***Tirnanog, Northern Mountain Range***

***Astra***

The days passed quickly as Thalia led our diminished group through the mountain range from one shelter to the next. My friend was holding a tight rein over the group's tasks, replacing Liam in every way possible – except for actually being him.

I could sense that the loss of comrades and friends weighed heavily on us. Most of all on Charite and Hailey, but they were dealing in their own way. My own way of coping was to march on. It wasn't like the Aerie weren't used to death.

This world wasn't a forgiving one. There was no place for those who couldn't move on while losing comrades. Though, it didn't mean that we couldn't mourn in those silent nights when we locked ourselves inside the shelters – all the while afraid of the monsters that were hunting outside.

Magnus and I were more often required to step up as the group's warriors. Each day, we would inevitably be forced to help out against the predatory fauna.

Filling such a role would’ve been a bad position to be in for a leader. Not even the best fighters could give it their all while calling the shots and keeping the overview of the battlefield.

I thanked God that Thalia had survived to hold the group together, since she was the only other experienced Aerie who already made this trip. Thanks to her supportive abilities she was much better suited to taking a leadership role. It helped that she was also older than me, so the others didn't even question her taking command.

My friend did a better job than I ever could and she drove us onwards as if a second group of Thich was following our trail.

Our timetable was tight and we couldn't afford any distractions. Not even our prisoners had much opportunity to complain. Their survival depended on ours. Three people alone would have had a much harder time staying alive out here, not to mention making the trip back to the Old Camp.

Not a day would pass in these mountains without something attacking us.

Magnus tried a few more times to interrogate Ivonne, but he didn't get far. Even after the teenager was healed, she locked up every time he attempted to get information out of her. My partner thought her to be some fanatic, but I figured that Ivonne had different reasons for being stubborn.

“Just let me cut off one finger! Just one!” Magnus begged while we climbed a steep trail.

“No,” I replied sternly. “I've offered them amnesty in return for their cooperation. Ivonne and the others have conducted themselves well enough so far. Despite Ivonne refusing to speak to you. We can deploy better interrogation techniques than torture back at the clan. And we are making good time. We can't risk losing people to stupid injuries.”

I shook my head. Magnus was a little too eager when it came to cutting off appendages.

The winter was coming and we had lost most of our time buffer due to the attack. I really didn’t want to climb these mountains once the snow came down. Two years ago, my travelling group of seventeen had lost four people just because the winter had started early. We had been measly two days away from Aerie when the deaths occurred, making it all the more tragic.

“It's not like a pinky wouldn't grow back,” he grumbled. “She has the starfish mutation, judging by the way her face is healing.”

“That's not the point,” I elaborated. “I promise you, we will soften her up. Back at the clan, we will have months to do so. We are really pressed on time, believe me. If the snow comes early, we might not make it and freeze to death. There is no point in risking anything out here. You have frightened Kastor and Dafna enough. If their stories don't convince Ivonne to talk, then she won't talk unless you inflict major injuries.”

“Who?” he asked, his tongue slipping before he could think about it.

I stopped walking and turned around to look at him. “You are joking, right?”

For a moment, his expression remained completely blank. Then he frowned.

I could almost see the gears turning in his head.

“Kastor is the male Thich?” The statement had this questioning undertone of a student answering a teacher's question with a guess, not knowing whether the answer was the correct one.

Magnus gained a little more confidence when I didn't outright deny his assumption. “Meaning Dafna is the female Thich!” He looked happy at his successful deduction.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You guessed!”

“No, I didn't!” he replied quickly, sounding completely sincere.

The longer I was with Magnus, the more I became aware of his uncanny ability to switch between moods. It was like he could put on masks for the sake of social interactions. I only became aware of this because he had started to drop his guard in my presence.

He could seethe about one thing or the other, confessing his wish to murder someone in the most gruesome way he could think of. Then a stranger like Fox walked up to him for polite conversation and suddenly Magnus was kindness and understanding impersonate.

Admittedly, it no longer worked with anyone in our group since they had seen him interrogate the Thich.

The man could wear his feelings like a set of clothes if he wished to. It just hadn't been apparent because I had only seen him with Mark and Gurney up until now. And neither of the two were people he trusted.

I turned back around and hurried to catch up to the four carriers and their watchers. “How is it possible for you to not know their names? You interrogated them!”

Currently, Magnus and I were playing a 'close up', rearguard role. We trailed just ten or twenty metres behind the main group, instead of the hundred metres that would have been normal. It allowed us to assist them faster in the case of an attack, while still giving them a head start when something came at us from behind.

“It's not like their names hold any importance,” he moped, switching modes again. “When you interrogate someone, you have to make sure they believe you don't regard them as human beings. The moment you ask for their names, you admit that their existence is of importance. You have to do everything you can to have them know their lives hold no value. Once they realize that, most sane people will try everything in their power to prove you shouldn't kill them. Which means giving you information.”

I looked over my shoulder and bit my inner cheek, surprised at the horrid bit of knowledge he had shared with such utter conviction.

Because of his ability to put on a facade, it was too easy to forget that Magnus only seemed like a bumbling newcomer. A newcomer to this world, he was, but not one to violence.

If he seemed to struggle in some aspects, it was because he had been thrown into an unfamiliar environment with unknown rules.

He had been part of a semi-militaristic organization that wasn't much better than Earth's government when it came to ruthlessness.

Maybe that was also where he had learned to hide his true self.

“Just leave it to Thalia,” I replied in the end. “She will soften Ivonne up. That woman gets past anyone's defences thanks to her empathy. I am sure she can screw Ivonne's head into the right position.”

“So she can read minds?” he asked, not sounding surprised by my statement.

“Her strata would reply: 'That's classified information!',” I replied with a smirk, giving my best to sound like Thalia’s father.

And it was true. Thalia never talked openly about her special gift. Not even to me.

“You still haven't told me what the deal is between you and Thalia,” Magnus pointed out. “She is more than just a fellow clanner who happened to accompany you on a recruitment trip.”

Magnus activated his Second Sight and quickly scanned our surroundings while he talked. Then he turned around and walked a few steps backwards while he checked our rear. Just to be sure, I mimicked his vigilance. The ability was really powerful, but the loss of normal sight and most colours came with the downside of limited depth perception.

More than once I had found myself stumbling over a stone when I tried to keep Second Sight active for extended periods of time. Both of us preferred to use the ability only in complete darkness or when necessary.

I sighed. “Thalia is the daughter of family friends. Her parents are leading the ninth strata. When I decided to search for a partner at the Old Camp, my parents asked them to send Thalia with me as a type of bodyguard, or nanny? I guess she can’t be called a bodyguard. And before you ask, Thalia was also adopted. Difference is, she was already an adult when she came to this world.”

For clarification, I added a quick explanation of clan Aerie's political structure.

The mountain was separated into fifteen levels or stratas, and each was ruled by a different family. These families formed the ruling Council of thirty partnered elders. This ensured that nobody had the sole political power to command the clan on a whim. The system had been introduced after the last clan war, which was long before my time.

“This adoption business sounds like the Aerie are really big on it,” Magnus commented after he had listened to my explanation. “And, wow, you guys escaped Earth and went on to repeat the mistakes of the past by copying one of its doomed political systems.”

I bit my lower lip, not really desiring to open that particular can of worms right now, so I steered the topic of conversation towards the initial part of his comment. “Remember when I told you about the clans grooming female exiles as partners? Every time the Aerie welcome new female exiles, the leaders of a strata or one of their vassals adopt them. Since they are sisters, Ava and Ivy will be likely kept together. Exiled women are generally urged to stay clean slates, ready to be groomed as the perfect partners for a male heir of another strata.”

Magnus nodded and came to his own conclusion. “It also keeps the families in power. Whoever is in a position of being a ‘clean slate’ and too weak to force his will upon the rest of the group is ‘partnered off’. If I didn’t see the necessity of having power in this world, I would applaud the Aerie for recreating a form of nobility.”

“It isn’t like that. Just look at me. Do I look like someone’s kept woman to you?” I took a moment to think about how to clarify. “I know it sounds bad, but it's much better than what the men experience. Throughout my life, I had much more power over my life than the average clanner. The stratas are ordered according to their influence and power. Meaning, since my parents are from a higher strata, they can order Thalia and her parents around – within reason. And they can do the same with anyone beneath their own strata. And their power extends to me by affiliation.”

We kept walking for a few minutes while Magnus thought about it. Then he asked the dreaded question. “So, how many potential spouses do I have to kill once you get home?”

He had figured it out.

I slumped and dragged my feet for a few steps, hoping he wouldn’t hate me for not telling him sooner. “Just one. And I am hoping it goes without killing. I am sorry. I know that I have avoided the topic.”

Magnus coughed. “This shotgun marriage was bound to run into some problems, so it’s fine with me if we just talk about stuff like this before things become urgent.” He tilted his head. “I just don’t understand why you were searching for a partner at the Old Camp when you have someone with a supposedly perfectly fitting evolution back at home?”

To my great relief, he didn't sound mad. Just intrigued.

“Because that man is a slimy scumbag with an entitled ego. My parents meant well, but they made a big mistake when they chose him for mere political reasons,” I sneered. “They were hoping to make friends with another strata, but I doubt it would work out.”

“But you told me that you want to thrive in this world.” Magnus sounded confused. “A political marriage with a groomed partner sounds like it would take you to high places within the clan.”

I sighed and waved a hand above my head to show that there were reasons. “That man is a genetic match only. Hector’s personality would have created loads of problems. Something went seriously wrong with his mutation and I want no part of it! I wouldn't have been surprised if I had been forced to slit his throat in the darkness of night to prevent him from committing some grave mistake.”

“Wow...” Magnus winced. “Something about the instincts that came with his mutations? Or pure educational problems? I figure that in over two hundred years of isolation a lot of things could go wrong within a small society like a clan. It doesn’t help much that your society also gets to deal with most of Earth’s scumbags.”

I shrugged, not knowing how to answer. I could probably make an argument that people were more than their genes and past mistakes. But as a whole, the clans definitely hadn’t proven to be any better than Earth.

We certainly managed to fight a major war between clans while the environment was trying to kill us. It didn't speak of some higher morality.

“Not sure. Maybe both,” I said. “The only thing I know for certain is that if someone else didn't kill him, then I would eventually do it myself. Your comparison with royalty wasn’t so far off. His parents made a big mistake when they gave him the most powerful mutations possible, turning him into an inbred fool with too much power.”

I gestured back the way we came. “Going to the Old Camp to search for a partner is a long honoured tradition in the clan and it allowed me to escape all the social events involving him. My parents allowed me to push back the partnering because they love me. And I suppose father didn't really believe I would find someone fitting. Admittedly, it is rather unlikely given my mutations.”

The admission spilled forth before I could stop it. “But I found you. And we are a done deal now. There are no take-backs when it comes to partnering with another.”

“Will your parents try to poison me?” he asked jokingly. “Or kill me on the spot for defiling their treasured daughter?”

“No!” I snorted and shook my head. “Didn’t I just say there are no take-backs? I will explain everything and it will be fine. Mostly, you will have to keep an eye on father. Best not to turn your back to him. My 'intended one' will be angry, but you should have no problem ripping off his important bits if he gets handsy. He will have fewer evolutions than you. The problem will be his parents. They control the thirteenth strata and my parents are from the twelfth.”

“Besides.” I waved a hand dismissively. “The grooming was never a system that's set in stone. People can say no, even if a groomed match is almost guaranteed to be fruitful. If Hector had been smart, he would have done everything in his power to woo me.”

“Then I am glad I got my chance,” Magnus grinned.

“I am happy you recognize the honour that was bestowed on you,” I replied with a smirk. “From what I heard, not many men on Earth get lucky enough for a beautiful woman to throw herself at them.”

“Nobody ever said marrying a princess is the easy way to power,” Magnus muttered and ran a hand over his forehead. His hair had grown a little too long during the trip. “But what can I say? After two weeks of sleeping with you, I am way beyond redemption. Though, you will owe me a favour and a lot of apologies!”

“I am not a princess!” I corrected him once more. “And please remember that the others can hear us!”

He lowered his voice and intoned with a smile on his lips, “Close enough!”

“What kind of favour?” I whispered.

He grinned. “I don't know yet. But as an apology, you could dance for me when the lights are out.”

I felt my face heat a little. We hadn’t done much since we started the trek. It was kind of impossible to get some privacy, but it hadn’t stopped him from getting a feel while we slept together during those cold nights.

Though, I admittedly didn’t dislike the hugs and the occasional squeeze.

“So that's what you like?” Then I remembered our first night and grinned. “Should I make sure to shake my hips?”

“Yes, please!” he said smugly. “And make it good. I want a real show before you throw yourself at me.”

We kept bantering and I used the time to further his knowledge of the Aerie social structure. Right until we finally reached the next shelter and sealed ourselves in.

The latest shelter was of higher quality than the rest, and it would only get better from here. Clan Aerie had put more effort into the shelters the closer we got to clan grounds.

This shelter no longer gave off the feeling of a mere cave. It was actually a small bunker. The masons cut genuine rooms into the stone, ensuring there would be enough space to give fifty people some privacy. A wide, central hallway doubled as a public area; and to connect the small rooms. Though, each private space was more like an alcove than its own room.

I left it to Magnus to set up our sleeping space and joined Thalia in the public area.

She was instructing Ivonne on how to use the shelter's fireplace correctly. It was actually a fancy one. An oversized stove was set up in the middle of the corridor. It included its own ventilation system that took care of the smoke with metal pipes which led outside.

“You have to check the pipes for corrosion before you start the fire,” Thalia explained to a brooding Ivonne. “Once you are sure everything is sealed tight, you can proceed. Otherwise, we might die from monoxide poisoning in our sleep.”

“You two are doing fine?” I asked.

“Sure!” Thalia replied. “I just explained to Ivonne what she has to look out for when handling fire within enclosed spaces like these shelters.”

“Something I already knew,” Ivonne mumbled without looking at me.

“It doesn't hurt to repeat if it's a matter as vital as this,” Thalia stated happily, not allowing herself to be dragged down by her pupil's sour mood.

“Ivonne, I know you've been through a lot, but you have to let go of the past,” I addressed the young woman directly. “Once we reach Aerie, your treatment depends on how cooperative you are.”

She finally looked at me with a simmering hatred in her eyes. “You killed my comrades! Excuse me for being angry. You offering us a life in exile doesn't make it any better!”

“And your people killed our people,” I replied, doing my best to push down on my own feelings. “You came after us. Not the other way around. Now there is only one way forward.”

“So you are saying I am not allowed to be angry?” she screamed. “Everything started with you! It's all your fault! You were the one who messed with the negotiations! If we had just taken the kids, they wouldn't have come after you!”

Her words sent a twinge through my chest, but I didn't allow myself to falter to her screwed point of view.

“It isn't my fault that they tried to murder us with poison,” I hissed through between my teeth. “You have to let go and see to the future.”

“How can I see to the future if I can't go back home!?” Ivonne spread out her hands. “Will you people ever allow me to leave and go back to my sister? Or will you keep me as a prisoner until the end of my days?”

“That remains to be determined,” I replied. “We still don't know what the Thich are up to. Why do they want the children so badly?”

“Why wouldn't they?” Ivonne asked. “Haven't you experienced it yourself? Free to be moulded into the perfect asset. I was surprised the Aerie allowed you to whore around with some stranger who you don't even know. What will your intended back at the clan have to say?”

Of course, she had listened in on us.

I balled my fist. “Take that back.”

“What?” Ivonne waved her hands. “That you are a who-”

My arm moved.

Her head rocked sideways and Ivonne teetered on one foot before she returned to a normal stance. She blinked, then leaned forward and toppled over.

“Whoops!” Thalia caught her just before she faceplanted into the ground. “That didn't go so well. Hey, Ivonne! Ivonne?” Thalia slapped the girl's cheek. “Astra, you really knocked her lights out.”

“Are you kidding?” Magnus' voice came from behind me. “It was perfect! That haymaker hit her exactly where it counts!”

I closed my eyes and groaned, then massaged the bridge of my nose. “I shouldn't have hit her.”

“Probably not,” Thalia replied. “But at least she managed to vent some steam. How did you even do it?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“That strike!” Magnus grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around so that I faced him. “You moved exactly like one of those little monsters. One second your hands were down, the next you had your fist in her face! All I could see was a trail of sparks!”

“I- I don't know.” I looked down at my hands. “I just got really angry when she insinuated that I wasn't serious about you... and then I hit her.”

He smiled and pointed down at the unconscious girl. “Hit her again! You have to train the ability while the feeling is fresh in your mind. I can hold her up for you if need be.”

I looked down at the unconscious woman. No sane person would hit someone who was helpless, even if she was a bitch.

Then I looked at the guy who suggested hitting an unconscious prisoner for training purposes.

Well, at least he could defend himself...