The evening before we were supposed to leave the Statue Garden, Fellen spoke up. We had been sitting quietly outside the tent, watching the sky turn red-orange to deep blue and purple through the gray haze of the shamble men’s barrier. Fellen had also been occupying herself by making a flower crown. A whisper woman who passed by gave her a suspicious look, but Fellen was too focused on braiding the flowers together to notice. Besides, all the flowers were ember weed. There wasn’t a ghost petal in sight. Fellen couldn’t make the hazardous mistake of combining them if she tried.

Fellen looked up from her work, and I could tell that she was thinking hard about what she was going to say because she fell still. “You acknowledged me as a worthy rival.”

I nodded slowly, waiting to see where she was taking that point this time. Already, I could sense this wasn’t like the other times when she started to talk simply because she couldn’t handle the silence any longer.

Her lips compressed together for a moment, like she was debating whether to say something or not before she continued, “I won’t disappear if you make fun of me and call me slow, or you decide you're better than me because you became a whisper woman. I’ll keep being worthy. I’ll beat you in so many contests before you leave for the Seedling Palace that you’ll be forced to come back to try to even the score.” She pointed to the dots on her chin. “This is only the beginning.”

I didn’t know how to respond to her declaration. She was the one who was going to leave first. She had family and training to get wrapped up in. So, I focused on the one thing that made sense in what she said.

I pointed to my own chin. “I have one too.”

She nodded, all serious. “That’s why I’m going to get the other ones.”

I stared at her, shocked into a loss of words. Fellen, of all people, had declared that she was going to complete the remaining three trials in the same tone as she had used when she first decided we would be rivals. When, by all rights, it was a miracle we had even completed one.

“But—you said you wanted to be a lone huntress like Nole.”

She nodded again. “I thought a lot about it. Completing my apprenticeship and gaining experience as a lone huntress for a couple years will be invaluable to help me complete the trials. I won’t have the same troubles we had this time then. And the only person who could come near to competing with a whisper woman is someone whose completed all four. Anything less and people will look down on both of us for you acknowledging me.”

“You’ll die.”

I couldn’t let her go through with it. I had to scare her into letting the whole idea go or at some point down the line she would die, foolishly, and I wouldn’t be there to stop it. I could stand her losing interest and getting wrapped up in a normal life with the tribe. She would at least be alive then and everything we struggled through wouldn’t be in vain. But for her to just throw herself into another trial to chase after me? Another three trials? It wasn’t worth it.

She glared down at her nearly finished flower crown. “I didn’t this time.”

“You had me this time.”

The glare shifted to me. “You think I can’t do it on my own.”

I gestured to the wounds still covering the both of us. “We barely made it together. I should be dead.”

“Next time will be different. I’ll be older and more skilled then.”

My jaw clenched. “Why would you even want to do that? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I told you: I’m making sure I’ll stay a worthy rival for you. I won’t let you just forget about me.”

I could picture her freezing to death trying to complete the first trial or getting touched by a shamble man. If she died during a hunt or from illness—I could accept that, those were normal occurrences, they came with the life of a huntress. But if she died trying to complete another trial to keep up with me when I wasn’t even there? Somehow that made everything I’d done to keep her alive seem pointless.

She could make other rivals. Friends. She didn’t need me, and it wasn’t fair for her to lead me on like this when she was the one going to leave first anyway.

“You don’t need me.”

Fellen looked at me like I was crazy. “You just said I wouldn’t have made it without you.”

I refused to look at her. Perhaps it would be best if I made a clean break from her, but I couldn’t make myself say the words that would make her completely hate me yet. “For the trial. But once we’re back with the tribe? You already had a nice life and plan there. You don’t need to do anything stupid or me for that.”

A handful of soft, sweet smelling flowers pelted me from the side. “And who will you have? I told you, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily.” She got up with a huff and threw the flower crown at my chest. “I have a new plan. I’m going to complete the trials. Deal with it, or if you’re so worried about me make sure you’re there.”

Fellen couldn’t stomp her way into the tent yet, but she did her best limping approximation of it while I was still trying to grapple with what she had said. It didn’t make sense that she—or anyone—would go to such extremes for my benefit. Nor did I like how she had thrown the fact that I might be a little bit worried in my face. It was just another reminder that I had slipped and given her more ways to hurt me in the end, whereas if I had just kept myself distant like I should have this situation wouldn’t be a problem at all.

I looked down at the flower crown that had fallen into my lap. The end she had still been adding flowers to was a bit ragged, but looking at it I knew it would have fit my head well.

- -

Two fire starters collected us from our tent the next morning. I could walk a few paces on my own, but any further and I needed someone else’s support to not sink to the ground or reopen my wounds. Fellen could walk further, but she still benefited from the help as well, especially when we were both carrying our packs and other supplies again. The tension still running between Fellen and me made for a quiet morning, which suited me fine. I needed time to think, and I didn’t want to get into another argument before I had my points ready.

The fire starters took us to the Grove where Maybur waited impatiently. Apparently, the head priestess was the only one with enough skill to take us to Grislander’s Maw in a single trip through the shadows. She stood in the center of the Grove, the wide shadows of the large pine trees blocking most of the sunlight from reaching the ground in the clearing.

She pointed at the ground. “Pray. Thank the goddess for your time here.”

Fellen and I glanced at each other before pricking our marks and doing as she said. Once the blood flaked away the head priestess took our hands in hers while the fire starters took several quick steps back.

Maybur gave us a stern glance each. “Don’t scream, don’t let go, and do what I say promptly.”

We were falling and then there was that sickening lurch as I felt gravity twisting back in on itself. I heard Fellen whimper, but we both didn’t scream, and then our feet landed onto the slick, oily looking ground I remembered. I glanced to the side to see Fellen staring at the swirling smoke around us with wide eyes. She had collapsed to her knees before she struggled upright. Her free hand kept nervously touching her sling.

Maybur stood like one of the camp dogs getting a read on a scent, though I was sure she wouldn’t have liked the comparison. She cast her gaze around for a few seconds before her eyes seemed to focus on something in the distance.

“Walk.”

Gritting my teeth, I managed a few steps before Maybur was forced to look down and see why she couldn’t continue forward. My legs were shaking too badly to walk and though I hated the display of weakness I couldn’t make them stop.

The head priestess clicked her tongue. “Fool child.” In the next instant, I felt a rush of wakefulness and energy as if I had just had the best sleep of my life. Maybur flicked her chin toward the shadows a head of us. “Walk.”

I couldn’t hold back my shock. “Was that your blessing?”

She ignored me, and I knew better than to speak again even though Fellen was given me a quizzical expression. I shrugged my good shoulder at her and she rolled her eyes before giving me a look that said I would be giving her the details once this was over. We took another six or so steps before Maybur stopped at a spot that looked exactly the same as everywhere else. Without warning, like Hana had done, she stomped her foot through the oily floor and there was the unsettling sensation of gravity shifting again.

We appeared in the shadow of one the pine trees near the valley’s entrance. I took in that much before Maybur dropped our hands, took a step backward, and disappeared back into the shadow. Fellen and I stared after her for a few long seconds. Then a cold wind hit us and we huddled together as we took in our surrounds.

We were calf deep in snow, though from the looks of it the forest had protected us from the worst of it. Looking past a couple trees in front of us, we could see where the tree line broke and the lip that marked the start of the valley. The land was clear of the forest inside of the valley and for a mile in front of the entrance. It was said that somehow Grislander had used its dying breath to poison the land in its mouth and the land it breathed on against the goddess’s favored trees. However, everywhere else was absolutely covered in trees. The forest covered the mountains and the land for a few miles in almost every direction. I could feel the uneven footing their roots made under my feet.

Fellen and I struggled to the tree line. I had to hold back a growl of irritation when I felt the stab of pain and hot blooming of blood against my skin that meant one of my wounds had opened again. But reaching the forest’s edge helped us to better pinpoint our location. We were on the western side of the valley entrance, under where Grislander’s snout would have been.

The valley also spread out before us. A river wound through the snow on the eastern side of the valley before spreading out into two lakes. The first was about a third of the way into the valley, it was narrow and normally used to gather water for drinking and washing. On some days using melted snow was the easier option, but we rarely wasted fuel to do the work, so that method required more patience than some people had. The first lake was shaped like an eye and its southern tip spilled back into a short river before forming the large, shallow lake that hugged the mountains near the valley’s entrance on the eastern side. That lake was practically useless when it came to fish, but it worked well to keep the herds watered. We couldn’t see them from our positions, but two separate waterfalls fed two different rivers that then merged to make the one that fed the lakes.

The meeting hall looked like a large hill near where the river opened into the first lake. It was an oblong, domed building made entirely out of packed mud and dug partially into the ground. It had a double entrance, so that one set of the thick felted coverings could be tied shut before the next set was opened in order to keep the warmth inside the hall. The hall itself was a wide open room that could act as a gathering point during ceremonies or fit everyone inside for protection during the particularly bad storms. Another hill like structure that was nearly twice as big rose behind it. That was the herd holding pen. Most of our animals could weather out the storms, but just in case all the tribe leaders got to chose which portion of their herds got to take shelter in there when a storm bore down on the valley. That way no tribe could be completely ruined, but it did lead to lots of bickering between the herders every year.

The land on the eastern side of the river was taken up by the multitudes of herds all the tribes had brought. Sheep, reindeer, and elk from the runner tribes roamed that side of the river as their herders watched over them. They would be rotated around the valley and brought out to the hills outside the valley in protected groups to make sure they didn’t overgraze what there was to find under the snow. The other side of the river was dominated by clusters of tents—the different tribes—and the footpaths crisscrossing between them. Most people were inside their tents or taking shelter in the meeting hall, but we could see a few making their way along the paths while others busied themselves with a repairing project that wouldn’t fit in a tent. Others were clustered around cooking fires, the smoke trailing up marking their positions, and others still were gathered at the Pebbled Eye, the first lake.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?”

Fellen and I did our best to whirl around in shock, but we weren’t recovered enough for that. I slipped on the uneven footing and didn’t have the strength to catch myself. I fell into a graceless heap at Fellen’s feet while she wobbled and managed to shift to the side to get the newcomer in her view. I was reduced to looking past her legs.

A sentry. The huntress looked vaguely familiar with her dark brown hair pulled back into a plait, prominent nose, and thin lips, but I attributed that to the fact that I had probably seen her in Grislander’s Maw in years past. She wasn’t from our tribe.

She froze, her own shock registering when she saw the marks on our chins. Apparently, she recognized what they meant—and that sent a flicker of anger burning in my chest. I didn’t like that that made it seem like the markings were common knowledge. If some random huntress knew what they meant, Fellen and I should have heard about them too. I wasn’t a sheltered child.

The huntress held out a staying hand, even though we hadn’t moved. “How did you get those?”

I didn’t feel like being interrogated, so I laid the facts bare. “We’re from the Gabbler Shore Tribe. We got separated from everyone else in Flickermark, and then the goddess gave us a trial. We completed it, and after we had time to recover the head priestess in the Statue Garden brought us here.”

She didn’t believe me. Not that that was very surprising. If some twelve-year-old had told me the same thing I might have opted for a glare instead of a blank look, but the truth behind it would have been the same. I watched as the blank look became a suspicious one.

Fellen glanced at me before speaking up. “Our mentors, Rawley and Nole, can tell you the truth of our identities.”

The huntress eased up slightly at the mention of our mentors. “And your families?”

I unfortunately knew Fellen’s mother’s name by heart after the times she mentioned it in her stories. I gestured to her.

“Tell Lendra of Gabbler Shore that her daughter, Fellen, has returned.” I indicated myself. “You can tell the Grandmother of Gabbler Shore that her ward, Gimley, is back as well.”

The huntress stared down at me for a long moment before whistling. Another huntress appeared and after a quick conversation between the two, the second one left again. While we waited, I struggled back to my feet with Fellen’s help, and Fellen tried to fill the silence with small talk. Neither the huntress nor I reciprocated her efforts, and eventually she settled for repeatedly trying and failing not to do her nervous tick of keeping her hand near her sling. The huntress tensed every time her hand wandered a little too close.

Then we heard the sound of crunching snow, and it was my turn to tense up—uncertain whether it would be Grandmother or Rawley who appeared, and doubly uncertain about how each one might react to our sudden reappearance.