Everybody was quiet. Theonis had been sent to grab a litter from camp so Kosgoris and Kateni could carry Satiria back. Kosgoris was helping her to lie down in her tent and providing her with a lot of water so she could recover. Myrova had followed to apply her healing magic. Everyone else milled around camp for a bit, waiting for news. Eventually, Kosgoris walked back to the group and folded his arms.

“She’s cut up, but no broken bones and no internal bleeding.” He was shaking a little bit. “Most of the bruising seems to be to the muscles in her legs. If Myrova has the energy to go from now until tonight, Satiria should be okay to keep working tomorrow if she takes it easy.”

“That’s a relief to hear,” Dimileios said.

“I’m glad she’s okay,” Lias muttered.

“Satiria is strong,” Kateni said simply. “She’ll recover quickly.”

Theonis just nodded.

“Let’s just take the rest of the day off,” Dimileios said. “Nobody is in any emotional state to keep working, and we’ve lost a lot of daylight because of this incident. Everybody could use the break.”

The five of them sat around the dying fire. Nobody had much to say, too wrapped up in their own thoughts.

“I’ll have to be more careful from now on,” Lias finally said. “If the buildings are that unstable, there’s a good chance one of the taller ones will be able to fall over under its own weight.”

“We have safety protocols,” Dimileios reminded him.

“With all due respect,” Kosgoris replied, “we knew that this would be dangerous when we signed on, sir. And this is probably the best outcome we could have hoped for, given the situation.”

“All the same,” Dimileios said, “it would be prudent to place a hard deadline on this expedition. The longer we’re here, the more danger we’re in. We’ll stay for four more days and then we’ll head back to the ship. Let the navy have the site; we’ve gotten about all we can out of this trip.”

“I’ll begin preparing dinner,” Kosgoris said, standing up.

“I’ll help,” Theonis offered.

Theonis added some wood to the fire, then filled a pot with water to boil. Kosgoris was cutting vegetables when Theonis made it to the cooking station. He grabbed some herbs and a knife to mince them.

Hesitantly, Theonis asked, “How are you feeling?”

Kosgoris glanced over at Theonis and grunted.

“This is clearly bothering you very much,” Theonis said. “She means more to you than the rest of the team does, doesn’t she?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No, I don’t know much about liking a person,” Theonis admitted. “But it’s clear that you do. You should be honest with her about your feelings.”

“I’m asking you to stay out of it, Theonis.”

“Fine, but you won’t be happy until you know if she feels the same way.”

Kosgoris didn’t reply.

Once the stew was ready, Theonis started handing out dishes. Kosgoris returned to Satiria’s tent and helped support her weight as she walked to the fire. Myrova followed, slouched with heavy eyes.

As soon as Satiria sat down, she was swarmed with questions from the rest of the group. She tried to smile and assured them all that she was fine. Myrova yawned and sat down on the log next to her, taking a bowl of stew from Theonis. Satiria did as well, but didn’t look at Theonis. He understood. He had saved her life after she’d taken out her frustrations on him; no wonder she didn’t want to acknowledge him now.

Dinner, thankfully, wasn’t a somber affair. Except for the worried glances people kept sparing at Satiria, it felt like a normal evening. It wasn’t long before they settled into regular conversation.

“My brother was always a climber,” Lias was saying. “I’d always try to follow him up the larger trees, but I wasn’t nearly as nimble and ended up falling quite a few times. That was the first time I broke my arm, actually.” He flexed his hand. “After that, I learned to stay on the ground.”

“I used to climb up onto the roof of my mother’s house during summer nights to watch the stars,” Theonis offered. “I fell asleep up there once and my nanny couldn’t find me all morning.”

“You had a nanny?” Myrova asked, raising an eyebrow.

Theonis blushed and stared down at his stew.

“My mother was away on business a lot,” he said.

Dimileios added, “I remember one nanny who would always get me up at the crack of dawn for breakfast. Breakfast usually wasn’t even ready by then. She just did it to torture me.”

The conversation continued. As dinner wound down, Theonis started collecting bowls and cleaned them out so they could be used the next day. One by one the other team members went to bed until it was just Kosgoris and Satiria around the fire. As Theonis watched, they got closer to each other. Finally, they shared a brief kiss. Theonis finished washing the dishes and headed to bed himself.

In the morning, Theonis got dressed quickly and emerged from his tent before everyone else but Kosgoris, who was already preparing the fire for breakfast. Without stopping to ask, Theonis made his way to the cooking station and got started on breakfast. Kosgoris was going to have his hands full making sure that Satiria was recovering; Theonis could work a little harder for the day to make up for it.

Slowly, the others made their way out of their tents and gathered around the fire. Kosgoris helped Satiria to the fire once again. Theonis wasn’t sure, but thought that Satiria was holding back a small smile.

“I am ready to be back in the field,” Lias said, poking at his meal with a fork.

“I’m going to be a bit more careful from now on, but I am eager to return to work,” Myrova agreed.

Satiria nodded slowly and added, “I’m going to stay in camp today and work on compiling my notes. I’d be worried about pain if I tried to walk too far today.”

“That’s a good idea,” Kosgoris said. “Stay close to camp and don’t work yourself too hard.”

Satiria blushed a little.

Once the dishes were cleaned, Theonis strayed into the woods to begin looking for firewood. This was easily the least interesting job that he had to do, but at least it gave him a lot of time to think. His thoughts went back to the day before. Theonis had no idea what would have happened to Satiria if he weren’t here on this expedition. Despite everything she had said about him, Theonis was glad that Satiria was safe.

On one trip back into camp, Kateni came over to stop Theonis.

“Do you think that we’ll have time to spar today?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” Theonis replied, glancing over to Satiria’s tent where Kosgoris was indeed doting over her. “Tomorrow for sure, though.”

Kateni nodded and returned to patrolling the edge of camp. Theonis dropped off the wood he’d gathered and returned to the woods. He had more to think about.

In the excitement of the past couple of days, he’d all but forgotten what was happening to his body. Theonis had somehow less facial hair than a few days before. His hair was still growing; his body hair was a little lighter. Theonis’ skin was so soft and free of blemishes, but every once in a while he’d just barely brush against something and come away with a scratch. His skin was thinner than it had been.

It was slow, but the magic was altering his body. And it didn’t feel random. What was the pattern, though? Why give him more hair on his head but take it away everywhere else? Theonis just wanted to talk to someone about this. But there was nobody on the team that he trusted well enough to discuss this with.

Theonis should have hated what was happening to him. His body was being magically altered. He was even weaker than before, judging by the sparring matches he had with Kateni. But for some reason, part of him was always eager to see what new change each day brought.

Back at camp, Satiria was sitting by the fire, drinking water from a pitcher and having a small snack of dried lamb with nuts. She ignored Theonis as he dropped the last armful onto the wood pile. When he sat down to relax, she turned away but didn’t get up to leave.

Kosgoris walked up carrying a blanket. He tried to wrap it around Satiria’s shoulders, but she shook him off.

“I’m alright, really, Kosgoris,” Satiria said. “It’s hot enough as it is.”

“I just want to make sure that you’re comfortable.”

“I knew what I signed up for. But thank you.”

“You should have a proper meal, though. I’ll start lunch.”

“I’ll help,” Theonis offered, standing up.

“There’s no need,” Kosgoris replied. “Myrova and Lias are staying out in the field; they have rations to keep them full. I’ll just prepare something small for the rest of us.”

Theonis nodded and stretched. What else could he do, then? Kateni and Dimileios were standing off to the side having a conversation. Was it private or could he join? Only one way to find out.

Before Theonis could get to them, though, he heard Myrova’s voice in his head: Theonis, can you hear me?

“Uh… yes?” he muttered, shaking his head to try and recover from the fright that she’d given him.

Just think your responses. Can you help me? I have a bag of supplies I left in my tent that I’m going to need. Will you bring it to me?

Um… we’re about to sit down for lunch.

Once you’ve eaten, then, she said.

Yeah, sure.

Myrova gave Theonis instructions on where to find her and ended the message. Since Kosgoris was still preparing the food, Theonis headed to Myrova’s tent to look for the bag. It was sitting right on top of her bedroll, waiting for Theonis to pick it up. Still, even though he’d been given explicit instructions to come in here, it felt like he was invading her private space.

Theonis grabbed the bag and returned to the fire. Dimileios and Kateni joined them just as Kosgoris finished preparing the meal. Theonis ate quickly, not wanting Myrova to be waiting any longer than she had to be. Their relationship was tenuous enough as it was.

“I’ll be back shortly,” he told Kosgoris, grabbing the bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Stay safe.”

“I will.”

Theonis walked briskly through the ruins. There would be time to admire the scenery when he got back. The fact that Myrova was willing to ask Theonis for help directly meant a lot, and he wanted to show that her trust had been well-placed.

Myrova was set up pretty far from camp, so Theonis ended up taking most of the journey at a jog. After a while, he started to hear her voice in his head again, telling him when to turn. It made Theonis shiver to have someone in his head, but he grit his teeth and did his best to ignore it. When Theonis arrived, Myrova was standing outside a small circular building.

“Good, you’re here. Let me have the bag.” Theonis turned it over. “Thank you.”

“What are you working on?” Theonis asked.

“There are some runic markings on the wall that I’m copying down to send to the Academy for further study. I suspect that they have some magical significance.”

“Ah. Okay.” Theonis bit his lip. “Myrova, I apologize for being so rude to you before. I was taking out my frustrations on you.”

“You’re forgiven. I’m sorry, too. I didn’t like a stranger coming in and making things difficult for us, but I shouldn’t have been so hostile towards you.”

“I forgive you, too.”

“I’m glad that’s out of the way.”

Myrova took the sack and walked back into the building. Theonis followed, pausing at the doorway and glancing around to make sure there were no cracks in the walls or ceilings. The interior of the building was dim, with only Myrova’s lantern providing light. Indeed, a large relief had been etched into the wall, depicting people doing what looked like a magical ritual. Runes were etched all over the wall in circular patterns.

“You know, Theonis,” Myrova said, setting the bag down and opening it up, “you did end up proving me wrong. You demonstrated that you had something to provide to the group after all—your bravery if nothing else.”

“I appreciate that,” Theonis said. “I wish I could remain part of the group after this.”

Myrova hummed in reply and pulled a small journal out of the bag. Theonis watched as she began to copy down the runic patterns.

“I don’t really know what life is like on other islands,” Theonis said, “so I don’t really have anything to compare my experience to, but if life in the rest of the world is anything like life in my village I can see why people would want a life of adventure instead.”

Myrova paused, then asked, “Why is that?”

“There are a lot of expectations. The men have to be big and strong and nobody is allowed to have long hair. Everybody’s clothes are pretty much the same. Women at least have a little bit more freedom, but if they want to become pirates they have to meet the same standards. And everyone wants to be a pirate because it’s the only way to make real money.”

“Why go back if it’s so unpleasant for you?”

“It’s where I belong,” Theonis muttered.

“Well, pick somewhere else,” Myrova said.

“I… I can’t just do that.”

“Sure you can,” Myrova insisted, flipping the page and continuing her sketch. “You get to pick where you belong, as long as you’re capable of giving something back in return. I wouldn’t have been so stubborn about not wanting you to come with us if I thought you had something to offer at the time.”

Theonis squirmed and folded his arms.

“I don’t know…”

Myrova continued, “It sounds like everyone on that island expects you to conform to their standards. And that’s not fair. You shouldn’t have to change who you are in order to be accepted as long as you’re bringing something to the group. Maybe you don’t belong here, with us, but if you keep looking you’re going to find a place where you do, and once you’re there you’ll have the tools to actually make something of yourself one day.”

Theonis didn’t respond.