Adrenaline gave way to aching muscles and bruised ankles. But if there was time to rest, it was only when their bodies made them, and so Kylie and Naomi paddled their raft away from the mountain and the approaching Absentia. Asalya walked on the ice beside them. Kylie’s hands pushed through water that minutes ago had nearly frozen her to death but now only registered as slightly chilled. Each time she sank her wrist into the water, she thought of the monster’s claw reaching up, snatching her, and dragging her under. Into the cold again. She looked to the Lightbringer. Naomi had carried the fear of this monster with her for longer than they’d known each other. Kylie kept paddling until they reached shore.

Their plank bumped against dry land, a few feet away from one of the steel poles that marked the lake’s border. Kylie barely had time to stand upright before Asalya tackled her to the ground.

Asalya wrapped Kylie up in her legs and bit playfully at Kylie’s nose. Kylie bit back in kind. She returned her friend’s hug for a brief moment before the wolf wriggled out from it and took off toward Naomi. She ran a couple circles around the cleric, then returned to bite Kylie’s face again. 

Naomi ran up to the wrestling wolves. “She’s happy you’re okay, I presume?”

“Yeah, she- OW!” Kylie shouted more in surprise than pain as Asalya nipped at her ear a little too hard. Kylie grabbed the wolf’s head and began scratching behind her ears. “She’ll bite to show affection. Although sometimes her love can be kinda strong. She’d probably be biting all over you too if she thought you’d be comfortable with that.”

“I hope it isn’t rude that I’m glad a wolf isn’t currently gnawing at my face.”

“Currently?” Kylie asked, her ears perking up. “What does that mean?”

Naomi clearly didn’t have a response prepared. She searched for words for a moment then hurriedly buried her head in her hands. She kept walking and let the wolves scramble to catch up.  

Not long after, the snow parted to reveal something neither of them had seen since before their journey together had even really begun - a dirt road. Further down, they could see the wide path cut between a forest of evergreens.

“This must be it.” Naomi kicked gently at the dirt beneath her feet. “The road that connects Crescentia to Laryth. The one I should have been following this entire time. It feels sort of strange to actually be back on it.”

“It’ll take us straight there?” Kylie asked, even though she was pretty sure she remembered the answer.

“As long as you still want to go. It would be entirely reasonable if you’d rather return to Rodehills.”

“I’m not going back now.” Kylie poked the dragonfire stone, which Naomi was still holding with both hands. “Don’t forget that’s my birthday present. I’m not going to take off and leave you literally out in the cold.”

“I mean, even if you want to go home before we get to Laryth, you’d basically be travelling with me so long as you didn’t want to cut through the woods again. The road to Rodehills is basically in Laryth, remember?” Naomi turned around to face the lake, which moved further and further from view as they walked. “That was really scary. I don’t like putting you through it.”

“You didn’t put me through it. We need to take care of each other.” Kylie’s ears fell low. She didn’t understand what Naomi was getting at.

“Sorry, I’m being indirect.” She stretched out her fingers and closed them, as if literally grasping for the words. “I’m getting very uncomfortable with how much danger protecting me is putting you in. It goes against my impulse as a healer to let someone be put at risk for my sake.”

Kylie thought of Merritt and Jules running into the Absentia’s path, and the fear for the safety of her rescuers that had swelled inside her. “I understand.”

“And, moreover? You’re my friend and I don’t want to see you get hurt.” 

Kylie immediately stopped and gave the cleric a hug. Naomi fell into the comforting gesture. They stayed like that only for a moment - the importance of constantly moving forward having made itself apparent. 

Just as they resumed walking, Naomi continued voicing her concern. “Aalrahzorox asked if this was a journey for you too, and you said yes. I don’t want you to be putting yourself through this just to protect me. She said you were running away from home. Is that right?”

“I don’t know what she meant. Besides, I have to go back to Nighthills. Asalya would bite me for real if I didn’t.” Kylie faked laughter at her own joke.

Naomi’s expression didn’t change. She looked so worried. Kylie’s act faded.

“I didn’t intentionally run away from home. I honestly left just to protect you. But Aalrahzorox was right that I don’t really want to go back yet.” She felt her stomach churn as she said that out loud. As though saying something wrong with where she grew up meant that there was something wrong with her.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” Kylie muttered. “I like being your friend. I want you to be safe. I like seeing new places. I like being outside with Asalya and you. But, yeah, also I don’t want to go home. I’m going to, when this is done, when you’re safe. I’ll be able to go back, see my teacher again, play with the wolves again. See my dad and live safely with all the comforts of his house. Those are all things that I want to do. Later. I don’t want to go home now. I’m sorry I’m not sure why.”

“Okay.” Naomi reached out her hand and grabbed Kylie’s. “I’m not trying to force you to, and I’m so grateful that you’re here. Just, please try to take less risks? Maybe try to avoid jumping head-first into peril?”

“I’ll try.” Kylie squeezed Naomi’s hand a little tighter. Her ears and tail slowly perked back up. They walked together like that, Kylie’s other hand on Asalya’s back, until sunset.

When night fell, and they began to feel that their legs could carry them no further without rest, they set up camp beside the road. Kylie disappeared into the piney woods for a bit, returning with sticks and needles for kindling.

“Are you building a fire?” asked Naomi. They hadn’t built one since the cave. It had been much easier to hold onto Asalya and her dragonfire stone than constantly get up through the night to keep the flames warm enough.

“Yep.” Kylie touched the pine needles to the stone, drying them instantly. “I don’t think this thing will let me cook off it... Actually, wait-”

Kylie took her pack from Asalya and pulled out the pan she’d taken in Crescentia. Naomi, picking up Kylie’s intent, held up the dragonfire stone and allowed Kylie to place the pan on it. They held it like that for a while. Kylie held her hand above the pan, but felt no heat coming from it. But, she remembered, the stone’s heat only spread through touch. Gingerly, she touched her quaking finger against the rim. The iron was lukewarm at best.

“Well, that didn’t work.” Kylie rolled her eyes and placed the pan aside. She knelt by her bundle of sticks to prepare the fire. “Would’ve been cool, though. I might’ve been the only girl ever to cook a meal on concentrated dragon’s flames.”

“It was definitely worth trying,” Naomi replied, still unsure what exactly Kylie intended to cook.

 “Anyway, when I was in the woods I saw some deer hoofprints in the snow. That reminded me - I heard there was a centaur looking for us in Crescentia.”

Naomi’s eyes narrowed. “Both of us?”

“They were apparently asking specifically for me and ‘a cleric girl.’” Kylie struck her flint, flicking sparks onto the pine needles. “I was looking to meet up with them before the Absentia attacked. I think I might have even seen them in the crowd.”

“Weren’t you concerned?” Naomi asked, her nerves clearly on edge.

“A little bit, but I figured the only people who know we’re travelling together are from my village, and I think Aalrahzorox is the only one besides me who’s seen you do any magic. I just assumed this centaur is part of Madeline’s circle of magic friends.”

“Magic is precisely what I’m worried about.” Naomi stood up and began pacing around Kylie and her fledgling fire. “Not that your line of logic doesn’t make sense, but I learned some information about the Absentia back in the sanctuary. They have to be summoned into this plane, meaning someone is casting a curse to bring them in and have them hunt us. This centaur - or really, any stranger - could just as easily be a witch who’s trying to take the Light as they could be a friend. Their knowledge of us only makes me more nervous.”

“Shouldn’t we meet with them either way, then? If they’re a friend we could always use some help, and if they’re an evil witch we could figure out how to stop them.”

Naomi held her hand to her chin, pausing to consider. “No, I don’t think that would be wise. You and Asalya might be physically capable of winning a fight with a trained mage, should it come to that, but I don’t think you can win against an Absentia. It would be far too dangerous to try. Meanwhile, I’m armed neither with weapons, nor claws, nor the knowledge of how to stop dark magic and banish summoned creatures. And we are not in such dire need of help that I think we need to consider risking a fight.”

“I wasn’t thinking about fighting anyone, but I guess I understand your point.” Kylie blew at the little flame she started. A branch above it caught alight. “Is the plan just to race the Absentia and whoever’s summoning them to Laryth? There’s not much point in them picking a new Lightbringer if you, you know, have already brought the Light.”

“True, but I think you’ve misunderstood what I meant by stop. I don’t want another kid to have to go through this. Not tomorrow, not in another century. I want a way to counteract these things for good, and I want to find it now.”

“So, what do we do?” Kylie asked, watching her flame catch the other dry twigs. She held her hand to it. It still needed to be hotter.

Naomi still held her chin in her hands. She stared at the fire. “If we don’t know how to defeat this, we need to arm ourselves with knowledge.”

Kylie slowly turned her head up to face Naomi, a cheeky smile spreading across her face. She waited for Naomi’s reply.

“What?” Naomi asked, looking around for what caused this reaction. When Kylie didn’t move, Naomi locked eyes again. “What?”

Kylie still refused to budge. She giggled through her grin.

“Is this because I said arm ourselves with knowledge? Which is the kind of thing a massive nerd would say, and is therefore appropriate for me to say because I’m a massive nerd?”

Kylie gently nodded her head. 

Naomi stuck out her tongue in response. At that, Kylie burst out laughing.

The cleric leaned down and shoved the wolf girl’s shoulders, barely causing Kylie to budge. Naomi then stomped around to the other side of the fire, pointedly sitting next to Asalya instead. 

“Anyway,” Naomi brushed the front of her dress with the back of her hand. “I’m still trying to figure out how to learn more about our enemy. Dark magic isn’t the kind of thing you can read about in a village library. The Grand Cleric had a book in his office that seemed to have details about the Absentia, but there’s no way we’d be able to get back to Crescentia without the monster catching us. Even if we could, there’s no way of knowing if the book was lost in the attack.”

“So if we can’t go back and we can’t just drop the Light off in Laryth, where do we go?” Kylie started getting up off the ground to go to her bag, but Naomi had already started sorting through it.

“I had an idea about that.” Naomi searched for a moment, turning back to Kylie when she didn't find what she was looking for. “Did you have the map?”

“I thought you did?”

“Damn it. I must have left it with my pack in Crescentia.”  She took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. “I’m really sorry about that, but I can still explain without a visual aid. There’s another major city not too far from here, a coastal town called Larbroque. One of the other five major branches of the Order of Rejuvenance operates from there. The Grand Cleric there likely has a book with similar information to the one in Crescentia.”

Kylie held out her hand, and Naomi passed her the bag. “Can we get there without the map?” Kylie asked.

“Almost certainly. This road passes through several small villages, almost all of which I’d imagine also have roads leading to Larbroque. It shouldn’t be hard to find one. This detour could add a couple weeks to this journey, however, and I’m not actually sure it would do us any good.”

“Can’t you just ask the Grand Cleric there to let you read the book?” Kylie asked, pulling out a bundle of white wax paper. She gave it a sniff for freshness. “Or is this one of those things where they’d punish you for breaking some archaic nonsense rule they specifically designed to punish you?”

“The latter, I imagine. It would it be highly suspect that I had gone so far off the intended path again. And, Kylie, the Crescentian Grand Cleric saw us leave together. It’s possible my banishment has already been decided. I have no idea how we’ll even be let into the building, let alone the Grand Cleric’s room.”

“We sneak in,” Kylie said, returning to the fire.

Naomi sat stunned, both at the idea and the casual bluntness with which Kylie suggested it. “Pardon?”

“It’s a sanctuary, not a militia armament, I doubt anybody will be standing guard.” Kylie prodded at the fire, causing the flames to rise up more. “It’s not that big of a deal. I sneak out of my dad’s house all the time. Sneaking into some place is just going to be that process in reverse.” 

“I-” Naomi racked her brain for any reason that wouldn’t work. It couldn’t be that simple. They wouldn’t be able to just walk in and take it. She knew that. But either through physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion she couldn’t think of any reason why they shouldn’t try. She’d get in trouble. But she was in trouble anyway. Through a nervous laugh, she replied, “Yeah. Yeah. Let’s just sneak in and take the damn thing. What would they plan on doing to me if we’re caught? It’s not like I can be cast out twice!”

The soft light of the flames flickered across Kylie’s fangs. “That’s the spirit! But also, on a different topic, I’ve got a question for you.”

“Yes?”

Kylie held up a steak. “You wanted this thing left really bloody right?”

Noami’s eyes widened, first with curiosity, then with realization. Once again, she covered her face with her hands. “I’d completely forgotten.”

“I’m assuming you want yours done at least a little bit more than Asalya’s.” Kylie tossed the second steak at the wolf, who lifted up her head to snatch the raw meat out of the air. She slammed it against the ground and held it down with both front paws, using her teeth to tear off a chunk.

“A bit more than that, yes.” Naomi scooched away from Asalya to give the wolf more space to eat. “There may have been some bluster in what I said earlier. Do you think we could at least try to get it to a reasonably safe eating temperature?”

“Consider it done.” Kylie threw the steak into the pan and was immediately greeted with a pleasant sizzle. She returned to her bag, taking out an assortment of vegetables for her to cook after she finished Naomi’s meal. 

Soon the aroma of the steak and spices filled the area around the campfire. Naomi closed her eyes, letting the smell fill her head. She focused on it, on her mouth watering, on the rumbling in her stomach. On the rhythmic opening and closing of her hand. The smells, the senses, the tactile sensation of being alive. It was easy to exist in the past and the future, to mentally focus on what had gone and could go wrong. But now, she was in the present, where a friend was cooking her dinner for the first time in... Ever? It was nice.

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes still shut.

“Don’t thank me until you’ve tried it. I like to think I’m a decent cook but these are not ideal conditions and not my area of expertise.” Kylie delicately pinched the streak between two claws to flip it over. She turned back to look at Naomi. Kylie had never seen her look so at ease. That alone almost made this trip worth doing. When she finished cooking, Kylie placed the entire pan on the ground in front of Naomi. “It’s going to need a second to cool, I imagine. Also, I’m sorry I forgot to steal any plates or silverware. That part kinda slipped my mind.”

“That’s okay. Asalya’s eating with her hands, too.” Naomi picked the steak up off the plate. It was hot and greasy in her hands and smelled utterly delightful. She bit into it. Her teeth struggled to cut through the fat, so she pulled at it with her hands. When a piece finally tore off, she chewed slowly, deliberately, eyes closed. Experiencing it.

“Kylie?”

“Yes?”

Naomi looked the wolf girl in the eyes. “This is the single best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.”

Kylie’s tail wagged as she sat down beside her. “You’re just saying that because you’re starving.”

“And because it’s shockingly well-seasoned,” Naomi said, going in for another bite. When she swallowed, she set the steak back down in the pan. “Hey, come here.”

Kylie shuffled closer to Naomi, but Naomi waved for her to come even closer. Kylie moved up until her knees pressed against the side of Naomi’s leg.

“Lean in,” Naomi said, leaning out towards Kylie herself.

A flush rose to Kylie’s cheeks. She slowly moved her head forward. She didn’t know what was happening. Their faces were close enough that she could feel Naomi’s breath on her chin. Surely Naomi wasn’t going to ki-

Naomi leapt forward and bit Kylie’s nose.

Kylie yelped and threw herself back. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the cleric.

“Grrrr. Grrrr.” Naomi furrowed her brow and clenched her teeth, her feeble attempt at growling barely audible through her obvious nervousness. But after a moment, her growling was drowned out by her own laughter.

Kylie hid her bright-red cheeks in her hands. But after the moment of embarrassment passed, she couldn’t help but laugh alongside her friend.

“Goodness,” Naomi managed to say through chuckles. “That did not come natural to me. I don’t think I’m much of a wolf.”

“Well,” Kylie said, sitting up and giving Naomi a hug. “You don’t have to be a wolf to be part of the pack.”

Naomi leaned into the hug and stayed there for a while. “You’re very sweet, Kylie.”

“I at least try to be.”

“But also,” Naomi picked up her steak and took another bite. “For a girl with fangs you are such a dork.”