He dreamed.

Mari had made him some porridge when he arrived home. She smiled sweetly, sadly at him, placing the porridge on the floor in front of him. He did not want to eat it. He kept staring at her.

The edges of her started to blur, and a piercing shriek erupted from her open mouth. Her ebony hair burst into fire, burning quickly into her skull and engulfing her body.

He watched. His body was unable to move. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. All he could smell was smoke. All he could hear was the screaming and crackling fire.

Then his mouth hurt.

He heard himself screaming and saw Aino in front of him.

She hit him again, and he stopped screaming, covering his bleeding mouth with his hand. He quivered a bit at the dream, the memory, the reality and drooled blood onto the ground.

Aino merely sat down and leaned against a sack of potatoes. Her eyes closed, and her breathing resumed its ragged song. He noticed the beads of sweat pooling in some the crevices of her clothing and the wetness of the fabric. Her once white hair was gray with dirt and smoke.

"Are...are you going to be okay?" he asked. She bobbed her head a bit.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She did not respond.

He crept up the stairs. How long was he out? He felt at the cellar door, feeling the heat burning like a hot pot on his hand.

Too dangerous.

He crept back down the stairs and fumbled through their supplies for some water. It was undeniably warm, but Eien was used to warm water. All water going through their home had to be boiled. Now all the water in their home was boiled off.

He laughed to himself a bit at his joke and then miserably pushed the flaming picture from the forefront of his mind by trying to give Aino some water, too.

Water dribbled over her chin sloppily, face drooping and red and splotchy. He watched her throat move up and down.

He suddenly realized how vulnerable she was.

He remembered when he first saw her on the military training grounds.

A young girl with a pure white braid stood tall in front of the crowd of conscripts who had just completed the first two years of training. She was cold. There was nothing warm, angry, sad, thoughtful, or arrogant in her face. When her eyes blinked, there was no extra movement. The white skin of her face added to the eerie, ghost-like demeanor.

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He thought it was a mistake, at first, that she was up in front with the lieutenants. There were no women in the army as they were considered weaker physically. There were no young girls in positions of power in the military. Was she someone’s daughter? Why would they bring their odd-looking daughter? Why was she in a military uniform? Why was it a commander’s uniform?

A commander was making a speech about assignments and how the conscripts would spend the next three years in different arenas. He motioned her to come forward.

She marched stiffly to the podium and gazed over the crowd.

Someone made an off-color comment loud enough for everyone to hear.

Without a change in demeanor, she pulled out her throwing club from her belt and hurled it at the boy who had set some of the other conscripts into quiet giggles. It made a sick thwack into the side of his skull. Blood dribbled out as the other conscripts screamed and cleared an area from around him.

His eyes glazed over; he fell to his knees; his head hit the ground. Eien vomited in his mouth a little bit.

She ignored the screaming and marched through the crowd of terrified conscripts who gladly gave her a wide berth. Upon approaching the dead conscript, she grasped the handle of her throwing club and pulled it out of his skull.

Everyone was silent. Even the lieutenants up front looked a bit white.

She marched silently back to the podium as everyone stared at her, their libidos replaced by horror.

She holstered her bloodied club by clipping into her belt. As she stared out into the crowd, Eien slowly felt himself realize that she was an actual part of the military. She was in charge. A quiet fear struck his heart, even though he was not close to the victim of her punishment.

Then she spoke, clearly, evenly, without any sign of remorse or acknowledgment of what she just did.

“I am Commander Era. I will be observing this base for the next year and advising Commander Lim on training and operations.” She fell silent. The conscripts waited.

Before it became awkward, she ended with, “You are all dismissed to your stations.”

Eien remembered her alabaster complexion and blank expression, as if she had no idea she had just killed someone. Now, she was panting, grimacing, dirty, and unkempt. And most bizarrely, her forehead was crinkled in a kind of grimace.

It deeply awed and worried him.

How did she manage to put out fires as they ran and cover ground in a tenth of the time? How did she manage to lift them both up into the air? How did she do anything?

He shivered despite the heat. What was she?

Time passed forever as he nibbled on par cooked potatoes and sipped hot spring water. He offered Aino some food and drink, but all she took was a bit of water.

Eventually, he noticed a temperature difference.

Instead of deathly hot, it was now merely sticky hot.

He peeked up the staircase. The cracks were dark. He poked his finger through the crevice, releasing ash and ember below, and saw the night sky, obscured by wisps of leftover smoke.

Aino's breathing started to become more regular. He did not dare leave the cellar, but he stayed close to the door, listening and waiting.

He heard nothing for hours.

He made up a game sorting the potatoes into size groups and seeing if any looked like people. He dug holes in the floor. He napped. He cleaned and examined all the equipment three times over.

Aino stirred, and he jumped up, anxiously.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "We are going to run out of water soon. We need to get moving."

She slowly peeled her eyes open and started to sit up, face once again like stone. Maybe more like a river stone plucked from deep earth.

She moved her mouth and made a slight guttural noise. He hurriedly gave her some of the water. As she swished the water around her mouth, she stared around.

Swallowing, she said, "We leave now then. We head east."

"Didn't you want to go south some more?" She hesitated. And he knew there was something wrong and urgent.

"East," she repeated, and he helped her stand up.

After a few stretches, they loaded up their gear and pushed open the cellar doors.