-White Bunny POV-

Emil-iath had been tasked with carrying her again. Thankfully, Emil-iath had decided to carry her in the bowl of berries, or else she might really be crushed to death. The bunny sat tall in her bowl, watching the figures fight in the distance.

The wolf- Will, the bunny supposed- had been "training" with Xi-ren for nearly an hour. After Will had been knocked down for what felt like the hundredth time, Emil-iath sighed.

"I really hope he doesn't quit," Emil-iath said. A strand of her hair drifted in the wind, having slipped loose from her intricate braids. Emil-iath glanced over at the bunny, and her eyes softened a little.

"You don't want that either, do you?" Emil-iath cooed over her. The bunny blinked innocently, fluffing out her fur so she looked even cuter than usual. For all of Emil-iath's warm smiles, the knight was still dangerous. Her strength and speed both exceeded the range of normal, and even if the bunny had never seen Emil-iath fight, she suspected the worn calluses on the knight's hands weren't for show.

"Xi-ren can be such an asshole. A self-righteous asshole, but does that make it better?" Emil-iath laughed. Her grip tightened on the bowl, and the wood made a dangerous creaking sound. "Just because he can afford to disregard the politics doesn't mean I can, doesn't mean that Greyhaven can. What's so righteous, anyway, about letting people die on principle?"

Emil-iath's voice rose sharply at the end. The bunny rubbed her cheek against the knight's face, more out of concern for the bowl's structural integrity than anything else. The bunny had seen the knight accidentally destroy far too many objects that should not have broken. Thankfully, it seemed to work. Emil-iath exhaled. Her grip on the bowl loosened, and she carded her fingers through the bunny's fur.

"It's not like I don't get it," Emil-iath said. Her voice was quieter this time. "So many people died in the Dark Forest. Parents. Siblings. Friends. Aur-elia. Now Zelv-erth is dead, too, but- it's not like we have another choice, is it?"

Emil-iath's eyes were wistful, too old for her vibrant red hair. With how defiantly Emil-iath faced off against Xi-ren, it was easy to forget just how young the knight was. Emil-iath couldn't be much older than twenty-five.

"See you tomorrow, 'kay?" Emil-iath asked.

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That night, the wolf inhaled the entire bowl of berries. His breaths came in shaky gasps, and it sounded like he was choking every time he swallowed. He didn't say anything about their watery flavor, and the bunny hadn't known what to say either.

Once he had fallen asleep, she snuck out again. There was an irony to it, certainly- sacrificing sleep to gain the power to kill Emil-iath, then dozing off in the Emil-iath's arms during the day. There was an irony to it, but there was nothing funny about the possibility that the wolf ended up dead.

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The next day, the berries were waiting when they arrived. Emil-iath smiled at her, then Will. When Emil-iath's gaze shifted to Xi-ren, her smile turned strained. Will reached for the bowl of berries, and-

"What message should we convey to your family if you die?" Xi-ren asked flatly, and the berry slipped from Will's fingers. He didn't pick it up again. Xi-ren cast him an indifferent look. "That you fought bravely? That you sacrificed your life for some stupid cause and-"

"Not at breakfast, Xi-ren."

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The third training session was just as productive as the first two. The bunny chewed on a purple berry. It was sour, but any berry was better than starving. She found that she rather liked the variety.

"He's stubborn, isn't he?" Emil-iath asked, nodding at the two of them. Which one? The bunny nibbled on her berry, pretending she didn't understand. Emil-iath smiled.

"Oh! I brought you something, by the way," Emil-iath said. She dug around in her pockets, eventually pulling out something green. "I know you don't like vegetables, but- these are pretty sweet, actually! I used to refuse to eat anything green but snap peas. Drove my brother insane."

Emil-iath laughed, fondness clear in her voice. Her eyes turned distant, but her expression brightened up again when she looked at the bunny. Emil-iath waved the snap peas in front of the bunny's face. "Well? Don't you want to try?"

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The white bunny didn't actually have a problem with vegetables. She was, as previously mentioned, a bunny. Not to mention the fact that she'd eaten rotten flesh before, but that was a less pleasant story.

The problem was that the bunny didn't have a habit of trusting strangers, particularly ones with huge black swords and personal vendettas against those she trusted. When she didn't bite, Emil-iath reluctantly took the vegetable back. "I guess I'll just have to eat all of these on my own, then..."

Emil-iath bit into the snap pea, which broke off with a satisfying crunch.

"Sure you don't want one?" The knight asked, waving the half-bitten snap pea in front of her face. It smelled sweet.

Just to earn Emil-iath's trust, the bunny told herself, biting down on the snap pea. It was just as crunchy as she had imagined.

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On the fourth day, Xi-ren carried himself with his usual grace, steps light enough to balance on clouds. He still acted like an icy bitch.

"Is this some sort of revenge thing?" Xi-ren asked, all assumptions and accusations in every breath. "Some creature killed your family, and you want to kill them all in revenge?"

The wolf stared at the bowl of berries. Between the quest information, the snippets of conversation she overheard, and the vague reference Emil-iath had made, the bunny could piece together what happened.

Sixteen years ago, several parties attacked the [Dark Forest]. The dungeon boss was a black wolf. The adventurers killed the wolf and her pack, but then something went wrong. Most of the adventurers died, Aur-elia included. The forest burned.

No prize for guessing how the wolf fitted into that story, the bunny thought dryly. It would've been funny, if it wasn't for how the wolf's fists trembled beneath the table.

"Fine," Xi-ren said, slamming his cup of orange juice back down. The cup was still completely full, and some of the juice splashed over the edges. "I give up. Join the quest and get yourself killed. Don't blame me."

For a moment, it had almost seemed like Will and Xi-ren were going to be able to talk it out. Then they had fallen back into the usual rhythm. Will would try to lift the sword. Xi-ren would knock him down. Xi-ren would sneer at him. Then they would do it all again.

"This isn't going anywhere," Emil-iath muttered into her cup. Xi-ren had stopped drinking, and Emil-iath had started, only Emil-iath wasn't drinking orange juice. The bunny suspected the beer had to be warm by now, but Emil-iath kept sipping at it, as if she was afraid that drinking too fast would leave her to deal with Xi-ren sober and alone.

The bunny nudged Emil-iath. Emil-iath sighed.

"What am I, your personal food dispenser?" Emil-iath murmured. Still, her voice was fond, and she pulled another snap pea out of her pocket. Emil-iath ruffled her fur. "I'll bring you more vegetables tomorrow. How's that?"

The bunny crunched down on the snap pea. It wasn't like she was going to reject free food. And if Emil-iath smiled as a result, well, that wasn't her problem.

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That night, the bunny slipped out as usual. It wasn't a hunt, not when she wasn't going to eat her prey- raw meat was too stringy for her, thank you very much- but it was close enough that the bunny was careful to stick to the edges of the alleys.

There was no reason she should've been caught. She wouldn't call herself untraceable, but no human should've been able to track her down, and yet- there Ant was. Not tracking, but waiting for her.

The bunny stilled at the corner. She recognized his scent- Ant smelled like grime, the alleys he lived in, and the knife he kept in his pocket- and it was distinctly bloodier than usual.

It would've been less concerning if it were human blood, but unfortunately-

"I know you're here," Ant called out. His footsteps crunched across the dirt as he approached. Rather than let him force their interaction here, the bunny darted around the corner, pushing Ant back into the alley.

The boy held her knife in his hand- her other knife, not the one buried here. He knew everywhere she'd been, then. Ant had a flair for the dramatics, but the bunny suspected the boy did know his way around a knife. It would be hard not to, when the hunger that hollowed his cheeks was a blade of its own. Despite that, Ant didn't look hostile. Rather, he looked confident- or that he was trying to be confident, at least. The bunny could smell the nerves on him, see the way his fingers fidgeted over the knife.

"I want to strike a deal," Ant declared. His voice only wobbled a little.

The dramatics, the bunny thought, would work a lot better if the moonlight weren't so soft and silvery. Despite her increasing certainty that this child wasn't ready to do anything but burst into an operatic theme, the bunny couldn't just write him off. He was holding her knife, not to mention the scent of cow's blood that stained his clothes.

The bunny tilted her head to the side, indulging the little game to keep the child happy. But she was a bunny, for fuck's sake. Had he come up with this script in his dreams?

"You're killing cows, because- well, I don't know that one, actually." Ant frowned, then he quickly resumed, "But considering the foolish-looking human isn't with you, I'm sure it's meant to be a secret. So unless you want your secret to be spilled..."

Ant let his voice trail off threateningly. The bunny really couldn't decide whether she should take this seriously or not.

"You should do something for me in return. It'll be something within your capabilities, of course...'" Ant continued on his villainous monologue, which could really be shortened to: I need food. You have a bunch of meat. Give it to me.

"It's a deal, then," Ant said solemnly. "A deal is a promise, and a promise cannot be broken."

And so the boy followed her out of the village, wheeling the dead cows away on a broken-down cart he found near one of the barns. His presence was... surprisingly helpful. It was easy to cover the wheel tracks, and he made everything run a lot faster.

"Pleasure doing business with you, partner," Ant said. The smudge of blood on his cheek was almost endearing.