Kaye paced around the quarters surrounding the inn. She did her best to hide her hair, not from anyone in the city, but from the people she knew well. She wasn’t sure what to say if any of them asked what she was doing, if they asked what she was looking for.

  She did this at every opportunity to be alone. Her friends believed Kaye easily enough every time she said she was out to explore the city and find something to draw and write about. The issue was that she didn’t have much time before the hunting trip.

  By the second and st day’s afternoon, Kaye resorted to risk herself. Away from the main avenues that cut Geshin north to south, every alley she passed through was dark and stank of urine, rot, or both. There were beggars aplenty. Most took her staring as an invitation, and she felt an inkling of shame at rounding them while making up an excuse.

  Kaye pursued the beggars, the ill and the drunkards into pces where they gathered, asking herself what she was even doing it for. A random man had told her to be wary of someone she liked, someone who had saved her life, and she was listening. Maybe it was a good thing that Hogog startled the man away, because he might have asked for more, exchanged coins for truths or lies.

  The issue was that something about the beggar had been convincing. Perhaps it was the fact that someone in his situation wouldn’t have the time to hone his acting skills. Perhaps it was the fact that he had mentioned Aien —although not the name —, which meant he had waited for hours until they came back.

  Something about the exchange tugged at her mind. Seeing a man with a bandana and assuming he was hiding something wasn’t that hard a thought to stumble upon. Even if the man had said it was a mark and not a scar, that could still simply be a bet, one which he could walk away from by using poor eyesight as an excuse. She couldn’t trust that blindly, but if only Hogog had stepped away from the inn a few moments ter, if only he wasn’t so aware at that moment, the beggar would have accused Aien of something, and Kaye would have a theory to explore.

  Instead, she was looking for a man that could be anyone, in pces where some danger was sure to be lurking, for the sake of some unspecified thing.

  When Kaye made her way back to the main avenues and turned south, she wasn’t surprised to have nothing to show for her wasted time. The unlikelihood of finding something didn’t prevent the mild feeling of defeat from settling in.

  She entered the inn and walked up the stairs. As she unlocked the door to the room she was sharing with Gima, the next door over opened and Hogog’s head peaked out. He was in the process of dressing himself.

  “Thought that was you. We’re almost leaving.”

  “Wait for me below. Where’s Aien?”

  Hogog smiled with half his mouth.

  “Practicing in the back,” Kaye answered her own question as she entered the room. Gima wasn’t inside.

  Kaye packed everything she needed into her backpack, all the usual utilities plus her dirtiest change of clothes — washing it only did so much —, the wax tablet, notebook and charcoal all bound in a kit and a dozen shafts she could turn into arrows — they would get more from the Hunter’s Guild — before leaving the room with her unstrung bow in hand like a staff.

  Everyone was gathered by the inn’s entrance, and she fought the part of her mind that wanted to stare at Aien before anyone else.

  Uruoro looked funny with the clothes he had been lent from his job as an auxiliar cook. The white shirt continued skirt-like beyond his hips, reaching almost to the knees, and the volume made him look fatter.

  Gima had her hair made into a long braid once again. She was still wearing the tunic she wore as a temple’s priestess, but it was in fine condition. Gima hadn’t spent as much time as they did trekking through the desert, after all.

  There was something missing… Kaye took a moment to remember what it was.

  “The sword?” she asked, approaching.

  “I sold the thing,” Gima answered. “Barely useful in my hands, getting rid of it helps keep some memories away and besides, we could use the coin.”

  Kaye didn’t hear any uncertainty in her voice, but couldn’t keep herself from thinking that the order of her priorities was in actuality reversed. She hadn’t been spending much time with Gima tely, but she would be fine with Uruoro as company.

  I could have spent this morning with them. Listening as Uruoro weaved profound words around me and sharing stories with Gima.

  She nodded before it seemed as if she had something else to say and turned to Hogog and Aien.

  “Shall we go?”

  Her uncle answered by hugging Uruoro and Gima, telling them to take care. Aien simply shook their hands, saying he would be back in about three days. He had never shown himself to be as heartfelt as the others, after all.

  Despite that, Kaye felt less convinced of the beggar’s words than she had earlier that morning. If Aien was dangerous, then she had to find that out, for her and everyone else’s sake. But if he was dangerous he would have done something by now, when it had been just the two of them.

  They left the inn together, but went in different directions.

  The Hunter’s Guild was a rge, barn-like building attached to a two-story one, with a row of sheds at the far back used for storage. Despite looking like a barn, the inside was clean and filled with side rooms. It was also filled with men.

  “There you are,” a male voice said, and Tom approached.

  Quick Tom, was how he liked to be called. The long-faced man with a bck goatee pointy as an arrowhead and well-trimmed whiskers had helped them find the guild the other day. His bck hair was so cleanly shaven back that he must have just got done fixing it.

  He slipped between the men with familiarity, all smiles and nods.

  “Hogog, right?”

  “Yes. Good to see you, Tom.”

  “Quick Tom,” Kaye reminded her uncle.

  “And you’re Kaye. You’re easier to remember.”

  She nodded.

  “And you are?” Quick Tom dragged the words as he addressed Aien.

  “We haven’t met. Aien Bashek.”

  “Well met, Aien. I guess you’ll be coming with us?”

  “Only for two days. I’m accompanying them.”

  “I hope that’s not an issue,” Hogog said.

  Quick Tom shook his head, but his movement was funny, more like a tremble than a shake.

  “No problem at all, as long as you bring your own food, doesn’t steal or kill anyone. Someone compins about you being there, you tell them you have Quick Tom’s blessing, then you flee as they try to chase me and can’t keep up. Unless you did steal or kill someone, in which case I can’t do anything about it. I guess don’t thwack anyone in the head either—or anywhere else—, even if you stop before they die. They might put me to hunting you down though, and the name ain’t for show.”

  “Right,” Aien said, expressionless.

  “Come on then. We’re gathering at the northest gate,” Quick Tom said, walking around them.

  “North gate,” someone said from behind them, “We’ll leave you behind if you don’t show up, Tom.”

  “I said northest. Those walls look straight, but they ain’t, making it the northest gate, even if it points northeast.”

  “You expect someone else to know or care about that?” the man’s voice was barely audible.

  “It’s called learning!” Quick Tom shouted as they stepped out of the building, guiding them towards the streets again.

  Hogog was showing teeth through his grin.

  The hunting trip was to be attended by a small caravan. In their briefing, they were told that sometimes they would stay away for months, with dedicated group of porters and draft animals bringing new supplies in and taking spoils back to Geshin. Hunting also required surveying, deskinning and processing the meat, treating the hides and pelts, and then getting everything to people who would pay for them.

  “It’s mostly the road for the first, ugh, ten days or so,” Quick Tom was expining to Hogog, Kaye and Aien following a step behind. “Pins hunting. You said you’re a woods hunter?”

  “Yes, the woods are where we grew up.”

  “In the pins, we chase herds. Drive them into a corner, and they jump,” Quick Tom gestured with his hands, one going over the other, then falling down. He made a crashing sound with his mouth. “Takes a long time to prepare for, but the results are worth it.”

  “That leads to a lot of suffering,” Kaye said. They turned to her, but continued walking. “Most don’t die in the fall, I imagine, so you need to end them.”

  “It’s not a pretty sight, I’ll tell you that, though it’s far from the worse.” Quick Tom sighed. “I do understand you. Don’t think I don’t.”

  “Is that the only way?” Hogog asked. “Chasing the herds?”

  “Oh no, not at all. We’ll be using traps as well, and sending two or three men to look for other game, but that is for our own supplies. That’s how you hunt to feed a family. With the numbers the guild needs, the herds are the only way to provide.” Quick Tom squinted, using a hand to block the sun as he stared ahead. “Care if I leave you for a while? There are some so-called-friends I need to catch up with.”

  He left them behind after a brief goodbye, striding in a such way that made his every step a leap.

  “This feels a little like home,” Hogog said.

  “It does,” Kaye agreed. The Nagra hunting parties weren’t as rge and Kaye had spent little time with them after passing her rite, but it still brought back memories, tinted with nostalgia.

  “What do you think, Kaye? How long should we stay here? This seems like a fine way to live.”

  Her uncle had a smile on his face, a smirk that hadn’t shown up since the night of the attack, left behind in the ship’s wake. Ignoring the fact that they had barely left Geshin behind and he was already making the question, seeing Hogog that way, eyes-gleaming, shook something within Kaye.

  It was a fine way to live, Hogog was right, but Kaye knew she would eventually grow tired of the repetition. The goal had, after all, always been to set foot in a direction, then another.

  “Let’s not think about how long it will take,” Kaye said, realizing she hadn’t yet answered.

  Nothing had gone as she expected. Other people had been pulled in. Danger had been a constant threat. Settling in for a few months? Maybe a year? Kaye could do that, but what would happen when she decided it was time to move again? Would Hogog follow her again?

  Would she need to flee once more?