Hina wasn't going to pass up the chance to watch someone else perform a working, no matter how irritating they were.

The blonde girl walked to a point around ten paces from the fire, then stopped. Hina, Kai and Bean were sitting around the fire while they watched. The remains of the game bird that Bean had picked over were scattered behind Olivia. Hina felt a hint of something stirring, or maybe she was imagining it.

Olivia walked at a snail's pace around the campsite. Behind her right foot, a line appeared on the ground, like she was dragging something invisible. The line only moved when Olivia moved. Hina couldn't see any mechanism for it. Was that force? An intangible, metaphysical force?

All the while, the almost imperceptable stirring continued. Like the faintest of breezes on a still day, in contrast with the real breeze that occasionally blew smoke from the fire into her face.

Hina grew frustrated. She couldn't learn anything from this. She'd have to ask questions, and that was awkward. There was a level of curiosity that was normal and appropriate for the person that Hina was pretending to be, but Hina wasn't sure exactly where the line was.

Olivia turned towards them, the circle complete, and gave a little half bow while smiling. "There you have it, one warded campsite."

"Thank you," said Hina. "So it'll wake us if anything crosses the line?"

"Yes, anything bigger than a rabbit. Or if anything physically breaks the line. If your friend here." She nodded towards Bean. "Decided to hop across, that probably wouldn't set it off. If one of the huld stumbles across it—or any other kind of boggle—we'll be up and running for the hills in moments."

"Huld?" asked Kai.

"Big, hairy creatures that look kind of like people. They're sometimes seen in the forests in the valley." She scrunched up her face. "We... don't want to meet one."

"Do they talk?"

"Uh, I don't think so. They eat travellers sometimes."

"Oh."

"How did you draw the line in the dirt?" asked Hina.

"Uh, tiny application of force against the ground while I walked. It's tricky to juggle two workings at once, but I've got the hang of it. It was one of the things I had to master before I was allowed to take this trip."

"Huh. Interesting," Hina said, thinking. Maybe when she was able to try the sigil again, she could try something similar. Writhing lines bloomed within her mind's eye—she dismissed the image. "Well, I am going to bed. Do you have everything you need, Olivia?"

"Yes, I do. Thank you once again, for dinner and for the company."

"You're welcome," said Kai. "Let us know. If you need anything."

Hina set up her blanket and lay down. It was nice to have a little more space, and nice to be full of good food—the taste lingered on her tongue, savoury and delicious.

She felt within herself for power, and found it thrumming there within her chest, a little diminished from the time that had passed since she'd claimed it. She wondered where it went—did it dissipate naturally, or was she holding it wrong? Olivia probably knew, but Hina couldn't ask her.

Hina focused on her boundaries. Olivia must be drawing the line of her ward from within her ambit, meaning that it was much larger than Hina's. She had a long way to go.

Hina's ambit was expanded, if only a little, along her arms and upper torso. She focused on her chest and applied her will to the boundaries between her self and the greater world. She felt the familiar shift.

Focusing on her shoulders, Hina continued, expanding her ambit around her left shoulder and then her right, and then her neck.

Afterwards, she was too tired to continue, but that was enough. She was pleased.

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If her rate of improvement continued, she was only a week or so away from being able to try the first stage of the compression exercise, and then maybe she could try the sigil again. And maybe that would be enough to get them to the academy.

She hoped so.

Bean curled up on her bag. He let out a low chirp.

"Good night, little bird," Hina said softly.

She drifted, and let herself go down into the dark.

In her dream she was with Lagi again. He shouted, and when the knife plunged into his chest, his shouting turned to bells. A ringing cacophony that drowned everything else out.

A bird shrieked, and Hina woke.

Something dark lay on the ground near Hina's blanket, faintly illuminated in the dim Throne-light. She followed the line of it up to a huge shadowy figure that loomed over the campsite.

The bells faded. The ward. Something had broken the ward. Hina's heart raced.

"Wake up! Wake up!" she yelled. "We've gotta go!"

On the other side of the fire, figures were stirring.

The huge shadow sniffed. The noise of it was overwhelming in the quiet of the night. It stepped forward, footsteps shaking the ground under Hina's legs. One leg stood between her and Kai, the other on the other side of the embers of the fire.

Hina snatched up her bag, grabbed Bean and shoved him into the top. He squawked, and Hina had a stab of guilt that she didn't have time for.

The monster reached forward and grabbed at something near the fire, great paw whooshing through the air. There was a sound of tearing and an enormous mouth chewed and swallowed.

Kai and Olivia were up and moving away from the campfire, tiny sihouettes in the moonlight. Hina followed, stumbling over their scattered belongings.

"Hina?" Kai's voice said.

"Right behind you," she said. "Come on, this way—into the forest."

They were moving too slowly. Hina came up from behind them. She grabbed Kai's hand on one side, and Olivia's on the other, and pulled them ahead.

The moonlight was bright enough to avoid the large dark shapes of the trees. Hina stumbled over tree roots and the uneven ground. The most important thing was to get far enough away. If the thing, whatever it was, was occupied with the left overs from their dinner, all the better.

Once they were far enough away, they could find another place to sleep, and Hina would put up her own barrier. Nevermind what Olivia might think. She never should have trusted the girl to protect them in the first place.

Hina stumbled into another clearing. Were they far enough away? Maybe. If the thing wasn't specifically chasing them. Had it noticed them in the first place, or just the food?

It would have to do. Who knew what else they might run into, stumbling around in the dark. She crouched down. The earth shifted under her fingers, rich and soft.

"Huddle up," she said. "I'm going to put up a barrier, but it's going to be small. Smaller than Olivia's ward."

"I beg your pardon?" Olivia's voice said into the darkness.

Hina ignored her. They were standing close together, it would do.

She took off her bag, set it down near Kai. Bean croaked from inside the bag.

Hina took the branch and sat back, cross-legged.

It took her a moment to find the right state of mind to draw power, but when she did, a flood of potentia came to her. Her well filled within moments.

She stood and summoned the patterns for the barrier. They snapped into place within her mind, one after another, with not a line out of place. Projecting her intent through the branch-wand—thankfully, she'd tied it to her bag before she'd slept—she drew her line in the dirt, walking quickly in a small circle around the others.

The edges were close enough that they would have room to lie down with their bags inside the circle, but no more than that.

She completed the working and felt it snap together. Then the exhaustion hit her—a wave that crashed into her and threatened to wash her away. She half-collapsed, sitting down heavily onto the ground inside the circle.

The void pulled at her, trying to drag her down. She was so tired, but she fought it. Fought to stay awake—the monster might find them again, and they might have to run.

Footsteps thudded in the distance. She could feel the vibrations through the ground beneath her. She scooted herself closer to Kai and Olivia, both of them were peering out into the darkness. Hina put her finger to her lips and got a nod from Kai.

The foliage above shifted, and Olivia frown was illuminated. She had a look of concentration on her face.

Hina put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

The other girl looked at her. She looked down at the line around them, just barely visible in the moonlight. Olivia shrugged and her frown relaxed a little.

The footsteps grew closer. A tree branch snapped and something fell to the ground.

Then it was there at the edge of their clearing. A broad silhouette that rose to the height of a tree. The figure snuffled, huge lungs like bellows drawing air from all directions. It turned left and then right—a hint of fur shining in the moonlight.

The footsteps continued, at an angle to them now. The thing crossed the edge of the clearing and passed on into the forest.

Hina huddled inside the barrier, holding Kai and then Olivia close. If it came back, all they could do was run. Its legs must be longer than Hina's whole body. If it saw them, and it wanted them, it would catch them. She shivered in the dark.

The tremors grew fainter, the footsteps fading into the distance.

Hina spent a lot of time that night listening in to the dark. She didn't remember sleeping, but when the light began peeking through the trees and she sat up.

Kai was snoring beside her.

On the other side of Kai, Olivia was lying still. Her eyes were open, her brow furrowed. She sat up, and carefully backed herself up until she was sitting at the edge of the barrier while staying clear of the line itself.

She hugged her knees to her chest. Stared at Hina. "You lied to me," Olivia said.