"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked to no one in particular as we raced to catch up to Zane, who was making his way to Luci's stall. There dirt had been kicked over the pool of blood, but it still congealed beneath the surface and its haunting shadow remained.

"What you question?" asked Nadine, who moved with a surprising amount of bounce considering the weight she must carry with her pack.

"She wants to know why I distinguished between the heart and mind," said Zane as he examined the blood. "If gossip proves trustworthy — which I imagine it does — then there were three that did this. Side wound, quick and clean. It must be the Gundersons." With that he marched off in the opposite direction from where the three thieves ran off.

"That's not the way they headed," I growled. "And how do you know it's the Gundersons or whoever you said?"

"Each part affects aspects differently so brother superior told me. He warn me, he did. Beware emotions."

I turned to Nadine, halting my chase after Zane. "What?"

"She was answering your question from before," answered our male companion with a sigh. "Please keep up my dears, I will not be able to tolerate this for too long even with Tessa's gift."

It felt weird to hear my name. In such a foreign place, it all still seemed a dream disconnected from reality. But when he called me Tessa, it suddenly brought everything crashing back to the surface.

"And if you must know my train of thought, the Gundersons were members of this town until ever so recently. They were a family of hunters that didn't like the competitive market. Figured they could make more money farther up the road, but they went too far and the plague hit them. The parents and the youngest children died. Only the three eldest remained. Luci and Mikael recently purchased the old Gunderson stall because not everyone is greedy and they're intelligent enough to know competitive market is good for everyone. Apparently the young Gundersons didn't take well to not having their spot here and waiting for them."

"That's a lot to tell from a blood pool," I admitted as we continued to walk farther from town and farther from the direction the young Gundersons ran.

"I suspected the Gundersons since the news broke in the tavern, I just needed to verify it. The work was a clean job, it'd take someone skilled with a knife to do it."

"He's still going the wrong way though," I mumbled to Nadine, who seemed unconcerned with my observation.

"No, I'm not," he replied with casual confidence. "They are master hunters, they know how to stalk so they know how to be the prey. They ran in a different direction to throw any pursuers off and then looped back around once in the woods. Their old house is this way."

I wanted to comment on how he was kind of full of himself, but the fact of the matter was, this man was supposed to be wisdom. I wasn't sure if I could doubt his assessment if I wanted to. So instead I boiled on it and diverted my attention elsewhere.

"What did you mean that we affect the aspects differently?" I asked Nadine, but before she could even acknowledge I'd spoken to her, Zane began to answer.

"What she meant was..."

"No one was talking to you," I snapped. "Is being a wise ass part of being wisdom or is that just you?"

"Just me," he answered in a nonchalant tone.

"One is logic, one is emotions. Two sides of same coin," answered Nadine, who seemed little affected by our discourse. "You are one, but you are separate. Ms. Heart tap into power through emotion. Mind tap into power through logic. Different results happen."

"Ms. Heart, huh?" asked Zane with a sly glance over his shoulder.

"That's not my name," I growled, then I turned back to Nadine. "Why do you think I'm the emotions? I'm far more logical and detail-oriented than Gwen. That's why I should have gotten that promotion. I'm better with numbers, I'm better with analyzing finances, and I'm better at finding tax incentives and deductions. She doesn't have any of that going for her." I scoff at the mere suggestion that Gwen somehow outsmarted me, but neither of them found humor at such a ridiculous notion. We walked in silence for a few seconds before Zane got his stab in.

"Ms. Heart, there is not enough time in your world or mine to point out how very wrong you are about the emotional thing."

"I'm not Ms. Heart!"

"Case in point."

"Look," I said through clenched teeth, "you lanky, sorry excuse for a soldier, why don't you and me..."

"I'm eager to hear where this is going, but I would like to note that we are chasing master hunters and you screaming has certainly already alerted them. I mean, I'm fine with this but perhaps, due to your inexperience with..."

"Do not try to tell me what I'm capable of dealing with. You think your backwoods world scares me? I come from a world where nuclear weapons exist. Where mass genocides litter our history books. Where..."

Suddenly a twang sounds from the darkness and a whistle hums through the trees as an arrow comes careening towards me. Two more follow in quick succession, each intended to eliminate our small search party. And they would have succeeded had Nadine not suddenly turned into the embodiment of fire.

The moment the first arrow was released, she shifted. Her skin appeared as charred coals, her hair danced in a mane of flames and her eyes burned hot and white. Cracks in her flesh glowed like embers touched by a passing wind and the dry twigs and pine needles beneath her feet smoked and caught fire. She raised her arms and opened her mouth, and I didn't need Zane's warning to know I needed to hit the ground. Just as my face collided with the cold dirt, a wave of flames billowed from my sweet little guide.

Three charred arrows fell to the ground and I truly wondered if it would have been better if it had hit me and ended this all very quickly.