The deer that Stelni had scared away was likely long gone by now, so there was no point in making something to lure it back to capture it. I needed to focus on something else, something that would actually be successful in catching us food. My eyes scanned our surroundings as I thought, looking for other potential animals to trap and materials I could use.

"Do you happen to have a bow and a few arrows hidden on you somewhere?" I asked despite knowing what the answer would be. The easiest way to hunt an animal was to do it from a distance — a precise shot with an arrow was a wondrous way to do that. "Maybe strapped to the back of those wings of yours or hidden under your shirt?"

Stelni laughed with a shake of her head. "I'm afraid I do not."

"Well, it was worth asking," I replied, reaching up to break a few branches off of a tree. Each piece I broke off was almost the same length as the other and had the perfect sturdiness for a trap. They could bend a little if pressure was applied to them, but they wouldn't snap. "I'm going to be making two traps, so you better be watching carefully."

The Dragon-born crossed her arms and leant against a tree. "Alright. I'm watching."

Instead of listening to what Stelni was saying, a frown twisted my lips. I still didn't have any string or rope to use to create the traps. What was I going to use instead? I needed something to tie all of the branches together. As I crouched down to pick up more that had fallen from a tree, I found my solution.

Bootlaces. I could use the laces in my boots. I could always get them back later by dismantling the traps, so it would be fine.

Unweaving the laces from their eyelets, I added them to the pile of my materials and sat next to the river. "This first one is for any fish that might be in the river." The water seemed pretty deep, so there was a decent chance there were at least some small ones swimming by.

I began by placing branches in a triangular shape and added more surrounding them to form an open-ended cone. Holding one end of the bootlace in my mouth, I used the other end to tie it around the top where the sticks met to hold it securely in place. Once I was certain it wouldn't come undone with the slightest touch, I grabbed another long branch, one that was much bendier than the others I had collected, and weaved it around the open end of the cone to form a sturdy base.

With a tug on the branches and a push on the bootlace that held it all together, I determined it was good to be used.

"If you place something like this in the water facing the direction of the current, it's likely that fish will swim into it and be unable to get out," I explained as I placed it in the water, lodging it against a few rocks so it wouldn't be carried downstream.

Stelni nodded slowly, watching me with genuine curiosity. "Seems simple enough. What about the next trap?"

"The next one is a little more difficult." I didn't even know if I was going to be able to do it as my bootlace wasn't as long as the rope I was used to using. "I'm going to be making a snare." Moving away from the river, I began rubbing my hands in the leaves on the forest floor, praying to the Goddess that I didn't catch any animal droppings while doing so.

"What are you doing?" Stelni walked over and looked down at me with furrowed brows.

"I'm de-scenting my hands. Unlike fish, animals on land will be able to smell me and if they smell something human around the food bait, they'll be a lot less likely to touch it or go near it." When dirt had dug itself under my fingernails and into the crevices of my palms, I knew I could stop.

"I see," she responded with her head tilted to the side. "Do you need more branches? I can help you get some if you need," Stelni offered as she began to rub her own hands amongst the fallen forest leaves.

I blinked a few times, unsure of whether or not I had heard her correctly. "Yes, I will need more. That would be a great help."

The Dragon-born got to work, reaching up into the trees to break off branches and snap them into the sizes of the ones I held already. It was a strange sight to see a tall, crimson-winged guard innocently picking sticks from trees — a sight that my mind wanted to relax around, to let my guard down. I couldn't let that happen.

"It's nice when you're like this," Stelni began, her eyes following my every movement.

"What is that supposed to mean?" My shoulders tensed at her words, my hands refusing to get any more branches.

"You're less hostile and more... bearable. You're putting everything that has happened behind you and focusing on something you're passionate about. It makes you nicer." A corner of her lip awkwardly turned upwards.

"I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult."

"How about both?" When my brow narrowed, she quickly changed her answer. "Or you don't have to take it as either if you don't want to." She held out her hand full of perfectly sized branches for me to take.

I snatched them from her and headed deeper into the forest, remaining silent. I had been getting along with her. The fact that Stelni was an enemy of the humans had been an afterthought. I had been so absorbed in creating traps — the passion I had missed over the past week — that I had completely forgotten. Stelni had only been a watcher, someone to teach my skills to, and not a Dragon-born guard I had struck a deal with. It had been so foolish of me. If she wasn't after the Lyre shards, I would likely be six feet under.

Stelni calling me insufferable and then not so bad merely added the icing to the cake of my stupidity.

Making sure not to let the guard out of the corner of my vision, I searched the area for a growing tree sampling or a long branch that I could use to form part of the snare. Unfortunately, she followed me over.

"What are you doing now?" She questioned, looking at the sticks in my hands and trying to follow my glare to see what I was searching for.

"Ignoring you and working on the second trap," I replied through gritted teeth.

"Oh, come on. There's no need to be like that. You were just having fun moments ago." Stelni hit my exact reasoning for disregarding her on the head. I was having fun when I shouldn't have been.

With a pout, the Dragon-born snatched the bootlace from my hands and held it above me. I leapt for it without thinking and failed when Stelni moved it out of the way with ease. "Tell me where to put this. Explain this trap of yours, Miss Huntress."

"I need that," I started, reaching out for the lace and failing again when she dodged to the side, "so I can," another attempt, another miss, "create a noose for the trap."

She lowered the bootlace so I could grab it without jumping, yet there was still something cunning lurking in her gaze. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

As I reached for the bootlace this time, Stelni moved it yet again, earning her a forceful kick to the shin and a stamp on her foot with my heel. The Dragon-born dropped it and a triumphant feeling fluttered through my chest. "Next time, that will be with some sort of blade." After a roll of her eyes, I continued. "Why don't you make yourself useful and find some berries or nuts to use as bait? Though, if you see any bright red berries, don't touch them. They're poisonous."

"I can do that," she said with a sigh. "I think I saw some on our way over to the river."

When she walked away and her crimson wings were no longer in view, I released a sigh of relief. If this was what travelling with Stelni was going to be like, I didn't know if I was going to survive. Mentally or physically.

After winding around a few trees and heading deeper into the forest, I found the perfect place for the trap. A tree sapling that wasn't too tall or too short stood with plenty of space around it. I wouldn't need to clear the area and risk much of my scent sticking around and my bootlace would be able to reach the ground once the sapling was bent over.

"Haera." My small victory was interrupted by Stelni, her voice so quiet that I thought I had imagined it at first. Panic glazed over her tone. "Back away slowly, there's a shadow creature up ahead. We need to put as much distance between it and us as we can."

Taking slow, calculated steps, I began to walk backwards and return to the river. Stelni's wings came into view moments later. The Dragon-born guard had two daggers in her hands, making me wonder if she knew that her weapons wouldn't do anything against them. When Larc had tried to attack the first shadow creature I had ever seen, his sword had only clashed against the beast instead of causing any harm.

As I continued backwards, I noticed my boots were loose around my feet. Now, I was even more of an idiot. Which fool would use parts of the shoes she needed to run if there was trouble when it could be lurking around every corner? One called Haera.

"Did it see you?" I whispered. I hadn't heard any footsteps other than our own.

Stelni shook her head. "It looked strange, like it had no ears."

When I nodded in reply, a growl cut through the air, reverberating the ground we stood on. It had to be close by. We both broke out into a sprint, racing as far away as we could from whatever made the noise.

"The river. Cross the river," Stelni hissed.

The growl sounded again as we waded into the water, causing me to turn around and face a pair of menacing, glowing blue eyes — ones that tracked our every movement. Shit. This was bad.

I didn't notice the fish trap as my legs struggled against the current of the river, causing me to lose my balance as my foot rolled over the tied branches.

Arms wrapped around me heartbeats later, hoisting me up and hauling me over to the other side. "Come on, Haera! Run!"