--- TEIZEN ---

Teizen hummed to herself as the land passed her by, reveling in her perfect pitch as she tuned an instrument from somewhere farther away than her own origin.

Sitting on top of the wagon gave her a good view of the upcoming lands, and it also managed to get Flame off her back for being so oblivious all the time. But Stars, did he really have to keep badgering her about that for the rest of time? It was almost like he was trying to make her hate him.

She didn’t though, he was too stars-begotten cool to hate. A grizzled warrior from a tribe of dragons? A warrior who hated being small so much that he’d sold his squalling soul so he’d stop being so much of a runt?

Flame was almost cooler than the time Teizen had backflipped off the conqueror himself’s throne, and smacked him in the face! Which did in fact happen, why else would he have been after Teizen’s head, forcing her—and the others too of course—to leave the planet entirely?

Hopefully nearly fifteen years of them being away from the storm cities had mellowed the man out a bit. The conqueror hadn’t seemed like he was that bad inside. And Teizen would know, she understood people pretty well!

Probably.

Hopefully.

Teizen shook her head and plucked a note again, glaring at its insistence to stay flat. At this, her attention was drawn to Branix, who was chiding the new kid. Again.

Branix was some kind of noble from back home, but Teizen always spaced out when he started talking about it. She honestly felt kind of bad about that, if it weren’t for his attitude she might have tried harder. But no, he was almost worse than Taenseva. It was almost as if he felt morally bound to be everyone’s grumpy old dad. And not the kind that would help you sneak out on festival days or tell you stories before bed even when you got too old for it.

No, he was the kind that always wanted things to be the way they had to be, with no room to stretch or grow or anything. He was precisely the kind of person who would kill a plant because it’s great-great whatever grandparent offended him seven years ago. And in every memory she could think of, Teizen was that plant.

But you wouldn’t know any of that just by looking at him. Branix sat beside Kinthek with a smile, his posture patient and understanding. The kid spoke and from his bearing, it seemed like Branix really cared about what was being said. He was a merchant though, which said it all, really.

When Teizen’s gaze fixed on his face, she could see the calculating stare there without even having to take in the details. She just knew it too well. The way his eyes narrowed whenever Kinthek said something he disapproved of, the way his mouth would curve into a frown of thought with every interesting tidbit of information.

It was disgusting.

He summoned a wing of energy at some point as the two of them spoke, showing off the Niortak magic without a care in the world.

Teizen had two wings like it that she could shape at will—though she got tired if they were out for more than an hour or two at a time—and that was considered impressive by most Niortak standards. She saved them for important times, like stealing extras of Filfinde’s cooking.

Branix, the star-hating noble, had four, and Teizen had never seen him tire of having them out. She thought that perhaps he could even fly with them for more than short glides and the occasional lift. They were certainly big enough, which was completely unfair.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Teizen managed to wrench her gaze from the annoying man just long enough to look at the poor instrument again. She’d tightened that string far too much. Stars…

--- KINTHEK ---

The days finally began to pass them by. Kinthek mostly got used to the camp dynamics, which was easy when hardly any of the faces ever changed. It felt like the people were finally on the same side of the river as him. Even with their chaotics and strange behavior, Kinthek found himself gravitated toward it—and occasionally even the instigator.

A traveler called Roahnosh left the group when they’d gone through Starlight, and they hadn’t picked up anyone new since. As such, there were only eight permanent members of the Leftbite’s Wings. Not counting Kinthek.

Part of Kinthek would like to be there permanently, just the way they had about them and the sheer energies… well it made him want to stay there forever, sitting around the campfire and telling tales or playing pranks. Kinthek found himself more often than not getting swept away in his own torrent of ideas. There were just so many of them.

One day in particular, even though it was rather ordinary by day standards, Kinthek felt this more. He felt it harder.

That day, he couldn’t ignore anymore how icky he’d felt after speaking to Foralen. So what, she was… somehow different from Eliax. Nothing was a perfect copy, right? He’d just… somehow assumed that she was just Eliax through and through. A quiet withdrawn girl that no one could read.

But Kinthek had been able to read Foralen, easily. He could relate to her, he could feel her amusement as if it had been a physical force. In a way it was the same as how Eliax sometimes seemed but magnified tenfold.

And so he ignored the strange crystal in the bottom of his bag, despite knowing that she wanted him to keep in contact.

“Hey! Kinthek!” Teizen said loudly, her face a perpetual grin, “Do you want to help me hide these wooden bears all over the caravan? I got them back at Starlight and I think I’m finally out of suspicion!!”

Kinthek perked up, taking the bag and peering inside.

The bears themselves were distinctly boring to his eyes, hardly the size of his pinky finger and carved so badly that he supposed a child might have done it. Kinthek tilted his head at them, feeling a spark. “Do they do anything?”

Teizen smirked, “No, but if we number them six through three hundred and two, then people will be looking for one through five for the next two years or so!”

“You are truly a master of terrors beyond my comprehension.”

“Thank you!”

Kinthek nodded, laughing slightly, “but seriously, isn’t that mean?”

Teizen hesitated slightly, “Kinthek, we talked about this. It’s for the reaction. We can tell them at any point that there are only two hundred and ninety seven bears.”

“Why not an even three hundred? Did they rip you off?”

Teizen adopted a vaguely haunted look, “We don’t talk about the last three bears.”

“Did you lose them? Or… you hid them in my stuff, didn’t you.”

Teizen grinned slightly, “Oh, maybe that is what I did, maybe it isn’t! I suppose you’ll have to find out!”

Kinthek shook his head at her and took a large handful of bears, sifting them around, “We can’t get caught hiding them, this is going to take weeks…”

“That’s why we’re starting now! Hopefully we’ll be done by the time we get to Thundercrossing, we aren’t planning on doing any big trading till then so no one will find the ones we hide in that stuff!”

“You’re almost more crazy than I am…”

“Why, thank you!” She pressed the bag into his hands and took out a bear from her own. After a moment of smiling at it deviously, Teizen leaned down and slipped the bear between two boards on the nearest wagon.

She looked back at him, “Be sure to lose a few of them, it’s better if there’s more numbers that no one can find!”

Taenseva rounded the bend with purpose and frowned at the two perfectly innocent looking idiots, “What are you doing this time?”

Kinthek shrugged, “Nothing much, what do you need?”

Taenseva grunted, “I’ll stop prying if one of you comes with me to hold down this squalling Nynar for a minute while I smack some sense into it… Really, the guy in the last town said they were the smartest breed he had. I pity the lot that gets his stupidest breed.” She shook her head with annoyance and waved them forward, Kinthek eventually following her.

He furtively tucked away the pouch of bears as they walked.