The words slipped off her tongue in a smooth yet raspy way. Her voice came from her chest and diaphragm, making it lower than usual. Yet despite the ease with which she spoke it, she couldn't  understand the language. It was oddly reminiscent of her native Skavan, although the only words she could recognize were "yaga", "warlock", and "and".

She sighed and pressed her hands against her skirt, which was a bit dirty and ripped from her night in the thorns. "I can say it, but I can't understand it. Can you?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "It sounds familiar. Say it again, but slower." She repeated the words carefully, keeping her voice low until Hans held up a hand to stop her. "I think I have it." His voice turned into a falsetto so he could better mimic her. "I am land and night. You are sun and sky. This is the way of the yaga and the warlock."

"How do you understand that?" Karina asked. I want it. I want it, the little voice in her head hissed, though she did her best to ignore it. She did want it. But not for a malevolent reason. She simply wanted to understand the language that called out to every fiber of her being more than nearly anything else.

I want it. I want it.

"The words piece together in my mind. It's like there's a sunrise; there's a little bit of understanding at the beginning, and as the sun rises you understand more and more. It's like that moment when you finally understand a math problem, or the time when your arrow finally hits the target." His eyes lit up, turning into pools of clear water rather than their usual icy marbles. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah," Karina said bitterly, her hands clenching her skirt, "beautiful."

I want it. I want it.

"Let's get going. We have to get farther into this Forest of the Dead." He smiled. "This place may not be so bad."

"Not really," Karina muttered. "The Forest is alive."

He snorted. "The Forest of the Dead is alive? Did you get dumber?"

"You clearly have." She shot him a glare before continuing. "I noticed that when I was running, vines and branches and stuff clawed and tugged at me and tried to pull me backwards. I feel like that's why you got hurt; it wasn't because you were  blocked by some wall of brush, it was because the Forest was trying to keep you from moving."

"But why--" He laughed. "That is so stupid. Why didn't the Forest attack us when we were moving farther in?" 

She raised her eyebrows. 

"Ohhhhh. I get it. It stops us when we're trying to go backwards?"

"I think so; it's the only thing that makes sense. But you know what that means, right?" She stared into his eyes, trying to gauge how much he understood. He may have called her stupid, but she had kept her wits about her for eight years of servitude. He was the one who needed to face the truth of what they were going with, to finally see reality in its big jumbled mess. He was the stupid one.

All the same, we want his power.

We? Karina shook her head involuntarily. This voice in her head was strange, yet it was oddly familiar despite having only appeared there recently. Almost comforting in an extremely twisted way. Although it said things that sometimes should be unspoken...

"You know what it means, Hans?"

"It means that we have to travel the full length of the Forest of the Dead." He pressed his lips together. "I don't want to!"

"Stop it, you sound like a baby." It was true; his shrill voice pierced through the air in a childish whine. "So you understand?"

"Yeah. We gotta go forward before we can go back."

"Why do you want to go back, Hans? Why do you want to go back to yaga hunters and dehumanization?"

"Dehumanization, that's a big--"

"Stop! Hans, I saved your sorry self. I don't expect anything from that but a shred of respect!" She stood up and lifted her chin. "You would be dead right now if I hadn't saved you and you know it."

"Why do you keep bringing up the fact that you saved me? Yay, ya ran through some bushes and asked a freakin' doll to stitch me up. Great job; you certainly deserve a pat on the back for all of your hard work."

"I actually do, thank you! And not only did I save your hide, I figured out the secret of this Forest! I figured out our goal!"

"Our goal? Since when were you in charge? And since when did you decide what our goal as going to be? Maybe we should just not travel together!" He stood up and shoved her backwards. "Your Forest gonna do something great? Huh?"

A few vines began to wind around her ankles, and she stepped forward.  They instantly abated, twisting back into the brush. "I wouldn't do anything if I were you, Hans," she said in a low voice. Your hands around his neck. "And if I remember correctly, weren't you the one who wanted us to travel together?" His blue eyes bulging. "Weren't you the one who stood up for me in the village court?" His face burning white and red.

Isn't it a perfect vision?

"I--I--Why? Why'd you save me, Karina Hedge, yaga extraordinaire?" He spat the words out, flecks of spit spraying from his lips. Her fingers curled into fists, her nails pressing so hard into her palms that she thought she might bleed despite the woozy feeling spreading through her limbs. Her vision was getting blurry, the trees slurring together with Hans's face. She could feel the blood rushing to her head, pumping in an odd rhythm. "Why'd you save me if you're oh-so-keen on me?"

Can't you see him dying because of you?

"Yes," she hissed in response to the voice in her head. Her vision was all shadows and darkness except for the red glow of Hans's eyes. The darkness twisted around her, transforming from something comfortable that she cloaked herself in to a nightmare. All she could focus on was the crimson of Hans's irises, the ways that they flashed in the darkness.

Red? His eyes are blue.

She wasn't seeing straight. She needed to look at him clearly to prevent the visions of him dying by her hands. She slammed her eyes shut, tried to focus. Tried to think. 

"Well, 'Rina?"

"Stop..." She breathed in deeply. "Please, Hans, just stop. I'm losing it."

"Losing what?" His voice was louder now than ever before, and Karina pressed her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sound.

"Karina?" A different voice this time. It was a softer version of Hans's. She wasn't sure if she was hearing right.

"Karina..." She felt rough cloth and warm arms around her, and she was enfolded into something that felt like a hug. She could hear a heartbeat thump. "We can stop fighting," Hans's voice whispered against her ear. His breath was warm like the sun's rays on her skin. She leaned into the hug. 

"Thank you, Hans." She opened her eyes, trying to ignore the stabbing feeling behind her eye sockets. "Yaga extrordinaire?"

"You're a yaga; you've got to accept it," he said gruffly. "And I'm a warlock, I suppose," he admitted after a long pause. 

"I'm a yaga." The words were spoken with a slight bit of uncertainty in a soft tone despite her joy speaking the language earlier. Karina winced at the tremor of her voice. "Yagas can't be evil, right?"

"Was Vasilisa Hedge evil? Was my da evil?" Hans asked, sounding on the fence himself. He released Karina from the hug. "What do we know other than what our experiences tell us, really?"

"Deep, Hans," she said with a shaky laugh. "What do your experiences tell you?"

"That my da is dead. And that being a warlock is bad because it can get you killed. But if it's so bad, then why am I one? Why am I not dead? Am I bad?" He stared at the ground and ran a hand through his blond hair. "Life's given me a whole lot of uncertainty."

"I know." She touched his hand, the warmth from his skin making her feel less empty, a little less cold. "I know." They stood there in silence for a little while, full of uncertainty and unspeakable emotions. "I don't know what to believe anymore. Every day of our lives, we're being told how to think. What to believe, how to feel. What if I don't agree? What if I don't think my mother is evil?" She paused. "And what if they actually have a point?"

"I don't know," he said stubbornly. "But I guess we have only way to find out."

"What? To analyze it all? To figure it all out on our own."

"No. To live." Karina stared at him. "What, you didn't think I was going to agree with you, did you?"

Gahhh, late update! I'm so sorry everyone! Although hopefully this was interesting enough to make up for it. ;) This may have not been the most action packed story, but here we have some character and world building. Two of my favorite things! Did you enjoy it? If you did, please leave a vote and a comment telling me what you liked. If you didn't like it, please tell me why in a comment! Thank you all so much for everything!