Elenise and Sofie didn’t let go of the hug till both were ready, that being a full twenty minutes and many tears later. All of them were the elf’s, and the whole time that whisper in Sofie’s head that something was wrong with her started thumping once again. This time, however, she understood where it was coming from. After all, even if the reason behind the death was different, it didn’t change that she had seen her own neighbors and blood meet the same fate. Knowing that was still the case here, it made her more determined to try and do something.

She couldn’t help but wonder if similar things had happened in her old world, if what others called divine truth had warped good and bad in this way. She knew nothing of that stuff, and barely any of the world's history. What she did learn was gained via her mother and the disdain of her father, though the latter part wasn’t a surprise. She was just glad he was gone from her life.

Elenise continued to guide Sofie into the forest until they found what they had been looking for, an elk buck eating grass in the middle of the woods. The elf turned back to her, bringing her index finger to her lips. Sofie nodded, not needing to be told twice as she turned to the elk. As she gripped the bow held firmly in her hand she thought about that information that Athena had placed into her brain.

Something she immediately noticed was that, despite having replicated the weapon via hunting with Elenise, none of what her mind recalled hinted at such. It gave her the basics: how to hold the bow, the way to draw back the string, some importance on the wind, but that was all related to hunting in any way. Outside of that, she found herself suddenly recalling the places to hit to negate armor and where a fatal shot for a human would be, but that was just it. Everything was about striking humans, elves, orcs and the like, none mentioned anything about wildlife.

She took a deep breath, telling herself that getting caught up in such things would not help. Drawing an arrow from the bow and keeping her eyes unwavered at the elk that grazed before her. Elenise watched, impressed at the posture and stance but noticing quickly she was off in her aiming. Sofie, however, couldn’t tell that it was off, and without hesitation let the arrow fly moments after.

Elenise gave the Ukrainian credit for striking the elk, but she did not strike it where she needed to. Instead of the chest, the arrow hit the Elk’s upper hind leg, it staggering back but clearly wasn’t hurt terribly. That was shown even clearer as it ran away, leaving Sofie frustrated at herself. Elenise immediately put a hand on the girl's shoulder, smiling as she did.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Elenise told her. “You still hit them, I would say that is pretty good overall. Aim just needs a bit of work.”

Sofie nodded, though she knew the truth was more complicated than just aim. She looked back again through all the info floating in her brain not just concerning the bow, but the sword and dagger. All of it related to the recognized races, very little to none about anything else. A fear tightened her heart, a terrifying realization coming to mind as she held that fact in her heart.

The reason it was all about the recognized races was that they were the one obstacle that Athena deemed a threat to her. She wasn’t sure of the exact reason, though she could theorize. If the races were anything like how humans were at home, which seemed the case given all she had learned in the past four days, it was more than likely not just fear of change, but fear of losing power. The fear of losing control, of not having control, on those around them. That was her theory, one she hoped would stay like that.

“Everything okay?” Elenise asked, Sofie realizing quickly that she had been staring at nothing for who knows how long.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Sofie said with haste, shaking the thoughts away that she had been putting together. “It seems that Athena, at least for me, focuses exclusively on combat and nothing on hunting.”

“Guess that is one explanation, though I feel an elk should be easier to shoot than a human,” Elenise replied with a frown. She looked off into the trees. “We should head off. If we are lucky it might still be around.”

Sofie nodded, taking one last deep breath as she and Elenise made their way after the Elk, the fresh blood from where the arrow punctured their guide. Truth be told, the Elk did not get far at all, the limp Sofie had put in its stride causing it to lay down far closer than any of the girls expected. As Sofie saw the creature lay hurt, knowing what they were about to do to it, she found herself once again reminded of home.

Of Kiev.

Elenise suddenly found the bow thrusted in front of her, and looking to Sofie she could see the girl looking off into nothing. She pushed it back towards Sofie, making her way behind the girl and helping her ready the bow. Sofie looked at her right hand as Elenise tried to place an arrow into it, drawing said hand closer to her body in reply. She turned around and once again tried to hand it to the elf,

“Please, do it for me,” Sofie whispered. “I… I can’t kill it, while it looks like that.”

It was at that moment Elenise realized something that she should have much sooner: Sofie hadn’t ever killed before. She had seen the death of her countrymen and that of the nazis that were her countries enemies, but she had never killed herself. Even here, when she had been beset by the highwayman named Maxwell and fought against Raazin, she fought not to kill. This was the first time she had tried to kill anything, and missing the first strike earlier had placed doubt into her heart.

“You have to be the one to do it,” Elenise told her, once again pushing the bow away from herself and back towards Sofie. “You must be the one to finish what you start. You must be the one to put it out of its misery, for how else will you change the world if you can’t do this?”

Her words hit Sofie like ten thousand bricks colliding against her chest. She wanted to say something, but she had no words for what the elf had said. In her heart, she knew Elenise was correct, but not for a moment did she want them to be. Yet as she looked back to the elk that laid in pain at what she had done it became even harder to ignore that how she felt inside was wrong.

Unsure of herself, Sofie reached her right hand back towards Elenise. The elf placed the arrow she was holding in the Ukrainian’s hand. Sofie looked at the bladed tip of the arrow, closed her eyes, and silently pleaded to the air that it made the Elk’s death quick. She then brought the arrow to the bow’s string and pulled it back, noting how effortlessly she could do so despite lacking two of her fingers on her right hand. Her eyes stayed on the bow, purposefully ignoring what the info gained during replication told her for a good minute or two as she thought about what she was about to do.

When she did finally look back at the elk, her eyes immediately caught on the red that now staind its hind leg, and the arrow sticking out of it. She moved the bow so that it blocked the sight, focused solely on where she was aiming, and fired. She closed her eyes the moment it released, but the sound of the elk bellowing caused her to take a nervous step back. She opened her eyes, noticing that the Elk had collapsed, but not yet dead.

She felt a hand on her shoulder once again, looking to her left and seeing Elenise look at her with a comforting smile. The elf stepped toward the elk, the heavy breaths of the latter showing the pain that it had been put in. As Elenise reached its side, she knelt down and petted its muzzle. Dark beastiel eyes met vibrant green ones, Elenise taking a knife that was strapped to the back of her pants.

“Sweet creature of the earthen mother, Nul’im,” Elenise chanted, moving so that she was facing more towards the elk’s neck. “Let your child find a new form, and thank you for this offering.”

With that, she struck the elk’s neck, and its breath went silent. Sofie looked at the bow she held, and reminded herself that it was all okay. This was how nature was, she shouldn’t feel bad about it at all. Yet as she watched Elenise start to skin the elk, a part of her still felt horrible on the inside. This was the first life she had ever taken, and human or not she wouldn’t forget the feeling of sadness she felt in doing such a thing.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

-x-

To say that Cameron and Maria were in disbelief would be an understatement, though what exactly they were in disbelief of most was hard to say.

When Sofie and Elenise had come back with elk hide and meat, they hadn’t expected the latter to taste as good as it did. They hadn’t been kidding about Harper's cooking skills, the meat tasting better than anything he had had in the past month. Neither expected he was actually as good as he claimed, and both were immediately shut up as soon as they ripped into the game. It was only helped by the fact that, along with bringing Raazin out from the back of the wagon to get his own fill, Harper had some beer that only helped the flavor more.

That beer, however, was where the disbelief that now plagued the siblings hung from. As far as both knew, the drinking age in both Russia and Ukraine was eighteen, meaning that Sofie shouldn’t have had any before. Yet not only was it very clear that she had indeed had alcohol before, but in those moments they saw a desperation in her eyes that only matched with addiction. One fed as Harper happily poured a bottle for the girl.

“You want some Cameron? Maria?” Harper asked with a smile, holding it up.

“No thanks, sworn the stuff off,” Maria said as she took another tear out of her piece of elk, savoring every moment it spent in her mouth. “This is so fucking good!”

The man shook his head, watching the wyrmret enjoy their meal. “Spent all that time doubting me while those two were away, and now you’re feasting on it like an animal.”

“Please don’t call us that,” Cameron said, only taking over for a second before giving control back to his sister. “Damn, game really is fatty though.”

“That just makes it better,” Maria muttered, her words barely understandable through all the fat and meat she was chewing on. Looking to her left, she saw Sofie ripping off another piece of her own, a sorrowful smile on her face. Maria swallowed her own as she did, letting out a satisfied sigh as she did. “Still can’t believe Harper was some lord's head chef though. I mean, wouldn’t he rather be working there than as a merchant?”

“You aren’t the only one that has said that,” Harper said, sitting down next to the wyrmret with his own meal. He gave a subtle gesture to his wife, Maria looking at the elf as he did. “She is the reason. Girl stole my heart and said she wanted to travel all across the continent. I was more than willing to give up what I had to be with the one I love.”

Maria squealed internally as she pictured the events that Harper had told her. The thought of one abandoning all they had to be with their one true love, it was like something out of a fairytale. Near immediately, she imagined herself in both of their places, being told by the man she loved that he would travel the world with her, and being the one to tell the women of her dreams the same thing. It was truly a dream come true, at least for her.

Her brother just groaned at the romantic thoughts that went through his sister’s mind. This wasn’t the first time he had seen her hopeless romantic side breakthrough, but it was the first time he was unable to escape from them. Back when they were still on Earth, he could tune her out or leave the room at any time; that wasn’t so much the case here on Evra.

“My parents weren’t exactly happy with my decision, being the kind of idiots who believe marrying any race besides your own was against some divine right. Damn Originists,” Harper explained with a shake of his head. He still smiled despite his words. “My siblings urged me to go for it, though. We didn’t exactly believe in what our mother and father told us and, while every one of us are disowned, we are happier because of it.”

“So people like that exist here on Evra too,” Maria said, frowning. “Ain’t that wonderful.”

“Similar people back home?” Harper asked, taking a bite of the elk.

He wasn’t looking at Maria, and that left him unable to see the thousand-yard stare she bore into the forest ahead. The memories that had been dug up from those few simple words, the pain that she thought she had all but dealt with. Her brother was handling it better than her, though that wasn’t saying much. One sentence came to mind, a sentence that still haunted her to this day.

“You two are a mistake.”

“You… could say that,” Maria said, still staring off into the unknown as she spoke. “About sixty percent of our world is ruled by a fanatical cult. A cult that twists the messages that the one they supposedly follow left behind,” She grimaced as she spoke. “Those people are the only reason my brother and I were born.”

Those last few words caused Harper to finally look back at the wyrmret. He had seen that face before on soldiers who had seen too much, yet he knew she was no soldier. She didn’t elaborate on what she meant, but he wasn’t about to pry. Everyone had pain they hid in their heart, and she clearly didn’t want to talk about it anymore than she already had. So instead, he patted her head, giving a smile.

“Well, you are far away from those people. Whatever they’ve done, I can assure you they will not reach any of us here,” Harper told her. Maria looked at him as he said those words. “I don’t know the whole story, but know that you are welcome here on Evra. You have those who want you around.”

Those words left no room for imagination, Maria leaning into the pets heavily as he said those words. It felt comforting, right, and as she leaned into his hand as much as possible her brother stayed quiet. He didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as her, but he understood that this wasn’t the time to get upset about such things. The memories that her sister had just dredged up weren't just unpleasant to her, but to him as well.

“Thanks Harper,” She said after a time, knowing that if this body was able to she would be crying heavily right now. “Behind that distrustful gaze you always seem to have, you’re a good guy.”

“Heh, if I had five ces for the amount of people who said that,” Harper said, removing his hand for Maria’s head and bringing it to the back of his neck. “Though, are you really surprised given my line of work? The amount of shit I have to deal with from customers, not to mention highwaymen and the like, you gotta keep your dagger behind your back in case anything happens.”

Maria said nothing, just nodding as she tried to get back to eating. That was interrupted as she heard laughter that she hadn’t heard before. She hadn’t been aware of how much time had passed, but Sofie’s mug of beer was tipped over and completely empty. She watched as Sofie, a drunk blush on her face and laughing hysterically, hugged Elenise tightly. Elenise was buzzed herself, the two drunks giggling happily at the wyrmret and merchant

“Aw, you look so cute. Like an owner comforting a pet,” Sofie said before giggling even more. Maria looked away embarrassed, trying to hide her face with her wings. “Aw, and you look even cuter when hiding.”

“Well someone is a lightweight,” Cameron said, chuckling at his sister. “She is right though, it was rather cute watching him pet you.”

“Keep that up and I'll give you control right now,” Maria told him. Cameron went quiet immediately, and Maria realized she had let her emotions get the better of her. “Sorry bro, should have thought that through better,” With that said, Maria looked back to Sofie and Elenise. She noticed the Ukrainian was clutching the elfs chest. “I think you gave her a bit too much, Harper.”

“She said she had stronger stuff before, I figured it would be fine,” He said, shaking his head and letting out a sigh. “I’ll make sure it is less next time, especially if she is going to touch my wife like that.”

Maria was initially confused as to what the man meant, but as she looked closer she realized Sofie wasn’t just holding the elf’s chest. Without a moment's hesitation, Harper got up and walked around the fire that had been used to cook their meal. Maria watched as he tore Sofie away from his wife, chuckling as she saw the Ukrainian try desperately to get back to Elenise. She succeeded as Sofie fumbled her way past Harper and to Elenise once again, immediately going back to what she was doing before.

“Drunk words are sober thoughts,” Maria recited, looking up to the nearly faded light of the sky. “Cam, you're thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Definitely possible, but I don’t know how much I trust that line of thought,” Her brother said. Maria looked back, watching as Harper placed Sofie’s hands around Elenise’s neck to give a more appropriate hug. “Maybe that is what she had gotten upset about earlier?”

“Hey, rat!” Raazin shouted at Maria, the wyrmret looking over to see them sitting with their meal mostly untouched. “I can’t eat with my hands tied behind my back you know.”

Maria smiled mischievously at those words, and suddenly Raazin felt very very afraid. “Aw, the hatchling needs help eating his meal?”

Raazin shook his head, suddenly feeling that it was better to struggle at his meal alone then ask for help. It wasn’t just the ego hit at being called a hatchling, but the look of insanity that Maria had summoned from nowhere. If he wasn’t scared of the wyrmret before, he most definitely was now, somehow feeling he would have been far better off getting mauled to death by Falketh than living now. It was as if she wanted to make him the target of all her pent up aggression and hate, and he would rather avoid that for as long as possible.

“Actually, I think I’ll struggle through this on my own,” Raazin said, doing his best to rip some of the meat off with just his teeth.