The next morning, the shop was closed and Leona’s parents were sitting around the kitchen table. Two bags of money were laid out in front of them along with wanted posters of the robbers she caught. Her father had a stern look on his face while Mother tried to hide her shock.

“Leona, what is this?” Mom asked, pulling the poster papers across the table to face her.

Leona froze in the stairwell and gathered her thoughts. She had never earned a bounty before. King Alder moved fast, and just as she had thought, her actions had not gone unnoticed. Surrounded by her parents disapproving faces was her reward.

“Those are wanted posters,” Leona replied simply.

Her father pressed for a better answer and said, “I can see that. Tell me why the bounties have been paid out to you?”

“I know I was out too late last night. I’m sorry, but I saw someone run into some trouble and I knew I could help, so I called on Alder’s vines. Don’t worry, I never got close enough to confront them. I let the vines do all the work,” Leona said, tail curled around her ankle.

Her mother was rubbing her head. Her gray black hair spilled over her stressed face like midnight rain. She stood up and passed a gold coin to Leona. It was like the one she got last night, but this one had Alder’s seal on it, along with the elemental symbol for nature on the back.

“It is my mistake. I should have never sent that tree-man your way. You have the king’s favor now. He does not just give that to any bounty hunter. You used the vines, so he knew it was you,” she said, frustration creeping into her voice. “That scheming man wants to use my daughter!”

Leona’s mouth tightened into a thin slit. It was not the best time to ask about leaving. Her mother had put some trust into the king and Tusund, only to find that they might ask for too much. Then she thought again and realized that there might never be a good time, and that it was better to get the argument out of the way now.

“The king wants to make me into a noble woman,” Leona said, shrinking at the words. “All I have to do is retrieve something for him, but he’s going to let me keep it.”

Leona’s mother looked offended.

Her father crossed his arms and laid back in his chair.

“Alder should be ashamed for taking advantage of a kid from a working family,” she said with conviction that made it easy to imagine her chastising the king himself.

Leona spoke up, saying, “I was training to be a soldier, Mom. As a citizen, I’m not obligated to do any of this. If I continue on my current path, I won’t have a choice. Soldiers don’t get to say no.”

“Why can’t you just run the forge with your father?” she said, upset.

“I don’t want to do that, Mom! That’s why I’ve been trying to find a job. Now I have this amazing opportunity, and you don’t want me to take it?” Leona argued.

To her surprise Leona’s father spoke, “I see my little girl, with wings too big for this house. Dear, I think it’s time we let her forge her own path.”

Mom looked betrayed. Tears were forming under her wrinkled eyes. Dad rose to put an arm around her.

Mom whispered into Dad’s ear, “We should have known. She want’s to fly under the shattered skies.”

“For me and your mother, I want you to use your king’s favor to get this family orbs. I want to be able to talk to you and see you everyday,” Father said, both of them looking at her.

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Of course, Leona never thought to ask, but she knew it would not be hard to get. If Tusund had traveled from overseas, he might already own an orb for communicating with his Chief. Leona would just have to get one to leave at home.

“Don’t worry, I will get one for both of us. I don’t know when we will be leaving. I haven’t spoken to the tree-man that visited us yet,” she said.

“Well, you better get going,” her mother’s voice broke for pushing her away.

~ ~ ~

Leona followed the directions on the card that Tusund gave her and found his friend’s clinic. The clinic was a well-sized building that had vines crawling up the tan wood walls and ivy hanging off the roof. The windows were dotted with rain spots and pollen from the previous night.

She gathered her courage and walked in. A copper bell on the door announced her arrival. Inside there was a curved high-desk where a tree-woman was leafing through some files. To the side of the desk was a waiting room with sickly mages that made her feel like she should be holding her breath. The tree-woman behind the desk looked up from her files, dropping her reading glasses to see her clearly.

“Oh, you are Tusund’s friend, I’ll go get him,” she said.

She disappeared down the hallway and pulled Tusund from one of the rooms. Leona was surprised that they could walk side-by-side with not a single branch bending against the hall's ceiling. The clinic must have been designed with the treatment of dragons and Chlorophanes in mind.

Leona could overhear Tusund talking as he approached, “It’s hard to know for sure, but I think the Chlorophanes have some sort of resistance to it. They can section off the blight and easily remove infected branches.”

“It’s because of the structure of plant cells,” the tree-woman replied. “Humans are not so lucky when dealing with dark magic. We’ll have to share our findings, hopefully….”

When Tusund was standing before her he was dressed like the tree-woman, in a long white coat. He took it off and put it into a small closet behind the desk. Beneath the coat was his usual green-silk clothes. His smile was so wide it looked like a lumber jack had cut into him.

“Leona! I wasn’t sure I would see you. How did you folks take things?” he asked.

“Not well,” Leona replied.

“Sorry to hear,” he said, frowning slightly.

“I’m still going,” Leona reassured him. “They just wanted me to get some orbs for communication, that’s all.”

Tusund’s smiled returned as he said, “Well, that can be arranged. Come with me.”

They left the clinic and walked back towards Vera Fortress. Along the way, Leona had a lot of questions to ask. With a long road ahead of them, Leona hoped to get to know her traveling companion before they left the city.

“Why do you work at the clinic?” she asked first.

“I thought you might ask,” he said walking slowly not to overtake Leona. “When I was a sapling, I was a warrior like many of my tribe. I don’t wish to go into detail, but I soon learned that the people of Verlass were fighting the kinds of monsters that a warrior could not. I decided to go back to school and study medicine in hopes that I could help in that fight.”

Leona questioned further, “Is that why you work with that other doctor?”

“Yes, I am an apprentice under Dr. Cherry. Soon I will be able to practice on my own,” he said, smiling at the little squirrel that ran through his branches.

Knowing that he was skilled with medicine comforted Leona about their journey ahead. If something went wrong, she knew that he would be able to help. Looking up through the canopy above, she also thought of how she could avoid a lot of danger just by staying off the ground. Tusund was a warrior, so he would probably be alright with defending himself.

When they got to the fortress the Chlorophane guards parted their branches again for them. This time, instead of going off to the training grounds as she usually did, Tusund lead her straight to the Fortress doors. Doors almost as big as the ones at the gate shuddered and cracked inwards for them to enter.

The smell of the jungle reached her snout and light brighter than day slid out between the doors. She didn’t know that Tusund was taking her here, but she trusted he knew where he was going. Leona had never been inside Vera Fortress before, but with Tusund by her side, it would only be the first of many new experiences.

“After we get those orbs, we leave tomorrow,” Leona said with confidence.

“The sooner the better,” Tusund agreed, taking her inside.