As I finished crafting the third healing potion, the chill of night started working its way into my bones. While I could feel the heat of the fire on my back, my hands felt like I had plunged them into a frozen lake.

  After pushing a cork into the last vial, I tucked them into my satchel and spun around, noticing for the first time that I wasn’t alone. “Avian, you’re not sleeping.”

  She lounged by the fire, her eyes locked on me. “When I have a lot on my mind, I sometimes find it difficult to sleep.” She stood up and stretched. “Would you like some advice?”

  “Pertaining to crafting spells?” I raised my eyebrows. “I thought you were forbidden from aiding me.”

  She shook her head. “Just from teaching you.” She paused. “But as you are my source into the capital, I see no advantage to allowing harm to befall you.”

  “How nice of you... I think.” I turned back to the table and thought about how I had mixed the spells. “But I think I did everything correctly.”

  “You’re too close to the fire.”

  “Tell that to my hands.” I cupped them together and huffed hot air between them, as if it proved my point.

  “Learning to stay warm is a lesson for another time.” She walked over to me, pointing up. “You also set up your table directly under the branches of a tree.”

  I shrugged. “Does the sky have to be visible to the potion I’m mixing?”

  She shook her head. “Things fall from trees. Ash blows in the wind from a fire.” After lifting my mortar from the table, she glanced inside, then presented it to me. A small leaf, a dead insect, and a smear of black dirt sat in the bowl. “Having anything unintentionally enter your mixture could have devastating results.”

  “Are the healing potions I just made compromised?” I shook my head. “Did you consider saying something before I made three? I’ve used the bulk of my ingredients.”

  “Keep them for a worst-case scenario.” She ran her finger across the tabletop. Then showed me the blackened tip of her finger. “Did you clean the table before you started?”

  I shook my head.

  She rolled her eyes. “You have much to learn.” After pivoting, she went directly to her tent and crawled inside.

  By the time I disassembled and put away my table, I heard Avian snoring. Apparently, when her mind was troubled, pointing out the mistakes of others eased it.

  I woke as Petra barely peeked over the horizon. Since I was the first one at the fire, I added a few small pieces of wood. We would need to cook breakfast before heading out, but wouldn’t stay long enough to burn larger pieces.

  Avian and Sani joined me shortly after I sat down for a breather.

  Sani pointed at Kiri’s tent. “Should we wake her?”

  I shook my head. “She needs to recover from the human blood. Let her rest until we’re ready to go.

  “Shall I go hunt?” Sani asked.

  As if meaning to answer him, Haro strolled into camp carrying several squirrels. Their short gray fur stood out from the long brown hair covering Haro.

  “Has the sasquatch joined us?” Sani asked.

  “Yes. We can call him Haro,” I said.

  “Why?” Avian asked.

  “Because that’s his name.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Why is he joining us? He will draw a lot of unnecessary attention.”

  “We wouldn’t have beaten Omar without him.” Kiri said from her tent. Her voice, weaker than normal, had a tint of irritation.

  “She’s right,” I said.

  Avian peered at the sasquatch, watching him spear a squirrel with a sharpened stick and hold it over the fire. “Very well, but he should remain in the trees when we head into Cusi.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  I nodded.

  Avian stood up. “I need some time alone.” She turned and headed into the forest.

  I opened my mouth as she walked away, about to ask her why she needed alone time, but she moved abruptly after speaking, rushing into the woods before I could find the words. While I wanted to travel on full bellies, I didn’t want to linger any longer than we needed to. At the very least, I thought Avian could have given a rationale for needing to be alone. Was her desire related to finding out Haro was joining our team? It didn’t seem likely. Avian had no issues speaking her mind in the past, at times to the point where I wondered if she possessed any social awareness.

  As she disappeared into the trees, I scratched my chin. First, she whispered secrets with Bedri, and now she requested time alone away from camp. I had a feeling she was up to something, but wasn’t sure what it was. One thought occurred to me—What if their whisper included a meetup time and place? She selected this spot for our camp, which seemed like a wise choice due to the features around it. But now I wondered if she knew ahead of time that she wanted to stop here. It wasn’t her talking to Bedri that bothered me, but her needing to do it under false pretense, and behind our backs. Did she agree to do something for Bedri that was averse to the group’s goals?

  “Finish cooking the squirrels.” Pausing to think, I added, “I’m gonna fetch some water.” I headed near where Avian had gone, deviating my course enough so the others wouldn’t realize I was following her.

  Once I was deep enough in the trees not to be visible from camp, I eased right, watching the ground until I picked up her trail. Then, with careful movements, I followed it.

  At first, she walked over open ground. Her light footsteps made her trail difficult to follow. If not so fresh, I doubted even a trace would exist. But soon, her path crossed through heavy brush. While limiting my vision to arm’s reach, the brush made it easier to track her. Even someone skilled in defensive evasion couldn’t move through heavy vegetation without making an impact.

  The brush became so heavy that I struggled to push through it. Up ahead, I heard moving water, perhaps a stream. I continued forward through thick vines and weeds. Light blared through the vegetation ahead of me, making me realize I neared the end. As I climbed through the last bit of brush, I stared ahead of me. My jaw almost dropped.

  Avian stood in the stream, the water reaching midway up her bottom. Her clothing was sprawled out on the bank. She ran her hands across her body, cleaning herself. I had been mistaken. She wasn’t betraying us by meeting with Bedri in secret. Instead, she wanted to bathe.

  Why did she not say so?

  Every instinct told me to turn around and rush back into the vegetation. I fought for my neck muscles to at least turn my head. But I just couldn’t pull my gaze off her. My curiosity had gotten the best of me. I hadn’t seen many fidi in my lifetime and never saw one disrobed. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but her body, other than being pale, didn’t look too dissimilar from a female yaksha.

  Avian spun around, facing me. She stared down at the water while she lathered herself up, not appearing to notice me. Then she lifted her head, peering right at me. Not bothering to cover up her exposed breasts, she said, “I asked for some time alone so I could bathe.”

  “I didn’t realize.” The words seemed caught in my throat, but I finally managed to force them out. “I needed water and didn’t know this is where you went.”

  “From my experience, yaksha are uncomfortable with nudity, especially in public. My wanting to be alone was to avoid a situation that embarrassed you.” She turned back around, facing away from me. “You should walk upstream to gather water, as to not contaminate it with my soap. If you’d like to wait a moment, I’m almost finished and I can walk with you.”

  The brush rustled behind me. I turned to see Kiri emerge from the thick vegetation.

  She stared down at her ripped blouse, while wiping dirt and debris off herself. “You picked a heck of a path, Tye.”

  “It is my fault.” Avian said without turning around. “I believe he followed me.”

  Kiri glanced at her. Her eyes widened. “What is going on?”

  “When I went to gather water...” I spun back around and pointed at Avian. “I stumbled onto-”

  Avian said. “Tye came out to watch me bathe.” She turned around to face us as her tongue flicked out of her mouth. “He would like to copulate.” She shrugged. “I see no point in such, as his seed is not compatible with fidi.”

  “Tye!” Kiri walked between Avian and me and glared at me.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Water. I came out here for water. Nothing else. In no way am I looking too... copulate with Avian.”

  “Perhaps I was incorrect,” Avian said. “But based on the changes in your scent, I thought your body was preparing itself for such activities.”

  “I wasn’t preparing my body for anything.”

  “Stop looking at her,” Avian said. “Give her some privacy.”

  “I’m not looking. She was talking, so I... it’s rude to...” I shook my head and turned around, giving my back to both Kiri and Avian. After a silent moment, I peeked over my shoulder to see Kiri peering at Avian as she finished up.

  “Perhaps you should give her some privacy too?” I lightly held Kiri’s wrist, guiding her back into the brush. “Avian, we’ll see you back at camp.”

  We walked halfway back without talking, then Kiri said. “I didn’t realize you were interested in Avian in that manner.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “It wasn’t like that.”

  Kiri crossed her arms. “When you left, it seemed like you were planning on following her.”

  I studied her face, trying to decipher if she was angry that I invaded Avian’s privacy, or upset because she felt jealous. But her expression gave nothing away. “I followed her, but not to see her like that. When she said she wanted to be alone, and after she whispered with Bedri after the Omar fight, I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t meeting with him in secret.”

  “So you don’t trust her?” She nodded. “I guess that is better than you just being creepy.” She locked eyes with me. “But why did you keep looking, and not turn away?”

  “What I saw surprised me. I was curious, but not in a romantic way. I’d never seen a fidi undressed.”

  “Me, either.” She raised her eyebrows. “Do you think things will be awkward with her now?”