ADARA

Spires of twisting leaves cast a shadow with the moonlight in the cloudless, starry sky. Willows twisted and curled along the bank of the marshy undergrowth, where wood bridges lifted above the muddiest, deepest patches, but some sections slipped deeper into the water from use, wear and tear. It was not a rope bridge, though water in her boots was the last thing she wanted to walk in. Draken's Descent long disappeared throughout the days and nights on the new, squishy road, surrounded by moss and the chirps of indeterminate animals. Shapes slithered in the water and burrowed deeper into the weeds, but lilies of moon-sprinkled white opened up in the crescent reflected off the surface of the watery layers. Yuven once more took the head of the pack, his nose to the inked map of sparkling, changing paths.

"Are we lost?" she asked and examined the water-logged bridge waiting to take them to the other side.

He ignored her.

Adara followed the wind in the willow trees, tangling with the high pines of the strongest trees on the bank of the marsh. Night graced her with the mild, cold touch of wind, for the day found her boiling underneath her skin at the subtle shift in temperature the deeper in Haneka they walked. Her neck bore the worst of the heat with the crimson shawl wrapped tight around her shoulders, so she tucked it into her pack for safekeeping when she found herself dying in the humid air. It pricked her ashen fire through her veins, but when she tried to unleash it, it refused in her own petulance. Fenrer hopped onto the bridge, which sank deeper for his weight, continuing forward though Yuven hesitated.

"Why is it always the marshes and swamps that cause ink blobbing?" Yuven complained.

Fenrer glanced at the stars then stopped in the middle of the bridge. "It won't matter if we hit the coast, Yuven. I know the general area starting from Draken's Descent."

"It matters because all the trees look the same." Yuven closed the map with a flick of the parchment. "I want to head straight to Sivaport, no more detours. No more being dragged into problems." He pointed at Fenrer, who twisted his lips into a smile. "You have a tendency of meandering if you sense someone has the slightest case of discomfort or, Inferno's forfend, a little sad about their bread not coming out right. Can you stand to ignore emotional plight for more than... I'll say three seconds."

Adara raised an eyebrow at him. "That is oddly specific."

"Three seconds is about as long as I last until I start getting a headache — speaking of which, Sazaka—"

Here I thought he was improving.

"I don't want you talking for three seconds."

"Just three?"

Yuven twisted around on the planks, and the water followed his boots. "Let's get out of this area," he said and pushed past Fenrer, and Adara rushed to catch up, to not be left behind on the mushy shore of grass and weeds. "We should be hitting firmer ground soon and hitting a marked trail through the county. If we find the river and follow it, we'll be led straight to Sivaport and avoid said meandering. Go." Yuven waved his hand at Fenrer, who nodded and trailed through the wetland. Adara tried to sense the moisture in the air, but it stuck to her skin as heavy dew and never gave her the relief she hoped for. It slipped into her palm and bubbled into a boil, but never burned her. A memory shimmered on the surface, bubbling with clarity.

"I still have my duty," Garren, the old man reminded her; protected her though she never remembered the reason until Fenrer guided her through the precious moments hidden from her — a voice of the sea, but she reprimanded him for living in Tebora his entire life, when she grew older, knew better; his homesickness became palpable in his voice.

This was the home you knew, and you left me without explaining why. Just like my parents... just like Tara. Adara thumbed her buttons and dragged out a cold sigh. "Haneka has another wall that connects with Lyzetiel citadel, right?" Adara tried to find a route, but the willows blocked the unseen paths and covered the leaves and pines. "Why can't we just head there?"

"We're not going further south, that's why." Yuven traced a route with his finger as Fenrer checked the resonator with a click. "Our destination is the coastal city of Sivaport."

Adara pushed her boots through the water. "Can I see the map?"

"No." Yuven tugged it out of her reach when she tried to grab it out of his hands.

"Any particular reason why?" she questioned. "I can read maps."

Yuven's feathers flicked. "Here I thought you couldn't understand a straight line. Guess that's one less thing I have to concern myself with." He gave her a sharp-toothed smile. "Answer is still no. These maps are made of magically sensitive parchment. Your magick is what I consider an obtrusive power that would probably make it impossible to read, so—" He flicked it for obvious emphasis and shoved his nose against it.

Fenrer closed the resonator and hooked it onto his belt, next to his pocket watch.

"I just want to know how far we are from the wall."

"We are far enough that it won't show up."

Adara stepped closer and tried to beat Yuven's deft speed when he held it out of her reach. "Yuven, stop being an ass for once." Her fingers trailed on the parchment, and the memory whispered as Jisa shoved one into her hands, the truth of their little place in Tebora, but not the center of the world, not all of its wondrous views. From mighty waterfalls to massive oceans, she wanted to know more, to experience it all and everything taken from her. To explore for Jisa, and live outside the cage. Yuven planted his feet and tried to keep her at a distance, his pupils thinning when she squirmed to take a peek over his shoulder or underneath his arm. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Get used to it." Adara tried to get around him, and her foot slipped through the planks, but she righted herself as Yuven twirled to counteract every move she made. One made Fenrer take a small step out of the way. "I mean, you could take this by force, but you barely have enough know-how to balance on water. How can I trust you with a map?

"What does a map have to do with that?"

Her fingers grabbed the edges of the parchment, and the ink glowed silver and swallowed the icy mist drawing it. Yuven breathed out a subtle hiss through his nose as he tried to wrestle it back from her.

"Can we wait until we're on solid ground to discuss this—?" Fenrer joined his hands with theirs, and Adara jumped from the electrical shock when her fingers brushed against his. Fenrer's eyes went as wide as moons and he scowled when he dropped, and Adara flinched as the rippled splash when he landed back first into the marshy pond, and Yuven held his empty hands out with a tortured expression of disbelief. Adara twisted around as Fenrer lifted himself out of the weeds by his arms. Water slipped off strands of dark hair and his wolven pin. Little waves bounced along his leather armor as he rested one hand on his knee, and lifted the other out of reeds. In his fingers, the soggy piece of parchment, where the ink slipped to the edge along road-like trails, but faded with each drip.

Yuven's fingers clawed into shaped irritation.

"Gods, are you okay?" she blurted out. "I'm sorry."

"I'm alright." Fenrer hauled himself to his feet, and the water lapped almost to his hips. Streams fell down his pants as he shook his head and brushed his fingers through his hair before holding out the map to them.

"Good job, Sazaka." Yuven swiped it out of Fenrer's fingers as he squeezed out water from his shirt. "Kah'mai." He shook out the droplets, then formed a glyph on the surface. It froze at the edges, but she wanted to right her mistakes, to turn the moisture into steam and steal it from what it waterlogged.

Just like the clothes, imagine a twine of flames, going through the tiniest gap... Adara painted the image and reached through Yuven's glyph, to have her magick obey.

"Sazaka, stop!"

Ice burst into silver embers, and Yuven dropped the map. It floated into the air, and curdled into coal. Lost in the flames, she drew her hand back as the glyph shattered at her fingers and refused not to obey her, but to devastate her environment. Showered stars slammed into golden fields and people screamed for escape from her flames. Adara took a small step back when Yuven's arms dropped to his sides and he glared at her, feathers flat against his head. Nothing remained of their guide except the hanging silver mist before it dissipated with the wind.

Everything I touch...

Adara dug her fingers into her ribcage and the glint of metal hugged her neck as Yuven opened his mouth, but it was the sounds of those who feared magick. Blight. Monster. Tainted. It curled in her mind and forced her to flee, to hide behind Garren, who he himself hid under the guise of an addled old hermit who lived in a log cabin in the forest, hiding the golden crescent blade and the promise of a star. Water bubbled at her heels as she tried to reform the glyph, the passage of life, but it steamed into her hand and grew with her amounting frustration clawing at her throat.

"We don't need it."

It was always his voice.

Fenrer climbed back onto the small bridge to separate her from Yuven, who scowled. "Yuven, I know the area," he said and glanced at the stars again, following the speckled trails in each of the directions, including the one they came from before twisting around once more. "A bit south from here is the Blackmetal river. It digs straight through Haneka back to the coast." He thumbed his band and turned to her with a nod. "You see, it's guarded with a bridge, that's the direct route to the wall, at least. However, if we keep going straight, we'll reach the Goldwood. It's a lot of forests and valleys, but I know the area more than if we took another route, and that's directly east from here. So, we don't need the map anymore — and, Yuven, if it bothers you that much, I can probably find a place to stop to ask for directions if it bothers you." Fenrer drew out the words which formed a wordless question on his lips. "You told me you weren't so arrogant to think you can battle Haneka's climate."

Yuven raised his nose into the air. "I did say so."

Fenrer motioned with his hands.

"Fine." An air bubble formed in his palm. "Brace yourself."

"I think I'll pass, Yuven." Fenrer scrambled for his forearm. "I'll just dry off on the way."

"Are you sure—?" Adara voiced her own question.

"Really," he said. "I appreciate the offer, but it's just a little water."

"A little water and fire which destroyed the map," Yuven mumbled.

Rocks landed in her shoulders, but she tried to hold them, and the entirety of her world, up on them. "Shouldn't you dry off a little?" she asked as Fenrer waddled off the bridge, but stopped when he looked at her. "I mean, don't want you getting sick or anything. I could tell you stories about people slipping into water and ending up with shakes and fevers..."

Fenrer smiled. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that." He rolled down his sleeves further. "It'd take a little bit more than that to make me sick. Hanekan's have giants blood, remember?" he asked. "We're notorious for shaking off most toxins and infections that others would struggle with, but I appreciate the concern."

"What, you can drink poison and shrug?" Adara mused, breaking herself from her weighted tension.

"I think even Fenrer would struggle to recover from a concentrated dose," Yuven pointed out behind her. "He's just referring to the fact that giants, and Hanekan's by proxy, are sturdier physically. So, I'd take his word for it Sazaka, but you're also the reason—"

"Yuven."

Yuven rolled his eyes and followed Fenrer, but bumped his shoulder into hers, almost sending her face-first into the reeds. "We need to work on the clumsiness, you act as if your feet aren't your own," he said as he jumped to the bank and sprung to the forest edge. "Footwork is paramount in the most fundamental understanding of magick. Everyone dismisses grounding techniques for something more flimsy, but you can't go wrong with it."

Her boots lugged behind her, but when she reached the final step, Fenrer held a hand out to her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

I'm sorry for what I cannot control, what I shouldn't have...

"Don't mind him, and it's fine," Fenrer said and kept his hand outstretched. "He's a little antsy. I'll talk to him though."

Magick I can't seem to grasp... and might never be able to. Yuven refuses to budge and...

Adara took his hand and wrapped hers around his warm one to steady herself on her shaking legs. He pulled her onto the bank and released her. Moon-lilies bloomed at her feet and spread bridges of silver light into the petals of her heart, a final kiss, but it burned and bled on her lips as she found herself wanting to fit the twine of fire between his fingers instead, cooled from the serene breeze in his swirling eyes.

Bright as crystalline emerald.

"Adara?" he mused.

Adara trailed her fingers off his when he drew them back, scorched for her dream. "Sorry. I'm a mess, I know. I'm trying."

A crescent blade underneath the lake of blood, glinting with green. It rested beside him as he slept, the same hue of life drowning in globs of viscera, and burst the shadows into golden stars. In the moonlight, it bloomed in the crystal.

But when she looked into the horizon, it was Fenrer Pyren, the rising sun of his name - the spirit's future untold.