The wind came to an eerie halt, the shadows from the surrounding trees almost seeming to darken despite the bright light of the day. Yiriel's hat fought against me as I pried it from the thorns, brushing it off and then tossing it back to her lap.

"What...sort of deal?" Yiriel gulped. I held back a wild grin. This habit of mine was getting worse. No one would want to make any agreement with a crazy-looking street urchin. I had to keep the devilish smiling to a minimum, and the showbusiness at a maximum.

Hands clasped behind my back, an energy began to course through me. The air was practically seething from it, crackling with every pump of my heart, desperate and aching in my fingertips.

It was just like last time.

"This will be our gospel, Yiriel. You will become my assistant, answering my questions with the promise to never use what I don't know against me. To keep what I tell you a secret, and to always tell the truth when I need it."

Yiriel's eyes darted around, pale face dotted with a cold sweat. Her long ears twitched at the sound of every rustle, at any cracking branch in the woods around us.

"And in return," She continued for me, "You won't tell anyone about me."

I grinned, my long shadow looming over her.

"How is that fair?" Her voice was louder than before, the Ilicher sap doing its job well, "What sort of assistantship is that? I'm not stupid. I know what you freaks want with elves. I would rather die here."

Lips curving into a disgusted frown, her eyes watched me like I was scum on her shoe.

'What did I do?! I haven't touched you!'

"Herbs, answers, and tight lips. That is all I will ever ask of you." I stated, making it clear I wasn't going to abuse her for her body. There was nothing attractive about a lack of consent. "In return, I will not only heal you from this poison, but I will keep your secret, and protect you with everything I have."

"Why...?" She questioned, confused at my apparent dedication. A silly question. There was nothing unusual about protecting one's own. She was about to become my second little chick after all. The coop was growing in size already.

"All you have to do is agree." I encouraged, kneeling and taking her limp hand in mine. The energy was practically sparking now, heating the air around me like my back was to a roaring fire. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't wait.

'Take the deal-'

"What do you have to lose, Miss Elf? I could offer you so much more than what you can make in that herbal store. Money, protection, influence, revenge...a family, even, if your heart desired it so."

It was a strange sensation as I held her hand, but I could almost sense what she wanted. Truly wanted. Through the connection drawn between us by the power swirling in the air, her heart became clear to me. Loss, grief, anger, loneliness, family, riches, resentment, loathing-

My head became a pounding mess as each of her feelings, her blurred experiences connected with mine in a calamity of emotion. This hadn't happened the last time. I struggled to keep hold of who I was and what I knew, but at the same time to greedily latch onto those things she craved more than anything and pluck the strings.

She must have felt it, fresh tears pricking at her eyes as I accentuated her emotions. The wild winds picked back up as the world faded into a fierce shadow.

Her face contorted deep in thought. Then, her eyes shot open.

"Deal." She rasped, emotional and breathless, gripping my hand as tight as she could despite her paralysis.

My mouth smiled devilishly wide, power surging between our palms. Golden, black, and red light pierced through the handshake, tearing the world around us into a frenzy. Trees shook, animals scattered, and the sun seemed to go dark. Yiriel shut her eyes from the storm, protecting herself from the glaring beams. My grip only became tighter.

This time, no longer lost in shock and confusion, I could feel the intricacies of the experience. The power surging through both of us met between our hands, searing that same strange sigil onto Yiriel's palm. There was also a weight in the power I hadn't noticed before; a binding effect. This wasn't just a fancy symbol. It was a promise.

A promise forged in magic that went far beyond the bonds of blood and words.

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I tried to push deeper, to sense even more, but the feeling halted. As quickly as it had begun, the world went back to normal. The trees stilled, the breeze blew calm, and the sun shone gently through the branches, dappling the earth.

I let Yiriel's hand fall, her eyes still shut tight. When they began to peek back open I shoved the Ilicher branch, now dethorned, into her mouth.

"Chew," I ordered, and she did. White sap stuck gummy between her teeth.

"Ehw" She muttered, mid-bite.

The thorns of llicher contained powerful enhancing properties, and the white sap within them was no different. Chewing on an entire stick wasn't deadlier, however. Once the concentration of Illicher sap in the body doubled that of the poison, the sap began to form structures that bound toxins, storing it safely away to be passed from the body without harm.

Supporting this fact, Yiriel's arms and legs began to come back to life, and shakily she stood herself up.

Then, as soon as she was sturdy, she threw a punch directly at my face.

The tree leaves were lovely above me as my gaze met the sky, back now bent to avoid her fist. Having missed me the momentum carried her forward, and I caught her just before she fell back over.

"Don't overdo it." I chided, "We still have to get back to the city."

Her eyes looked up at me, squinted in confusion.

"You're a human mage?" She queried, shaking her head in defeat, "So you knew from the beginning I wasn't human."

While I was eager to ask questions, there was one final thing I needed to check.

***

When we arrived back in the city, I gave Yiriel a request.

"I am going to tell you a secret. If you manage to repeat it back to that man over there at the cheese stall, I will give you 20 gold."

Her mouth gaped, not realizing I didn't have a coin to my name.

'We will need to work on how easily she falls for things.'

"Alright, tell me!" She begged, nearly hopping up and down.

I told Yiriel to tell that man I was actually a woman named Risa, and that this was a secret.

"Are you?" Yiriel said, looking me up and down.

I shrugged and gestured towards the man. She stomped over, leaned one elbow on the stall and began to chat with him. Despite the busyness of the crowd in the evening, I could hear every word.

Yiriel told the man she was going to tell him a secret about me. Her finger pointed in my direction and I pretended not to notice. He rolled his eyes, but with nothing better to do decided to entertain her.

Yiriel opened her mouth to speak.

Nothing came out.

She paused, confused, wiggling her cheek with her hand as if that would warm up her voice. Her mouth opened again.

Not a sound.

Stepping soundlessly through the crowd, Yiriel let out a yelp as I grabbed her ear, dragging her away.

"Apologies, sir. This one is with me." I explained, and he responded with a lazy grunt.

Once we were a good length away, I yanked Yiriel into an alleyway. She rubbed her ear through mumbled complaints.

"So that feeling was real," She concluded, face furrowing in thought, "You really did bind me to a Contract of Souls."

Now that I knew Yiriel couldn't do anything outside the bounds of our agreement, I responded in confusion, feeling comfortable to admit my naivety to her.

"A Contract of Souls?"

She blinked, mouth falling open as she looked at me like I was about to give the punchline. I stared back, conveying that this wasn't a joke.

Her head shook. "It's not possible for a human to give a Contract of Souls without knowing what it is. That would take years and years of study under someone who specializes in that sort of magic. I didn't even think humans could do it until now." She explained, raising a finger to point at me accusingly, "Don't mess with me."

"I am being serious."

Yiriel crossed her arms and leaned back against the stone wall, her face passing through a myriad of emotions as she looked at me. She began again, this time speaking carefully and slowly.

"Humans don't know intrinsic magic." She accused. I recognized the implications.

"What is intrinsic magic?" I asked, moving the subject to something I currently needed more information about.

There was a slap as her hand collided into her forehead.

"Do- do you even know what magic is?"

I shook my head. She pretended to choke in response.

"You are telling me I got completely made a fool of and almost killed by someone who knows NOTHING about magic? What, was the poison a lucky guess too?" She joked, voice thick with sarcasm.

"That is years of training. I can teach you if you like." I offered.

"Ha! My people don't do that sort of thing. Couldn't even if we wanted to, it's a penalty of our race."

'Race penalty? Huh?'

That question could wait.

"And what is with your personality?" She scolded, throwing her hands to the sky, "First you came up to me like a scared kid, then you were all...well...a- and now you are just stone-faced and confused!"

Now with a fair number of my cards on the table and the sun beginning to set, I decided to introduce myself. The showman within me was awoken once more.

"Miss Yiriel," I bowed, "I can assure you that once the poison pricked your blood everything afterward has been all the me you need to know."

"So...not real?"

Standing back to full height I pulled my hood off and began to undo my bandage strip by strip.

"Is this the part where you give me your tragic backstory?"

I chuckled. This girl would be fun.

"Not intentionally," I retorted, as she crossed her arms at me, "Just an introduction. It's only fair between two people bound in a...Contract of the Soul? Was it?"

"You are crazy." She concluded.

The bandage fell and I held it by my side. It would go back on in a moment, no reason to put it away. I cleared my throat, letting my normally low, masculine impression return to my much softer, feminine voice.

Our eyes met two to two. A flash of unease crossed her face, and she tried to step back, forgetting there was a wall behind her.

"A pleasure to truly be meeting you, Yiriel. I am Raven." I cooed, extending my arms to the sides with flair, palms facing up with a sparkle in my eye, "I look forward to working with you."

There was a beat of silence between us as Yiriel seemingly came to several understandings all at once.

"I have a lot of questions for you...murderer." She managed out.

'Must have seen the wanted posters.'

I grinned in return, my left eye seeing darkness once more as I wrapped it back up.

"And I for you," I promised.

Beyond the distant walls, the sun kissed the top of the mountains with the stunning reds and oranges of sunset.