Prevna strode into the room like there was never any doubt about her coming to see me. Never mind that she belonged to another sect and there was still some unsaid tension between us. The old argument of her wanting me to be safe and me taking risks. She didn’t even glance at the bramble woven walls or the odd bedroll shelves the tribe used to save space. Her gaze locked onto me and she stopped like she had run into a wall.

I kept my face impassive but I wanted to frown. She looked more rung out than I would’ve expected. Dark circles weighed down her eyes and her lips pinched into a frown. There wasn’t even a hint of her usual teasing attitude, not even the half hearted attempt she had made on the beach. Like something had drained all the energy out of her.

If the Beastwatchers sect had done that to her, if their training was so harsh, they would regret it. I would ruin them. The wilds could fend for themselves if it came to that.

Prevna kept staring at me but I didn’t speak. It was clear that she had come with something to say and no matter how much I wanted to learn why she looked exhausted, I wasn’t likely to get my answer until we worked past what she needed to say.

I didn’t expect her to swallow, turn on her heel, and stride back out the door, however. Prevna didn’t run. She might come at her problems from the side, pretend nothing bothered her for the most part, but she didn’t run away when push came to shove. She was tenacious, like me.

Except she was running now. After everything she had done to come to see me. The shock of it was enough to hold me in place for several long moments, even without the way my body ached.

My knees wanted to give out as I used the ladder leading to upper bunk to stand. My arms shook and even my fingers felt sore. I hadn’t been kind to my body the day before, but if I could walk when I should’ve been dead from blood loss I could storming walk now.

It took longer than I liked to get to the entrance using the wall as support. Ingrasia stepped away from the building as I stepped out and her eyes widened when she saw my face.

I licked my lips and asked, “Where?”

“Try the berry patch around the corner. It’s secluded.” Ingrasia pointed and I followed her finger. She didn’t offer to support me this time and I didn’t ask. More than likely, she knew I wasn’t in any mood to accept.

So, I shuffle-walked in the direction of the berry patch using the walls for support where I could. I hated how weak my body felt, but I also refused to crawl. Prevna might have run, but if it was due to what I looked like, I didn’t want to give her any more evidence of the toll fighting and nearly dying took on me.

Luckily, the berry patch wasn’t far. I found Prevna sitting with her head in her hands, staring blankly at the ground in front of her, as far from the walkway as she could get, but the patch grew up the walls of two buildings with only enough space for two people to kneel comfortably between the brambles. True to Ingrasia’s word, however, the path it was connected to wasn’t used as often as the main streets of the outpost.

Prevna’s head jerked up as I stepped into view. She watched as I took the remaining steps without support and sat facing her. Blocking off her escape route.

She drew in a long breath, let it out, and went back to looking at the ground but her gaze wasn’t glazed over any more.

This time I didn’t wait for her to set the pace. “Tell me why you ran.” She flinched and I wasn’t sure if it was because of my command or the way my voice sounded. I pushed on regardless. “You haven’t been yourself lately.”

She huffed out a laugh, but there wasn’t any true amusement. “No. I’ve just been an idiot.”

I glared at her. She felt it and lifted her gaze to glare back. She insisted, “It’s true.”

“Tell me.”

Prevna shook her head. “The words never come out right.”

“Tell me anyway.”

She swallowed again and the moment stretched. I wanted to keep pushing, demanding she tell what was wrong, but Rawley had taught me silence could build a bigger pressure than any words. So I watched and waited until she gave in.

Prevna smiled that knowing smile of hers but it was a shadow of its former strength. “I didn’t like how we left things. I know there’s something you’re not telling me, but I shouldn’t blame you for that when I haven’t you everything either. It’s not that we have to tell each other everything all the time but I—” She sighed sharply and cut herself off.

“I didn’t like how we left things,” Prevna nodded to herself as she started again. “The messages weren’t enough. The Beastwatcher sect was interesting enough, but all I could think about was about that next message and how you might not answer. What I would do. I reached out to Esie and asked her to let me know if anything happened. I knew what to expect but I hoped…”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Something in my chest burned. “So you’re like this because of me?”

She laughed and it was slightly hysterical. “No. It’s because I’m a fool.”

“That doesn’t explain anything.”

She ticked off points on her fingers. “I wrung myself out worrying that you’d take a risk and I wouldn’t be there to stop you. That you’d get hurt and I couldn’t help you. I hoped that you wouldn’t but then the dreaded message from Esie came through and I wasn’t even surprised. I came here, ready to lay into you for nearly dying and taking another risk.”

“And?”

Prevna met my gaze. “Seeing you, I couldn’t do it.” A pause and then she added, “I don’t think I ever looked properly before.”

I rubbed at the ache forming in my temple. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“You told me what happened between you and Fellen,” she stated.

I nodded. It hadn’t been easy, but I had needed Prevna to understand the mistake I had made then. For her to know enough if I ever tried to pull the same thing with her so she could call me out on it.

“It’s like that. Except rather than trying to scare and hurt you into doing the safe thing I’ve been trying to guilt you into it. Only considering my own feelings and trying to protect myself from the pain of seeing you hurt rather than trying to understand why you keep taking risks. I told myself you’ve been hurt enough and it was only right that I try to shield you from that. And that you were being reckless and only considering yourself and not understanding that your blessing can’t protect you from everything. But that isn’t true, is it?”

I frowned, shaking my head, as I replayed all of the times Prevna tried to stop me from taking risks. I could admit that considering how she might feel had kept me from doing something stupid more than once, but I hadn’t appreciated the way she judged the actions I felt I needed to take.

Prevna continued, “If you didn’t have your blessing, if you could die, you’d still do most of the reckless stuff you’ve done, wouldn’t you?”

I might not step in front of a spear for a woman I didn’t particularly like, but I couldn’t deny I might have done something equally risky to try to stop it.

“I would.”

Some things just needed to be done and I might as well be the one to do them.

But she still hadn’t answered one question. “Why did you run?”

Prevna reached out, hesitated, and then brushed her thumb under my eye and down my cheek when I didn’t stop her. “Sometimes you remind me of one of the goddess’s favored pine trees. Always strong, no matter what storms might batter at you. You were daring me to say something and I was too ashamed to admit what I had been planning to do when you were the one who almost died.”

I lifted my chin. “I don’t want your pity.”

“Exactly.” She nodded. “That’s the look. I told you back in the inner valleys that you should trust me to take care of myself and I’d trust you to do the same, but I haven’t been doing that. So it’s time I trust you.”

I blinked and tried to figure out the best response. This was Prevna, but trust wasn’t something I was used to having.

“You won’t keep trying to convince me to be safe?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to stay silent if you try to do something truly stupid, but, yes, I’ll stop trying to guilting you into being someone different. You take risks, but its always to protect someone or achieve something no one else would dare to try. I’m the fool for trying to change that about you.”

My jaw clenched. She had said that too many times. I protested, “You’re not a fool.”

She didn’t agree or deny it, so I glowered at her. “You’re not.” When my insistence still didn’t seem to resonate with her, I had to glance away to admit, “I’m glad you cared.”

Her breath caught and we sat in silence for awhile before Prevna said, “I never told you when I realized we’d be friends. It didn’t happen right away. At first you were an interesting challenge. A puzzle. I wanted to see how far I could push you, see if I could get you to snap, even as I was drawn to you since we were both marked outcasts. But then I kept seeing more sides of you and Fellen asked me to help you despite the fact that you cut her to the core.”

Her voice softened, gained her usual wry edge, as she continued, “I knew I was doomed that day we saw the Beloved. You broke down on the tunnel stairs and I could hear how panicked you were but then you picked yourself up without my help. But that wasn’t what did it. The moment that stands out to me the most from that day was when we had to go back up the stairs. Despite what happened on the way down you strode into that narrow tunnel like it should be the one afraid. You were so brave and I knew then that you were so much more than a challenge.”

I raised my eyebrows at her, amused. “I walked up some stairs and won your loyalty?”

She huffed. “This is why I didn’t tell you before.”

“I’ll be sure to walk up plenty of stairs and ramps and anything else that might pique your interest in the future. Just to make sure you’re still invested.” It felt nice to tease her in return, when she was often the one quicker to the punch.

Prevna mock frowned at me. “Gimley. That wasn’t the point and you know it.”

“But it takes a lot of bravery to climb stairs, you know. Skill too. One foot and then the other, over and over again. I’d show you now”—I hissed in a breath as I shifted and my whole body protested—“but I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Gimley.” Prevna’s tone implored me to stop teasing. “Are we okay? Do you understand now?”

I leaned forward and all the memories I had stuffed away threatened to burst free in my mind at the way her eyes widened and she licked her lips as she noticed my movement. “There might be one last thing we need to discuss.”

Prevna had been vulnerable. She had taken a risk and she wasn’t going to keep pushing me to be something I wasn’t. We were in separate sects but she had still managed to come see me. I didn’t want to ruin what we had, but I also wasn’t keen on returning to the silent discord hiding my interest had brought.

Rushing things wasn’t smart, but she had asked if I understood. I wanted to make sure she did as well.

I said, “If you can accept me as I am, then I’ll do everything I can to accept you too. As friends or…” I almost couldn’t say the last part, almost pretended that my throat was acting up and I couldn’t speak but the hope that was growing on her face pushed me to say the final word, “more.”