“Hey Alm,” called Hwalín, who was sitting in front of the strange looking fire pit. “You hear something? I swear it almost sounded like screaming.”

“Oh please.” The markswoman approached from behind the corner of the tree. “Is that what you called me over for? You know I don’t scare that easily. Besides, this place is creepy enough. I’ll bet you don’t even see the insane swirling energy coming off this giant tree.”

“Yikes. You mean the huge eyesore? Can’t imagine that’d be all too pleasant to look at. Huh. Maybe that’s what I’ve been hearing?” Hwalín’s pointed ears twitched, causing visible excitement from the bouncing of her ringed piercings. “Just like your eyes, I can usually pick up some pretty funky planet sounds. Anyway, how’s the haul?”

Alma, who was still slightly shivering from the cold, reached for the bundle of sticks tucked under her arm. “Extremely generous. This place is littered with twigs and logs. They’re pretty soaked from the snow, but it shouldn’t be a problem for me. I wonder though. Is this really a fire pit…?” She scanned the small structure in front of them. It was a rectangular hole in the ground, surrounded by stacks of ice blocks. The ice had a strange, intricate pattern running through it that made it appear oddly beautiful. The pit left Alma scratching her head, wondering why in the world anyone would build a fire in a structure made of ice.

“I wouldn’t really question the mechanics of things made by the higher ones, mate.” Hwalín glanced over at Derleth and Qu’l-Nia, both of whom seemed locked in a serious conversation. “If it works, it works. Though, don’t it seem odd a guy like him would need a fireplace at all? His blood probably runs cold all day.”

“Now that you mention it, that is a little weird. Maybe he keeps it around for company? I mean, we’re about to make some good use out of it.”

“Company? Guy like him who claims to keep the world away? Something about it all still doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Well, Hwal.” Alma, who spent a lot of time outdoors, was carving off the wet exterior of the wood to make it easier to burn. “If you ask me, I think the dude is just lonely. Who’s he need to keep away all the way up here? There’s no one purposely coming here to hunt down some mystical, eldritch hermit. He seemed happy enough to accommodate us here. I think he’s just happy to have actual visitors after who knows how long.”

“What the fuck, mate? Since when do you go about trusting anyone we meet?”

“Don't say that like I'm some paranoid whack job. It’s not like I trust him completely. I definitely wouldn’t trust him to watch my pet. But we've been searching for Derleth for what seems like forever, and it'd be pretty stupid to just throw trust out the window completely here. We need his help, remember? Besides, I’m sure Q's got a handle on how to handle him.”

“You bump your head, mate? The man might have a pretty face, but that don't mean I gotta listen to the words that come out of his mouth.” Hwalín's eyes widened in a choking onset of realization. “Aw, Alma you bloody git. You've fallen for him, haven't you?”

“What? No! Ew! I might hunt them, but I am not into hairy monsters.” The disgusted markswoman motioned for Hwalin's lighter. “I… I just know how shitty it feels being torn from your duty and feeling like you've been driven away—tossed away by the peers you respected. It’s awful and I’m sure it’s hurt him in some way. And so he’s lashing out. Even Q seemed put off by his outburst.”

“Wow, Alm. I didn’t know you could be so understanding.”

“I am when it comes to this.” Alma finally managed to set the kindling to smolder. She turned to Hwalín. “And holy crap. I mean, that’s the Ithaqua! From the Artemaian legends! In the leathery flesh! They say he can freeze your bones from the inside-out instantly causing them to shatter inside you. And don’t even think about saying his name when the lakes are frozen! And here, that’s practically all the time. You know how many times I’ve pissed myself just from hearing his name? I knew it wasn’t all bullshit! Just look at this place! I can’t even see how high this tree goes! It’s like I’m in some sort of crazy dream! I rarely have good dreams anymore, Hwal…”

“Oi. You bloody fangirl.” Hwalín groaned and plopped herself down near the sniperess. “I guess it’s sit around the fire and tell stories time.”

Alma had been blowing on the smoldering wood, slowly getting the fire to combust. “It’s not just that. My grandhag… You know the rest of my family think she’s some sort of bad influence and hated whenever she told me all her amazing experiences in other countries. Trying to live a normal life with these eyes was hard growing up, but listening to her always cheered me up. I loved the scary folklore she picked up from outside the most. This’ll probably sound stupid, but hearing about other gods and spirits and the supernatural from a non-biased perspective gave me comfort. It got me to thinking, that maybe the mysterious things I was seeing… what if… what if they really were all those things I’d hear about in her stories? That maybe I was actually special—that maybe I had been lucky to see more than just the world around me.” A small sigh escaped her lips. “That feeling never lasted long. Anxiety always got the better of me.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Aye, I getcha. I haven’t forgotten about the sob story you told me after our fight with the chthonae. You started hunting these tales down as a way to cope until you eventually grew out of that phase of your life.”

“I didn’t grow out of it. I just suppressed that side of me for a while to focus on setting my life straight. Besides, coping alone wasn’t what helped the most. A majority of help came from a certain stupid, very beautiful witch.” A gentle smile graced her darkened expression. “Thank madness for Heli. Life was a cold, bitter pill before she came along. I might've been able to endure thanks to the old lady’s stories—chasing ghosts in empty fields and public parks, but it was Heli who showed me a whole undiscovered world of magic. She taught me all about those hidden magical creatures that live just barely out of sight of us. And that feeling that things might not be so bad returned. Not just that, but it grew. It was then that I got my will to carry on back. I’d always thought magic was just some boring tool used for labor, but not for Heli. Heli was a rebel. She studied the underground stuff written by the other races. She wrote her own formulae. She combined magic to invent her own spells. She has fun with magic. And I have fun with her. It might be hard to believe, but she even likes all the same things I do. I’m so glad we talked again.”

“Yeah. I had a front row seat for her whole spiel, mate. You don’t need to repeat it. I thought we were talking about your grandmum, when did we get on the witch?”

Alma stuttered awkwardly, unsure of how to respond.

“Naw, you don’t need to explain yourself. I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on.” Hwalín let out a lascivious-sounding chuckle.

“Gross, dude. I swear that's all you think about. It's not like that with her…" claimed Alma. "We’re just friends." Annoyance gradually made way for uncertainty.

“I dunno, mate. Not how I saw it. Probably not how she sees it either. Back when we were at her place, she was clinging to you at every turn like some kind of lost pup.”

“She’s just overly affectionate," reasoned the sniper. "Plus, we hadn’t seen each other in forever.”

Hwalín looked off to the side, eyes narrowed in doubt. “Not the word I’d use for her.”

“Heli’s way out of my league.” Alma giggled, then seemed to smirk knowingly. “She deserves someone way better than me. She’s not the type of girl to settle for just anyone. She goes through her exes faster than a bullet through the heart. She made the last guy cry. Or maybe it was got him killed…?”

“You see? You seem to be the only one that knows how to tame that wild witch. I'd say you two are perfect for each other.”

“You really think so?” Alma stared into the growing flame, lost in thought. Her entire face slowly grew red as some wayward image crossed her mind—of a deep, visceral moment that might have been. Embarrassed, she jerked her body awake, snapping out of her suggestive daydream. “Augh, I can’t think of her like that! She’s my friend. And I love her—as a friend.”

“That’s usually how it starts. Then sooner or later you’ll find yourself all alone with her one night, tasting that pretty pink lipstick of hers.”

Alma let out a deep sigh tinged with a strange longing. “I don’t even have time for a relationship right now. Especially not when things are starting to ramp up. But—” The ex-soldier looked away, blushing. The image of the witch that popped into her head seemed slightly different than usual. ”—It’s not like I haven’t thought about it before… being with her… like that. And it’s like, what if I dated my best friend…?”

“Aha! I knew there was something there!” The Hecatian laughed triumphantly. “You can’t hide this kind of thing from me. You’d do her a lot of good actually. You’re levelheaded enough to keep her bitchiness in check. Well? You gonna ask her out next time you see her? Ah… She does like girls, right?”

“She does. And I don’t know. No…! I can’t ask her out… Should I?” Alma was absolutely flustered. “Damn it! Now I can’t stop thinking about it! How could you do this to me, you elfwin manipulator?”

“You’re the one that brought her up out of nowhere, Alm.”

“Sonnuva—Right. We were talking about grandhag. Uh… What was I saying about her…? Her stories! Her stories helped. I know I’ve seen things beyond my wildest imaginations on our journey, but here—finally seeing one of grandhag’s legends come to life? I’m just glad to see her finally validated. That’s why, more than anything, I’m happy to be here.”

“You don’t look too happy. Something the matter?”

Apparently, Alma had been frowning without even realizing, emphasized by the cold look in her eyes. “Grandhag’s an amazing woman, but even she thought my eyes were cursed. She thinks it might’ve happened when I was a baby. I hated hearing that from her, because I thought she could be right. And now that I know it’s othering, I know she’s right.”

“That’s pretty spooky. Your gran really said that to you? Reminds me of my uncle. Even for such a serious guy, bastard was always trying to scare me. God, what a dick.” Despite her words, Hwalín chuckled to herself.

“Oh yeah! Your uncle Beleth! I remember! I still wanna meet him!” Alma grinned, but a sullen frown quickly returned to her face. “…She once claimed I’d been attacked by the darkness itself in the middle of the night. That some demon left its mark on me. For a while I prayed it was actually Macha that had blessed me rather than some random curse. But then that thought started to terrify me too.”

“For all we know—.”

“Hwal.” Alma raised her hand to prevent the Hecatian from finishing her thought. She tried moving the conversation in another direction. “Q said it makes us monomyths, right?”

“That is correct, Daughter of Man.” A deep, guttural voice echoed behind the two girls sitting at the campfire.

Alma quickly spun around, spotting Derleth and Qu’l-Nia both walking up to them.