Dust fled Raya's fist, scattering without a goal or incantation, as the beast's weight came upon her. The sky tilted, swallowing her view and then vanishing to make way for a huge, hairy jaw. Sand sank and grew hard beneath her. A shockwave of pain lanced her spine, swift as the uncatchable exhale that fled her, leaving her lungs flat and empty. The beast's foot wasn't quite large and thick enough to crush her entirely, but it certainly felt like it; she fought to breathe, swatting at the air but fingers brushing little more than a coarse mess of fur.

The pouch around her neck pressed into her throat, suddenly unbearably heavy. Her fingers were numb as she felt for its clasp, devoid of the feeling they needed, unable to sense the dust's tingle. Fear was choking. Her vision grew dark at the edges, faded like crinkled paper, until she could only twist her face and wait for unseen teeth to tear into her.

Instead, she heard a voice, and then the weight released. Her knees curled in as she limply pushed herself back, gulping in air. With a hand clasped to her burning chest, she lifted her head, squinting through a haze of cloudy, blinking dots.

Corvin stood over her. Back pointed her way, he shoved at the beast's broad snout, antlers gilded in moonlight and tilted forwards in defence. Words she didn't recognise rolled over his tongue, clacking syllables so harsh and detached from one another that keeping track of them made her head spin.

She detected a mote of calm in his tone, however, deepening with every moment that passed. It leaked into the beast. The shuffling of its feet slowed, then stopped altogether, movements draining away to make room for stillness. The growl rumbling in its throat faded to a soft hum. Corvin's fingers settled to lie flat on its snout, and it bent its head underneath the gesture with strange grace that mirrored obedience. Its eyes slid closed, and when they opened again, they were wide and black, the previous slitted fire that had reared within them all but gone. The way it gazed upon Corvin was gentle, content.

It matched nothing Raya had ever known of the beasts; lacking a violent urge, the creature no longer seemed real. She forced herself to sit up, though she couldn't stop the quiver in her arms or her voice. "How are you doing that to it?"

"I am telling her the same thing I will tell you." Without moving, Corvin turned his head towards her, the barest smile overshadowed by the stern look in his eyes. "She is a friend."

He kept watching her, poise still as stone, warily patient, like he was testing her reaction. It took her a long moment to process it herself. She realised she still held her dust pouch, and let go of it in a hurry, granting him a nod.

Trust me, that look said—part command, part plea—and she did. Fear stayed sour in her throat and floundered within her bruised ribs, but she had to trust him.

When the seconds ticked on, broken only by Corvin's rough murmurs and the warm, steady rise and fall of the beast's breathing, she gathered her strength and rose. Courage was harder to come by, however. Her feet stayed where they were, fastened to the dune.

Another of his hard glances found her. With his free hand, he beckoned her forward. She rubbed at her shoulder, feeling for the hood that had fallen from her head. The back of her neck had gone cold.

His fingers flicked again, his gaze softening. "Raya," he whispered, still so careful with her name. "Come."

Nerves pushed a dry, breathless laugh from her lips. The hood bunched into her palm. "I doubt it would like me near."

"She is called Meag," he said, thumb rubbing slow circles over the beast's snout, "and if you do not threaten her, she will not hurt you."

Her gut writhed. "She might see me as a threat regardless."

His eyes locked with hers, red sunlight in darkness, warm and certain. "Then show her you are kind." He smiled then, the slightest twitch. "You are. I know."

If she could convince one of the beastfolk, maybe a beast wouldn't be hard at all. It wasn't a wholly comforting thought—her mind swarmed with the memory of Corvin thrashing in her bed, teeth bared and glare sharp with rage—but the image was so difficult to layer over the muffled quiet of this place that it did enough. She took one step towards him, then another. The desert seemed to hold its breath.

When she was near enough, he held out his hand. She took it loosely, aware of the continued tremor of her freezing fingers, but he paid the shakes no mind. He guided her easily, coaxing her hand in the direction of the beast.

Less than half an arm's length from its snout, she flinched, jarring to a halt. She could taste its breathing now, hear the wetness of it, feel the hot moisture sticking to her palm where it puffed from a dilating nose. The dewy scent of its fur sat on her tongue. She wanted to grimace or swallow, but found herself staring wide-eyed, stuck. She'd never taken this time before. She'd never taken in such an array of details, never processed these little details of a creature so different to herself.

It was so distinctly there—a thumping heartbeat, two moist eyes. So shockingly, strangely alive.

Corvin tugged on her hand, and she was complying before she could think it through. Her bare fingers sank into the fur on Meag's snout.

It wasn't pleasant to touch. Grey bristles pricked her skin, crawling like needles over her fingertips as tension shot through her arm. She inhaled sharply when Corvin withdrew, regret skittering over her bones as she found herself touching the beast alone, though she dared not flee. Meag bucked under her hand, grunting, then pawing at the ground. Her snort snapped at Raya's face with hot air.

She remembered those yellow teeth and the ache in her chest and clenched her jaw, fighting a wince. Her eyes stung. She screwed them shut, breath coming in a snatched, shallow race.

"Calm." Corvin, right there beside her, his foreign voice at her ear. "She will follow you."

Raya nodded too fast, chin dipping and rising three times too many. Meag's every heave of movement further chipped at her resolve. But calm was how she'd dealt with this before, and she could find it again. She focused on the simple warmth beneath her fingers, the wiry feel of the fur, the thump of her own heart, picturing ripples on a river and forcing her breaths to slow to their rhythm. Corvin was here. She wasn't alone.

As the moments slid by and it grew easier to breathe, she felt Meag settle. The still quiet returned. Bracing herself, she dared crack open an eye.

A dark, opaline gaze greeted her, deep and peaceful as the night above, soft enough to render her paralysed. Surprise registered at seeing her own fingers intact, stark as shadow amid the ashy fur they nestled into. Meag breathed on, steady and calm. As Raya watched, the beast released a low whine, then leaned into her hand. The pressure made her stumble back a step, but there was no force behind it. The sound thrummed from Meag's jaw and shivered up Raya's arm.

A buoyant laugh tripped free. It was short and awkward, clashing with her nerves, but it dragged a smile along with it. She felt the last of her fear sink through her toes and dribble into the sand.

"You see?" Corvin asked. "A friend."

Carefully, Raya removed her hand, though the shiver in her skin remained. She was sure there were colours in the indigo sky beyond Meag that she hadn't noticed before. "Yes," she breathed. "I..." The words weren't there to describe what she saw, but her smile wouldn't shift.

She turned to her beastfolk companion, still at her side. "Thank you," she said, tasting a richness to her voice she wasn't used to. She meant it. "For bringing me here."

A heaviness entered her heart, swelling abruptly enough to bring her joy crashing down. It hadn't occurred to her until now that this might be a farewell. Corvin could hardly stay, and she didn't belong here, out in the quiet and the open air. This was a stolen peace, a false freedom. She would have to return home.

Seeing the beauty in this place meant nothing if it wasn't hers to experience. Her hands suddenly itched as if they were dirty.

She would miss him, too. Despite all the turbulence he'd flung into her life, the thought of never seeing him again made her heart ache. This past week had been ridiculous, chaotic, but it had meant something. She thought again of Meag beneath her hand—not pleasant, but new, necessary, alive.

Wording that rush of feeling was overwhelming. She opened her mouth to try, but barely made a sound before the look on Corvin's face distracted her. The focus in it was gone; his expression went slack, gaze drifting somewhere over her shoulder, then towards the sky as he started to slip. Snapped from her reverie, she rushed to get an arm around his shoulders, chest tight with worry. Her heels dug into the sand as she skidded under the press of his weight.

Meag's nose bumped her arm, preventing her from falling. The beast curled around her to peer at Corvin, tail thumping the sand as she whined. Raya could feel herself tensing up, nerves set alight by the creature's closeness, but fought against it as best she could as she adjusted her grip on Corvin. Sticky warmth soaked the hand she used to prop his spine, seeping through his rumpled robe.

She shook him, but he was already blinking himself awake. Sharp pain sank in, replacing his glazed expression with a grimace. Lips pinched, he tugged slightly at her grip, unsteady but fighting to push himself upright alone. He hissed out a word she didn't know.

She didn't let go. "Corvin, I think you've popped the stitches on your back." She swallowed past a lump in her throat and glanced at the wounds, concealed but horribly etched into her mind. "You're bleeding fast. I need to take you home."

Hesitancy snipped at the declaration; she expected him to put up a fight, but he only nodded compliantly and slung an arm around her, shifting to better fit her support. They managed one step together before Meag dove at him. Her whines rose in pitch, her nose pushing at his chest. Raya jerked to a halt, tongue between her teeth, fingers flexing at her side as she tried to figure out the right way to dissuade the beast. Would she follow them back to the city? Peaceful as she seemed, that couldn't happen.

She made herself tamp down the anxieties and look to Corvin. Despite the agony clouding his eyes, he didn't falter as she did. Gentle but firm, he cupped Meag's snout with his free hand and levelled her dark gaze, murmuring again in that harsh, unfamiliar tongue.

A few words was all it took. Before Raya could process it, the beast pulled away with a snort, tossed Corvin one last look that appeared almost mournful, and then spread her wings. Raya watched her take to the sky with awe tapping a void in her chest. She was quick to blend with the night, grey turning to silver in the light of the stars, an easy hue that allowed her to fade as she grew smaller and smaller.

Corvin sighed, an equally small sound that drew Raya back to him. His gaze trailed the stars. "We will come back?"

The solemn weight in her chest remained, but she pushed a smile into place. "We have to."

It was a dangerous promise. The taste of the world outside Tehazihbith was intoxicating. She couldn't let herself become wrapped up in it, yet with every step she took back in the city's direction, all she could think of was how desperately she wished she could see more.

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