"Is it a boy or a girl?" asked Kai.

"No idea. Unless you wanna tell us, little bird?" They sat by the fire, waiting for the meat to cook. The forest was still and dark.

The bird perched on Hina's backpack, its head cocked to the side. "Good bird," it said.

"So I figure, neutral names, you know—names that work for both?" Hina said.

"What about... Stanley?"

"Have you ever met a girl named Stanley?"

"Maybe he likes it. Bird?"

The bird croaked.

"Definite no," Hina said.

"You don't know that. Stanley—"

"—what about Lou. Are you a Lou, little bird?"

The bird croaked and then croaked again, muttering under its breath.

"Boo. Terrible name," Kai said. "And he doesn't like it either."

"I'm really not sure it's a he."

"Well, whatever. He's a bird."

"Good bird," the bird said.

"Does he want to be called bird?" Kai asked.

"Good bird."

"We are not calling it bird."

The bird croaked sadly.

"Okay, okay. What about... Bean," Kai said. "You know, with the red feathers? And the black feathers, too."

"Hmm, maybe." Hina looked at the bird. "What do you think?"

The bird croaked.

"Sounds like a no to me. But it's a good idea, what about Ruby?"

The bird preened its feathers.

"Bean?" asked Kai.

"Bean, bean," the bird said. "Good bird."

"Does he understand us?" Kai asked quietly. "It almost sounds like he does."

"It's a bird, Kai. I've read that they can be pretty smart, but he's just copying words and responding to tone of voice—and food, he doesn't really understand what we're saying. Right, Bean?"

"Good Bean."

"Well, that's settled then. Good pick."

Hina turned the meat over the fire. The fat sizzled as it dripped, and her mouth watered from the smell.

"Okay, this is done. Done enough," she said. She lifted the meat off the fire on the spit. "Cut some off for us?" She handed him the knife. "Don't cut too deep, the insides won't be cooked."

Kai cut off a piece for himself, and another for Hina.

Bean sidled up to him, "Good bird?"

"Okay, if you like." He cut another piece. "Careful, it's hot." He put it onto the ground near the bird.

Bean whistled.

Hina put the spit back over the fire where the rest of the meat could cook, and where it would be safe from talking birds.

Burning the tips of her fingers, she took a bite. It was juicy and delicious, with crispy skin. The edge was a little undercooked, but it was the best thing she'd ever tasted.

The beans were next. Hina took the pot from out of her bag, and unclipped the lid. She added some water, and then held up the salt shaker, giving it a careful look before adding two shakes into the pot, one for each of them—talking birds didn't count. She put the pot onto the edge of the fire, onto a couple of pieces of wood that Kai had put there for that purpose—thanks Kai.

She cut off a few more pieces of meat and added them to the pot, as much as she could fit.

"Can you keep an eye on the meat?" Hina said. "Just give it a turn every now and then, yeah? And if it smells like it's burning, it probably is. The fire's way hotter than an oven. Oh, and give the beans a stir occasionally?"

"Got it."

Hina gave him a good long look. Maybe it was uncharitable, but she didn't want to eat burned beans again.

"Really, I've got it."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Hina took her wand from where it was strapped to the side of her bag, then sat down and crossed her legs. She was a little worried about the sounds and smells of the fire. Perhaps she should have set up a barrier before they started cooking? It was just such a pain to be trapped inside a tiny campsite all night.

And she didn't think she could manage setting up a barrier more than once in the same night, not any time soon.

Hina cycled until she was full to brimming, and holding more power than she remembered from last time.

She smiled and stood, branch in hand.

Hina visualised the first pattern of the barrier, the twisted spiral—there were little inward lines along the length of the central whorl that reminded Hina of teeth, and they had to be placed ever so precisely. Even after practicing this almost a dozen times, it still took quite a lot of focus to get the patterns right—to begin with, at least. Once you got started, they took on a kind of life of their own, and you only had to hold them in place and stop them from twisting or changing.

She moved on to the next sign—

"Hello?" a girl's voice called from in the woods behind Hina.

Bean whistled two notes.

"Hello there," Kai said.

Hina dismissed the pattern in her mind. She hadn't committed to the working yet, at least. She tossed the branch towards her bag.

A slim girl walked out of the trees. "May I share your fire?" the girl said. She looked a little younger than Hina. Golden hair fell past her neck, contrasting with her pale blue dress. She had a leather satchel over her shoulder.

Hina looked at Kai, who was already nodding. The girl didn't look like she would murder them in their sleep, and there were two of them and only one of her, after all.

"Of course," Hina said. "Please, be our guest." Hina took a seat near the fire and gestured for the girl to join them.

"Thank you. I'm Olivia."

"Hina."

"Kai."

"Good Bean."

"Oh, you have a bird."

Obviously. "What are you doing in the woods by yourself, Olivia?" asked Hina.

Olivia took a seat on the ground on the other side of the fire, crossing her legs beneath her. "I'm on my way to the city. The academy, do you know of it?"

"That's funny—"

"—The Qalarian Academy?" Hina interrupted.

"Precisely. I'm on my way to study there. Summer intake is in, oh, just under eight weeks."

"Isn't it a long way away?" Hina said.

"Oh, yes. Much too far to walk. But I'm told I'll be able to arrange transport from Blandmanch. It's something of a rite of passage in my family, to make your own way to the academy. I'm confident that I'll be able to figure it out."

"All of 'em?" Kai said. "Your whole family are practitioners?"

"My mother, my father." Olivia's lips quirked. "Her mother and some of her siblings—my uncles and aunts, at the least. I don't know about the rest."

"Interesting."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What about the two of you? What are you doing out here?"

"We're—"

"—on our way to visit family in Blandmanch."

Kai frowned at Hina.

"My uncle and his wife just had a new baby," Hina lied. "We're on our way over there to help out."

"And you're camping in the woods, too! Gosh, that's brave, and very generous." Olivia smiled broadly. "Aren't you lucky that I ran into you both. I happen to know a few tricks, if something stumbles across us in the night."

"Wow, that's great," Hina said, aiming for admiration and not quite getting there. "What can you do?" she asked.

Bean cackled in the background.

"I know a force working that should be sufficient for most of the smaller beasts in the valley. Oh, and I can do an alarm ward when it's time to sleep. If..." She looked at Hina with big eyes. "If you don't mind sharing a campsite?"

"Of course not!" Kai said.

"Turn the meat, Kai," Hina said. "Force, huh. Is that cutting force, or is it more of a bludgeoning kind of thing?"

"Uh, it's a bit tricky to be precise enough to cut—you have to work up to it. I can handle blunt force. A bit like a hammer. And of course, that's what tends to be more useful out here in the wildlands."

"We were just about to eat. Do you wanna join us?" asked Kai.

"That would be lovely, if it isn't too much of an imposition."

"Not at all," Hina said, biting down her irritation about stray rich girls eating their food. But they weren't so low on food that they couldn't share, and they probably had more meat than they could get through before it spoiled. Hina wasn't sure about mechanics of preserving meat outside of a chiller—something about drying? Salt?

Better to share than to let it go to waste. Even if it was annoying.

"We don't have a spare bowl, though," Hina said.

"She can borrow mine," Kai said.

He took the knife and cut a piece of meat off the bird, and brought it over to Olivia. "Here," he said. "The beans will be a while longer."

Olivia took a bite, eating with her fingers. "Oh, that's delicious. What is it?"

"Some kinda bird. We don't know the name," Kai said. He sat back down.

Hina shrugged.

"You hunted this?"

"Hina got it. With a sling I made," Kai said, smiling proudly.

"That's amazing. And it's so good." She ate more. "Where did you say you came from?"

Hina started to answer, but Kai got there first. "Grambe. Little farming town up north."

"Oh my. Now that is a long way—you must have been on the road for a week or more. But why are you in the forest? The road goes all the way to Blandmanch, doesn't it?"

"We ran into some beasts on the road near Brampton, they chased us for a while," Hina said, staring at Kai, hoping he'd get the hint. "We got away eventually." She wished they were sitting at a table, in kicking distance.

"That must have been terrifying. What were they?"

"Wolves, but big. With horns," Kai demonstrated with hands spread on his forehead.

"How scary. How long ago did you say that you last saw them?"

"It's been a couple of days now," Hina said.

"Oh, good." Olivia visibly relaxed. "I'm sure we're no longer in their territory. The bigger beasts—groups or individuals—they normally have a fixed range. They say there are things like bears in these woods, but I haven't seen any. I only left home the day before yesterday, but I haven't seen anything more dangerous than an oversized rabbit. From the stories my mother tells, I expected to be fighting off monsters three times a day, but nothing so far."

"We've had a pretty quiet trip ourselves, all things considered."

"Where did you say you came from?" Kai cut himself another piece of meat and munched on it with his fingers.

"My family's home is in the hills near Knaton."

That set off warning bells in Hina's head.

"Didn't know anyone lived outside of the towns," Kai said, "except for wilders. Isn't it dangerous?"

"We're lucky, I guess. We have big stone walls and my mother and grandmother are there to keep everyone safe if something monstrous comes along. But that hasn't happened in a long time."

"Some of the bigger farms are separate from the towns, too," Hina added.

"Quite right," Olivia said. "And most towns start like that, just a few families working together to make a home in the wildlands. It doesn't happen every day, but it isn't rare, either."

"So they just said 'Okay Olivia, go figure out your own way to the academy' and left you to it?" asked Hina. She wasn't sure she believed it.

"Well, kind of. They had a big checklist that I had to cover first, to prove to them that I could look after myself. But they were very supportive. It's a bit of an adventure."

Hina shook her head. "I think the beans are ready."

"Good bird," said Bean. "Good bird."

"Yes, yes, you can have some too in a minute. Olivia, would you like a bowl?"

"I would be delighted." Olivia passed Hina her bowl.