“Look, I know I haven’t met your sister, but ya gotta know she’s not gonna be freezin’ her tail off out here every night waitin’. Especially since you’re months early,” Taava complained through chattering teeth.

I exhaled through my nose and glanced up at the snow-laden branches framing the narrow trail we walked. “I know. But she’ll have left something. Some sign or clue or instruction.”

“And you’re just gonna follow it?”

“She’s my sister, Taava. Of course I am.”

“Right,” Taava replied, ears drooping. “Sorry, boss.”

“It’s… fine. It’s been a hard day for all of us. Sey and I will make sure we get a nice inn for tonight.”

Seyari hummed in acknowledgement and nodded. “I hope I just need a warm meal and a warm bed.”

I pulled my half-angel fiancée into a surprise hug, fast enough that she skipped a step. She squeaked.

“Renna!” she protested. “I get it! I get it!”

Taava leaned forward and mussed the half-angel’s silver hair, flipping some over to the shaved side of her head.

Seyari blew the hairs out of her mouth and glowered, earning a smile from Joisse that the wrath demon quickly hid.

“I’m just showin’ ya affection, Sey!” Taava said cheekily. “I’m no good at all that sappy Zarenna nonsense, but I know a good time!”

“You… you…” Seyari huffed and pushed out of my hug, dusting herself off. “Thanks, I guess. I’m not sure if you’re sincere Taava, if I’m being honest, but if you are: thank you.”

Taava replied with a lopsided smile. “So, uh, it’ll be a warm inn, yeah? Edathan winter’s’re crazy cold, and I think Nelys is frozen solid.”

“Hey!” Nelys protested, pulling their new-looking woolen hat down lower over their ears. “Okay, maybe a little. Mostly, I’m just thinking.”

“About what?” Joisse asked.

“Friends, family, the world. Big heavy stuff, I guess.” Nelys shrugged. “But I think I’m okay—and I have ideas of what I want to do next.”

“Good!” I chimed in with a thumbs-up. “What were you—”

“It’s a secret!” Nelys smiled. “For now, anyway.”

“More than fine.” I glanced at the shivering Taava and held out a hand which she took gratefully. “Have some heat for now. We’ll get you something heavier for when the real winter sets in.”

“The real winter?” Taava chuckled. “That’s a heck of a joke, boss.”

I stared at her and shook my head.

“Boss…?” Her tail drooped, and she started to whisper to herself, “I’m gonna freeze inta a block a ice. I’m gonna be a bardsicle.”

I rolled my eyes. “I get it. You need me as a heater. If we make enough money, you can always get something enchanted.”

Taava perked back up. “Great! Doesn’t help me right now though!”

Joisse giggled.

“You’re impossible,” Sey said with a hint of a smile.

“I do my best,” Taava replied with a bow. “I’d give you a song, but the weather’s got me all outta tune. And my lute, too.”

I snorted. Seyari tried to hold in a giggle, but couldn’t, and together with Joisse and Nelys, we all spent the next minute or so walking through the evening forest to the sound of stifled laughter.

That laughter stopped, however, when we reached a break in the trees. Just like a decade prior, the ruins of the old fort were an indistinct mass of rubble and jumbled walls, all dusted in snow. The evening sunlight penetrated just into the entrance, casting the stone floor in hues of orange and red.

“This isn’t from the war,” Seyari said softly.

I nodded. “It’s from long before, when Edath wasn’t part of the empire. South of here, there used to be a pass across the mountains; we had territories out that way in the wildlands and some agreements with the lupael who lived there. I guess “wild” lands doesn’t really make sense.”

“What about these days?” Nelys asked.

“I don’t know. Last I remembered learning, the pass south of here was covered in a huge landslide during the war with the empire. There’s another one, but it’s a ways off and isn’t passable once winter really sets in. I think some people still live out that way?”

“I’m going to go there,” Nelys declared. “I wanna see the mountains, and what’s over them.”

I glanced up at where the mountains were, hidden by snow-laden trees. “I’d like that too.”

“Me too,” Joisse said softly. “I’d imagine it’s beautiful up there.”

“Well count me out!” Taava swept her gloved hands in a slicing motion. “If it’s this cold down the mountain, I am not going up it.”

“I wonder…” Seyari started. “I wonder if Mordwell’s come this way. If he’s gone across that pass.”

I frowned. “If he has, we don’t have much time before it snows over.”

Seyari bit her lip. “What else could Tania’s note about moving our plans up mean—and Yevon’s offhanded comment about Mordwell?”

“Well, shit,” I sighed.

Taava glanced where I was looking and hissed. “Darn. Guess I’m gonna be a bardsicle after all. We’re buying a heatin’ stone or somethin’ before we go.”

“Absolutely,” I agreed. “Just because I can heat myself with my magic doesn’t mean I don’t feel the cold. And speaking of cold, we should get moving. It’s not far now.”

“Lemme guess? Bottom of the deepest dungeon?”

I missed a step and stumbled.

“Boss?”

“Renna?” Sey asked.

I recovered and swallowed. “No—it’s not down there. But, the night I died, that was where Abby and I had our first kiss, and found the amulet that made me… me.”

“A demonic amulet in an Edathan ruin?” Nelys asked.

“Edath used to worship some demons, if I recall my teachings,” Seyari explained, glancing at me. “Though my tutors liked to use the words ‘cult,’ ‘idol,’ and ‘heathens.’”

“That’s not… wrong,” I replied, taking a step toward the ruins. “But, it’s less like worshipping Dhias. People knew they weren’t gods, at least I think so. There was a sort of reverence, but not necessarily approval. If I knew who to ask, I’d ask.”

Sey stepped up beside me and took my hand in hers: a familiar, warm gesture. “You should be able to find someone, Renna. I haven’t noticed as much of a Church of Dhias presence here in Linthel.”

“You haven’t?” I hadn’t been paying much attention, had I.

“Nelys mentioned it,” Seyari said offhandedly, “and I thought to look on our way out of the city.”

I smiled wide at her words and squeezed her hand, leaning over to stare at the half-angel. “Friends, Sey. People who love and care about you.”

Seyari blushed. “Stop, Zarenna. I still need time.”

I backed off. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I also need a good hard shove sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

“Renna,” Sey warned.

I put my hands up in surrender. “I’m done. Promise.”

I didn’t let the awkward silence fester, and set off for the ruins of the old fort at a brisk pace. This time, there was no Abby running in front of me to turn around and egg me on. I was leading our party of five, and I had an idea I knew just where to look.

The courtyard.

While my strongest memories of this place were what was forever burned into my memory from my last night as a human, the courtyard held many softer memories. Times of younger years, where despite all my issues, I could have fun with my sister and best friend.

The gatehouse was almost as I remembered it, although nature had crept further inside. Beyond it, I turned from the looming, slumping stone fort and toward a field dotted with short trees and spiked with a few larger ones.

One of those trees was our destination—an old oak tree with branches we used to play in. If my hunch was right…

To my relief, the old tree didn’t take long to find. Like Taava predicted, there was no one waiting by its base, just a fresh layer of unmarred snow. Reverently, I laid a hand on the gnarled trunk; the massive oak hadn’t changed at all from my memory. Well, except in one way: it was smaller, in a relative sense.

The first branch I used to have to jump to get to was low enough for me to reach out and grab, and a few brown leaves stuck stubbornly to the end. I glanced down at Seyari and remembered ducking into Arden’s office earlier the same day, and how tight my clothes had been.

“Sey, this is gonna sound stupid, but am I taller?”

Seyari propped herself up on the tips of her toes. “Maybe a little?”

I glanced down at my hand, still human looking. “I’d better not get much bigger—I want to fit in my dress and my house both.”

“Your wings of fire, right?” Seyari guessed. “You got power from that demon you killed, I’d bet.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I think whatever play they’d made against me put their soul on the line.”

“Did ya eat someone’s soul, boss?” Taava asked.

“Not on purpose,” I answered, then hissed air through my teeth. “Never thought I’d say something like that, though.”

“Are you mad you took her power?” Seyari challenged.

I shook my head and clenched my outstretched hand into a fist. “No. I need to get stronger—and to better learn to use what strength I have, if we’re going to stop Avarice and Envy from killing all of us.”

I looked back at our ragtag group. Nelys was smiling, but the look in their eyes was faraway, worried. Joisse had a small smile and I could tell she was working hard at controlling her fury—she’d been getting better at it very quickly.

Taava wore a big dumb smile. “Glad ya said ‘we’re’ and ‘us,’ boss.”

“I hate to say this, but I agree with Taava.” Seyari turned away from the kazzel so she didn’t see the smug face the former assassin made. “I’ve seen a lot of powerful people try to take everything on themselves, myself included. You’re not going to do that, right Renna?”

“The thought crossed my mind, but I think we each protect each other, right? Even if it’s a little lopsided sometimes.”

“Good.” Seyari nodded. “That, more than anything, lifts my mood. Now where in the tree do you think this message is?”

“I was going to get it!” I retorted.

Seyari poked me in the chest. “Not unless you want to break the first branch you put your red muscled butt on. I don’t want to spend tonight dealing with a blubbery sad demon who broke her childhood memory tree in half.”

I side-eyed the branch. It looked strong. There might be more to this than a broken branch. “Alright. There are a few hollows at the bases of branches. I don’t remember exactly where they all are, but there’s a big one pretty high up. That’s probably where it is.”

Seyari looked up the tree. “I’ll be right back.”

“Ya know,” Taava started. “I’m real good at climbin’—”

“Shut it, Taava,” Seyari snapped. “This is mine.”

“Okay, okay! Yikes!”

I walked over next to the others and watched Seyari climb the same oak Abby, Tania, and I used to play on. Joisse reached her hand out to mine and I took it, warding off the chill from her fingers. Nelys gave my hips a side hug. Taava… jumped on my back.

She huffed when I didn’t react.

“Careful now,” I whispered as softly as I could. “You’ll be labeled as ‘one of the kids’ by Seyari.”

The former assassin leapt off my back and stood next to me. She pulled out a small knife and twirled it expertly around in her fingers. Yeah, I figured.

As we watched, snow started to fall, lightly. The sun seemed to finally make up its mind about setting by the time Seyari came back. In her hand was a knife blade—no handle attached.

“This is all I found.” She handed it to me

I took the blade and looked it over with aura sight. No magic. Moreover, it looked practically new—no sign of a wooden handle that had worn away.

“Does this mean anything to you?” Seyari asked.

The knife blade had no marks on it, but something about the shape was familiar. I looked closer at the tang—it had a slight bend to it. Immediately a memory of Bourick’s workshop burst into my mind.

He had a bad habit of bending his tangs a little, but he’d just designed handles around them when it came to basic knives.

I held it up by the blade, tang out so everyone could see. “This is one of Bourick Gadson’s knives. He sometimes bends tangs like this.”

Everyone nodded expectantly.

I opened my mouth to explain what a “tang” was, but closed it. While I was a little surprised Nelys knew the Ordian word for it, it made plenty of sense the others would know.

So, I kept going, “As you may know, I was Bourick’s apprentice before I died.”

“Our next stop is Bourick’s shop then!” Nelys exclaimed.

“If it’s still there and he’s still around,” I added.

“Inn first,” Seyari replied with a look at the rapidly darkening sky. “We all need rest and I can’t imagine he’s open right now.”

I looked for a place to slip the knife blade into, and decided just to hold it for now. “I also don’t know if his shop has moved. From what I remember and from what I’ve seen of the city, the fire shouldn’t have reached it.”

“First thing in the morning?” Nelys asked.

“Yep!” I replied. “Bright and early.”

Taava groaned. “You don’t need to sleep though!”

“Yes, and?”

Taava made a rude gesture.

I took one last longing look at the oak tree before we left. I am so tempted to try climbing it. Seyari pushed my shoulder gently before I could see if it would hold my weight, and we headed back onto the trail.

I lit an orb of fire above my palm along the way, bright crimson light casting strange shadows about the forest. This close to town, nothing jumped out at us despite my childhood fear of wolves (a very healthy fear at the time) creeping back into my mind.

This time, there was no orange glow on the horizon, just a slumbering city beneath a castle, surrounded by an arc of tall, snowcapped mountains. We made it to an inn easily enough—one far nicer than I’d usually stay at—and got four rooms. Joisse insisted she was okay by herself, although I knew part of that was our connection via contract that should give me enough time to stop any spirals of fury she might go down.

My worry turned out to be unfounded, as I didn’t remember anything after my head hit the pillow, and morning came quickly after a peaceful night.