Mother would have never suggested Madrigal accompany Jian if she felt him a threat. That was good enough for Jian, even when the Elders back in Elsinoor had protested something fearsome.

Had they known Madrigal actually hailed from Laudonia, not Kesmet, they might have been more wary. As Jian slowly learned more about Madrigal's home and his upbringing, she become ever more certain not even Mother would trust a Laudonian man with her only daughter.

Yet three nights of camping with Madrigal gave her more insight into his character than he probably had intended to reveal. Jian wasn't certain she would ever enjoy his company—obtuse, disagreeable and gruff, he seemed to delight in starting conversations where he could talk about his dislike for Maere. Whatever had happened to him in Kesmet clearly had something to do with the Creator, though it seemed still fresh enough a wound that Madrigal shut down whenever the discussion turned that way.

Angry though he might be, Jian had decided that she had little to fear from her guide, even when she was at her most vulnerable. Like Mother, she considered herself a precise judge of character.

When Madrigal awoke on the fourth morning and found their food stores raided, however, even Jian felt her resolve waver a fraction. His temper hit a fever pitch as he picked up his sword and neatly decapitated a nearby bush. "Just try coming back for the rest, I dare you!"

Jian sat bolt upright, reaching for anything she could use as a weapon. "What's happened?"

"Something," he seethed, plunging the sword into a second mound of leaves, "was just rummaging through our food supplies. Look how much is gone!"

Jian looked. An animal had chewed through the bindings and made off with over half of their provisions, taking the fresh berries, bread and cakes, and leaving behind only the dry stores like tea leaves and herbs. Berries and crumbs were strewn all over the ground—they had to have been going through the supplies all night as Jian and Madrigal slept, metres away. "Goddess," she said reflexively.

The word caused her companion to fly into a rage. "Your Goddess didn't do much to protect us this time, did She!? Or maybe She sent Her blessed creatures here to thieve from us in the first place!" He began hacking away bits of foliage, whether to track the culprits or scare them off, Jian couldn't be sure. "This is what it's like to be on Her bad side, kid! She might not let you die, but She'll take away everything else, until you wish you had!"

Yes, Jian decided, definitely better that Mother and the Elders hadn't seen this side of Madrigal before they'd sent her on her way. She waited, watching his back as he staggered further from the campsite, yelling incoherently. She slid the metal flask into the fire and took out tea leaves before re-tying the bundle that held their provisions, careful to fold away the holes and shredded fibres for later repair.

When Madrigal returned, the water was almost hot enough for tea, and as she withdrew the flask to prepare it, the brunt of his anger turned toward Jian. "What are you doing!?"

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"Getting ready to leave," she said matter-of-factly. "The thieves aren't going to return with the stolen food, so we'd best set out, either to resupply or move to our next campsite."

"If you hadn't left the supplies unprotected, we wouldn't need to!"

"I didn't hear any objections yesterday, or the day before. How was I to know?"

"Aren't you a survivalist?" he spat. "Didn't you live outside for a year?"

"In a cave," Jian said, careful not to let her impatience show. "Aren't you a seasoned traveller yourself? I would have appreciated a warning, had you thought the bundle wasn't safe where it was."

Madrigal's nostrils flared.

"Here." Jian handed him the stone cup of tea. "Drink."

Eyes still blazing, he took it. Then he sat heavily on the ground. "You're an interesting one," he said.

"People do tell me that, though I'm not certain how it relates here."

Madrigal tossed the sword and its scabbard to the ground in the space between them. Metal clattered against stone. "When I saw you staring at me, not saying anything, not reacting, I was even angrier than before."

"How should I have reacted?" Jian thought she knew, but she wanted him to say it aloud. "You wanted me to start weeping for the lost food? Or should I have been equally incensed?"

"I don't know. It reminded me of someone I know, and I saw red. Even though you were right, there wasn't anything that could be done about it."

"In Laudonia, women say what you want to hear," Jian observed. "Or so you told me, yesterday. Maybe you were thinking I should have jumped to apologize."

Madrigal turned his face away.

"If it helps any, I'm sorry for not tying the bundle up somewhere. It would have been better protected."

"No, you're right," he said. "I suppose I wanted an apology, even an undeserved one. I shouldn't expect you to act like a Laudonian. Woman, that is."

She decided not to ask how a Laudonian man might have reacted in the situation. "We don't think that way, where I come from. We don't hide our true selves to trap or keep a partner. A Elsinooran person, no matter their gender, would never act subservient to another."

"Nor should you. There's a reason I never found one among my same-age schoolmates."

"Don't even think about looking to me for that," Jian said. "You wouldn't want to prove the Elders right."

To her surprise, Madrigal recoiled as if she'd struck him. Blood drained from his face. "Of course not."

"I'm sorry." This time Jian's apology was heartfelt. "I didn't mean that unkindly. And it isn't because you're too old. You seem like you'll make a wonderful partner for someone."

"Too old? Is your village so strict?" She sensed he wasn't really protesting, but trying to laugh off his earlier reaction. "I can only count two-and-twenty, thank you very much. To a girl of sixteen, I suppose that's grandfatherly age. And I'm not looking for a partner, so even if your Goddess told you we were fated, sorry to say, I'd have to run for the hills. So don't make me leave you out here by yourself, Princess Elsinoor."

More mysteries, Jian supposed. Madrigal's face, lined as it was with shadows, looked as though it had seen more trials than someone his age should. She wondered, again, whether she'd eventually find out what they were.

"We'd best break camp, then, if we need to replenish our supplies," he said gruffly, emptying the tea leaves onto the ground. "I hope you're a good forager."

She happened to be one of the best in the village, if Jian wasn't setting herself on too high a pedestal. "I am, but we could also turn back and pick up supplies in Kesmet. It'd only set us back a day and a half, at most." She tried to sound innocent, all the while studying Madrigal's reaction.

"No." His face hardened instantly, and the firm reply left no room for argument. "I would rather keep going to the next town."

"All right." She hadn't really wanted to double back; only to gauge Madrigal's reaction when she brought up Kesmet. As Jian had expected, he was eager to put distance between himself and the Holy Village, at any cost.