Witches' funerals are beautiful. And quick.

Ryan assured me that it was nothing compared to the ones they had in their homeland.

"Funerals are both a celebration and a place for us to morn. It celebrates our loved ones being set free, but morns that they've been taken from us."

Castor wasn't interested in the lore of funerals. He didn't seem to care that there even was one.

I glanced over at him, on his knees, his lips moving.

Praying. I hadn't known what to say to him. It helped that he seemed to be avoiding me. I spend my day with Ryan, and he spent it off by himself, only ever talking to his crew and Juniper.

Ryan had found a way to look regal even in her same old clothes. Her shoulders were just a little higher and her steps a little more graceful.

The bodies of the five men floated on the lake, witches sitting at the edge of the water.

The old witch spoke, her hands spread, and they began to sink. Ryan translated for me, but the words meant nothing to me.

The cold had consumed me. My heartbeat was smooth and regular, the pressure left, tacking the ache with it. My breath came easily, I wasn't drowning anymore.

The bodies disappeared, and then the lake lit up, light burning under the water. There was a glow, and it seemed as though it'd be there forever when the old witch lowered her arms.

"It is done," Ryan translated.

The witches by the edge of the lake stood and saplings sprang up to replace them. Smoke curled of the lake in spirals, the gray clear up the heavens.

The celebration part of it seemed fundamentally wrong, though Ryan assured me it was a shadow of what they did for themselves. I sat by myself, letting the numbness overtake me as I ate. When I noticed Juniper sitting alone, I moved toward her.

She looked at Castor's back. He was still on his knees.

"Was he close with them?"

Her eyes never left him, but she must've seen me. "He won't say. I'm guessing at least one of them."

"Has he talked with you about any of it?"

She shook her head, finally looking at me.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I do. He just needs space."

She nodded, biting her lip.

"I think I made a mistake, Arriana."

"How?"

"With us. Me and him. I think us being together is probably going to hurt us more than it will help us."

"Why would you say that?" I looked at her.

"Just a feeling. I have a bad feeling, Arriana. He's hiding things. He won't tell me when something's wrong with him. He could be bleeding out and I'd only find out when he dropped dead. But then he's also so protective. I don't want him to be hurt. Especially not for me. But that seems like where this is headed, doesn't it?"

"You don't know any of that."

"But, don't you ever feel something? I can't shake it off. Every time I've felt this way, it's happened." She looked like she was about to cry.

"You're not going to break up with him over that, are you?"

She put her head in her hands. "I don't know. I don't think I have it in me."

"Juniper, you two are going to be fine. As long as you still love him, you're going to be fine."

"How did you know you needed to break up with Ryan?"

"She keeps hurting me, intentionally. She's a liar." I looked over my shoulder. "And I can't stay away long enough to effectively break up with her."

She nodded. "Okay. You really think I'm just overreacting?"

"Yes. Juniper, you two are so perfect together."

"Really?"

"Yes." I paused. "You two are what I want with Ryan."

She nodded and then she hugged me.

"And what if he does get hurt?" She looked terrified.

"You deal with it when it comes. He's hurt right now. On some level, I think he'll always be hurt one way or another. It's the human condition."

She looked up at me. "And are you hurt?"

"Not like he is. Not in a way you could help with."

I don't know why I said that. But I knew I was hurt. Every time I broke away from and ran back to Ryan hurt me. The homesickness was hurting me.

"Help? How?"

"Be there for him. You being there will help him. I promise."

She nodded.

"You know, before I knew you, I thought you were a stuck-up prick."

I laughed. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"I know you now. You try to act like a jerk, but deep down, you're really a nice person."

"Shut up. I'm a fierce pirate." But I was laughing and so was she.

"Okay. But I like you."

"No, you don't." I shook my head, but there was no denying that I was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm allowed to like you."

"Says who?"

"Me."

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't question here. I needed friends even if I'd never have admitted it to myself. Ryan didn't count as a friend.

I didn't know what Ryan was, but at least I knew where I stood with, he lovestruck couple.

ψψψ

Eventually I got up to get me and Juniper food, but I never got there.

An arm pulled me to the side. Castor looked so completely broken. He seemed lost, but his feet seemed to know where they were going as he tugged me along.

"Where are we going?"

He'd lead me to the wall. Without a word, he was climbing. He didn't look to me for objection, so I followed him.

The view from the camp took my breath away. I could see the glow of a river at the edge of the trees. It went into the forest, close to the route we'd come in.

I didn't remember a river.

"S-O-L-D-I-E-R-S."

I looked back. It wasn't a river. It was glinting metal.

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know."

Castor sat, his legs dangling over the edge of the wall.

"We have to tell someone."

He looked at me. "Do we?"

"Yes. They'll slaughter everyone. Us included."

The fingerspelling involved with explanations slowed me down, but I didn't care.

"Yes, because there isn't slaughter already."

He looked cold, and a dread crept into me.

"That was just a few—"

"I don't care! They killed what was basically my family."

"I'm going to warn them. You can do what you want, but I have to warn them." I took a deep breath.

He looked like he'd just processed what he said. "I didn't mean that I didn't care."

I nodded. "I understand, Castor. But we can't be unjust just because a few people were unjust."

"You're right. I just hate this place so damn much."

"We'll go home."

"How? I went from being a prisoner to being a prisoner. The chances of getting home..."

"Are decent. We're going to find our way home."

He nodded numbly. "I hate this. All of it."

"I know. At least you have Juniper, right?"

He chuckled to himself. "Yeah. I don't know, it's easier to talk to her about all the little stuff, but I just freeze up with anything big."

His hands curved around the edge of the wall.

"But you talk to me about pretty big stuff."

"I wouldn't know where to start with the small things, though. With you, everything seems so big somehow. With her, it seems like nothing matters beyond a few details."

"Yeah, but I think you need details more than ideas."

He shook his head. "Maybe I do, but I don't know how to talk around the big things right now."

"Then let her do it. And you could talk with her about anything."

He nodded. "I know, it just feels wrong. I always do this." His head was in his hands in a moment.

"Do what?"

"Keep things from the people I love."

I didn't know what to do or say. Thankfully, he stood up and started back down the wall. I stayed staring at the glinting metal. I would tell Ryan, but first I had to stare at the army to reassure myself that they were really there, and my concerns were valid.

When the army didn't go away, I resigned myself to finding Ryan.