No! Why? Heat, they’re hot. The poisoning. No viruses, no bacteria, this was chemical. It changed their insides, their outsides, the genes, but we didn’t change the way they wanted us to. Deffective genes passed on to the next generation. A new generation with teeth and claws all the same. Forever onward blood will pour unless I do something.

Corrella. Corella is the answer but it won’t listen to the question! The goblin bodies run hot, heated with anger, and adrenaline. The heat will never go away. The gray will never go away. The red will never fade. But maybe, just maybe, the blood lust can. Think! Think! Think!

Their brains are wrong, they don’t hear. I cut one open and still don’t like it. Raids provide plenty of bodies for examination. If I could make them listen, calm the fury, I could fix them. I could fix everything. I could fix everyone.

Had a live subject. Tricky work. Formula #37 made him think, but it didn’t stick. They can think again. They can be whole again. I can fix them. I will fix them.

- “Doc” Vorran Date: 15 years post poisoning. End of lune

TALEA:

Wren sips from a plain white mug, it’s stained bright pink in spots from years of brewing her favorite tea. The house is dead silent, everyone has gone off to bed, except us two. We sit across from each other in the sitting room with the flames dying down in the fireplace. The tension feels painful and awkward, to distract myself I stand up, walk over, and add a log to spark it back to life. The blazes kick back up like two people dancing.

I turn to look at Wren and my stomach twists in knots. With raised eyebrows she pats the sofa next to her, I obey with anxiety shaking my insides. She stares at me as she takes another sip from her mug. Her fingernails drum against the sides making clicking sounds. I want to say something to break the tension, anything, but I know she’s collecting her thoughts.

I blurt into the silence anyway. “Just say it.”

Her clicking nails stop. She takes another calming sip. “Do you know what this tea is?”

I frown. That’s a strange question to ask. “Yeah, it’s sheckle bark. It’s mixed with something else but I don’t remember.”

She nods. “Sheckle bark mixed with meadow blossoms and telleck root. Together it makes a very calming tea. Although, it does taste quite bitter.” She’s right about that, I’ve never liked it. It tastes like dirt. “I started drinking this tea about nineteen years ago. I’ve never liked the taste.”

I frown. I thought she liked the weird flavor. “Then why do you drink so much of it?”

She takes another sip and purses her lips. “Because of you my dear.” Another awkward pause comes over us and I can feel how tense she is. “Because despite the taste it helps me to calm down and feel secure, even though I know we never are.”

I scratch my head. “I don’t, I-“ I look up at her and shake my head. “What?”

Wren takes a final sip and sets the empty cup down on the table beside us. “Talea, I love you like you are my own daughter. I raised you as my own. To lose you would hurt as much as losing Echo, Zoey, Lesedi, or Alaric.”

I smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t-“

She interrupts me. “But, to lose all of them would finish me. I love you Talea, but I cannot allow you to destroy this family.”

I suck in a quick breath. “I know, I know I need-“

She cuts me off again. “You need to leave. You will never be more careful; you will never keep this family safe. If you stay here, you will bring death to us all.” She winces like saying that causes her pain. I can feel her tension turning into grief.

I sigh with acceptance. “I know. I’ve been thinking that too.”

Wren smiles and breathes a little easier. “Trigan has trade connections and will find you a caravan to get you safely to Thraz. From there your future is up to you.” Her voice breaks trying to hold back tears. “I’m so sorry Talea.”

I shake my head looking away. “It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

She gulps and the fear inside her spikes. She reaches out her hands to cup my face with her gentle touch. “It’s not a matter of something being wrong with you Talea. Only that you are different from the rest of us. You are a force of nature, to try to hold you back would be like trying to tame the wind.”

I nod letting out a frustrated breath, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that. I’m this dangerous force that’s only meant for destruction. I shrug trying to pretend to be nonchalant. “Well, this wind might turn into a hurricane and I’ll get you all killed. So, I’ll go.”

I stand up from the couch but Wren grabs my arm and pulls me back down. “You can stay until the end of lune. The caravans won’t be travelling until then. This will also give you time to prepare yourself, think of what you will do.” Tears form in her eyes. “I want the best for you Talea. I do. I don’t want you to leave but-“

I stop her and pull her into a hug. “I know. I know. It’s ok.”

After a calming embrace, we break the hug. I stand up to go to bed but Wren stays sitting and staring into the fire. “Talea, one last thing. Please don’t tell anyone. They all love you so much. If they know you’re leaving-” She stops herself and gulps.

I smile and turn to pat my aunt on the shoulder. “I know. Don’t worry, Lesedi will stay here. She’ll be safe.”

Wren nods her thanks. She knows that if Lesedi discovers I’m being put out she’ll come with me. We both know Lesedi won’t make it out there, she’s a fragile flower. Brilliant and amazing. She doesn’t belong in a place like Thraz, gangs, pirates, thieves, murderers, it’s more of a place for me. A place for the reckless and brutal. I couldn’t protect her there; I’ll just get her killed.

In a few months I’ll leave this place behind and never see any of them again. I don’t know what I’ll do with the rest of my life. I never thought about it to be honest. I always assumed I would follow Lesedi wherever she wanted to go and be her muscle. I never put thought into forging my own path, I just hoped it would find me. I know that’s childish thinking. I need to make decisions, work hard, build my own way. But first I have to decide what that way is.

Whatever is ahead of me, there’s one thing I’m sure of. Regardless of any destiny, I’ll be alone.

✽✽✽

OTHIN:

The air feels crisp and sweet, the snow is brighter somehow. Tonight, I will be with Talea, Talea, a beautiful name for a striking female. Usually daypeople are sad homely creatures. Of course, many moonrunners still steal and rape them, but that is rarely by choice. An ugly mate is better than none at all if they cannot secure one. Easier prey. They are slow and clumsy, loud and whiny. Their hair is bright and colorful; their legs are so stubby. They are like strange, weak, little birds.

Moonrunners though, we epitomize beauty. We are tall and lean; our skin is smooth and gray like river pebbles. Our white hair is like snow and our beaming red eyes like gems. How could anyone not think of us as anything but stunning? I pity the strange looking wretches.

But Talea, oh, my harbinger. She is by far the most stunning female I have ever seen, daypeople or moonrunner. Though her skin is not silver she is pale as snow and a thousand times as lovely. Her eyes are like nothing I have seen, lurking behind them is a creature fierce and dangerous. She is flawless. She is my divine prize. My star of unique beauty.

It is a shame I must kill her.

Sleep escaped me all day, I tossed and turned thrashing in my covers. I feel like something is tearing at me, pulling me apart from the inside. I have been driven to the brink of madness ever since I felt that wretched, glorious, frustrating, female. I hope she will come, come so I can end this torment. It is no wonder we do what we do with harbingers. They break concentration, they steal sanity, they ruin us. She will destroy me. My harbinger; a skysinger. Impossible, but there it is clear as the stars above.

My mind is conflicted and spinning like it holds a hive of a thousand stingrets. My thoughts twirl and scream with different opinions different ideas. I take a deep breath and push them aside; I have always been focused. I have always been strong of body and of mind, until the day she started calling to me. I thought the Moon Mother was guiding me to something great, like with Leader Wikon. He says the Moon Mother pulled him across the land to the forest of the Blood Bane to raise us up and make us powerful. Now I find it was not the Moon Mother’s guidance, only the simple pull of a harbinger. But this feels anything but simple.

My hands shake as I wait in the snow. I will allow no one to harm this little one, except me. Images flash into my mind, a face innocent and scared as it screams to me. Arms wrap around me holding me in place as the face is pulled away, the screams stop. I shake it from my mind. I must stay focused and end this or I will be forever lost.

I chased a herd of zigon towards the forest edge tonight, they will keep the hunters plenty busy so we may be alone. Doubt fills me, I have never felt this way before. I have always had confidence, I have always been sure of all my actions, until now.

I sit on the cold green rock that juts out from the river’s edge. Soft water splashes against it as it trickles along. The river runs, though parts have frozen, rocks and brush stagnate most the water. The moon is full tonight, what a night to show her. I will show her a world that she has never seen, give her the best moments of her life, then I will end her.

I have been waiting for a half hour, enough is enough. I make sure my voice is even and inviting. “Talea. You may come out now.”

✽✽✽

TALEA:

A shudder shivers down my spine. My breath escapes my lips in a steamy fog and my chest moves up and down in ragged motions. I shiver, but not from cold. It’s night and I’m outside, unprotected, violating the most sacred of laws. I tuck my knees to my chest and hold my elbows with my eyes closed tight. It runs through my mind again, I’m outside in the darkness. I feel a swirling storm of both excitement and terror.

My entire life I’ve been told horror stories of what happens out here at night. There are prayers, myths, songs, and fables. A vast array of oral tradition has been passed down for generations to keep me from doing exactly what I’m doing. But no, I’m Talea, I don’t listen to anybody.

I have been sitting in this dark hole for who knows how long. I’m angry at myself for being afraid. My mind drifts and I remember hearing the click of the topside shack while I locked it behind me. I remember clutching the cold key to my palm so tight it left an imprint in my skin. Then before I could look around and take everything in, I panicked and ran.

The snow kicked up into the air behind me, water crawled up my pant legs and soaked my knees. I bolted through the shin deep snow with adrenaline coursing through my body. My movements were clumsy and jagged, the snow was impossible to move in. I labored against the white plain until finally coming upon the trickling creek I heard a strange noise. It was like the caw of bird but louder, longer, and with more intense power. I looked around, frantic with panic, and saw nothing. I moved forwards forgetting about it. The yar burrow was empty, I was pretty sure. Without further deliberation, I dove into it as quick as I could manage and here I am still. Afraid like a pitiful small child hiding from monsters under her bed. Though in this case the monsters are real.

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“Talea. You may come out now.” Comes the deep voice with a growling undertone.

A smile comes to my face and my lungs seize up; this is it. Terror rolls like crested waves through my body. A nightstalker, I’m intentionally meeting a nightstalker in the dark. Have I gone insane? Monsters, liars, cheats, murderers. Voices crash through my head scolding my incompetence. But I ignore all of them.

After it sinks in, hearing his voice chases away my panic and replaces it with curiosity. How did he find me? I peek my eyes from the burrow like a nervous skrat checks for predators. I see nothing but the creek and hear nothing but the breeze. I push my head out farther to look around. Where is he?

Lavender strands of hair blow across my cheeks and icy pinpricks tingle on my skin. Wispy clouds of snow drift with the wind and sail across the frozen river. I can hear the echo of a gale across the plain like a soft howl. Why can’t I see him anywhere? Is he hiding from me?

I place my gloved hands on the soft pillow of snow outside the burrow. My entire upper body extends outward, tense and craning, to find a glimpse of him. Without warning I feel hot breath on my neck. Hair that isn’t mine brushes my right ear.

A deep voice speaks like whispering thunder. “Never reveal yourself unless you are ready.”

My lungs stop and my entire body freezes. Fear pulses through my body with such intensity I can’t make myself breathe again. I turn my head to the right in a slow tentative motion. Eyes. Glowing red eyes stare back at me in the darkness, Othin. A smile comes to his face while he brushes wet hair from my eyes with the sharp tip of his claw.

His fingertips brush my skin with a tenderness I’ve never imagined. A faint twinkling of pinpricks follows it. His touch, it’s like seeing color in a black and white world. Like all the other sensations I have ever felt were never really feeling.

I try to speak but words won’t come to my mind. His thin lips stay in the shape of a soft grin. His fingers extend into my scraggly hair while his palm rests flat against my cheek. I close my eyes absorbing the heightened feelings. He’s warm, surprisingly so. We had always thought that nightstalkers were cold as ice, maybe they’re cold hearted but their skin runs hot.

His thumb brushes over my right eyebrow. “How curious you are.”

An odd choice of words. So many questions come to my mind but they scatter throughout my brain like a cloud of arrows ricocheting around my skull. The only thing that can leave my lips is “Curious?”

Othin pulls his head back with befuddlement and pinches my chin. “You are my harbinger, but you are not moonrunner.”

There it is again; something is off with that wording. I shake my head and pull away. “Ok, ok, lots of things need to be talked about here.”

With great effort I haul myself from the hole and plop into the snow. I stand up and look down to brush off the dirt and snow from my clothes. My eyes return to see his face a finger width from my own like he appeared from nowhere in complete silence.

I gasp from surprise. “Great Arcarus! How do you do that?!”

He cocks his head to the side with an impish grin. Such an endearing smile so oddly placed on a nightstalker’s face. “Do what?”

I gesture with wild hands. “That! You just poof! Appear out of nowhere!”

A quiet chuckle escapes his mouth, though with the unsettling deep timbre of it, it sounds like it comes straight from his chest. His chest, which I’m just now noticing is bare. He wears only loose black trousers and his familiar black cloak. Not even shoes. Isn’t he cold?

He speaks with a light-hearted tone. “Maybe, you should learn how to poof out of nowhere too.”

I raise one eyebrow at this absurdity and grip my hips. “How did you know where I was?”

He gestures off to his right. “You left a trail of footprints all the way here. A young one could have tracked you.” He places his hands on his hips and looks back at me. “My, I am impressed though. You can run fast.”

I glance in the direction he gestured, sure enough he’s right. I was so focused on running here, I didn’t stop to think about the big messy trail of footprints I had left in the snow. I picture Othin sauntering across the snow at a relaxed pace. Giggling to himself while he follows my trail that looks like it had been made by a running wounded bird.

I shake my head condemning myself for stupidity. Then I realize my tracks are the only ones. How is that possible? I scurry away in the snow and stop along my messy trail of flailing steps. I look to Othin dumbfounded. “How did you not leave tracks? The snow is up to my shins out here.”

Othin shrugs with a sly smile. “It is a trick of the trade.”

I blow a piece of hair from my eyes. “So, it’s a nightstalker thing.”

He shakes his head. “No. Many moonrunners leave tracks. They choose strength instead of stealth.” He rolls his eyes, not a fan.

Small snowflakes fall in lazy clumps from the sky once more. I pull up my hood and fasten the lacing around my chin. “What, you’re special or something? You look like all the others to me.”

His head spins to me, he snaps with a sudden hiss in his voice. “I am not them!” I freeze. He closes his eyes and takes a breath to calm himself. “I share blood with them like you share blood with your daypeople. But I choose not to follow the stars that they do.”

I stay still as a statue. My mind is trying to decide how terrible of a mistake I’ve made in coming out here. But, no matter how scary this is I can’t shake this pull towards him, or rather I don’t want to. I’ll barrel forwards, even if this gets me killed. At least I’m self-aware.

I let out a breath that blows hair from my eyes. “So, nightstalkers have metaphors huh?”

Othin lets out a quiet laugh and holds out his hand to walk with me. I take it relishing the feelings it riles up my arm. His long fingers curl up enveloping my hand and my nervousness melts away. All I can feel is the electrifying excitement, I feel energized like I’ve finally woken up from sleeping in nothingness too long.

He steps onto the frozen stones that form a sort of bridge across the river. They’re dangerous, slippery, and unstable, we could just as easily go around but I follow him across. My feet slip but I catch myself, he smiles at me with approval, I don’t know what it means. The river turns into a short semi-frozen water fall to the right of our stone bridge, that ice can kill me if I fall. The thought of it sends shoots of exhilaration up my feet and spine.

Othin reaches the large gap in the stone bridge that’s too far to step over. Without hesitation he leaps into the air and bounds across the gap landing on the stone without slipping in the slightest. Steam puffs from my lips as I breath out with impressed shock. I also feel annoyed, it’s irrational and I know that, but I won’t be outdone by a nightstalker.

I brace myself and jump as hard as I can, I don’t clear the gap. Making it only halfway my body falls crashing into the thin layer of ice between the stones. The sheet breaks and I feel icy water soak through my boots and climb up my legs. Warm hands grip my forearms and pull on me before I can sink into the river. In a flash I feel solid stone beneath my feet and Othin’s arms wrap around me.

I sigh as I shiver. “Well, I tried.”

Othin frowns and tilts his head. “You failed.”

I nod and pull his arms away with a glare. “Yeah, ok I failed. But I gave it a shot.”

He shakes his head. “Giving it a shot does not matter if you fail.” He turns around and steps to the next stone holding my hand.

I feel spite and stubbornness well up within me and I break my hand away, but continue to follow him. “What’s your problem?” Though I realize the answer is obvious in front of me, he’s a nightstalker that’s his problem.

Othin steps over stones reaching back for my hand and this time not letting me break away. “If you had fallen into the river you would have died. The current would have swept you under the ice drowning you until it crashed you into the ice over the edge. You tried, but failure would have killed you. What good is it to try if you will fail?”

I glare harder, he makes a good point. “Then what’s your answer? Don’t try?”

He shrugs and the black cloak wisps at the back of his legs. “Do not fail.”

I roll my eyes in frustration. “Easy for you to say. You can’t just not fail.”

He steps from the final stone onto more snow. “I do.”

I follow him into the snow to the bottom of a tall black cliff, it’s jagged with lots of shelves and pieces sticking out all over. Some people have tried to climb it in the past, but it takes a lot of endurance to reach the top. More than most people have. I’ve always wanted to, but Lesedi has always been with me scolding me away from my bad decisions.

I place two fists on my hips. “Oh, so you’ve never failed at anything?”

He pauses and turns around slow; his face is dark and troubled. I can feel grief emanating from him like a powerful storm, I can feel self-loathing and bitterness. What happened to him? He takes a deep breath and the emotions fade until I can no longer feel them. How does he have such control of himself like that? He’s a nightstalker, they’re psychopathic rage beasts, he has more control than a lot of skysingers I know.

His face is still and his emotions are calm, or at least calmer. “I have. But I did not fail twice. Will you?” He shoots me a smirk with a raised eyebrow, then unclasps his cloak and drapes it over a jagged shelf. He turns his back to me and starts climbing.

I gasp. “Are you crazy?! That thing is huge! If we so much as slip we fall and die!”

He climbs without strain in his voice. “I suggest you do not slip.” I see his gray body climbing the black stone under the bright moonlight. His voice echoes out again. “Remove your boots. They are heavy with water now and will do you no good.”

Walk away Talea, walk away right now. This guy is crazy and he’s going to get you killed. Listen to what Lesedi says and be smart, walk away. But I can’t. Not that the pull won’t let me, I could fight that and make my way home. It’s that I don’t want to, deep down in my soul I know I’m going to follow him up that cliff because in front of me is everything I’ve always wanted. Adventure, excitement, and challenge.

I see a decision in front of me, I see my future going two ways. Go home, be smart, and in six months be cast out and travel to some city and get some job and live out my life unlived. Or, follow the nightstalker up the wall and see what happens. I unbutton my coat and hang it on the same jagged shelf as his cloak. Next, I pull off my boots and set them under my coat. The snow is cold, but not as bad as that freezing water was. I can see little bits of snow turning into water around my feet, I’m hoping they’ll warm themselves up. Swallowing the last of my resignation I reach up and grab a cold handhold pulling myself up onto the wall. Steam puffs into the air from the skin of my arms, I don’t feel cold. My body is burning hot with the fever of adventure inside.

I grab handholds above my head and clutch the jagged shelving with my toes. I’ll follow him up the wall, because I know at the top there’s a future waiting for me that I’m desperate to see. I’ll follow him knowing it leads to danger and peril. I won’t slip, I won’t fail.

✽✽✽

OTHIN:

Her breathing is heavy and strained but despite her exhaustion her hands grip the top of the cliff pulling her body up. I stand upon the flat stone watching her ascent with surprise, I did not think she would make it. With one last feat of strength she pulls herself up and rolls onto her back sprawled across the black top of the cliff. She breaths like her lungs will burst and her body struggles like dying prey. Daypeople are pathetic, but this one is more impressive than any other. Still, that is a low standard.

I stand over her with my hands clasped behind my back. “Slow your breathing. You will recover better.”

She glares up at me, she does that a lot. “Thanks for the help.”

I shrug. “I did help you. You succeeded in climbing the wall yourself. If I had helped, your success would mean nothing.”

She takes a deep breath and sits up bracing herself on her elbows. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with getting help from others.”

I shake my head and let out a sharp breath. “With moonrunners, if you need help, you die.”

She sits up further, now hunching over her legs crossing under each other. “Really? Nobody helps anybody?”

I shrug and turn back falling into an alert crouch beside her. “Some weaklings seek shelter and protection under the strength of others. But their life is ended at that point.”

Talea frowns. “What? They kill them for it?”

I shake my head, communicating with her is difficult. Expressions are harder to get across. “No, but the protector takes their life as payment. From then on, their life is not theirs, they never again have decisions, choices, freedom.”

She is disturbed by this. I can feel how angry she is and her rage boiling inside. “Slaves? They become their slaves?”

I shrug. “If this is your word for it. Do you not have slaves?”

Despite her exhaustion she leaps to her feet with fists clenched at her side. “No!” She paces away from me. “It’s wrong!”

I frown and stand up looming over her. “There is no one among your people in the service of others?”

She stops and her forehead wrinkles with thought. “Well, there are, but they get paid and stuff.”

I tilt my head, paid in what? “This, payment, it allows them their own freedom and choice?”

She frowns harder and sighs. “Well, no. I mean, not all of them. Some people get stuck where they are because they don’t have better options.” She begins pacing in circles. “Like Gerafar, it’s a hard place. People die a lot and it’s tough but if they make it, they can choose to live somewhere else and do better. Choice.”

I step towards her rubbing my chin. “I see. If this place, this Gerafar, is so awful why do people live there?”

She lets out a frustrated puff of air. “Most of them come from Thraz. It’s worse than Gerafar, so it’s a step up even if it’s awful.”

I smile. “So, your people do have slaves.” She opens her mouth to object, but she cannot find an argument. “Your people are put into a desperate situation, to save their lives they give themselves to Gerafar. But their lives and freedom are taken in exchange. Yet still many of them die. It would seem your slavery is worse than ours.”

Wisps of lavender hair kick up into the air as she turns and stomps away. “Yeah well it’s still wrong! Both of them are.”

I kick into a sprint and leap into the air, I fall from the sky leaning over her. “If it bothers you, why do you do nothing?”

Her glare intensifies, there is something so beautiful about her anger. “I can’t do anything about it! Nobody can!”

She backs away as I press towards her. “Because of your people?”

Her eyes flare with ferocious rage as she plants her feet and throws her right fists towards me. “Because of your people!”

I grab her wrist, pull it back, and spin her shoving her body against the wall of rock jutting up behind me. With one hand I pin her arms to her stomach, with the other I tap the points of my claws on her throat. Now is my moment, I could kill her right now. Be done with it. But then again, I could have killed her at any point. I could have shoved her into the river myself, I could have thrown her from the cliff, I could have ripped her apart the moment I saw her. I had planned to, but I did not.

Stars above! I turn my face away from her while keeping her immobilized. I feel my entire soul in torment, like my very life is being ripped from my body. I feel so many things I do not have words for, all because of this woman. Pain, my entire existence is pain. I searched for her for months with each day losing myself a little more, now I find her and instead of resolution I find more confusion. This needs to end, I cannot go on like this. I cannot continue my life this way.

I look at her, a pitiful little creature. She is no more a threat to me than a petulant child. Emotions swirl in my mind and I fear I may lose it. This harbinger will make me lose my sanity for sure. This is why we kill them! The bond for moonrunners is all consuming, it absorbs every part of us and is impossible to fight, it destroys us. But if we kill the bond ourselves the misery ends and we walk away stronger. I try to will myself to do it, end this once and for all and go back to my life. Winning in the arena over and over until I can challenge Wikon himself and become the leader of our clan. Then they will have to respect me, listen to me, accept me, or they will die.

I look into her eyes and with surprise I do not see fear, I do not feel it. There is only anger and strength unlike any ever seen in Daypeople. Beneath her surface is a tempest of power ready to be unleashed. There is potential in her, I can see it in her eyes. But what future could I possibly have with a daypeople? Even this one, stronger than most of her own, would only be dead weight to me. With a daypeople I can never rise to leader of my people, even if I did defeat Wikon they would never accept it.

There is a choice laid out before me. Two paths leading in opposite directions. If I kill her, I will grow stronger, fiercer, even more unstoppable, and I will reach my goal. If I do not, that is a path I cannot see where it will lead. But I can feel it will be difficult, frustrating, and filled with pain. The obvious choice is to kill her and yet I relax my hand and pull my claws away from her throat.

I cannot kill her. I feel weak and embarrassed and full of shame, but I cannot do it. I stand here betraying my people once more, all because of this daypeople. The conflicting power of the storm inside me bursts and I rip my hands away from her. I scream into the stars with a howl of pain begging the Moon Mother to help. My scream cuts off in sharp silence and I fall to the stone on my knees. I can see no way forward, what am I to do? I have damned myself to a life of frustrating misery.

Looking at the stones my feet rest upon Talea’s voice speaks up. “Did you get it out of your system then?”

I look up to see the lavender haired woman smirking with her weapon clutched in her hands. I shake my head clouded with confusion. She rolls her eyes and puts her arms back to her torso like I had them. With a flick of her wrist she sends her studded ball upwards, it slices into the air and then arcs as she yanks on the rope pulling it back to her. Realization dawns on me, she could have at any time slung that into my face and escaped. It wouldn’t have harmed me that much; she was too confined for it to pick up speed. Still, she could have broken free and run. But she didn’t.

A new feeling falls over me and I cannot identify what it is. Whatever it is, it makes me feel drawn to her even more. Not through compulsion but rather through awe. She is a confounding mystery and I cannot look away from her. I feel a need to protect her, help her, be with her, she is something I have never seen before and although I am more confused than ever before, I decide to embrace it.

She walks towards me, crouches down, and pushes my gaping mouth closed with one finger. “I figured you were going to kill me anyways, or at least try.”

I shake my head. “Why did you not run away?”

She frowns with a smile. “And fail? I thought we don’t do that.”

A silence falls over us and from the sky I hear the screeching call of a soleena. We both look up to see the black silhouette of the six-winged bird fly across the bright orb of the moon and pass into darkness. A sign of the Moon Mother, maybe she was pulling me towards something greater after all, Talea.

I lower my head staring at the stones. “I promise now, I will never harm you. I will never allow harm to come to you. You may kill me if you wish.”

I hear her sigh and feel her bare foot kick me in the ribs. “Nightstalkers, so dramatic. Get up I’m not going to kill you.”

I look up at her. “But we are harbingers, it is your right to kill me. I clearly cannot kill you.”

She takes a deep breath pinching the bridge of her nose. “Ok yeah, I get it. You kill your bondmates because your tough and weird. Fine.” She moves her hands to gesture back and forth between us. “But that’s not going to be our thing.”

I stand up hunching so as to keep my eyes level with hers. “Then where do we go from here?” I am at a loss, harbingers moving forward together is unheard of. I am lost in uncharted territory.

Talea smiles a beautiful mischievous smile. “You’re going to teach me how to fight. Like you. Until I can beat you.”

I laugh. “That will never happen.”

Her smile takes a sharp turn into a hard glare. “Never tell me never.”