Cinza left early the next morning to meet with Rufus and Captain Hoskins down in the camp, with only a quick kiss goodbye to Ruby. She slept in for once, when normally she'd be out early practicing her magic, or helping tend the garden, or checking the spell perimeter, or any other of a hundred tasks she now had living in the Greywood.

  Today I'm just a kid again, sleeping in on a holiday. Except for all that stuff I did last night…

  Ruby giggled aloud. She finally decided after many minutes lounging in their blankets that she'd work on her next art piece. It would be a good break from her usual chores, and she didn't have anything assigned today. Plus, it would brighten up Cinza's day when she came back.

  It's the one thing I'm really good at… I wish there were more things besides art. Cinza's so good at everything. I don't know how she does it. It's like she's lived ten lives instead of just one.

  Ruby got up and went outside. She'd mostly finished work on their own cabin, and had since moved on to decorating other parts of their home. Now, she was adding flourishes to the bridge which crossed the stream flowing through their clearing.

  The stream had been Aaron's creation, and the bridge Yusuf's. Their clearing did not originally have a stream, but Rufus had pointed them to a nearby creek, and Aaron dug out a path for the water to flow which wouldn't disrupt the local ecosystem. Ruby had named it Aaron's Creek in his memory.

  Yusuf had designed and built the bridge, a strong and sturdy structure that looked like a perfect meld between nature and human-lead construction. After he was done, Ruby set to work on it—tiny slashes of magic to draw her designs permanently into the wood without diminishing its strength or vitality.

  Vitality. Because they're alive. Like we all are.

  The bridge was alive. It wasn't simply a meld with nature visually—the bridge was sustained with life by the forest beneath it, as if it had actually grown into that shape. This was Cinza's innovation, developed based on Aaron's theories. The bridge was alive, as many of the newer structures in their home were.

   Not our home though… Cinza and I built that ourselves, before we invited the others to come live out here with us.

  "Excuse me."

  She'd been on a short break, watching the clouds go by while waiting for the next design to pop into her head. Ruby looked up, surprised. She knew the voice, obviously… but his tone was far from anything she recognized.

  "...Hi," she said.

  Makoto shifted awkwardly on his feet. They were below one side of the bridge, so Ruby could take a bit of shelter from the sun. Ruby was aware of him approaching, but hadn't thought anything of it. After all, beyond Cinza, she probably spent the most time with him of anyone in the Greywood. Totally normal, except that his demeanour screamed anything but.

  "Do you have a minute?"

  "Sure." Ruby patted the grass next to her, half-in and half-out of the winter sunlight. It wasn't freezing in the Greywood, thanks to their magic, though it still certainly felt like winter. The sun helped a lot. "What's up?"

  "I have been thinking a lot." He sat down in front of her, cross-legged on the grass.

  "Always a good thing," said Ruby, smirking.

  Makoto smiled. "A lot happened last year. Now it's twenty-nineteen and a lot's going to happen this year too."

  "Well yeah, it's a whole year. A lot happens in a year." Ruby frowned. He's being weird… "You okay, Makoto?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, that sounded more like you." She grinned. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

  "Yes. For a long time now, but I was…" He trailed off, clearly working up the courage to say something. It took her a moment to remember what that would be.

  Ruby tensed up. Oh… oh no. Not this. Not… not now.

  "I love you, Ruby."

  Against her wishes, against the compassion and sympathy screaming at her to do otherwise, Ruby's instincts won out. She winced.

  Makoto deflated in an instant. His perfect posture vanished. He looked like Ruby had just kicked him in the gut. In a way, she felt like she had.

  "I'm so sorr—" he started.

  Ruby leapt forward and grabbed his hand. His eyes widened with confusion.

  "Don't you dare be sorry," she snapped.

  "What?"

  "Just… just don't." Ruby didn't know what she wanted to say. She'd forgotten that this was probably coming someday. She always knew Makoto had a crush on her, one she didn't think she could reciprocate. She just… didn't see him like that.

  Now, after a perfect day, with a whole year ahead and Cinza already so worried about the future… Ruby just couldn't handle another huge shakeup in her life. Makoto was still watching her, waiting, his eyes plaintive and hopeful and confused.

  "I…"

  "Don't," she said again, standing up. Makoto mirrored her, but after a few moments of trying, Ruby couldn't figure out what else to say. She didn't know how to handle a situation like this—she'd never had a guy ask her out, ever—and worse, this was somebody in her family. Everything about it confused her.

  With what she hoped was an apologetic look, Ruby fled. Makoto stayed where he was, stuck under the bridge like a doll who'd been abandoned in the yard.

  She ran across the meadow and plunged into the trees on the opposite side. She wanted to lose Makoto's gaze, then circle around and find someone who she could talk to, someone who might actually understand her confusion.

  It couldn't be Cinza. Ruby already knew exactly how she'd react, and she loved Cinza for it, but it wasn't what she needed in that moment. She needed someone who could relate to what she was feeling. For lack of better options, she needed the next youngest member of their home—Nikki Parsons.

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  Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be home. She wasn't in her own cabin, nor was she in Josh's. Ruby searched, and felt out with magic, tried to trace her relationship—though of course, the connections didn't really work like that and couldn't be used to locate people—and Nikki was just… nowhere to be found.

  Where could she be? She never leaves the Greywood. The first time she ever left was last night, and just for the performance!

  "Ruby!"

  Yusuf was calling out to her, half-panicked. She practically skidded to a halt, realizing just how insane she looked. He hurried over to her, dropping the bundle of supplies in his arms—he'd just been down to the camp, and she'd run into him on his way back.

  "Nothing's wrong," she said quickly.

  Yusuf paused for a moment, glancing around. "Something is clearly wrong, my friend. Can you tell it to me?"

  "I…" Ruby winced. "I think I might've screwed something up."

  "What are you meaning?"

  It started to spill out, words flowing from Ruby's mouth almost without effort. Yusuf was just someone so kind, someone she trusted implicitly, and also someone who she felt would never judge her for what she said. Of everyone in their family beyond Cinza, Yusuf was the one she felt the most secure with.

  "Makoto told me he loved me and I just like… completely rejected him."

  Ruby shook her head, crimson hair flying everywhere. Her voice and her affectations slipped away completely. Suddenly, she felt like a girl again, like a teenager without a clue who didn't spend every night in the bed of the leader of the new world.

  "I knew he had a crush on me but I was hoping it would just… go away. I didn't know what to do about it. I really like him, but I've never like, liked guys. I don't know if I ever could. Besides, I love Cinza. I mean, that doesn't mean I can't love somebody else, but I don't know… I just don't know," she trailed off.

  By now, she and Yusuf were sitting on a comfortable overturned tree, right next to each other. Yusuf put an arm around her shoulders, a gentle side-arm hug that was just enough affection to bring her back to earth again.

  "If I tell him I like him too, then it becomes a whole thing," said Ruby, reasoning it out with Yusuf as a sounding board. He hadn't said anything yet, and Ruby wasn't even looking at him to see his reactions, but it made her feel better. "If I tell him no, then it makes everything more complicated when we go out. He's gotta be there to protect Cinza when she goes into the old world, and now he's gonna be thinking about this and what if it screws him up and… what if I screwed everything up?"

  "Hd'e, tfly," said Yusuf softly. Ruby had no idea what he'd said, of course—and even in her current state, reminded herself to ask Nikki about a spell to translate languages sometime—but his tone helped her calm down again. "Be still. You are with family."

  "I never really, you know…" Ruby trailed off again. "I never dated anybody. I couldn't… 'cause of my dad."

  She winced, but of course, everybody knew about her dad now, thanks to Nate Price and the theft of Cinza's books. The world wasn't sure what to believe yet, but among her family, Ruby had seen nothing but support—which she'd always been split on, between gratitude for their love, and pain at the memories which resurfaced, a shame she'd wanted to stay buried.

  "The only girls I ever, you know…" Ruby shivered slightly—they were outside the Greywood proper, and the enchantments to keep it warm didn't quite extend out this far. Beyond that, she was suddenly uncomfortable to talk about this with Yusuf, somehow. "The only girls I ever kissed," she whispered the last few words, "were in secret… or you know, they were supposed to be."

  "But now you live as an adult and you no longer concern these things," said Yusuf.

  "...Yeah." Ruby nodded. "Now I'm worried about… well, everything else."

  Yusuf smiled. "It is good you think of us all. But of this I think you may worry too much. Makoto is not a weak man as your father or others in this world. He can understand being rejection."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I would let him be still for some while," said Yusuf, the perpetual peaceful smile filling his expression, "but yes, I do think he will be contented. He has a great inner peace."

  "So do you," said Ruby, a touch of jealousy in her voice. "I wish I could be so calm and smart and kind."

  "Ah, but then we would all be quiet and speak only when we were spoken to!" cried Yusuf, his eyes sparkling with mirth. "We need young women like you to make sure we are not to stick in the ground and never do anything! Live! Be joyful! Fill your life with love!"

  Ruby giggled. "That sounds kinda crazy."

  Yusuf nodded. "You are in a place where crazy is normal. If you were one of my daughters in my old home, I might speak different."

  She leaned against him, liking the nice solid warmth of his body. It gave her a sense of protection very different than what she felt with Cinza, but still comforting. "...Did you ever talk about things like this with them?"

  Yusuf gently shook his head. "Ah, but they were too young to have started such things. I would hope they might turn out like you."

  "...Like me?" asked Ruby, surprised. "Even though I… you know… I'm not normal?"

  "What is normal?" asked Yusuf pointedly. "Are you confident in that what you love? If yes, then let Allah and 'iilhat alramadi determine the rest. They decide what is the normal, not us who do not to understand the life mystery." His eyes twinkled. "You know, my Nadia was very convinced she would once have a castle to herself, and drew this castle many times. It always showed two princesses in the throne room."

  Ruby giggled. "What did you say?"

  "I said I looked forward to the meeting of them!" roared Yusuf with a laugh. Ruby nearly jumped, but it turned into a laugh afterwards, as Yusuf's attitude was just so infectious. "Amelia was confused, but Nadia was not. She was confident it would have the two princesses. This is what I am most proud of. My daughter was most confident. I think that is what you are too, and what you need now."

  "What I need is… confidence?"

  "You have always been the most confidence of anyone I know," said Yusuf firmly. "Now it has slipped. You must determine what it is you want, and proceed with that confidence you trust."

  The wind blew through the trees around them. In the distance, she could hear the frogs in the creek, faint through the thick underbrush of the forest. Ruby nodded. "Okay."

  "So what have you decided?" asked Yusuf.

  "Wait… already?" She shook her head. "I hadn't thought about it yet."

  "Confidence, abnty!" Yusuf rocked back and forth with her on the log, his huge arm still draped across her shoulders. "What is in your heart about this boy?"

  "He's a friend," said Ruby firmly, the first thing that popped into her mind.

  He nodded. "That is not a strong reaction."

  "So…"

  "I would say that you have an answer to your question." Yusuf hugged her tight for a moment, then let go. "Stick to your confidence. It does serve you well. Makoto will understand."

  Ruby got to her feet, turned, and hugged Yusuf full-on. For some reason she couldn't quite understand, she felt like crying. It wasn't a sad sort of crying either—if anything, it was joyous and relieved. It didn't feel related to Makoto, though she was relieved she'd found some advice from someone she trusted.

  No… it was something else. Something about Yusuf.

  "Thank you," she murmured, her head laid against his shoulder.

  He patted her on the back. "I hope you do find that peace you want."

  Together, they began the trek back into the Greywood, Yusuf's supplies slung over his back. Their conversation turned far more banal after that, a catching-up from the goings-on in the camp and beyond. Yusuf was one of those who traveled regularly, though he never showed the slightest inclination to leave like Josh always grumbled about.

  As she returned to the clearing, she saw Makoto—and to her relief, he wasn't under the bridge anymore. He'd moved into the garden and was working alongside Matthew Wilkins to grow a fresh batch. They supplied the entire camp now, after all, and they'd had to develop more efficient and higher-yield designs for their spells.

  Makoto had actually ended up contributing the most to that project, as his college studies in mathematics and engineering had developed a great analytical mind. Seeing him working on it again right after their earlier encounter was a huge weight off her shoulders.

  She'd go tell him more firmly, apologize, figure out where they stood from here. Confusion and strife could get them hurt in a battle someday—and Ruby had no doubt more battles would come. She took a few steps forward…

  ...and stopped, because Cinza had just rushed through the trees, her eyes blazing.

  "Makoto!" she called.

  He snapped upright at the echoing voice, amplified to reach him easily across the clearing. Ruby froze, Yusuf right alongside her, confused. Cinza started toward her, and Makoto reached them at almost the same time.

  "We need to go," said Cinza abruptly.

  "Where?" asked Makoto, while Ruby began to summon their travel things out of their cabin—just barely within reach. They rushed across the open meadow to land in her waiting palms, except for her scarf, which she made wrap itself around her neck.

  Cinza's voice was low, laced with suppressed anger and frustration. "To speak with Rachel DuValle."