindling. Anna smiled at the familiar sensation, but to Cavad, it felt like a miniature sun blowing into him.

  He leaned over and murmured to Anna, "Does he do this every morning?"

  Anna nodded. "Every day he thinks he might need to use magic."

  He shared a worried look with ?rad?, and Anna hastened to add, "But he doesn't usually use magic every day- this is just preparation."

  Cavad laughed sheepishly. “Ah, that makes sense. ‘Preparation is a hunter’s greatest weapon.’ Our old ?adar used to harp on us for that.”

  Anna nodded, looking into the campfire remains. “How was our old ?adar?”

  Cavad felt a pang of sadness. “He was a stern, kindly old fool… he was the best of us.”

  ?rad? shook her head. “He was weak, and he didn’t ask us to be more than we were. I put our troubles at his feet.”

  Cavad gave ?rad? a look. “Without his sacrifice, we wouldn’t be here, ?rad?. It’s good to remember the name of the back you’re standing on.”

  “Bah,” ?rad? looked away, out towards the forest, “if he pushed us more, we’d still be out on the s?wa?n, unbothered by any foolish war-bands. His kindness was weakness in the end.”

  Cavad just shook his head. They could tell he was angry; he was radiating it. “I’ll speak no more of it this morning. We have time to talk.” He breathed deeply, then turned to Anna. “Could you ask our sorcerer when he’ll be finished?”

  “He usually finishes when I wake up.” Anna turned and poked him. “?adar, were you not soft, I'd think you were stone. Did you rest like that?"

  Saul opened his eyes and laughed, relaxing from his kneel. "I didn't, in fact. How did you rest, Anna?"

  "I rested well. Waking was annoying, though. No campfire!"

  Saul chuckled again. "I suppose we should be used to not having a fire."

  "I disagree; I'd rather sleep warm until the last moment."

  "Well, now you know what you have to do for the next month. You can still head back, you know."

  "Fun-foolish ?adar." Anna smiled. "Are you finished kindling?"

  "I am."

  Anna nodded. "He's finished. Let's get ready and head out."

  And so they broke camp after a breakfast of quail and water. Cavad was still simmering with anger, but held his tongue. Saul noted the silence, but didn't comment on it.

  The trek northward was both getting more steep and more cold; everyone but ?rad? started wearing their inner coats, as visible frost was hanging from branches and crunching underfoot.

  Anna, of course, asked Saul about every berry they came across, and Saul simply smiled and shook his head at most of them. "No, Anna, those aren't edible; your stomach will turn."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "But they're so red!"

  "Think of it as a warning, yeah? They're meant to be eye-catching, but when you eat a few, you can tell- they taste awful."

  The morning was otherwise a calm one. They took a break under a large spruce tree, taking a sip from their skins.

  ?rad? nodded to Anna. "Can you ask the sorcerer if he'll show us how to do that thing he did this morning?"

  Anna smiled. "I can show you; it's rather simple, but tricky to perform. Take a happy thought, cover it with mana, and spin it."

  ?rad? frowned. "How do you spin a memory? It has no shape."

  Anna shrugged. "It's how he described it to me, and I can make it work."

  ?rad? just shook her head, sitting down and searching for a sufficiently happy memory. Cavad sat down next to Saul, and just tried to wrestle with his anger over the calming influence of Saul's kindling.

  Saul, who was watching ?rad? try to spin a happy memory in his mana sense, noticed Cavad's distress, but didn't comment on it. What use were words when he didn't know why Cavad felt that way? He was content just helping out in this small fashion, and he hoped Cavad knew that.

  The end of the break found a frustrated ?rad?, an amused Anna, and a much more chatty Cavad. ?rad? wasn't a particularly attentive listener at that moment, so Cavad walked up to Anna, and they chatted for most of the rest of the trek. Anna asked more questions about their old ?ar, and Cavad asked questions about Saul.

  Saul and ?rad? walked side by side at the front; ?rad? was trying to see what his kindling was made up of, while Saul was being attentive for any animals they might come across. Wapiti were common up here, but there were also bears, lynxes, and wolves to worry about, and being forced to kill an animal because of laziness went against every bone in Saul's body.

  Thankfully- probably because of the noise Cavad and Anna were making- they didn't see much of anything for the rest of their hike. The gray sky started to drizzle, so they took refuge under a pine tree, building a small fire to keep themselves warm.

  ?rad? nodded to Anna. "Can you ask the sorcerer if there's a trick to it?"

  Anna smiled. "The sorcerer has a name, you know." She turned to Saul. "Is there a trick to getting your memory to spin for kindling?"

  Saul nodded. "Think on this: why do you have to spin it with a hand, and why is your memory in a sphere?"

  Anna blinked, then turned to ?rad? "...His ways are mysterious."

  ?rad? was amused. "I think you just don't want me to learn it first."

  "No! ...Maybe."

  ?rad? laughed, and after some nudging, Anna told ?rad? Saul's hint, and they practiced together. The rain provided a soothing backdrop to their practice and for Cavad, who spent the time stretching out any tight muscles and thinking about the road ahead. He knew the trees would begin to thin out over the next day or two, and after that would be a cold, green-grey-white expanse of snow, rocks, and lichen, then they'd be in the mountains, and they would have to be quite careful up there- not the least because they'd be moving in earnest.

  Saul joined him in his stretching, and once the rain cleared, they set off for a less damp campsite. Luckily enough, they found a good spot after a short while, and set up camp under an overhang while ?rad? left to hunt for dinner and for a ?ítta (although dinner was more important).

  Cavad sat next to Saul and Anna after they finished setting up. "So, Anna," he began, "I noticed something, and it made me curious. Why do you call Saul ?adar?"

  "Well, a ?adar, to me, is someone that protects and guides. Since I was separated from our ?ar, Saul's been my guide and protector. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him."

  Saul turned at the mention of his name and raised a brow. Cavad raised his brows back, and Anna giggled. "We were talking about the strange things humans do."

  Saul laughed. 'Oh? Like what?"

  "Like how you make so many expressions! it's like you shout both through feelings and though your face."

  "Did you tell them what it means when we smile?"

  Anna shook her head. "I didn't want to confuse them too much." Then she turned to Cavad. "Does that answer your question?"

  Cavad nodded thoughtfully, sitting with his back against the wall.

  Saul nudged Anna. "What did you learn today?"

  Anna turned to him and smiled. "I learned that Cavad was a ?arc?aban for longer than ?rad?, and that most all berries are poisonous around here."

  "But not all of them..." Saul winked, and pulled out a handful of deep blue berries with a waxy coat. "These are not poisonous, and are quite sweet. They're called bobbets."

  "They're so blue! Where did you get them? I don't remember you grabbing these while we were walking."

  "They were on the path; the berries grow around waist height. You'll notice them if you look for them tomorrow."

  It goes without saying that human children don't hold back with sweets, and that's true for demon children as well; they were finished long before ?rad? came back to camp with dinner: four rabbits and a ?ítta. The ?ítta was around the length of ?rad?'s arm, with a streaked white-grey coat with spots on its belly.

  Anna immediately went to stroke the ?ítta's fur, and when ?rad? finally relented, Saul could swear he saw Anna glow with happiness.

  Saul busied himself with the rabbits while ?rad? taught Anna to change her eye.

  The process was very similar to when Saul changed his legs, with a key difference: Anna had to push mana from her eye.

  ?rad? showed her the carcass. "Now, stick your face into it." Her brows couldn't go any higher.

  Anna scrunched up her face. "Does it smell?"

  "No idea, but you'll find out soon." ?rad? was practically cackling.

  Anna eventually leaned into it. The smell wasn't bad, but the animal scent was pungent. "You're way too happy about this."

  "Everyone remembers their first. Now, use your mana to draw out some of its essence- like dipping a brush in paint- and then draw that essence into your eye- or eyes, if you want two."

  Anna did as instructed, and after she drew in her mana, she felt a strange pain in the front of her face. Her mana changed back to wholly her own, and once Anna felt that change, she pulled back from the carcass and opened her eyes.

  Immediately, she felt the difference. Where her human eye could see color and distance with clarity, her ?ítta's eye couldn't see the greens of the ground around them- and even looking further than two tree lengths into the forest around her was out of focus.

  "It feels so strange! Is this how the world looks to you?"

  "For half of my sight, yes. The real benefit is at night or morning's eve. You'll see its value, I promise."

  Anna wasn't convinced, and ?rad? could feel it, but time would tell.

  Anna turned to face Saul, and the difference was striking; where two purple eyes used to be, now, one purple eye and one yellow cat eye looked back at him.

  "Well? Do you like it?"

  Was she nervous? Saul smiled. "You look like a true hunter now. Care for some rabbit soup to celebrate?"

  Anna smiled back, relieved, and sat down for dinner as ?rad? began preparing the ?ítta for jerky.

  The end to their first real day out in the wilderness was comfy, if slightly awkward, with Cavad and ?rad? giving each other looks. They ended up emptying the soup bowl before Cavad finished his story about hunting a white bear in the mountains. Cavad was miffed at missing a second bowl, and ?rad? cackled at that- an actual cackle!- before they set up watches: ?rad?, again, but with first watch, and Anna with the second.

  Saul wanted to change who watched over the night this time, but ?rad? wanted Anna to see the benefit of having her special eye, as well as she wanted to finish the jerky personally, so Saul relented. Saul and Anna fell asleep to Cavad and ?rad? murmuring quietly to each other on the other side of the fire, facing out into the darkness.

  Not a bad start to their journey, Anna thought.