I woke suddenly, blinking in the early morning light. Something moved in the tree across from me, and I tensed. A squirrel ran out along the branch, staring at me with beady black eyes. My heart was pounding—I’m dry, I can breathe, it’s just a squirrel. Trying to remember what I’d been dreaming of, I stared back and it chittered angrily.

  Without thinking, I hissed back.

  The squirrel froze, then bolted, and I couldn’t help but smile at my petty victory. Despite sleeping in a tree, despite nearly starving, my body didn’t ache. Oh, I could feel hunger lurking, watching, voracious.

  But I had enough vitae to function, and a night’s rest took the worst of the edge off. So long as I didn’t need to fight anything, I’d be okay. Fletcher and Nook were to thank for that. They’d taken a risk and shared a meal with a stranger. Below me, the pair were sleeping still. One of them must have stoked the fire recently, as it still glowed red and sent a thin trail of smoke spiraling upwards.

  I watched the sun rise fully and basked against the warm wood. Years of practice were desperately fighting against the urge to panic. My future was ruined, Azalea was nowhere I could find, and the only path ahead of me was uncertain and full of violence.

  Of those problems, the only one I could solve at the moment was to gain my bearings and reunite with Azalea. She was my only true ally at the moment, strange as she was, and I would need her. For now, until these hunters who knew the way back to civilization awoke, there was nothing for me to do.

  So I fell back into my Garden. They knew I was a cultivator, and my meditation wouldn’t seem outwardly different than Divine cultivation. I whiled the time away tending the beds and coaxing life back into desiccated plants. One day, I would be strong enough that my Garden would not be so fragile, so often on the verge of death.

  As it turned out, I did not have to wait terribly long.

  Nook stirred first. He yawned, stretched, and froze when he saw me up in the tree.

  “Geez, you could scare someone half to death with a stare like that. You sleep alright up there?”

  “I slept fine,” I answered tersely.

  We stared at each other for a moment. Nook tensed, and my instincts started to coil my own muscles before he sighed and unclenched his fists.

  “You can come down now.”

  I nodded, and wrestled my instincts back. “I… told you I meant no harm.” Not intentionally, at least. A white lie that could easily have been stained red, to stretch an analogy.

  “Well…” Nook stretched and nudged Fletcher’s bedroll with a foot. “If you wanted to kill us, you’ve had a good few chances. When this lump finally gets up, you can get to payin’ us back for the stew.”

  “Of course.” I hopped down from the tree, and Nook startled again.

  “Damn. You know, you hear about it, but seein’ it’s a whole other story.”

  “Hear about what?” Fletcher yawned and sat up. “Night went alright, I take it?”

  “Yep. The little—” He cut off as he caught himself. “Or not-so-little miss is going to help us bag one last kill for the trip home.”

  “Are we really going to make her do that? I don’t know how much I want to skin a hide this morning.”

  “Really, it’s alright,” I insisted. A little bit out of obligation, and a little bit to prove to myself I could be more than the savage, feral beast I was the day prior. “Perhaps something small?”

  “Whatever you can catch.” Nook shrugged. “Now, help me pack up?”

  I nodded and helped the two hunters break camp. Fletcher even started whistling, much to Nook’s chagrin. I felt… surprisingly comfortable around the two. Sure, they were a little rough, but they’d helped a lost girl in the woods.

  I’d heard no end of Azalea’s complaints about men at the Sect, however, and the memories surfaced now. She’d shown me, too, and it got me thinking.

  “Do either of you have children?” I asked as we were finishing up. When the sudden question seemed to catch them off guard, I hurried to clarify. “It’s just that you were so kind to a young woman alone in the woods.”

  Fletcher’s face darkened. “Did anything happen on your journey here?”

  Nook just rolled his eyes. “If anyone had tried somethin’, she’s more than capable of defending herself, I’d bet.”

  “Doesn’t excuse it,” Fletcher rumbled, then looked down when his eyes met mine. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare ya, if I did. I’ve got a daughter at home, a little younger than you. She’s headstrong, proud, and I’ve had to give a few young village boys a walloping.”

  “Including mine,” Nook supplied. “And the boy deserved it. How’s about we stop yapping and get moving?”

  Fletcher and I nodded, and just like that, we set out. Despite my request, neither of them let me carry a thing, so I set about trying to figure out what and how I’d hunt something. Using my silk wasn’t out of the question, but wasting vitae right now would be a colossal mistake.

  In the end, the answer turned out to be very simple. A rabbit, scared by something else, darted near our path. With a few quick strides, I caught it. Before it could cry out, I snapped the poor thing’s neck, and handed it to Fletcher.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He took it with a rather serious look, and as he set about skinning, Nook leaned against a tree while I sat down on a rock.

  “You know, Fletcher, I’d fear for any man that gets on her bad side.”

  Fletcher stopped cutting for a moment, shook his head, then resumed. “Me too. Have you hunted before?”

  “As part of my training,” I lied smoothly. Though the next part was truth, I hoped. “I don’t enjoy killing.”

  “Good.”

  The conversation ended there, and we walked until the sun was low in the sky before the village came into sight. No wall surrounded it, no guards sat at manned posts, and no stones paved the paths between the twelve or so houses. Wood, daub, and thatch, they were solidly built and arrayed around a well. Just down the hill, the river rushed along, a dock sticking out into it and several boats pulled up onto its bank.

  “You can stay at my place, at least for tonight,” Fletcher said. “And if Nook’s boy gives you trouble before you leave, box his ears gently. The boy’s still got some lessons to learn, but he ain’t a bad kid.”

  Nook snorted. “If he does anything, I’ll tan his hide. In fact, I ought to go tell him now. Will you be good with the pelts until the morning?”

  Fletcher nodded. “I’ve got a spot. They’ll be at the tanner’s after sunrise.”

  With a wave, Nook departed, walking toward one of the homes. Fletcher took me to another one, the largest I could see. Fresh construction abutted the side here, a new room or two added to the old construction, and planters burst with autumn color on every sill. Feeling more than a bit out of place, I was thankful my instincts were quiet. Too little vitae in the man to be considered food anymore. If anything, I was restless, eager. But while I could travel at night, information was something I needed, along with a real plan.

  Sleeping in a proper bed for the first time in a week played absolutely no part in my decision to follow the large man inside. Which was… quaint. I lacked reference, but the furniture was simple, although the home did have several rooms. Almost reflexively, I looked to my side to see how Azalea thought of this place. Only a wall met my gaze.

  “Everything alright?” Fletcher asked warmly.

  I nodded. “Just thinking.”

  “Let me guess, you want a proper bed?”

  “...Yes.”

  Fletcher laughed. “Well, you can have Gale’s room. Just finished building it, in fact.” Confusion must have shown on my face, because he continued, “My son.”

  I nodded. Gale. That was a Divine name. His son is a cultivator.

  “Dad!” Pounding footsteps preceded a girl a few years younger than Shale bounding in from a back hall. It wasn’t too hard to assume she was his daughter, and she froze when she saw me. “Who’s that?”

  “I’m Sapphire,” I said with what I hoped was a smile.

  “You’re tall! And skinny!”

  I blinked, unsure what to say in response.

  “Is she going to be staying with us? I don’t want to share my room! Where’d you find her, Dad?”

  Head spinning, I followed a chuckling Fletcher into the… everything room. There was a wood stove, an area for preparing food, and a plain table and chairs. But sunlight streamed in through open windows, the plaster was bright, and even a few amateur drawings hung on the walls. Immediately, Fletcher tossed a log into the stove and set a kettle on top.

  I can’t stay here.

  “Fletcher, I—”

  “You can call Dad by his name? You don’t look like an adult.”

  I glanced at the smiling girl, suddenly wondering what sort of terror Azalea was like as a child. Suppressing a shudder, I answered. “I am.”

  “Oh. You’re really pale!”

  “I am.”

  She pouted, but quieted down.

  “Don’t be rude to Sapphire, sweetie. I’ve got tea on—it’s not going to be like what you’re used to, but it’s what we’ve got.”

  “Thank you. Listen, Fletcher, I should really be on my way. Thank you for…” I glanced at the girl who was watching us intently, kicking my leg under the table. “Everything, but there’s somewhere I need to be. If you could just tell me how to get to Hearthome, I’ll be fine.”

  “At least stay for the night. Gale hasn’t been home yet, so you can use the bed there.”

  “I don’t want to impose.”

  He shook his head. “Some rest will do you good. You’re still pale, and sleeping in that tree can’t have been restful. Not to mention you’ll need food, water, and a firestarter. I can’t offer money, but I’m not going to send a young girl off without being sure she can at least keep herself warm and fed.”

  I stared at the table instead of meeting his eyes, staying silent as his daughter barraged him with questions. Even when a mug of tea was placed in front of me, all I could do was sip gingerly at it. Cheap tea, oversteeped. It was wonderful.

  “Are you alright, Sapphire?”

  I blinked, only then realizing I’d been crying. “I…” I thought about Azalea. She’d been on the other side of the train, and she was canny. We had, in a way, a place to meet up. The mug was warm in my hands, and I felt a tension ease in my shoulders even as the hunger still lingered in my mind. “Alright.”

  “Alright?”

  “I’ll stay, but only one night. I can’t pay you for anything, but if you need labor done, I can work in the morning. But I’m leaving in the afternoon.”

  “Like chopping wood? I’d bet I can out-chop you!”

  I looked up at the bright, innocent girl. Her family had so little comparatively, but… Fletcher had a sort of kindness that drove an angry, dark spike of envy into my heart. Her father let her chop wood. He wasn’t the type to tell her who she could and couldn’t be. These were the type of people I had to protect… from things like me.

  I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, my silken skin feeling acutely unnatural. “I’ll stay in the main room if that’s alright.” My poor bed, but sleeping in a cultivator’s bed didn’t sit right with me. “I know you’re offering, but if I were your son, I’d want to be the first to stay in my new bed.”

  Fletcher nodded. “Don’t complain if you get woken up early then.”

  “I won’t.” It was a strange feeling, someone so ordinary caring so much for a stranger.

  They weren’t poor here, not compared to what I’d seen in the past through a carriage window. But they didn’t have much.

  Through the afternoon, I dodged questions from the girl. Fletcher showed me how to chop firewood, and I got started, fumbling the first few strikes before finding a rhythm. His daughter insisted she could do better; I didn’t rebut her. Perhaps she could.

  Rather than speed, I focused on the repetition, the movement of muscles, the way this body seemed easier to move in than I’d ever felt before. Breathe in, breathe out.

  Fletcher’s wife returned home; he answered a barrage of questions I heard from inside. Time slid along my arms, through my hands, and down the handle. Each swing a clock ticking as day darkened to dusk. I ate what was offered, spoke little, and planned to retire early.

  It wasn’t quite sunset when a commotion entered the town. And I’d just gotten comfortable on a mat with a borrowed blanket pulled up over myself. A voice outside drew closer, then the door swung wide. Standing there with a serious look was a young man I’d never met who shared his nose and jawline with Fletcher. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw me inside and I knew in an instant I’d made the wrong choice to stay.