We traveled next to First Shore Lake as long as we could, so that we would have a steady supply of water. Juniper had made Wren our navigator, and staying near water was one of the things Wren’s mentor had drilled into her head back in her tribe. Which was understandable, but, since we had Juniper, I thought it was a bit of a moot point.

Still, the lake also provided a good spot to bathe and hunt for fish if we took the time for it. The couple of times we did Ulo couldn’t seem to decide between grumbling about losing time and looking smug about how many fish she caught.

As we traveled, Nii and Breck would break off to scout around us and hunt where they could. Sometimes, I would as well, just to get away from the group, but normally I stayed in the space between our group and our three companions who trailed behind. The position meant I had to listen to the healer when he prattled on nervously, but I wasn’t actually close enough to talk with anyone.

Juniper kept near the front with Wren while Ulo kept close behind them. I don’t think she wanted to be left out of making decisions, but Juniper did a good job of keeping her in her place. She wasn’t scouting and she wasn’t the navigator, so Ulo didn’t get a say on when we turned south or not. The others filled in around them when they returned from scouting.

We didn’t talk amongst ourselves. The main conversation as we walked was the healer’s sporadic rambling, Juniper’s discussions with the scouts and Wren about the path we were taking, and Ulo’s brief conversations with Nii when the other girl returned from checking the surrounding area. There was also Wren’s conversations with Chirp and the wild birds, but those didn’t help improve the tension running through our group, either.

Honestly, I was surprised that Wren didn’t try to pull everyone into conversation like she had a tendency to. I wasn’t sure if it was because she felt under pressure being the navigator or if she didn’t think that even she could bridge the gap between everyone.

It also could have been the repetitive frustration that came with her conversations with the wild birds. Once the small song birds got over their shock at being talked to and understood by a human, they warned Wren against going into the main territory of the “Big Wings” in the southeast. That area was a kill zone where only stupid or lost birds went, because there was plenty to eat in the surrounding woods.

Despite all their twittering warnings, however, Wren wasn’t able to get a good location or traveling distance from the birds. They didn’t view those things in the same way we did. The birds didn’t keep track of the days or how much distance they covered when they hunted or migrated, other than a general sense of being close or far from their flock or nest. For the birds she and Chirp talked to along the shore the Big Wings’ territory might as well have been the other goddess’s territory. They didn’t go near it and they didn’t know what was in it other than dangerous big birds that would make a meal of them.

Wren tried to tell the little birds that the big birds wouldn’t eat her, but they wouldn’t listen. It didn’t matter that she could speak to hawks or geese or any other bird. That area was death to these ones and death couldn’t be reasoned with.

Juniper smoothed over the lack of information Wren was able to get with an acknowledgment that we were probably too far away from our goal for the birds to truly help us navigate there. They knew their hunting and nesting grounds and that was enough to fill their thoughts. When it came to the immediate area, they were more helpful. The nice birds, the ones that didn’t mind her questions, let Wren know about some of their favorite hunting spots and places that were difficult to travel through or that had predators they didn’t like.

Near the end of the third day of walking along the red sand, the lake shore began to turn back on itself. We stopped for the night in the shadow of a boulder that was at least three times my height. This one wasn’t cracked in the middle like the spur of stone in the forest, but it had settled halfway into the lake. Little fingernail clams crowded where the lake water lapped at its side.

The underlying tension in our group, full of dislike, distrust, and sheer awkwardness, always became even more apparent when we camped for the night. Ulo and Nii became a more insular unit as soon as they got their tent set up and they went off to train or do whatever else they did. Nii hadn’t seemed that bad when I first met her, but she seemed to have withdrawn somewhat into her relationship with Ulo. Like she was judging the others for associating with me and felt judged for associating with Ulo. I was judging, but even if I wasn’t I didn’t think it would change anything.

Juniper had opted to share her tent with Breck. I think she did it so she couldn’t be accused of siding with anyone over anyone else since Breck just looked bored whenever the group dynamic was brought up. She didn’t seem to view social stature in the same way as us. Her ranking had more to do with hunting skill, storied feats, and pride than the amount of life and death a person carried. It was backwards thinking, but I was quietly thankful for it since it meant Breck seemed to hold me in higher esteem than she should.

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That didn’t mean Breck would step up in my defense though or otherwise do anything to interfere. Ulo and I had a problem, so it was between us to take care of it. I had seen the look she had given Wren when the other girl had broken into an argument between Andhi and Loclen to smooth it over back when we were still in the training camp.

Which was all to say that, somehow, I was sharing a tent with Wren and Chirp. I had to work to keep the warmth in my cheeks down as we set up the tent. She mostly chatted with Chirp, but occasionally she would toss a comment my way. Not trusting that I could keep my tone and words in check, I mostly ended up answering her with a nod or shake of my head. I knew she noticed my awkward behavior, but she didn’t tease me about it like Prevna would have. Instead, she continued to chat in her easy, affable way as if I had told her a lot rather than simply moving my head.

As soon as we got the tent set up on a patch of grass away from the red sand, I gathered up my things and headed for the lake. Better to get my laundry done now than if we only had Juniper’s water or a small stream to refill our waterskins. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one with that idea.

One by one, the rest of the group, including Fern and Sid, brought various clothing items down to the clear water and began to scrub with a bit of soap or beat them against the boulder. I rolled my pants up a little higher up over my knees and stepped out further into the water to continue washing my spare pair of pants. I kept a careful eye on the deeper water in front of me—memories of creatures lurking in the sea and the whisper women fighting a monster on the walled shore near the Seedling Palace not far from my mind.

Ulo and Nii took up the spot on the other side of the boulder, closer to where Colm was cooking the evening meal, while everyone else ranged behind me. Wren stripped so that she could wash the clothes she had been wearing and I averted my eyes, so I couldn’t be caught staring. Juniper struck up a conversation with Fern about what the older girl’s plans were once she was done watching us. I kept an ear on that exchange. Apparently, she would be doing training specifically with the Beastwatcher sect. She didn’t reveal too much about it other than that the sect was the one she had always wanted to join, so she had been excited to receive their interest.

Breck, the healer, and I were the quickest and most through when it came to getting our things clean. The others had some knowledge of what they were supposed to do, but they didn’t have the same efficient movements. It was difficult to go your whole life without washing something, but likely, more often than not, the other girls had someone to do it for them. I didn’t know why Breck didn’t seem to have that same luxury, but I knew why I did. When you only had a father during the seasonal run, a time when laundry was hardly a focus, you learned how to keep yourself clean, especially when you were handling wounds.

It didn’t escape my notice that Fern only had a small handful of things that she was washing; no doubt the items she preferred that her fire starter didn’t handle. Once the evening meal was over or tomorrow morning he’d come down here to wash the rest.

Once my things were taken care of and spread out on the grass to dry, I settled down to work through my stick and stone practice scenarios. I had found a handful of good ones that I kept with me now in a pouch. After pouring out the little pebbles, three sticks, and one seashell I started to set up the scenario. An ambush set up in a forest clearing. If I had the group I had with me now how would we hunt the wild elk we found there? What if it was a smaller group of enemies? Someone who had invaded our territory? A larger group that could be friend or foe? What if we were the ones being ambushed?

I worked through the various scenarios. Each time trying to come up a different answer than the one I had come up with before or with multiple solutions to one setup. Rawley had taught me to be flexible. That was easier to do when I had more answers to work from. After the evening meal, I stayed near the dying fire to continue my practice. I preferred to wait for Wren to go to sleep first before slipping into the tent.

Juniper stepped around the fire to see what I was working on. Her general air of melancholy felt a little heavier than normal. “What is this?”

I pressed my lips together in irritation at the interruption, but she wasn’t someone I could easily ignore. “Practice scenario.” I pointed to the different pieces. “This is a forest clearing. Right now I’m figuring out what we should do if we were ambushed in one.”

Juniper crouched down, her expression an odd mix of intrigued and disapproving. “You’re not the leader.”

I shrugged. “Better to be prepared.”

She nodded and settled completely across from me. “What is the clearing like? Does it have dense undergrowth around it? A fallen tree through it?”

I blinked at her questions before giving my answer more thought. “Not too dense. We could walk through it easily enough, but there are still places for the ambushers to hide besides the trees. I was thinking that the clearing was empty, but that the ground over here…”

I went through the whole layout I had in my head as she stared intently at the stones and sticks between us. Occasionally, she’d ask a clarifying question and I’d flesh out a part of the scenario I hadn’t given much thought to before. We had worked a bit on strategy together before when we were working on how to take care of the crawler, and I didn’t like how easy it was to fall back into the pattern with her. Still, I couldn’t help but notice how helpful it was to bounce my ideas off another person like I had when Rawley coached me through her various hunting and survival scenarios.

I didn’t let myself fall completely into the experience, though, so I noticed when Ulo stomped her way to us from the lake shore. “So you’ll dismiss my ideas, but listen to hers?”