Cold water ran down from the nearby mountains through a wide river, next to it Yara sat on her haunches and watched while ice floated on the water’s surface as she filled her flagon. Spring had come swiftly and suddenly as Yara and Githeon approached the ever-moving Norvarian border, something the both of them had welcomed. Norvarian winters were never anything to scoff at, and the treacherous terrain in the country had led many a traveller to their deaths during bad weather. Yara occasionally saw orange and brown fish break the water’s surface as they jumped to move ahead. She stood up and looked back to where Githeon was setting up camp. He was gathering up sticks for a campfire. Yara thought for a second as she took a swig from her freshly filled flagon. Then she followed the river’s edge to a narrow point, where a large rock had split the flow into two. She took off her gauntlets and dropped them on the slightly damp ground before she stepped onto a boulder on the water’s edge. Just below the thin barrier of the water’s surface she could see great numbers of fish swim by, each rushed by in a greater hurry than the ones before. Yara looked closely and carefully considered every fish she saw. Then she made her shot and missed. The fish she’d managed to grab for just a split second slipped out of her hand and swam away as quickly as it could. Many of the other trout around were spooked by the sudden movement, but soon the gap was filled again. Yara made a second attempt and managed to grab a tight hold of her next catch. It was only a small fish, and after she’d held it up and shouted in excitement it managed to squirm its way out of her hands.

  ‘Fuck!’ she laughed as she watched the trout wriggle around in the air before it hit the water again.

  ‘Everything alright?’ asked Githeon. He looked up from what he was doing.

  ‘Just peachy,’ said Yara with a smile. She focused her attention on the water again. she swore she could see a big trout approach from further downstream and knew that she wouldn’t be able to catch it and pick it up with just her hands, so she took her shirt off in order to keep it from getting wet, something that’d make the cold worse in the long run. She was fortunate to still be wearing the bandages from when Eleyna was caring for her. That her chest wouldn’t be exposed was another motivator to just do it. As the fish swam by she jumped in after it and immediately grabbed a hold of it in the waist-deep water. Githeon could hear the loud splash from the campsite and ran to see what was going on. Yara was in the water, struggling to pull a fish nearly the size of her own torso out onto land. The trout squirmed in her arms as she made her way back onto the shore. It nearly managed to get loose of her grip several times as it thrashed, but none of that mattered anymore when She threw it onto the riverside, far enough away from the water’s edge to prevent it from going back. Yara smiled from ear to ear as she slogged out of the river and onto its gravelly bed.

  ‘Dinner’s served!’ she laughed.

  ‘Are you insane!?’ asked Githeon, a little bewildered by what he’d just witnessed. He looked at the fish again which by now had stopped thrashing about on the gravel, 'you're still recovering! that could've turned out terribly.'

  ‘What do you mean? that was great!’ said Yara, grinning from ear-to-ear from excitement. The rush of adrenaline had left her on a bit of a high, ‘I should do that more often.’

  ‘You’re gonna freeze if you do!’

  ‘I’m fine, r-really,’ she’d started to shiver, ‘r-right mayb-be not.’

  Githeon led her to the campsite and got Yara his cloak, which she gladly accepted after sitting down.

  ‘Th-that was amazing,’ said Yara with a wide grin on her face. Githeon got down on his haunches and began to start a fire in the hastily assembled circle.

  ‘I assume you know how to clean a fish.’

  ‘M-my guardian taught me a thing or two.’

  ‘Right,’ he said as the flames rose, ‘I’ll go get that trout then.’

  Yara warmed herself to the newly ignited fire while she waited for Githeon to come back. She looked back and saw that he was having quite a bit of trouble lugging the heavy animal to the campsite.

  ‘Need a little help?’ she asked, still with a grin on her face.

  ‘No,’ he said as he struggled, ‘thanks though.’

  The fish hit the ground with a loud splat.

  ‘There’s no way we can eat all of that,’ said Githeon as he wiped his mucus-covered hands on his shirt.

  ‘We can save some for later,’ said Yara as she got up. She put her shirt back on and walked to her saddlebags.

  ‘What’re you looking for?’

  ‘My… OH! there,’ she said as she took a sheathed dagger out of her saddlebags. Immediately she began her amateurish attempt at cleaning the fish.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy before.’

  Yara was completely focused on the cleaning. She cut out an entire strip of spawn from the trout and threw it away as she registered what he'd said, ‘huh? I guess I’m just not very good at showing it.’

  ‘I’m glad to see that you’re lightening up a bit, I wouldn’t want to see you unhappy all the time.’

  She didn’t respond as she carefully cut one of the trout’s sides off the bone. Githeon sat down on his bedroll and watched Yara work away at the dead fish.

  ‘There’s something I was wondering.’

  Yara looked up, ‘about what?’

  ‘Why’d you travel north?’

  She stopped cutting the fish and her grip tightened around the hilt of the blade, 'well, you're paying me to.'

  'Before that, I mean, did you have a reason?'

  Yara deliberated for a second about whether or not she should tell him. Githeon seemed to care enough. He was kind, had stood up for her, and brought her to a healer when she was injured. An explanation was the least she owed him, ‘I… lost someone.’

  ‘I’m so sorry to hear, were they-?’

  ‘Important to me? Yes,’ said Yara as she calmly put down the dagger.

  ‘Was it the man you mentioned when you were injured?’

  ‘No, he’s fine. He just... doesn't want to talk to me anymore.’

  ‘Would you be okay with talking about who you did lose?’

  ‘Not right now, thanks,’ Yara went quiet and continued to clean the fish as Githeon watched. She wanted to change the subject, anything really to avoid getting into too much detail about Arran, ‘Can you tell me something about where you come from?’

  ‘About Talamh Fiaigh?’

  ‘Yes, that place.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘I don’t know, I like hearing someone talk while I do stuff.’

  ‘Hm, well I could tell you about my clan if you'd like.’

  ‘Clan?’ asked Yara without looking up, ‘You don’t have Houses or a monarch like Anglavar?’

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  ‘Vigil no,’ Githeon laughed, ‘the day Talamh Fiaigh is united under one king will be the day time runs out and the world ends.’

  ‘What clan are you in?’

  ‘I’m of Clan Den Chlaíomh, clan of the sword, my da was anyway,’ said Githeon, ‘Each of us is strong as a bear and can bend steel like a twig.’

  Yara looked up, ‘Fiaighan bears must be awfully weak, you can barely keep me standing,’ she joked.

  ‘You got me there, sometimes it does feel like the gift skipped me,’ he said, ‘I remember that my da used to reminisce on how his da told him that they were descended from Brionn MacGhabhain, the man that made the three original dragonforged weapons.’

  Yara raised an eyebrow and put down the dagger to pay full attention.

  ‘You mean Tyranny, Verdict, and Execution, right?’

  ‘Exactly!’ exclaimed Githeon, ‘I figured you’d know about them.’

  ‘I’ve seen Tyranny up close, never knew it was made by a Fiaighan though.’

  Githeon chuckled at her mispronunciation.

  ‘My clan was named for them after they were made, though they figured using a word for every weapon would become too long.’

  ‘So they just chose the sword?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Kind of like our royal family then,’ said Yara, ‘the Ebonblades are named after Tyranny as well.’

  ‘Seems our countries have at least something in common.’

  ‘Are there other clans?’ Yara asked, leaning forward where she sat.

  ‘The only two worthy of note are Eilcfyr, and Ssovach, though nobody likes the latter.’

  Yara returned to cleaning the fish. She turned it over and began removing its meat from its other side.

  ‘Really?’ she asked, ‘any reason for that?’

  ‘Ssovach aren’t natives, they’re raiders from where we’re headed right now,’ said Githeon, ‘They settled hundreds of years ago but they’ve never become one of us.’

  ‘But you still call them a clan, doesn’t that mean they’re-,’ Yara stopped herself when she noticed Githeon was staring daggers at her.

  ‘The only reason the other clans do it is because you’ll get your teeth kicked in if you don’t,’ he said, averting his eyes to the ground, ‘It’s custom, nothing more, if it were up to Den Chlaíomh we’d unite and kick them out already but that’s not likely to happen.’

  By now Yara had finished cleaning the fish and begun to cut it up into strips which she then put on the stones surrounding the fire.

  ‘Thanks for telling me,’ said Yara as she sat on her bedroll, ‘I liked the distraction.’

  ‘Anytime,’ said Githeon. They both quietly watched the fire while they waited for the trout to finish cooking.

  ‘I was thinking,’ said Githeon, he looked at Yara before he continued, ‘I realise that I might not be the person you wanted to be here.’

  ‘Githeon it’s f-.’

  ‘I wanted you to know that even though I’m not whoever you lost, you can talk to me about it,’ he said, ‘I don’t think you should put yourself in mortal danger like you did before just for a distraction.’

  Yara was quiet. She picked up a stick and began to poke at the fire.

  ‘You’ve told me before,’ said Yara, ‘and I appreciate it but I don’t need it right now, you’re right, you’re not who I wanted to be here and I don’t think you’ll be able to fill that void.’

  ‘I figured I couldn’t.’

  ‘You’re very kind, it’s very parental of you.’

  ‘Saints I’d hope so,’ said Githeon as he shifted uncomfortably.

  ‘Have you got anyone back home?’

  ‘A girl,’ he said, ‘she’s only little.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you be there for her?’

  ‘I would- no you’re right I should be, but I can’t,’ he said, ‘She’s a little Ssovach, and my clan would have her head and mine to boot. Can't tell anyone about that.’

  ‘You told me about the trouble between clans.’

  ‘It’s bad enough that I have to hide something like that.’

  ‘I can’t imagine her mother is getting out of this unscathed.’

  ‘Her mother never cared, I assume,’ said Githeon, ‘I adopted her a year before I left when she was only two years old.’

  ‘Seems a bit early to leave.’

  ‘Money ran out, and solving neighbourhood disputes and petty crimes doesn’t pay well,’ he explained, ‘Angalir though, it’s just suffered through one very big, very destructive war and there’s lots of people here with trouble that needs solving and they’re usually willing to pay.’

  ‘So you’ll be heading back then, at some point?’

  Githeon nodded and Yara looked at the fire again. She’d forgotten about the fish she’d been cooking and it’d charred completely. Yara stood up and kicked it away from them.

  ‘You know what?’ said Yara as she cut another two strips of meat to cook, ‘You don’t need to pay me.’

  ‘Wha- why?’

  ‘You need it more than I do, besides, killing dragons pays enough every now and then.’

  ‘That means a lot, actually.’

  ‘I want you to do something in return.’

  ‘Anything you need.’

  ‘Go home,’ said Yara as she stared directly at him, ‘As soon as you can, go home Githeon.’

  ‘I don’t un-.’

  ‘Every moment you’re not there with her is one you’ve lost forever, and when you’re away you run the risk of never coming home again. You should be with her as much as you can.’

  ‘That’s-.’

  ‘Because if you don't, if you're not, and you’re gone for too long she becomes angry, and then when you die and she’s not there with you she’ll run far away from home, where she'll be lost, alone, and scared.’

  Githeon didn’t say a word in return and instead just looked at her. He'd seen her sad, mainly, but also scared, only happy once he thought, but Githeon hadn't seen anger like this before. The emotion on her face was raw, serious.

  ‘So when you have what you need, you go home and care for her before it’s too late,’ she didn't break eye-contact, 'promise me that, for her.'

  ‘I think I understand,’ answered Githeon calmly.

  ‘Do you?’ her eyes narrowed.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good,’ she said, ‘I won’t let you forget it,’ she looked at the trout again. She stood up and took the cooked fish from the stones, after which she handed one of the two strips to Githeon.

  ‘Eat up, it’s freshly caught.'