Phoenix stared down at the broken chain in her hand, the simmering anger, the pain, and the frustration she'd been feeling since the death of her parents - all she'd stuffed down - fought for a way to the surface.

"Phoenix, I really am sorry," Roman said, pushing to his feet and shaking his hair out of his face. "I didn't mean to."

"They told me to always wear it," Phoenix repeated, unable to shake the feeling of loss.

"Can't they just make another one?" Roman's pleading riled her even more. "If Selene and Elyo think it's so important to wear-"

"Selene and Elyo aren't the ones who told me to wear it!" Phoenix shouted, stepping away from him as he approached. "My parents told me to always wear it! They made me promise! They said it would keep me safe. He said if I took it off...if I took it off-" 

With a screech of rage, Phoenix hurled a fireball at the nearest tree, a straggler, lone on the mountainside. She threw another, then another. The tree, covered in flames, crackled under the heat and force of her flames as she kept hitting it with fire. As she watched it burn up, the brown trunk twisting into blackened death, she let out a cry of pain.

Phoenix dropped to her knees, tears burning, but not falling.

Never take it off. You know the rules.

Yes, she knew the rules. Keep it on at all times when in the presence of danger. Norman had fixed the chain after she caught it while running through Fangralee. When she was little, he'd told her the only way she could stay completely safe was with the necklace. Without it, there's no telling what could happen.

"I guess we're about to see what will happen," she whispered, clenching the charm in her fist. Norman wasn't there to fix it this time - he'd never fix it again. 

"Phoenix?" Noelle's tentative question quivered with the fear she tried to keep out of her voice, but Phoenix could sense it.

She's afraid. Afraid of me.

"I'm fine," she said, wiping a hand across her eye. "Forget it. Let's just go."

Noelle's eyes widened as she gaped at Phoenix. "Go? You just destroyed a tree! We can't just go." The petite young lady marched forward, blocking Phoenix's path. "What just happened? What was that - that force and why is it so important that you wear this necklace?" Noelle pulled Phoenix's clenched fist toward her. "If it's that big of a deal let's just fix it."

She pried Phoenix's fingers loose - which Phoenix allowed - and gently lifted the chain, eying the break.  Phoenix saw that the same loop that had broken before only hung on by a slight curve.

"I guess he didn't fix it well enough last time," Phoenix mumbled, earning a frown from Noelle.

"Your dad?" When Phoenix nodded, Noelle sighed. "Well maybe we can fix it and you can put it back on. Good as new, yes? My fingers are smaller than yours, so I'll do it."

Noelle went to work, trying to close the broken chain enough for it to reconnect to the one it'd broken free from. Roman stood back, eyeing Phoenix with anxious expectation.

"While we do this," Noelle said, "you can tell me why you're so upset. Because it can't be the necklace - I'm fixing that. What's going on, Phoenix?"

Phoenix let out a long, slow breath. She couldn't sense Maverick any longer, not that it mattered. What did any of it matter when she couldn't seem to do anything right?

"I wasn't there," she said, tears pooling in her eyes again. "The day they died, I wasn't there." She thought back to her father and mother pushing her out the door, insisting she get time away while the Army made their inspection. 

"Where were you?" Noelle asked, pausing in her attention to the necklace. They hadn't spoken of it much. Phoenix had told Noelle how her parents had died, but it'd been too painful to get too far into detail. 

"They told me to go for a walk, so I did. When I came back our cottage was on fire. I ran inside, but it was too late. They were dead. If I'd have been there - "

"You'd be dead, too." Noelle, still holding the necklace in one hand, reached out with the other and lay it against Phoenix's arm. "The Army killed them. They almost killed your brother. There's nothing you could have done."

"I could have protected them," Phoenix said, shaking her head. "With my fire I could have - "

"You had your fire, then?" Noelle asked. Phoenix dropped her gaze and shook her head. "You hadn't transformed yet - you told me that. It happened after. If you had been there, they would have killed you, too. They were after the royal bloodline. They wouldn't have realized you didn't have it."

"Wait, what?" Roman asked, chancing a step closer. "Royal bloodline?"

Noelle ignored him. "You can't carry this with you, Phe. It's not your fault. It's Commander Lee's."

Phoenix pulled back away from her. "It's not." At Noelle's surprise, Phoenix shook her head again. "He saved my brother. Without him, Mav would be dead."

"I thought he's the one who stabbed him and left him for dead." 

"He is." Noelle arched a brow and Phoenix rushed to continue. "He stabbed him somewhere that could be healed."

"And then lit your cottage on fire with him still alive to burn to death?" Roman's eyes widened. "That's sadistic."

"No, you don't understand he -" Phoenix stopped mid sentence, hearing something in the distance. "Someone's coming - we need to move."

Before Roman or Noelle could argue, Phoenix grabbed them by the arms and shoved them toward the mountains. "Find a cave, a crag - anything that you can get behind. Don't come out until it's safe."

"What about you?" Roman asked, pushing back against her.

"Whoever it is, they're coming because of me. They can sense me now. Go."

"We're not going anywhere," Noelle said, staring up at Phoenix. "We're standing with you."

"Do this for me or I swear I'll start both of you on fire," Phoenix snapped, pushing harder so they both soared in the other direction. Panic filled Phoenix as the signatures she'd sensed grew closer.

She knew who was coming for her.

#

Eric didn't slow until he reached an area difficult to run through. He was almost at the beginning of Tranchet's Pass entrance, just around the curve of the mountain. Behind him, Samson caught up, breathing hard.

"W-why'd you stop?"

Eric's breathing wasn't labored as he continued forward. "He's up here."

"He? He who?"

"The heir. You sensed him. A signature that strong - it has to be him."

Samson fell into step beside Eric. "What's your plan? What if he doesn't want to come willingly?" 

"Then we'll make him. He can't outrun the both of us." Eric rounded the mountain and stopped in his tracks. Samson, too, paused, almost tripping.

A lone young woman stood in the center of the road, mountains rising on all sides around her. To his left, her right, a tree smoldered as though recently aflame. A blade rested against the young woman's hip, causing Eric to reach for his own.

He knew her - he'd seen her before. It was the same, strange young woman who'd been in Molt. The one who had fought with Poul.  

She kept her eyes downcast, standing still as they drew near. She didn't speak, didn't move at their approach. Nor did she look at them.

"You there," Eric finally called. "Girl."  

Her gaze flickered up, but dropped down again. 

"You were in Molt," he continued. "What's your name?"

"Phoenix, Commander," she said, head still bent. As he drew up to her, he realized she was nearly as tall as he was, her fiery red hair filling his vision like a lion's mane. 

"Phoenix. What are you doing out here?" He glanced at Samson. "First Molt and now the Pass - are you following us?"

"No, Commander." 

Eric's lips pursed together. There was something oddly familiar about her, but he couldn't place it. Indeed he'd never seen anyone like her before. Her high cheekbones and sharp nose didn't place in his memory. He hadn't seen her eyes, as she wouldn't look up. 

Could the heir have been a daughter?

Tyrella Tremaine had always spoken of a son, but the signature Eric had sensed pulsed from this girl, standing stock still before him. Who else could have such power?

"Who are you?" he asked again, staring at her. The tattoos running up the side of her neck, down her arms to her fingers - he'd seen them before. But where?

"Phoenix, Commander."

"What are you doing out here, Phoenix?"

"Traveling the Pass, sir."

"Alone?"

She hesitated, and he could almost see her struggling to not answer. She shook her head. "No."

Was it her voice? It almost sounded like... "Who travels with you?"

"We do." 

Eric turned his head to see a familiar young man shoving his way out of a niche in the rock face, a small young woman peeking out behind him. Eric felt his face twist into a sneer.

"Roman Treck," he said, and sensed more than saw Samson's hand go to his own blade. "What a surprise."

"Get away from her," Roman said, stepping out and moving toward Phoenix. "You touch her, and I'll kill you."

"You've tried before," Eric said, a wisp of old, cold fury sweeping through him. "You've proven unsuccessful." 

"Maybe it's time to try again."

#

Phoenix had remained still,  calm the entire time Eric questioned her. She kept her voice respectful and meek. She'd answered honestly. 

And Roman had to go and ruin everything.

She knew him well enough now to know he was trying to help, his chest puffed out and his square jaw set. But Roman didn't know Eric like she did - and where she could have gone on her way, appeased him, Roman sought to antagonize. 

"Roman, don't," she said as Roman's threat rang through the Pass. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Eric's brow arch as he returned his attention to her.

"Ah, I see - someone is protecting their lady fair." 

"I'm not his lady. We're friends traveling through the Pass," Phoenix said, still not looking at Eric as she nudged Roman aside. "We don't want any trouble. We just want to - " But Eric wasn't listening. His attention had turned to Noelle.

"Miss Leyera?" he asked, eyes widening. "Noelle Leyera?" 

Phoenix felt that same sliver of hope for him as a small smile spread across Eric's face as he looked at her.

"You're well," he said, his tone kinder than Phoenix had heard it in ages. "I didn't think I'd ever see you outside your father's home."

Noelle smiled back, friendly and unassuming, as though she and Eric were family who hadn't seen each other in some time. "It was time to stretch my wings, I suppose. I wanted to go east. My father has family in Osha, as you know."

Eric nodded, his smile fading. "With your fragility, I wouldn't have thought such rigorous travel possible. Especially not without your father to accompany you."

Noelle's countenance sobered. "You've met my sister, Commander. I didn't have much of a choice. It was leave or die there at her hands."

Phoenix wanted to slap Noelle on the back and cheer her on. Using the truth to sway the direction of the conversation seemed to be working.  

"I have these companions to keep me safe, though," Noelle added, gesturing to Roman and Phoenix. "There's nothing I can't do with them by my side."

Eric's gaze flickered to Phoenix, his lips pursing into a frown. "I would think not - not one so strong as this young woman here."

"Strong?" Roman asked, glancing at Phoenix. "I don't know that I'd say strong. She's strong for a woman, Lee, but she's not any different from -"

"I'm not interested in your lies, Treck," Eric snapped, shooting him a glare. "A signature this strong doesn't make her an excellent cook or a talented acrobat." He turned back to her. "You're someone special." 

He said it, not with malice or ill intent, but curiosity. He sounded like the boy she knew, who wondered at the stars and taught her so many fascinating things. 

She looked up at him, Castor's words coursing through her. Save him. 

As their eyes met, emerald green to icy blue, Phoenix felt the same connection she'd formed the day of the executions in Braskey that felt like eons ago.

Like opening a door or a window, Eric's thoughts and feelings flooded her. Pain shot through her, from her neck up into her skull. Simultaneously, she felt sadness, loneliness, and worry. Almost as fast as they ran through her, they shifted. Phoenix lowered her eyes, but it was too late.

Eric's face, already pale, went ashen. Phoenix concentrated on his chin, but she could see his sharp nose wrinkle as his brows dropped low.

"Laina?"

DUN DUN DUUUUUN

And it has begun. They're face to face and HE KNOWS IT
Which means Samson will also know it.
And Youlden hasn't even arrived yet.