The campfire was burning. The flames danced around between the dry branches and twigs, crackling in the otherwise silent evening. The sun had already set, and the sky was cloudy. A gentle wind was blowing, slightly ruffling Lianne's hair. It was a bit warmer than most days had been lately.

Lianne and Amra were sitting next to the campfire in a sheltered spot, under a small overhang of a hill. The scenery around them was barren and seemingly void of any other life, but they had still found a decent spot to camp out for the night.

They had traveled a day towards the north after leaving the village, and now they had settled for the night. Faolin was investigating the surrounding areas with his horse, in search of water, plants, or anything other than the dust and gravel that was everywhere around them.

Amra was preparing an evening meal for them. She chopped some fresh vegetables the elves had given them for their journey and then tossed them into a pot full of water and dried herbs. She was making her masterpiece, a stew with anything they had with them.

Lianne wasn't concentrating on what Amra was doing. Instead, she was staring at her hand, her palm faced upward. She was remembering Faolin's sealing magic. She was focused on how his energy had felt that night, and how his fingers had traveled over her arm, guiding the flow.

Lianne felt the energy gathering in her, the exhilarating feeling of the magic moving over her skin. Usually, her own magic made her feel more vigorous when the sealing magic made her feel warm and invigorating.

Lianne's palm started glowing with the faintest trace of a glow. It was the same energy she had felt the night Faolin had taught her. It was tingling as if someone was tickling her palm with a soft feather. Lianne smiled, trying to enforce the feeling. She closed her eyes, focusing only on what she felt, wanting the sealing magic to work.

The small tingling in Lianne's palm gradually grew stronger. She felt it turning into a prickling sensation that didn't hurt. The energy was flowing through her hand, but for some reason, it didn't quite go off. It prickled and tried to set itself free, but it wasn't happening yet.

Lianne let out a deep sigh as the faint energy died out in her palm. She squeezed her hand into a fist and frowned. She was being impatient, but she wanted to learn the magic as soon as possible. If there was something that could help her, she desperately wanted to learn it.

"Not getting it?" Amra asked while tossing some chopped onions in the pot.

Lianne shook her head. "No, but it takes time to learn new things."

"You were always the best one in the village. You'll get it for sure," Amra said reassuringly.

"Well, it was either me or the old tailor. If I had been worse than him..." Lianne said as she grinned to Amra. "You just don't have enough variety to compare to."

Amra sighed. "You're always underrating yourself."

"I'm just being realistic."

"No, you're not. You're really good, but you just can't give yourself the credit."

"I'm not half as good as Edwin was," Lianne said, immediately turning serious, looking at her tightly squeezed hands with a firm gaze.

Amra quietened down as she put the last vegetables in the pot. She knew that every time Lianne talked about her brother, she used to get glum. It had only been six months since Edwin had died.

"Your brother had practiced longer than you have," Amra said while putting away the knife and lifting the pot to the fire, starting to boil the stew.

"Edwin really helped me a lot when I was just starting to learn. He convinced me that I should be happy about my natural skill," Lianne spoke with a wistful voice. She loved talking about her brother, even though it still stung. Edwin had been the only family she had left since her parents had died when she was still a teenager.

"It wasn't uncommon to see you practicing with him," Amra smiled, trying to cheer Lianne up.

"He really taught me everything I know," Lianne said as she looked at the flames licking the sides of the pot and the water gradually starting to boil. She really missed her brother. "In the end, even he wasn't good enough. Even if his magic was better than mine."

Amra stopped what she was doing and slouched her shoulders, letting out a deep sigh. "You can't compare yourself to him like that."

Lianne opened her tightly squeezed fists, feeling her fingers aching. "I know. It's just a thought that comes and goes."

"Remember that you're not alone," Amra still tried assuring her while stirring the ingredients in the pot.

"I know," Lianne said while looking at Amra with a sad smile. Then she took in a deep breath, trying to make her doubt disappear. "Hey, Amra, can I ask something?"

"Sure."

"About Sionia," Lianne clarified.

Amra lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "What about her?"

"I have never seen you like you were with her. I've seen you desiring someone, and I've seen you had a crush on someone, but I don't think I've never seen you that loving," Lianne explained.

Amra turned to look at the horizon while stopping the stirring of the stew. "No, it's nothing like that," she said before pausing and taking in a deep breath as if she was gathering her thoughts. "We don't know where this journey will take us or if we even make it through this alive. I can't help but think if I'll ever feel or experience those things again. I have started to get this sense of yearning towards the things I enjoy."

Lianne listened to Amra. Even though she had started to think that she had no right to feel like that anymore, she understood Amra's feelings very well. Lianne was to blame for the journey. It was her cross to bear, and if someone had to suffer, it would be her. She had thought like that ever since leaving the village with Amra.

"You know how grateful I am for you to do this journey with me. You're supporting me with everything, even in the things that I don't yet understand." Lianne said genuinely grateful.

"You don't have to worry about those things. It's not about that," Amra immediately tried to correct.

"Your happiness shouldn't be secondary," Lianne still said and paused, feeling guilty. "You have to worry too much for me."

"I'll be happy when you are alright again," Amra said with a smile.

Lianne let out a deep sigh. She looked up at the dark sky where clouds formed a shield, covering the stars behind them. "Sometimes I feel so stupid when I think about what I did. Now you...we are suffering because of that."

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"I'm here because I want to, not because it's my duty. You were heartbroken back then. I know you would have made better decisions if things had been different," Amra still tried to convince her.

"It still doesn't justify what I did," Lianne said while glancing at Amra. "Sometimes I feel like an empty shell, and not myself anymore."

"Listen, if the world would be perfect, then you would be happy, your brother would be alive, and you would actually like yourself. And I would be spending my time bathing with Sionia." Amra said while grinning at Lianne.

"Sionia! I knew you couldn't forget about her!" Lianne yelped, looking at Amra's grin, immediately feeling a bit better. They had been friends for so long already, that sometimes Lianne felt their happiness was depending on each other as if they lived in symbiosis.

"Oh, shut up," Amra just said while waving her hand nonchalantly.

Lianne laughed as she turned to look at the sky again. She really felt that she was not worthy of those things anymore. She knew Amra meant well, but it didn't take away the pain of knowing that they might not make it back home alive, and it was all because of her.

"If the world would be perfect, the food would be ready by now," Lianne said and looked at Amra with the widest grin she could muster at the moment.

"You're welcome to do it yourself," Amra immediately retorted back with an offended tone, even though her lips curved into a small smile.

"You know I'm no good..." Lianne started saying when they heard the clopping of hooves approaching. Faolin had returned from his investigation.

"How did it go?" Lianne asked as Faolin rode to the shelter, got off his horse, and tied it next to Luna and Sol.

Faolin didn't immediately answer. He first searched his bag for a carrot for Myrin to eat. He patted the horse on its muzzle as he leaned closer and whispered something that neither Lianne nor Amra heard. Then he walked next to the fire.

"I did not find what I was looking for, but I did find a dried-up riverbed, and remains of animals," Faolin explained as he sat down next to the fire, crossing his long legs.

"Maybe this place is entirely different when summer comes," Amra pondered while stirring the stew.

Lianne nodded. "Call me crazy, but I wouldn't mind coming back here some other time."

Amra glanced at Lianne, her eyebrows raised. "You're crazy."

Lianne laughed as she leaned back on her hands, relaxing. She had already gotten used to their little traveling trio. She actually enjoyed these moments together, even if her mind tried to convince her that she shouldn't.

Faolin took out his pipe from a pouch on his belt. Then he light it up with a swift movement of his hand. The warm earthy scent immediately lingered in Lianne's nose, making her feel even more relaxed. She had no idea why, but she adored that smell. Maybe it reminded her of the forest she used to play with Amra when they were little. Maybe it reminded her of the food her brother loved to make for her. Or maybe it just reminded her of the time she had still been happy.

"So, hey," Amra started while clearing her throat. "I have been thinking about the dead man and Yugtrass. Can I ask you something?" she said while glancing at Faolin.

"Go ahead," Faolin nodded.

"How did Yugtrass know where the man was? And why did he kill him, instead of releasing?" Amra asked wondering.

Faolin inhaled the smoke from his pipe and held his breath for a moment. "Do you not know much about Yugtrass?" he asked while exhaling a puff of smoke that seemed to remain lingering in front of him.

Both Lianne and Amra shook their heads. "I only know the stories, where he is a god to the evildoers," Amra answered, and Lianne nodded, agreeing to what she said.

"Then you know nothing. He is not as in those stories," Faolin immediately said, a grave expression suddenly on his face.

"Can you tell us more?" Lianne asked curiously.

Faolin glanced at both of them and their expectant expressions. "Yugtrass is a master to many. He is not a god, nor is he a human, as many stories tell. He is still not a demon either."

"You can't be serious," Lianne immediately said with laughter. That couldn't be true. It made no sense. He had to be something real. Lianne had met him.

"I am. Do not believe a second that I would joke around when it comes to him," Faolin said, his voice serious. "He thrives and grows by making promises to desperate people who want something so much that they are ready to risk everything. He traps their desires and uses them before giving the reward. He is a mere swindler in the form of a man, but with a soul of a demon."

Lianne silently listened to what Faolin was saying, her mouth slightly agape. Yugtrass had always been an image of something evil that some people truly followed, and some considered purely a tale. Lianne couldn't help but wonder what the man in the tale had to do with herself.

"I don't really understand why I met him last night. What does he..." Lianne started speaking before suddenly stopping herself and gasping out loud. How did she not see that before? Had she been blind?

"I can't believe I didn't realise it. If he was the one that told me about the spell, and I used it...then did I make a deal with him? Am I like this because of him?" Lianne asked, her eyes wide and her voice breathless.

Amra looked at Lianne silently, trying to really comprehend what she was saying. Faolin on the other hand took a deep inhale from his pipe, tasting the smoke in his mouth before exhaling it in a long noisy breath.

"Yes, I think so," Faolin said.

"That must be true," Amra also said with a hesitant voice.

"I must be stupid. I never really thought that Yugtrass was even real," Lianne said, burying her head in her hands, combing her fingers frantically through her hair like she wanted to rip them all off.

"I wouldn't have thought about it either," Amra said, staring at the boiling stew for a moment, looking at the bubbles on its surface rise and then burst.

Lianne rubbed her face with her hands. She felt tired and confused. Then she shook her head. "I never agreed to make a deal with him. This is ridiculous."

"The act itself was the deal," Faolin said calmly, a total opposite of Lianne's restless demeanor.

"Well, ain't this grand. I've got a deal with a man who isn't even real," Lianne said, trying to be sarcastic but ending up sounding disgruntled.

Amra seemed to wake up from her thoughts when hearing Lianne's voice. "Oh, I guess it's ready," she said silently while staring at the stew. She took out a spoon and started sharing the stew on plates, not really concentrating on what she was doing, her mind elsewhere.

"Here, eat. It's been a long day," Amra handed the plates to Lianne and Faolin.

"Thank you," Faolin said as he put out the pipe and started eating with a good appetite. "This is good."

Lianne took the plate and started eating slowly. Her thoughts were a mess. Did she really have a deal with Yugtrass? A man who she had thought was just a tale? How could she find a man who she didn't quite remember? She couldn't even find Clandmere, so how could she find Yugtrass?

Suddenly Lianne stopped eating and lifted up her head, swallowing the food she had in her mouth. "Hey, do you think there is a connection between Yugtrass and Clandmere?"

"What do you mean?" Amra asked while frowning.

"Maybe it has something to do with why people can't remember?" Lianne asked, slightly hesitant as if she wasn't quite sure what she meant.

Faolin nodded. "Yugtrass and his followers are spread wide, but I do not think I came to the north for no reason," he said thoughtfully while eating.

"You think that I'm right?" Lianne asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"You might be. It does not sound far-fetched," Faolin said while chewing on his food and smiling at Lianne.

Lianne looked at Faolin's encouraging smile and realised that she had a hard time trying to look away. There was something so warm in his smile, that it made her smile too. "Then maybe this is a good thing," she was finally able to tear her eyes away from Faolin. "We can find our destination together," she said while starting to eat with a better appetite, her lips curving into a small smile.

"The more the merrier," Amra said while finishing her stew and wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

Lianne nodded, feeling herself a little bit happy. The stew tasted good. The earthy flavors warmed her up from the inside as the soft breeze cooled her skin. Even though everything that was going on, she felt surprisingly relaxed with Amra and Faolin. She savored the taste of the food and the feeling of her heart being free, at least for that small moment.