The raw salty sea breeze swept the village by the seaside in uncoordinated gusts lifting the light dresses of the women as if to play with them.

Vanya had never thought that she would miss the lonely, boring village by the grueling winter sea so much so that she ran with her sack behind her back straight to Tilly’s little stone house as soon as she got off of Kev’s cart.

She threw her sack at the porch and her bare feet ran across the beach before she came to a halt letting them sink in the cold sand while her hair played with the icy breeze.

The sun beamed its rays on her skin embracing her with the little warmth left in winter. She listened to the waves crashing on land making her feel whole again. She missed the sound of the sea. She missed it all more than she had ever thought.

From Elioth to Shalom all she could think of was how Taru appeared right before they left and shared some bad news. He mentioned how Tallon was nowhere to be found and that his leads to her history tutor Aren ended fruitless. He had apologized for bearing the bad news and promised to find her back at Shalom if he were to ever come across the old man again. Vanya had thanked him for his efforts and waved goodbye with a heavy heart wanting to stay back at Elioth and find Aren herself. Yet she yearned to see Joan, needing desperately to head to Shalom to help Joan with her injury.

“Your Highness?” a familiar sweet voice shouted sending Vanya to turn around in glee.

Joan was right behind with her hair in a neat braid and a blanket around her shoulders protecting her dark hair from being swept up in the gusty winds. They both immediately fell into a long hug. Vanya had never felt so at home. The warm embrace of a friend she had always had right beside her was all she needed to end the throbbing headache that had formed from the hours of overthinking Vanya was burying herself in while on the way to Shalom.

Joan squeezed her tighter as if to tell her that she had missed her as much.

“Your Highness, I am so glad to see you,” Joan said running her fingers through Vanya’s hair giving it a quick comb through, assuming her duties from the get-go.

“Joan, remember I am Jade. I am not a princess here,” Vanya reminded yet let her hands clasp Joan’s cheeks and embraced her into another hug.

“Your leg?--” Vanya started to inspect when Joan stopped her and grabbed her hand like a sister would if she were to meet her sibling after a few days apart from each other, “Better than ever, my lady.”

They took a stroll down the beach for a moment exchanging stories. Vanya spared no time and jumped into a quick breeze through everything that had happened while in Elioth. She watched as Joan widened her eyes and hung her mouth open in shock while listening to Vanya vividly explain every detail.

“Taru sounds nice…”

“What do you mean you almost got piled on by rocks?...”

“Roza is dangerous, I tell you…”

“Master Aren? I remember when he retired. The rumor was that he would be heading to the Southern Kingdom. Well, that was at least what the servants thought…”

Vanya peered at every comment Joan had to say. She went on to elaborate everything word for word until Joan said, “You and Rhohaz…you two seem close.”

Vanya shuddered taking a step back. Joan laughed seeing her face turn sour.

“That’s what you take away from it? After all that I’ve said?” Vanya retorted.

“Well, clearly. He said the reason he did not want to tell you how he knew where you and Roza were was because he did not want you looking at him in a different light. Which means, he treasures your opinion of him,” Joan said with a sly smile forming on her lips.

Vanya huffed, “He knows what I think of him. He knows I despise him for what he did to us in front of the council–”

“Do you?”

“Of course, I do!” Vanya jumped at it while a part of her doubted her answer.

“You may have despised him in the beginning but not anymore.”

“My my Joan, how confident you are in telling me what I may or may not feel.”

“Please, Your Highness. I know if you’d be having a good night's sleep even before you lay your head down on the pillow. Of course, I know what you think of him.”

Vanya pushed Joan playfully, shocked at her maidservant’s cocky words. Joan tipped, lost her balance, and slipped falling on the sand. Vanya’s laugh trailed off seeing Joan groan for a moment then immediately cover her pain with a bright smile.

“What is it?” Vanya immediately crouched down.

“Nothing,” Joan struggled to stand up. Vanya caught her shoulder and pulled her up, “You are in pain, Joan. Show me your leg.”

“It’s nothing, my lady. It’s been the same–”

“Show me your leg!” Vanya’s loud words made Joan lift her dress to show her bandaged leg with splotches of something black, almost like rotten blood, seeping through.

Vanya gasped, “It’s worse, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that bad, I promise.”

Vanya looked into Joan’s eyes. Just as much as Joan knew Vanya just from her shadow, Vanya knew of Joan and her ways of trying to swallow the pain and appear neutral as if everything was all fine. Delicate Joan was only delicate to the outside, she was a storm bottled up within.

“This is unacceptable. Why did you not tell me the first thing when you saw me?” Vanya complained while helping Joan lean on her.

Joan only listened to her while Vanya guided her into Tilly’s home. Just as they approached the porch Joan held Vanya’s hand stopping her halfway.

“Promise me, my lady, that you would not do anything rash trying to help me heal. Listening to you tell me of how you got in trouble in Elioth while trying to secure the amulet to save me was already too–”

“Joan, I would do anything to help cure you,” Vanya said seeing Joan’s eyes water.

“But please, I beg of you. You must stay safe. It is only a matter of time before your father finds us and we go home. We should remain safe till then, my lady.”

Vanya did not have the heart to tell Joan of what she had overheard of her father from Chief Han back in Elioth. That if the rumors were correct, they may have already been abandoned by the most powerful man in all of the Northern Kingdom.

She sighed instead giving a slight nod before hugging teary Joan. They both felt as if the distance apart from each other made them realize how much they had missed the other, and how much they wanted the other to come to no harm.

***

Roza smacked her lips loudly. She was chomping on those berries again. Red liquid oozed from her lips just before she slurped them away catching them just in time.

Vanya watched her swallowing some more wild berries as if she had been deprived of them for years, all the while hiding behind a dry bush in the late afternoon while the sun peaked in the sky.

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“Will it really work?” Vanya asked, probably for the hundredth time since they left Tilly’s and made their way to the outskirts.

Roza nodded frantically. She looked up at Vanya cuddling onto her coat bracing the chilly weather. Her hands tapped the amulet hanging by a thread around Vanya’s neck.

“That’ll keep you protected. Except…”

“Except what?” Vanya pressed on.

“...Nah! You should be fine as long as you follow the plan.”

“Let’s go through it once more, shall we? You want me to distract the Ombrah, guide them out of the cave, and lead them to the path by the beach,” Vanya started.

“And while you are distracting them, I will swoop in and use my dagger to scrape some of their skin off.”

“How much skin do we need?” Vanya brought up a good question.

“Uhh…I’ll get as much as I can,” Roza smiled with her red-stained teeth scaring Vanya a little.

“Remind me again, the Ombrah will not bite me because I have the amulet on me, correct?”

Roza nodded her head, “The amulet will protect you in case they get any funny ideas to take a bite out of you…” Vanya gulped listening to Roza, “...It should deter them from harming you. They are also essentially blind when the sun is out, that is also why you only see them at night. If they look like they are going to bite you, just do your best to kick them and run away.”

“If the sun is blinding them so much, why do you need me?” Vanya asked not realizing she was speaking her mind so openly.

Roza smirked and took a nice whiff before replying, “Your smell, darling. You don’t smell like anyone from Shalom. You smell like threat, vengeance, and a nice load of freedom. The Ombrah are trained to track your smell and bite you, sending their venom pulsing through your veins before your heart gives in and you die.”

Vanya felt her ears turn hot and her palms sweat, “So I am bait.”

Roza gave out a twisted laugh, “You could say that. I’m using you to lure them to one place, have them stationary enough so I can get a hold of one. They will run away as soon as I get close to them. No one from Shalom has ever sat down to have a cup of tea with an Ombrah. They are trained to avoid the villagers.”

Vanya cleared her throat, “I thought I remember overhearing that the leader of Shalom usually rounds them up whenever they lose their way in the winter.”

Vanya asked causally trying not to make it apparent that this was something she gathered while spying on Rhohaz and Gavin while hiding in a closet some time ago.

“They get thrown off by some of the folk who are new to Shalom because their blood is different than ours. Having Rhohaz walk around securing the perimeter is enough for them to run back into their cave. He probably took a few turns trying to get them to not stalk you at night ever since you two got here.”

Vanya sulked realizing she and Joan may have kept Rhohaz up some nights walking around. She remembered noticing how she never found the Ombrah around Tilly’s the night after accusing Rhohaz of stalking them and punching him in the face.

Her eyes went to the cave in the distance positioned so close to the sea with its large mouth sitting right atop a rocky path below. She kept staring hoping to see a shift in shadows or even a slight glimpse into what the Ombrah even looked like. To her they were just shadows, figures with no faces, only resembling a human form.

“Come on, we are losing light. Let’s get started,” Roza tucked the rest of the berries in her satchel and pulled out an enormous crystal before standing up revealing herself behind the bush.

Vanya panicked realizing she was about to get what she bargained for.

“Wait, are…are you sure? Should we go over the plan again?” Her voice shook.

Roza held out her hand, “It was your idea to rush it. I told you we could just do it all tomorrow. But now that we are here, we need to get it over with. Besides you want Joan healed, don’t you?”

It was Roza’s way of giving confidence to Vanya. Roza saw Vanya’s terrified face. It was what she expected to see when Vanya found her initially. Roza was making her way home after the trip to Elioth when Vanya pulled her aside and begged to save Joan. Vanya was so determined to drag Roza out there that Roza felt her assertiveness finally challenged by someone. But now that she sees Vanya afraid of the outcome of it all, she felt for her. It was never so easy to be confident. There was always a fair amount of fear at the center of it all.

Nevertheless, Vanya looked at Roza, her eyes widening as she repeated Roza’s words over and over in her head once more before she took Roza’s hand in a confident stride and let herself up.

***

One simply observing two girls outside a deserted cave by the seaside would have thought they were lost. But while observing them closely they would have found it odd seeing the two of them with their arms raised and running around like headless chickens, hooting and whistling at absolutely nothing in the vicinity. One might even consider they were possessed by evil spirits or worse, they had finally lost their minds on their own.

Vanya felt her hands tingle losing blood and plop down. She was tired and annoyed. They had been screaming and howling for hours. The sun that had peaked in the sky was almost ready to head out for the day.

“This is useless. We need to go inside,” Vanya said, finally sitting on the ground and watching Roza lift her dress to jump up and down once more.

“No, we must try till the very last moment. Why— why are you sitting? Stand up!”

Vanya groaned and stood up once more, “Why can’t we just go inside the cave? Do we even know if they are here?”

Roza nodded while waving her hands and shouting once more, “This is where they retire to after every night. They are definitely here. It’s just that I don’t want us getting trapped in there if we enter it. And I especially don't want you to go in there without proper protection.”

Vanya tapped the amulet around her neck, “I have all the protection I need right here.”

Roza rolled her eyes, “That won’t protect you if they accidentally step on your face, Jadie.”

Vanya threw her hands up in the air.

“Although,” Roza stopped jumping to take a breath, “I am surprised as to why they are not even a bit agitated by you standing right in front of them.”

“Maybe it’s the amulet? It’s masking my scent!” Vanya said suddenly ripping the thread holding the amulet around her neck.

Roza squealed and held Vanya’s hand for a moment.

“Don’t you let go of that, Jadie? I don’t know what to do if you let go of it and they all storm out to take a bite out of you,” Roza spoke harshly.

Vanya gulped and nodded meekly to wrap the thread around her wrist instead and make a tight knot.

Just then, they felt a rustle by the bushes in the distance. Their eyes diverted immediately to notice a shadow disappear around a corner of a giant rock jutting out from the earth.

Roza instinctively pushed Vanya behind her and observed silently.

“It’s one of them. I can feel it,” she whispered.

Vanya held her breath and waited for Roza to initiate something, anything.

“I’m going to go after it,” Roza finally spoke.

“I’ll come with you—“

“No, stay here. Wait here. I will chase it down. This is our only chance. Wait for me till the sun begins to set. If I am not back by then. Take my satchel and go home. Do you understand me?”

Vanya looked at Roza. Her eyes narrowed in determination and her voice clear and commanding.

Vanya nodded in response and watched as Roza took her next steps most carefully. She prowled like an animal hunting its prey, with her crystal held out like a sword before she plucked out her dagger from beneath her dress where she concealed it.

Vanya’s eyes remained peeled till Roza disappeared around the same corner.

She waited in the hope that Roza would appear sooner rather than later.

But as the sun came closer and closer to the horizon in the distance she was beginning to feel her hope fade away. The vibrant colors of a gorgeous sunset painted the sky while she remained in silence, unable to know if Roza succeeded or not.

As the sun began to cross the edge of the sea she picked up Roza’s satchel, stained in the crushed berries inside it.

She looked behind her, back at the dark mouth of the cave, the resting place of the Ombrah. It was almost nightfall and none of them were out ready to feast on her, rip her apart.

Just then, she saw movement inside the cave. A slight change in light, a quick motion. She wondered if they were beginning to become restless. If they were finally beginning to sense her presence.

A piece of their skin…a slight scrape of their skin is all I need…

She thought as confidence took over logic in her mind. Her eyes scanned her surroundings while the light around her dimmed and began to fade.

Her fingers wrapped around the amulet on her wrist. The cold touch of the stone made her feel confident. According to Roza, she should be fine to be next to an Ombrah with the amulet.

There was more movement within the cave as if they were all rising from a mandatory slumber.

Her heart raced. The relentless determination in her was beginning to block her fears. She remembered how Joan reluctantly took her bandage off to show the darkened wound that had spread along her leg as if it were beginning to swallow her whole soon.

She could not put this off any longer. She could not wait for Roza to confirm she was successful in her endeavor. Vanya had to take it into her own hands. To do it herself on the off chance that Roza did not succeed.

She held onto the satchel around her shoulder, gripping it tight as if to let it help her from losing her sanity. She took her first step towards the cave disregarding all of what Roza had told her to do.