The smell of something burning was in the stagnant air.

But I knew there’d be no fire nearby. Nor anything that had been burnt from a fire.

“It’s… unsettling,” Mintmorency said, kneeling not too far from me.

She was studying the blue grass around us. Unlike the grass that we had left a few hours ago, these blades of grass were blue in color. And only a few inches tall.

The color alone was unique to her, since blue grass didn’t exist in the Lands of Man, but it wasn’t the only thing unique about it.

“Why do they sway, Krift? Is there a reason?” she asked, cupping some of the grass in her hands. The blades danced in-between her fingers, as if alive. As if blown by a wild wind.

Yet there was no wind. Not even a small breeze.

“Not sure. You can pluck them, and there won’t be much underneath. So it’s just grass, not creatures or anything,” I said. I had thought something similar to her at one time. My first thought was the grass was actually something else. Like an appendage to something buried beneath. Or hair.

Mintmorency grabbed some of the grass, but didn’t pull any of them. “They’re not struggling. So it’s not like they’re moving themselves,” she said, as if she was suddenly a scholar on a quest.

For a few moments she ran her hands through the grass… She seemed to enjoy the feeling of them swaying.

“Don’t lick your hands, by the way,” I warned.

Her back went straight, no longer focused on the grass. “Excuse me?”

I nodded. “The grass is somewhat poisonous. It won’t kill you or anything, but you’d not be able to keep any food down for a week if you get any of it in your mouth,” I said.

She immediately released the grass blades, and stood up. She held her hands out, fingers all straight, as if her hands were suddenly dirty.

“I wish you would have said that before I played with them,” she complained.

“You were so interested,” I defended myself.

“Should… should I use some of our water? Can I?” she asked, worried.

“There’s a small stream nearby. A few hours away. Just keep your hands away from your face, until then,” I said.

“Can’t we replace the water then? So can’t I just do it now?” she asked, nearly begging.

“We can’t drink the water in that stream,” I said.

“Oh.”

She sighed, staring at her hands as if they weren’t hers. As if they were a stranger’s.

“But that’s why we’re here,” I said, stepping into the field of blue grass.

“Because you like to tease me?” she asked, hurrying to walk next to me.

Out of instinct, I stepped away from her. It was more of a flinch than anything, but…

For the smallest moment, our eyes connected. And when they did, I felt as if I’d just slapped her.

Since she looked like I’d done so.

I coughed, and stepped back towards her, a little closer… although I noticed, and so did she, that I didn’t return as close as I had been before.

She quickly returned to looking at her hands, but I could tell from the way she walked that it was her thoughts instead that she was seeing.

“The grass only makes our kind sick, but it kills most of the creatures here in the Rift. It’s one of the very few natural things lethal to riftborn creatures. So we can traverse the grass safely. Very, very few things dare to even come close to here,” I went to explaining, hoping to both distract her… and to get that weird look of hurt out of her eyes.

The power was quiet for a moment, absorbing my words… all the while still staring at her hands.

“By our kind you mean powers, right?” she asked.

I nodded. “Humans get sick too. A little worse, but nothing to worry too much about. Nothing fatal,” I said.

“That’s… interesting.”

Oddly, her words were genuine.

While we walked through the field of grass, I tried to study our immediate surroundings. The few shrubs and trees around us were normal enough, and familiar. Yet I didn’t try and look around as to keep an eye out for danger.

After all, I had been truthful. This was indeed one of the safest places to be in the Rift. There were only a handful of things to actually worry about here, in this field.

And those things weren’t around. Nor would they be. Especially since I was here.

Yet she had gotten hurt all the same…

“Krift.”

Looking away from a tall flower, that looked to be as tall as the tree it was next to, I found Mintmorency staring at me.

“Hm?”

“You said they’re lethal to anything riftborn,” she said, gently.

For a tiny moment, I felt my world collapse around me.

But I bottled, sealed, and tossed away such terror as quickly as it came.

“I did,” I said, keeping myself calm.

Her eyes dug into mine as we walked, and I noticed we were slowing. She was coming to a stop, and it made me do so too.

Hastening the stop, I nodded as I stopped walking. “I did,” I said again.

Mintmorency looked unsure of herself, and I could tell that she had seen my initial panic. My moment of fear.

My failure.

“Then… you too,” she said. A statement. Not a question.

I nodded.

With my nod, she looked back to her hands… and I realized that was what had bothered her earlier.

She had made the connection, from the moment I had said it.

I wanted to slap myself. Hard enough to break bone.

How could I have been so stupid? It wasn’t like me. I’ve brought others through this field before. It was my favorite, my safest, route.

Yet never have I been so…

Mintmorency clenched her hands, and then looked back at me. The sad concern in her eyes made me want to shiver.

“A lot of things are dangerous here, aren’t they?” she then asked.

As she spoke, I saw the truth of her thoughts. They were written all over her face.

“Yes. But that’s why I’m here, to guide you through them safely,” I said, accepting her kindness.

She smiled, and I it almost made me sick to see it.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Returning to walking, Mintmorency allowed the topic to be dropped. To be forgotten. She was kind enough to let the moment be lost in memory, to act as if it had never occurred.

For a single step, I almost believed that fantasy.

I almost believed we could both forget it.

To let it be forgotten.

But I knew it wouldn’t be.

Such knowledge would never leave her head.

Not until her death.

We walked in silence, and with each step my thoughts drifted into darker areas.

I wasn’t worried over her. After all, she needed me to get through the Rift. But even more so… that look earlier. Those eyes. She wasn’t thinking of hurting me, but rather… That look had been one of pure pity.

Yet it wasn’t necessarily her I was worried over.

After all there were lots of ways to harm someone, even if you didn’t wish to.

Her revealing the information to the wrong people. Either by intention, or accident.

Her using it against me, in the future.

Or worse of them all…

“Can I ask you something personal, Krift?” she broke my train of thought, and I was somewhat thankful for it. I couldn’t afford to think like that. Even in this scenario.

After all it really wasn’t that bad. The grass could kill me, but they’d have to find a way to get several handfuls into my mouth. That meant not only getting the grass, from the Rift, but getting me to eat them too.

Not exactly easily done.

Especially since I could smell the grass through anything. It stunk to my nose. Smelled like burning trees.

“Sure,” I said.

“Are you scared? Of dying?”

Glancing at her, and the way she looked at me out of the corner of her eye… I wondered if maybe I should indeed worry over it.

“Should I be?” I asked her.

She smiled, but shook her head. “I mean. You… you fought so calmly. Those men who ambushed us, and then that man with the knives. You didn’t even flinch,” she said.

“I’m a riftborn,” I said simply.

She sighed, nodding. “You’ve said that a lot. But… I’m not asking if you’re strong. I know you are. I’m asking if you’re scared to die.”

It was my turn to sigh, since I didn’t really like this conversation.

Did she think that since I revealed one of my weaknesses, that I was willing to get so personal?

“What I meant, young power, was that I’m known as the Riftborn. A man capable of traversing the Rift, seemingly without worry or concern,” I said.

Mintmorency noted the way I addressed her, but said nothing as I pointed at her. “You’re a power. Just that. You have no family. No House. No Crest. No fame, nor fortune. Yet still, there seems to be people who want you. Right?” I asked.

“Right…” she mumbled, upset I had reminded her.

“That shows you how valuable you are. Granted, they probably don’t know that you do not belong to a family. Or that you’re broke. Or maybe they do, if your uncle is involved. But the fact remains, half a dozen men lost their lives trying to capture you. From me. A dangerous riftborn. They did that because you’re valuable, understand?”

She nodded, and I could tell by her eyes that she was already getting my point.

Still, I continued, “And I, am more. I’m a power as well but I’m also a riftborn. The Riftborn. I know of only a handful like me, and most are impaired. Broken. Physically, or mentally. So to most, when they hear riftborn, they don’t think of just anyone or anything, they think of me. This man before you. So when people see me, they see wealth. Power. Fame. How much money is he carrying? How much must he know? Even killing me without any of that would grant you status… especially in the Lands of Power.”

“You’ve been targeted often,” she said, understanding.

“Even before that, I participated in the war between our kind and the humans. Regrettably I made a name for myself there too. Back then I wasn’t known as the Riftborn because I was a Guide, but because of the battles. People wanted me dead back then too,” I said.

Those had been simpler times.

“I see… So you’re just used to it,” she said softly.

I nodded. “For me it’s a part of life. Yes, I panicked a little when I realized what I had revealed, about the grass,” I said, kicking some of it as we walked. “But, after a moment I got over it. After all, it’s no big deal. People try to kill me all the time. And sometimes, it’s not even just the dangerous ones or…” I stopped talking, since I thought of Dwab.

The memory hurt. And I was surprised it did.

“Sometimes, even the people who are so weak and pitiful, that they couldn’t kill me even if I let them try… sometimes still they try it,” I said softly.

For a good many steps she said nothing, although she stared at me. Maybe she saw my inner turmoil. Something told me she did, and it scared me.

“Was my answer good enough for you?” I asked her, after I realized she wasn’t going to say anything.

Mintmorency looked to me, and then tried to smile. She wasn’t able to.

“It… it was. I understand how you’d come to not fear death, with such a life… but…”

“But?”

“But I had hoped you would have told me something that I could use for myself. To stay my own fear,” she then said.

The young power finally smiled, and the sadness within it made me sick.

“I see,” I said, looking away from her. I didn’t like that look on her face. It made me want to do things I couldn’t afford.

So. She had heard me declare a weakness. Then witnessed me promptly panic, if only for a moment. Then in barely little time at all saw that I no longer cared.

She had hoped I’d have been able to teach her how to do the same.

“Whoever’s hunting you, Mintmorency… won’t be able to chase you into here. Or beyond it,” I said gently.

“I know. Hopefully. But even if it makes sense up here,” she tapped her head, and then startled. She quickly lowered her hand, and I could tell she was worried over the grass. With a deep breath she sighed. “It doesn’t make sense in my heart, though,” she finished.

“Granted. That’s why it’s called fear. Because it’s unreasonable,” I said.

“Which is why I asked you. Since you don’t seem to fear anything,” she said.

I crunched some grass under a foot, and noted the footprint I left behind. I had stepped down a tad too hard. Showing just how deeply her words had touched me.

“All I can say is give it time. I still get scared sometimes myself, you know,” I said.

“Do you freeze up, unable to even scream, during those moments? Or spend the night after, huddled and crying in bed?” she asked, with a glare that dared me to say I did.

“I’m a tad bit older than you are, plus my life has been…” I was going to keep speaking, but she had looked away.

I nodded, accepting her point.

“Then just get used to it. I can toss you into some terrifying places here in the Rift, if you want?” I asked.

Her look told me full well what she thought of that.

Studying her as we walked, I noticed the way her hair moved. It no longer reached her shoulders, stopping just a little above them, so her hair swayed a little more than usual.

It made her look younger.

Especially with the way she was walking. Looking down, tense shoulders… as if about to cry.

“There’s no shame in being scared to die, Mint,” I said.

She paused for a moment, looking to me.

“Really,” I furthered.

After a moment she nodded, and I was glad to see her hands unclench. Her strides become smoother.

The sight of her walking while now looking back upward was a good one. A proud one.

One I’d probably remember for a long time.

Her family was going to be proud. I could already hear them thumping their chests in pride, showcasing their daughter to the world.

It’ll be funny, since they hadn’t raised her. But it was what our kind did. Took claim and credit, even when we didn’t deserve it.

Though humans were the same.

“That’s the first time you called me Mint, by the way,” she then said.

“Was it?” I asked, thinking back.

She nodded, giggling.

She was happy I had done so. Probably even more so than anything else I’ve done for her so far.

Oddly, it made me jealous.

To be so happy, over something so little.

It was not just childlike, it was…

Pure.

“Your names Krift,” she said.

“Obviously.”

“Because you were born in the Rift? Right? Seems a little silly. But it suits you,” she said.

Her happiness was plain to see as we walked, and she drew closer to me again.

I resisted the urge to step away, and it bothered me how easily I had done so this time.

“Because I’m silly?” I asked.

“You look comfortable,” she said with a smile. “Here. I mean. In the Rift.”

Staring at her smile, I wondered if she really knew. If she really saw it.

Maybe she did.

“Do I?”

She nodded, pointing to my feet. “Your steps are… softer. You sometimes walked a little heavily. Here you’re walking quietly, softly… But you did step heavily back there, I guess.”

Scary woman.

No one’s noticed it before. Not even Lena who’s traveled through the Rift with me on multiple occasions had seen such things.

“I never got to ask my mother why she picked my name,” she said softly.

“Probably your colors,” I said.

“Probably,” she agreed.

She went silent, but still had a smile. A sad one, yet still a smile.

I wasn’t able to say anything else. Not when I knew it’d break that smile.

Her name wasn’t a name of power.

I’d never heard it before.

But it had probably been done on purpose.

To protect her.

No crest. No knowledge. No house. No name.

All done to make her as human as possible.

Glancing at the very human like power, I did my best not to pity her.

Tried my hardest.

With all I had.

And failed.