As the sun began to set, the caravan leader – who they learned was named Dogan –offered to make camp with them.

“We need to make camp anyway, we aren’t going anywhere with a broken wagon, so you might as well join us for dinner,” he said.

The remaining wagons circled up on the side of the road, and camp was set up in short order. A brazier was put down in the middle of the camp with an Ember Sang crystal the size of a large melon. The cook set a pot over it and whipped up a hearty vegetable stew. Everyone in the camp ate their fill, including Katar, whom Taika managed to rouse long enough to eat and drink his tea. Then the exhaustion overtook him, and he fell asleep once more.

Xan approached the cart as darkness began to cover the camp. He had asked Dogan for some water, and the old man had obliged him. Now, with a bladder slung over his shoulder, he hauled himself up into the back of the cart.

“Here, got some water,” he said, handing the bladder to Taika.

She poured some of the water into a bowl. She dipped a cloth into it, wrung it out, and placed it on Katar’s forehead. Then she sat back and looked at her father for a long time. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the circles under her eyes had worsened.

“You should get some sleep, too,” Xan eventually said.

Taika shook her head. Xan frowned, but he had to admire her stubbornness.

“Well, you can either keep this up and wear yourself out, or you can get some sleep so you can actually take care of him,” he said.

Taika didn’t say anything. For a moment, Xan wondered if he had been too harsh. He leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Look, why don’t we take shifts? I’ll take first watch, and you get some sleep. I’ll wake you up if anything changes,” he offered.

Taika still didn’t say anything, but eventually she nodded. She wordlessly wrapped herself in the spare fur blanket and laid down.

Shadow blinked over. She gave Taika’s face a sniff, then burrowed under the blanket so she could snuggle under Taika’s arm. Xan was surprised by this – Shadow wasn’t normally so friendly to others.

He rubbed his gloved hands together, then blew into them, like he had seen others in the camp do. The warmth had disappeared with the sun, and the chill was biting. He tried to stoically bear it, but after a few minutes he decided he couldn’t take it anymore. He hopped down from the wagon.

“Keep an eye on them for a bit, alright Shadow?” he said. The silver weasel didn’t open her eyes, but her antennas twitched and she trilled quietly. Xan decided to take that as an answer and walked toward the center of camp.

The Ember Sang cast a wide glow in the middle of the wagon circle. The heat it gave off was welcome, and Xan took a deep breath as he felt his shoulders relax. Looking about, he saw a small group playing cards on the other side of the crystal. He quietly approached them and watched while he warmed his backside. They were playing a game he wasn’t familiar with, but over the course of a couple rounds he thought he was getting the gist of it.

“Hah!” Dogan said, tossing down his hand. He triumphantly pulled the pile of silver and copper coins towards himself. Then, looking up, he noticed Xan watching them. “Say, boy, why don’t you join us?”

Xan spread his hands in an apologetic gesture. “I have nothing to bet with, I’m afraid,” he said.

“That’s alright, I’ll loan you some. Come on over here,” Dogan said, waving him over.

As Xan took his seat, Dogan separated out a small stack of copper coins and slid them over to him. Then the dealer dealt out the hands. Xan looked at his cards – it was a pretty good hand. He shoved the entire stack of coins into the pot.

“Oh ho, we’ve got a high roller over here!” one of the other players said. The rest of the group laughed.

“I don’t know if ten copper counts as a high roller,” Dogan said between chortles. Then his laugh was cut short as they all revealed their hands and saw that Xan had won.

“Beginner’s luck,” the dealer said as the cards were gathered. “Let’s see you do that again.”

They played for a few more rounds, copper and silver flowing freely between the players’ hands. Xan managed to win a sizeable pile of coin. He felt pleased with himself as he separated out fifteen copper.

“I’m afraid that’s all for me tonight,” he said. “Here, Dogan, your loan back with interest.”

As he leaned over to hand Dogan the copper, he felt something shift in his sleeve. The pendant suddenly slid loose, dangling from the gold chain wrapped around his wrist. It caught the attention of several members of the group.

“ ’Ey, I thought you said you didn’t have anything to bet with!” said a particularly surly looking man.

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Horrified, Xan quickly grabbed at the pendant and slid it back into his sleeve. “I don’t,” he said, holding his arm close.

The surly man moved to stand, but Dogan held up his hand in a warning gesture. Then he turned back to Xan.

“May I see it?” he asked, holding out his hand.

Xan hesitated. He didn’t like how the others in the group were looking at him. But Dogan had an honest expression on his face that reassured him the man bore no ill will. Slowly, Xan unwound a couple loops from his wrist – he didn’t dare unwind it completely - then placed the pendant in Dogan’s hand. The old man turned it over in fingers, studying the gold pendant and its spherical purple crystal.

“Well, I’ll be… I haven’t seen a genuine Spirit Sang in a long, long time,” he said in an awestruck voice.

At this, the others in the group began to mutter amongst themselves. A few looked just as awestruck as Dogan. The old man admired the crystal for another moment, then looked up at Xan.

“So you’re a follower of Sterre, then?” he asked.

Xan’s mind raced as he tried to decide how to answer. He didn’t know how they would react if he said yes, but if he said no, they might start asking where he got the pendant, and he didn’t want to deal with that.

“That’s right,” he said, trying his best to sound as confident and self-assured as possible.

To his surprise, Dogan smiled. He handed the pendant back to Xan. Then he gave the rest of the group a stern look.

“Would anyone like to rob this holy man of his goddess’s good graces?” he asked rhetorically. No one met his gaze. “I didn’t think so.”

Xan tucked the pendant back into his sleeve, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. Then he stood up, tucking his winnings into his pockets.

“Thank you for the game, I think I’ll be turning in now,” he said.

“Hold up,” Dogan said, also standing, “I’ll go with you. I want to make sure our saviors have everything they need before we tuck in for the night. Horace, you’ve got first watch.”

The surly man from before grumbled to himself. He picked up the spear that was leaning against his chair and started making his way to the edge of camp. The rest of the group began to slowly disperse.

Dogan put a hand around Xan’s shoulders. They started walking towards the Verdans’ cart. After a few steps, Dogan surreptitiously looked over his shoulder to make sure they were out of ear shot of the others. Then he turned back to Xan.

“A word of advice, son,” he said, muttering quietly, “I would find a better place to keep your Spirit Sang, and keep it away from prying eyes. Not everyone will be as kind to someone of your faith as you saw tonight.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Xan asked.

“No, not me, no,” Dogan said as they reached the cart, “but I knew a follower of Sterre once, when I was just a lad. Such a kind soul I’d never known before, and such a stalwart devotee, too. In spite of all the good she did, rumors followed her everywhere she went, until one day she was arrested. I never saw her after that.”

“That’s terrible,” Xan said.

“Aye, that it is,” Dogan said. Then he saw the look on Xan’s face and amended, “I don’t mean to scare you, son. I’m just telling you to watch yourself. Isn’t every day that you meet a follower of Sterre.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Xan said.

“Well…” Dogan said after a pause. He looked up at the cart where Taika and Katar were sleeping. “You got everything you need? Gonna stay warm in there tonight?”

“I think we’ll manage,” Xan said.

Dogan nodded. “Alright. Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll be in that one there.” He indicated one of the wagons across the way.

“Thank you, Dogan. Goodnight,” Xan said.

“Goodnight,” Dogan said as he turned and left.

Xan watched him go for a moment, his thoughts churning. Then he shook his head and hoisted himself up into the cart. In the darkness he could barely see the outlines of Katar and Taika sleeping. Shadow was still curled up under Taika’s arm. As quietly as he could, Xan sat on the bench and tried his best to stay warm. He tucked his gloved hands under his pits and curled in on himself.

The hours passed quietly in the camp. The only sounds Xan heard were the stomp of Horace the guard as he made his circle around the wagons. Once, he heard the low muttering of voices as the guard was changed. Otherwise, Xan was left alone with his thoughts. Despite his best efforts not to, he couldn’t help thinking about what Dogan had said.

“A follower of Sterre, huh?” he muttered to himself, rubbing his hands together. He tried to reconcile this new fact with what had happened to Seeker Torban and his crewmates, but if he was being honest, all that Xan knew about Sterre was that she was the goddess of death and the afterlife, and that very little was actually known about her. He didn’t know anyone that worshipped her, not like the other gods of Garadana. And he’d absolutely never heard of Spirit Sang before.

Sighing in frustration, he hopped back down from the cart and went to warm up by the Ember Sang. He moaned contentedly as the crystal’s warmth washed over him.

The guard on duty was circling around the opposite side of the camp. He looked over at Xan curiously. Xan smiled and waved, trying his best to look nonchalant. The guard returned the wave and continued on his pacing.

Xan knelt down next to the orange crystal. He checked to make sure that the guard couldn’t see him. Then he pulled the pendant out of his sleeve and held it up so that he could see it. The spherical purple crystal just sat there in its golden frame, sparkling like it was full of stars. As he stared at it, curiosity began to eat at him. If this was truly a Sanguine crystal, then it also had magical powers. Xan had no clue what those powers could be, but he had an idea how to find out.

Xan grasped the pendant in his hand. He closed his eyes and concentrated, willing the crystal to do something, anything. After a long moment nothing seemed to happen. Xan sighed in disappointment. Then he opened his eyes and gasped.

The night was still dark, but within that darkness he could see sources of silver light. The grass on the hills around him glowed gently. Far off in the distance, he saw pinpricks of light as small nocturnal animals skittered through the grass.

Xan stood and looked around the camp. There were pinpricks of light, shining like tiny stars, one for every person there. He could see them clearly, even through the boards and canvas covers of the wagons.

A soft hoot sounded nearby. Xan turned to see Sage lighting down on the seat of the cart, clutching something in his talons. He gave Xan a curious look, then dug in to the small rodent he had hunted. Xan blinked. Sage also had a pinprick of light, shining right where his heart would be – but the small rodent had no light at all.

Xan reeled, taking a step back. What was this? What was he seeing? Was he seeing the souls of everything around him? A sudden thought occurred to him, and he looked down at his body. He also has a tiny, star-like light shining from his heart. He reached for it, but was stopped when his hand touched his chest. Suddenly, something shifted at the edge of his field of vision. He turned to see what it was, and his heart leapt into his throat.

A silver snake, larger than anything Xan had ever seen, was slithering its way between the wagons.