Tara managed to almost forget what the last step was. It helped that Matteo—likely acknowledging that it bothered her—didn’t even mention it. She only remembered she would have to bind her own blood to something when they got to the closest town. It kept her from sleeping once they got to an inn and got settled for the night.

Then, of course, she opened her eyes to the space Itzun was in. He began pacing around her, only stopping once she sat up to give him an odd look.

“It only took fourteen years,” Itzun noted with some amusement, stopping off to her right, “But you caught me off guard. Although I’ll be honest—I’m going to miss this. Do you still stand by what you told me before? That you won’t think much of these little meetings once they’re over?”

“I can’t necessarily call you a friend,” Tara pointed out. “There’s very little I can honestly thank you for—the only thing that comes to mind is letting me live.”

“But isn’t that the most important thing?” he asked with some joking innocence.

“Not considering what I was supposed to do,” Tara replied, shaking her head. Itzun started walking back to his usual starting spot, and she let out a little sigh and leaned back a bit. “Honestly, I’m more interested in what it would be like without you. I assume any omynic qualities I have—the ability to bind things—will be gone alongside you; I’ll finally be able to feel normal.”

He gave a thoughtful hum as he sat down in front of her. “When you put it that way, it’s understandable; you have drawn me a few times, though. You might not remember it into your old age—or not me, specifically—but you’ll have remnants of it. I suppose that’s enough.”

He fell silent for a second, but she opted to keep conversation slightly productive. She imagined this would be one of the last times they would talk—she would genuinely be relieved when she didn’t have to see him, but she might as well confirm things while she was here.

“I’m just binding the pottery and some of my blood to something in the forest, correct?”

“It’s a stone,” Itzun said without much pause. He almost smiled, but seemed to put some effort into suppressing it. That worried her—and, somehow, that actually made him carrying on with some hesitation. “I tried to avoid mentioning it so you wouldn’t hate me—well, any more than you apparently already do.”

“There isn’t much you can say that would surprise me at this point.”

He tried to give a reassuring look.

“I had it so the blood had to come from a cut caused by the pottery.” He said it quick enough, she didn’t quite process it until he explained a bit. “You don’t have to bind both to the stone, just your blood—it still doesn’t have to be a lot, though. With the piece you have, you can just prick one finger and be done.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Once she actually processed it, she did fail to actually be surprised. It didn’t keep her from frowning at him.

“I’m genuinely curious,” Tara said, mostly unamused. “Do you really find blood that entertaining?”

“I expected more of a reaction,” Itzun admitted, almost disappointedly. “And I thought it fitting that what started with blood should end with it. It also proves you—or anyone accompanying you—is actually committed to saving people. It makes for a more heroic story.”

She could protest and point out the obvious, but she chose to just sigh instead.

“I’m starting to think Dakari will be better off if you’re barred from interacting with it directly.”

“Honestly? You might be right. It’s a bit sad for me, but those who want the first island back should disappear somewhat steadily once the possibility of it being completed vanishes—anything Torigami and I put in our respective islands will vanish, so all that would remain is humanity’s own retellings. It shouldn’t be anything more than a legend in a decade or so.”

Itzun fell silent for a second, then shook his head and offered a smile instead.

“Anyway. This is the last thing you’ll have to do for me. You’ll know you did it right if you go back to being ‘normal’—eventually that pink hair will grow out and you’ll have human dreams. The binding will also break almost immediately; your Horize mother should stop having migraines.”

Tara nodded, and that seemed to be all Itzun had to say. He stood up and offered a kind of bow.

“…You can’t remember our first meeting, so there’s no point in mirroring it,” he said, “But I promise to give your family some peace—as much as I’m able, at least. Some things can only be controlled by Bekin and Emaya, but for the littler things I can help.”

“I can thank you for that, at least,” Tara murmured.

He seemed to take that as a point of pride, then let her go for the last time.

——

When morning came, Tara ended up being the last to head back out—and, in all honesty, she looked somewhat relieved for someone who would be getting cut later today, even if it didn’t have to be a lot. Matteo held off on commenting; he wouldn’t complain about her seeming sort of satisfied for once. It helped Adelinde and Rene be a little less worried, too.

The inn they chose didn’t offer meals, so they wandered until they found a small place that Tara would be comfortable in. They took a seat in one corner and started a conversation after ordering.

“They advertised walking trails at the station, so if nothing else we won’t look weird going into the forest,” Matteo noted. He gave Tara a curious look. “Have you heard anything about where we’re going?”

“It’s not anywhere obviously significant, for once,” Tara replied. She didn’t bring her sketchbook—probably because they would head into the forest right after this—so instead of drawing she played with the silverware already on the table. “I’ll know it when we see it.”

Matteo nodded; knowing that was better than nothing.

“There were maps of the trails, too,” Rene recalled. “It shouldn’t be too hard to get in and out.”

“We should be done in an hour, maybe two or three,” Tara murmured. “Then we can consider this done and over with.”

The other three gave mixed expressions of agreement. The topic shifted to something else somewhat naturally while they continued to wait for their food, and they kept the mood light and weirdness-free while they ate.