She stands over me, a frightfully beautiful blonde, as I come to my senses. Groggy eyes focus first on her feet, traveling up her tall frame, to find a beaming face. She is entirely out of place in the ramshackle camp, and I struggle to sit in meager welcome of her.

"I heard you're headed to Inte," she begins by way of greeting. My mind flounders. How she would have heard that is beyond me, but I don't have time to question it as a hand is thrust in my direction. I reach to shake it, and she yanks me to my feet.

"My name is Kari."

"Kalyn," I return politely, unsure what else to offer. Beyond my name, my clothes, and my Incarnate, I have nothing else to offer. She doesn't seem to notice. She is already talking... well ahead of me, yet again, as I struggle to keep up with her.

"I've been meaning to head that way myself." Kari eyes me as though she has the upper hand, and she really does. I am a stuttering mess. "I don't suppose you know how to get there."

"No," I admit. The question was clearly rhetorical. What I don't know at this point could fill several books.

"Well!" She claps her hands triumphantly as if I've solved her problem. "I do! And it would be nice to have a couple of strong, young men to help me get there..."

I look uncertainly between Teak and myself. We are young, but "strong" is pushing it. As if to dispel my doubts, she nods at the cluster of onlookers by the tree line. Köv stands with his arms crossed, Agan and Mab at either side. Kari continues her sales pitch as if I am not drowning in questions. None of which are...

"When should we leave?"

The rest of the morning is spent around camp, collecting and trading what little we have in order to prepare for the journey. Corsa's tabby follows close at my heels, overwhelmed by the chaos. At home, she lords over all. Here, she is entirely out of her element and jumping at everything.

After nearly being trampled by a tussling pair of men, the cat deigns to let me carry her. I hold the shivering feline close against my chest. Wart tolerates the intrusion only after a few territorial snaps.

We break into pairs in search of food and equipment. Along the way, we even accumulate some recruits. Teak and I are sent out to forage, filling our satchel with whatever we can find. Köv and Agan hunt small game. Kari and Mab manage to attract the attention of a few more men to join us. It will mean a thinning of food stores, but the importance of safety cannot not go unappreciated. With luck, these extra hands will prove more useful than burdensome.

The sun is setting by the time we reconvene, and Kari, our self-proclaimed leader, decides to stay the night. It is the last one I will spend in Balai, and I camp close to the wall, absorbing what sense of home and family I can before it is all taken away from me.

This chapter is dedicated to Carrie, my very first groupie!