(Year 997, 16th of Full Inji, 12:46PM)

Stuffing the other piece of my meat into my mouth, trying to chew quickly even though I was distracted, I got right to work. My first thought was to throw myself on the fire and smother it that way (and hope I could hide in the fire pit, maybe), but no, that would've burnt my clothes before I could [Devour] the fire. Not an option. My second idea would've been nuts for anyone other than me to try, but it was still better: Shove both hands into the fire and try to [Devour] it all that way.

So there I was, down on my knees in a fire pit, hands stuck into my campfire, trying to suck up as much fire as possible without letting any of it touch my shirt. The plan was working so far, at least when it came to keeping my shirt unburnt, but the fire just refused to go down - it must've been... spreading? Growing? Whatever the word was, any fire I pulled in was being replaced too quickly to make any progress.

"The figures in the distance are coming this way, Aedan. I believe our fire-smoke has been noticed."

Shimmer's warning got me moving, both mind and body. My hands reached deeper into the fire, down to the burning wood at the base. If I couldn't suck up the fire, after all, I'd just start with the wood and -

Sure enough, as soon as I [Devour]ed the wood, the fire went with it. It was strange to see that and try to make sense of it, like the fire was falling for a moment, but suddenly there was no more fire.

My mind snapped back to Shimmer, not long before, talking about how the fire was consuming the wood to make more fire. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it made sense that if there were no more wood, the fire would just... stop being there.

"The tree-walkers grow closer, Aedan."

"Well," I stood up. "Good thing we're ready to go, then."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something break the tree-line, but by that point I was already running.

I thought, for a moment, about using [Indulge] to make myself run, like I had the night before, but I shook my head, deciding not to. Running away from the village... I knew what was chasing me. I knew people were chasing me, and I knew they didn't all know the forest well. Distance was all I needed.

This run might be different. Shimmer had talked like I was being chased by people, but I didn't know that for sure. Best not to assume, probably. I wasn't sure what I was running from, then, so I wanted to be fully aware of what was happening around me. [Indulge] might not have cause me a problem there - honestly, it might've helped me ignore certain things and keep my focus on the people who were chasing me, but I...

I still didn't feel too sure that I knew how the powers of my Path worked, or when, or why. I wanted to be as aware as possible, while I ran through the trees, so I decided it would be best not to try to force myself to focus using [Indulge].

Of course, that's when I first heard rustling ahead of me, not just behind. I'd been focused more on my own thoughts than my surroundings, and somehow whatever (whoever?) was chasing me got around me. No more thinking. Time to focus.

The rustling ahead of me was more to one side, I thought, so I dodged to the other. Now that I was paying attention, though, I realized that I could hear the sound of footsteps behind me, with twigs breaking and undergrowth pushing around underfoot. I was definitely being chased by people, then, but I wasn't sure who. Most people back in the village didn't spend much time in the woods, if they could avoid it, so they probably wouldn't be able to chase me so well.

That was what I assumed, anyway, since they hadn't caught up to me the night before.

If I wanted to avoid them, then, I needed to lose them in the woods, so I dodged again, this time into a patch of thick underbrush that nearly met the tree branches. I was basically running blind now, but if the people behind me were from the village, they would be even more lost than I was.

Suddenly, I heard a whistling sound ring out from not far behind me. A hunting signal, maybe?

More rustling beside me, this time on my right, so I dodged left, but then there was rustling on my left, too. Whoever was chasing me, they were smart, trying to surround and corner me. They were so close now that I could practically see the thick branches and underbrush bending around them. My mind started racing, trying to think of ways to evade them, but by then it was already too late.

I heard rustling above me, in the branches, and I tried to jump forward out of the way, but a sudden weight came down hard on me, mostly on my legs. I tried to kick and struggle, but it was over. I was pinned.

From behind and above me, probably from the person on top of me, came a man's voice with a thin accent. "Got 'im!"

I was still squirming, trying to get free, and I felt the man's hand come down on my back, soft but firm, pushing me down. "Struggle not, child. All for your own good."

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I thought, for a second, that I recognized the accent, but it was when the rest of the group came close enough to see that I was sure.

I'd never seen this group before, as far as I could tell, but I did recognize the way they were dressed. Thin tunics of cloth and leather, all in earthy browns and greens, with furs thrown over their shoulders. Hair either cut short or braided, to keep it out of the way while on the move, which also showed their pointy ears. Shortswords at their sides, I noticed, and bows on their backs. These were the elves of the forests near home, or if not, they were elves just like them.

Elves didn't come into the village often, as far as I knew - they had their own village somewhere deep in the forest, beyond the lumber-yard, and although we were on good enough terms with the elves, the villagers tended to talk like elves who spent too much time near us were "snooping around", and if the things they said about the elves were true, the elves felt the same way.

Was that why they'd come after me? I'd camped too close to their village, and they didn't like me snooping around?

One of the elves, off to one side of me, said, "Good work. Faen, turn him over."

The weight on my legs disappeared for a moment, but then the elf on top of me ('Faen', apparently), twisted my legs around and kind of dragged me onto my back. The sounds that came out of my mouth were about as nice as the feeling of my elbow being ground against the dirt and sticks under me.

They got me facing up, though, and I could see the whole group of elves looming over me - four men and two women. One of the men, with a long braid and what looked like a coin pinned to his shirt, crouched down over me. "We're here to bring you home, boy. How does that sound to you?"

I didn't answer, but the look on my face must've spoken for me. "Hmph. Rough stuff. You're still going back, though. Don't struggle, we're not gonna hurt you if you make this easy."

He stood up and turned around, but I could feel anger bubbling up inside me, and I felt the need to say, "So you will hurt me if I try to escape?"

The lead elf paused for a moment, then turned his head to side-eye me. "You know what, boy? Sure, we'll hurt you. Tie you up tight so you can't move a muscle, maybe kick you in the ribs to make a point. That what you wanted to hear, boy? That gonna make you come quiet?" I just glared back, and after watching me for a moment, the elf continued, "Good. Then keep quiet, don't struggle. Make this easy for all of us." He shook his head. "Human children, I swear..."

The one who'd been holding me down, Faen, got his arms around me and lifted me up onto his shoulder. I did think about struggling for a moment, but I didn't really see a point. The lead elf didn't really seem happy about what he'd told me, but that didn't mean he wouldn't do it. The elves had caught me once, anyway. If I didn't have some sort of edge when I tried to escape, they'd just catch me again.

I was pretty unhappy myself, though, about being stuck with these elves, especially if they were planning to take me home... to Dad, and Bishop Mordecai, and all the villagers who apparently hated me now.

I needed to be on the lookout for that edge, then.

During the walk that followed, though, there didn't seem to be any 'edge' to find. Carried on an elf's shoulder, I could probably get down onto the ground if I struggled fast and hard, but he was just one of six elves - if he didn't snatch me right back up, one of the others would. Shimmer was no help - she was floating around us still, invisible to the elves just like she'd been invisible to the villagers. Only I could see her, I guessed. I'd never seen Shimmer do anything other than float around, either, so there was probably nothing she could do.

I couldn't do much of anything, either. I could throw fire at them, sure - I might've consumed enough fire to do some real damage at this point - but...

I'd thrown fire at Bishop Mordecai, but that was different. He was different. He'd... he was the reason Miss Ambrose was dead, and the reason the village hated me. I was starting to see why Dad didn't seem to like him, honestly... although maybe Dad didn't like me all that much now, either. I honestly wasn't sure anymore.

The Bishop probably deserved a fireball to the face, though. If any people in the world did, he was probably one of them.

These elves, though? They probably didn't deserve to be set on fire. Probably. Sure, they'd grabbed me and taken me, but I didn't know why. Did they know why? They'd probably been sent by the Bishop, but I had a feeling they wouldn't be so nice (well, maybe nice wasn't the right word) to me if The Bishop had told them the truth - the whole truth - about why I'd run away from home, and why he wanted me brought back. They weren't really being nice to me, exactly, but they'd probably be meaner if they thought I was a Sinner, right?

So, [Expel] was not my edge. All I had to throw at them was fire...

No, that wasn't quite right. I could make fire, but what I really had was heat and light. I didn't know what to do with the heat, but with light... could I blind them? Did I have enough Light for that? Was that the right way to do this?

I couldn't think of anything else. I didn't see how wood, raw meat, or dirt could help me escape. Blinding them with light, though... that wasn't an escape plan, but it was a start. It might get me somewhere.

I was getting somewhere in the elves' hands without any escape plan needed, sure... but as the day passed, we didn't seem to be getting anywhere in particular. I knew I'd run far from home (not that far, if these elves could catch up to me, but pretty far) while I was using [Indulge] to force myself to keep going, but it surprised me to see, after what must've been hours, that the sun was starting to be blocked and we still hadn't made it back home yet - or back to the elven village, I guessed. Whichever would come first.

As the sun was eclipsed further, the elves kept walking, but Faen, the elf carrying me, let out a grunt - the first time I'd heard any of them speak. "Anyone take the kid off my hands? Shoulder's getting bad."

One of the elves, ahead of him, turned back to say, "Your shoulder can-"

Another elf's voice from behind us, sounding like a woman, cut him off. "I'll take him. You give your poor little shoulder a rest."

Faen turned around, shaking me a bit as he moved (which made me a bit nauseous, honestly), and after a moment, he reached up to his shoulder and hefted me off it, passing me to the other elf with the sort of swinging motion I'd seen when villagers from home were passing sacks of potatoes to each other... or passing large logs. It was a bit jarring, but the elf woman caught me safely. Instead of throwing me over one shoulder, though, she carried me over both, my head hanging down past one shoulder and my legs hanging down past the other. The elves just nodded at each other, and then they continued to walk in silence.

When Faen turned away, though... I saw a weird look in his eyes. He was looking at me, not the elf woman carrying me, but... I couldn't figure out why his brows were tight, the way they were.

The elves' march continued as the sky got darker and darker. My eyes were on the sky, watching the moondance, when the woman carrying me suprised me by speaking up.

"Hey, kid," she whispered, low enough that her elven friends might not be able to hear, "How would you like to get out of here?"