CHAPTER 15

“If you don’t let up, the poor thing is going to be reduced to kindling, and I’m not sure if we’re going to have the extra coin to commission a new one.”

Birdie lowered her sword, taking a deep breath to steady her fatigued arms as she turned from the battered practice target.

Ammi stepped into the sand pit beside her and disengaged the stoppers on the wheels of the training dummy. Birdie tucked her weapon into her belt and together the women wheeled it against the wall with the others, where it stood in battered relief next to its spared brethren.

“Sorry about that,” Birdie huffed, licking the salty sweat from her bottom lip, and doing her best not to maintain lingering eye contact with the doting Champion.

“Got a little carried away.”

“A little?” Ammi laughed darkly, handing her a handkerchief. “What's the matter kiddo? Got a lot on your mind?”

“Oh haha.” Birdie accepted it gratefully, using it to pat dry the perspiration. She took that brief moment to wipe the tide of emotions she had been wearing on her face up until the interruption. Birdie was fully aware that there were healthier coping mechanisms, but at the moment her options were kind of limited. Nobody was allowed outside of the wall- not even hunters. And even if she could leave to go sit by the river in the wall, it wasn’t like she would reap any of the old benefits. Half of the allure of sneaking away was taking a private moment with Gabriel, and well… that wasn’t exactly possible right now.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, trying to fill the silence before Ammi could ask any probing questions about her.

“Oh you know,” The Champion groaned, massaging her knee and looking at Birdie ruefully.

“Getting old is the sticks kiddo. I am starting to think Shields was right.”

“Your knee is still bothering you? Has Brooke taken a look at it?”

Ammi shook her head.

“She checked me out right before I left for the search this morning. Did as much as she could but there are some things about being a human that can’t be fixed-even with magic.”

She smiled, the old burn scars on her face pulling at her lip and giving away her bitter attitude.

Birdie felt a twinge of guilt at the comment, and the negative feeling piled on with the others. Here she stood with this mortal Champion, who had sacrificed hundreds of years of healthy life to serve the divine and wield his power, and Birdie had the audacity to not only have her status as an elf intact, but also possess power beyond either of their wildest dreams. She wished she had asked Epictus why everyone else must become mortal to use his power but she didn’t.

“It didn’t cause me too much trouble though, I kept up with the best of them!” Ammi assured, misreading Birdie’s frown.

“I’m guessing you didn’t have any luck on the search either huh?” Birdie asked tentatively.

“No Luck,” Ammi grunted, sitting on a chair and pulling her armor off and placing it in heaps by her discarded boots.

“Not a trace of Gabriel, Cedar, or the last Hunter. Not even a blood trail. We had a dozen hunters in all directions. It’s like they just disappeared.”

Birdie wasn’t surprised. While everyone else was hells-bent on finding him, Birdie was secretly glad that he had made himself scarce. She didn’t know what the people would do if they did end up capturing him- if they even could. The Hunters were vengeful, and she could totally see them enacting something as barbaric as a public execution- even if he didn’t totally deserve it.

She shuddered.

It was also good news to hear that they couldn’t pick up a blood trail. Birdie had hoped that the cruel divine who controlled him would fix his wounds. She refused to believe that those arrows could kill him, and had staved off nightmares the night before about him lost somewhere in the woods, all alone and in pain, still leaking inky dark mist…

Her worries sparked up again.

“If you would just let me go take a look, maybe I could-”

“I told you no, Birdie.” Ammi cut her off, gentle even in her scolding.

“You were supposed to stay back so you could get some sleep, not abuse training dummies.”

“I got some sleep!” She shot back defensively.

“Now I can’t sit still! Not when he is still out there and I’m the only one who can do anything about it…”

Ammi stood with a soft grunt and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“If my guesses last night were correct, and I think they were, you will definitely see him again… so maybe it is wise for you to drill your guts out... Just in case…”

Birdie sighed. Ammi had hit the nail on the head. She wasn’t out here just to work through some routine drills. The fact was that Gabriel had almost gotten her last night, and that would have spelled destruction for them all. She didn’t know what he would have done to her, but it certainly would have meant the end of her quest to kill the divine in Coastlund. She’d let her stupidity and feelings for Gabriel keep her from seeing the whole picture. If she was going to do this- go through with her assignment from Epictus and find a way to save him- she couldn’t afford to be caught helpless ever again.

She was also painfully aware that in order to save him, she might need to hurt him a little bit. Just enough to keep him at bay, but still… She was sure that when it came right down to it she would do whatever it took to protect herself. That didn’t change the fact that to hurt him would feel very much like hurting herself.

“You’ll be okay,” Ammi comforted after a prolonged period of silence, “In the mean time, we need to get you ready to leave. Did you get a chance to sit and plan?”

Birdie nodded, feeling her anxiety spike again.

“I would like to leave before the end of the week… But it’s going to take some planning and resources…”

The further removed she became from their conversation, the more convinced Birdie was that Epictus had laced the air in his pavilion with something- perhaps the magic of suggestion. How else could she have been so calm about accepting his challenge? Now that she had a night of fitful sleep behind her, it seemed almost impossible- crossing the wilds, petitioning a foreign divine, and then killing another one? Garbiel’s life was in her hands- she alone could get him out of whatever contract bound him to the evil influence of their old divine- and every time that thought lingered too long in her mind, she felt like she might jsut be sick.

“Have you had a chance to sift through our maps again?” Ammi interrupted, “Take whichever ones you think you’re going to need. Also, I think Cedar has a store of spell tomes in his room as well, you should really have a look through those, might find something useful. And I spoke to the armorer down by the south market- the good one- and he said he would be willing to drop by later today to fit you with some new leathers. Your old ones are getting a little small.”

Birdie smiled at Ammi gratefully, but had the sudden urge to go find somewhere to hide out for a bit.

The two had been up for hours talking about their experience in the pavillion. After they got back to the wall, they had a lot of damage control to undergo before the two of them were finally free to be alone to debrief, and Birdie had been desperate to tell her everything she could- or at least everything Epictus would let her. It had taken some doing, but Birdie was able to drop enough hints and Ammi was incredibly good at deciphering the implications. After drilling her with questions, and a great deal of mouth binding from speaking too close to the pact, Birdie had managed to communicate that she was leaving, and taking the Hunter Ventas with her to run an errand for the divine.

At first Ammi had been totally against it. She point blank refused to permit Birdie from going. They had argued, something they had never done in their entire lives knowing each other, but in the end Birdie won. There would be no breaking a vow with the divine- and Ammi knew that. Once the woman finally came to grips with that, she instead became almost over zealous. Enthusiastic even. Typically this would not bother Birdie, she should have been grateful. Divines knew she needed all of the suppor she could get, but right now all of the attention and to do’s felt smothering. The badgering to prepare and read and sleep and train- it was getting old. All Birdie really wanted to do right now was sit and think. But every time she tried, her mind would revisit her failure in the meadow, the look on Gabriel’s face, the hurtful things that the divine forced him to say to her, and it was all downhill from there.

“Thanks Ammi,” She sighed in defeat, “I will go dig out my old armor and have it ready incase he just wants to adjust it.”

She turned to go but stopped at the door when she heard a tentative knock from the other side.

“He’s early,” Ammi said, crossing the yard anxiously.

“Don’t bother with your old stuff kiddo, new armor will be better anyways.”

Ammi stepped into the shade of the veranda and pulled the door wide.

“Oh!” She said in surprise, “I’m sorry, we were expecting someone else.”

Oh great, Birdie thought, It’s probably another citizen here to complain about yesterday. We really need to vet Denny on who to let into the hall.

She braced herself to endure the shouts. Birdie didn’t think she could keep her cool through one more round of berating comments about increasing their security.

“Come in Ventas! We were just talking about preparations…”

Birdie was wrong. There was something worse than facing a crotchety citizen.

Ammi ushered the Hunter in, and Birdie took a step back against the wall, fighting the angry impulse to leave again.

What was he doing here? Surely he hadn’t come to talk to her and try to make a plan. Epictus had assigned her to be the leader, she was the one who should be visiting him to get him prepared.

Ventas didn’t even seem to notice Birdie though. He surveyed the yard in wonder, his eyes scrying over the walls lined with weapon racks, the targets in various states of use and repair, and the map of the city and forest painted on the far wall.

“Wow, this is nice.” He commented to Ammi.

“The training yard behind the chapel is tiny compared to this, and-” He finally spotted Birdie leaning against the wall and clammed up.

“Hmmph.” She tried not to smile at the sheepish look on his face. She still hadn’t forgiven him for the way he acted back in the meadow, and the fact that he seemed to feel every bit as uncomfortable around her as she did him, gave her a sick satisfaction.

Ammi seemed not to notice the palpably awkward feelings in the air, because she smiled at him in good nature and took his hand, shaking it.

"I never got a chance to thank you for your help in the meadow yesterday. You made the difference between victory and defeat for Brooke and I. We couldn't have kept that up alone much longer."

"Oh, you're welcome." Ventas said in surprise.

"Where did you learn to shoot?" Ammi asked. Birdie raised her eyebrow at her. Since when had Ammi been so keen to chat with a Hunter? The woman despised them, and could usually only pull off “cordial”.

"My dad taught me when I was little, and I practice every day at the Chapel and in the woods." He admitted with a small smile.

“But the targets at home are nowhere near as nice as yours.”

“Well, I’d say you’ve earned the right to use them whenever you want! But I’ve always thought experience is the best teacher. I am sure the time you spend outside the wall is what really refined your aim.”

“Probably.”

“It will be a useful skill to have,” Ammi grabbed Birdie gently by the arm and tugged her closer,

“When you two go out to do… whatever it is the divine needs you to do.”

Ventas looked in mock innocence between the two girls, and Birdie rolled her eyes.

“She knows. I told her last night.”

Ventas laughed nervously.

“Oh! Gotcha. Well, at the very least I will be able to make sure we are not just living off of dried provisions and foraging.”

Ammi nodded in approval.

“I was thinking that it would be good to have an ordinary person along to hold the mageaters off. They go after magic, and the more you use the worse they get. An archer will be a godsend.”

“Really?” He asked.

“Sure. Back in Coastlund we would never send a fully charged squad into the wilds on our expansion missions. Only a small portion of our Champions had power at any given time. Too much of it and the beasts would have come running from miles around. No, having power is useful, and divine intervention can save your neck in a pinch, but basic uncharged combat training is the safest way to defend yourself out there. You will be incredibly useful.”

Ventas looked at her with childish wonder, and Birdie suddenly realized that if she didn’t cut in soon a conversation might break out.

“Oh yeah, it will be nice to have someone normal around,” Birdie laughed uneasily, unwilling to break it to the woman that there was nothing ordinary about Ventas’s situation. How much enemy attention would having Epictu’s eye garner him? Hopefully not too much, or they were in for it…

Her memories of her last trek through the wilds were harsh. Mageaters roamed the wilds beyond divine domain like packs of wolves, constantly searching for power to consume- they could smell it- and they didn’t need sleep or respite. Because of this, Ammi had used hardly any magic at all, deciding against using spells that could have made the journey much easier in favor of making the job of stalking them harder for the beasts. It wasn’t enough to just not use magic though, even being someone like a champion was enough to set the mageaters on their trail. Birdie wondered what it was going to be like for a Harbinger and the eye of the divine, and how soon it would take for the mageaters to get to them.

“I will make sure to bring a lot of arrows.” Ventas said in awkward reassurance.

Ammi nodded her approval, squeezing Birdie’s shoulder goodnaturedly. As nervous as Birdie was, she knew Ammi was a hundred times more-so. Afterall, she and Gabriel hadn’t done anything to stave-off the creatures during their trip. Their job was to stick close to Ammi and follow her command quickly. Truth be told, Birdie could hardly even remember what the mageaters looked like… they had always come at night, and even with her elven eyes, she had never caught a full glimpse of them… She had been too afraid, and kept her eyes shut during the violence…

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Ventas cleared his throat and shuffled as he pulled a parchment envelope from his trousers pocket.

"Here, I was asked to deliver this to you. It’s not from me- but my Uncle. I'm sorry in advance."

He scrunched his nose in empathy and handed the letter reluctantly over to Ammi, who took it with a sigh.

“I knew this was coming.”

Birdie eyed him in suspicion as Ammi unfolded the lengthy parchment and began to read.

Whatever happened to the headstrong know-it-all from the forest? He had been acting like a real snob back there, leaving her to do his own thing without bothering to ask her opinion. That was sure to get them killed in the wilds. He’d seemed so stupidly confident before, but now standing here in their courtyard, he looked almost as if he wanted to melt between the stonework.

And what was more, he looked terrible.

He looked clean, but his entire jaw was a reddish pink and purple with bruises. If she hadn't seen the gash herself back in the meadow, she might have guessed that the cut on his chin was fresh, as it continued to glisten with clotting blood. What was more, he looked like he hadn’t slept at all.

Ammi must have been thinking the same thing. She pointed at his chin as she eyed him over the top of the letter.

"That looks like it hurts. If it doesn’t violate your faith, you should go see Brooke. She can get that cut healed up enough that it will stop the bleed."

"Oh, um." Ventas dabbed at the wound and then rummaged for a handkerchief.

"Thanks. I will."

Ammi nodded approvingly and placed her hand on Birdie's shoulder.

"Good. Birdie'll take you to her. I think she’s laying down in her room."

Birdie glared at her, but Ammi just held up the letter and winked.

"I have business to attend to. We will finish our conversation later."

That was as much of a dismissal as anything, and to argue would just be awkward. Birdie sighed and took off across the training yard towards the living wing of the Champion hall on the other side. She heard Ventas scurry off after her but didn't bother acknowledging him.

Ammi was right. They probably wouldn't have made it out of the meadow without his help. But Birdie couldn't stop thinking about the part he played in beating Gabriel.

Images of the hunter's dark feathery arrows protruding from Gabriel's body kept popping into her mind, filling her with despair and anger every time she thought of them. He'd tried to kill him. She had one request for him that night, and Ventas had ignored it.

He can shoot and eat his own birds. I will take care of myself, She thought bitterly.

Fuming, she made it to Brooke's room and knocked harshly before standing back and folding her arms, shooting Ventas a, 'well?' type of look.

"Oh, uh," Ventas stepped forward just as Brooke pulled the door open. The girl's eyes were red and puffy, and she stared at the hunter in surprise. Her long mousy hair was down in rumpled coils to her elbows. It didn’t look like she had been sleeping, it looked as if she had been crying fitfully.

Birdie felt her cheeks blush in shame as she immediately regretted using this interaction as a jab towards Ventas. She stepped in.

"Sorry to wake you Brooke. Ammi was wondering if you could take a look at Ventas's chin."

"Of course!" The girl nodded sincerely, as if it were she who had bludgeoned the boy.

"Come in!"

She stepped back from the door, and Ventas took a seat in the sparse wooden chair by the window. Brooke shot Birdie a questioning look as she passed but didn't say anything before she walked to a basin of water by the door and pulled her hair into a quick bun, up and out of her face.

Birdie flopped down on Brooke's bed and watched as the girl dipped her hands into the clear water within. The contents of the bowl shone for a moment as Brooke muttered a spell to clean the contents.

Birdie saw Ventas watching her raptly, his mouth slightly agape as she rung out a soaked rag over the bowl. Brooke turned and walked to him, taking his chin in her hand she bent down and inspected the cut. His cheeks flushed a gentle pink and his eyes flitted resolutely to the ceiling above.

Birdie stifled an inner groan of annoyance, feeling her distaste for the boy rising even further.

Typical.

"This looks bad," Brooke remarked, turning his head gently and dabbing at the wound.

"Shields?" She asked him sadly.

"Yeah," Ventas admitted, sitting stiff and trying not to move, “He got me good.”

"He got a few good cuts off of Ammi too- once she started losing steam.” She added.

“I doubt he could do the same if she was at full strength and if Gab- er, if divine meddling hadn’t been involved. Ammi has seen actual battles, so I was surprised when he started beating her… It's a good thing you came along."

Now it was Birdie's turn to stare at Brooke in wonder. She'd known Gabriel had used Shields to attack them. According to their old leader, who was still recovering in his room, he had been struck out of nowhere while guarding the pass between the woods and meadow. From then on it was all just a blur. He didn't remember sending up the flair or taking up arms against his two fellow Champions. It had been yet another trick from Gabriel. Knowing that, she still felt stupid as she was only now putting that information next to what she had seen that night. Shields had been the swordsman engaged with Ammi. Her stomach churned.

Good gods. They could have killed each other.

"How is he doing, by the way?" Ventas asked.

Brooke sighed lightly.

"Oh you know, He's alright- but you're making him pay for this little wound. And he's still nursing that horrible hangover."

"And uh…" Ventas hesitated, flushing again, "his leg?"

Brooke shot him a small smile.

"Healing. That was a very good shot you got him with. Hit him where it hurts but not where you would do permanent damage. And lucky for both of you, shallow lacerations are relatively easy to fix up."

“You shot him in the leg?” Birdie asked indignantly.

Ventas held his hands up helplessly.

“He was trying to kill them, what else was I supposed to do?”

“‘Chuck a rock or something!’” She quoted his words back at him, but he just shook his head in denial.

“Tried that. Didn’t work.”

Brooke pressed her lips into a line, trying not to laugh.

Traitor. Birdie thought bitterly.

Satisfied with her cleaning job, Brooke set her rag aside and pressed her index finger on the raw cut. Ventas winced.

The cut was long but relatively shallow, stretching from the left side of his chin back along his jaw and almost to his ear. What made it so rough looking was the way it was sliced. The edges of the wound were uneven and sloppy, almost like a tear and less like a cut from one of their polished Championship swords. Birdie made a mental note to sharpen hers before they left.

"Yashfana!" Brooke said brightly.

The spell manifested with a gentle glow on her finger, which she wiped like a salve along his jaw. With each pass of her finger, the cut seemed to close by minute degrees, and the bruising faded from fresh red to a dull yellow and purple.

Ventas sighed as she stood back and admired her work.

"There! That ought to get you started. It's not completely healed yet, so don't you go picking at it for the next few days. But this will keep you from needing stitches, and should stave off any infection. If you're lucky you won't even have a scar!"

"Thanks," Ventas said gratefully, massaging his chin, the wound just a raw pink patch of delicate skin under a line of scabbed flesh.

"I see how you got the cut, but what about the bruises?" Brooke asked, wiping her hands again and returning to the basin to rinse them.

"His sword wasn't that dull, was it?"

Ventas's face turned a deeper red than when he'd blushed at the girl.

"Oh, honestly I don't know. It was all a bit of a blur."

"I understand that." Brooke sighed and sat beside Birdie on her bed.

"I am just glad you two are okay. I was so scared when I saw Cedar grab you Birdie."

"Yeah..."

The three of them went silent, and Brooke rested her head on Birdie's shoulder. Ventas was still holding his jaw, evidently lost in thought as he stared with glassy eyes at the floor. In that moment, the full force of the tasks ahead of her seemed to flatten Birdie like a rock.

She stared at Ventas, the stranger sitting in the Champion’s living quarters as casually as if he lived there. She hardly knew this guy, and she was going to have to travel across the wilds with him. Gabrie’s fate was just as much in his hands as it was in hers. The thought made her angry; At him for butting into their business, at Epictus for tricking her into taking him along, and at herself for not having the guts to argue with the divine. They hadn't even spoken since escaping Gabriel, and what they had done back in the meadow wasn’t exactly team work. How were they going to make it through the wilds?

And then there was his suspicious presence in the shrine.

Birdie wanted to know how he had met Epictus. Didn't hunters forbid their members from having anything to do with the divine? The whole situation really rubbed her the wrong way. Everything she knew about Ventas was dated, but the one thing that prevailed through her nearly decade old memories of the boy told her not to trust him. Brooke and Ammi credited him as a hero, but Birdie wasn't so sure…

"How much has Ammi told you about… what I have to do?" Birdie asked Brooke, finally interrupting the tentative comfort of their silence.

“A little…” Brooke sat up and looked from Birdie to Ventas with a guilty warning.

"He knows," Birdie admitted.

"He was there for it all."

"Wait, really? All of it?" Brooke looked at him quizzically.

He shrugged sheepishly.

"I was the mound."

Brooke gasped.

"You were the mound!"

She laughed, and Ventas gave an embarrassed smile. Birdie fumed as he seemed to relax into his chair a bit.

"Yes, well, he's involved now. For better or worse." Birdie continued.

"Ventas and I… we were given… an assignment from the divine."

Her mouth felt drunk. It slurred and lagged between the words as she spoke, even though she was doing her best to remain vague while dropping as many hints as she could to Brooke.

"Yes?" Brooke said encouragingly.

"Careful." Ventas warned. Birdie huffed at him. She wasn't stupid.

"We… we are leaving."

Brooke sat up straight at this, taking Birdie's hands in hers.

"What! Did he banish you?" She gasped.

"No. An errand. An important one." Ventas supplied. He didn't stutter or choke at all, apparently finding a nice work around.

Birdie’s mouth filled with the stinging taste of magic, and a moment later Ventas jumped, slapping his hand over his right eye.

"Ah!"

"Are you okay?" Brooke asked, sitting forward.

"Fine. Headache. Long night."

Ventas kneaded his eye and nodded at Birdie significantly, prompting her to cover for him and continue.

She knew EXACTLY what that was about. Epictus must have spoken to him. He must be listening now. This confirmed some of her worst fears about the boy, and her mind was made up. The divine couldn't slap her wrist for using trickery to get through to Brooke, so she decided to press her luck.

"We can't speak about why, or where, but it is really important."

Brooke nodded knowingly, "Okay. I think I understand. So this errand… does it have something to do with why Gabriel turned on us?"

Birdie bit her lip and looked to Ventas who just stared at her, not offering any more help as he held one hand over his eye and stuffed the other one under his arm.

"Okay! Got it! So you're going to find him so you can figure out how to save him and Cedar!"

She'd guessed the gist of it, so Birdie just shrugged and raised her eyebrows.

Brooke smiled and clapped her hands in success, and Birdie felt a sliver of joy at the girl's expression, glad to make Brooke smile.

"Wait." She stopped clapping and looked at Birdie in horror.

"You're leaving the city. That means you're going into the wilds! You can't do that!"

"The divine… he gave… We will be safe because…"

Birdie's mouth clamped shut, and her throat seized. Brooke sprung to her feet and got her a cup of water from the basin by the door that Birdie accepted gratefully.

"I think I understand. The divine gave you something to make sure that you will be safe. But I'm still worried, Birdie! You're just kids! The mageaters will tear you apart!"

"I'll be eighteen in less than a year." Ventas grumbled.

"A baby!" Brooke pointed at him, and then rounded on Birdie, "Ammi barely got you guys through the wilds before and she is a warrior! What is sending you away going to do? Then we will lose both you and Gabriel!"

"We haven’t lost Gabriel,” Birdie corrected, unable to keep the harshness from her voice.

“Besides, I can't be talked out of it. We made a promise that we cannot break.”

“Oh!” Brooke wrung her hands in worry, looking between Ventas and Birdie like a scared older sister.

“We need to pack up and take off as soon as possible… and I was hoping that maybe you could teach me some healing magic before I go…"

Brooke's green eyes, already bigger than the average, widened even further.

"Do you have…Power?"

Birdie nodded. Brooke squealed and hugged her tight.

"Oh of course of course! Oh Birdie I have been so excited for you to become a Champion so I could teach you! I was sad when I thought you didn't get to do it!"

"Thanks Brooke, and I'm not a Champion… I'm … something else." Birdie patted the girl on her back.

"I’m confident we will be safe. But just in case, I would like to know how to take care of wounds."

The girl nodded, looking relieved and resolute.

"It's a good idea to know healing magic. It’s not a cure all, but it can fix scrapes and cuts that might grow into bigger problems. I will be glad to teach you! But it might take a few days."

"That's fine." Ventas stood.

"I better get to packing and preparing provisions. I was going to tell you Birdie, my uncle is willing to provide some base supplies for our journey. Rations, medicine, that kind of thing."

"You told him?" She asked, once again indignant at his brazenness.

"You just told Brooke!"

“She’s a Champion!” Birdie argued, “It’s completely different! They know the divine and talk to him constantly. Your uncle is a Hunter, it’s none of his business.”

"It's alright!" Brooke hurried, ever the peace maker as she stood and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm sure his uncle would want to know that he is leaving so he doesn't have to worry."

Birdie huffed and Ventas snorted softly at the comment.

"Oh…Well, tell your uncle thank you for us." Brooke said diplomatically, removing her hands and wringing them like a disrag.

"I will," Ventas nodded and made his way to go but stopped at the door.

"I'll come check in tomorrow. Maybe we can plan some more?"

"Whatever."

"M'kay."

Ventas left, and Birdie listened to his light steps retreating down the hall.

"Ugh!" She flopped back onto Brooke’s bed, her arms spread out on her soft rose colored wool blankets.

"What's that all about?" Brooke asked, still standing as she looked between Birdie and the door.

"Why him? Of all people!" Birdie growled in frustration.

"He seems nice to me." Brooke sat back on the bed and pulled her feet up before her, hugging her knees.

“I am glad you don’t have to go alone! He was a big help in the meadow. But I will admit, it’s strange that he even knows the divine. I mean, they’re not supposed to go near him, are they!”

"Exactly! I don’t trust him! And everyone keeps treating him like he’s some hero when I am positive that he’s not telling us everything…”

“Not all Hunters are bad though. Leif was born a Hunter and he was lovely…”

Birdie caught Brooke’s light and trembling tone and did her best to steer the conversation away from the old Champion, worried the girl would start crying again.

“This Hunter is bad though Brooke. I know him- well, knew him. He was our friend ten years ago when Gabriel and I first got here."

"Ooh really?"

"Remember how Ammi was really sick when we arrived? She was in your infirmary for weeks."

Brooke nodded.

"Well Gabriel and I were just kids, and you guys, well, you already had your hands full. So Shields stuck us with the Hunter's Chapel while you tried to decide what to do with us."

"I remember that!" Brooke exclaimed, gripping Birdie’s knee. "Leif kept teasing me about becoming your long term babysitter when you finally came over as cadets!"

"Yeah well, his uncle is the Grand Hunter, and he's ah, not too friendly."

"Really! Well no wonder you two made such a stink when I said he would be worried. I don’t really know him personally but Sheilds says that dealing with him is a pain!"

Birdie smiled. She loved telling stories with Brooke because she was such a good listener, agreeing and gasping in all of the right places.

"Well, Camcenan assigned Ventas to be our little 'buddy,' while we were there, and we were pretty good friends until he went kinda… strange. Betrayal isn’t the right word, we hardly knew him, but It was still…”

She trailed off, not sure if she was ready to get into that old childhood drama.

"It was bad?"

"Yeah."

“Well… a lot can change about someone in ten years! I mean, he matured enough to be really useful in the meadow! Maybe you two will make up?”

"Brooke!" Birdie pulled the pillow over her face and groaned.

"I don't want him following me all over the world! Who knows how long our errand is going to take!"

"I'm sure it will be fine." Brooke comforted, but she didn't sound fully convinced, or at least she was doubtful enough to seek further validation.

"The divine wouldn't saddle you with someone he doesn't trust."

"That's the thing Brooke, I don't fully trust E…" she almost said his name, and the slip-up cost her a violent coughing fit.

"Sorry! I- Idon't fully trust the divine. I can't help but feel like he sent Ventas to spy on me."

"Even so, I am relieved that he is going with you. It would be dangerous to go alone."

Birdie removed the pillow and glared at Brooke.

"Oh come on! I'm sure it will be alright."

Birdie sighed, but then an idea popped into her head. It was foolish. Totally unnecessary. It would mean leaving Ammi and Shields alone during a really complicated time… but Birdie just had to ask. The worst Brooke could do was say no…

“I don’t want to be stuck alone with him…” She began, trying to keep her tone casual as not to betray her desperation.

“So… I was wondering…”