"...Arion?"

Lights. Rustling noises. The smell of pine sap. All of it hits me in a dizzying rush. A blur of brown and white and pink hovers over me. 

What did the blob say?

Right. Arion. 

"That's my sister," I murmur. My lips are chapped. Who's the blob, and where am I?

Another blob, this one blue and copper, crawls onto me and plops itself in my stomach. My vision begins to sharpen. 

"Hey," I saw, scratching the little dragon behind her ears. She rumbles happily. 

"Your sister?" The blob asks, only she's not a blob. 

Oh, shit. Right. 

"What?" I ask. Now that I can kind of think, I realize my mistake. I'm Arion, because Arion is worm food. Orc food. 

"You said Arion's your sister." Cherry looks worn and ragged. It looks weird on her. Isn't she the fearless badass? 

"Oh. No." I smile, even though it makes my face hurts. "I have a sister, though. Her name is..." i glance around. There are tall conifers everywhere, a carpet of pine needles blanketing the forest floor. 

Hm. Conifers. "...Connie. Sorry. What's going on?"

I sit up, much to Fahj-Dsal's disdain. We're in a different section of woods. The sun's just beginning to set, and shadows start to loom. 

My clothes are sticky and crusty. Blood's coating everything, especially on my back.  

"You passed out," she says. I realize she looks awful. 

Not, like, awful awful. I don't think that's possible for her. But her lovely eyes are bloodshot and weighed down with bags. Her hair is tied back loosely, her dress is torn and flecked with dried blood, and her bare arms are scraped. She's standing awkwardly, propping herself up on my bed. 

"How did I get here?" I ask. 

She avoids my gaze. "You made it most of the way. I had to, like, half drag, half carry you, until the we couldn't see the snakes. How much do you remember from the past two hours?" 

I search my memories. Back snake, rescuing, the willows, the magic... "Yeah. I seem okay. Are you alright?" 

"Fine," she replies. "Tired. Running for your life isn't very fun." 

"These woods aren't good at night." I don't recognize this particular nook of the woods, but still. It's all dangerous. I made it through once, but I don't want to push my luck. 

"Where else can we go?" 

"There's a village somewhere..."  I begin. 

Oh. But wait. I'm pretty sure that we're lost, which isn't exactly great for navigation. 

"Any clue where?" She asks. 

"No. Sorry." 

She sighs. "It's fine. I survived the Dark Mage. I can survive this."

"How do you..." I hesitate. She seems talkative enough, but also I don't wanna push anything. "How do you know stuff?" 

"Huh?" She seems confused. 

"Like... if you were in a tower your whole life. How would you know anything?" 

"He didn't really seem to know what to do with me. He thought me to talk. I can read and write. But then he'd give me books... I know he has other kids, but I don't think he really pays attention to them."

I nod. It's not exactly uncommon—almost every kingdom falls into financial crisis sometimes. Witches, wizards, hags, mages, sorcerers... they'll come out in times of need and bargain for children. 

No one's entirely sure what they use them for, but they pay well. 

And if Cherry's human, but she's born with magic...

Well, that would make her very valuable to a magic practitioner. 

"Did you know his name?" I ask her. 

She shakes her head. "Names hold power, which he didn't want to give me. Cheryl isn't my real name. I don't... I don't know what it is, or where I came from." 

The sun's almost down. Moonlight starts to shine, illuminating her arms. They're covered in goosebumps. It occurs to me that she's probably cold, but I doubt we have any blankets or anything. 

"How'd you get the dragon, then?" I nod towards  Fahd-Dsal, who's rolling around in the pine needles. 

"A couple years ago, a dragon nested on my windowsill. It never came back, but left the egg behind."

"And the mage didn't take it?"

She grinned. "I wouldn't let him take it. I think he was scared of me." 

"Well, you have magic. I don't blame him."

"What do you mean?" She asks. 

"Humans aren't supposed to have magic," I tell her. "Herbalists grow plants. Dark magic practitioners use animals. But humans... we're not supposed to be able to do it."

"You're wrong," Cherry says. "It can't be like that. That would mean..." 

Her face is chalky. She covers her mouth with one hand. 

"No. No, it can't—"

"Are you okay?" I ask her, because she's clearly not. 

She's closed off— jaw rigid, eyes bright and glistening. "We should make a fire." 

"Won't that draw attention?" 

"Probably, but I should be able to kill it. I need something to do." 

"I... okay?" I don't really know what to do. She stands up and walks around, gathering stones and fallen pine boughs. Fahj-Dsal walks over to me, tail flicking back and forth. She makes a squeaky noise. 

"I know," I mutter, "but what am I supposed to do about it?"

I watch as she grabs a stick and breaks it over her knee. She's covered in pine needles now. 

"It's too bad you can't talk," I whisper to the dragon. "I bet you have a few answers." 

She tilts her head, and it almost seems like she's going to say something. But then she just belches up a fireball and walks away, prowling around the perimeter. 

Cherry heads back towards me, arms full of kindling. She's using her skirt like a bag, holding the hem up with her pinky. The whole setup looks extremely unstable, like she's going to collapse any second. She drops the hem and rocks come tumbling out. 

"I don't really know how to make a fire," she mumbles. 

"That's fine," I assure her.  "Neither do I."

She looks at me funny, which makes me realize that fire-building is a skill princes usually have. 

I've seen fires before. I know what they're supposed to look like, at least. 

I pick up one of the rocks. One edge is jagged. I use it t dig a little trench, then line it with the rest of the rocks. 

The sticks she'd gathered are a bit too big. "Would you mind breaking those a bit smaller?" 

"Sure," she says. 

Soon we've got a small fire going. We sit down. I don't want to hunt anything. Like, I really don't want to hunt anything. So instead we split berries and jerky. 

Neither of us really talk. She seems too lost in thought. 

Eventually, without speaking, we put out the fire and lay down between the trees. I look up at the stars twinkling. Somewhere out there, Ree's body is resting underneath these stars. 

I shut my eyes and try to block out the world. 

I don't know what I've gotten myself into. 

I just hope it's worth it.