Diana’s maow woke me.

“Mm?” I rolled over, blinking in the dark.

Lear was still asleep, likely desensitized to hearing cats maow at night, thanks to Lou’s fairly frequent nighttime serenades.

But Diana rarely bothered me at night, so I made myself stir.

“What’s up, miss?” I yawned. “Do you need to go potty?”

Another, more insistent maow.

I went and held a branch away from the door so she could leave to do her business.

But she didn't, and instead hissed at the open entryway.

Blinking, I let the branch fall back into place. “Diana, what’s wrong?”

She maowed again, now urgently.

The unease and tension that I’d been able to forget suddenly filled me again.

Hurrying to Lear’s sleeping form, I shook him, “Lear, I need you to translate!”

“Mmm…what’s up?” He was very cute when he was sleepy, but I didn’t let myself focus on that.

“What’s Diana saying?”

She maowed again, the fur along the ridge of her back raised, and her tail fluffy.

Lear was sitting up in an instant, his second send of eyes flicking open immediately, “What?!”

Another maow as he looked around wildly. Diana raced across the tent and hopped into her basket.

“Lear, what’s wrong?!”

He motioned for me to be quiet, and began to gather our things, looking around constantly as he did.

So it was some kind of emergency. I threw what I could into my own pack, and grabbed the water skins.

“Out of time!” he cried suddenly, tossing the pack onto his back, grabbing Diana’s basket, scooping me up, and launching us all through the roof of the shelter, his arm over me to protect me from the heavier branches.

A squeak of surprise escaped me as we flew high into the air, then his wings caught the air and we surged further upwards.

Much to my terror, I saw shapes around our campsite as I looked down, illuminated by the embers of our fire, which had burned very low.

Except there was nothing to illuminate, really.

They were seemingly made of pure darkness. But instead of being flat on the ground, like the shadow demon had been, these were standing upright, and each had glowing red eyes.

Some reached up towards us, shadowy arms stretching and growing as they did. I heard the hiss of terrible voices crying something about…starlight? It was hard to tell between my yelp of fear and the wind as it rushed by.

Lear shot us forward with a great flap of his large wings, leaving the terrifying creatures behind.

“What were those?!” I cried.

“Shades!”

“What?!”

“They’re a type of demon!”

“Oh gods!” I gasped.

There was a maow from the basket.

“She said that they used to hunt your family, and it’s why they had to move around so much.”

“Oh goodness!”

My little familiar maowed a few more times. “She said she thought that the shades had just given up chasing your family, since it had been so long since she’d seen any, and they were able to settle down like they did.” He then spoke for himself, “I guess you didn’t know about the protective runes?”

A sad, but confirmatory maow was the response.

“So it’s not magic or something like that they’re after? Is it specifically my family?” I asked.

“Yes.” Lear translated.

Panic flooded me. “What are we going to do?!”

“We’re going to continue on. We were able to eat and get some good rest. It'll have to do. I’ll fly us for as far as I can manage. Hopefully we’ll be pretty close by then, and can hurry to the temple. Once we’re there, we’ll regroup and make more plans.” Lear told me, his tone firm and reassuring.

“O-okay.”

We flew along in silence for a long time. Dawn began to break across the sky. The sunrise was magnificent, but did little to ease my fear and concern.

“Diana, why do the shades hunt my family?”

A set of maows, “She doesn't know. She said she doesn't understand violence, and just wishes it would stop.”

“Me too, Annie, me too.” I sighed.

I could hear Diana’s purrs from the basket, and managed a smile, knowing she was doing what she could to comfort me, even from her basket.

I still had more questions though, so I asked, “My aunt left, she wanted to travel…I think she’s the only one of us Starlings that ever really left the area within the mountains, at least that I know of, anyways. Do you…think the shades got her? She did seem to just vanish.”

There was a pause before the familiar replied. “She says it’s possible, but shades weren’t the only ones who hunted your family. It could have been any number of foes that made her disappear.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell us this?”

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“Again, she thought that the family’s foes had finally given up. It could just as easily be that your aunt got lost at sea, or some other unrelated tragedy occurred. But now she thinks that, if the shades haven’t given up their long-held grudge against your family, then the others haven’t forgotten either. She says she really had thought, given all the time that’s passed, that they’d all given up or forgotten.”

“That’s…really not good.” Bless Diana, but she was just a cat. Just like she didn’t understand violence, she didn't really understand hate or grudges.

“No, it’s not.” Lear said. This was his own opinion, not a translation for Diana.

“Maybe we should go back, Lear.” I murmured.

“At this point, we’re closer to the temple than to the mountains and their runes. It makes more sense for us to regroup there than to try to make it back.”

“But then we’ll be that much further away from safety!”

“It’s going to be okay, Winna. We’ll get Diana all healed up, get some rest, and then we’ll make our way home.”

“How, though?”

“Well, shades aren’t known for being particularly bright. So we’ll play it safe and take turns on watch so they can’t sneak up on us again.”

“I…I guess. What if they find us when we’re in the temple? Before I can pray and ask the goddess to heal Annie?”

“A demon couldn't go into the temple. It’s hallowed ground.”

“Good.”

“Besides, they really only prefer to come out at night, given their nature. I doubt they’ll show their faces or bother us during the day, they’re usually too sleepy and sluggish, so we’ll be able to slip out of the temple easily enough, provided the sun is up. Although it might put us a little later getting home than we’d hoped, but that’s okay. Better than getting killed by shades.”

“I’ll say.” I muttered.

“Just so you know, I’ve been in worse scrapes than this before, and I’m still around.” He told me, smiling grimly.

“I don’t really see how anything could be worse than what we’re dealing with right now.” I frowned.

“What happened with Veris was a worse situation than this. That I survived was down to pure dumb luck, if I’m being honest.” he shook his head. “I sensed his presence just a moment before his poisoned barb hit me, and changed into a cat. He assumed the poison would have just as much effect on me. He’s not able to change shape, so he didn’t know that it wouldn't affect me nearly as much in cat form, and thought I’d be trapped in that form, and die. So he just went on his way, and I escaped and wandered long and far before I found my way to you.”

“That was a lucky break.” I told him, shaking my head in near disbelief.

“Yeah, and I managed to survive.” he told me lightly.

I frowned, confused for a moment, then rolled my eyes, “Only you could flirt at a time like this!”

“It’s my job!” he laughed.

-

Lear flew for hours, forcing himself on when even I could see he was exhausted. He’d started to waver a little in the air, which was concerning, as I didn’t want to fall from the sky, whether from him losing his grip on me due to sheer exhaustion, or all of us falling from the sky for the same reason.

“Lear, just land. We can take a little bit of time and eat, and then walk the rest of the way as fast as we can manage. I’m hungry, and you’ve got to be starving. I’m sure Diana is hungry too.”

A soft maow from the basket confirmed it.

“Alright.” He sighed, and slowly began to descend.

Soon, we were standing amongst the trees of the forest again. It stretched for miles and miles around us.

“Do you know what sort of place the temple is in? Like, is there a town somewhere? I feel like we’ll see it soon, if we’re getting as close as I think we are.”

“The pixie said it’s in the forest. There aren’t any towns around here for miles and miles.”

“I wonder why it’s here, then.” I frowned.

“Who knows? There’s a chance your family built it. Although why build it outside the runes of protection?” he mused.

“I doubt we’ll ever find out.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Unless you know, Diana?”

She shook her head.

“I didn’t think so.” I shrugged, setting my pack down and pulling out the food.

“Let’s walk and eat.” Lear told me.

“That’s fine. Unless you’re too tired? You flew for a very long time.”

“It’s my wings that are tired, my legs are fine.” he shrugged. “You should ride in your basket still though, Diana. We’ll make better time. Is that okay?”

She hopped obligingly back into her basket in response.

“Thank you.” he nodded.

After making sure Diana had food, Lear and I took some bread and cheese and began to walk. I had Diana’s basket in the crook of my arm, leaving my hands free to hold my food.

“So, since we’ve never been to this temple before, and the pixie only told you where it was, how are we going to find it in this enormous forest? I know we’re probably getting close.”

Lear grinned, “Give me a little more credit than that! The pixie did show me where it was on the map, and I took some time to find its general location on the map, after you’d gone to sleep back at the cottage.”

“Well good.” I sighed. “You haven’t looked at it at all during the trip, I didn’t realize you had it.”

“I memorized where it was easily enough. It’ll still be tricky in the forest, given there aren’t really any landmarks here, but given that we are pretty close just by how much we’ve traveled, I’ll probably be able to feel it soon. I know we’re going in the right direction.”

“You’ll be able to feel it?”

“Hallowed ground is magical in its own right, I’ll be able to feel it.” he nodded.

“Huh. That’s interesting. Have you been to many temples before?” I’d never been to a single one.

“No, I’ve never really been inside one. Temples aren’t really my thing. I always waited outside while whoever I was with took care of their business.”

“So I take it you didn’t go for worshiping purposes?” I smiled a little.

“No, I’m not particularly religious.” he shook his head, “Never found any specific god or goddess who wanted to claim me, or me them.”

“I see.” I nodded.

“Besides, the fey gods are not nearly so kind or peaceful as a goddess like Marna. She’s primarily a goddess of humans, from what I understand. It’s hard to want to worship a god or a goddess that isn’t particularly benevolent, but I could see myself wanting to deal with her.”

“You don’t have to say that just to be nice!” I laughed.

Lear smiled, “I am actually serious. She seems alright, as far as they go. Although I’m interested to know why the power waned.”

“I do think it had to do with the family starting to marry people without the gift. Which makes sense, given the gift was hereditary.”

“Fair enough.”

“In some ways, the gift is also a bit of a curse.” I mused. “We can’t die of old age, but certain illnesses and injury certainly can. All of my ancestors died really unpleasant deaths, if I’m being honest. My brothers are lucky, in some ways. They’ll probably have very long lives, yes, but they will eventually die of old age…if nothing else gets them first, and they're sensible, so I expect nothing else will.”

“One can only hope.” Lear murmured. I knew that fey most often died from illness or injury as well, given they had the same immortal lifespan.

“I do hope. I wish peaceful deaths for them, surrounded by loved ones. I’ll live to see it, too. Unless something happens to me in the meantime.”

“Don’t talk like that.” He said quickly, now upset. “You’ll live a long, fruitful, and happy life. And I’ll be with you for it, for as long as you can stand me, alright?”

I blinked, then smiled at him, “Alright.”

“Maybe someday we’ll get married and have kids. Wait, if you want kids. Do you want kids? We don’t have to have them if you don’t want them.”

“I’m not opposed to kids, no.” I shook my head, “I just figured it would be better for me to stay single and let the bloodline die, since any kids I have would likely not have the gift, either.”

“The good news is that, if we were to have kids, they’d be half-fey, and that means not only would they be ridiculously cute, with my eyes and your hair, or my wings and your fingers and toes, or my scales and your freckles, but,” he grinned broadly now, “they’d also have magic of their own. It’d be different than yours of course, and more like mine, but they’ll have just as long a life as any fey person.”

I blinked, then smiled. “You know, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I knew you hadn’t. That’s why I brought it up.”

“Then maybe that wouldn't be so bad.” I murmured.

“I think it’d be kinda cool.” he agreed.