“So what was the gift your mother gave you?” Tulos asked Kaara while they were on the road.

“Hm? Oh! Lemme find it.” Kaara said, digging through her belongings. She pulled an ivory necklace from her bag. Animal fangs and sharpened bone strung together across a black leather strap. Each tooth was marbled with veins of stone and metal. A polished turquoise in the shape of an egg hung from the center of it.”

“Oh, a very pretty piece of jewelry, although you’ve never struck me as one who likes to wear jewelry.” Tulos said.

“Apparently it’s magical.”

“What does it do?”

“I dunno. You think if we give it to the dragons as a gift they’ll take it?”

“A little rude to regift something your mother wanted you to have before you left.” Tulos snickered.

“Well I don’t usually wear jewelry! And she didn’t wanna tell me what it was for, just that I would discover it when the time was right.”

“I wonder if it’s for your curse, then.” Arik said, leaning over to look closely at it.

“You might be right.” Tulos said, “It seems to be made with a combination of life, metal, and earth magic. Although I’d have to wonder why they did not give it to you sooner if it is something for your curse.”

“Maybe it’ll work if you put it on?” Amaro said.

“I already tried putting it on, but nothing happened.”

“Then perhaps we can get it appraised in the next city? Not much point to a magic item if we don’t know what it does or how to use it.”

“I agree.” Tulos said.

“Well whatever, either way don’t lose the thing,” Arik said, “It would suck if we lost it and it was some sort of really important thing we needed.”

“What about you, Arik, did your parents give you any parting gifts?”

Arik held up her wrist to show off a jade bracelet, “As far as I know, this jewelry isn’t magical. Just something my dad made for me.”

“Oh! I was wondering where you got that!” Kaara said, “It looks good on you.”

As they continued down the road, Amaro could not help but feel a bit of unease. He had only recently learned about Kaara’s curse for attracting Malaki, and it seemed to be a secret only a select few people knew about. Yet, if there was a way to dampen its effects or break the curse Amaro figured the Tibur would have done so a while ago. It was times like these, when Amaro felt he was being watched. As if some sort of creature was already stalking their every move.

He looked around the horizon. They had exited the Ingen forest a couple days ago, and now there was hardly anything for a monster to hide behind. Even if they were invisible, Amaro was confident he could see them. Still, he could not shake his sense of unease, and so he chalked it up to paranoia.

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As the night fell and they set up camp once again, Amaro sat to take up the watch. Midway through his shift, Kaara sat down next to him.

“Hm? Couldn’t sleep?”

“No, I just woke up on my own, that’s all.”

“I see. Are you here to keep me company then?”

Kaara shrugged, “More or less.”

There was an awkward silence between them. Amaro’s mind was already rushing. Why was she sitting with him? What should he talk about? Should he even talk at all?

“Why did you decide to come with me?” Kaara asked.

“What do you mean?”

“After learning about my curse, why did you decide to come with? I’ve been asking everyone else for the past few days, and I wanna know your reason too.”

Amaro glanced over the horizon as if something might be eavesdropping on them, “Well, I think it was the perfect state of affairs, really. I like you a lot, and you don’t like me.”

“Why is that the perfect state of affairs?”

“Well because if I die to a Malaki, you won’t be too sad about it. Meanwhile, I get to spend some time alone with you.”

“Is that so? And what if Tulos dies because of me?”

“It won’t happen.” Amaro said coldly, “I’ll die before he does. That’s my promise.”

Kaara laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Tulos said the same thing, you know. You really care about each other, huh?”

Amaro blushed, scratching his head, “Of course we do. We’re brothers.”

“I always figured all of the bickering meant otherwise, but y’know it reminds me of something my dad used to say.”

“What’s that?”

Kaara cleared her throat, speaking in a dramatic tone, “He said, ‘Hatred is not the opposite of love, it’s the cousin. Indifference is the opposite of both.’”

“How can that be? Hatred is the furthest thing from love!”

“Yeah, but they’re kinda similar, y’know? With love, you care about someone because you dislike them. With hatred, you care about someone because you dislike them.”

Amaro huffed, his father coming to mind immediately, “As if I could care about someone I hated. I don’t care at all.”

“That’s usually what people say when they care a lot.” Kaara giggled, “And think about it, when you hate someone you don’t want to care, right? But not caring isn’t hating someone. It’s being indifferent to them.”

Amaro clicked his tongue, “I can hate someone and not care about them at the same time.”

“Y’know, I don’t think you can.” Kaara said, pressing a thumb to her lip, “Just like you can’t love someone and not care about them. But y’know you can hate someone you love, or love someone you hate.”

“I think I’m starting to hate this conversation more than anything,” Amaro said sarcastically.

“Why do you do that, by the way?”

“Do what?”

“Make snide remarks, and say mean things.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you tend to insult people. Not just you, but your siblings too.”

“It’s just banter!”

“So you’re pretending to hate someone you like, huh?” She said with a smug look on her face.

“That’s not the same as loving and hating someone at the same time!”

“Maybe, maybe not. Although, the more you think about that, the more I think you’ll see it.” She said, standing up, “I’m gonna go back to sleep. Thanks for talking with me.”

Amaro paused, “Oh. Yeah. Okay. Good night.”

He sighed, looking up at the stars. A few minutes passed before it hit him, “Wait…” Was Kaara trying to confess something to him?