Taigan was used to waking with the dawn, and so the gray light in the sky summoned him to wakefulness as soon as it started to fall over the sides of his tent, which was now pitched in one corner of the “den” area of the wolves.

Honor was weirdly at peace with the wolves, considering they were as big, and in some cases, clearly bigger, than the horse. He grazed on the grass he could find in the melting snow and recovered some.

Taigan procrastinated, knowing that Rosalea was likely still sleeping. As the sun came properly up, he would emerge from his tent and wash up before getting permission to enter her home - which was guarded constantly by either a black or a white wolf.

He did not yet have a clear conception of how big this pack was, but he was aware that two of them were sick like Taj was, with a painful mark spreading slowly along their limbs toward their hearts. There was a wolf who was almost normal size, so likely a puppy or year old in regular canine-terms, who was very sick and did not move around too much.

It was enormously disappointing to find out they are also afflicted with this curse, he thought as he kneeled down near Rosalea and looked at her in the dim light. She looked calm, sleeping the way she was. One would never guess that you lost your liana or that you almost lost your hand. He could not help but admire her. She was a lot more patient and strong than he was, he felt. At the same time, that admiration was twisted with guilt. He had dropped her off of Honor and… he had judged her yesterday. It was a matter of course that the lianaless followed their liana into death. But, he had learned better, and he had been chastised by Taj.

He wondered a little bit… if some of the other lianaless… if they had not been killed… would they have recovered? Was there generally life after liana? Or was it just because Rosalea was the One?

She does not know what she is doing here, and now I do not know what I am doing here. I want to help. I want to be… just one good thing in a life that matters more than mine, he thought.

He carefully laid his hands on her.

***

Rosalea was awoken the next morning as she had the previous morning with Taigan pouring more gentle healing magic through her body. Her wrist finally lost the sense of intense pain. I am going to reduce the swelling in your elbow and then we are going to pause to pull it set, he would say softly to her in the weird way they had communicated yesterday.

Thank you, Rosalea thought to him.

“Do you think we can get anything to distract your ferocious guardian?” he asked, looking at Nauru who was supervising closely.

“NO!” Nauru yelled and bristled.

Taigan could not help but smile, “Is that your favorite word?”

“No,” Nauru said and then sulked behind Rosalea.

Rosalea grinned, You are so cute, and I love you. She made herself be serious. “Nauru, Taigan is going to do something to make me feel better, but it will probably hurt first. So, if I make a noise, I am all right, yes?”

“If it is better, then why would it hurt first?” He came back out around behind her and showed all his teeth to Taigan again.

“It just is,” Rosalea said, unable to stay serious and smiling again as the pup sounded rather like a little boy to her. “Will you be okay, or shall I call your cousin Amalia to come help?”

He made a contemptuous little sneeze noise about that. She had no idea there was this much sass and fight in the little guy before he could talk, but then again… he did bite her by way of introduction and then hide and growl.

“I think that means we are good,” Taigan said. “You comfortable?”

She nodded. Nauru growled as Taigan walked on his knees to Rosalea’s side and then carefully felt over her elbow, which felt so tender Rosalea immediately held her breath. Taigan felt, and she felt him focusing through his healing magic now and then, locking her up each time, which felt odd. “All right, I am ready. You ready?”

Rosalea nodded, or managed a singular nod before he moved and pressed-pulled. Things snapped together with a pop and searing sensation of pain that took her breath away and ended with a squeak. She locked up immediately afterward as he poured healing magic to alleviate the pain and the injury.

However, after that, she felt so much better that she could almost cry a little with relief. He pushed magic through her until he started to sway and look a little white, over-extending himself slightly. Then he sat back.

Everything was puffy and tender still, “We should get a fresh wrap on that to reinforce it while your body helps heal itself,” he said with a yawn. He scooted back so Nauru could sniff and inspect her elbow. “It is like you have a child,” he said.

Rosalea remained still on the floor, waiting for Taigan to feel better enough to bind the joint so she did not just pop it back out by accident. “I do. But this cutie is a little like her,” she said, reaching across her body to tug Nauru down against her belly and chest. He did so with a huff.

“Oh?”

“Yes. Her name is Lio.”

“You are married then?”

This man has talent with bad questions, she thought as she huffed a little. He tensed a little. “Well, no. I was never married. I was recaptured by Ieshans, and they did not know what your tribe knew about Gaiden.”

Taigan put his head in his hand. “I need to stop talking, I think.”

Taj was sitting on the edge of a barrel near her stove and he hissed. Taigan sighed. Rosalea wished she could hear the conversation, but she was non-magical now.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Uh… well, losing Fen was painful. Having Lio the way I had her was not great. It… makes me a little…” she tried to think of how to put it. “A little afraid of people, I think.” I was so afraid of Ulric I used my own magic to force him to never lie to me again or touch me. “I still love Lio, and I miss her.”

“Well… at the risk of saying some other stupid thing, but I wonder if she is the One and you have a different purpose in the eyes of the Gods.”

“I do not think it is stupid,” Rosalea said, “and I have thought the same thing.”

He lifted his head from his hands, but drew up a knee, putting his arm around it and resting his head on his arm. “You are really all right? I wasn’t careful with my words yesterday or today… I feel embarrassed every time I think about asking you about, uh, Fen,” he tried not to repeat his question from yesterday in a clumsy fashion.

Rosalea breathed out, “I would have been hurt by it if I had not thought about it many times myself.”

He sighed. “I am sure you…” he trailed off. “If you remember, when we were in the camp, someone threw a rock at you. I remember being really shocked that you didn’t take it personally. Do you ever get angry?”

Bazil was evidently just outside, “Well, she threw down Raisa and screamed at her once.” His tone was so smug Rosalea felt color rushing to her face.

“Raisa… is one of the wolves? Sorry, I have not learned everyone’s name yet.” Rosalea nodded yes. “Without magic?”

“With just two hands and a twist of her hips,” Bazil said.

This earned a, “Shut up, Bazil,” from Raisa.

Taigan smiled because Rosalea smiled. “I see. Well, I am glad to hear you are not a saint, I think. I am ready to bind your arm now.”

When he was finished, she sat up, wiggling her fingers, it felt so much better that she actually felt hungry. “I think I can manage cooking for us today.”

***

So things settled into a routine. There was even quiet in Miron for nearly a week as the spring grew properly warm. Rosalea knew it was because they were up to something. It was an easy guess, but there was not a good way to get intelligence about what they were up to. Taigan did his best to help her recover, and Rosalea helped Sasha be comfortable as much as she could.

Miri and Mere had not been back in quite a few days, but when they came back, Miri was all prances.

“Rosalea! Look!” she said as she focused on the air in front of her nose, a swirl of air like a miniature tornado appeared. “Auntie Mere and mother have been training me!”

Mere looked tired, but she was also rather smug. Nekana trailed behind, “Well, it was mostly Auntie Mere,” she admitted. “Amalia, Bazil, and I have been distracted working with the other clans of mystics.”

“That is wonderful!” Rosalea said as Miri rushed up to her. She bent and let the wolf push into a hug.

“Is that man the human that we got for you?”

Rosalea blushed at the awkward way of asking about that. She dodged answering at all, “The man’s name is Taigan. Taigan, this is Miri.”

“And I am Nauru!” but in the little pup. Miri tilted her head, clearly surprised.

Then, her tail began to wag, “You can talk now! Did Taigan help with that?”

“NO!” the puppy barked.

Taigan snorted a little as he repressed a laugh, and Nauru grumbled and scooted closer to Rosalea.

“Nauru has been working on it since he got here,” Rosalea tried to smooth things over.

“Do you want to see Nakai?” Miri asked abruptly.

“Yes!” Rosalea said right away.

So, Miri took a deep breath and showed off something else she had learned. She yelled for her brother, magnifying her voice, “SEE? NAKAI! I TOLD YOU TO COME!”

Non-mystic birds were startled into flight, and a few mystic ones chattered unfriendly things to Miri for startling them.

Nakai sighed and came in from the trees a few minutes later.

Rosalea smiled at him, “Thank you! I am glad you did not let me drown!”

He huffed. “I felt guilty just looking at you,” he said. “I could have thought to grab you with my magic.”

Rosalea shrugged, “It worked out, so… next time I fall off of something, magic then?”

He huffed but nodded. He came over to Rosalea a little shyly and pushed up against her for a hug.

And so, for the first time in several weeks, everyone was back in the den, with extra visitors, and so it turned into a nice night, especially because it stayed warm.

Nauru slept in her lap as she sat on a stone and she looked up at the moon. There were little flickers of lights on the brown surface that was closest it. Taigan sat near her enough that his shoulder was touching hers. It made the skin on her shoulder start tingling a little. “I remember you watching the moon a lot back in the tribe,” he said.

“Sometimes… I feel… a strange draw to it, I guess. It sometimes feels like there is almost something just out there, in reach somehow, even though that would be impossible. Maybe I am looking for a sign there is something out there, on it where the points of light are.”

Taigan looked at the moon speculatively. “I sometimes imagine the sparkles on it are little stars or points of magic, but I have not thought of it that way. I like it. What do you feel when you look at the stars?”

He was making her blush. He liked it? I think I like you, she thought, her heart pounding. It felt wrong. It felt like a sin. Someone like her brought a lot of pain because of the focus Gods had on her. “I find them soothing to look at,” she forced herself to focus on the stars in the inky velvet sky. When she looked down again, she caught him turning his face away from looking at her. She was glad it was dark as more heat crept over her nose, cheeks, and ears.

“I cannot believe it has been a week. The mystics take everything so calmly and slowly.”

Rosalea nodded. “I have been here… maybe five months, slowly trying to recover from losing Fen,” she said. Her mouth went dry. “They… were her family. I feel fortunate that they care about me.”

Taigan smiled, turning to look into her eyes. His eyes had a soft glow in the moonlight, the yellow in them shining like an animal’s. “Of course they do. Even when a fallen tribe comes to us with enemies chasing them, we are still always grateful to see our people. Uryans and mystics are a people together.”

She smiled as he called them by their proper name instead of forest-gods. He was trying to learn, and he was trying to be considerate. “I… am glad,” she said, not sure what else to say. She did not feel that particular sensation about the Uryans when she had visited with them, but based on what she had observed, she did not disbelieve it. Besides, with how I get when there are… war tactics? involved, there was every reason to be afraid of me being a sleeper.

He was silent for a moment with her. “So, the problem with the dragon is that she is strong. She is on the look out for you because she knows… about another dragon named Kaylar?”

Rosalea nodded.

He smiled, “Uryans wander for a living, but you have met more people and been more places than I can imagine. So, we cannot fight the dragon outright. The mystics have an ancient treaty with the town and will not fight within it, but fighting outside of it is fair game. Fighting either inside or outside of it is a problem because of exploding arrows with poison and regular arrows with poison.”

Rosalea nodded.

“So… there is this Ieshan, uh, I am guessing slave, who has developed a really good tactic of, well, fighting us. But, maybe we can get something useful. But he starts with fire to drive people out of the tents and shelter.” He cleared his throat. “I… am not comfortable starting a fire, but, I am wondering if we can do something to get the people out of the town. Surely mystics have plenty of tools to capture them if we coordinate some of these powers.”

“They have not been easy to coordinate so far,” Rosalea said softly, “but I think you are right.” After that, he was quiet, just sitting with her and petting Nauru in her lap a little. The closeness made her want to lean into him, but she was afraid of the feeling, so she did not move. She focused instead on his ideas as she stared out at the trees highlighted blue by the moon’s light. Even if we have to use fire, it might still be worth it to try something.