2412 Strilaxis 14, Daleth

The border between Lifver and Flaron was a clearing in the forest that gives way from the high mountains of Lifver to the expansive hill of Flaron. Xanthy's heart skipped a beat when she raked her eyes to the peak of the hill where buildings in a thousand shades of brown stood. At the foot of the hill, vast orchards of trees with leaves of various colors littered the circumference of the base.

Xanthy dragged June and Nyxis through the orchard, drinking in every shade of brown that she can name. She recognized all of them. It's her turn to torture her friends to make them feel what she had been feeling the past week. She yelled every shade of brown she identified.

"Okay, okay! We know what we did to you was horrible," Nyxis repented after Xanthy had named the two-hundredth shade—not that she was actually counting. He covered his ears with his hands. "We get it! You can stop now."

Xanthy stuck her tongue out at him and snickered. "Oh, over there, russet! Chestnut! Hazel! Beige! Umber! Taupe! Tan!"

"For the gods' sake, Xanthy, stop," June lunged to clamp his hand over her mouth. Xanthy danced out of his reach and continued her tirade.

"Where was this person you were supposed to meet?" June's grimace was a wonderful sight to Xanthy.

Xanthy shrugged. "She only said she will find me. So in the moments that we have to wait, I will make you remember a thousand shades of brown!"

"There cannot be that many," Nyxis shook his head and tousled his hair.

Xanthy grinned. "You will see!"

So, they tramped deeper into the orchards, cresting the hill in an attempt to at least the city at the peak. Xanthy got to about a hundred when June hissed at her to be quiet for the millionth time. Nyxis pursed his lips and tried to endure it stoically. She hoped they're reflecting.

Soon, the trees thickened as their growth became less and less rigid compared to the orderly orchards they passed through as they went up the hill. The air turned colder but still contained enough humidity that reminded Xanthy of the Commons region in Cardina. Xanthy stopped yammering about brown and dropped into muted appreciation as they walked along the forest. She could tell that June and Nyxis were relieved.

An hour in, Xanthy didn't know where they were anymore.

Xanthy scanned her surroundings, past the swaying leaves and the midday sun shining down from the canopies. The absence of fog calmed something inside Xanthy but something else swirled at the pit of her gut.

She swore they passed that blue tree with white flowers for the second time but the boys barely entertained her. They must still be salty after the last scheme she pulled on them. But they really must listen to her this time.

Still, they went further. The ground climbed higher and higher as the flat ground carved at the sides of the hill led them towards the peak. Except that they seem to be going nowhere at all. She spotted the blue tree the third time.

It was apparently called a chinspice. It was one of the rarest trees to grow in a humid forest like that of Penleth. Xanthy dismissed it, like all the rest Nyxis yammered about.

Some time later, they passed by it again.

"There is that blue tree again," Xanthy pointed at the tree seemingly mocking her with its presence.

Nyxis shrugged. "Trees are not categorized by type in this part of the forest. Perhaps you looked at it wrong?"

Xanthy blew a strand of hair off her face. She didn't look at it wrong. She knew what she was seeing and they had passed the same tree for the past two hours.

Then they passed it again. And again. And again.

The sixth time the surroundings got familiar, she marched ahead and faced the boys, planting her foot firmly on the ground before they could take another step. June raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I know you do not believe me, but I know this path and it is the one we have been taking for the past hours," Xanthy crossed her arms as convincingly as she could.

Nyxis mussed his hair in his signature style. He smiled at Xanthy, flashing his white teeth at her. "Relax, we are almost close to the center. Hopefully, we will get to the other side by nightfall."

Xanthy scrunched up her nose. She hoped the boys weren't still taking her earlier act of revenge seriously. The wind shuffled softly like it was warning them of an incoming danger. "But the tree," she pointed north. "There it is again."

True enough, the blue tree stood there, as if mocking them of their ignorance. If it had a face, Xanthy was sure she would've punched it.

Nyxis looked from her and the tree. "Xanthy, if you are still dwelling on the fact I said before about the chinspice rarely growing in a humid forest, it is not safe to assume that there is only one chinspice in this forest. Maybe there are others that survived as well, and maybe that is what you keep seeing."

"I know what I am seeing. Thank you very much," Xanthy narrowed her eyes. "And that is the sixth time we passed that tree. You have to believe me!"

June, sensing her frustration, put his hand on her shoulder. "Xanthy, it is not that we do not believe you. It is just that maybe Nyxis knows the way better than us."

"So, you are best friends now, huh? Well, nice!" Xanthy screamed in a tone shriller than she would have liked. June pursed his lips.

Guilt gnawed on Xanthy's chest. She dropped her head into her hands. "I am sorry, June," she half-murmured. "I am just tired."

June cracked a small grin. "We all are, Xanthy," he said in a soft tone. "Can we just go?"

There was nothing Xanthy could do after that. "Sure," she said weakly.

The sun faded from a distance after a few hours. The sky had turned into a pale shade of pink. Which moons would grace the sky today? Xanthy would want to know but that wasn't the focus now. They had wasted too much time.

Xanthy lost count how many times she saw the blue tree. Every time they passed by it, waves of danger seemed to overwhelm her senses that drove her to some kind of paranoia. She wanted to point it out again, but after experiencing the way the boys treated her like an illiterate child, she kept her tongue in her mouth.

The boys were oblivious of her plight. They walked side by side, with Xanthy in the rear, talking in low voices and sometimes sharing a laugh about something. It seemed like they forgot Xanthy was even there.

She didn't know what to feel, seeing how June and Nyxis naturally gravitated towards each other. For once, June's guarded expression didn't cloud his face whenever he hung out with Nyxis. This was the first time Xanthy saw Nyxis with someone not a girl or someone twice his age.

Either way, it's good for both of them. Shoot, maybe Nyxis was the one that would unearth June's past from under the half-blood's secretive nose.

Xanthy had been suppressing that itch to know where June came from and his past ever since she knew he was a half-blood. She couldn't bring herself to ask him again, fearing it would affect their friendship. The last time she interfered, it hadn't ended well. Maybe Nyxis would be the one she'd been waiting for, who would reveal everything about June.

Now that she thought about it—she wasn't really sure what June and Nyxis was to her. It seemed suspicious that they easily agreed to join her on her fool's quest to go to Alkara without wanting anything and without hesitation, too. Haven't they got things to do other than tromp around forests and farmlands?

Were they her friends? She wasn't sure of that, either. True, they stuck by her and tolerated her, but how long would that last? How long until they decide she wasn't worth their time, energy, and effort?

Doubts crowded into her already half-filled brain. Her feet squelched through dirt, the particles searing their way into Xanthy's brain, urging her to memorize the way they're arranged.

June and Nyxis suddenly howled with laughter and Xanthy's insides churned. She looked down, studying her worn boots. Gods, what was this feeling?

She tried to keep her thoughts level to a flat point, to keep her envy in check. Her surroundings blurred together as she pursed her lips. She dare not take a sniffle, else the boys hear her and laugh at her pettiness. They already made fun of her when she slammed into a tree. What's to stop them when they see her crying just because they became best friends without her?

Suddenly, strong, warm arms wrapped around her shoulders. Before she knew it, a hand was tangled in her hair, she was facing the other direction, and there was an amber mop of hair at the edge of her vision.

Her mind struggled to process what was happening when a voice spoke so softly in her ear. "You made me worried there. I told you to not go into the forest alone. I almost lost you."