Camping for the first time with Cerin was going to be awkward. The man clearly didn't like to speak more than what was necessary, and he also was suspicious of our true intentions. I hoped that the fact we were traveling in the exact opposite direction of Sera would put his mind at ease.

As a child, Cerin had been shy, but he had been sweet and humble. Time and circumstances had changed him. After offering to stop by his home to grab any necessities before he joined us, I'd been told he carried anything he couldn't live without on him, and had no true home. It didn't surprise me, given he was probably hunted by everything and everyone who knew of his skills. Cerin didn't know yet that we'd visited Thornwell, so he couldn't have known that telling me that would sadden me like it did.

Nyx pulled me aside that night as we set up the tents. There was a fire to her eyes I hadn't seen in quite some time.

“You have impeccable taste,” she mused, with a smile.

“I don't need you to tell me that,” I replied, to which she chuckled joyously.

“I'm so happy we found him, Kai. First him, then meeting your birth mother in Whispermere...have anything else you wish to cross off your bucket list?”

“Yes...for both those things to actually go well,” I admitted, before glancing over to where Cerin sat, poking at the campfire with a stick. He had offered to fish for us, but we were camped so far out from the nearest stream that the other two men had offered to simply go out and hunt instead. My stomach began to ache when I thought of Silas. Out of all of us, he probably was having the worst time accepting the new member of our group.

“The first thing did. The second, we'll just have to wait and see.”

“Seeing Cerin didn't go well at all,” I argued.

“Are you kidding? He's here, isn't he?” She paused. “And I know a look of attraction when I see it, friend. That man there never thought he'd see you again, I can tell you that.” When I said nothing, she added, “Considering what he's been through, it's amazing he agreed to come at all.”

I agreed with that, at least internally. There had been a few desperate moments earlier on the battlefield where I had thought I'd found someone I had once lost, only to realize he wasn't the same. I told myself that even if we never did become friends again, I at least had him as an ally for the time being.

Theron and Silas returned with a small doe, and quickly set to preparing it for dinner. Silas took bone and hide and began to prepare it for use, like he always did. Tonight, though, he was withdrawn, and didn't seem to want to participate in conversation with the rest of us.

“Forgive me for overhearing,” Theron began, while roasting slabs of the meat over our campfire, “you have family in Whispermere?”

I noticed Cerin glance up to me. We hadn't yet fully introduced our new member to the others he'd never met. It may have been a surprise to learn that not everyone knew the reasons for which I was traveling.

“Allegedly,” I replied, my eyes watching the waves of flame dance in the air. “I received a letter from a woman claiming to be my mother. She knew things about me that I didn't think anyone outside of Sera knew. She requested me to come to see her in Whispermere.”

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“It's a curiosity that she didn't come herself,” Theron commented.

“Yes...” I trailed off. There were so many things about the letter and its circumstances that didn't make total sense to me.

“The messenger claimed the city was built for her mother,” Nyx spoke up, beside me.

“Whispermere is very old,” Theron pointed out. “And Kai is human. Something about that stinks to me.”

“Maybe you are a half-breed, like Cerin,” Nyx commented.

I gritted my teeth. Nyx and her big mouth again had offered up information that Cerin didn't know. To tell him we'd stopped in Thornwell was to give him a reason to suspect us, since I had claimed I wasn't after him.

The necromancer's silver eyes were giving me an even stare when I finally dared to look. “You know more about me than I remember telling you,” he commented, low.

Nyx cursed under her breath when she realized her mistake. My mind rushed to think of the right words. “We took a short detour to Thornwell on our journey,” I admitted.

“What does Thornwell have to offer you on your way to Whispermere?” came his response, calculated and cold.

“I thought maybe I would find you living there,” I replied. “You were my only friend from the university, and I never knew what happened to you. This was my first time away from Sera, and we were passing it.”

“Did you find the answers you sought?” His voice formed it as more of a statement than a question. He seemed annoyed that I'd found any information at all. I couldn't blame him; everything I had learned of him there was very personal.

“No, not all of them,” I said, honestly. “I do know...about your parentage.”

Cerin kept his solid stare, but seemed unwilling to broach particular subjects as he said, “It is rare for a half-breed to have human shaped ears like I do. It is a recessive trait. Improbable. Not impossible.”

“You learn something new everyday,” Theron commented, his statement distracting me from the necromancer's glare. “So perhaps your mother is an elf.”

“Wouldn't that be a wonderful development?” Nyx mused, beside me. I knew she spoke of my lifespan. If I were part elf, it was possible my life wouldn't be nearly as short as I once imagined. I didn't want to allow myself to think this yet, however, lest I be disappointed.

Nyx, Theron, and I continued to speculate about my mother, while both Silas and Cerin remained silent. Theron was particularly talkative about the subject. Perhaps it simply interested him, or perhaps his problem-solving abilities as a ranger and tracker were happy to have something to feast upon. He didn't seem to care that this information had been withheld from him for a long while. He was probably used to it, given the mercenary's line of work, though I hoped that having this information open between us meant we could slowly become friends. We'd been on the move together for the better part of two seasons, and I had found the man to be hard to get to know.

The five of us ate dinner and prepared to go to bed. It was my turn to stay up for the first shift watch, though I caught Silas as he was readying himself to go into his tent.

“Wait,” I pleaded, my hand on his arm. He stopped, and glanced back. All of the hurt from the day was still at the forefront in his stare.

“What is it?”

“I wanted to apologize for being so blunt with you today,” I replied. “I didn't say what I needed to in the nicest of ways. It's true that you are no longer under my father's rule, and I do not place you under mine. You can leave, if you wish, but I'd much prefer that you stay.” I watched him as the words registered in his mind, before he exhaled through flared nostrils, and broke eye contact.

“There was once a time when you took my opinion under consideration,” he said, simply.

“I still do, Silas. Taking it under consideration does not mean we will agree.”

“Your decision today affects us all,” he protested, looking conflicted. “You have gone from a law-abiding citizen of Sera to willfully breaking the law. As soon as we are found out—and we will be—you become an enemy of Chairel. I become an enemy of Chairel. And I have my family to think about.” He met my gaze again, his jaw set so stiffly I saw the tension crease his cheeks.