I decided I very much liked dressing how I wanted. Since coming to the Wyldes, I had been put into the proper outfit for every occasion. Even before that I wore what everyone in the mountains expected me to wear. After yesterday, I decided that clothes had a certain power, and I wanted to dress for myself. I think I was still finding out exactly who Wren was.

Schula happily opened her wardrobe to me. I liked the function of the tight leggings of the Autumn lands, so I borrowed a pair in brown suede. These decidedly did not have a line of exposed skin from hip to ankle like last time though. Not that it wasn't an option in the back of her closet. I also chose a baggy white tunic that laced around my middle a few times to draw it in. It fell almost to my knees, but it flowed around me and was quite comfortable. The only thing I couldn't get used to was the boots that didn't protect my legs, so I pulled my old worn boots up to my knees and left with Puko perched on my shoulder. It was cool enough that a light cloak helped me cover my face and I was hardly stopped on my way.

Navigating Thanantholl was becoming easier, or at least I could get to a few key places. Schula's apartment wasn't far from a fairly main road, and I took it to the front gates with the rising of the sun. Like Schula, Thain didn't want to risk a magical accident in the city.

I spotted him before he saw me. I think. He always seemed to be aware of his surroundings so he could have seen or heard me coming. Or smelled me. As odd a thing as that was to come to terms with, it was a common in the Wyldes.

He was dressed in black, of course, and leaned against a tree near the entrance to Thanantholl waiting for me. The males at the gate were clearly in awe of Thain as they spoke to him with high regard, taking turns keeping a set of eyes on the road. Thain obliged them with what sounded like tales from past battles, but when he spotted me coming up the road he stopped. The guards straightened at their stations, now paying more attention to their job than Thain. I could tell they were still listening intently though.

"Were you waiting long?" I asked as he stood from his place against the gate.

"No, I wasn't. Let's go." We walked out of earshot of the entrance.

Earshot for fae is a pretty good distance, so we walked several minutes before we broke the silence. I was too nervous about my magic to say anything. Thain was going to have to do the talking, which could have been a problem because he hadn't done all that much talking since we reached Thanantholl. Thankfully, he was ready to teach.

He slowed to a stop in a clearing and turned to me. He looked me up and down, head to toe, and nodded.

My palms were suddenly sweaty under his gaze. I was still nervous around him from last night. The dancing, the dinner, and then all the things Schula said. But he seemed in perfect control, and wasn't distracted at all from his job.

"For starters, if you're really ready for this, we have to talk about your powers." He leaned against an oak and watched me hang my cloak from a branch. Puko fluttered up to a higher branch and began preening his feathers.

"I know." My fingers shook. I turned to Thain and clasped my hands behind my back.

"What's making you nervous, Wren?" He asked softly. "Your heart is about to flutter away."

Yeah, I know.

I sighed.

"The witch mark. And the borders. I know the witches didn't do it, they left the mountains when I did. And, and I've known our local witch my whole life. They work every day to keep the lines from blurring, I know it wasn't them." A detail I hadn't given him before. "But you'll have to tell your king about it and I don't want to be suspect to whatever happened on the border, and I'm scared for Mila and the others but I know they didn't have anything to do with the wards."

"You've always known the witches?" he asked, I nodded. "Thank you for telling me. I don't suspect you, and honestly I don't suspect them either, but many others will. But don't worry about that right now, whatever you need to tell me today to help draw out your powers I will keep between us."

"Thank you." I whispered, and cleared my throat. "So, you know about the mark, and the fire. What else do you need to know?"

"That pretty well covers it unless you can think of anything else?" He paused, letting me remember anything that could help.

"No, that was my one and only attempt at freeing it," I said.

"Alright, then show me your meditation. I need to watch how your magic settles into it." He leaned against the tree again.

"You can see that?" I asked.

"I can, but I'm a little older than most fae." He grinned. "Now, sit, breathe."

I rolled my eyes and sat on the ground, moving sticks and rocks out from under me. I breathed, just like I had that morning, and the evening before, and every time Schula caught me with nothing to do. I sat and found that place, my little hut in an open grassy field. My warm fire and my cozy loft.

"Good, keep going. Focus everything inward, you're a tangled mess." He kept his voice low and soothing.

I had no idea what he was asking, but I tried anyway. I sat on the floor of my cabin just as I sat in the woods.

Inward.

Inward.

Inward.

"There, right there. Stay there, I'm going to try something and see if you notice. Keep your eyes closed." I could hear Thian shift from the tree to closer by my side.

I kept my focus, I stayed in my cabin.

Next to me, the fire flared and I nearly jumped out of my skin. A huge burst of heat and energy rushed into me and my whole body jerked. I lost all concentration then and opened my eyes as I fell over into Thain's lap.

"What was that?" I panted, gripping my biceps and holding myself tight.

"Wren, I'm sorry are you alright?" He helped me sit upright.

"What did you do?" I asked, now rubbing my arms ferociously.

"I reached out my magic to yours, to sort of..." He drew his brows together. "Feel it out maybe? Your fire is strong, but it tastes different than Eberon's."

"How can you feel or taste my magic?" I was suddenly very cold, shivers ran down all of my skin except my back which burned. I continued rubbing my arms, trying to draw some heat to the surface while my teeth chattered. My mark stung suddenly and I jumped a little. "Ouch!"

"Wren, you're sweating." He put a fiery hot hand on my forehead. I sank into it, sighing with relief from the warmth and his face turned grey. "Are you cold?"

"It hurts. The magic." I gritted my teeth. "It wants out."

"Hold on, Wren," he said. "Try to center yourself again."

I closed my eyes, willing the pain away and tried to think of my little cabin. My stomach was twisting in my knots. I lurched forward and spilled my breakfast onto the forest floor. Thankfully, Thain didn't say anything, he just pulled me backward a bit to avoid the mess.

I gasped in a huge breath.

The pressure filled me up. My skin was ready to rip open, I was on the verge of asking Thain to just rip out my heart and end the pain. Instead he lifted my small frame and turned me away from him. A hand shot up the back of my tunic and he hissed.

A roar filled the forest and shook my bones. I squeezed my eyes shut. Thain.

He lifted me and covered me with my cloak, hiding my face. Then, he ran. His arms were bigger than my legs, he easily swept us through Thanantholl. I was rolled into his chest and couldn't see the guards, at the gate but they didn't speak a word as Thain ran past.

I had no idea the fae could run like this, or maybe it was his own wind that carried us through the streets. I heard a few shouts of surprise, but no protests. The shivering increased as I continued my own battle with the magic that was about to explode around me. I sobbed and he gripped me tighter.

"Hold on, Wren." His chest rumbled with the words. "Keep doing your breathing, focus on that."

I swallowed and nodded into him. I brought up Schula's voice in my head counting one...two...three...one...two...three...

"Good, Wren. You're doing good. Keep breathing, keep it in," He rumbled.

The sounds of the city flowed by me, but I barely registered them. I knew we traveled over bridges and around corners, but where we were I had no idea. It felt like hours as Thain ran with me in his arms, but I knew the pain was skewing my perception of time. All I could do was count. One...two...three...

His body slowed down as he stopped somewhere. There were mumbling voices, and a panicked knocking of wood and soon after that I felt more hands on me.

"What in the hells?" It was Eberon. "Inside, by the fire."

"What- Wren?" Schula's voice was panicked.

"Schula, cool her back. Eberon, her body is freezing." Thain ordered.

I was set on a cushion by the fire in Eberon's house. A gaggle of servants and what must have other nobles related to Eberon were staring from every doorway.

"OUT," Thain roared, and they scattered.

"What happened to her?" Schula's cool hands ran up my shirt and over my seal. "Stars!"

"I just prodded at her magic a little while she meditated." Thain paced by the fire. "I was just feeling her out, nothing unusual."

Eberon held my hands and forehead with his blissful heat. "Are you sure that's all you did?"

"She's sealed." Schula added. "A witch's seal. She's only had it opened once and closed immediately."

"What?" Eberon hissed, his face was the only one I could see since he was hovering over me, but the concern in his ruby eyes bit. I held it all in for so long, and now my secrets were putting my friends in danger. They were in danger, and all I was managing to do was shiver, contain my burning power, and not throw up again.

"Help me close it." Thain pleaded. "She's not ready, and we have to get her somewhere safe to open it."

The strain in his voice hurt to hear. I had thought the pain could get no worse until that moment when my heart tore open and bled for my stupid secrets.

"Are you insane?" Schula hissed. "The pressure is killing her!"

"Do it," Eberon said, straining to warm my face. "She's not ready. Thanantholl is not ready."

"Please, Schula." Thain's voice shook.

I heard her sigh, but the next sensation I had was like being put in a bubble. I screamed but my voice didn't come out, or I didn't hear it over the rushing in my ears. The magic was being pushed back into me. The seal was being repaired, or reinforced, or whatever needed to be done, but finally the pressure was easing. Eberon's heat was finally seeping into my skin, and Schula's cool hands relieved my back.

My body throbbed with the magic. It clawed at the edges of the seal, trying to get out. Thankfully the pressure was muffled under whatever they did, because I finally felt I could breathe again.

"It's a sloppy patch job, but it will hold for a day or so," Schula said.

"She has to let this out somewhere." Eberon ran his hands along my arms as he spoke low.

"We're going to The Sangolins," Thain said.

Eberon scoffed. "DuVarik isn't going to just-"

"He isn't going to know." Schula hissed.

"Schula, you don't have to come," Thain said.

"I'm coming no matter where it is," she insisted.

"Then pick somewhere else!" Eberon growled.

"Where else can she let out this much fire and not set the Wyldes aflame?" Thain asked.

Eberon snapped his jaw shut, frowning at the others. I wiped the sweat off my brow, still breathing slowly as though I was meditating. One... two... three...

"The Sangolins are a wasteland of rock and snow." Schula placed a cool hand on my forehead. "You can burn it all off and no one will be hurt, do you understand, Wren?"

I nodded weakly. "Yes."

"It's perfect." Thain gave Eberon a look.

"DuVarik isn't going to like this," Eberon grumbled.

"I can handle DuVarik," Thain snapped.

"What will he care? We're on our way to him anyway." Schula continued to rub soothing cool circles on my skin with her fingers.

"A show of power like that? He's going to want..." Eberon looked at me. Then Thain. Schula avoided eye contact.

"Even he has rules to follow," Thain insisted.

"Who is..." I blinked. I was going to ask more, but my head was swimming. Schula's concerned face swirled in my vision, and then everything went black.