Felony sank into the bath gratefully; she was quite astonishingly sore.

"Just one more day riding, right?" she called out.

"Yes," Talise's voice came back from the bedroom. "After that we'll have a carriage."

"About time," Felony muttered. She heard Talise preparing to clean her boots, as she did every night.

"Which bed do you want?" Talise called, after a minute.

"Don't make ANY difference to me," Felony called back.

"I'll take the right-hand one, then."

That damn girl, Felony thought, as she lay back and let the hot water soothe her aching body. She needs to learn to just relax. Not everything's gotta be organised.

"Are you almost done in there?" Talise called, after another minute.

"So what if I'm not?"

"I want to wash up before going to bed, are you decent?"

"I'm in the bloody bath, what do you think?"

There was a pause. Felony sighed.

"The bath's in the corner," she called, "so you can just, I don't know, avert your eyes or whatever."

There was another pause, then Talise entered the bathroom, her eyes very much averted, heading straight for the sink—although she made time for a little cluck of disapproval at the way Felony's clothes had been scattered about the floor. Her hair was out of its ponytail and her feet were bare, and she wore a long soft blue nightshirt.

"What's your problem, anyway?" Felony said, as Talise began stiffly washing her face.

"I simply think it best to keep some separation between myself and my colleagues," said Talise. "Which includes not seeing them naked."

"Hey, it ain't like I got anything you don't."

"That's not quite the point."

"Sure you're not just a good old-fashioned prude?" Felony asked, grinning. Talise turned to look at her, then walked over to the bathtub.

"Hey—"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"You've seen how Ren can be," said Talise, standing over Felony, her arms crossed tight across her chest, "so you can probably appreciate how difficult my work is. I really don't need your baiting on top of that, Felony."

"Okay, so you're not a prude," Felony admitted. She sat up in the bath, grinning. "But now I'm thinking you might just be something else."

"Oh?" said Talise, her deep blue eyes locked on Felony's. "And what would that be?"

Felony shrugged one bare shoulder, a smile at the corner of her mouth. Talise smiled back, not quite as coldly as usual, and she leant towards Felony, and her hand slipped under the water...

"What the hell!" Felony cried, pulling herself up, freezing cold water splashing everywhere as she leapt from the bath. "What the hell did you do?"

"I am one thing," said Talise, already back at the sink. "Professional." She glanced back at the shivering, naked, outraged Felony. "Well," she added, with a small smile. "Most of the time."

----------------------------------------

The afternoon sun shone clear and bright from a pale sky, the winds blowing crisp from the eastern peaks of Harmony. The road behind wound through rolling plains of wild grass that rippled pleasantly in the breeze. The road ahead was not quite so welcoming.

"Huh," said Ashley, after staring out at what lay before them. "You can see why they put the border here, yeah?"

Maya nodded in total agreement.

The road itself was the same; old, smooth, and, for no apparent reason, winding. The countryside surrounding it was not. The grass was limp and dull, almost colourless, and the earth beneath was grey and dead. The shift was so dramatic that it was almost absurd.

"This is amazing," said Ada, as she examined the ground—where she was crouching, she could almost see a line in the earth. She looked up at Fin. "I read that this has something to do with the Devastation, is that true?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself," said Fin, "although it seems likely. Certainly there are many stories about how Pyre came to be like this."

"Wasn't there a big war or something?" Sophia said, her tone unsure—history had never been her favourite subject. "And lots of fighting?"

"Weren't many wars that didn't have a lot of fighting, yeah?" said Ashley, grinning at Sophia.

"No, I mean ... after the Devastation, there are all these stories about, um, 'demons' coming to Pyre—or coming FROM Pyre? Something like that, anyway. And, um, all the fighting made the land go like this. Somehow."

"From what I've read it was some kind of weapon, like the Pyrian firethrowers but on a larger scale," said Ada. "The fuel they used did something to the earth and that's why it's 'dead' like this. That was just one theory put forward, though. I suppose they drew the modern borders of Pyre afterwards, to match the line of the dead earth. That would be logical."

"Well, whatever," said Ashley. "It ain't like it makes any difference to us now, yeah?"

"I suppose not," Ada admitted, though she gazed down at the border with curious eyes.

"In any case, this is as good a spot as any to ask all of you one final time—"

"Give it up, Fin," said Ashley. "Yeah, we get it, Pyre's dangerous. Yeah, I ain't happy about any of us going there. Especially not my sister. But we've gotta find this statue of yours, right? And we all made our choice last night. So let's just go and get this over with."

Fin regarded Ashley for a thoughtful moment. "I hope you won't misinterpret this, but you seem rather more positive than usual, regarding both myself and my vision for the future."

"Yeah, well, maybe Ada's little speech got me thinking about things. It ain't that I believe in your dream now or nothing, just ... you know something? I don't like talking about this stuff. Forget it and let's go, yeah?"

Fin smiled. "Agreed," he said.