Lucius had no idea if he was a morning person. His moments of sleep were sporadic and based on whenever he had the time, so getting up by sunrise wasn't necessarily what caused him to drag his feet and yawn most of the way to the forest.

"And you're absolutely sure about this?" Richard asked after their long walk of silence, causing Lucius to flinch.

"You're worrying too much." Lucius attempted to laugh it off. "It's not like I'm scared of you because of what happened."

Richard gave him a look of disappointment.

"I was talking about the rå."

Lucius grimaced on the inside.

"Oh."

"But I guess we should split up before we enter her domain," Richard said with a low voice. "To be safe."

"Listen, I didn't mean like I'm supposed to be..." Lucius trailed off. He had a feeling he could only make things worse by making excuses so he decided on another approach. "... Anyway, I don't think it's safe to send me into an apparently dangerous creature's forest alone."

"I won't be of much help as a human if things turn dangerous." Richard glanced down at his hands. "So the best we can do is go separate ways, close enough so I can keep track of you but far enough so you have time to cover up if you start bleeding."

"So you're just here to help with the search?" Lucius hadn't meant to sound ungrateful, but his disappointment was genuine.

"If it comes to it I might be the only one who can get us out."

"Of the forest?"

Richard nodded slowly.

"If you upset her, you might not find your way out again."

"She'll... Eat me, or something?"

"What? No, not everything wants to eat you." Richard wrinkled his nose. "But she's known to lure men along deep into the forest with her charm, and they never find their way out again."

"Charm as in attractiveness?" Lucius raised an eyebrow. "That can't work on all men, can it? Or at least not just men?"

Richard shrugged.

"Maybe it's just men who're dumb enough to upset her."

"Well isn't it a relief that I'm not into women that way, then?" Lucius reasoned. "At least she won't be charming me away."

"But that doesn't make her less dangerous," Richard warned him with a grave stare before reaching into Lucius' bag. "Here, I packed this for you too."

He held out a knife and Lucius winced as he received it. It was heavier than preferable, and he studied the dark colour with scepticism.

"What is it?"

"Iron." Richard seemed to shudder at the thought. "It's a last resort. A very last one. Stick it into the ground and it will prevent the rå from getting near you, but I'm sure you understand how she'll feel about it."

"Kind of feels like she'll be upset just by me carrying it." Lucius placed it in his bag again. "Anything else I should know?"

"I wouldn't look at her back," Richard said. "Not because a hollowed out tree is scary to look at, but they don't like people staring."

"Right, Frey said something about their backs being... Hollow." Lucius couldn't picture it himself, but was certain he'd seen worse. "And a cow's tail?"

"Sometimes."

An eerie, yet light breeze went past them as the forest path suddenly ended, and Richard exhaled a deep breath.

"And remember, nature is on her side." He'd lowered his voice. "Never yours. If nature has a say, it will be in her favour."

"Feeling so confident and not at all worried right now," Lucius said through clenched teeth, but didn't protest as Richard headed off to the right. It would be fine, he tried to convince himself. Despite his knack for upsetting people he had no actual ill intentions and he was sure a guardian spirit should be able to feel something like that, much like a grim could.

The further he got into the forest the wetter the ground became, and the smell of rotting wood stung Lucius' nose. Thick moss gave way under his boots until he was ankle high in water and while his boots were supposed to keep water away he had a feeling it wouldn't last forever, so he avoided the treacherous moss by seeking out patches of dry, stony ground instead.

It got harder the further he went. Rocks turned slippery as the forest grew thick enough to refuse sunlight, and Lucius squinted to see where he placed his feet. Now and then he was certain he could see the blight cat in the corner of his eye, but he had no intention to acknowledge it.

Another breeze swept over him as the forest opened up a little, making way for the view and sound of a large, yet calm river, and Lucius was forced to stop. Pondering whether he should try to find a shallow place to get across or just head in another direction he almost didn't notice the movement further away, so once he finally spotted the woman sitting on a larger rock near the shore he let out a yelp.

"Oh, uh... Didn't see you there." He looked away. Supernatural or not, people rarely wanted to be spied on while undressed. "I— I didn't think someone would be bathing this far into the forest, unless, you know... You're not doing that."

The woman tilted her head at him, raising an inquiring eyebrow and it occurred to Lucius that she couldn't understand him.

Why didn't we bloody think of that?

"You're not here to take a bath either, are you?" the woman said as if to disprove his thoughts, making Lucius stare. She wasn't speaking Wyperan. Lucius had no idea what kind of language it was, but he could understand it regardless.

So perhaps it wasn't just a human bathing. Perhaps he'd actually found who he'd been looking for.

"You— Since you can do..." Lucius gestured to her throat and then his own while still trying to avert his gaze out of politeness. "... Then I guess you're not... Human, right? I'm actually looking for a non-human right now. A... Rå? The guardian of this forest." He grimaced at his pronunciation. "So is that maybe... You?"

The woman smiled, eyebrow still raised in amusement as she kept untangling her long, wet hair. Rays of sunlight bounced against the locks, causing them to appear bluish, almost translucent, and she reached a foot down into the water to create a whirlpool around it.

"What do you think?"

Lucius would not be rude. He would not attempt to catch a glimpse of her back, or her potential tail. Instead he swallowed and carefully sat down by the riverbank.

"So... The reason I wanted to find you is... A long story, honestly, but short version is I'm in a dangerous situation and I was told you could help protect me somehow." Lucius tried to shrug nonchalantly with an awkward smile, as if the request was just as strange to him. "Don't know how it works but I— I guess I was kind of hoping you'd know what I'm talking about."

The woman narrowed her eyes, eyeing him up and down as he talked before raising a hand to pause him.

"Hush," she said, which Lucius instantly did. "Don't disturb the forest."

Lucius made a face before nodding as calmly as possible.

"What you're referring to..." The woman kept combing through her hair with her fingers. "... Is how humans like to use bark from a rå's back to make a protective blend."

Lucius froze.

"... Bark?" he asked, barely a whisper. "Cut bark from your back?"

He would have thought someone would have mentioned that to him before he left. How was he supposed to not offend a creature by asking to literally cut off a piece of their body?

"Is that not why you brought that?" The woman nodded towards the bag around his shoulder, and Lucius' growing discomfort shot to the sky as he remembered the knife.

"I— So, listen... I didn't know. I never intended to—"

"Hush," the woman repeated, and Lucius obeyed. "I will hear you out, but do not move until I'm done with my hair. You will not touch that thing you have with you, and you will not talk or disturb me in the meantime."

Lucius wasn't sure whether it was a literal test or if she just wanted some peace and quiet. Regardless, he did as he was told.

Despite his attempts to avert his eyes, the ethereal glow in her hair as she untangled it was mesmerising, and her gentle fingers ran along the tendrils as though they were part of an instrument.

In fact, Lucius wondered if his mind was playing a prank on him, because it really did seem like the locks produced melodic sounds as she ran her fingers along them, almost like a violin. If he wasn't mistaken, the rest of their surroundings were joining in as well. The soft splashes of water against the gravelly riverbank moved in the same rhythm, as did the rustling leaves in the trees around them. The more Lucius tried, the harder it was to look away. He found his gaze wandering over her frame while heat rose to his cheeks. Perhaps he'd been hasty in claiming his indifference to women.

The woman had begun braiding her hair, and she hummed along with the nature's melody while sliding down into the water. She didn't sink past her shoulders despite moving nothing but her hands back and forth to form the braid, letting the stream brush against her body without an effort to stay put.

Lucius was envious. He hadn't taken a bath in days, compared to indulging in them regularly back home. The water looked so pleasant too, and surprisingly warm for the late summer weather.

Actually, it was warm. It blended perfectly with the temperature of his body, and though his clothes should have weighed him down, he couldn't feel it.

It wasn't until the woman placed a cold hand on his shoulder that Lucius realised he was halfway into the water.

"What a shame," she whispered softly, enchanting smile shifting into one of glee before digging her sharp nails into his skin. "I told you not to move."

Lucius gasped for air as his body alerted him of the suddenly freezing water trying to drag him down. He tried to spur against the gravel to no avail, and soon found himself too far out to have a foothold. He gritted his teeth before aiming a kick into the woman's stomach, and while there was little momentum through the water his foot still landed against what felt like thick mud, causing the woman to loosen her grip.

Nature was against him, Lucius reminded himself while looking around to find a way out. Even if he got out of the water, would he find his way out of there?

"Richard!" he shouted before his voice could fail him, aware that the rescue was too far away to save him from being drowned but if he could somehow make it to solid ground again there had to be at least a chance for him.

A tug around his shoulder alerted him that the woman was attempting to tear off his bag, and Lucius' eyes widened. In the commotion and fear for his life, he'd forgotten his last resort.

A last resort that had become necessary much sooner than he'd hoped.

So before she could tear the strap off, Lucius plunged his hand down to grab the knife. To his relief she shied away from it, but she still wouldn't let go. Even as he tried slashing it against her, he was once again met by the mud-like body.

Lucius clenched his trembling jaw. So they weren't physically vulnerable to it, which meant what Richard had told him earlier was the only option. Had it been other conditions, Lucius would not have struggled with throwing a knife, but while being dragged down into freezing water? He still pulled himself together in an effort to kick into the creature again, hard enough to defy the soft impact and allow him a brief moment where he could raise his hand to launch the knife into the riverbank.

The result was instantaneous. Screaming, the woman let go of him to retreat further up the stream and Lucius wasted no time getting his trembling body up on land again. It was clumsy, and he could only manage shallow breaths, but he could finally calm his heart as his hands and knees landed on solid pebbles and grass.

He couldn't help but glance in the woman's direction. She'd climbed up on another large rock in the middle of the river while hissing something under her breath. Lucius had no interest in listening to it, he only wanted to escape from there. Bark or not, drowning wasn't worth it.

Then a massive flood of water came rushing from behind the woman and towards the bank, and Lucius crawled backwards to avoid just in time. No matter how big of a wave she could summon, it would require a lot to reach him that far up.

To his confusion the creature dove into the water again, heading towards him at a terrifying speed and Lucius only needed a second to understand what had happened. He didn't bother to look for the knife. He knew well enough what a heavy stream of water could do to gravel, so he denied his freezing body its wish to collapse in order to make his way towards the deep forest again.

"You won't survive anyway," a sinister voice said behind him, and he was grabbed by the ankle before he could turn around. "Not with that thing inside you."

"You—" Lucius whispered, voice hoarse from the cold. "You don't know that."

He readied another kick with his free leg. It hadn't proven effective against gross bodies, but he was not about to be drowned after everything he'd gone through. After everything he'd put his friends through.

As if summoned by the thought, the woman let out a hissing squeal as a sharp branch pierced through her back, and an out of breath Richard used it to heave her into the water again.

"By Dyris, Richard," Lucius whispered between shallow breaths as the creature resurfaced from the river with a furious scream. "I think I might be attracted to women after all."

"And what a convenient, non-threatening time to realise that!" Richard pulled him along to take cover behind a windthrow, apparently not in the mood for bisexual awakenings. "Maybe find a human woman to drool over next time!"

"It's not my fault the rå happens to look like a human!"

"Did she look like a fucking rå to you?" Richard held up his sharp branch, and Lucius recalled how it had stabbed through the woman's back.

Her whole, skin covered back.

"Oh, fuck."

"That's a nix," Richard growled as he glanced past the windthrow. "Malicious water spirits. Only thing she'll assist you with is a cold, miserable death."

"So we run away, right?" Lucius asked, hesitantly leaning forward to follow Richard's gaze. "Can she reach us this far from the water?"

"Not sure." Richard's eyes narrowed. "But I'll fend her off. She won't be thrilled about fighting a werewolf if it comes to that.

Lucius scrunched up his face. He wasn't thrilled by the thought of Richard in his original form at the time either but he let Richard leave the windthrow, looking for escape routes in the meantime.

No fighting noises came though, and Lucius peeked his head out from the uprooted tree to see what was going on. He could only discern Richard cautiously moving along the riverbank however, looking around in confusion.

"How cowardly." The nix's voice suddenly appeared close to Lucius' ear, and the latter's heart skipped a beat before staring down at the moss around him. "Using a shifter as protection."

A hand shot up from underneath the moss to grab Lucius' ankle again, and he quickly crawled backwards to free himself while drawing a breath.

"Ri—!"

Then the windthrow slammed shut right on the nix's reconstructed body with a loud splat, and Lucius stared in horror at the now upright, dead tree in front of him where he'd just sat.

"Lucius! Are you alright?" Richard hurried to his side, dragging him backwards for extra measure as he too stared at the former windthrow.

Lucius didn't know how to reply to that, but he made no attempt either as a new, eerie sensation suddenly prickled his neck.

"Richard..." he uttered, voice as low as possible as he hesitated to look over his shoulder, and he could spot Richard nodding in the corner of his eye.

"Yeah... This seems more like it," he confirmed.

So with deep, simultaneous breaths they slowly turned around to face the tall, ashy skinned woman with round, black eyes, a flat nose, and pale, deer-like antlers protruding from the sides of her head. She wasn't much more dressed than the nix, but long hair of the same colour as her eyes flowed down over her shoulders and past her chest to give her body some privacy.

"Alright, so..." Lucius whispered to Richard after a moment of awestruck silence. "... Definitely also women."

***

Author's note: I've been struggling with writing recently, both time-wise and energy-wise, so this chapter's been a little rushed. I hope it still conveys what I want it to, and that you all enjoy it. As always please tell me what you think, and what your predictions are for upcoming chapters!