Katherine never thought she'd crave the safety of a cemetery. Samuel and Katherine's feet had graced the mossy floor of the mountain range's Cicadia Forest mere moments before. After the initial stumble, both staggered in opposite directions. Katherine refused to take her eyes off the fae man, wishing she had her accidental fairy ring from the day prior. Had it been just yesterday that she'd knelt under her sister's willow tree, wishing for more? The festival day passed in ages, and Katherine's bones mirrored the weariness of someone who'd spent their life waiting for a change. The gloom of the forest grew in her mind's eye, melding with the bitter taste on the back of her tongue and the clench of her heart.

Nighttime sounds of sleeping prey and prowling nocturne creatures crept through the trees. No bird song flitted in the branches, and, in the distance, a solitary howl found company in a chorus of others. Katherine shivered at the sound and the chill in the air, wishing she'd grabbed a cloak instead of dashing from the too-warm glass shop with nothing but her work dress. The dress itself was coated now in gold and dirt in equal measure, showing the signs of all of the night's adventures, even sporting a tear that ran past her kneecap. If she had any decency yet, she'd blush at the slit it created, but that was long gone.

In the long shadows cast by the tree canopy, neither Katherine nor Samuel had yet to move. They stood across from each other, Samuel having taken up residence on a fallen log, lowering himself with a huff, while Katherine stayed rooted to the spot. He didn't meet Katherine's questioning eyes and seemed more focused on the bracelets on his tanned wrists than conversation. Katherine furrowed her brow, her lips pursing. There was so much to be said, but she had none of the energy for most of it. She hardly had enough to keep herself warm, and she was doing a poor job of that, even as she brushed her hands up and down her arms.

"What next?"

Katherine's brows bumped her hairline, her exhaustion muddling her thoughts and loosening her tongue.

"Don't you live here?"

Samuel let out a choke of a laugh, the sound ragged, scraping from through his throat forcefully. He brought his head up at last to meet the gaze that Katherine attempted to pin him with.

"No, I don't live here. The wolves wouldn't like me very much for a neighbor." He began to pick at his nails, ringleted and silky hair obscuring his face from her again. "But this is as far as I can take us through flying. The rest we have to go on foot."

"We have to walk to the fae kingdom?" Katherine grit out, her tired mind trying and failing to work out the puzzle that Samuel presented. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the fae kingdom floating?"

Samuel moved his head back and forth, tilting it side to side, as if weighing his next words. "It's not that simple."

"Then explain."

Katherine could feel the weariness coming off of him in waves, or maybe it was just that he slumped further down on the log, sprawling over it like a courtly lady in faint. She almost felt bad for demanding it. Almost.

"It does float, in a sense, but the fae kingdom is governed by different rules than Cairn and even Ecrivenia or Marenta. Have you ever seen a map of the world?"

Katherine nodded uncertainly, picturing in her head the map that hung above the bookseller's desk down three streets from her family's shop. Worn and tattered, but showing the entirety of the known world, from the mountains of Cairn to the lake-filled valleys of Marenta, and the coastal region of Ecrivenia, as well as the many island nations.

"When a normal country has a border, it's a line on a map but it doesn't show up in reality. There are places in the woods where you won't know when you pass from one country to the other. This is not the way in Elden, nor the other fae kingdoms. To travel between fae kingdoms is as if you were to fold that map in half, and then into quarters, and so on. With each fold, a new part of the fae kingdom is represented, reaching from the one "above" Cairn to the ones that humans haven't even recorded, except maybe Captain Clarke. But the boundaries aren't so easy to navigate. They exist, but they're more like seams between worlds, like the stitching that connects your bodice to your skirt."

"That's— that's a lot of different analogies." She imagined the folded paper, the infinitely many combinations, and the flimsy seams that held them all together. "Wait, does that mean that the fae kingdom just continues? Forever?"

"Something like that."

"How does anyone know where they're going?"

"The fae are cyclical beings; they have little use for maps as they feel the need to move from one part of the kingdom to another in their bones more than their minds."

Katherine moved closer to Samuel, planting herself on the end of the fallen log as she realized at last what he was doing. Between his palms were two pieces of flint, and the small pile of kindling he'd brushed together with his feet sat waiting for sparks. She watched him struggle for a moment, curiosity growing with each movement. The flint, the speaking of the fae as if he wasn't one of them— who was he really? She tsked at him on his next failed attempt to light the pile, snatching the flint away from him with a quick motion.

"Let me."

As soon as she finished talking, the sparks jumped to life, and she bent over, blowing gently on the smoking flames. The flame took to the pine sprills first, creating a smokey fire, and Katherine fed it twigs and leaves as it continued to grow. She and Samuel inched away from the climbing flames and sparks, and soon the little pile of kindling had grown to a small but sufficient fire. Warmth soaked into her toes first, then the rest of her body, and Katherine let out a sigh of relief for the first time that evening. It didn't solve everything, but at least she wouldn't freeze to death in the early spring night.

"You're very good at that," Samuel said, watching as she continued to place sticks onto the fire. She stood up, having exhausted the supply of wood by where she sat. She shrugged at him, moving to get more sticks and twigs.

"It's less impressive when you realize most of my life has been spent keeping dwindling flames alive." She crouched, pulling dead branches from the underbrush, gathering a small pile in her arms. "Not all flames are created equal, some burn bright and hot and are over in an instant, some hardly get beyond a flicker, but continue forever."

"I feel like you may not be speaking of just fire." He eyed Katherine speculatively as she returned to his side, placing some of the pile on the ground beside him and the rest slowly into the fire.

"I suppose I'm not." She felt herself flush. "Perhaps my fatigue has hindered my thought process."

"Or revealed it." Katherine's gaze snapped to his, stilling in her hearth tending. She frowned at him but didn't honor his statement with a reply. "Why did you say yes to the king's offer?"

Katherine sat back down on the felled tree log, the moss-covered wood soft but cold through her dress. "I don't think I had a choice. The moment he spoke to me, my ability to return to my old life ceased."

She'd thought of it perhaps too much on the flight into the woods, and a spiteful part of her wanted to get back at the fae king for giving her a choice between certain death and likely failure. What kind of deal was that? Katherine shook her head, focusing on the licks of gold, red, and orange fire eating away at the new branches. She'd heard never to accept a fae's deal, but she hadn't considered that the princesses in the fairy tales, or the lost shepherds in the ghost stories may not have had a choice.

"Where to next? Since we are not flying," she changed the subject, not deftly. Katherine wished to speak to someone about the mess she'd landed herself in, but Samuel was not the person she'd choose.

"There is a seam a day and a half's journey into the forest, on the other side of the mountain." Samuel frowned, his thin face and sharp cheekbones casting shadows on the rest of his features. "It is not the walk itself that is the issue, however. These woods are full of much more than wolves and your typical forest fare."

Taking a stick from the pile next to him, he put the tip first in the flames, letting it light then snuffing it out against the ground. Fashioning the newly made charcoal stick into a drawing tool, Samuel began to draw figures in the dirt in front of her. At first, they appeared to have very little logic to them. The arcs he created were smooth, speaking of skill and experience, but Katherine wasn't sure in what. Was this drawing or writing?

With each stroke, she was surprised as the smudged lines began to remold themselves, pulling their sides closer together or arcing out in smoother circles as he worked. What had seemed like nonsensical marks began to take shape into a detailed diagram of creatures and paths. The world of the mountain started to take shape. First were the winged beasts with the mouth and body of a mountain lion and the wings, talons, and eyes of an eagle. Second, imp-like creatures, with clawed hands and pinched faces appeared in the dirt. A bemused smile crossed her face, as the imp was kept company by a charcoal version of herself for scale. Her eyes lingered on the swirling skirts of her dress, and the strong tilt of her chin. Is this how Samuel saw her?

Next, Samuel began with an oblong oval, and Katherine leaned closer to watch as a figure draped in vines and pondweeds emerged from the oval and Samuel's illustration. More were splayed out in his drawings, but soon he'd run out of dusty earth to demonstrate in. A mosaic of forest leaves and the creatures within the woods made for a haunting image. Samuel stopped drawing, placing the stick with its sharp point worn to a nub, on the ground in front of him. Katherine tilted her head to face him, freezing as she realized he was already looking at her. An uneasiness began to fill her, as the darkness of the trees and the sounds of the woodland animals and beings that she now had a reference image for twilled and howled, growled and sang.

Did she have more to fear from the man in front of her or the creatures in the trees? She shifted farther away from him, squirming slightly under the intensity of his gaze and the solemnity of his expression.

"Should we get going then?"

Samuel shook his head, breaking his eye contact with her. "No. We both could do with some sleep." He paused, weaving his hands through the air in a sudden movement, crossing his arms. When he brought them back up, level with each other and Katherine's chin, a mossy fabric hung from them, looking for all the world as if he'd pulled it straight from the bushes or as if the forest gave it to him itself. "Here, for you."

He held it out, waiting for Katherine to take it, but she hesitated. This would be the second, maybe even the third, thing she owed him. She wasn't sure if he was fae or something else, but she bristled.

"I have nothing to give you in return." The corners of his mouth pulled down in response.

"That's where you're entirely wrong." He stood and reminded Katherine of his tall, willow-like stature. He stepped closer to her, bringing with him the smell of campfire and a chill she hadn't anticipated, but this disappeared as he draped the fabric around her shoulders. The cloth was thicker than it looked, keeping out the cold and reminding Katherine of the thickest of blankets that they never could quite afford. He stayed close, pulling the fabric closed over her, and Katherine's heart jumped as he swallowed but returned to his full height.

"Rule number one of dealings with the fae, words are more important than you realize. You only have nothing to give if you say as much. In return, you could've given me the gift of your company or the honor of sharing a hearthside with you."

"That would be enough?"

"If you believe you are enough, then you are." Katherine opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it, the warmth from the gifted blanket whispering to her quiet bones and mind of sleep and dreams. "I thank you for the gift of both." He quirked a smile. "If the fire had been left up to me, we'd still be waiting for it to light."

Katherine gave him a wan smile, shuffling from her seat to sit beneath a nearby pine. Close enough to feel the fire, but far enough to give her space from her strange companion.

"Will you sleep as well?"

He shook his head. "No, I'll keep watch. I bid you sweet dreams."

Katherine furrowed her brow but did as he suggested. The quiet crackling of sparks, singing of wind, and hoots of distant owls lulled her to sleep with a forest lullaby. For the first time in years, she had no clue what tomorrow held.

-o-0-o-

Bit of a late update but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter is coming Tuesday because it has to! It's the last of the 8-chapter challenge, and 30 days of writing among others! What do you think of Samuel these days? Any guesses on what they'll encounter in the woods?