"Maybe you guys need to cool off a little." She bumped my shoulder with hers. "Trust me, I know about these things."

It was true. With her history of combustible outbursts, she knew more than anyone else the importance of keeping a level head.

A long shadow stretched over us in the dappled, early morning sun. We both looked up to find Niralessa standing there, as if waiting for her turn to speak.

How uncharacteristically polite of her.

Sember stood first. "I'll let you two talk." She dusted off her trousers before addressing Niralessa. "I just want Nirrin to be happy. I hope you want the same thing."

Niralessa nodded in acknowledgment. "I take it you won't be staying with us?"

Sember smiled politely. "I already have a home."

"Too bad."

Sember looked down at the other woman, using her height to her advantage. "Actually, it's not bad at all."

I half expected some kind of confrontation, but Niralessa inclined her head instead, showing deference. "Perhaps you're right."

They eyed each other a moment longer before Sember ambled away.

To my surprise, Niralessa settled down next to me. "Your friend has spirit."

Was that admiration in her tone? I tried to keep the petulance out of my voice when I spoke. "I have spirit too."

"That you do."

I was glad she agreed with me, but it felt like too little, too late. I remained quiet, since I was uncertain where this conversation was headed.

"I do want you to be happy, you know."

On some deep level, I knew that. It was why I ended up in Foresthome as a baby. But on a shallower level, I resented that she didn't want me to be with Fen. "Don't you want Fen to be happy too? And Tessia?"

She inhaled a deep, weary breath. "I just want my people safe."

"They'd be safe in Foresthome."

"You honestly think that?"

I leveled my gaze at her. "I really do."

She fell silent and pulled her eyes to the leaves above us.

"How come I'm not good enough?" I blurted, unable to hold back the question any longer.

Her brow furrowed with confusion.

"You don't want me with Fen because you don't think I'm good enough for him. But I am good enough! Why can't you see that?"

"Nirrin, I never said you weren't good enough. I just think you'll remind him of what he can never have. That he'll never be normal. I do want him to be happy, and that's why I think he's better off with his own kind."

"His own kind? All of you are people, just like me. Just like Sember." I pulled at my hair in frustration, letting out a growl that would make Minocken proud. "Why can't you just get that? He says I make him feel normal. If you would just talk to him instead of making decisions for him, maybe you'd know that already."

I scrambled to my feet, unable to sit still any longer. "I know you want what's best for your camp family. I get that. But maybe you should ask them what they want once in a while."

We spent one heartbeat staring at each other. Then, as was the apparent custom whenever I spoke to her, I stomped away in an angry cloud of dust.

Nirrin sure knows how to make a dramatic exit. (She probably knows how to vote too.)