There was a darkness that crept between the trees. The sky painted its hue gold with the setting sun. Evan, Claire, and Vausse stared at Tahlia who continued to tug at Evan's hand around her wrist, trying to fly away.

Evan could feel she wasn't trying to really escape. If that were fact, she would've flown away with him holding her for his life. No, this was the feeble attempts of a deeper sorrow that made Tahlia pull at Evan.

"Tahlia..." Evan said, pulling her back to the polished wood of the deck. "You said you were the last of your kind, so why do you want to go to someplace that would only bring you misery?"

"You wouldn't understand, hume." Tahlia avoided Evan's gentle gaze. She her feet planted back on the planks.

"I lost my father, well, he abandoned my sister and I, really." Evan took a step toward her. "Still, I'd never known the true meaning of loss until then. My stomach turned with sadness and rage for at least a month. Whenever I think about it, the same twist of my gut returns." He placed a hand on his stomach.

"This place is the last connection I have to my people. I must go. I must put their souls to rest, but it must be alone."

"I can't let you do that, miss..." Vausse began.

"Arentahlia."

"Right. I have strict orders to—"

"I don't need to follow your orders. I am not a hume in your military!"

"But you are my charge. Be you an asset or liability is yet to be foreseen, girl. If I let you leave, I will have to take your life; although, I'm sure it will be mine that gets taken." Vausse paused. "I am aware that our alliance was once charged with protecting your kind from the Empire, but those times have long passed."

"They are like seconds to me. Your betrayal is still fresh upon my hearts." Tahlia's eyes narrowed.

"Then let us regain your trust!" Evan interjected.

"Evan!" Claire shouted.

"No, this is my duty, Fullwing. Sir! You put me in charge of Tahlia. I will go with her, and perhaps by helping her lay the souls of her people to rest show her we can uphold a once broken promise!"

"Sir," Claire turned to Vausse. "If Secondwing Montresser is permitted to go, then I ask that I accompany them as well. Evan has no real knowledge of anything outside of our home isle. He—"

"Sis!" Evan tried to interrupt.

"He cannot be without supervision from his commanding officer." Claire grunted over her brother.

"I concur. Secondwing Evan Montresser, you will allow your sister to accompany you. You will obey her orders in my stead. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Tahlia, can I have your word you will allow my subordinates to assist you in repaying a small portion of our failure?"

"Is it the only way you'll let me go?"

"Until my superiors determine otherwise, yes. The alternative is that I order my soldiers to chain you until we're ready to set sail again."

"Fine." Tahlia spat. She turned to Evan, letting her eyes trail down his arm to her wrist. She could feel the heat of his palm through the leather of his gauntlet. She hesitated to pull her wrist from it. Despite her feelings towards Evan and his kind, she had missed the touch of another soul.

"Now get off the ship until Engineer Vausse clears it!"

"Yes sir!" Evan and Claire said.

Evan turned to Tahlia. Her eyes flicked to his then away. She held her shoulder as Evan let go of her wrist. Evan's brow knit together. He wondered if he'd seen a faint splash of rose flush onto her cheeks, but she leapt over the side of the ship before he could be sure. She gave a few strong wingbeats, and within moments she'd touched with grace upon the mossy stone that covered the edge of the isle.

"We'll rest here for the night and set out in morning, okay brother?"

Evan turned to Claire and nodded.

"You can't act like that anymore, Evan. I am your superior, remember?" Her voice softened.

Evan felt his stomach turn. "I know, sis... I'm sorry. It's hard."

"You haven't been a Leaf long. It'll get easier... well, more normal with time."

Evan gave a half smile before making his way to the ground. Claire followed close behind, and the sun sank lower into the sky, pulling the blanket of stars that had been growing from the opposite side of the isle over them.

It wasn't long before the soldiers were assigned guard rotations, and those not patrolling the edges of the wood had roaring fires going with banter and food wrapped around them.

Evan enjoyed a few moments with some of the other Second and Firstwings around one of the fires before noticing Tahlia sitting at the edge of the fire's light—alone.

It was subtle, but he could make out the small quivers that wracked her body. Evan nabbed a blanket from his duffle that one of the other Leaves had offloaded and strode over to her, his lips half curled. He shoved the brown wool toward her. "This will warm you better than your indifference toward sitting with everyone else."

Tahlia looked to him, then the blanket swaying in the night breeze before her. "Thanks," she said as she swiped it and wrapped it around her front.

"Sorry, I don't have anything that can cover your back." Evan scratched the back of his head, casting his eyes to the side.

"That's alright."

"You hungry?"

Tahlia nodded. Evan pulled two apples from his pocket and tossed one to her.

"Can I sit with you?"

She nodded again, brushing her silver hair from her face and sliding over on the log. Evan stared a moment at her ears shaped like arrow-tips.

"If you despise us so much, why did you save me and my ship that day?" He asked as he sat. He crunched off a chunk of apple.

"You save me from the empire. A debt was owed."

"But why not flee when the Empire's ship focused on us? You talk of saving the world. To do that you'd have to value all life equally, so why not just run after you saved me?"

"If I'd saved you to let you die, would I really have done anything? And..."

Evan looked to her.

"There was something in me that called to you. You fought for me when your own comrades wanted to hand me over. Most humes aren't selfless unless there's some benefit to them, even something as intrinsic as moral appearance."

Evan paused, mulling over her words in his head. There was no denial—if she'd saved him only to let the Empire shoot them from the sky it would've been easier to just let him fall to The Abyss. But being called charismatic was not something he expected from the jaded girl.

"So, what's the real reason you want to venture into the forest?" Evan watched the fire dance in the distance. Although the breeze that brushed through his hair was gentle, the flame seemed to dance with more life than it should.

Tahlia turned to him, her brows knit together, crimson eyes showing the dancing fire in their irises.

"If you wanted to pay respects to your people why were you sneaking around the Gauntlet instead of here? Moreover, why wouldn't you have payed your respects already? With those—" Evan pointed to her wings. "You can go anywhere you want."

Tahlia's eyes grew wide. She fluttered them a few times. "How did you—"

"Guess? You can carry me, Tahlia, remember? If you can fly with my weight in your arms, you have the strength and endurance to cross the skies." Evan sheered off another chunk of his apple.

The smell of burnt wood and dried meat warming over a flame wafted over to the two. Tahlia's stomach growled at her. She shoved her face into the apple, letting its juice spatter from the corners of her mouth. She exhaled a long, tormented breath, wiping the juices from her chin and tossing the apple core into the woods.

She turned to him with conviction in her eyes. "I need your help."

Evan felt a prickle crawl up the backside of his neck to the base of his skull. His stomach churned both with waves on anxiety and curiosity. What could a girl with wings and the magic to destroy an entire ship need him, a boy who could barely fly a ship, for?

"To complete the tasks needed to keep your world from falling apart, I need another."

"What exactly are these tasks?" Evan asked, furrowing his brow.

"I must commune with the gods that give life to the isles, but to receive the blessings I need from them, a trial is issued, one that requires another."

"I see. What kind of trials?"

"It depends on the spirit. The goddess wouldn't give me any details other than that."

Evan filled his lungs and curled his lips upwards. He wanted to give Tahlia a sense of warmth and confidence, even though he was skeptical he'd be much help to her. "Well, we'll just have to find out, huh?"

Tahlia nodded, returning a smile of her own, faint, but unmistakable.

"Who's this goddess you keep speaking of? I've only known of the four gods, Ifirit, Eifel, Fenrir, and Parius."

"She's—"

"What are you two talking about?" Claire interjected.

Both Tahlia and Evan snapped their heads to her. She stood there, her polished armor giving the smallest reflection of starlight. She had a hand on her hip, leaning on her right foot. Her face held her naturally stern gaze—the very gaze that made all Leaves under her feel small.

Evan stood. He detested that look meant for him, like he was going to commit treason or break some rule Claire decided to impose on him without his knowledge. He opened his mouth, but no sooner than he meant to spit a retort did he bite his tongue. The others were too close, she was still his commanding officer.

He felt he'd choke on the swallowed bite meant for his sister, not his officer. "Just standing my post, Fullwing."

"Uhuh... Tell me, Evan, what would you do right now if we were attacked and someone tried to take her?"

"I'd—" Evan reached for his sword only to grasp at air. A stream of dread filled his stomach, and he shot to his feet, looking around the log for where he'd laid his sword. When it was nowhere, his mind began to race with the possibilities of where it could've been since he'd given Engineer Vausse his belt. "Where's my sword!"

Claire tossed it into his chest, and he flailed to keep it from the ground. "You left it resting on the log by the fire," she sighed. "I swear, Evan, you can be brilliant about whatever you set your mind too, but you become so focused on it you forget about the world around you and the consequences of that world." She placed her hand on one of his shoulders. "This is why I wanted you to do anything but become—"

"Don't say it, Claire!" Evan glared at his sister. "This is exactly what I wanted to become! You can't protect me from the world. If that were true, you would've protected me from dad leaving!"

Claire's mouth fell open. She fought back the tears that threatened to well up from within. She couldn't allow herself to be sucked into the same old arguments here. She had to maintain her professionalism. Still, the sting of Evan's words pierced deep within her. "What can we expect in the forest?" She pushed passed Evan and looked to Tahlia.

"Ferocious beasts. They stand like you and I but resemble a wolf in their face. Thick hide and thick fur cover them, but their tail is the most dangerous. Each hair on it is like a steel needle coated in a toxin meant to induce pain and immobility. It liquifies your insides, then they feast on the jelly that remains. That is, of course, if they can't easily feast on you first."

Color drained from both Evan and Claire's face.

"What do you call them?" Evan asked.

"Gnalicores."

"What are their habitual patterns like?" Claire asked.

Evan looked at her. He was surprised by her questions which only furthered the truth that he knew her only as his sister and not a Leaf. She'd asked two things he hadn't even thought to ask, two things that might save their lives when they ventured into that forest in the morning.

"It's hard to say. We never paid them much attention. They stayed within the trees, and we always flew over them."

"So would it be better to leave now? While they sleep?"

Tahlia shook her head. "They roam day or night, that much I know."

"We'd be at a disadvantage if they can see in this dim," Evan pondered.

"What does your military teach you of fighting monsters?"

"Don't," Evan said. "We're supposed to avoid them, but if we have too, use our guns and keep a distance. Also, fight in numbers, not alone."

"If they're like wolves, then they'll probably use their speed," Claire said.

"I've seen one tear through a log to catch its prey too, so your armor will do little to protect you against their strength."

"Great," Evan sighed. He could already feel his limbs beginning to shake with the thought of meeting one of these creatures.

He looked to the forest. The darkness that seemed to move like mist between the trees now seemed to beckon him, to swallow him. He wondered if sleep would come to him now knowing these beasts existed just beyond the trees.

Claire's sigh broke his fixation on them, however. "Can we count on your..." she dithered. "magic if we encounter one of those things?"

"I'd rather not, but if it comes to one of your lives or the Gnalicore's, I will."

"Good. We'd best get some sleep then. We'll leave after first light." Claire turned and strode away.

Evan fell against the log, holding his sword tight to his chest.

Tahlia threw half of the blanket over his legs and sat next to him. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen, Evan."

His body stopped trembling as he felt the weight of her head rest upon his shoulder. He turned to her, her hair brushing against his cheek like the finest silks. The faintest scent of roses filled his nose. The sound of feathers moving through air encircled him as she enclosed them in her wings.

"You can keep my back warm, how's that? And in turn, I'll keep you warm?" Tahlia whispered as she rubbed her cheek on his shoulder.

Evan swallowed. He let go of his sword and placed it next to his leg, wrapping his other arm around her back. His lips were so close to her head. He felt his body wanting to reach out and kiss it, but he fought the urge. She was just doing this to stay warm. There's no way she could want him.

He hesitated, but slowly eased his head onto hers. He felt her wings tighten around him, pulling him closer to her. His heart raced, and he tried to be absent of breath while still filling his lungs. She was so peaceful as she rested upon him that he feared any movement would disturb her.

Was this what attraction felt like? He'd seen girls bat their eyes at him before, but he'd never returned the notion. It had never even crossed his mind. All he could focus on during his days at the Academy was becoming a Leaf. But now?

Sleep didn't come easy for him. Every slight movement, every ache he felt, he questioned if he should move to appease it. Would it wake her? He didn't want to chance it, but when the ache became too much, he had no choice.

Eventually he felt the warmth of the sun and ice of the night cover his face. His eyes felt heavy, and swollen, but he rose knowing his sister would be along soon. A shot ran through his chest when he opened his eyes to see her glaring over him already.

"I guess it would be hard to miss her running away if you take hold of her all night, wouldn't it brother?" she huffed. "Get up. Both of you. We must leave."