The fire, crackling and dancing before my eyes, lulls me into a sense of security. Teak is right. It is clear that, no matter how I might try, I can't force this. Maybe what I need is to just relax. Stop tromping through the forest and let something come to me for once.

The bark digs into my shoulders as I lean into it, but the solidity itself is comforting. I listen for any promising sound in the darkness. Crickets chirp their calming tune. A frog croaks. There is so much life here, and I am just a small part of it. If I truly believe in destiny, I believe it will find me, no matter. Why fret?

Sure... it's my whole life at stake here. I tamp down the edge of hysteria and steady my heart.

"Please," I will into the silent night. Let me find something. Let me make my family proud. Convince them that I am worthy. But, most importantly, I think: convince me.

It is an awful lot to ask of the empty air, but I feel confident, through Teak's snores, that the universe is good enough to deliver. I blink into the night and thank it in advance.

I must have dozed against the tree, the fire warming my face until it died to smoldering ash, because the next thing I register is the light through the treetops. The night is gone. Everything is finished, and I haven't found an Incarnate.

My heart starts to race as I panic. I look around me, for anything, at everything. There is nothing in sight. Not a bird or a beetle. Can I return like this? Empty-handed? It will be the embarrassment of a lifetime. I can't shame Enos or Corsa. Surely, the twins will be disappointed, though they will be too polite to say it. They had so looked forward to my return. Now they will have nothing but pity for their big brother.

And Köv, Mab, the others...How will I ever face them again? Teak awakes in the midst of my flurry, calm and unworried as usual, with his Incarnate at his side. Of course, he is. I resent how easily everything comes to him. He is washing his face with a skin of water when he notices my travails.

"What's the matter, chum?" It only takes a moment for his sleep-bleary eyes to notice. The absence is evident, even to him. "Oh... No luck?" Teak shuffles toward me and puts an arm around my shoulders.

"It's okay. Plenty of people don't get one. My uncle--"

I shake his arm from around me. Doesn't he get it? I am not "plenty of people." I am not his uncle. I needed this. Too much about me is already out of place. Without an Incarnate, I will never be accepted.

He steps away from me, wounded, to continue his morning refreshment as I dig frantically through the moss and leaves. I would take a worm at this point. There is dirt on my every surface, caked into my clothes, crammed under my fingernails, when Teak stops me.

"It's time to go." The sympathy in his eyes is too much.

"I can't leave," I all but choke.

"It's time," he insists. "They will send parties out to look for you if you don't come back. You wouldn't want to worry your da, would you? It's better to face it now."

Slowly, I get to my feet. He is right. After every cross word, he still has my best interest in mind. I allow Teak to help me to my feet and brush what I can from my trousers. This is it. I am finished. And now I am not the only one who knows it.