Kylara fell and instinctively tried to catch herself with a ward.

It, rather predictably, it did not work. She slammed into the ground with a groan, her back hitting first, then her shoulder.

Ugh. That was going to bruise. Kylara slowly pushed herself upright. Bits of dirt clung to her clothes. She brushed it off.

Tal–or, Multhamurra–Kylara wasn’t sure which name he preferred–was, apparently, very bad at this. Most warblers managed to at least get the orientation right. Have people land on their feet. Some could even make the translation completely seamless, stepping Up Over to Down Under without any noticeable shift in perception. The reverse (Down Under to Up Over) was harder, as most people blacked out, but it was still usually less rough than this.

There was another groan next to her. “You alright?” Janeyca’s voice came from Kylara’s left.

“I’m fine,” Kylara mumbled, glancing at Janes. Then the memories came flooding back.

Kylara immediately sat bolt upright. Translating Down Under was not like translating Up Over. There was no loss of memories or confusion. Everything came flooding back at once.

Kylara remembered waking up in that strange, empty landscape and “meeting” Multhamurra–although he had gone by Tal at the time. She remembered finding Yalmay trapped in a cocoon. She remembered the fight they had had when Yalmay had told her about going into the Desert and she remembered Joontah and Janeyca being identical. They had spoken to a moth the size of a small tree and they had been chased by a mass of murderous gwiyalas and Multhamurra had killed a group of them with a burning lens made of mirrors.

Kylara shivered. She could remember every detail of that corpse. Memories made in the warren were always exceptionally vivid. It was going to be hard not to think of it.

Kylara also remembered, down to the exact details, what Janeyca had looked like a few minutes before. She had had a mix of her own features and her brother’s. Nothing like she did now.

“You’re back!” Kylara exclaimed.

Janeyca’s brows furrowed. Kylara had missed that. Joontah’s brows were less sloped and a bit bushy. They didn’t furrow in the same way. “What do you mean?” she asked.

Kylara gave Janeyca a quick once-over. She looked the same. The same wide eyes, the same sharp cheekbones, the same full lips, the same upturned nose. “You looked exactly like you used to, not a hint of your brother,” she declared.

“I do?” Janeyca asked. “And I sound…?”

“The same,” Kylara finished.

Janeyca smiled a bit at that. “That’s good. Good. I was a bit worried about that.”

“How do you feel?”

“The same, I guess. I mean, wow. That was not what I thought the Up Over would be like at all. So I think I’m in a bit of shock still.”

“It’s not usually like that,” Kylara said. “But you don’t feel like Joontah, right? You are fully back? You can be honest with me, Yalmay’s not here. I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to.”

“I don’t know what that would even mean,” Janeyca said.

“But you feel like yourself, no?”

“If feeling like myself feels a bit like shit, then sure.”

“But normal shit, yes?” Kylara prodded. “Not weird, like you might have memories of someone else?”

“I felt normal in the Up Over too,” Janeyca said. “It was just my appearance. I told you that already.”

“Right,” Kylara said. She wondered a bit bitterly why she had such bad luck with Janeyca. Every time they had a conversation, it seemed to go in a direction she hadn’t been expecting. She shrugged it off.

Janeyca looked a bit distracted, but Kylara had no reason not to trust her. If she said she felt normal, she probably did.

“Where is Joontah?” Kylara asked, looking around. He should have translated with them. Unless Tal had fucked that up too, which she wouldn’t put past him.

Janeyca pointed behind her.

“I’m here,” Joontah said at the same time, sitting up. He grimaced. “I think I might have dislocated my arm though. That was rough.”

Kylara hurried over to him and crouched beside him. “What happened?” she asked. She didn’t remember him being injured in the Up Over. Tal had been injured, somehow–Kylara wasn’t sure how he had managed that considering he had been intangible at the time–but Kylara didn’t remember Joontah being hurt.

“It’s nothing,” he brushed off. “I think I just landed on it funny during the translation.”

Kylara leaned back and frowned. “Multhamurra needs to get better at that,” she said. “It’s dangerous doing it like he does. We should have landed on our feet. I’ve never seen a warbler do it that badly.”

“Yeah well,” Joontah winced. “Maybe he’s out of practice or something.”

Janeyca scooted over to him and felt his arm. There was something odd on her face, Kylara thought. Not quite concern, but not comfort either. Kylara wondered if she was squeamish.

“It’s not dislocated,” she said, “but I think you should go see Imla.”

“Yeah, it hurts,” he winced, not looking Janeyca in the eye, “I should also go find mum, let her know we are okay. I did disappear in front of her, after all.”

Well, in front of was a bit of a stretch, Kylara thought. Julya had been next to Wawiriya when they had disappeared, but she wasn’t that close.

Joontah nodded, then, without giving his sister more than a second glance, walked away, cradling his arm.

Kylara’s mouth formed a thin line. Something was off here. She would’ve expected Joontah to be more ecstatic that he was back to his old face, especially after his fight with Yalmay in the warren. He hadn’t even asked them if he looked the same. He had barely looked in Janeyca’s direction. Perhaps he was afraid of what he would see? But she looked fine too.

“He seems off,” Kylara commented once he had left, “he didn’t even ask what he looked like.”

Janeyca froze. “Right,” she said. “He didn’t, did he?”

Seeing the panic on Janeyca’s face, Kylara quickly added, “I’m sure it’s fine. I mean, he hurt his arm. That is probably why. It’s weird, but he’s probably just a bit disoriented.”

Janeyca seemed to relax a bit. “Right,” she breathed. “That’s probably it,” she said.

“We can worry about it when Yalmay and Tal get back,” Kylara reassured her.

Janeyca directed her attention to the sky. “I’m worried about them. I don’t like the idea of Yalmay being alone up there.”

“I think she’ll be fine,” Kylara said. “I trust Tal.”

“You trust him, but we don’t even know his real name,” Janeyca muttered under her breath. “It’s not Multhamurra, and I don’t think it’s Tal either. He could be anyone.”

“He’s a magsman, of course he could be anyone,” Kylara said. That was sort of the point of magsmen. They travelled. They didn’t have a proper home. Many didn't even have a proper name.

But even as Kylara said it, there was a sinking feeling in her stomach. It had been Multhamurra–or Tal, as he had gone by at the time–that had made the decision to split up.

He still needed to travel somewhere to recover from the poison, and he claimed it would be easier with fewer people accompanying him. He had explained that not staying intangible like he should have had complicated matters, so the journey was best undertaken by two. Yalmay had volunteered, and Tal had said that she was the one he needed anyway as he wasn’t going to be able to communicate with anyone when he went back Down Under until he fixed the whole language thing.

Kylara had protested a bit at that, as she was the only one who could ward, but Tal insisted that he could grab the weapons from the stomach of the caterpillar and they would be fine. Plus, he had said, he wanted someone to be there in case separating Joontah and Janeyca went wrong.

Which, luckily, it hadn’t. At least he had managed that.

“Did he say anything to you when you were up there?” Kylara asked. “Anything about why you and your brother got mixed up more than usual?”

Janeyca shook her head. “He didn’t say much. Just that… people who were closer to each other, whose sense of identity involves the other, they get mixed up more. I guess because me and Joontah grew up together we had more in common than most.”

“So, what?” Kylara asked. “It’s because you two are twins?”

“I guess,” Janeyca frowned.

Funny, Kylara had never thought the two of them were that close. They didn’t act close, but perhaps it was different in private.

Janeyca licked her top lip. She looked uneasy. “It’s funny because we never really knew before. We just kinda assumed.”

Kylara cocked her head. “Assumed what?”

“That we were twins.”

A pause.

The words took a second to process. Kylara blinked. “You mean you didn’t know?”

“I mean, we assumed. But we don’t exactly look like each other. At all. And I’ve always looked younger, people always say. And we were adopted once, it’s completely possible the woman we thought was our birth mother had gotten us from somewhere else. Adopted twice. It’s not like we know who she was, not really.” Janeyca moved her arm strangely, as if trying to relax. She frowned, fidgeted, sighed, then stood up.

“It must be weird, not knowing where you come from,” Kylara said.

“Yeah,” Janeyca said, her voice breaking a bit.

“But I’m glad you’re back,” Kylara said, standing up and bringing Janes into a tight hug.

Janeyca squeezed back. “I am too.” She pulled away. “Soooo, are we going to talk about it?”

“If you want to,” Kylara said. “But if you want to completely forget the whole thing happened, I would understand that too. I won’t mention it to your family or anything.” Kylara smiled, then made a gesture over her heart. “I won’t mention anything in this conversation to anyone unless you give me permission to. I promise.”

Kylara had expected to see reassurance, or even anger on Janeyca’s face (after all, she was making a promise and for warders, that came with dangers), but instead she only saw confusion.

“What?” Janeyca said. “No, not about me. I don’t care about that. I mean you.”

Kylara sighed.

Oh. That.

Then she decided to backtrack and pretend she didn’t know why she was sighed in the first place. She tilted her head. “What do you mean?” Kylara asked gently and hopefully, innocently.

Janeyca rolled her eyes.

“You know what I’m talking about. You could ward up there, Kya. What was that about?”

Kylara shrugged, annoyed. “I don’t know. Didn’t Tal pull you aside and say something about it?”

In the warren, Kylara had forgotten. Yalmay had too. But when Kylara had made that mirror ward, Janeyca had immediately known something was wrong. Then Tal had pulled her aside and whispered something to her before she could bring it up. Kylara hadn’t known that was what they were doing at the time but looking back, it was obvious.

“What did he say?” Kylara asked her.

“Nothing,” Janes said. “He said I couldn’t mention it to you until we got down here, and then you would explain.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I would explain?” Kylara raised an eyebrow. The gall of him, expecting her to explain. He had not explained it to her.

Janeyca seemed to gain confidence. She crossed her arms. “Yeah, so explain.”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“He said you would guess,” Janeyca said.

Kylara rubbed her eye. “Tal said that?” Janeyca nodded. Kylara sighed again. “He say anything else?”

“Er, he said your first guess would be wrong, but your second would be right.”

Of course he had said that, Kylara thought.

“So, what’s your first guess?” Janeyca said.

“Er,” Kylara said. She hadn’t got to guessing yet, but she supposed if she had gotten a chance to make a first guess, it would be… “I would assume Tal did something,” she said. “He manipulated everything. He changed the language we were speaking. He probably changed our appearances. He killed that thing that was following us–” A chill went up Kylara’s spine. The casual way he had manipulated that whole situation, using her mirror wards to kill, it made her uncomfortable. He hadn’t even told them who it was yet, simply saying he would explain later. “He also didn’t seem surprised I could… he asked me to make a ward for him, a set of stairs and–”

He had been testing her, Kylara realised. Seeing if she could do it. He hadn’t known either until that point, but he had suspected. And he had been so casual about it because–

“I think it’s because I didn’t remember,” Kylara said. “I lost warding because I told a lie. And I guess the warren made me disoriented enough that I didn’t remember ever telling it.”

“That works?” Janeyca said. “I mean, I didn’t realise warding was based on memories.”

“Me neither.”

A few drops of rain began to fall.

“Ah, brilliant,” Janeyca said, looking up. “Just what we need.”

“Seriously though,” Kylara said. “Remember the gwiyalas? Hopefully the rain washes some of that away because I don’t want to clea–”

She froze.

Hope the rain washed them away? What was she saying? Today had been one of the strangest days of Kylara’s life, but was she already so nonchalant about that many gwiyalas dying that she was making jokes about their deaths?

Janeyca seemed to notice. “Hey,” she said. “Didn’t there used to be a ward here? I don’t remember ever being rained on in the park.”

“I usually had a water ward up, yeah,” Kylara said. Gods, Janeyca was horrible at changing the topic.

“Do you think there’s a way to get that back? Not make new wards just… get the old ones back?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why? I mean, we just saw that warding isn’t as completely gone as you thought it was.”

“They won’t come back,” Kylara repeated.

“Oh,” Janeyca said. Then, “Do you think the reverse too? If warding works with memory, what if you remembered telling a lie and you never had? Do you think that would be bad?”

”Probably best not to think of it,” Kylara said. If she had to remember to not misremember, then. Well. That seemed quite stressful. Not something Kylara wanted to add to the list of qualifiers she needed to go through before she spoke.

“It makes sense though,” Janeyca said, oblivious. “My grandmother told me some stories when I was little. I remember hundreds of years ago they had this ritual. They used to hit the warder on their head if they told a lie. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.”

Kylara winced. Warders healed quickly, but not that quickly. She was glad she didn’t live back then. But maybe there was some merit to it. Perhaps she could ask Multhamurra if there was a way to get around it, a way to forget. Maybe not hitting herself exactly, although that was certainly an option.

“They also used to kill everyone who had heard the lie,” Janeyca finished. “Something about everyone needing to forgot.”

Well.

Never mind then.

It was fun to think about, though.

Janeyca was looking at her curiously. “You’re very certain,” she prodded. “Why don’t you think we could get the wards back? It’s not like you to just assume like that.”

“Maybe if I had just lost warding but, the wards didn’t fall because I broke my word.”

“They didn’t?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. Wards never go away. Not unless someone takes them down. Plenty of wards have stood for centuries. If they collapsed every time a warder lied or transferred the power, there wouldn’t be nearly as reliable. No, I took them down.”

“Why?”

Kylara sighed. “Promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to say?”

Janeyca smiled. “Only if you do the same.”

“I think I already did.”

“Oh. Right.”

Kylara sucked in a breath. “You know how warders need to keep their word, right?” Of course Janeyca knew. “Well, as a kid, I promised to follow the rules of the town.”

Janeyca nodded. “Don’t break the law. Makes sense.”

“More specifically, it’s the will of the council I need to follow. When they vote a new law in, I need to follow it. There’s a few laws specific to me, like not moving away, not choosing a foreigner to be the next warder–things like that. I was fine with following them but then a few months ago, things changed.”

“Like what?”

“Mostly it was a bunch of little things,” Kylara said. “The political situation wasn’t great. It still isn’t. Mostly Warrung ignores us–small town and all–but Warrung has been struggling to hold on to power ever since the Snap. The council has been worried about keeping our independence. And then with the recent thefts on the songlines and the rumours about the royal family, the council was getting worried.” Kylara sighed. “I don’t know how she did it, but Malyun managed to convince the rest of the council to vote for a new law. Or more accurately, a new procedure. Basically, instead of laws being voted in by a majority, they would be voted in by a plurality.”

Janeyca gave her a look. A small line formed between her eyebrows. It was an oddly familiar gesture. Joontah did the exact same thing. Kylara wasn’t sure how the two of them could have ever doubted that they were biologically twins.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Janeyca said. “We don’t have political parties here anymore. There is no plurality. It’s just people.”

“Exactly,” Kylara said. “The way the law was phrased, it was just people. Every person on the council could make a law and any other person on the council could veto it. So technically, Malyun could make a law on the spot."

"So?"

Kylara shook her head. "It wouldn’t matter to anyone in town except me, so no one else thought it mattered much. I'm the only one who needs to follow the letter of the law, not just its spirit.”

“I still don’t get it,” Janeyca said. “Besides being a stupid way to run a political system, what’s the big deal?”

“Don’t you see?” Kylara said. “If someone on the council wanted to make a stupid law that applied only to me, I would have been forced to follow it.”

“But you’re on the council,” Janeyca stated.

“So is Malyun.”

“Yeah, but if she wanted to make a rule for you on the spot, couldn’t you just veto it on the spot?”

“Sure,” Kylara said. She massaged her forehead. “That would work if it was only her. But she has friends on the council. More friends than I do. I could be easily outvoted. If she had some control over me before, this would be a hundred times worse. She’s the one who made my life miserable as a child. She’s the one who never allowed me to speak unless I was being policed by someone. She was the one who banned me from ever drinking alcohol. She’s the one currently trying to blackmail me by threatening to not let Yalmay ever leave town and go to the University.”

“She what?” Janeyca said. "Blackmail?"

“Don’t tell Yalmay,” Kylara said. “Or your brother. I’ve got it handled.”

Janeyca’s expression flicked a bit at the word ‘brother’ but she said nothing for a long moment. Then, “Seriously Kylara, why haven’t you said anything to us? I had no idea about this law. I knew Malyun was a cunt but this? This is–it’s–”

“Not a law, just a procedure. And you never heard about it because it never got passed,” Kylara said. “I got into an argument with Malyun. I took down every ward I had ever made. She didn’t budge. I threatened her. We argued. She said some things I’m sure she regrets. Then I said some things I regret.” Kylara shrugged. “Now I can’t ward anymore.” She smiled bitterly. Her eyes strayed across the field to the town council building in the distance. “All because neither of us would back down from an argument.”

“But you were in the right.”

“Maybe,” Kylara said. “It doesn’t really matter though, does it? Everything is worse now. No one would care if I was right. Hell, I don’t even care if I was right. And it’s not like even knows. You’re the first person I’ve told.”

Janeyca looked at her strangely. “You haven’t told Yalmay?”

Kylara shook her head. “At first, I kept it to myself to have something I could use against Malyun if I needed to–blackmail her back, I guess–but looking back that just seems childish. No one will care, even if it’s technically Malyun’s fault.”

“People will forget when we get another warder.”

Kylara bit back a laugh. “I’m not sure we’re getting one,” she confessed.

“What? But I saw you doing interviews just a few days ago.”

“I’d pick Dayindi if I got a choice,” Kylara said. “The interviews aren’t the problem. But–” she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her vision was blurry. She hadn’t told anyone this either, not directly. She had implied as much to Yalmay, but Yalmay hadn’t really picked up on the significance of it. “It’s Malyun’s fault again, I guess. About a six months ago, Malyun came to me with a proposal.” Janeyca opened her mouth, the beginnings of a question, but Kylara quickly continued–“it’s not important what. But basically, Malyun didn’t trust my judgement. So I promised I would be absolutely certain when choosing the next warder. I wouldn’t let her down.”

Kylara paused, looking over to Janeyca. Her face was still blank, as if waiting for the revelation.

“That’s it,” Kylara said. “But every time I think about choosing Dayindi officially, all I can think about is how Malyun made my life hell for my entire childhood. And I don’t want that for him. He’s a sweet kid. Then I have this doubt about giving it to him. And I can never hand off warding unless I am absolutely certain. I promised that. Just by choosing someone, I would be breaking my word. And that would be the second promise I’d be breaking. Which means no more warding. The lineage would be gone. So I’ve spent the past few months trying to convince myself my life hasn’t been that bad.” In the corner of her eye, Kylara could see Janeyca grow still. “Trying to convince myself to be absolutely certain. I think I’ve managed to do the opposite, but maybe one day I’ll get there.”

“I didn’t know,” Janeyca said quietly.

“No one does, that’s sort of the point,” Kylara said. She took a deep breath and looked up, blinking the rain from her eyes. “Maybe Malyun will die soon or magically become a better person and I’ll be reassured and it will all be fine. Or maybe I’ll just stop caring.” Kylara sighed. “What am I saying? I’ll probably just stop caring. Everyone treats me like a pariah already. Why should I care about Dayindi’s future?”

“Don’t say that,” Janeyca said.

“It’s true though. In all likelihood, that’s what’s going to happen. Maybe I’m just waiting for him to grow up a bit. That’ll be better for him, I think. Malyun stopped treating me so badly when I was about fifteen. I can wait another year or two or even three. It won’t be so bad.”

“Is that a lie?” Janeyca asked quietly.

Kylara looked at her. “You think I’d lie right now?” She slumped her shoulders. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I think. I just hope it will be worthwhile.”

“I think it will be,” Janeyca said. “You’re a decent person, Kylara. Things will work out.”

Kylara smiled. It was nice to talk to Janeyca like she used to. It had been a while.

“Thanks.”

Janeyca suddenly pressed her lips together, like a thought had just occurred to her. “Tal knew about the council, didn’t he? I remember him saying something about not approving. I wonder how much he knows.”

“More than he lets on,” Kylara said.

“How much do you think he knew about the warren?”

“Probably everything,” Kylara said. “He’d been there before. Even if he didn’t recognise who was following us, he certainly knew enough. He didn’t seem bothered at all when the corpse started talking.”

“Gods, that was weird, wasn’t it?”

“Traumatising.”

“If I ever see a moth again, it may be too soon.”

“Good luck with that,” Kylara said. She muttered the summoning words under her breath and a moth appeared in her hand. She presented it to Janes.

“Oh fuck you,” Janeyca said. “I’m traumatised, remember?”

“Right.”

“You need to respect the traumatised.”

“Course,” Kylara grinned.

Janeyca grinned back, almost as widely. “When Yalmay gets back,” Janes said, “we all go need to go for drinks together. It’s been too long.”

Kylara gave her a look, then waved her hand in front of her face. “Not allowed remember? No drinking.” Stupid warders having stupid rules. She stuck her tongue out in defiance.

“Ah.” Janeyca smiled. “What a pity. Are there exceptions? You were traumatised. There should be exceptions for that.”

“Take it up with the Council,” Kylara said, giving a little pretend curtsy. She turned serious again. “I wouldn’t mind watching though.”

“No?”

“I can get dinner or something instead.”

Janeyca laughed. “Dinner?”

“I mean like food,” Kylara said. “You three get drinks, I get food.”

“Right,” Janes laughed. “What are you suggesting?” She made eye contact with Kylara. There was something there. Something in Janes's smile. Something Kylara hadn't seen in a long time.

“Maybe…” Kylara hesitated. “Maybe you can make me something?”

Janeyca grew still. The something disappeared. “I can’t," she said. "I’m with Yalmay, remember?”

Kylara’s breath froze in her chest. She said nothing for a long moment. Then, she repeated, very slowly, in case she had misheard, “You’re with Yalmay?”

Janeyca shut her mouth. Her eyes widened. “I, er. Is that what I said? Me? With Yalmay? Haha. No.”

“That’s what you said.”

“Slip of the tongue,” Janes assured her airily. She shuffled her feet. “Sorry. Er. I didn’t mean it.” She laughed uneasily. “Bit traumatised, remember? And I’ve always had a bit of a stutter.”

That was true. Both Janes and Joontah had had a stutter as a child. Perhaps that was why Yalmay had befriended them. But that wasn't it.

Kylara’s eyes narrowed. “No,” she said quietly.

Some things suddenly made sense, and some suddenly didn’t. Kylara backed up slightly. Janeyca looked like she had just been punched.

“No?” Janeyca said.

“No.”

“Yalmay’s with my brother. That’s what I meant,” she sounded breathy. “I mean, wouldn’t that be a bit weird? Two sets of siblings dating each other? I mean, Kylara I’m flattered and all but I don’t know if–”

“I don’t want to date you,” Kylara said.

That seemed to give Janeyca pause. “Really? Because I thought you just–never mind.” She smiled a bit in weak reassurance. “Right,” she said. She took a few deep breaths. “Good. Good. Fine. Should we, er, go find my grandmother? Tell her what happened in the Up Over? I’m sure she wants to know what Multhamurra is up to. And maybe she can answer some of our questions. She knows him, after all.” Janes readjusted her jacket around her arms, as if it were too tight for her. Then took two steps away stiffly and paused, as if waiting for Kylara to follow.

Kylara just kept staring, standing absolutely still. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Janes,” Janeyca said. “Kylara look–”

“How did you know what Tal said in the warren?”

“What?”

“How did you know what he said?” Kylara repeated.

Janeyca hesitated. “Do you mean about not mentioning warding? Because he pulled me aside, remember? I told you. Wait–no. You reminded me. Don’t you remember?”

“I remember,” Kylara said. “I remember reminding you that Joontah got pulled aside. But I misremembered. We hadn’t found you yet. We hadn’t found Janeyca. So how did you know?”

“That was me,” Janeyca emphasised. “Not my brother. I mean, we looked alike at the time. Maybe you’re mixing us up.”

Kylara shook her head. “No, I was mistaken before. But I’m certain I'm right this time. That was your brother, not you. He said as much.”

Janeyca visibly winced. “I don’t know what to tell you Kya. I think you just got us mixed up. Or maybe he lied. We did just do a translation, didn’t we? Don’t memories get shuffled around during translations?” Janeyca looked about to throw up.

“How did you know Tal didn’t approve of the council?” Kylara asked.

“I overheard you.”

“But you weren’t there,” Kylara insisted.

“It was when we were by the cliff, right?”

“It was by the cocoons,” Kylara corrected, backing up slightly. “You know that. Stop lying.”

“Maybe the translation went wrong,” Janeyca said. “Because you’re misremembering. When Multhamurra gets back we can ask him–”

“No,” Kylara said. “I’m not the one lying. I just don’t understand. Who are you? If the translation went wrong, if you still have some of Joontah’s memories, why hide it? Why wouldn’t you want to go back to normal? Are you being possessed? Are you a warg?”

Kylara almost felt bad for pressing. Janeyca looked mid-panic attack. She tugged at the collar of her shirt like it was too tight. She rubbed her wrists. She’s made a weird movement with her shoulder like it hurt her. Kylara did not break eye contact. She let Janeyca squirm.

Then, after a long minute, Kylara looked away. “You can tell me anything,” Kylara said softly.

Janeyca visibly flinched at that, and Kylara knew she had won. Whatever this was, it was over. She would learn the truth. But gradually as Kylara watched, the fear in Janeyca’s eyes faded, replaced with a resigned regret. Then, surprisingly, a touch of relief. Just as Kylara was begining to doubt herself, Janeyca smiled.

“I can, can’t I?” Janeyca whispered. “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone what I said in this conversation. Not unless I gave you my permission.”

Kylara froze. “Janes–”

“I’m not giving you my permission. Don’t mention anything. Ever. Not to anyone. Don’t even imply anything. You gave your word and now you have to keep it.”

Kylara twisted her mouth into a tight line. “Isn’t that a bit much Janes? I said I wouldn’t but–”

“You promised,” Janeyca said. She closed her eyes. “Please.”

Fuck, Kylara didn’t really have a choice, did she? It wasn't like she could take back the promise now.

“Fine,” Kylara said. "Tell me what’s going on."

“I said I was dating Yalmay because I am,” Janeyca said. “I’m Joontah.”