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Three years ago.

Fresh blood whirled in the air, becoming lost in the red of autumn leaves as the crowd murmured to each other. To the side of the training grounds an alchemist ran over, sweat in his hair, and tended to the candidate lying unconscious with a dented helm.

“It was to yield! Oh gods,” his mother yelled as she pushed through the crowd to get to her boy. The other fighter backed off.

“I heard no ‘yield,’” a gnarled voice boomed at the side of the arena. Durrolk. He was the commander of the watchmen, old and more experienced than she could imagine, and who now walked with a spear for a cane. He was set to retire in a year. And, if all went well, he would be Relani’s boss.

The son was conscious now, trying to get back to his feet and pushing his mother away. “I didn’t stop!” he yelled, spitting out some blood from his twisted visor, “How much time do I have left?”

“You’re done, boy,” Commander Durrolk said, motioning to some watchmen, “get him out of here.”

Relani watched the boy be dragged away, the mother following with choked breaths. Slowly, Relani went to feel the daggers strapped to her chest. Then, with a hesitant hand, she felt the bag full of ball bearings.

She’d passed the exams, the survival tests, and even the conditioning drills, but this final challenge loomed over her. Her tail twitched incessantly as the field was cleared. “Any constable can remember patrol schedules and memorize laws,” she could remember Commander Durrolk saying at the start of the trials, “but watchmen are a different breed. When the dark magic rises, when the hordes arrive, we are the first line of defense. If you can’t last but five minutes against a watchman now then you’ll have no hope of facing the wilds later.”

The nights of sleeping in wet cellars and days of picking pockets had grown old to her. A month ago she’d heard the town criers going on about the upcoming watchmen admissions--a chance to crawl out of the muck.

“Next one up!” The commander boomed.

She tossed the ball bearings to the side. They all knew of her magic. She’d seen them glance down their noses even as she was covered head to toe in mud after the conditioning drills with the rest of them. If she was going to be accepted then she needed to do this with her bare hands. No. She couldn’t just win, she had to dominate.

No one patted her back or gave her a word of encouragement as she went through the crowd. It was all silent appraisal as she stepped into the field--a beast of a man standing in the center. A Gnoll about two heads taller than her leaning against a blunted battleaxe, covered in plate armor battered over the years. Usually, Gnolls were known as cannibals and raiders on the outskirts of society, yet Sentinel had a sizable population of them living within its walls.

Raising his hyena-shaped visor, she could see ashy fur and jagged fangs underneath. “You really think you can get into the watchmen, girl?”

When down, the visor would give him some blind spots to his sides. The greaves and cuisses had to be modified to fit his digitigrade legs, maybe she could use that?

Relani raised her daggers, the only weapons she had. “Let’s find out.”

The watchman cackled, a horrible high pitched, hyena-whine. He shut his visor and raised his axe. “Remember, say ‘yield’ before you end up like the last guy.”

“Hannover, ready?” The Gnoll gave a gauntleted thumbs-up. “Candidate, ready? Time starts now!”

She let Hannover come to her, dancing between the long shadows cast by the Ivory Castle’s towers. Easy to dodge. It was a heavy weapon and he wasn’t trying to kill, so she could dance around him easily for the five minute duration. But mere survival wouldn’t win the respect of her betters.

Leaves of red, orange, and yellow kicked up in clouds as she circled around her larger opponent, teasing the side of the axe with her daggers with every missed swing. Hannover growled, thundering down in a hard strike and kicking up another gale of colorful foliage. She ran up the shaft, using the leaves as cover, and jumped on his back. He started thrashing back and forth but her dagger was already cutting the helmet’s chinstrap. By the time he grabbed her and threw her aside, his helmet was going with her.

Some folk in the crowd cheered as Relani climbed to her feet, hyena helm tucked underneath her arm. But Hannover raged. Red pooled in his notched ears from embarrassment.

She didn’t allow herself to soak up the victory. There would be no way to knock him over or best him in a fair fight--she needed to keep at her strategy.

Relani tossed the helmet to his feet. “I thought I’d make it more fair. You can’t see at all in that thing.”

Hannover charged, swinging his battleaxe like a troll while snarling and growling like a wolf with rabies. “Stay. Still. You. Fuck. Ing. Ass. Hole.” They were nearing the crowd now, and they scrambled over each other to get away from the mad attacks. “Have you no dignity?” he growled, gearing up for another swing.

Relani ducked underneath and rolled towards him. She’d taunted him into not keeping his stance squared enough, so she went right beneath his legs. With both daggers she went for the gaps around the cuisses--making sure not to cut him too badly. The straps would’ve been impossible to get to without the metal being reworked for his leg structure. In a series of quick cuts, both fell to the ground.

She spiraled away before he could even get a kick in. And now he was in the center of the arena with his trousers exposed. With the crowd’s laughter ringing in her ears, Relani couldn’t help but feel guilty for the man she was humiliating.

The hot anger was turning into a more driven rage as he snorted steaming air. He backed off, keeping his dark eyes on her. Relani made a few swipes to test the waters, but he didn’t flinch. He was staying firm in that spot.

Smart, Relani thought. He’d put together that she needed to impress their spectators and that she could only use tricks, so staying put gave him the advantage. Would she wait the minute out and risk looking weak, or would she charge?

Relani looked at the raised platform. If they were going to take a chance on her despite her wild magic, then she needed to give all she had.

The axe was ready near his shoulder, telling her that he was preparing to strike at an angle. She dashed with her daggers raised, moving to sidestep the swing. In the last moment he dropped the axe, and reached out for her with his gauntleted hands. She managed to duck the first, but not the second.

He throttled her to the ground, grabbing her wrists and smashing them against the dirt until she dropped both daggers. She could feel herself struggling to breathe. Her legs scrambled to find some sort of leverage.

“Yield!” Hannover growled. The rage in his eyes dissipated like a puff of smoke. He had her. At the end of the day he didn’t want to choke someone out if he could avoid it. “Yield!”

Relani did not yield.

She tried to reach for anything, but both hands were held down. His knee pressed down on her thighs now. “If you get to five minutes on the ground like this it won’t count. Yield.”

Relani spit onto his snout. He was forced to close one eye.

“Goddamn it, girl. Fine.” Hannover put more weight down on her neck. She was starting to see black at the corner of her vision.

Though her hands were pinned, her fingers were exposed.

One last option.

Twiddling her fingers, she began to feel the metal cuirass above her. A direct line was made between her body’s center of mass and the chestplate’s. With that line, she pushed.

Hannover was catapulted upwards, hanging in the air for three seconds before coming down in a cloud of dirt and leaves. The crowd silenced. And Relani found her daggers amongst the debris and got to her feet, wheezing. The fight was won. But with the armor’s weight Hannover was probably seriously injured. She could already see the alchemist running over to inspect him.

A hundred pairs of eyes sliced the back of her neck.

Relani spat on the ground and looked towards the stand. Only the Duke met her gaze.

“Victory!” he boomed. The crowd slowly went to a meager clap and cheer. She waited for either the Duke or the Commander to say that she was disqualified for her use of magic, but nothing came. She waited to see if some guards might come to arrest her. Nothing. Next, all they were shouting about was to clear the field for the next candidate.

Hannover was already in a sitting position, laughing with that frightening whine of his, by the time Relani got to him. The alchemist was trying to pry the dented armor off with no luck. He grinned at her approach. It seemed a couple fangs had been knocked out from the fall.

“Damn good fight, miss,” Hannover said, wincing as a plate of metal was pried off of him.

“Uh, thanks. Are you alright?”

“My reputation has got to be tanked. Thanks for that.” Reputation was the most important thing to own in Sentinel. In order to raise her’s, she needed to lower his.

He hacked up phlegm; deep and hollow. Maybe he’d broken a rib or two. Regardless, Hannover held out a hand. “Welcome to the family.”

Despite the autumn air Relani felt warm as she took it.

Further from the Ivory Castle’s shadow were the old growth trees--gnarled, ancient, and barren. Relani filed in with the rest of the successful candidates around a stone plinth nearly lost in the grove’s depth. Most of them were nursing cuts or bruises--some groaning in pain amongst the corkscrew roots and others sitting stuporously in the dirt. Once the tourney concluded the Duke and Commander would come to this common ground and make them kneel before the plinth, knighting them in the eyes of Sentinel’s founders. Relani was the only one that got out relatively unscathed.

They weren’t alone, however. Melarn was leaning against one of the trees near the grove’s edge. She met his gaze but quickly looked away from the black-furred Tabaxi and toward her new peers.

Three of the most uninjured were laughing and talking around the trunk of one of the trees. “I heard that the wolf is going to try out sometime,” one of them said.

“Bullshit,” another said.

“Nah, it’s making too much money doing mercenary work,” the third one said, “didn’t it take out that bandit camp out by Falchion’s Pass on its own? They fought to the last man, you know. Imagine what the Duke paid out for that.”

Relani siddled over. “Bandits don’t fight to the last man,” she said, “most muggers are cowards, really. They probably all surrendered after only one of them suffered a paper cut.”

“What?”

“Oh, um…” Relani’s tail twitched behind her. “Because… paper cuts aren’t all that bad.”

“Uh, yeah.” One of them coughed. “You’re Relani, right?” She nodded. “Well, good job. It’s… nice to meet you.” They turned back to their conversation.

“Nice to meet you as well. What are your names?”

“Huh?” One of them turned back to her as if they hadn’t heard.

Relani bit her lip. “Nevermind.” She shuffled away.

Trying and failing in finding conversation with two more of the conscious victors, her eyes returned to meet with Melarn’s emerald green. He hadn’t moved an inch. Crossed arms and eyes locked on her, he was waiting. This was not the first time she’d attempted to leave on her own.

Luck had controlled that moment. Dice had allowed Melarn to come back to the den with a pouch heavy with his gambling winnings. And chance had let Relani find him in a drunken sleep. It was enough for one person to leave Sentinel, she had thought. So she cut the purse from him and fled into the streets, hoping to lie low until she could buy the caravan fare in the morning. But one of Melarn’s lackeys found her in the first minute of her escape. He’d gone out to take a piss right when she snuck out the window.

Melarn had forgiven her, but it’d made a debt that she was still repaying.

“They curse you for your gift, you know,” Melarn said as she approached, hesitant, “this’ll never work for you.”

“What do you know? They say the Duke is open to people like me.”

“I know people, Relani.” With the same ease as it would be to pet a dog, he reached out and massaged the fur at the back of her neck. It was an exact spot that sent shivers spiderwebbing through her nerves. She could feel a heat rise in her, but she resisted it for now. “And I know that this town isn’t good enough for you.”

“Oh, please.”

“I could see you new companions talking with you from here. Do you really need me to tell you how they were treating you? Come on.”

Relani didn’t respond, but she stepped out of his touch.

“Come back with me to the den. I’ll buy you a drink, spar a bit, and we can forget about your betrayal.” The words stung. Her debt hadn’t been paid, after all, it was a betrayal to leave.

“I’m tired of being in the muck. I can’t keep looking over my shoulder and wondering if the next pocket I pick turns a sword on me,” Relani said, “how’re we supposed to live like this?”

He took a step towards her. “I can protect you if you finally let me.”

Relani pulled away, unable to meet his gaze.

There had been a kind woman that helped raise her, Elisa, who was wise enough to see that Relani would need smarts to survive on her own once she turned eighteen and was kicked out of the child’s home. So she taught Relani independence and how to move quietly. And about people like Melarn. She never explained, though, that sometimes people like him would be so willing to protect her. That they’d give her a dry room when the only other option was an alleyway. She’d managed to keep herself distant so far, but everyday she felt herself be pulled closer.

“What do you think your path is?” Melarn said.

Relani finally met his gaze, confused. His fangs were out now.

“Do you think your path was to be a watchman? No. You wouldn’t have been given your magic if it had. The world has set your path in front of you, Relani, and you don’t get to control it. Denying it will only hurt you more.”

“A path?”

“Yes. No one gets to choose theirs, unfortunately. It’s set by birth through circumstance and the way of the world.” He put a hand around her neck again. “You think I would’ve chosen to be a rat slumming it in this dying city? No, of course not. Mama’s a drunk who thinks if she collects enough spider webs then she’ll get silk. I fought against it for a while. But the store owners and copper-worth noblemen saw the mud in my fur and thought me a mummer. Put me back in the hole and threw me a shovel.

“It was an injustice, sure. But it was also the path I was set. When I stopped bitching and actually stopped to look at the mud I was sinking in, I saw how many paths were set out for me. Make a contact here, brawl a creditor there, and soon enough I was lord of the mud. A rat king. And all I had to do was look at my path and accept it. But now I have to sit here and watch you drown in the same place that I’d escaped from so long ago.”

Relani could feel the warmth from Melarn’s fur now. She wanted to burrow into it and run away at the same time. “How would I see it? I-I don’t even know where I come from.”

“That’s the tragedy, really. Every path has a trailhead but yours is buried, so it’d be impossible for you to guess what the end may be.” He pushed her closer into him and she finally relented. Yellow-furred arms wrapped around him: her anchor. “But I can guide you through it. Let me help you.”

Her body shook. She was so tired of nights and days alone. No one she could trust.

Erroneous bliss filled her veins by being there: hard locked in his embrace. Gentle fingers stroked the back of her neck in small circles. Then, each digit finding a hold, they gripped her scruff and pulled her away. She looked up, confused. But he hadn’t left. In a blur his lips were against hers--his tongue running against her fangs. She was pacified. And she leaned into him, savoring the taste of his kiss.

He pulled back. “Uh oh. Looks like your new boss is here.” He stopped stroking her neck and pushed away. And just like that the spell was broken. “Time to make your decision, Relani.”

As Melarn left her and skulked back towards the more comfortable alleyways of Sentinel, the Duke and Commander Durrolk made their way to the plinth. She watched them speak quietly to each member individually before their target shifted to her.

“Relani,” Durrolk hissed, “have a moment to talk?”

He planted his spear hard into the ground, forcing Relani to take a step back. “What?” she said, a bit too harshly.

“Tell me, what do you remember of our tenets?”

She stammered for an answer, eventually settling on repeating them. “To guard against the dark. To protect civilization against the wild’s evil. Be the sentinel. To deny fate when it works against us.” She tried to gauge if it was satisfactory to them, but it seemed Commander Durrolk wanted more. Relani backstepped, trying to paraphrase, “To light fires in the dark and to stamp them out when they come to our walls… Should I go on?”

“We also stop embers before they have the chance to spark. Do you understand?” Hesitantly, Relani nodded. “What you did during your trial was unacceptable. Magic can be tamed, cradled, and used, but only in strictly monitored environments. Alchemy, for instance. I’ve seen wild magic kill dozens of men just outside these walls. Your magic is wild, Relani. You could’ve killed that watchman.”

She was feeling her breath catch. “He was a good sport about it.”

“It isn’t about that. If that happened now, think of what can happen in an actual battle.”

Relani looked between the two of them, her heart beating fast. “...I have control over it. It’s like moving a finger.”

“Your injuring of that watchman disproves that otherwise. The carelessness and flippancy you exhibit with this power is dangerous. I’m not asking about moving a finger. I’m asking about swinging a sword. Is that something you can manage?”

Before Relani could answer, the Duke stepped in. He was a Human somewhere in his forties, with fake black hair and a very real, very delicate mustache. “Thank you, Durrolk. In the same way that embers can create forest fires, they can also be channeled to light lanterns and bring forges to life. I believe that you can--as the saying goes--fight fire with fire.”

Both Humans looked at her with a mix of conflicting emotions and desires that it made her head spin. Was she in or out?

“You’re in, Relani,” the Duke said with a gracious smile, “as long as you agree to temper that inferno in your chest.” To his side the Commander simmered. Anyone with eyes could tell he did not support this, but everyone had to answer to their boss.

Her tail twitched behind her in mad paths. With this she was guaranteed a dry bed in the garrison. A salary. And people to have her back. But was this really her? Would they ever really accept her?

Could she do this while her boss looked at her with those eyes? While the entire garrison stared at her beneath their noses? To have her magic catalogued, manipulated, and ordered around?

What stability was worth being tolerated?

“I’m sorry, sir… m’lord. I have to decline. This isn’t where I’m meant to be, I think.”

Commander Durrolk’s lips incised into a satisfied smile while the Duke was every bit less than pleased. Sometimes you did not refuse an offer.

“Did I hear you correctly? Girl?”

“Yes, m’lord. I cannot.” She took a step back, now becoming fearful.

“Forget her, m’lord. She is mud. Let her stay in the slums.”

“You insult the watchmen, girl,” the Duke hissed, “feel lucky I allow you the privilege of refusing in the first place. Others won’t be so shortsighted. Leave. May you never insult our ancestors here again.”

Relani quickly obeyed, shambling back through the gate and to the arena she had fought so desperately in before. Her mind spun. She thought for a moment that she was going to be sick.

Still being treated by the alchemist, Hannover waved at her from the far side of the arena. She couldn’t meet his eyes. Somewhere in the leaves she was searching for something.

“Hey! Relani was it?” He called out to her.

It was where she’d dropped it. Some fresh boot prints had been pounded into the fabric, but her pouch of ball bearings was safe. She clutched it to her chest.

“Can you hear me?”

Relani hurried away, not allowing herself to look back.

---

Now.

“Can you hear me?” a chocolate voice said past the deep vignette of her exhaustion, “Relani? Apologies for waking you, but it’s time.”

A canine nose tapped the back of her neck, stirring her. Senses came one by one. The cold of the nose but the warmth of the fur surrounding her. The smell of sex seeped in the fabric around them. The sight of an early morning past the tent’s canvas not yet twilight. She stretched, feeling her body mold into Kodan behind her.

Then her mind snapped awake. Fatigue left in an instant. “Right. We have work to do.”

She rolled out of his arms and found her clothes amidst the chaos. One of her shirts was crusted from a rogue rope of semen the night before. She tucked it away. She could wash it later.

“Could you get Piper?” Relani asked, “he has this cleaning spell. Something about evoking air to get the crust out of your fur. He’ll be able to clean you and the tent up without it getting wet.”

“The Kenku? I overheard one of my watchmen, Ymir, try to make a sex joke with him. He seems… sensitive to it. Are you sure he’d be comfortable with this?”

“Nothing he hasn’t seen before. He’s just a bottom, like you.”

One of Kodan’s claws dug into the dirt but he didn’t give a retort.

“I’ll go get Neri. She’ll be grumpy to be awake so early but she’ll give me some incense. If we’re worried about your soldiers finding this out then it’s better safe than sorry.”

Kodan nodded with her, his shoulders relaxing with the thought-out plan. “Relani… allow me to thank you again. I had a lovely time.”

It was unspoken, but Relani could still feel it in the air: the magic disappearing. Last night had been a strange dream--where their inhibitions had gone to their primordial hunger. They felt love like teenagers. They overshared their anxieties. They felt emotions raw from the heat’s lasting fervor. But it was over with now. The carnality was just that: temporary. And now they were going back to their personal guards and practiced social etiquette.

“It was quite nice, Kodan. We’re-” she stopped herself. She was about to say ‘we’re even.’

“Hmm?”

“We’re going to be okay. Maybe we could do this again if culture doesn’t get in the way.” She laughed.

“I’d really like that.”

She didn’t bother getting her armor on, only putting on enough layers so the mountain chill wouldn’t get to her too bad. But she ensured the leather strip strapped with daggers was over her shoulder as well as the ball bearings tied to her hip. She felt unsafe going anywhere without them.

She started to leave, but Kodan lingered awkwardly.

“So, uh, may I ask how you joined with the Tail Peddlers?”

“...Oh, it was in a tavern. I was looking for some mercenary work and Neri found me and dragged me along with their next job. She tends to do things like that.”

A claw twitched at the mention of Neri. “Seems like she does. That’s a legendary sequence of events to get you all together. Nice to hear.”

“Yeah…”

“So,” Kodan shuffled back and forth on his paws, beginning to sense the awkwardness in the air, “why call yourselves the Tail Peddlers?”

“Just a joke. We all have tails and Neri thought it’d be funny if we ‘peddled’ them since we’re mercenaries.”

“I see.” Kodan took a breath, filling a lapse of silence between the two of them. Finally, he exhaled. “I apologize. Let me be off.” He rushed out the flaps to find Piper, putting more speed in his step than what would otherwise be needed.

Strange.

Relani pondered over the interaction on her way to Neri. Everywhere in the moments of his leadership--of commanding soldiers and of going against the Duke--she’d thought Kodan natural in the position. Maybe he was. Or maybe it was really a mask that he’d developed. And now in the face of an unfamiliar social situation she witnessed him panic and trip over his words. Did he have any friends or lovers before? For some reason she doubted it.

He was very different from what she’d first thought. More genuine. Some part of her liked it. But the more sensible part was frightened that he was showing it to her.

It took a minute of shaking Neri to wake her. She didn’t have a tent, only a hole in the ground that she burrowed to hibernate in. “Is everyone dying?” she groaned, pulling her summer-green tail over her eyes.

“No ambush. I just need to borrow something if that’s alright.”

“Fuck off. Get me when there’s daylight.”

“I’m sorry, but I need to talk to you now.” Relani shook her a bit more. Finally, Neri opened her eyes, head tilting to the side as if she heard something. “Can I borrow some incense? I need to get a smell out.”

“Ugh. Your heat hit you then? Fine.” She peered into her woven satchel, claw disappearing inside. A moment later a stick of incense was procured. “Burn this and wave it around a bit. Should cover your Tabaxi stank.”

“I’ll owe you a favor after this. So don’t worry and get back to your beauty sleep, princess,” Relani said, taking it.

Neri snorted. “Damn right I’m a princess. See my domain: the Realm of Fuck and All.” Her head was still tilted to the side, distracted with something.

“Thanks a million.”

Relani turned to dash back to her tent. “Hold up,” Neri said, head popping out of her hole, “why is there a ticking in your chest?”

---

It was all chaos and shouting as Dosken burst into Piper’s tent, eyes wide. Relani had been shoved onto Piper’s cushions as they all figured out what the hell to do.

“Is she alright?” Dosken boomed, his horns getting caught in the ceiling fabric.

“She hasn’t been stabbed, you oaf!” Neri shouted back, “just some arcane bullshittery, like always!”

“My spellbook! I need it, come on!” Piper said amidst a frantic riffling through his belongings, papers flying every which way.

“‘Arcane bullshittery’ may as well as be the same as being stabbed, you lizard!”

“What is that supposed to mean? You’re a lizard too!”

Dosken paused, “...Snallygast… you’re right.”

“Dosken! You’re stepping on it!”

Over the noise Kodan growled--not a low threat like all the other times, but a snarl that triggered the Flight or Fight of every person’s primordial instincts. “Quiet!” The whole tent silenced. “Let the wizard work.”

Piper nodded a silent thanks to Kodan as he picked up a metal case from the ground, unlocking it and unsheathing a tome withered from years of continuous study. The crow wizard stepped forward, pushing back some unruly feathers from his eyes--short beak chittering nervously. He was still in his star-pattern pajamas.

“Are you feeling any discomfort, Relani?” Piper said, crouching down and flipping through the pages.

She shook her head. “I didn’t even notice the ticking.”

“It probably started while you were asleep. So it makes perfect sense why you and Kodan didn’t notice,” Neri and Dosken shared a look, “our brains tend to block out unnecessary noise once we get used to it. It’s why we don’t constantly hear our heartbeats or other organs.”

All of her friends crowded behind Piper as he continued his search for the right arcane words. She struggled to make heads or tails of it. His magic took years of study; practicing runes and verbal phrases that would allow a small rift to be opened. She understood how opening a rift to a fire dimension could create a firebolt, but what mix of elements and arcane energy would he summon to see magic?

Other than Piper, the closest in proximity to her was Kodan. He was freshly clean; fur glistening handsomely. Some part of him must’ve been uncomfortable being nude in front of all of these people, but all she could see in this moment was concern for her.

Kodan’s eyes furrowed, deep in thought. “Relani, this has never happened before, right?”

“The mechanism has never moved or made a sound. Piper checked it before too and it hardly had any magic.” Piper nodded to back up what she had said.

Kodan’s gaze drifted past her. “...And you thought the Followers of Order may have something to do with you being in that cave…” His head shot up and he turned to Dosken. “We need to check the perimeter. Maybe they found us and are able to influence this thing on Relani.”

“Gods! You’re right. I need to get my armor on.”

“Likewise.”

Dosken turned to run back out of the tent, slowing suddenly. “Pardon me, pardon me.” He pushed through a group of watchmen peering through the flaps, woken by the sudden alarm. Kodan followed after him.

“Give the woman privacy!” he snarled, “and don your gear. We may be expecting unfriendly guests.”

“The hell happened?” a gruff voice asked. “Did someone hurt the rogue?”

“If I decide you should know then I’ll tell you, but for now trust my word. And congratulations, Hannover, you get to put my armor on for not snapping to action immediately. We’re in the wilds. If I tell you to get your gear on then you better do it immediately and without question.” They all scattered to get geared and check the perimeter.

Neri tapped a claw on the ground and crossed her arms. There was almost a motherly look on her face as she looked back to Relani: scared while trying to hide it.

“Why didn’t he tell them what happened?” Piper asked, feathers standing on end.

“Sentinel is full of people afraid of magic. None more so than the watchmen themselves,” Relani said, head knocking back against the tangled sheets beneath her, “probably best if they don’t know about this.”

“Not a good recipe…” Piper murmured, his pale blue eyes focusing back on the pages. “Alright, I have it.”

“What mojo are you gonna do anyway?” Neri asked.

“O-oh, umm… Signum, it’s an alloide--an arcane element. Well, a gas actually. If we combine it with faerie light then we’ll be able to see any magical aura like through a lens. Magic always exhibits light, actually. But this shifts it to the visible spectrum. It’s really cool,” he chittered nervously, “and from that I’ll be able to see the kinds of magic the mechanism is exhibiting through color as well as its strength. If there is anything, then I’ll be able to deduce from there.”

“Clever bird.”

“Oh, um, thank you.” He turned back to the page. “S-sorry… I get stage fright with this sort of thing.”

Gently, Relani grabbed the closest talon and rubbed the textured keratin. “You’re doing great, Piper.”

“Y-you’re very kind, Relani.” He took a deep breath. As respectfully as possible, he helped her take off her shirt, revealing the mass of copper and steel between her breasts. “Like last time, both of you please close your eyes for safety. Just in case. Powerful sources can exhibit extreme luminosity.”

Relani closed her eyes, hearing as Piper started a chant under his breath. Bits of her fur stood on end from an electric charge materializing in the air. He finished the incantations and there was a sudden explosion of kaleidoscopic radiance past her eyelids.

Piper began to scream.

“Piper! What the hell?” Neri asked, being drowned out by the Kenku’s pained wails.

He took heavy breaths. “I-I’m sorry. My eyes…”

“Well don’t look! We can figure something else out.”

“We can’t… We need to know what’s happening and this is the only way. Th-this is how I contribute. Th-this always would’ve happened.”

“Piper-” Relani began to say, but the wizard already opened his eyes, an involuntary scream cracking against his gritted beak.

It was over in five seconds.

When the magic light finally disappeared, Relani shot up, managing to catch him as he fell; hands clutching burnt sockets as smoke wisped through his fingers.

Neri was with them the second after. “Let me look. I need to look, Piper.” She managed to pry his hands away from his head. Relani looked away, horrified. “You idiot! You pea-brained, moronic bird,” Neri said, inspecting the sizzled flesh closer, “what the hell am I to do with you?”

As tears flowed down Piper’s cheeks, Neri dug through her satchel, shoving a pain-suppressant past his beak. “It wasn’t just the mechanism,” he began to explain, “it’s your whole body now, Relani. Kinda like the veteran cultists but much, much stronger. We checked it before so we know it activated somehow. And at first I thought that it was Transmutation--that the Followers of Order made you or something. But it was Empyrean. Divine magic. You’re connected to a deity, some intrinsic force of the world. I couldn’t say why.”

“The cult wants to resurrect some ancient god, right?” Neri asked.

Relani stroked Piper’s back as he continued. “P-probably. Our intel is incomplete. Every veteran we try to interrogate never says a single word and all of the documents we found were for new recruits. But… yeah. That’s my best guess for everything we’ve learned.”

The tent fell silent for a while. Only the whispers of mountain wind against the canvas made any sort of noise. The sun was coming up now.

“I’ll be alright. Just… give me some time.”

“You aren’t alright, you psychopath,” Neri said, tugging at a clump of feathers, “you’ve blinded yourself!”

“Can you do something for that, Neri?” Relani asked. She felt as if she was in a daze.

Neri sighed, clutching one of her horns. “Yeah, I can. His eyeballs are shot, though. I’ll have to grow a new pair.”

“You… you can do that?” Piper squeaked.

The back of his head was smacked with full Kobold-force. “Who do you take me for? Of course I can! It’ll just take a month to brew, which is far past the scope of this job. So you’re out for now, alright?”

Tears welled up in his eyes again. “Thank you, Neri! Oh my gosh, thank you!”

Neri took his head onto her lap and stroked his head feathers awkwardly. “Yeah, yeah. Be lucky I don’t make your new eyes pink, wizard-boy.”

Later, Relani shambled through the snow towards her tent. There were so many thoughts going through her head that it made her body feel numb. Confused… Pointless… Terrified… Elisa popped into her mind. Then Melarn. What would they think of this? What was she meant to do now?

What path was being set before her?

Eventually she felt some fur brush her limp hand. She looked down. Kodan was there, nudging her with his snout. He allowed her hand to rest on the helmet now.

“The perimeter was empty. There was no one,” he said, “...are you alright?”

“I don’t know.”

He leaned against her, not saying anything more. She doubted he knew what to say, but just his presence helped. Who would know the right words? She sure didn’t.

She looked up at the red sky now. If the Kandessian Mountains were like the back of a curled Dragon, then they were between two of its spines. The whole range was smooth other than great spikes of white stone that jutted hundreds of feet into the air as if denying the sky’s weight. Further beyond were miles and miles of forested hills: the wilds.

They returned to the outside of her tent. She had forgotten all about the plan in the chaos--about the concern of their lust being discovered. But now she saw two pairs of bootprints in the snow. They came to the entrance, stopped, and turned back.

Kodan saw them at the same time as her. Whoever had laid them were gone now, mixed in with the rest of the watchmen. They both simply stared.

---

A week later Relani sat cross-legged on a tree branch, waiting for a bird. She fidgeted with the ball bearings in her hand.

After Neri had sterilized Piper’s wounds and bandaged him up, Dosken had called the Tail Peddlers together. Just them. Kodan waited a distance away, rounding up his seven troops to give them all privacy. The topic: whether to turn back or not.

One of their members was down and the development with Relani was troubling. No cultists came, but what if they were waiting for her? All that Piper could figure was that Relani must be important to their cause of restoring a deity, but not how or why. Would she be instrumental in his return by sacrifice? Maybe through some latent magic stored within her? Neri even joked that maybe she was meant to birth the god. Relani didn’t like the sound of that.

Information was their greatest deficit, and at the end of the day they simply did not know. So when every option was discussed and detailed they turned to Relani to give them the answer. She had the most to lose, so it should be up to her, they said. She still remembered their eyes looking for her to make a decision. She wasn’t someone that decided things. She followed. Leave Neri, Piper, and Dosken to debate their next move.

“We need to keep following,” she eventually said, not sure if it was the right call or not. And they listened to her.

Now they hid and waited. Her or the watchmen scouted for signs of activity or for secret entrances in the craggy wilds. Nothing has come from it, of course. They still don’t have a real plan. Sneak in? Frontal assault? Deceive? These ideas all rattled in their brains with no clear path.

And now there was an unspoken tension between both of their parties. The Tail Peddler’s had decided to continue keeping the watchmen in the dark about the magic now festering in Relani, anxious of what their xenophobic fear may cause them to do. And that also meant they needed to lie about what happened to Piper. “Dangerous wizard business” is what they came up with. A horrible lie, but it was the best they could come up with the pressure and short amount of time.

It wasn’t going to last long. And Relani knew she needed to cool tensions if they were going to be one united force against the Followers of Order. For that she needed information.

She threw the bag of ball bearings with full force, watching it catapult towards the trunk of another tree. But just before it hit she twiddled her fingers, feeling the dozens of different masses inside. She pulled, catching it before it hit her body’s center of mass.

Relani repeated the ritual a hundred more times.

Finally, she could see a shadow against the sun: an eagle flying down. She shuffled to the side as the bird fell down toward her, only unfurling its wings at the last moment to land safely on the branch beside her, panting. A woven bag was tied around its neck.

Relani took it off before Neri shapeshifted back into her natural form. She handed the nude Kobold her clothes, already prepared with them.

“You know how tiring it is to fly with that extra baggage? Ugh.” She flopped down on the branch, tail drooped over the side.

“Did you get it?”

“Yup. Gimme.” She motioned for the satchel and reached deep into it--her arm going much deeper than what the dimensions of the physical object should’ve allowed--and procured a bottle of rum. Then a second. Then a third. “This’ll get anyone sloshed. Want me to poison them for good measure?”

“This should be enough, thank you.”

“No problem. Hopefully this will solve your ‘cultural disagreement.’” Neri paused, thinking over something. “Can I cash in a favor?”

Relani raised a brow at her tone. “...Yes…”

Neri just rolled her eyes. “I’m not asking for a boon after your ascension, don’t worry. I want Kodan.”

“What?”

“I wanna know how he was awakened! What poultrices were used, if any. What ancient rites were invoked. The whole works. Do you know how rare of a ritual that is? It must’ve come from an archdruid.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Neri.”

“Your opinion doesn’t matter. I’m cashing in that favor.”

She’d been distant from Kodan since that night. Not by choice. There were people in the troop that found the remnants of their night together--possibly heard it. Watchmen were in the rotation for watch duty that night, she’d learned. So they’d kept their distance just so that they didn’t feed the possible rumors.

But in the moments between scouting missions and group conversations she would sometimes turn and see Kodan watching her from a distance, face unreadable under that steel helm. Weirdly though, knowing he hadn’t forgotten their night felt comforting.

“Why do you even want to know?”

“It’d be cool to cast it myself; make a companion” she said, “but I’m also still on my Scouring, you know. I decided to go on that quest: to explore the world and come back to my burrow with all the druidic knowledge I find. The more I get the better my people will be.” She seemed to look far away for a moment, before shaking her head and coming back to focus. “And curiosity. I want to know why he was awakened.”

“You need to drop this. He wanted to kill you when you pestered him about it before, so I know he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“He’ll tell you. You’re essentially his favorite person now.”

She ignored the implication. “I think he’s lonely, Neri. And I don’t want to break the trust he has in me now.” Her tail twitched, now thinking about the plan she’d been concocting. “I’m already going to damage it tonight and I don’t want to do more.”

“If he trusts you then he should be fine with telling you! This isn’t a ritual you cast all willy-nilly. There’s gotta be a reason why he’s out on his own, because a normal archdruid wouldn’t just let one of their awakened creations run around to become the commander of a city watch.”

“No. And I mean it.”

Neri groaned, throwing her head back. “Fine. I’ll just cash in something else another time.” She jumped down the branch and landed gracefully ten feet down. Relani joined her a moment later. “Let’s see how this weird plan of yours comes along.”

---

“As a part of any quest, there should be merriment,” Dosken said, the red and orange of a small campfire dancing off of his armor, “I don’t mean this as a jibe or as an obtuse way to say we should be proud laggards. No. What I mean to say is that it is essential! Why? Morale of course! If we sit here in our leather and steel, watching the shadows with swords in our hands, then we’ll fall into ourselves. Attrition is not just a physical war, but a mental one too. If our enemies wig us out then we are sure to lose.”

It was the first hour of night and everyone--other than Piper--was gathered around a fire. It was small. Small enough that any hint of smoke from it would be invisible in the night sky. The watchmen watched Dosken with confusion and odd smirks. Kodan just glared.

“Excuse me, but what are you trying to say?” One of the watchmen, Ymir, said--a Human woman with scissor-cut black hair and freckles like someone had tossed dust in her face.

Dosken showed off his proud Dragon teeth, letting them glisten in the moonlight. “We each have sworn oaths--commiting ourselves to a path, a way of life. However, I’d wager to say that our oaths didn’t forbid us from this!” He flourished, and behind his shield was a prize. “Booze, anyone?”

The soldiers salivated at the three bottles of rum radiating before them. They turned to their commander.

Kodan sighed. “While on duty we’re required to be sober.”

They all groaned.

“However, we are technically rebelling against the Duke’s order. Therefore, we are not required to continue following his instated policies. So…” He took a breath. “I’ll allow you all to draw straws. The three losers have to stay sober.”

Without another word of complaint, the watchmen scrambled to gather sticks.

Above all of this Relani--the real Relani--sat silently in the tree branches. She pressed her back against the bark, only using her ears and a blurry mirror to keep up with what was happening below. Normally, she wouldn’t worry about people seeing her up in the trees, but the watchmen were trained to keep their eyes towards every direction.

The Relani that stood quietly to the side, watching the party begin, was not actually her. Piper was under the illusion. It’d taken hours to get it to look exact. He’d copied her appearance before in previous adventures, but it still took a lot of minute descriptions for him to shape it just right with his newfound blindness. All the while she’d fed him with basic voicelines. So just in case one the watchmen went to chat with ‘her’, then Piper would have snippets he could mimic. He was a Kenku, after all. Mimicking voices were his inborn-forte.

It had been mesmerizing watching Piper paint with planar rifts. He started with what he’d remembered, then required guidance from there. All the while Relani had to make sure no watchman witnessed it. One of them, Ymir, had been staying close to Piper ever since that morning.

“To our trusted commander, where always he may lead by example!” The biggest of the watchmen said, bottle in hand. It was Hannover. She recognized the Gnoll from the arena many years ago.

With the straws pulled, it began in earnest.

Dosken moved around like a host, chatting with them all and reassuring the unlucky three who drew the shortest straws. Neri got plastered near instantly. And the lucky watchmen were more than happy to cut loose for a night.

Relani kept tabs on the movement of everyone through the blurred mirror. She hoped her roughening of the surface wouldn’t draw too much attention to herself, but she angled the mirror away from the campfire just in case.

The reflection kept finding its way back to Kodan. He was staying sober, patrolling the party’s perimeter in that heavy armor of his. She watched his tail sway gently as he walked, feeling a bit warmer--and guilty--as she did.

She had wanted Kodan’s company that night, but it wasn’t all honest. Always in the back of her mind then, even while she had worked him till he begged, she remembered the importance of debts. Now that made her skin crawl. It wasn't right for her to lie with Kodan just so she could feel better about a debt, even if that wasn’t the entire reason.

What now? she thought, spying on him from this angle. If it had been just a night to remember, then why did he keep intruding her thoughts when she laid alone at night?

Kodan glanced over at the illusion a few times, but never approached. He wouldn’t in this group setting. No one did. Of course, the Tail Peddlers wouldn’t because they were in on the plan, but none of the watchmen even attempted to say hi. She didn’t know what to think of that.

Finally, the trap was sprung.

“My dear friend Kodan,” Dosken called, “Relani. May I speak with you both for a moment?” Under his arm was a nearly unconscious Neri, reaching out for another sip.

“What is this about?” Kodan said. Some of the watchmen tilted their heads, not looking directly but listening.

“I will enlighten you in private. Come along!” Dosken turned tail and strutted away, the illusion rising to follow him.

Kodan scratched at the dirt, looking annoyed. “Ymir!” he said, knowing that she was one of the ones unlucky enough to draw a short straw, “you’re in charge until I get back.”

“Aye!” She stepped to the side as the watchmen were left on their own. Relani wished she could’ve let Kodan in on the plan; he’d be angry when Dosken wasted his time by serenading him about the importance of oaths. But for now she had an ear to the drunken watchmen alone.

It was a sad truth that people often gossiped when their target just left the room.

“Ymir!” a drunken Hannover called, stumbling his way toward her, “Ymir!” He was out of his usual armor now, instead wearing a shirt tight enough to count the veins in his savannah-born muscles. It was purposeful, no doubt. He was handsome if you could get past the fact that he was literally drooling.

“What?”

“You gotta tell us if you found out anything from Piper. It’s…” he hiccuped, “it’s imperative.”

“He hasn’t said a word.”

“Any sleeptalking?”

She crossed her arms. “No. And, for the report, I still think we should respect the chain of command. If the commander thought we should know then he would tell us. Whatever happened that morning is unimportant to the mission.”

“We’re off book, baby,” Hannover said, his fangs bared, “so everything that happens is within our jurisdiction. Do you really think the worst case scenario is unimportant?”

She scoffed. “Of course not.”

“Then you have to find it out, because I’m not about to confront him without more information. So do whatever you can. Everything’s at your disposal. Hell, maybe he keeps a diary. Seems the type.”

“I’m not about to search through his belongings. Piper is… he’s nice. And he’s loyal. Every one of the mercenaries are to each other, it seems.”

The grip Hannover had on his wooden cup tightened, threatening to splinter under the pressure. “Then what the hell are we supposed to do?”

“We’ll file a report to the Duke. Let the investigators figure it out.”

“Not good enough.”

“Why?” Ymir said. Above, Relani held her breath.

“Because, just like the commander said, we're in the wilds out here. Sentinel’s authority has nothing on us. And if it’s true,” he downed the rest of his drink with a shaking hand, “then I’ll kill the commander myself.”

---

Relani did not get much sleep that night, but still she rose at the designated time. She wore no armor, just her normal attire with a blanket strung over her shoulders as she stepped out. She spotted Dosken waving at her from atop a boulder he was posted on. From there, he’d signal them if anyone was coming to their meeting.

It aggravated her, needing so many measures just to speak to Kodan privately. He was just a person. Why couldn’t they just see that?

In a moonlit glade he waited for her. She watched for a long moment, scared to take another step but comforted by seeing him so close. His back was to her. And he busied himself by scratching in the dirt, deep in thought. The armor he wore glinted blue and white from the rays piercing through the spring canopy. Dosken had told him to come here at this time.

It was strange to see him this way. He was regarded as one of the best swordsmen of the area, but that would’ve been impossible to guess when watching him alone in the woods, an odd posture to him. He didn’t seem sad. Just… lost.

She was too quiet for him to hear but he could still smell her in the air. He sniffed, tilting his head back towards her. “Relani?”

“I’m here.” She stepped out. His expression was unreadable.

There was a heavy weight in her chest. And after a quiet moment of locked eyes, she slowly reached a hand out. He pulled back. Why did this give her so much trepidation? She hardly knew Kodan, after all.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your plan?”

Relani took a breath. She was prepared to answer all of his questions. “It was the only way I could think of to learn what they knew and thought, but I was scared of how you’d take it,” she said, “and I didn’t want to pull you into it… make you feel even more guilt.”

He looked back to what he was doing in the dirt--whatever it was blocked by his shoulders. “Tell me everything you learned.”

She sat down behind him and repeated every word she’d heard. Even the things that would hurt him. His claw kept digging and moving and scraping through the entirety of her recounting, only coming to a stop once she exhausted her tongue. He stopped, staring deep into the forest.

“You know this place was my home?”

She followed his eyes, seeing nothing but woodland and shrubs. After a moment, she understood. “I didn’t.”

“It’s always been comforting to me, being in the wilds. It’s like returning to your cradle.” He shook his head, ridding his mind of some old memories he was reliving. “Thank you, Relani. I wish you’d have told me, but I understand why.”

“There’s one more thing.” He turned back to look at her now and she could feel her heart pounding. Behind, her tail twitched madly. “I feel wrong about that night. I… I don’t think my intentions were entirely pure. I wanted to repay you for helping me all that time ago and it influenced my decision.”

“I see,” he said, “did it influence you much?”

“I’m not sure.” She thought for a moment, trying to gauge herself. “But it wasn’t the only reason I called you into my tent, I know. I did enjoy myself.”

“Well,” he said, turning away from her again, “I can’t say that my intentions were pure either.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah,” he exhaled sharply, “I really, really, really wanted to fuck someone.”

Relani snorted, laughter bubbling up from the deep pit that had formed in her throat.

“Really!” Kodan continued, chuckles underlying his breath, “if it wasn’t you, then I’d wager that the next gerbil that looked at me seductively was going to get pounced on. I was incredibly… ‘pent up’. Those are the right words to use, right?”

Relani continued laughing, allowing herself to let it out, but still managed to nod.

“You’re lucky I didn’t drown you, Relani. I had no control over the force my dick created, nor any of my actions while I came for that matter.” He met her eyes, fangs in a sheepish grin. “You were really poking the bear by popping my cherry, let me tell you.”

Relani gasped, hand clasped over her muzzle. “I forgot about that!”

“Yup. Did an excellent job with it as well.”

Her laughs reached a high pitch. “How would you know if I did a good job or not?”

Kodan stammered, “Err… well, I guess I wouldn’t. Apologies. But it sure felt good.”

Eventually her laughter stilled, the space between them less tense yet still divided. Kodan still didn’t face her directly; weighed down by things unspoken. One of his ears twitched. So desperately Relani wanted to cut through the thick air, but now it was her turn to listen. Eventually, Kodan took a breath--his powerful shoulders rising and falling.

“I would… I would love to trust you, Relani.”

She waited for him to continue.

“Those watchmen, bigoted as they are, are still my responsibility. Everything that they do is mine. If one of them was stabbed, I’d hope to be pierced alongside them. If one was spied on, I’d hope to take the blame. I chose to be their commander. And I hate keeping the truth from them. The only reason I haven’t told them about Piper is because it’s what’s best for you and it was what your group decided; our cohesion is more important to me right now. You’re right in investigating them, and I appreciate your help, but...”

There was a sudden, deep emotion in him that shook his entire body, a foundation threatening to crack. Whatever he was about to say didn’t escape. He swayed to the side, looking down. Finally, Relani could see past him.

Etched into the ground was her. Every spot of dark fur speckled across her face was carved into the dirt, her features perfect despite the rough canvas. Her eyes were made bright. Though, still there was a contemplativeness in her eyes, something deeper in her mind hinted at through scratches in dirt. It made her feel as if she was looking into a mirror. How practiced was he with this?

She ignored the carving for now and put a hand on Kodan’s quivering shoulder. His whole body continued to shake.

“I… don’t know what to do,” he said, “how can I make this right?”

She remembered talking to him in the tavern, asking him about the plank foundation. He socialized for politics, he’d said. To keep himself in the community as he felt it was his responsibility. Being commander was everything to him.

Relani slowly pressed herself against his side, keeping an arm around him. She couldn’t get to the fur past the armor.

After a few more heavy shudders Kodan steeled himself, taking a breath. “My apologies, Relani,” he said, “emotions got the better of me for a moment. I’m alright. I’ll figure something out on my own. And if not, then I’ll face the repercussions when we return to Sentinel.”

He looked more lost now. Relani struggled to form words, eventually finding something to say. “You don’t have to face it alone. I want to help you.”

“Because you feel indebted? That isn’t fair to you.”

“I…” Relani stammered, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

There was another weight pushing down on her, one that brittled her bones and lied in wait in her mind’s crevices. Her allies. Her friends. How was she ever going to make it up to them? Piper had blinded himself for her. Neri had flown miles for her. Dosken had lied for her. And all of these things she’d asked and they’d done without hesitation. Sharing equally in their friendships seemed impossible.

She fell silent next to him. And they sat there with the gentle wind for a long, long while.

“This is beautiful, Kodan,” she eventually said, nudging him back to his piece of art. He looked down as if he forgot it was there.

“Oh,” he said, “I’m glad you like it.”

“I can’t believe how well it’s done with your claw. It looks like you used a tool.” Gently, she traced a finger next to the carving, careful not to disturb the craftsmanship. “How often do you practice this?”

“Usually every night… It’s something that I can do.” He chuckled under his breath. “Apologies if it’s strange. I was thinking about you while waiting and I've been making it a point to myself to memorize how you looked.”

“It doesn’t feel strange at all. It feels…warm… And I could say the same thing: taking the time to memorize how you look.”

He turned and nudged her with his nose. It was gentle—and anxious. “How are you feeling?”

“Nervous. Guilty. Tired,” she said, “and everything in between. How are you?”

“Well. I’m doing… well.” His words were flat; rehearsed.

He started to pull back again but Relani tentatively reached forward. Seeing her hands, he stopped and let them come into contact, leaning into her touch as the tips of her fingers brushed the sensitive fur of his snout.

“It’s alright to feel emotions. It’s easier to beat them down sometimes, but you don’t always have to.” She pushed her fingers further down his snout, growing frustrated that steel covered most of his head.

“I…” he hesitated, “I’m scared.” He leaned into her more, seeming to enjoy her warmth. “...Inadequate… I suppose. I don’t know.”

Relani rubbed a thumb on his chin before pushing lower. She didn’t struggle to find the strap this time, but when she grasped it she locked eyes with Kodan, only continuing after he gave a small nod. The helm and neck pieces were removed quietly. He stood, and she moved to get the rest of it off.

“Why do you think of me as a person?” Kodan said as she removed the scabbard.

She moved to remove the steel covering his back now. There was an odd comfort in helping someone out of armor--such a simple and honest task. Next, she’d have to remove the pieces on his belly.

“It seems obvious to me. ” She unhooked a strap in the forward chest piece. “But… I guess I understand what it’s like to have armor like yours.”

“I’m exhausted living in it every day,” he said, taking a breath, “you know it’s strange. We actually haven’t spent that much time together but it feels like a lot more. Sometimes I would think about that thief I let loose on my first day, wondering where she’d gone… I never would have expected this.”

“...Me neither.” She removed the final piece on his underside, shielding her eyes away from his genitals. Didn’t feel right to take a peek right now.

She set all of the pieces neatly in a row. He was bare, now. Though, he didn’t seem uncomfortable or awkward in this moment. He seemed content. Kodan put one of his front legs around her as she came, gently keeping the two of them in contact. She placed a hand on his chest, where the fur got thicker and fluffier, and worked it in until she could touch the warm skin. She melted into him, having missed this feeling. It strangely felt routine.

“I realize it’s under negative circumstances, but I’m glad that you came back, Relani.”

Relani shifted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. “I… think this is where the world is taking me.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Everyone has a path the world has laid out for them, you know? I try to follow it.”

Kodan fell silent for a moment, thinking. “A path?”

“Yeah, no one gets to choose theirs, but that’s the way of the world. There’s a beginning and an end. And opportunities and doorways to follow it are given to you as you move along.”

“I didn’t take you for one to believe in that sort of thing, Relani.”

She nodded. “Take you, for instance. It hadn’t been time yet for me to leave Sentinel before, but I was given the opportunity at the proper time when you gave me the means. Or the Tail Peddlers. I was doing mercenary work on my own until I came across them by chance and was whisked away. And now I’m back here, facing my past. There’s a story for me and I just have to keep following it.”

She felt Kodan tense then relax. A moment later his head wrapped around the back of her head, resting there. “I don’t see things that way.” His tone wasn’t judgemental, more contemplative. “If I let the world show me where to go then it would have led me to my death.”

“But you’re here. You’re a commander. And this is where you’re meant to be.”

He shook his head. “I know what I was meant to be, Relani. There were many years that I spent with the person that awakened me, fulfilling my purpose. I was made to be a friend.”

The words hit her in the chest. Something about the way he said it… the finality. He was utterly certain about it, but it felt as if he’d never spoken it out loud. She could feel his body quiver again and she wrapped an arm around his neck to comfort him.

“One of the things everyone asks me is how or why I was awakened. You never did.” He snorted. “Consequently, you’re the only person I’ve shared that with.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know… she was old. Old, lonely, and powerful. Powerful enough to take me as a cub and cram in sentience. Enough to shape me to speak, to live a human’s span. But she wasn’t powerful enough to make herself immortal. Old age found her. Even she succumbed to that irreversible demise. In the end, the only people by her side were those that had no option otherwise, like myself. And when she was gone I was left to rot. My purpose fulfilled… But by spite and fear of death I decided to live. I wish I didn’t know why I was given life, really. There’s a freedom in not knowing.”

Relani was frozen in place, unable to think. Unable to reason.

Melarn whispered in her ear.

After a moment Kodan chuckled to himself. “Apologies. I can leave my philosophical waxing for another time. I feel better… much better.” He craned his neck further back, shifting to the side until he could see Relani’s front. He nudged her with his muzzle. “Thank you. Again.”

Relani swallowed, coming back to reality. “Oh, of course.”

“I talked too long and didn’t let you say anything. Would you like to get anything off your chest?”

“I…” she stuttered, a blister of anxiety bubbling up, “I don’t have much I should say.”

“I’m here if you’d like to.” He nuzzled her. “And now I’m curious. With all of this talk about paths, what’d you want yours to be?”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess where you’d like to go. What would you want?”

She fell silent, trying to find something. For the first time in a long, long while she allowed herself to think about what she wanted. Now that she’d been given glimpses of her destiny, the innumerable theories she’d crafted over the years were an impossible weight to bear. She didn’t want to think about it. But what now? What did she want now?

She could only find one answer.

“I can only think about wanting you.”

There was an energy in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. His cheeks rose, lips lifting into a smile. The tip of his tail swayed ever so slightly. “Oh?”

“Sounds corny when I say it, sorry.” She looked away, red flooding the skin of her ears. Kodan looked just as bashful.

“No, no, it isn’t corny at all.” His ears pivoted down, his eyes darting away. “I… umm. I must admit that I haven’t been able to get you out of my head, either. It’s like a tick I can’t reach to bite down on.”

Relani gave him a look.

“Wait, no. Not like that. I… umm… like a tick of passion? A tick of enjoying someone’s presence?”

“I understand where you’re coming from, Kodan,” Relani said--her ears still red.

“All of my charm has been placed on leading, not on this. I’m… struggling here.” His tongue ran across his chops in a long line. “But, if it is any consolation, I think corn is delicious.” He leaned in slowly, testing her reaction and his own confidence. For all of the bravery it took to lead men into battle, this place was as terrifying as anyone’s first brawl.

She felt his trepidation and stroked his fur, reassuring him.

It helped. It took him a moment of bated breath and repeating worries in his head, but after mustering his courage Kodan leaned in and licked her cheek. Her fur was lighter there, and the thick condensation pooled until she could feel it sag under more weight. She just blushed harder, finding it odd how bashful she was being. And through her hand on his chest she could feel his heart beat start to slow--a low, pleasant rumble deep in his throat as he enjoyed her reaction.

“You are quite the person, Relani.”

“And so are you.” She leaned into him further, allowing most of her body weight to rest on him.

From where his cheek was pressed against hers, she could hear him chuckle under his breath. “You know,” he said, “I had no idea my red rod was that good.”

She snorted. “It is pretty good… when you have someone experienced handling it.”

“Oh? So you’re well experienced with the magical ways of sex? …Sex magic? No. Mystical mating? Maybe uh… dickmancy? Yeah. Dickmancy.”

“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, giggling harder, “and you settled on Dickmancy?”

“You’re the dickmancer.” He took a heavy sigh, a long breath finally exiting his lungs. “I’ll have you tried for being a dickmancer if we make it out of this forest with our reputations intact.”

“Don’t even remind me of our predicament, Kodan. I’ll swat you, I swear.” He laughed, nuzzling her. “Just enjoy this.”

He nodded, and she knew that he’d try to move beyond his anxieties this night. “We have an hour before Dosken’s watch ends, correct?” he asked, Relani affirming, “then… uh… maybe we can do what we’d like?” He lowered his snout until it was pressed against the flat of her stomach. He breathed in heavy through the shirt, tickling her.

He leaned forward, pressing himself harder into her and making his intentions known.

“Are you sure this is a good time?” Relani said, stroking his neck fur.

“Not really.” He awkwardly placed a paw on her thigh, trying to rub it seductively. “I’m exhausted. We’re in enemy territory. And my men are turning against me. The world’s collapsing, but I have an hour with you.”

She giggled. “I like the sound of that.” Her hands worked through his fur, eventually ending in cupping both his ears with her thumbs. “I’m happy to get you off again. Make you whine.”

She couldn’t see his sheathe from this angle, but from the smell she could guess what was happening down there. “Don’t tempt me. Before you even think of that again I’d like to pleasure you first. We didn’t get the chance that night.”

“But I-”

“No buts. This isn’t about debts or favors. I want to make you feel good.” He paused, thinking over his words more closely. “But, of course, if you’d prefer for me to stop then I will.”

“You’re a gentleman, Kodan.” It made her feel strange to receive such a proposition. All of her previous partners were more worried about getting themselves off. “How would you do it?”

“I’d use my tongue, mostly. Using it on myself has made me more dextrous with it.”

Relani raised an eyebrow and tried to hide her grin. “Can you try to repeat that in a more sexy way?”

“Sexy? How does one speak sexily?”

“Uh… I don’t know.” She tried to think of someone that spoke eloquently. “Like how Dosken talks, maybe?”

Kodan pulled back and his eyes exploded. “Dosken? You want me to talk like Dosken?”

“Sorry, bad example. Uh-”

“No no, the lady says Dosken and I will give her Dosken.” He cleared his throat before deepening his eyes, setting them on her. “Or shall I say, thy maiden doth desire my eloquent speakage.”

She giggled. “You’re making up those words.”

“Nay! Nay! Dosken is a fine swordsman and a better man. I, Kodan of the wildwood, could never make up words in the guise of his regal regard.” After a moment the fake accent and baritone shattered and the wolf groaned, putting a paw on his snout in shame. “Apologies, I can’t keep it up. I feel as if I am disrespecting him.”

“That was probably the cutest thing I’ve seen you do.”

Kodan blinked. It seemed he didn’t know how to take that. “Oh… thank you.” He glanced away and she could see some pink in his ears now. After a moment he swallowed, turning back to the task at hand. “I… uh. I’ll use my tongue, being gentle with it until you moan. Or, uh, maybe purr? Can you purr?”

She ran her fingers through the thick fur of his neck. There was comfort in that, and she could feel her body relax. “If you’re good enough then I will.”

“Oh-ho. Then I will do my best: getting you to purr with just my tongue.” He sunk his head low, nudging the hem of her shirt with his nose. Hot breath tingled her fur there.

“Mmm… better,” Relani said. Kodan shifted away from her and Relani tilted back until her back stopped at a tree trunk. Here, she had a view down Kodan’s body, stood up and focused purely on her, as he began his work. She stifled an impulsive jolt as his tongue first touched her fur and dug into the skin underneath. She wasn’t particularly sensitive, but the feeling was unexpected. It was warm and coarse--able to stimulate her nerves just by its texture alone. It sent tingles through her body.

His tongue ran up from her hip and pushed upwards, his head going deeper under her shirt, taking his time to savor every inch. Little tingles spread through her body with every gentle lap, a trail of saliva matting her fur, warm from his body heat. Underneath, she could feel her lips moisten. She was enjoying this.

Every inch of progress was interrupted with intermittent panting--hot breaths seeping moisture across her stomach. Relani shuddered at one moment at the touch of slickness just above her navel, fist clenching the grass underneath her. She breathed hard in time with Kodan. And as he continued upwards she spread her legs out more, anticipating the full measure that he’d take. She could feel his nose twitch at the touch of her fur, the scent of his reaching her nostrils.

Now he was well under her shirt, a fat bulge of ears and fur underneath the fabric. So, leaning away from the trunk for just a moment, she pulled the fabric up over Kodan’s head and over her own, tossing it aside. Kodan rose for a moment, licking his chops--savoring Relani’s taste. “Is this making you feel good?” he said, running his tongue against the interior of his fangs.

Relani seized his chin and pushed him up. He stepped away, confused, but Relani quickly went to work unbuckling her trousers.

“I see,” he said, licking his lips again, “I take that to mean that I’m doing well?”

“‘Well’ is an understatement.” She tossed her undergarments away, letting herself bare under the night air. The cold moisture gathered on her stomach and chest now tingled. “Now come here before I get too cold.”

There was an odd look in Kodan’s eyes. He stood to the side, and now she could see under his stomach, his emerged heat hanging stiff from the thick folds of his sheath, already dribbled with pre on its end. Kodan took a short breath, eyes not leaving her body. “You’re… you’re so beautiful, Relani.”

Another flush of heat went over her. But not like the others. It was a different feeling from the lust and pleasure that’d been webbing through her skin the minutes prior. She suddenly felt bashful and hiked her legs up a bit to cover herself more.

“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, “did I make you uncomfortable? Should I not say that?”

“No… it’s alright. I just haven’t had anyone say that to me.” People actually had called her that before, but slurred compliments from the other end of a bar didn’t count to her. Kodan said it in a different way--something that felt like sunlight on her skin.

“The world’s a fool, then.” He tentatively stepped forward and placed a gentle paw on her thigh. Dangerous claws dug into her fur there, but didn’t hurt her. Debilitated though he was with his limitations, he was still well experienced with the limbs that he had--experienced enough to gently stroke her in a smooth, rhythmic pattern. He met her eyes to make sure he wasn’t hurting her.

After stroking her for a moment, he stepped over her leg, positioning himself between her thighs and directly above her glistening sex. Through his forelegs she had a window where she could see his cherry-red shaft throb, slap against his underside, and hang low again before the window closed, his head lowering. He kept his hind legs hiked up, tail with it, as his muzzle found its way down--his forelegs on the grass on both sides of her hips. He looked up for a final confirmation before pressing his lips against the thick fur just above her sex. The now familiar feel of his tongue spread out there, making her legs twitch. A small moan escaped her lips, though she tried to stifle it.

Kodan basked in her shows of pleasure for half a minute, teasing her, before moving downward, his thick breath against her folds of flesh. He took in the scent, a slap underside his stomach signaling his reaction, before moving in. Another moan forced its way through her lips as he finally pressed his muzzle into it.

At first only the thick surface of the tongue dug in between her outer-most folds, the tip flicking inward and inside, in a few slow laps--her glistening vulva made ever more wet from his tongue. She had a few spasms--legs kicking in ecstasy--as nothing else had felt this way before. And with her signs of pleasure he went deeper, gentle tingles of fur and his near-invisible whiskers pressed against the space between her thighs. The rough surface of saliva inserted inside of her now. Coarse yet slick flesh plunged inside.

Relani let herself slide off the tree amidst her throes, now laying on her back and giving Kodan full entry. He pressed in farther, his snout threatening to enter inside alongside the tongue. And now it was working its way inside--hungry for her taste.

Her back arched upwards, hips raised into him, and her legs rose to lock around his neck. And now her own hands were moving on her own, kneading the fur of her stomach and fondling a breast. His member slapped against his stomach again and again as he dug in, a satisfied whine muffled. Eventually, he came up for a breath; having forgotten to breathe all this time.

“Can you…” Relani panted, “the clit, can you get that?”

“Yes, of course.” He dragged across her lips once again, then hesitated. “Wha… where is that?” His eyes furrowed--one of his ears folding to the side.

“It’s at the top. The little button, you dork.”

He drew his tongue across his fangs and chops, savoring the taste. “Ah, I see.”

Kodan found the spot quickly and pressed his tongue against it, experimenting by playing with it in a circular motion, driving her wild. Now her hands reached down and grabbed just behind his ears, keeping him in that exact spot. Kodan obliged.

And after only a minute of moans and writhing she could feel herself getting close. She tapped him, signaling him to get off for now. She didn’t want this to end just yet.

Relani took a moment to breathe, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. “I have an idea,” she eventually said.

He was sitting in front of her, patiently waiting for her to catch her breath. His orbs rested on the grass, the engorged shaft throbbing in the air between his hind legs. “Whatever you’d like.”

How could she explain? “Well… do you know that I’m flexible?”

After explaining the logistics, Relani was the first to move. She flipped into a handstand and placed her back against the tree before slowly sinking down, allowing her neck and torso to bend away from the trunk and take her weight. From there, she was able to rest there without needing her hands. Though, she took some time to find a comfortable spot against the tree bark.

Kodan watched, his member twitching the entire time, before standing and padding over to where his forelegs were on either side of her head. “Like this?” he said.

“Yep, now just get up.”

He nodded and stepped towards the tree, before pushing up with his forelegs and onto her hips high in the air. His paws found handholds on her inner thighs, spreading her legs apart as if she was doing the splits. It didn’t feel too uncomfortable to her. However, in the same motion as hopping up, his back legs moved forwards, sending his undercarriage into her face. Now his sack rested on her eyes, the thin furs of his sheath tickling her nose, his shaft throbbing against her chest.

“Is this good?” he said, repositioning his hind legs a bit, sending the mass over her eyes jiggling against her.

“Mmhmm,” she said, taking in a deep waft of his musk. It seemed to drip into her nostrils: sweat thick with a week’s stay within his armor and a hint of oak. “Now come back.”

Kodan obliged, arching his back downwards and taking a couple steps back. The sack slid from her eyes, coming to fall naturally and sway back and forth. His shaft moved slowly up her face and across her lips, enough to where she could stick out her tongue and let it run past for its entire length, knot and all. It twitched as it did, before eventually the tip reached her nose, fell, tapped the space between her eyes--leaving pre--and hung freely behind. She wrapped her arms around his back for support now. And with his posture she could feel his muzzle near her sex--hot breath panting against it in anticipation.

She craned her head back, lining herself up with the shaft. “I’m ready.”

“A-alright,” Kodan said, his member twitching, “if it’s too much just tap me.”

Rationally, she knew that she could take it. But it was different now being the one below--putting her throat to be used rather than using it herself. Tantalizing… Exciting.

As his tip prodded forward, glazing her lips, she took a moment to quickly speak, “You don’t have to be so careful. I can take a little roughness. Like it, even.”

She blew hot air down the length, encouraging a whine from him. “O-okay.” He moved his hips down and forward, the point parting her lips and entering her maw, and the length slowly slid forward till about halfway. Kodan panted harder, spittles of saliva flinging onto her bareness.

It throbbed, pulsating upwards and into her tongue. Further in still, it went forward until the knot grinded against her nose--the natural bend of the shaft seemingly perfect for the curve from her muzzle to her throat. Breath burned against the tip, pre being naturally swallowed upwards, but she somehow willed herself not to gag.

He stepped forward now with both backlegs, locking himself into this position inside of her. The hips began to arch back, the shaft sliding out before being pushed in. Methodical for now. Allowing him to feel the ridges of her throat and the heat of her maw--for her to take the girth and savor its entry. He bucked a few more times, a bit quicker. She kept her eyes open and watched the sack sway with them. Beside her head his legs quivered.

Kodan whined, a natural sound of need and pleasure. He let his shaft rest deep inside for now, licking his lips. “I haven’t forgotten, don’t worry. Just getting acclimated.”

A puff of hot air on her sex, then a wet swallow as his tongue delved inside her. Webs of pleasure spread through her and she tried to moan, but found it impossible. Her legs shook. And the wolf was all too happy to spend time on her, switching between digging his tongue inside her to see how deep he could make it go and using the delicate tip to rub her button in melodic circles--his full length still deep in her throat all the while.

Only after a few minutes of digging inside her, making her squirm and steadily form more and more saliva, did he begin to buck again. Slowly--awkwardly at first. Thrusting, pausing, lapping, thrusting, and pausing again. It took some time, but he eventually found a rhythm. And she could feel his exerted breaths from his nostrils hard against the thin fur of her taint. Pre mixed with saliva in her throat now, and she knew that he was already ready to climax. All she would need to do is squeeze… in her own time.

His hips moved faster, backlegs hunching down--shaking--and bucking into her throat. With the speed now his orbs swung more violently, arching enough to slam against her nostrils. Sweat dripped from him now. She was coated in his saliva dripping down from her slit and from sweat accumulating around his groin.

She was in heaven.

And he picked up the pace further. A growl feral like the wilds burned through his throat as he opened his muzzle--incisors and fangs against her hips and taint, as his maw clamped down wide to give him further access; his tongue digging even deeper inside of her and exploring her depths. The heat from him was immense. And her chest rose, pressing against him best it could as her body trembled. Hands clung onto his fur for dear life.

Her eyes closed, focusing on the ecstasy. The red bulb of the knot rubbed harder against her maw now, begging to be let in. Her chest rumbled deep inside.

She seized the knot with a hand as she reached her peak, forcing him to climax at the same moment as her.

Some feral part of Kodan’s mind took control and he began to thrust madly, pressing hard. Her jaw burned as the knot swelled, but still refused to enter. It was simply too big. But at the same moment his peak finished, seed curving upward into her throat in pulses, she peaked, her own fluid filling her canal--which Kodan greedily lapped up, his fangs tightening against her.

He came up for air with the last of her juices swallowed, whimpering as his seed pumped inside of her. One throb, seed filling her maw and stomach. Second, seeds squirting out between her fangs and out her nostrils. Finally, he came to his senses and pulled away, one last pulse spraying across her face and chest.

Relani swallowed and coughed and gagged, falling to her side from the trunk and back onto the flat ground. She rolled onto her back, immediately sticking a finger onto her clit to keep herself stimulated as she focused on the warmth in her stomach. She breathed and licked her lips clean just as Kodan did the same.

Finally, she felt her high subsiding and allowed her arms to fall to the side--relaxed. Kodan was on her the next moment, flopping his whole weight on top. Sweat-covered black fur on her yellow-orange. They both panted in unison, exhausted.

Through the vignette of returning neutrality she sensed the wet flesh of Kodan’s shaft against her waist--balls hanging against her sex. If she could take it all and swallow it, she thought, then she must be able to take it this other way. What if-

“May I kiss you?” Kodan said suddenly, his head above hers.

“I-” Relani felt a sudden jolt go through her heart: an old pain. She could see in Kodan’s eyes the pure desire to lock muzzles with her--have their tongues dance. But she looked away. “N-not now. I’m not ready for that.”

If there was disappointment in his eyes they did not show. Instead, he just nodded and burrowed his head under her chin. “That was incredible. Like last time.”

Though the old pain was made bare in her mind for just a moment, it dissipated now. The feel of Kodan against her like this was too comfortable. Her arms wrapped around his neck--feeling like home. “Two for two. We’re doing well.”

Kodan chuckled. “Here’s hoping for a third.”

“I’m thinking that’s in the cards.” She laughed. “No one ever used their tongue like that on me before. I quite like it.”

“None of your old partners? Really?” Kodan said, a hint of a growl under his words. She shook her head no. “Hmm… Well, how long do we have till Dosken’s watch is over?”

Relani threw her hands up. “After all that I have no idea. We have till he calls us.”

“Well… I’d love it if you told me all you could about yourself, if that’s alright. We have until then to actually get to know each other. Maybe… maybe you could start by venting about those old partners?”

She snorted. “Heh, that sounds nice. Maybe I will.” She searched through her memories, eventually settling on a man named Horace she met at a tavern. He smelled like fish but had deep pockets for drinks and an eight inch wang.

Underneath the both of them, deep inside of her, a relaxed purr whispered sweetly in her chest.

---

Three days later, Relani caught herself daydreaming--even noticing a skip in her step. She was on her way to Piper’s tent, a plan now formed. It was ridiculous to be thinking of Kodan during a time like this.

Yet she was. And despite all the patience and support she’d been given this past year with the Tail Peddlers, happiness still felt suspicious to her. She knew that Kodan could understand that, though.

This ‘cultural disagreement,’ they both agreed, was--frankly--stupid. Stupid, but dangerous. They couldn’t go off and face the cult if there was distrust within their troops, so they either had to confront it or turn back. Mutual trust would get them through this. Together.

She paused outside of Piper’s tent, pausing to listen--as was her habit.

“‘-Dranenvulle, free will’s arbiter and queen of the old world,’” Ymir read out loud inside, ‘“She we will follow till death. In our community we toil. Because, Her locked away in shell and slag, we shall wait as free followers.’”

“Slag… slag…” Piper said, the telltale sound of his talon tapping his spellbook—showing that he was deep in thought, “I thought before that it meant Dranenvulle was trapped partly by some shoddy machine or metal cage… something like that. But… Hey, Ymir? What color is the stone here?”

“Beyond the white Kandessian Mountains it’s all black. Partly why it’s so cursed… Why? What are you thinking?”

“Oh, s-sorry. Let me explain.” Piper chirped. “It’s possible the black rock is basalt, which is volcanic. I’m grasping at straws here, but it may help me locate any secret entrances to their underground base.”

“Grasping is how good work is done.”

“In order to alleviate pressure, volcanoes have secondary vents other than their main, big one that they erupt from. The secondary ones can be numerous, and if their base is built in the main vent of an extinct volcano, then that means the secondary vents would be good candidates for additional entrances. They could be miles away from the main vent, too. ‘Slag’ makes me think now that it’s talking about Dranenvulle actually being inside of the slag, or magma. Of all places to keep a goddess’s corpse it makes sense, I suppose. It’s certainly dramatic.”

“Huh,” Relani heard Ymir smack her lips in thought, “How do you think of this kinda thing?”

“Oh, uh, it’s just a lot of studying. I have a lot of time to think now too, heh.”

“Very impressive…” Ymir’s voice went lower, “did you learn anything else at that school of yours?”

“W-well. U-umm…”

Relani decided that was the proper time to knock on the post, alerting them to her presence. She heard one of them straighten up before walking in.

The two of them sat on the ground next to each other, papers, scrolls, and tomes strewn about everywhere. Since his injury, Ymir had been helping Piper with his notes--reading things aloud for him as he requested and writing down his thoughts as he vocalized them. She’d been a big help for him. And now she was smoothing her clothes down awkwardly, looking a bit flustered. Piper just looked in Relani’s direction excitedly--eyes covered in a cloth bandage. “Relani!” he said, “I knew if I couldn’t hear someone walking then it had to be you.”

Relani squinted her eyes towards Ymir. “Piper, could we talk?”

Ymir furrowed her eyes, but took the hint. She stood, brushed herself off, and slipped past Relani and out the tent flaps. Relani took a moment to make sure she wasn’t still eavesdropping.

“O-of course! What is it?”

On the ground was a map of the area that Piper had drawn before he’d lost his eyes. It showed the plateau at which they knew the cult was based, as well as some basic topography of the area and a compass. Relani hesitated before replying. How could she ask Piper for something else? Hadn’t he done enough?

“Relani? Are you still here?”

“What? Oh, sorry.” She tapped on the map at a point east of their camp’s location--just to center her own thoughts. “I… uh… Could you help me convince Dosken to send a scouting party east of us?”

“East?” His head tilted, trying to remember something. “S-sorry, my directions aren’t that good and I’m going off memory. But I thought the compound was west of us?”

“It is.” Relani sat down across from him. “But I need to be alone with the watchmen for a bit, and east is the best direction for us to not risk encountering any patrols or other issues. I need to nip this issue I’ve been having with them in the bud quickly. We’re running out of time before our supplies run out and we need everyone on the same page.”

Piper nodded. “I agree. But it can’t be overnight. It’s dangerous leaving the camp so undefended.”

“I don’t need all of them. The majority will work, but I need Hannover and Ymir for sure. Is that alright?”

“I think so…” Dosken was their leader, making the difficult decisions when the time called for it and acting as their charismatic face, but their crow wizard was the brains of their mercenary band. He tracked provisions, equipment, quests, their schedule. She bet he didn’t even need his ledgers--his memory was fantastic. Relani watched as he thought for a moment, before nodding in educated earnest. Then, Piper leaned down, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “Ymir doesn’t know nothing, Relani. She keeps asking leading questions and I just play dumb.”

She giggled, seeing how serious he was. “Thank you. I know you’re doing your best. You always do.”

His beak shifted into a smile--the feathers where the top and bottom of the keratin meet shifting slightly upwards. “We’ll do our best to help you out of this, Relani, if that’s the end of it.”

She nodded seriously, trying to ignore the pit of guilt in her chest. Patting his knee, she stood and turned to leave, but paused at the threshold. “What do you think the end will be, Piper?”

“Oh,” he chirped, “that’s beyond me. I have no idea what lies in store. I just try to do my best now.”

“But if you had to guess. What would you say?”

“I don’t know…”

Anxiety suddenly creeped up his face. She gave him grace to continue if he wanted.

“…It frightens me to what limits they have to reach if they truly want to bring Dranenvulle back from the dead and what it means if something we’d lost of reality returns. By all accounts death is irreversible.” Piper looked away from her, towards no real direction, and bunched his legs up to his chest. “But… whatever it is… the end is already determined. I just hope it’s in our favor.”

---

Kodan.

Morning rays were absorbed in the armor’s steel, stealing and keeping the natural radiance like a stove’s coals. The politicians of Sentinel’s court had suggested painting it black many separate times. “Be dark as blood. Show the wilds an invisible howl and display how we brandish a creature as dark as them,” one of the Duke’s cousins had told him on one occasion--half a real suggestion and half a jibe. It’d blend in with the black fur, they knew. And they guessed the image would grow his legend. But it was idiotic to make the steel absorb more heat; the insulation he packed in did wonders to keep the boiling steel away from his fur and skin, but the whole suit was still like being in a coffin deep under a layer of magma.

He wished that his born parents were of a more northern breed. So that he’d been born smaller and with a white coat, so that it was thin and loose, and shed too much. So that he could show it off and others would look at him like a dog to be pet and not some beast that’d slaughter their sheep and devour their children as they skipped along a path. To be a friend, he supposed. Though it felt as if a dagger was twisting in his lungs as he admitted it to himself. He didn’t know.

Relani had woken something up inside of him. ‘Woken’ was the only word that made sense. There were tonics to help you sleep, he knew from various alchemists. So it felt as if he’d been feeding them to himself for years and years, keeping the emotions down. Just for the coma to break the second someone asked him how he was doing.

He hoped he didn’t frighten her off. But… something knew that he hadn’t.

And what if his feelings for her, gods, practically his obsession for her--always somewhere in his mind--was just that: an obsession? What if… what if he only cared so much because she was the first? That wouldn’t be fair to her.

The cacophony of thoughts stilled as her eyes met his across the gap. They were green--verdant like summer leaves and meadow grass. The corner of her muzzle slanted into a grin, and already he could feel his heart pounding hard against the steel.

“East?” Hannover said, his loud voice echoing against the trees, “why the hell are we going east?”

“To keep our oaths correctly, we must scour every inch,” Dosken said. Near everyone of their troop was crowded around the edge of their camp, the dark maw of the wilds just beyond. “Our inquisitive companion theorizes that volcanic vents may act as a possible entrance into the Followers of Order’s evil lair. Due to his intensive geographic knowledge--which is far past my understanding--he thinks the cragfields east may prove to have a cave or two.”

“Piper? The one who blinded himself in a way that you won’t tell us?”

Ymir stamped down on Hannover’s paw with her boot, making him whine and curse up a storm. “Shut up and follow orders.”

“Wizardy is dangerous work, my goodman,” Dosken said, “we owe him some privacy.”

Hannover grumbled, but straightened up and did as he was told. Four watchmen, led by Relani, bunched together and turned to leave for their scouting trip. And just before the shadows took them Relani met Kodan’s eyes once more. The next moment she was gone.

He hated seeing her leave.

A few days ago, off the cuff in a passing exchange, Neri had asked Kodan why he even brought along Hannover if he was such a liability. And, to be blunt, he wasn’t. Hannover was a veteran, killer with an axe, and wholly dedicated to their community. Hannover was skilled but, most crucially, he was of those few people that followed the ideals of Sentinel, not the people in power. It just was that Kodan thought he’d be able to maintain his respect. Losing it was what made Hannover so dangerous.

Dosken exhaled a long breath, taking a moment to rub his snout between his index finger and thumb. Kodan understood firsthand the stress of leadership. But the Dragonborn took it in stride, turning to the three remaining watchmen as if he wasn’t worrying about the fate of them all. “You all! I feel as if some sparring practice is in order!”

He took them to the other side of the camp, leaving Kodan alone with only one other person.

None of the watchmen could do it for obvious reasons, Dosken was busy distracting the three remaining members, and Piper was currently blind. So, the only person that could remove his armor--allowing him to follow behind the scouting party in complete silence--was the shortest member of their brigade.

“Ready, bitch?” Neri said, cracking her knuckles.

Kodan took her into the forest, intentionally avoiding the closer, more convenient grove in which he and Relani made love in a few nights prior. They’d been meeting every night since. And he’d been looking forward to their talks every night now, and not because of the allure of sex. Still, they’ve only been together in that way twice. They talked. Mostly about mundane things, but also about the cult and how to gain trust back with the watchmen in the best way possible.

In her eyes sometimes she could see a block--a barricade she placed for herself. She wasn’t comfortable giving all of herself to him yet, and that was okay. During the days between he’d often daydream about what to talk to her about and about what was right to say or not. His social experiences came with relationships he’d overheard: gossip and conversations about those among his watchmen. Did she understand how much she meant to him already?

He stopped far away from their grove and allowed the Kobold to work. He didn’t intend to make small talk with the Druid.

Neri found the helmet strap, tearing it out of his fur and yanking it off of him. He gritted his teeth. And, humming to herself, Neri shoved the helmet into her woven satchel. Recently, he’d learned that it was enchanted to hold more than it should be able to.

She went to the bands of metal around her neck now, wrenching it over his ears. Relani had taken much more care in making sure his fur wasn’t yanked out.

“You know… I think she really likes you.”

Kodan froze, only his ears twitching in alarm. She grinned like a devil seeing it.

“Yup. I’ve seen her with other men. Domas, Codi… that guy who smelled like fish. And all of them were stupid fucks that thought she was vulnerable. Didn’t understand that some angel gave her the ability to keep a tiny bit of respect for herself. Hard to have even that after you go through what she has. But… she looks at you differently. Different from all of them. She’s the best of all us at hiding, but not when it comes to this.”

There was an odd feeling in his heart, hearing that. “She told me about them. Even Gormelay, the Gnome.”

Neri’s eyes furrowed, as if she hadn’t expected Kodan to know about her previous partners yet. “Ah yeah, I forgot about that one. He wore a stupid pointy hat.” The bands of steel around his neck were removed and stuffed into her satchel. Already he was regretting this. But, it only made sense for the departing watchmen to see him with his armor on, and he couldn’t sneak with it on--too loud. So it had to come off. “Yup. We’ve had a lot of adventures together in the year I’ve known her now. One of the kindest people I know.” She moved to the large metal plate on his back now and struggled to find all of the straps on it. “So… tell me Kodan… what’s your intentions with her?”

Instinctively, a growl ripped up his throat. “What are you implying?”

“I know a lonely guy when I see one. And I don’t intend for you to use her as cum dump that you can unload all of your emotions and trauma on.” She fiddled with a latch. “Fuck, how do you get this off?”

He forced the growl to simmer down back into his chest. She was right to be concerned about that. “I… realize that. And I don’t want to do that to her, either.”

“Get some friends, then. Find people you can trust.” His sword went in the bag.

Kodan bit his lip, stopping himself from making a bitter remark. “I’ve found that rather difficult.”

“Then maybe leave Sentinel. I ain’t saying that the rest of the civilized continent is all rainbows and acceptance, but it’s a lot better than that backwater town.”

“I can’t just leave. There’s people that count on me. Responsibilities.”

“Responsibilities that you chose to take. From everything I’ve heard from you, and everything I can guess, you decided to place yourself around people that sustain your misery. Am I wrong?”

“I…” Kodan trailed off. He couldn’t find an honest retort.

She laughed to herself. “That’s what I thought.”

Now all the latches were released on the block strapped to his back, but she lacked the strength and height to lift it properly off of him. So he had to lie down and let her drag it off of him awkwardly, the Kobold grunting and cursing as she did. She managed to push it into her satchel too, the bounds of it stretching to accommodate the bigger size. Now all there was left was the bits underneath them.

Neri popped up to her feet and slapped her hands together. “Damn, that’s a workout.”

“I’m… I owe you an apology, Neri. I see how much you care about Relani now, and I’ve been treating you so harshly since I met you.”

“I don’t know about that, big guy,” Neri said. She padded away a few steps then slanted back onto a tree, crossing her arms. She waited there. “I’m still a mischievous bastard at heart.”

“...Aren’t you going to get the rest of it off?”

“I will. I will.” Her fangs went up into a proud smile. “After you answer a question of mine.”

“Wha…” Kodan stammered.

“If you’re going to follow Relani, then you need every bit of your armor off to be quiet. You could leave and get Dosken to do it right now if you really wanted to, but then I’ll still have the rest of your armor with me here.” She patted her satchel. “So you have no choice but to tell me everything you know about the awakening ritual.”

Kodan stared at her: her smirk, the cocky way she had her arms crossed. The confidence. He thought maybe this was some cruel joke. But no, she was being genuine.

“Do not ask me that, Neri. I don’t ever want to share that knowledge.”

“I’m not giving you the option.”

Kodan took a long, bitter breath. His claws gripped the dirt beneath him.

She continued. “We have a little bit of time, but if you’re going to catch up with them then you’ll have to be quick.”

No.

What? Tell her and let what happened to him go on to curse someone else? Never.

His body stepped forward, his fur rising like a crashing wave from his neck to his tail. Venom dripped from his fangs. “ Why should I tell you?”

The sudden brutality in his voice rocked her, though she tried to hide it. “You want to bury knowledge? I don’t want to let that ritual be lost and die to time.”

She couldn’t understand. She’d been created the natural way: parents to conceive and raise her, a village to keep her safe, other children to grow with. Neri had been given the privilege to choose her own fate.

A growl rumbled through his gritted fangs--reminding her that she was far from any help. He was no longer in control over himself.

Even through her bravado, Kodan could see her confidence crack--her eyes darting to the side to look for an escape route. He took another step, and her crossed arms broke, falling to the side. “I’m a naturally curious person.”

She was red in his vision now.

“I-uh… Fuck, Kodan. It’s ancient Druidic knowledge. I’m on my Scouring, and I need to… I’d like to know how to cast it.”

“Why?”

“I-I don’t know.... To make a companion, I guess. A friend.”

The words sent him to another place, and suddenly he wasn’t in this grove anymore. He was a decade back, crying out for his mother in a smothering, cimmerian wood. Shattered glass. Vermillion running down his leg, quenching the thirst of dying plants. Body absorbing his own flesh to stave starvation. Cold, grey eyes watching him past the veil of time.

He was on her in a second.

She tried to shapeshift into some animal to defend herself at first. A cougar. A tiger. Maybe even a wolf. Didn’t matter. Whatever it was it couldn’t change the fact that she was face down now, blood on his tongue, fangs closing her windpipe. He was too quick. Neri struggled and writhed like any animal.

“K-Koden-” she choked out, “I-”

“You trick me?” he snarled--mouth full of neck tendons, “you abuse my disability? And you think I would let this happen to someone else?”

“W-wait, I-” He squeezed, silencing her.

“You aren’t even like her. You aren’t despised. Your family waits for you. You aren’t even lonely. So WHY? ”

His weight was on her smaller body. Daggers raked down her back; scales caught between claws. Choking breaths were muffled by the flesh in his mouth now--tears at the corner of his eyes. He started to put pressure in his jaw, knowing it’d be easy to reach the spinal cord with just a bit more.

Neri became more limp--her pathetic wheezing becoming more and more quiet… sorrowful.

It was time to end it now. Just a bit more pressure and she’d-

He stopped, wretching, gasping for air.

Kodan stumbled into a tree, dazed. Jowls dripped with crimson. A scale was embedded between two incisors. He could feel the flesh and moisture in his maw, his throat--sprayed against his body. He rocked back and forth. Eventually, he pierced the dirt with every claw he had, stiffening his legs and keeping himself aloft with the rocky foundation. Saliva and blood dripped down from his mouth.

He screamed, the sobs coming after.

Neri was gagging, coughing up bile while also trying to get breath into her body. On the ground in a fetal position, twitching in fear and pain. Alive. Slowly, she managed to stand, using a tree as a support. She coughed up more bile and spit and blood, her chest sounding hollow. He could feel her eyes like swords in his back from here but he didn’t have the strength to look.

He couldn’t kill her. How could he ever forgive himself?

Why couldn’t he just take off his own damn armor?

Tentatively, Neri stepped toward him. He couldn’t move, not an inch. And after an eternity she felt her hands on his side. He flinched. But she didn’t say a word. And a moment later the last bits of armor fell to the ground with a thud.

He couldn’t meet her eyes, but at the corner of his vision she saw her mouth open to say something, then close. What was there to say?

The whole exchange had only been a few minutes.

Finding the will to walk, he took a step, then another, then another. Slowly, he went into the wilds. He had to pick up the trail.

---

Relani.

“So yeah, it was about yay big,” Hannover said, putting his hands apart about six inches from each other.

“Bullshit,” Ymir said.

“Yeah, man. That’s gotta be like… physically impossible.” Another watchman said.

“I’m telling you! If I was gonna lie then I could tell you a story about fighting a chimera with my bare fists and my cock out, but no. I’m opening my heart out to you guys! Admitting to you all that I had to witness the biggest turd known to man physically pains me. Believe it.”

Relani was at the head of their troop, taking her time to check for traps or any signs of humanoid life. She doubted that she’d spot any. They were well away from any known beaten path of the cult, but it paid to be careful.

Somewhere behind them--using his natural black fur to blend with the shadows--she knew Kodan was following. His being here was dangerous if they noticed, but he insisted on being present when everything was laid out. Confronting them head on was too dangerous with all of them together--with Hannover’s death threat looming over--and coming to them honestly had the chance of them shutting her down. The only way to get everything out, she ascertained, was to get them to admit it themselves. She’d have to bait them.

They continued to chat with one another, keeping their voices to a whisper.

After a while Hannover laughed about something and called out to her. “Hey, Relani.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Ymir said, itching to reach for her mace.

“Tell us, what’s Piper’s story?”

“What do you mean?” She was no fool, she knew exactly what Hannover was trying to get at. But sometimes it was more fun to play coy.

“I mean, is he seeing anyone?”

She rolled her eyes. “Why? Are you interested?”

Hannover laughed and jolted a thumb back to Ymir. “Nope, she is.”

“I swear on Sentinel’s ancestors I will have you court martialed when we get back,” Ymir quickly said under her breath. Then, she reset her face, forcing herself to look more dignified towards Relani. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t want to say anything until we got back to Sentinel, but your friend is nice… and cute. I’ve quite enjoyed the time I’ve been spending with him.”

It was nice to hear someone complimenting Piper despite the ulterior motives she initially had. Relani could already imagine Piper’s reaction, his feathers puffing up in alarm and a bashful squawk, when she’d recount this story later. “I think he’d like to hear that, and anyone would be lucky to have him. But I have bad news for you about Piper: he’s about as straight as a circle. Absolutely no wiggle room in that.”

Ymir looked as if someone slapped her with a fish. “Really?” She blinked. “Damn.”

“And you’re certain about that?” Hannover said.

Relani had been in constant close quarters with the Tail Peddlers for the better part of a year. She knew. Piper wasn’t all innocent as he seemed. “Yup. So he may be interested in you, Hannover. I can’t speak for his tastes.”

His chest puffed out at the idea. “I know that I rock it, but unfortunately for him I’m as straight as a triangle.”

The troop fell silent for a moment.

“Hannover, a triangle isn’t straight,” Ymir said.

His notched ears twitched in alarm. “What? Yes it is?”

“No it isn’t. How the hell is a triangle straight?”

“Well the-” He put his hands out in front of him, making a triangle with his fingers and thumbs. He cursed. “Fuck! The edges. The edges are straight. Ah, fuck you guys, you know exactly what I meant.”

A low, whispered rumble of laughter passed through them at Hannover’s expense. His ears pooled with hot embarrassment for a moment, but he pivoted to take it at stride: turning the jibes into jokes and wearing it on his chest. He was well practiced in recovering from embarrassment, it seemed.

He walked in a distinct way. Digitigrade legs made long strides with each step, his chest puffed out, and his fingers laced around the back of his head like he was the proudest person alive. It was odd that he was the one Kodan and Relani were so worried about--but people steadfast in their beliefs with the combat skills to back it up were often the most dangerous to those against the status quo. Why did they have to be against each other? It pained her.

There was also the chance, Kodan had stressed, that they would take up their swords against her. In that case, Kodan would charge in to help, but what about those few precious seconds when she was alone against four others?

Well, they were all covered head to toe in metal--the material she could telekinetically push and pull with the same ease as breathing. She could handle it.

Relani looked up to the sky, seeing the sun had reached its zenith. “Let’s stop for lunch and start heading back. We’ll go a different path on the return to cover more area.”

The watchmen all agreed and set out to rest in the patch of forest. All around them were yawning tunnels through the thick trunks and underbrush. The forest that marked the wilds was big. Not through height, however. At its highest it only reached about fifty feet up, but the canopy was overly dense. Only tiny gaps in the crocheted branches and drooping leaves made just enough room for swords of light to pierce through. Yet, the floor was still rich with vegetation--enough that you could trudge through a shrub and catch your leg in three-inch thorns that were invisible a mere foot away. That was the impossibility of the wilds. Below the roof all plantlife should’ve wilted from the lack of sunlight, yet they flourished--dangers lurking between every root.

Most beasts were scared off by their numbers. A chimera or some other horrible beast could see their band as a meal if they decided the risk was worth it. But those weren’t the biggest threat. Once trained, one would know the proper way to walk and absorb the signs of dangerous fauna. No. The biggest threat were those who came here willingly--cradled by the forest that civilisation dare not disturb.

The watchmen went to work clearing the area around them, having had found one of the rare clear spots. Ymir dug through her pack and dished out the rations for everyone, which she kept tightly guarded and labeled. Their supplies were dwindling.

Relani didn’t know what to think about her. Ymir was a soldier through and through, it seemed. She respected the authority and their laws, yet she had still gone against them to fight against the Followers of Order. How was she reacting to her commander committing a taboo?

Part of Relani wished these people were just evil--that they were cackling, faceless fools that got their pitchforks out at the first sign of the abnormal. But no, they were people. People who followed their path to become soldiers; to protect civilization against the wild’s evil. To protect against things like her, like Kodan. But perhaps there was still hope. They followed Kodan, after all, even if it was on paper-thin ice. Maybe they could still be allies.

Her eyes darted to the endless hiding spots and crevices the dark forest provided. Where was he? How was he feeling with all of this? Had he been able to follow their trail and keep hidden? Ultimately, she had to trust that he had.

Sighing, she resigned herself to crouch down and dig through her pack. It was time to set the bait.

Feigning clumsiness, two vials spilled out from her open bag as she came up with her lunch, both of them rolling towards the dining watchmen. She quickly snatched them up. Her ears sagged down in mock embarrassment and she apologized a few times.

Hannover raised a brow and took a bite out of his hardtack. “The hell were those?”

“Oh, umm…” she stuffed them in her bag as if she didn’t want people to see them for too long. Her tail lashed nervously. “They’re, uh… to help me with my heat.”

“Ah,” he said, clamping his muzzle shut. At the corner of her vision, she could see him share a glance with Ymir.

Relani skittered away, acting as if the whole exchange had made her shy. She sat down between the roots of a tree and waited--taking a bite out of her lunch; hiding a smirk. Often, people needed an opportunity to confront someone or come to them--another thing she’d discovered about people’s behavior. So what she just did was give the watchman the chance to discuss amongst themselves and approach her far away from the camp and Kodan’s ear. If they were waiting for a good opportunity to speak to her they wouldn’t find a better one. It wasn’t a perfect strategy, but she hoped they’d take the bait.

When her lunch was finished she could hear hesitant steps coming towards her. They were taking it.

“Relani…” Hannover said. He’d taken off his helm and held it against his chest, his eyes lowered. Ymir was just behind him, the other two watchmen just beyond, listening silently. “Do you remember our duel a few years ago? You were trying to enter the watchmen then, right?” The memory was painful to her, but she remembered. “Then you’ll know how you beat my ass into the dirt. That means I respect you. And I hope that you’d respect me in return.” He took a long, heavy breath. Ymir furrowed his eyes at him, as if willing him just to spit it out already. “So, can you tell us what happened to Piper?”

Relani blinked. Him? All this baiting and they were coming to her about Piper? “Wizard business. That’s all I really know.”

“...Wizard… business…” There was a flare past his retinas. She recognized it from their fight many years ago--a simmering anger bubbling up. “So… you still won’t tell us?”

No. There was something she wasn’t understanding. When she’d eavesdropped before they’d been focused on Piper as well. Why was it so important to them? “It depends…” She chose her words carefully. “Why are you asking about him?”

Hannover stammered, trying to find words himself.

Ymir sighed and pushed the Gnoll out of the way. “Relani, did the commander rape you that morning?”

A cold shock hit Relani like falling off a roof--all the air in the lungs being punched out--being between an anvil and the hammer. What the hell were they talking about?

“I understand that Tabaxi heats can be… uncontrollable,” Hannover said, “consent is impossible. We saw, and smelled, what your tent was like that morning. Though none of us heard it happen. But seeing that and you being injured that morning… we could connect the dots.” All of the watchmen nodded together, agreeing. “I ask about Piper because that’s the thing that sticks out. If Kodan took advantage of you and hurt you in the process, then how did Piper get injured as well?”

“It’s alright,” Ymir said. She actually took her hand, as if trying to reassure her, “we know the Duke favors Kodan because he’s obsessed with ‘fighting fire with fire,’ but we have your back in this.”

Relani stumbled out of the grasp, holding her head. That’s what they thought? No wonder Hannover wanted to kill Kodan. No wonder they were so intent on finding more information, because to confront Kodan without knowing for sure was absurdly dangerous for their careers.

Four pairs of eyes looked at her, waiting for her response.

Coming to herself, she frantically dug through her pack, procuring the vials. “I had these. Look! You’re right, I did have my heat that night.” She shoved the vials into Hannover’s hands. “But these stop them. So I took one then and was able to have control over myself.” She swallowed. “I can control myself.”

Hannover turned over the vile in his hands, inspecting them. “So he didn’t take advantage of you that night?”

“Gods, no. He would never. Never.”

Ymir cut in. “So what happened with Piper?”

“I blinded him.” Relani panted. It still felt dangerous to tell them about the strength of her wild magic now, but it wasn’t about her anymore. “The-the thing. The bit of metal in my chest, which I know you all know of, starting ticking that morning. It activated, somehow. And to check it he cast a spell, and the strength of it… god, whatever is on me blinded him. It burned his eyes out.” Emotion burned in her throat.

The two watchmen behind Hannover and Ymir took a few steps back, a new concern on their faces.

“What is the arcane device?” Hannover said.

“I still don’t know. Piper said…” She took another breath. “Piper said I was connected to divine magic.”

The watchmen all shared a look and their dangerous eyes went back to her. What were they going to do?

She could see so many thoughts and realizations going through their heads in the moment. Hannover’s fangs were gritted, but--slowly--he placed the vials back into her hand. “One thing at a time. We’ll talk about the device later. So,” he took a hard breath, “we were wrong about Kodan. Or are you covering for him?”

“I’m not. He didn’t take advantage of me. And don’t take me as someone who can’t defend myself, either. We had sex that night, but it was between two consenting people. Nothing more.”

Hannover nodded seriously while Ymir took a step back. “Wait, you did fuck him?” And there it was. Disgust and contempt crept up her face, the skin sneering; going all the way down to the bone. Ymir looked at her in a different way now. “I can’t believe it.”

“Now hold up there,” Hannover said, putting an arm between them. But Ymir continued.

“But I shouldn't have expected anything less from you, not really. The wilds have been implanted with you since birth.”

“You don’t know that,” Relani said.

“I can see, can’t I?”

“Hold it, Ymir,” Hannover said, now taking a full step before her. There was venom in her eyes now--in her spittle. The other two watchmen were looking at Relani the same way.

“What about the wild magic?” one of the other watchmen said, taking a step forward and gesturing towards Relani, “it could be connected to the cult. Maybe she’s a part of them, knowingly or otherwise.”

“You didn’t even know about them before we brought the information to your feet.”

The watchman met her eyes. “You did. But you were also found in a cave, right? Maybe you’re unknowingly drawing them to us.”

“I know that, but it’s been over a week and no one has come. It’s just as likely that it activated because I’m in proximity to… something.” It made her feel lightheaded talking about herself like this.

“We can’t know for sure either way,” Ymir said. Her hand flickered to her mace. “We need to follow protocol for threat prevention. It’s a possibility that you could have some part in this deity’s resurrection, and under no circumstances can we allow that to happen.”

Ymir’s hand undid the button keeping her mace in place at her hip, and in the same moment it lurched forward. It wasn’t brought into Ymir’s hand. Instead the metal mace pulled forward, flying through the air before Relani caught it swiftly. “I’m no threat to you all.”

The watchmen took a step back, their hands going to their weapons.

Under her fingers was cool metal, innumerable scrapes and dents dotting the surface. It told her that Ymir was no stranger to battles. None of them were. These were veterans who’d risked their careers and lives betraying their Duke. And they were people who, mere minutes ago, she’d been laughing with.

Relani held the mace up, her other hand in the air next to it. “I have this power, and from everything I can guess it comes from this.” She tapped the metal implant in her chest. “You’re right, there’s no way of knowing what it means. But I have control over my powers. Full control.” She allowed the mace to float out of her hand. Slowly, she pushed forward, all the way up until Ymir plucked it from the air--eyes furrowed. “So, until we learn what it means, then there’s no reason we can’t be allies. Fire isn’t always to be feared.”

Hannover looked between both parties now, his expression divided.

Ymir tightened her grip on her mace. Slowly, she took a step forward.

The other two watchmen shared glances and followed with Ymir, making their allegiance known. Hands stayed to their hilts, unsure of their next move.

Somewhere in the distance a group of wolves howled.

“You call yourself fire? Fine.” Ymir turned the mace in her grip. “But there’s a reason why there’s limits to how big an inferno someone can kindle on their own. Laws. Regulations.” She pointed the mace to Relani, the air whipping with the quick motion. “I’ll allow you to work with us if you agree to put restrictions on yourself. We need to head back to camp now. And when we get back you’ll need to be guarded. Restrained, perhaps, in case the corruption inside of you takes complete hold.”

The other two watchmen murmured in agreement.

Hannover took a step back, eyes still going from side to side.

On her hip Relani felt the bag of ball bearings. This wasn’t just her magic--to talk about it would be like dividing someone’s soul from their body and calling them separate. How fair was it to have her restrained--feared--because of something that was a part of her?

Fine. If it took her imprisonment, then that was what she would do.

But before she could agree to be caged, a beast snarled; the breaths of all of them freezing in their throats.

“Back away from her.”

Kodan strode out of the brush he’d been invisible inside of mere seconds ago, hair on end, jowls reared to show his fangs. There was blood stained on his muzzle--on his teeth. Relani worried where that came from.

“That’s a command, all of you. Relani is no threat to us.”

“She’s a-’

Kodan snarled. “Command. Did you hear me say ‘suggestion,’ Ymir?”

Instincts and years of following authority conditioned her to back down, yet she didn’t. Not fully.

“Regroup a hundred paces behind me and wait there. We have to speak.” Ymir opened her mouth but Kodan continued, cutting her off. “Not as commander and soldiers. We’ll speak eye to eye the best we can.”

A furred hand smacked down on Ymir’s shoulder. “Let’s follow the commander’s orders,” Hannover said, “politely.”

The woman wrought her shoulder free from Hannover’s grip. “Fine. Let’s go.” The mace was slammed back into its spot on her hip as Ymir waved the other two watchmen to follow her. Together, they followed Kodan’s command. Hannover hesitated, then followed, disappearing in the underbrush with the rest of them.

Then it was the two of them.

Two pinpricks of sunlight were in the game path between them, nourishing two white lilies that grew in the path. Above them, the canopy shook in a sudden gust of wind. But not where they stood. Within the tunnels no wind dared stir.

Kodan took a step toward her. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I had trouble leaving camp and struggled to find your trail. I…” Then he paused, seeing an expression in the tinges of Relani’s eyes. First only a shadow behind a veil, then a twitch of her cheeks, then a choked gasp.

She fell to her knees, holding her head.

“W-why?” Tears burst through years of repression, breaking her. Not in a long, long time had her walls broken like this. “Why?” She repeated the same word under her breath a few more times.

Kodan was there in an instant. Even through the thick haze of emotion she could sense him hesitate--not out of lack of compassion, but in not knowing how to comfort her. But he tried. His shoulder pressed into her front, his head wrapping around the back of her neck best he could.

“I… I don’t understand, Kodan. It’s not my fault. It’s…” She trailed off. With effort her hands went from clutching her head to wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer.

“I don’t know either. I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I would do anything in the world to give you the answer.” He pressed harder into her. “But I’m here with you. I see you.”

The tone of his voice… the strength he said it in…

The realization finally dawned on her then, kneeling into his warmth--eyes wet with tears--that if anyone in the world would understand, it would be him. She choked, hating herself from not seeing it sooner. Maybe some part of her did realize that long ago, far in the back of her head, but years of walls had blinded her. After all, how could she be worthy of being understood?

Her face buried into his neck, her breathing reaching a peak, then slowing.

“I’m here. You’ll get through this.” A paw pressed against her thigh.

After a long moment the emotion started to numb. It did not go away, not nearly, but the weight on her shoulders felt lighter. She pulled away, wiping her eyes. Her hands then moved to Kodan’s shoulders, gripping them as if they were blood brothers. Moisture was in his eyes as well.

“We will get through this,” she said, squeezing his shoulders.

A shaky breath exhaled from his throat. For a moment he struggled to find words, then shut his muzzle, simply choosing to nod in agreement. She found the strength to stand now.

With a paw he wiped his own tears away, voicing some embarrassment.

Relani felt a pull to Kodan now like she hadn’t ever known. It scared her. But also made her feel a connection so deep that it was impossible to put into words. Their relationship, whatever it was, had reached a point of no return. As far as she was concerned her fate was now intertwined with Kodan’s no matter what may happen in the future. And, if there was someone to walk a path with, then she was glad it was with him.

“Thank you, Kodan. I…” How could she ever voice how much his seeing her meant to her? She couldn’t. “Thank you. Are you alright?”

Kodan took a deep breath and laughed at the absurdity of their whole situation. “No. But you’re right. We’ll get through this.”

It felt good to hear him say that. “I’ll be okay. You should go talk to them. I’ll just stay here and take a moment to get myself fully back together.”

He nodded earnestly. “Unfortunately we aren’t done yet. But I’ll see what I can do for my part.” He turned to stride away, took a few steps, then paused. “Relani, I…” he paused, trying to find words, “you’re a very good person.”

She laughed a bit under her breath, finding it odd that she was. “You are too, Kodan.”

He smiled sheepishly before walking into the underbrush, disappearing. The watchmen would be a ways away now, out of earshot. Good. She needed the space.

But it felt strangely empty not having Kodan here. He could understand where she was coming from, and she could do the same for him. Mere moments ago that’d felt like an impossibility. It was like catching sunlight in her hands: she didn’t want to dare let go in fear of losing it.

But there was also that fear deep in her mind. She knew that Kodan was a good person--knew it deep into her bones. Yet Melarn whispered in her ear. It was irrational anxieties, but it clung onto regardless: the fear of being manipulated; the fear of letting someone in. It took willpower to chase them away. She could kill them, stomp on their corpses, but the ghosts would always linger.

She laughed to herself. Gods, she was a mess, wasn’t she?

And what of her path? Still, she couldn’t see the way forward--could only grasp in the dark in hopes of following it. But… maybe it wasn’t her only option. It scared her, thinking that she could choose, but just maybe she could. Kodan had allowed her to choose something for herself on their second night together. It had felt… good. Though it felt dirty to even think that.

Even though she had all of these chaotic thoughts in her mind, Relani’s instincts started to hone in on something. For years she survived in the streets. For a year she was a lone mercenary. In order to survive either one had to learn certain skills, such as understanding that something was just… wrong.

Relani suddenly stood straighter, the daggers unsheathing into her hands.

Wolves were howling, the same wolves from before. They were closer. And there was a silence to the forest--something that would alarm anyone walking through even a bright wood. To have this microcosm of nature--with singing birds and chattering squirrels--suddenly fall into a silence so deep you can hear your heart beat… Well, that would put even the most oblivious person on the backfoot.

Her ears canted every which way, trying to listen.

Thunk

Something shot out of the foliage like a volley of arrows and she flipped backwards, landing on her hands, and then pushed back onto her feet, sliding. A thick net landed where she’d been half a second before.

A humanoid’s torso emerged from the shadows and into view, silent like the wind. Then a second. Then a third. A fourth. More and more emerged, millions of hiding spots for them all to hide in. She counted sixteen in total surrounding her.

How had they been so quiet? It was feasible for one or even two to sneak up on her, but sixteen with complete coordination? Impossible.

There were all different races and heights, yet they all wore the same copper robes and neutral expressions. The exact same expression.

Her eyes flicked to the net. They were trying to capture her. And as they stepped out she saw magic buzzing between some of their fingers, obsidian weapons in the others. She couldn’t manipulate obsidian nor magical blasts. And, as she reached out to sense metal, she felt not even a single coin. They were here for her, and they were ready.

She sunk down, making herself a smaller target--daggers raised. “Did you plant the device in me?”

They all took a simultaneous step forward.

“What do you actually hope to accomplish? Is it really to resurrect Dranenvulle?”

They all took another step.

Two were closer to her than the others--having had the closest hiding spots. She heard them lurch forward simultaneously behind her and she flipped up, hand going to her pouch. She pushed with the ball bearings, firing out a spray of bullets just with a flick of the wrist. The two cultists’ heads were riddled in an instant. She landed on top of both bodies. Her ball bearings were blunted purposefully in an attempt to make them nonlethal, and it seemed to have worked in this moment. They were both knocked out.

“Was it you that left me in a cave all those years ago?”

She yelled out, half in a useless attempt to get them to answer her questions, but half to alert Kodan and the others. These were all members higher in the order, having undergone full admittance. New recruits would talk like people, but once one came to their lair to be indoctrinated officially, something changed with them. The veterans never spoke.

“What do you want with me?” In the distance, she could hear the screaming of wolves.

They all took another step forward. She couldn’t defeat all of them if they targeted her all at once. The first two were simply sacrifices to test how much of a fight she was going to give them. She refused to go down easy.

“FREEDOM.” All sixteen of them said in unison. Even the unconscious ones underneath mumbled it in their sleep.

Then, all as one collective, the hivemind charged her.

---

Three minutes ago.

Kodan.

No wind stirred underneath the canopy, yet scents could still travel just through the raw filtering in the air. Kodan’s snout hiked up. Wolves. It was a distinct smell to him, and it always made him feel uncomfortable. He turned away from the debate to scan the thick foliage around them. If he could smell them then they must be close by. He’d heard them howling earlier, too.

“What laws are being broken here, you bitch?” Hannover said, his fangs snarling.

Ymir crossed her arms. “Oh, I can think of at least one.” Her squinted eyes judged Kodan, and without his armor or sword he looked even more like a wild animal. He jerked back, focusing back on the conversation.

“Oh, fuck off,” Hannover said.

“Strictly speaking, does the commander even meet the legal definition of a person?” Ymir continued, “there may be an actual case for it.”

“You really want to go down that route?” Hannover gestured to Ymir and the two other watchmen. They’ve been pulled between each side now.

“I do not.” The four of them suddenly turned, eyes going to their commander. Kodan took a breath and continued. “I spoke to the Duke about it. You are correct in your suspicions, Ymir. Legally speaking, I do not have the same recognition or protections. I made an effort to get it changed, but all laws must go through the Queen, and such a decree for one person was a waste of time.” Kodan bowed his head. “So, if legal action is a route you all wish to take, then you should take that into account.”

The four were silent for a beat before Hannover growled, slamming his giant fist into a tree trunk. “This isn’t even our goddamn argument, Ymir. Why does it even matter?”

“Because it’s about the sanctity of Sentinel! We’re supposed to be a beacon of hope that shines against the dark, defending the country from evil.”

Hannover gritted his fangs so hard Kodan worried they may shatter. “Let me ask you something, Ymir. Do you know that I’m a Gnoll?”

She looked puzzled. “...Yeah?”

“Of course you do. But you don’t think about it because I joined the watchmen way before you, when I was sixteen. Ten years I’ve been here now. And for our profession that makes me a goddamned elder. But when I was new you think people didn’t look at me like I was one of those marauders in the savannahs? Despite the fact, mind you, that my family’s been here for three generations.”

“That’s a different thing entirely, Hannover.”

“Is it?” He planted his ax on the ground and pressed his weight on it. “This is my thought: let’s do what we actually came here to do and forget about the fact that our commander finally got his rocks off—consensually. And, if the bomb on Relani’s chest becomes an issue, then we’ll deal with it at the time.”

“Who are we supposed to follow, then?” Ymir looked at Kodan, spite in her eyes, “I can’t follow him anymore.”

“Maybe you don’t have a choice.” Hannover took a step forward. He was taller than all the rest of them, stronger too. “I see no reason to change leadership.” His head turned to Kodan and nodded. “I’m sorry for ever doubting you, sir.”

In the interim they’d explained to him what they thought he’d done to Relani that night. It was… horrifying. Yet he was proud, strangely. If they had another commander that had actually taken advantage of someone while they couldn’t refuse, then he’d hope they would’ve acted the same way.

“Say we do what you say. When we return we’ll have to report everything that happened here. A lot of eyes will see that. The Duke would be forced to take action.” Ymir said.

Somewhere, in the distance, Kodan heard someone say, “Go.”

Hannover just shrugged. “We don’t need to say a word.”

Ymir began to open her mouth to object, but Kodan was on his feet. “TO ARMS.”

They knew his tone of voice, and despite their division instincts took hold. Axes were raised, swords unsheathed, and maces raised. Kodan had no weapon, no armor. But he remembered exactly in which direction Relani was.

But he had no time.

Barreling through the brush were two dozen snarling wolves—gnashing fangs, foaming at the mouth. Two tackled one of the watchmen immediately, his sword skewered through the belly of one while the other went for his throat--helmet knocked free.

Kodan never killed wolves before. His brethren, in a strange way. But he didn’t have the luxury of time to think about the philosophy. He shouldered one away from Hannover and tackled another. They ignored him at first, not seeing him as a threat. But in a quick motion, Kodan tearing out the jugular, they realized he was a watchman with the rest of them.

Hannover cleaved through two in one swing. Ymir clocked one aside the head before another got ahold of her boot, shearing it off and ripping out the achilles tendon amidst sinew and muscle.

Two ran into Kodan fangs first and threw him off the one he’d just killed. They refused to come in one at a time, as a third was waiting for him as he clawed the ear off of one. It sunk its fangs into his hindleg and pulled back, getting him on his side and dragging him away from the fight and into the underbrush. Another assailed him as he was vulnerable.

He had years of mercenary work in his belt, and he didn’t always have his armor and sword. The vulnerable stomach of one ripped open as it tried to go for his throat, and only then did he twist, kicking the one on his leg off. He jumped to his feet and snarled, making the two still around him hesitate.

Kodan finally had a second to observe what was happening. The two wolves circled, looking for an opening they’d never get. These were still animals--conditioned to fight, sure. But no amount of training could stop a beast from self preservation.

He purposefully turned his back to one and it took the fake opening, charging. Only to be sent back with a yowl, whining in pain. There were fresh scars across its face now, but it scampered into the underbrush alive.

The other was quick work, only having to feint to the side and jump over and on top of it, pinning it to the ground with his fangs sunk around the scruff. After some struggling, the trained wolf came to a quiet, learning its place. Kodan released it and it followed the other that had fled.

Back in the small clearing where they’d stopped to talk, the fight was going on about as well, with Hannover circled by five wolves at once and keeping them back with his ax and the others in their own individual brawls. Struggling on the ground, two wolves trying to maul her, was Ymir. She’d taken down three despite losing the ability to stand. Her armor had saved her so far.

Somewhere, deep in the back of Kodan’s mind, the thought of leaving Ymir--his biggest detractor--to die dared to show its face.

The wolf closest to Ymir yowled in pain as Kodan was on its back the next second, raking up roves of fur and skin with his claws. He pushed off, landing in front of Ymir with his fangs bared as it limped away. The other one scampered off in fear.

One more wolf died from a sword being stabbed through its heart before the pack scattered. It went south, back to where he’d heard someone say “Go” beforehand. He guessed it was a release word. That’s where they’d expect him to go--to bait him into attacking a possibly bigger force. But this wasn’t an attack to kill them. This had to be the Followers of Order, so why send wolves when you could use your superior numbers to overwhelm? This was to distract them.

Kodan allowed himself one breath. He inhaled.

Ymir was in bad shape, but alive. One of the watchmen had her face nearly bitten off but was nursing her wounds. Another was on the ground, clawed and chewed up--dead wolf still skewered on his sword--but breathing. And Hannover was nearly untouched. No casualties.

He exhaled.

“Hannover, protect them.” Kodan turned and sprinted through the underbrush, not caring about the thorns that tore into his skin.

He broke through a minute later and skidded to a stop. The first thing he smelled was blood--lots of it. Seven bodies were left here to rot but none were feline.

“Relani!” He screamed, tears forming at the edges of his eyes. He craned his ears, seeing if she called back, but there was nothing.

Tracks. There had to be tracks.

If they were going to kill her then the smartest thing would’ve been to do it here, so chances were that they captured her. A net left in the dirt confirmed it. He sniffed the ground, forcing the millions of scent receptors to do its work. Past the thick stench of blood there were seventeen main signatures, one of them he cared for deeply.

Only nine enemies managed to leave the battlefield against Relani alive. And they were heading north with her.

But that didn’t mean there weren’t more. Count at least one other for the voice that gave the release word then he’d be facing at minimum ten humanoids plus whatever wolves were left. Without his sword and armor? Impossible.

Behind him, the remaining watchmen came through the underbrush. Hannover carried the most injured among them by having him over his shoulder. Ymir walked with a heavy limp, leaning on the last watchman for support. They all stared at the carnage in front of them.

“Relani… did this?” Hannover said under his breath.

Kodan hardly heard him over his thundering heart. He looked into the wilds--his original home--with terror. How was she going to get out? How could he help her?

“Sir,” Hannover said, “what are you planning on doing?”

Different scenarios and ideas ran through his head as thunderous as a lightning storm. Only one idea broke through the others. “War wolves…” Kodan said, half to himself, “they use war wolves.”

“You don’t mean-”

“Hannover, can you get them back to the Tail Peddlers safely?” Kodan turned and looked the Gnoll eye to eye.

After thinking about it for a moment, Hannover nodded gravely. “I’ll get it done, sir.”

“You have my endless thanks. I…” He turned to look back to the wilds where she’d been taken. “She’s strong. And I know she can take care of herself, better than I ever could. But… I can’t bear to leave her alone.”

“I can’t say much for the memory of wolves, sir. But if you try to integrate yourself into the pack won’t the ones you fought today recognize you?”

“That’s a gamble, you’re right. But they’ll mostly recognize me by scent,” Kodan said, looking at the blood that’d choked his nose moments ago, “regardless, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

All four watchmen shared looks. It’ll take the rest of the day to get back to camp, so getting help in time was out of the question. The moment to follow was now or never.

Leaving his watchmen now was a large risk. They still did not come to a conclusion about how to move forward. Perhaps they would just leave for Sentinel, or maybe the Tail Peddlers could convince them to fight. He couldn’t know.

But would following Relani even help? Perhaps running in rashly would only danger her more or, perhaps, it would give her support to escape. There was a chance that he failed to blend in with the pack and was killed. That wouldn’t help Relani at all. They were dealing with the realm of gods now--facets of reality. There could be any number of unknown variables and risks.

He could still smell Relani as if she was here. Maybe if he had just been a little faster…

Kodan stepped toward the pool of viscera, making his choice.

“Sir!”

Kodan turned, seeing Hannover stiff in his standing. He looked dead ahead. Then, with a beat that echoed across the trees, the Gnoll slammed his fist onto his heart--the plate ringing. The salute of the watchmen.

Seeing it put him in a momentary shock, but Kodan sat and returned his own version of the salute, contorting his paw to his chest best he could.

Hannover released and refashioned his grip on the watchman over his shoulder.

The leaves above them rustled a light breeze before the four of them turned, heading back into the murky undergrowth. They were out of sight a moment later.

But their scents, each of theirs, was still fresh on his mind. The memory of that moment would be locked in his mind until the day he died--true, shared respect.

Kodan took a long, shaking breath before turning to the direction he knew Relani had been taken.

The growing pool touched his paws now. In front, the woven abyss loomed. He looked down, seeing himself reflected back in crimson.

---

Somehow they had almost no tracks behind as they trekked through the forest, only leaving the odd broken twig and half bootprint. Their scents were the main thing Kodan followed. And it was honed well, as he’d used it innumerably during the times his job was to collect bounties. Though, he found some difficulty tracking it past the blood coating him now.

There were no voices, but he could begin to hear the whining of injured wolves. His head peeked through a thicket in the direction.

Rising from the moss-covered ground was a sudden formation of ebony rock, hundreds of them jutting out of the ground like rapiers--hexagonal pillars worn down by centuries of rainfall. A vine covered maw punched through the center of the formation. Down it went. The entrance to the tunnel was invisible if you weren’t but a few feet away.

Echoing from out of it he could hear the wolves delve deeper, following their masters.

It seemed Piper had been right--a volcanic vent leading to the main shaft. This one was miles and miles away from the main crater. Who would’ve thought the secret entrance would’ve been so far away?

Taking a moment to listen, Kodan crept forward to the threshold. Relani would be down there. He could feel his throat fill with bile at the thought of what may happen to her.

With his fangs he tore down the vines covering the opening. Afterwards, he pawed at the ground, ripping up the moss in an arrow pointing at the entrance. Hopefully it’ll be more visible from the air if Neri scouted in an avian form.

Neri. He choked just thinking of that name. He had almost…

No, he couldn’t think about it now. Maybe things were still resolvable between them--she had released him from his armor at the end, after all.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts away. Above all, he needed to be focused. Not just for himself, but for her.

Taking a breath, Kodan began to descend.