It took Adrea three days to recover from the event to a degree where she could think straight. Her memory of what happened in the meantime was hazy, especially the hours right after what should have been her end.

I'm alive? Maybe this was just a very bad dream...

Some of the images of the night still lingered at the edge of her consciousness, the most prominent of which was a desperate Naviya saying something to her.

Adrea took a moment to get her bearings straight. She was surrounded by branches and leaves, with her back resting on the hard surface that was the trunk of a tree. There were some chirping noises - birds welcoming the warming rays of the morning sun. She was half-sitting, half-laying on some sort of platform that seemed to be made from sturdy planks of wood. To her right, she saw her father's sword.

Flashes of the night rushed through her mind. She remembered the orange glow as the village burned, the wails of suffering that she had ignored in favor of her own safety, the red stream, and her father's unmoving had, holding the sword that was now at her side.

It was too much.

Adrea steadied herself. She felt the rays of the sun warm her face from above. Naviya was sitting next to her.

"You're back, right? I did not know what to do. I thought that I had made a mistake somewhere."

After a weak yes, Naviya hugged her with so much strength that Adrea could swear she heard a creaking sound.

"You were just like a... [foreign word]."

"I'm so sorry. I was not prepared. I had lowered my defenses. I could have protected everyone, but I did not."

Her face was completely inexpressive, just like all other times when she showed strong emotion. Adrea also noticed that her sister looked different somehow. It took her a second before she realized that her lustrous navy-colored hair, which had reached her hips the day before the attack, now just barely reached below her shoulders. The braids that she usually wore were nowhere to be seen, instead replaced by bangs of straight hair that evenly reached her eyebrows. This was particularly notable as Naviya had always refused to have her hair cut.

"When you were attacked, I did not know what to do. I just sat there and watched. I could still have reacted faster, but I was scared of losing myself. You almost died..."

"Calm down. It's okay. I'm fine now."

Adrea was not really focused, and she did not immediately register what her sister had said. Instead she asked the one question she could.

"So, what happened to your hair?"

That did not seem to ease the tension in any way.

"Your body was almost completely destroyed, so I had to create a replacement to keep you alive. It used most of my reserves of [foreign word]."

"Right, I was... eaten alive... Oh by the Light!"

She remembered the event. The teeth, the pain, the blood...

"Oh no, no, no, noO..."

Hysteria overtook her, the memories whirling around her head, overlapping each other in a gruesome collage of mismatched sounds and images. She couldn't think of anything else, as her cries went from loud, to soft, to tearful, to pained, while the traumatic feelings pounded at her consciousness. Then, as the memories began to fade, she briefly felt relived that the experience was over, only for it come back with a vengeance as soon as the thought crossed her mind.

The cycle repeated itself. Once, twice, three times, ...

Eventually, she managed to bring herself under control, and opened her eyes. Naviya was staring at her with worry, as she tried to wipe her tears.

"I think I'm fine now..."

She was not, of course, fine.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. So what now, are we headed somewhere specific?"

"You said that we should follow the river downstream, that it would lead us to Meunheil. You said that the city had big walls that would protect us from the demons."

Adrea had never actually been to the city, but she knew about it from her classes and what her parents had taught her. She tried to not think about that, but something did not seem to add up.

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"How long have we been moving?"

"Three days, excluding today."

The city is supposed to be only about half a day away by horse. We're lost, aren't we. Of course, we are.

She repressed the feeling of despair. They were going to get out this, one way or another.

Maybe following the river was simply not the fastest route?

She tried to recall her knowledge of Danalau geography. Sure enough, the stream that went through their village and eventually joined the river Ojtoeys actually flowed south, whereas the city was to the north-east. She reassured herself that they would eventually reach their destination anyways. There was no reason to panic...

A loud howl interrupted her thoughts, coming from underneath. Her heart raced for a moment, before she realized that this was only a wolf. That couldn't hurt her while she was on a tree, but all her focus went to it anyway.

About an hour later, as the sun was beginning to set, the beast finally decided that it had had enough, and wandered off, along with the pack that had joined it a few minutes after she had first heard it. Adrea relaxed a bit.

"Naviya, I'm sorry. I'm going to try to get some rest, and we can move forward tomorrow."

It was now too late to do anything else, especially with wolves roaming around, which was why Adrea settled on resting as best as she could. Considering the circumstances, "as best as she could" turned out to be "not very well at all". The night was rainy, and although they were protected from the worst of it by the tree's canopy and a makeshift roof that Naviya had fashioned at some point during the day, she still got hit by the occasional droplet. With the wind slightly rocking the tree, she never really felt at ease either.

After a while, her state of mind changed to something that would be best-described as "blank". She looked at the swaying trees, the moving clouds, the reflection of the moon on the nearby stream. She listened to rustling leaves, the sound of creaking wood, the rhythmic sound of the raindrops impacting the exposed part of her platform. It all felt distant, somehow, like she was looking from beneath the surface of water. She briefly considered jumping off, maybe she could fly...

Morning greeted her with the warm touch of the morning sun, and she felt grateful for Danalau's climate during summer. Her neck hurt from the uncomfortable position in which she had slept. Panic briefly overtook her as she remembered her last thoughts during the previous evening, but the feeling of wood beneath her reassured that everything was fine.

As she opened her eyes, she noticed that Naviya was sitting next to her.

"Good morning."

She just sat there, immobile for about two seconds, before turning her head.

"Ah... Good morning. Sorry, I was focused on the surroundings. There's nothing dangerous around at the moment."

It took another couple of minutes before Adrea was fully awake, but after that, both girls made their way down the tree and resumed their march in silence. From what she remembered, the route following the river was about twice as long as the direct one, or about twenty horizons in total. They had had a good pace during the first three days, so the city could not be that far away.

As they made their way past a large bush of blueberries, she absently remembered that she had not eaten anything yesterday. Or the day before... and probably not since they left the village. She could vaguely remember that they had stopped at different occasions to have a drink, but that was it.

Her sister was walking slightly ahead of her, so she called out.

"Hey, Naviya. I just realized that we haven't eaten anything since we left the village, but I can barely feel any hunger. This cannot be good... Maybe we should stop and eat some of these blueberries here. "

"Sure."

Over the course of about one hour, they managed to collect about two pounds of berries. That went a long way towards making Adrea feel better, and realize just how much her ability to think ad been affected over the last days.

"Say, Naviya, why didn't we stop to eat on the way here. I know I've been out of it, but you seem to be mostly fine. Weren't you hungry?"

That seemed to take the younger girl by surprise.

"I..."

She paused.

"I suppose that I won't be able to hide it much longer anyway. I don't actually need to eat very often, because I'm not human."

Adrea felt as if a weight had been dropped on her lungs. Obviously, her expression had betrayed her, as Naviya immediately began to panic.

"I'm not a demon either. I'm still me. I'm still your sister. This doesn't matter, right?"

"No! don't come any closer!"

This can't be happening!

No, calm down Adrea, calm down! Panic never solves anything.

She steadied her breathing.

Oh no, what did I just say?

One look at Naviya told her how badly she had messed up.

"I... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to... Of course you're still my sister. Oh, how could I say something like this. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Her tears flowed as she hugged her little sister, and for a while, they just sat there.

"You're the only family I have left... How could I even... think that..."

"I thought that you at least suspected it... You always seemed to be able se through me..."

"Please no. It doesn't matter, I'm just not right in the head right now... don't leave me alone, please."

"Big sister, don't worry. I don't want you to leave me either."

Adrea could feel how her younger sister gently patted her head. There were no ill feelings here. They stayed this way for a while longer. She let herself relax under the gentle summer breeze, let her mind drift. Now was not the time for existential questions, all she needed now was peace.

After a while, they resumed their journey, but overall did not get far that day. By her estimation, they probably walked about three horizons total, mostly in the morning. It did not last long before day turned to dusk, and they had to make camp. As it turned out, they had been using their father's sword as an improvised axe. The edge was surprisingly sharp when Adrea was using it, to the point that she had no trouble cutting even moderately thick trees in a couple of swings. At that point, it was just a matter of splitting the logs length-wise, and connecting them together with Naviya's hairs to create a surprisingly robust platform on a suitable tree.

The whole operation took less than an hour to accomplish, and just seemed preposterous, but Adrea told herself that she would not question anything right now. What mattered at the moment was reaching Meunheil as quickly as possible. Everything else could wait, and hopefully they would still be able to reach the city tomorrow.