The sun hit my face, soaking into my skin. It was a feeling I'd never get tired of. I loved now if only someone wasn't glaring at me, I could enjoy it.

"Stop it."

"You killed them all."

"Forests need to burn to live." I sighed, cracking my stiff shoulders from having slept on the ground in exhaustion.

Getting up, I padded to the edge of the woods, shuffling through the ash.

"Part of the issue with climate change was it changed the fire regime. Some fire is good. There are certain seeds even that won't be released without it. However, the more frequent and intense fires caused the forests to change. The fires burned too hot and killed all the trees' plans for self-replacement. So instead of re-populating, different trees invaded to fill their spot never allowing them to regrowing their again. Remind you of someone?"

"You are referring to the Others." He limped to walk up beside.

I nodded, my hand digging into the dirt to find what I wanted. "Life survives and adapts, those that don't die. However, the circumstances directly relate to that ability. So while some were killed by fires, others thrived with them."

I pulled out a root, holding it out to him.

"A root?"

"Not only that, aspen roots are sprouters or sometimes called suckers. The roots can grow new trees."

"So...like a potato?"

I placed it in his hand and brushed the dirt off. "Something like that."

"Hm..." He turned it this way and that in disbelief while I walked away. "Alice."

The breeze picked up, floating ash by and into my hair. Looking back over my shoulder, the dryads had returned. I flinched, reaching for my swords. The man raised his hand with a shake of his head. A wove basket was placed near Pitri's feet full of some food. I froze in shock.

The mask bobbed in acknowledgement. "Child if you truly wish to be the world's savior remember that the world was never just the humans, even before we got here."

They withdrew into the charred landscape, little green shoots following their steps.

Pitri picked up a berry, smelling it before popping it into his mouth. He didn't fall over dead, so I approached and grabbed one as well. Looking to him for confirmation, I bit into it. The juices bursting over my tongue. I had never had whatever kind of berry this was, but it was good. Grabbing a handful more, I picked up the basket to prop on my hip.

"Where to now?"

Our steps fell in with each other, matching pace despite Pitri's limp as I adjusted to stay near him. His gaze narrowed, looking me up and down for something. The silver burned into me when he met my eyes with his own. I wonder what he thought of the unnatural purple that swirled in them, not that silver was exactly human.

"You really want to be Earth's savior?" He questioned softly.

"Yes." The word was just as soft, but strong and determined.

"In that case, we go to where the humans are and we teach you to actually fight." I began to protest; however, he quickly cut me off. "Your pretty good with those swords, but it's obvious you've had no real world combat and your skills with your...abilities are marginal and flaky."

I growled, chomping down angrily into more berries. He smiled, chuckling with a hint of a wince.

"We go to the humans and you learn what you are fighting for and what exactly you want to save. After that, we go to the Others and you learn what you are really fighting against."

I rolled my eyes, kicking at the dirt. Stopping briefly to allow him to pick up his pack, I promptly took and threw over my shoulder continuing East. He rose an eyebrow but didn't object.

"I know what I'm fighting against."

"How about I put it this way then, to know who you are really fighting against. The Others are people, living intelligent creatures even if they aren't humans. You want to kill them fine, but I won't let you kill another one unless you've actually talked with one and got to know them first."

"Must you make everything so complicated?"

"Someone needs to be your conscience."

The dirt path plumed clouds of dust beneath my feet as we walked. The tiny pebbles and rocked jutting into the soft exposed flesh, at least I'd build calluses fast this way. I skipped, swaying the basket back and forth in front of me. Pitri was still struggling with walking and we had already stopped three times today because of it. He was bandaged up though and at least his wrist had stopped bleed from escaping the cuff. He healed a bit faster than an average human from his harpy blood, but not significantly.

I kept an eye on him with my peripherals, stopping when he looked too tired or in pain. It made for slow going though and a rather boring trip. We were never going to get to the humans this way.

"How far is this human city exactly?"

He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow, gazing up at the sun. "Maybe a day and a half now." Ignoring my groan, he continued. "And it's not a city exactly, more like a village built around a fort. All the humans city were deserted and destroyed years ago. Any big populations of humans attracts Others, the only reason this place is still standing is because of the military that were present and trained people to fight. A small village sprung up inside the walls for safety, but with each passing years there are less and less people."

"Well then we better hurry before more of them go and die on us."

The trip dragged on though, hours into a day, a day into two. They finished the food from the dryads plus what remained in Pitri's pack and had little water left. The sun beat down on them and I was ready to scream. The road, if you could call it that, was worn and the obvious way there, but a short cut through the fields sounded like a good idea at this point. All around us were fields of waving tall prairie grass. The trees having sparsed and disappeared from the landscape sometime in their trek yesterday.

Taking a gulp of water, I stopped to wait for Pitri to catch up again. He held his hand out, and took a chug of water as well finishing it.

"Well this sucks." I frowned, ready to plop down and give up.

Pitri nodded, his eyes scanning the horizon when he broke out into a smile.

"Maybe not, we're here."

"No way, really." I grinned, bouncing as I too look ahead. Seeing nothing, I decided to trust Pitri's bird eyes and flung him over my shoulder without warning.

"Hey! Put me down."

"But this will be faster and I need a bath." I sniffed, scrunching up my nose. "Ew, and you do too."

Renewed by the prospect, I flew across the dirt. My feet tapping the ground only long enough to push onward. It wasn't until an hour later though that I saw the fort and night fell by the time we reached it. Stopping, I put Pitri down and stretched.

"You really need to eat more, your ribs poke me when I carry you."

"Then stop carrying me." He grumbled, approaching the gate.

Large black lettering, a mixture of metal from the original and paint, spelled out "Fort Snelling".

I worked through my brain, trying to place the name. "Isn't that in Minnesota?"

"Don't move!" A voice shouted from onto the wall.

Pitri held up his arms, halting. "We're humans, just travelers looking for shelter."

"Prove it. Bleed for us."

We exchanged glancing, both of us knew my blood was a shimmering brown though Pitri's did run red. He must lean more towards his human side or his blood would be a harpy's silver like his eyes. Pitri withdrew my sword from my back and slice open his palm, holding it high for them to see the red dripping down.

"Now the girl!"

Pitri turned his body partially blocking their view, and squeezed his hand dripping blood onto my palm and cut barely in. His blood overwhelming the little color that leaked from me. He raised my hand over our heads. Silence. My heart pounded as I feared more of me would come out and they'd be able to see it. A loud buzzing sounded and the doors swung outward to greet us. Pitri stood my eager advance, getting the rag from his pack to wrap around my hand. His gaze full of meaning and warning. My eyes skimmed over him to where I knew the scars were. I had been so excited to meet humans I hadn't thought of what it might mean for him.

My hand clasped his, so big compared to mine yet I knew I could snap it in an instant. I suppose the important part though was I didn't want to. Together, we made our way to the entrance. A group of humans were waiting for us. I could smell them, so strongly. Humans, real humans again. Would they like me? Would they hate me? Could I really become friends with these people?

The pounding of my heart was painful and erratic in my chest the closer we got. A sheen of sweat making my hand clammy, but Pitri still hung on. This was it the moment I had been waiting for since getting out of that hole. Their Alice, their savior.

A young man stepped forward, his beard neat and trim over his angular face. He was shorter than Pitri's towering height, yet far more imposing. The way he held himself and the strong muscle all over him was evident enough of a solider and the stitched red stars she assumed were some kind of makeshift ranking marking him as a leader. His hazel eyes took us both in.

"My name is Lieutenant Aho. Welcome to Fort Snelling, one of the Hope's of Humanity."