***Tirnanog, Northern Mountain Range***

***Ivonne***

Something cold and smooth was pressed against my cheek, causing pain to flare up.

“Ow!” I complained and tried to wave away the disturbance as I slowly came to.

When I opened my eyes, I found Thalia kneeling over me. She was holding a stone wrapped in a wet towel against my cheek. The improvised cooling agent was surprisingly effective, even if it had woken me up.

“Hold it there,” she instructed in a motherly tone. “It will help reduce the swelling.”

I did as ordered and took over holding the towel. “Wh- What happened?” I managed to talk through the pain, only now tasting the blood in my mouth.

Thalia searched through a bag with medical supplies while she explained in a chipper tone.

“You poked Astra's sore spot until she snapped and hit you. I am still uncertain whether you are brave or stupid. Astra is a very controlled person, but everyone with two brain cells can tell it's better to have an angry firehorn after you than to trigger her. Worse, she is still struggling to control her new power.”

I found two missing molars with my tongue and grimaced. The new teeth had just been growing in and now I had lost more. That meant no proper food for even longer.

Over the last week, I had been living on mashed up stew. All so that I didn't have to chew.

Curses, I hoped I hadn't swallowed my teeth.

“I got them out of your mouth,” Thalia answered the question that was lingering in my head. “After I brought you to your alcove, I wasn't sure how long you would be out, so I had to prevent you from choking to death.”

She placed several herbs in a cloth and used a mortar to mash them up so that only the oils would seep out.

I recognized the recipe as the same one that helped against infections inside the mouth. Thalia had been making it for the last week to help with my healing.

“Where is the horrid woman?” I asked, unable to prevent an undertone of fear from sneaking into my voice. The bitch was a bane.

“Outside. Having a lover’s spat with Tulkas.” Thalia chuckled. “The two of them fit each other more than I would like to admit.”

After a brief inspection of my surroundings, I indeed found myself in the private space which I had chosen when the group set up camp.

Thalia had placed me in a recovery position after she brought me in here, so I slowly sat up and leaned against the wall.

Astra must have hit me real good if I completely missed being moved around.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, feeling thankful and conflicted for taking Thalia's aid. Aside from Kastor and Dafna, she was the one who interacted the most with me – though this probably was a necessity that came with her position. Since she was organizing everything, she had to make sure everyone was up to the task.

She was still the enemy, but she was also the only person who had been kind to me. Other than my sister, that is...

“How long will you keep up the stubborn act?” Thalia asked.

I glared at Thalia. “What do you mean?”

“Astra is from a powerful strata within the clan and she offered you amnesty. That's more than any outsider could ever hope for.” Thalia frowned as she studied my face.

“I will never betray my clan,” I replied stoically.

“You won’t betray it because they have your sister,” Thalia clarified.

I looked at the floor, unwilling to meet her eyes.

“You should tell him you are Ivona,” Thalia mentioned casually while she searched through a bag of supplies.

“I am not that person!” I spat back. “My name is Ivonne!”

“An administrative mistake, caused by an inattentive desk jockey?” Thalia asked. “Or does renaming their charges carry a more sinister purpose for the Thich, ensuring they no longer identify with their past?”

Thalia’s ability to read people was uncanny at times, but this was going too far to be normal. With just a random guess, she came a little too close to the truth for my comfort.

I pressed my lips together as thoughts came unbidden to mind. That woman knew way too much. I should have never spoken to her. Should I try to silence her?

“Your brother knows…” Thalia mused and studied the exit which was hung with a heavy curtain for privacy. “Or at least he is suspecting it. Anyone with some reasoning skills would come to the same conclusion. Dafna already told him about the Thich’s initiation ritual and your age. Subtract seven years from fifteen and you get-”

“Then why didn’t he say anything?” I hissed. “Why is he treating me like some enemy!?”

“Because you are.” She looked at me. “I don’t know who Tulkas-”

“His real name is Magnus!” I interrupted her.

“Okay…” She continued, “I don’t know who he was before he arrived here, but seven years have passed since your abduction. That’s plenty of time to change a person. He’s had his own tribulations. I can tell he has killed a lot of people. Maybe more than you.”

“That’s impossible.” I refused to entertain the thought. “Magnus would never do such a thing.”

“Then how did he get here? It isn’t like they are sending innocents to Tirnanog,” she reasoned. “I cannot claim to know his past, but I do know he isn’t your average exile. The people who get exiled are one time murderers, influential separatists, or inconvenient nay-sayers. Rarely a mass murderer, though Earth’s police forces are pretty good at catching them before it gets to that point.”

She looked at the ceiling. “One thing I do know is that none of those ‘civilised’ people fares well in our world. The murderers do a little better, but they are seldomly collected enough to fly beneath the radar of those who would put them down for a slight offence. Not so for Magnus. He has killed, but every time I know of him doing so, he did so purposefully in a very calm and collected manner. If it didn’t work out for him back at the Old Camp, then it was only because he wasn’t aware of all the facts. I can tell you, the man received military training. And not the sanctioned kind.”

“I am no longer the person you or he think I am,” I answered.

“Maybe he thinks the same of himself.” Thalia pursed her lips. “If that’s the case, then neither of you can be helped.”

She placed the medicine in front of me. Then she stood up and dusted off her knees. “I suggest you think about what you want. Because the longer you wait with the truth, the harder it will become for either of you. And my experience is that denial never helped anyone.”

“Why didn’t you already tell him if you are so sure of me being his sister?” I asked.

“Because I genuinely believe this secret isn’t mine to tell.” She huffed. “And to be honest, I don’t want to be responsible or involved in this matter between the two of you. Fate, or luck, or whatever it was, has given you an incredible chance. It will be on your head whether you want to take or dismiss it.”

With those words, Thalia simply left me to wallow in my misery.

***Tirnanog, Northern Mountain Range***

***Magnus***

*Smack!*

“Ow! Fuck!” I jumped back and rubbed my shoulder. “Don’t go for the same spot every time!”

“Would you rather like me to aim for the face?” Astra asked with a grin. “I think I am getting the hang of it. This isn’t so much about charging up your muscles. More about flexing just the outer layer in the right way. You tense them like a spring, imagine where you want to be, and let go.”

“No, no.”

It took just thinking of my abysmal blocking rate for me to withdraw my earlier request. “Please keep going for the shoulder. But alter it up a little. You could hit the left one for a change. The right is getting sore.”

Astra moved and this time I saw it coming. I moved my arm into position and blocked.

I struck back and she blocked.

For a moment, we were caught in a chain of striking and blocking each other at supernatural speed. We didn’t intentionally go for force behind our punches, but each still landed heavily.

Then I felt the familiar smack on my shoulder and grimaced. It was the right one – again.

We stopped.

“I still have to punish you for suggesting to hit an unconscious prisoner so gleefully,” Astra explained.

“It wasn’t gleeful,” I replied. “I just figured it would be the easiest way to replicate the circumstances under which you activated the ability for the first time. There was no sadistic intention involved. Gurney warned me that new abilities have to be trained quickly when unlocked. He did it similarly with my Improved Processing.”

“Then what about harping on about cutting off Ivonne’s finger?” Astra tilted her hips and angled her head with a knowing smile.

“Frustration!” I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “If you would stop shielding her, then we would know a lot more about the Thich’s procedures.”

“Maybe. And maybe she would lock up even more.” Astra nodded. “I believe you. Which is why I am just going for the shoulder. I can’t hit your chest since it’s still healing. And don’t be such a wuss. My fist hurts just as much as your shoulder.”

Just why did I not believe her?

“It’s not fair,” I continued, deciding to change the topic back to the matter at hand. “I am doing the same thing you do and you are still faster.”

Astra and I had been going at it for the better part of two hours and somewhere along the way, I had picked up the skill just by watching her. It was much easier to copy the concept when observing it with Second Sight on another human.

“Even if this skill defies physics-,” she began, but I interrupted her.

“It does!” I said. “At least my understanding of it.”

Astra looked me up and down. “Well, a person’s build is still a factor. You are much stockier than me, so it stands to reason that you are slower. On the other hand, I don’t believe I could take you on in a wrestling duel.”

“Indeed.” I grinned as dirty thoughts came to mind. Unlike the others, this shelter allowed for some privacy. I would certainly take advantage of it tonight. Wrestling with Astra was the best...

*Smack!*

“Ow!” I dodged a second one. “I wasn’t ready!”

“I know exactly what you were thinking of,” Astra quipped. “And it’s not my fault if you are distracted. Better get back to training.”

I sighed and fell back into the familiar rhythm of attacking and blocking. We were going at it intensely, but not enough to deny a conversation. For that purpose, we had limited ourselves to arms alone. Going all out within the shelter was impossible anyway.

“Do you think we can get this to work on our whole bodies?” I asked.

“With training,” she replied. “I already managed to chain hits twice in a row. That’s how I’ve been hitting you.”

I showed her my tongue. “Another question. Is there an evolution we can go for to improve this skill further?”

She frowned. “We already have all the necessary perception skills to utilize our speed. Off the top of my head, I wouldn’t know what we could go for to improve this aspect. Anyway, I wouldn’t risk it until we feel that training isn’t improving us any further.”

Astra struck and I diverted the hit, seamlessly weaving the movement into an attack of my own. Which she dodged by a hairsbreadth. She didn't have the necessary strength when she paired up with me, but she had received basic martial arts training without a doubt.

“I just thought we might be able to plan ahead,” I suggested.

“It’s good to plan,” she admitted and struck. “But I have to say that while I know much, I hardly know all the mutations out there. We should wait with theorizing until we gain access to the Aerie’s records. My people have extensive files on all the known mutations. Much like Gurney. We should also get ourselves re-evaluated by several different specialists.”

“A re-evaluation?” I asked and dodged another strike.

“Of course.” She blocked my retaliation. “Gurney is good. Real good when it comes to identifying the mutations he knows. But he is still human. And he obviously made a mistake with one of yours. Or did you forget you weathered a poison that dropped Thalia like a sack of potatoes? It was just a light narcotic for you.”

“Oh…” I mulled over it while I stuck to dodging. “I thought I just might’ve gotten some additional trait from the zippers. Like, Poison Resistance.”

Astra shook her head. “While it is possible, it is extremely unlikely. First evolutions give you a lot more than normal, but it’s rare for them to exceed four or five points in Gurney’s point system. It’s equally likely he misidentified the Carrion Eater trait. New evolutions are dangerous in that regard and it only underlines the necessity to get looked at by more than one professional. Back at Aerie, we have testing procedures to identify traits. Both of us should have a complete check-up to make sure the zipper evolution didn’t give us any other hidden abilities.”

I was reminded of Gurney’s warning to never cross different evolutions which had the same purpose or affected the same area of the body.

Astra was implying the Carrion Eater trait had similar effects to a general poison resistance ability. Which was true. What difference was there between eating foul meat and poison? Both released dangerous toxins and bacteria into the body.

If I would’ve had the glorious idea to gain some poison resistance back at the Old Camp, my time in this world would have been cut short.

“Gurney might not have been completely wrong,” I pointed out. “It may as well mean that the Carrion Eater trait is more powerful than we first thought. Think about what it means for the zippers to be carrion eaters. An animal who lives off of foul meat doesn’t just need a strong stomach. It still needs to deal with all the toxins that come with the decomposition process. Hell, maybe our immune systems are also boosted to fend off potential bacteria and parasites?”

Astra looked worried. “You may be right. All the more reason to get looked at by people who made this their profession before we think of further progression. Most people stop at this stage and wait for years before risking further mutations.”

“Is it really that much of a risk when there are records?” I asked and received another smack onto my shoulder, but I silently suffered through it this time.

“Not with well-documented progression paths,” Astra mused. “We won’t have the luxury and will have to be very careful. Apart from dying a violent death, failed mutations are the second-highest reason for fatalities in this world. But I think our combination is already plenty powerful. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thrown in with you so recklessly.”

“Reckless she says!” I pretended to be hurt.

A moment later, I finally managed to smack Astra’s shoulder!

“Hey!” It was now her time to complain. “Not so hard!”

“Oh, I am sorry!” I stepped closer. “Let me see.”

But instead of inspecting the spot, I quickly shouldered Astra and carried her to our private alcove.

“Tulkas!” Astra whispered and smacked my butt. “Let me down.”

“I don’t want to.” I smiled and squeezed her butt with both hands.

She harrumphed. “You are lucky the others have already retreated to sleep! I would have hit you for real.”

We wiped ourselves down with some wet cloths, which was the closest thing we got to a shower or a bath out here.

Then Astra allowed me to be on top until I was spent, followed by her taking a ride on top of me while both of us tried our best to stay silent.

Afterwards, we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

The next day, we broke camp early and were on our way after Thalia had held a speech, something she had never done before.

It was one of the last steps of the journey. According to Astra, we had made it to the mountains that were marked with red handprints on her map.

Thalia warned us there would be no scouting missions on this part of the trip. We would travel as a single, large group to avoid being picked off. Nobody was to go anywhere alone. Preferably, we were to be at least with two other people at all times.

Whatever unknown predator was haunting these mountains, it had the Aerie mightily respectful of it.

The craggy limestone that dominated this area provided plenty of hideouts, but we encountered not a single predator for the whole day. If this wasn’t already surprising enough, then it was even more ominous to see none of the smaller critters who usually enriched the environment with life.

It was like all the animals were smart enough to stay away from this area of the mountain.

Under normal circumstances, a day without attacks would have been something to celebrate. But in this case, it felt foreboding and had the whole group on edge.

More than once, one of our sensor types called a false alarm, but Thalia always spoke up for them. It was her firm belief that one false alarm too much was better than one real warning not given.

In principle she was right, but it didn’t help our sour expressions when we reached the shelter at the end of the day and found it to be open.

Thalia raised her binoculars and looked at the black hole in the side of the mountain. The large stone that was normally used to block a shelter’s entrance lay a dozen metres below, cracked in two.

“What do we do about the entrance tonight?” I asked, unused to finding a shelter like this. Normally, they were sealed when we arrived.

Astra’s expression was unusually worried and she only replied when I nudged her. “I would be more worried about which creature decided to make the shelter its lair.”

“And we can’t skip it,” Thalia commented sourly. “The next one is another day away.”