The little dragoness picked at her food for a moment before starting. “Well, there’s legends about this forest. They say that this darkness ain’t natural, and that once it was just a normal forest fulla normal monsters. But then the fairies came, and their Queen, the Lady of Night, did somethin’ to it.”

Timothy thought that over. The Deepshadow fairies were divided into 3 tribes— the Nyxtal, the Vynhan, and the Mientofani. They did have queens, but there was no one queen of the fairies; just 3 powerful fairies who were constantly messing with one another. Which is lucky for the rest of us, cuz it keeps them too busy to cause too much trouble. “Go on…?”

“Well, they said that the fairy queen took her sword, the Edge of Night, and cut out part of the night sky, and covered the forest in it. That shroud made the forest the Deepshadow.”

As far as Timothy knew, that was wrong. The shroud of the Deepshadow was projected by the Shatham trees, as part of a nature magic process. Timothy bit his tongue hard. It wasn’t that fairies doing weird stuff was too much for him to believe, but this sounded like a bedtime story. “I-I see… And you came looking for the Queen?”

Meri nodded. "Yeah. They say that she's still here, waiting in the heart of the forest for someone to be brave enough to seek her out. She'll give them one final test, and if you succeed, she'll give you her own sword as a mark of bravery; the Edge of Night."

…And the fair folk would never give a gift away for free. Not without enough strings attached to tie down a True Dragon. Oh, Meri… “That sounds awful dangerous.” He said neutrally. How the heck am I gonna get you out of here? “Um… and your parents were okay with this?”

“Aw, they don’t even know I’m here.” Meri perked up, as Timothy stifled a groan. “I mean, I figured I’d just fly my broom to the center of the forest, and then fly out. Easy!”

The wolf pointed his spoon at her.“Until you got attacked.”

Meri winced. “W-well, yeah. But I’m tough enough!” The dragoness set her jaw. “I gotta be!”

“Why do you want this sword so badly? No offense, Meri, but you don’t look big enough to even swing one, yet.”

“The Edge of Night can cut the darkness outta people's hearts, like it did from the sky! Or that’s what the stories say.”

Timothy just stared and tried to find a polite way to say but that’s dumb. “Meri, that’s fairy tale stuff.”

“Nuh-uh! Psyche magic exists, right?” She said stubbornly. “It isn’t any weirder than that!”

Ugh, she… actually kind of had a point there. Not that he believed for a second that a fairy had ‘cut down the night,’ but a sword that can cut apart the heart— emotions, mind? Both?— of a person was exactly the kind of crap a fairy would make. Oh man, I hope my gut is right and this is all make-believe. “Let’s… table that for now. That still doesn’t answer my question, though. What do you want to do with that thing?”

And that’s when she sprang to her feet, fist held high, and declared, “I’m gonna turn Mayor Locke good!” Timothy must have looked unimpressed, because after a moment she huffed, thrust her fist up again, and shouted “And the Vol, too!”

The wolf froze. His heart just plain stopped for a moment, and he felt his blood run cold. If he still had a tail, it woulda shot right between his legs. “What!?”

———

He couldn’t move. The ropes that bound him to the altar were too tight. The night air was freezing. But all around him were torches, held by people who were supposed to be his friends. The drums pounded a frantic beat. Their voices rose and fell in a chant that filled his heart with dread.

He didn’t know what they’d done to his family. But he could smell smoke, mixed in with the stink of their anger, their hate, their… their fear. Why were they afraid of him!? He couldn’t ask, because his mouth was muzzled. He tried to call the magic, but he couldn’t move enough to call more than a small shower of sparks, and they’d clubbed his head so hard he’d seen stars.

Tears stung his eyes. He couldn’t see their faces. He saw knives flash in the darkness, and the circle converged on him, blocking out the night. Their chanting called up something from within them, something that burned in the night, something that made his fur stand on end and his heart freeze in his chest. A foulness, an evil made of countless smaller evils, that swarmed around them like locusts, blotting out the world. Uncle Charon yanked Timothy’s tail up, raising a gleaming knife…

The knife fell, and Timothy began to scream.

———

Wisps of smoke curled up from Timothy’s clenched hands. Stay calm, stay calm! His clan brand blazed to life angrily. The pile of scar tissue where his tail’d once been throbbed with pain. He took a deep, painful breath. But the calm he was scrabbling for wouldn’t come. His people had taken everything from him. His tail, his face, his family. Even though he’d been born one of them, one of the tribe. Even though he’d been diligent and loyal and everything else they’d ever wanted. The moment the brand appeared, they had taken him, and tried their best to kill him.

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“Um, Timothy? A-are you okay?” Meri’s voice snapped him back to the present. The little dragoness was looking at him with concern. “Y-you look awful pale.”

“I’ll be fine.” He said softly. “Are the Vol… around, here?”

The question seemed to surprise Meri. “I, um, yeah. Fresa— the town I came from— is right near the border and stuff, and there’s a Vol town called Jawbone Ridge not too far off.”

Damn it. Timothy took a shuddering breath. He tried to stop his trembling with a huge gulp of tea, like it’d warm up his frozen insides. It didn’t work. Even years after his escape, the thought of his old culture overwhelmed his defenses. He really thought he was farther from the border…

And he could tell Meri was putting two and two together. She gasped. “Wait, you’re a wolf— You’re Vol, right? And you’ve got that mark…” Meri looked up at him with worried eyes. “They did something awful to you, didn’t they?”

The witch sighed. Well, she already figured it out. It’s no good lying now. “Yeah, they did.” He said quietly. “Many of the bad kindre I mentioned were Vol.”

“…Is that why you live alone out here?”

“Something like that, yeah.” He didn’t want to think about it further. There was a long pause.

Then Meri slammed her cup down, making him choke on his tea. “Then that’s another reason for me to get the Edge of Night! Mostly I wanted it to fix Locke—“

“Who?”

“—But maybe I can use it to make the Vol nice too! It’s the best plan!” Determination blazed in her voice like fire. “It’d fix everything!”

I’ll have to ask about this Locke later. Timothy was slowly coming back to himself, and he was way more worried about this so-called plan than before. The witch took a long, slow sip of his tea to collect his thoughts. Those were, of course, mostly a brew of worry and pity for the girl in front of him. Anger at whoever had started that silly legend. And a tired, heavy thought: how was he going to convince her to leave if almost getting eaten hadn’t?

The fact was, the girl before him was just that— a little girl who’d latched onto a fairy tale, and made some seriously bad decisions as a result. Ones motivated by… justice? Or something? But bad decisions nonetheless. Meri slowly deflated and sat back down, not quite meeting his gaze. “You’re gonna tell me to go home, aren’t you.”

“Well, yes. I kind of have to.” Timothy set his mug down and stared her down. “You’re way too young for this… plan of yours, you realize?”

“My sis was knocking out teenagers when she was ten!” Meri boasted. “And I’m a dragon like her. I can do this!”

Okay, then I guess it’s time to play town witch. He’d overheard gran do it a few times, and she’d taught him the basic strategy. Look for the gaps in their defenses, then attack. He took a deep breath. “Meri, you know those Humoganths back there? They’re far from the most dangerous thing in here. I’d say they’re about middle of the pack.” The dragon froze. “And I had to bail you out. And I must remind you, even as a witch who’s on okay terms with the ‘ganths, we still had to run away."

“W-well, that’s, um…”

“And we didn’t fight them because they would have won. And that was just three among hundreds in this forest. Along with Curgars and Nightmares and Arkhamids and worse.” He paused to take a deep breath. Control. “And Meri, I’ve lived here for seven years, and I still go out of my way to keep my head down.”

Meri had grown pale slowly as he ran down the list. He didn’t know how many she recognized, but it was apparently enough. “E-even with all your witch magic?”

“Even so.” He could put up a terrific fight, but just one wrong move and he’d just be worm food. The witch took another drink of his tea, trying to look calm and collected. “You’re talking about rushing right into a fight with things I tend to avoid unless I’m bearing gifts an’ ready to talk fast.”

“B-but… if I get the Edge of Night…?” Her voice was suddenly tiny. And that hurt to hear.

But he needed to make his point, like a witch. “Meri, do you even know how to use a sword? It’s harder than it looks. And I know you don’t know Psyche magic. I only know how to block it, and I’m willing to do some crazy alchemy. Psyche magic is terrifying and dangerous, even in the hands of an expert. In the hands of amateur? I don’t wanna think about the awful things it could do to someone.”

Meri swallowed hard. “It’s… really that bad?”

“Meri, Psyche magic is restricted for a reason. And that’s all assuming you could ever find the thing.”

“It’s at the heart of the forest!” Meri protested, but weakly. “I just gotta head north!”

“Alright. So which way’s north?” Timothy asked pointedly, and she flinched. When she didn’t answer, he added, “And the heart of the forest is beyond dangerous.”

“Why… why’s that?”

“The heart of the forest is fairy country. And the tribes don’t take kindly to trespassers.” Timothy grimaced. “They’re dangerous, they’re unpredictable, they eat people— and they think they’re funny. I’ve run into them before, and you’re lucky you didn’t on your way here. The fairies are not nice spirits. And they don’t give gifts, so even if the sword exists…” he winced at the hurt look in her eyes, “You’re not getting it. More likely they capture you and make a toy of you.”

“Y-you could help me!”

“You think I can fight a swarm of fairies?” Timothy shuddered again. “Meri, they’d eat me alive if I was lucky, and do something way, way worse if I’m not. And in case the brand didn’t clue you in, betting on my luck is a terrible idea. No, Meri,” he shook his head slow for emphasis, “You gotta leave. You seem like a sweet kid. This ain’t a good place for you.”

Meri hugged herself with her long tail, and Timothy suddenly felt guilty. Had he been too harsh…? He'd tried to talk to her like his mom would have, or even his gran in a serious moment. But maybe that was the wrong thing to do? She was just a little kid. “But… but what about the queen?”

“Meri,” he said softly, “There is no fairy queen of the Deepshadow. There’s 3 queens for three tribes, and they hate each other. Pup, you’ve been had.”

Meri whimpered, and suddenly looked like a heavy weight had fallen on her. The little dragoness seemed to curl up on herself tightly, then: “I knew this was a stupid idea.” Then, Timothy was horrified to hear her sniffle. Oh, no, he had gone too far! “I just wanted to do something like my sis would do…”

“Your sister…?”

Meri sniffled again. “She’s super tough. I bet she coulda made it to the Heart, no sweat.”

Timothy sighed, but smiled sadly at her. “You are pretty tough for a kid, Meri. But I think your family would want you to come home safe more than any magic sword.”

“Let’s say we get you home, alright?”

“…okay.”