Vrakhu approached the clearing with the water stones.

  The sun had fallen below the horizon and a blanket of darkness had once again covered the forest.

  The fire burned bright, its crackling the only thing breaking the monotonous silence.

  Corin sat beside the fire. Her knees were in front of her chest and her forehead rested against her knees.

  Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady.

  But her inner voice was not silent.

  Vrakhu moved past her and placed the water stones beside the opening to the hollow.

  He saw Corvin laying inside, while the sack was carefully propped against a barrier root.

  His skin was red and irritated from long hours beneath the sun.

  Dried blood surrounded his nose and upper lip.

  Yet his nose appeared to be no longer broken.

  Vrakhu glanced upwards for a moment before turning back to the fire.

  He moved slowly, his feet making nary a sound until he stopped just beside Corin.

  He looked at the top of her head.

  Her breathing was steady. Too steady for someone in her position.

  “A few things must be done before the day is done. Go wake your brother.”

  Corin’s breathing hitched and her body stiffened at his voice, but she recovered quickly. Her breathing returned to a steady rhythm.

  “He doesn’t know I’m awake, right?”

  Vrakhu leaned over and looked at the back of her neck; the movement caused his long beard to tickle her hand against the ground.

  “You are not oblivious enough to sleep in my presence.” His voice was low, so low she could barely hear him.

  She subtly, as subtly as a child could, twisted her head to better hear him and hoped he would repeat himself.

  But he would not.

  “Wake up, child.”

  Corin flinched at his tone.

  He didn’t sound angry. Not really. But there was something there that told her he wouldn’t ask again.

  She twisted her head further and opened a single eye.

  Her vision first sought out the sack, which was still undisturbed from where she’d left it.

  Then she turned her head further and found Vrakhu’s eyes.

  “What’s going on?” She faked a yawn to hide her smile and ended the movement by rubbing the back of her head.

  Vrakhu saw her eyes, knew what she’d sought before looking for him.

  And he ignored it to study her movements.

  From the way she touched the back of her head, he could tell her injured arm was still stiff.

  But she seemed to have recovered most of its functionality already.

  At this pace she would be fit for training by morning.

  Corin slowly stood and brushed dirt from her shorts as she moved around behind him.

  She didn’t think the Master had caught her. But she didn’t want to risk looking him in the eye right now.

  She approached the hollow and reached inside to wake her sleeping brother.

  He startled awake the moment she touched him and pressed his body against the wall of the hollow.

  “What!? Why!?” His searching eyes found Corin’s startled expression.

  She hadn’t expected him to react like that.

  He’d never awoken so quickly... or explosively before.

  Corvin’s chest was heaving; his heart pounded against his rib cage loud enough for it to drown out everything else.

  The two stared at each other in shock.

  Neither were sure how to handle his outburst.

  Finally, after calming her own heart enough to hear her thoughts.

  Corin sat on the edge of the hollow and reached out to him. “Are you okay?”

  His eyes were wild, unfocused.

  His inner voice was in turmoil; the day their father left, or Corvin’s memory of it, drifted into Vrakhu’s thoughts.

  Being carried through the forest at speeds that made the trees look like a blur.

  Their father’s voice whispered in his ears, yet Vrakhu himself couldn’t make out the words.

  Then their father placed them into the hollow at the base of the Tree of purple leaves.

  He hadn’t given the man’s appearance much thought when he’d seen him in the cave.

  However, faced with Corvin’s memory of him, Vrakhu could see the similarities.

  Their father was a tall man.

  Much taller than Vrakhu.

  He had the face of someone who’d broken many hearts, a face Vrakhu could see replicated in the twins.

  He had their silver eyes; like miniature moons reflected in water.

  But the twin’s skin was a few shades paler and their hair, what little there was of it, was too light.

  Dryden and their mother were of different races.

  Vrakhu looked away from the fire and the memories held within.

  The twins approached the fire, Corin holding Corvin’s hand to maintain his calm.

  Vrakhu understood the feeling.

  He held up his palm to stop either of them from speaking.

  “I will prepare dinner. You will pick a direction and walk fifty meters, then sit down for an hour.”

  The twins glanced at each other, then Corvin looked down at their interlocked hands — he pulled his hand free of Corin’s and feigned a cough.

  He quickly wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands.

  Corin reached out for him again, but he dodged her.

  “What, uh, what are we doing this for? Is it to test our bravery or something?” He forced himself to meet Vrakhu’s eyes to avoid seeing Corin’s expression.

  Something about the coldness in Vrakhu’s eyes had a calming effect on him.

  It was expected.

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  Predictable.

  And though he didn’t realize it himself. He took solace in that predictability.

  Corin’s fist clenched at her sides and she stared at the ground, the trees, the fire, anywhere but her brother.

  She’d been pushed away again.

  “Why can’t I help anyone?”

  Vrakhu caught her eye and she immediately took a breath, though it was more out of fear than comfort.

  Those eyes still sent a chill down her spine.

  “You will go in separate directions. Return only after I call you.”

  “Yes, Master / Sir.” They bowed in that same clumsy way and turned to follow his instruction.

  Corin climbed over a high-point in the barrier root and headed southeast.

  Corvin marched to the end of the roots and continued onwards, moving further west.

  They both reached where they thought fifty meters to be, then sat down with their legs crossed.

  Their bodies moved simultaneously despite the distance and lack of sight.

  Vrakhu glanced at the Tree of purple leaves.

  He saw its branches moving; up and down and diagonally as if it were breathing.

  Energy lightly danced upon his skin as a voice floated into his mind.

  The voice was silent, even to his ears.

  Yet he understood it through the tension carried by the energy.

  “They were abandoned.”

  A still memory planted itself in Vrakhu’s mind.

  Three blurry figures: one large, two small approaching the Tree.

  Vrakhu felt its anger soaring with unusual intensity.

  He wasn’t the target of its fury, but the Tree didn’t seem to notice the electricity its anger wrought in the air.

  Vrakhu felt a bolt of lightning crash against his neck; the blow knocked his beard into the air but did little else; except momentarily reveal the tattoo-like scales on his neck…

  Then something changed with the tree.

  Vrakhu felt its anger; sharper than any knife, dull almost instantly.

  In its place was a profound confusion, a complicated fear.

  The Tree’s limbs shook, its branches rattled.

  Another question floated on the air.

  Vrakhu blinked.

  His yellow eyes found the hollow at the base of the tree, and he stared into its depths.

  “I don’t use that name anymore.”

  He glanced at the sky to divine the time from the position of the moon.

  Then he turned away from the Tree.

  “Watch them.”

  An arc of green electricity flowed through the tree of purple leaves’ branches, into its trunk, then down to its roots.

  The energy spread through the dirt in the direction of the twins.

  It reached them in a breath and circled them beneath the soil.

  Neither twin reacted to the energy, for neither twin could perceive it.

  They saw no light. Heard no thunder… or anything else for that matter.

  They sat in complete darkness.

  Far enough from the fire for it to not impede their night vision. Close enough to still find their way back once the hour was done.

  Corvin’s body twitched at every rustled bush and wind-blown leaf.

  He looked every which way but down, and still he saw nothing.

  The smell of the forest permeated his senses until he was drowning in it.

  For all his effort to prove otherwise.

  Corvin found himself totally, uncomfortably, alone.

  Corin’s mind raced.

  She’d memorized the size, shape, color, and scent of two fruits, two vegetables, and three berries while Corvin was asleep.

  But now that she had that knowledge, sitting in her brain like a festering wound… She couldn’t help but feel something gnawing at her.

  She should’ve woken Corvin.

  She shouldn’t have looked in the first place.

  What if Master didn’t forgive her?

  What if Corvin didn’t?

  Would they abandon her too?

  The hour passed agonizingly slowly for both twins.

  One caught looking outside, one stuck searching within. Both looking for answers to questions they didn’t understand.

  Then came the smell.

  A tantalizing scent that brushed against their senses like a siren’s call.

  The twins didn’t realize they’d started walking until they were already halfway back to camp.

  Vrakhu looked away from the rudimentary stone stove he’d placed over the fire and locked eyes with each twin in turn.

  “Come. Eat.”

  The twins staggered from the bushes and hurried to the fire.

  For the first time in ages, their minds were as empty as their stomachs.

  And Vrakhu wouldn’t hold that against them.

  He grabbed a roasted root for each of them and placed them atop a flat stone.

  “You have food,” He motioned to the water stones behind the twins. “and water now. Eat, drink, then I’ll have a question for each of you.”

  The twins mindlessly ate the first roots, neither realizing how hungry they truly were until they started eating.

  Neither caring that the root’s scent was far more appealing than its taste proved to be.

  The twins scarfed down the offered carrots and wild onions without question.

  They consumed the roasted fruit flesh slower, but still faster than they should.

  It was only when they were given a handful of berries each that the twins took the time to savor their food.

  Corvin marveled at how the sweet, yet somehow bitter juice tasted when he first bit into a berry.

  He was fascinated by its color; mostly black with red circles near the center of each berry.

  And its smell… He brought one to his nose and his eyes fluttered.

  Had he died and gone to the ancestors?

  Corin had recognized everything they’d eaten, as they’d all been in the sack earlier.

  However, the stove… that was something she’d never seen before.

  It was a small thing; barely two feet across and two feet deep.

  It stood over the fire on four long, but narrow legs which kept the fire from reaching it.

  The stove had two levels that she could see. One inside the stone for roasting, and one on top for heating slowly.

  Where had the master gotten it?

  Did he go to the city without them?

  Did he make it himself? With what tools?

  Vrakhu waited and listened until almost everything he’d prepared was gone.

  Corin’s eyes widened just before she took another bite. “Master? Um… Won’t you eat with us?”

  She pulled the fruit away from her mouth and pushed it towards him.

  Her head was down, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

  She couldn’t believe herself.

  Corvin paused mid-bite and glanced at his sister… Then he slowly pulled a half-chewed berry from his mouth and offered it to the old man.

  “Yeah, you should eat with us.”

  Vrakhu blinked.

  His beard twitched.

  He looked at the ground in front of the fire. “I do not eat. Take that energy into yourselves.”

  Corin and Corvin glanced at each other.

  “Never?” Corvin’s voice sounded sad, yet his face betrayed his horror.

  He loved to eat.

  How did the old man make it through the day without it?

  Vrakhu knew the question on his mind.

  And he ignored it.

  “You need not concern yourselves with me. Focus on fulfilling your own needs and I’ll be satisfied.”

  “Is that a cultivator thing? Will we not need to eat one day?” Corin asked, a wondrous look in her eyes as she looked upon their Master.

  Vrakhu watched the fire for a moment before answering. “It’s possible, not a certainty.”

  Corin’s expression faltered and she looked down.

  She smiled half-heartedly and nodded. “Because we might fail your training… That makes sense.”

  Corvin smacked her on the back hard enough to knock the last berry from her hand.

  “Who says we’re going to fail? Not me. And I’ll hit you if I catch you saying it.”

  Corin rolled her eyes and fought back a smile.

  Vrakhu sat back and listened to the two of them chat amongst themselves.

  They’d completed their first day of training.

  Though, what they gained from it…

  Vrakhu looked away from the fire and met Corin’s eyes.

  “How many living beings did you see over the hour?”

  Her face paled at the question.

  She hadn’t realized they should be on the lookout for them.

  She dropped her eyes to the ground, unable to meet Vrakhu’s gaze. “Um, I-I don’t think I saw any.”

  Vrakhu said nothing.

  He turned and met Corvin’s eyes.

  “I didn’t see anything either --- But I think that’s strange. Dad said there were plenty of deer and stuff out here for us to hunt. Except I haven’t seen any since we got here. Did you do something to drive them away old-” His body and mouth froze as realization dawned on him.

  He’d almost insulted their master.

  Again.

  “Sorry, master.” He ducked his head to hide his embarrassment.

  Vrakhu smoothly stood to his full height.

  He loomed over the twins with his face hidden in shadow, leaving only his glowing yellow eyes visible.

  Yet, when he spoke, it wasn’t in anger or even annoyance.

  Vrakhu remained as emotionless as he always was.

  “Relax, child. I am an old man, and it won’t kill me to hear it.”

  He turned from the twins and moved towards the Tree of purple leaves.

  “Sleep soon. A new dawn arrives sooner than you think.”

  The twins watched him bend his knees, then — Whoosh! — He disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  Corin and Corvin both stared at the spot he’d just been standing in awe.

  He moved pretty fast for a self-proclaimed old man.