Wren stared into the horizon, neither daring nor desiring to move. The last few days had washed over her like a cool breeze, and she scarcely remembered them. She hadn't seen Armand since he'd been stupid enough to try and kiss her, though she didn't expect she would. Maybe she wouldn't ever see him again. 

She remembered all the lazy days they'd spent here in the sun. When he'd given her that dagger and taught her to sharpen it. She didn't realize then that he sat a little too close, smiled at her a little too much. At the time she hadn't actually minded. In fact if for a different time and place she may have given it a chance. But now she just felt bitter and couldn't help but wonder if that was the only reason they were ever friends.

It was dangerous out here alone, really, but Wren didn't know if she cared. She'd heard whispers of unrest that barely passed where she could see them. What was Meria doing with a marked one, who did she think she was? After a while it got hard to ignore and so she'd returned to her old habit of hiding instead. 

If you could call it that, even. People could still see her. She wasn't far enough from the marketplace that people didn't occasionally wander out here to stare. They pointed at her winged back and whispered as if she couldn't hear them. It was different, now, than last time. Last time they whispered because they hated what she did. Now they laughed and whispered because they hated what she was. It hurt, even though she didn't want it to. 

Wren jumped a little when someone sat beside her, and she turned her head, half expecting to find Armand. She sank imperceptibly when she saw that it was only Elyn and turned away from him before he took a seat beside her.

"Come to make fun of me?" She said. 

"No," he replied, as he rested his hands softly on his crossed legs. He was all limbs and awkward angles, like a puppy that hadn't grown into itself yet. His eyes were round,but cold and distant, like a child who had seen too much. 

"Then why are you here?" she asked, and without meaning to her tone softened. She drew her arms around her knees and balanced her wingpoints on the ground like a backrest. The scab had already started to flake. She wondered how long it would take to completely heal and how big a scar it would leave. The wings had ripped her back damn near to her shoulder blades when they came through.

"When I sent you away I didn't think that--I didn't know you were a marked one," Elyn said. 

"And yet you're still talking to me," Wren said as she wondered why. Surely he didn't want to ruin his prospects completely. Hanging out with her would be as bad for him as hanging out with Armand had been for her.

"You act like you're the only one who doesn't fit here," he said. His mouth formed a hard line and he didn't turn to look her in the face. "Do you realize you're not the only person who's lost someone? Or are you the only one in the world who matters?"

"Oh? What have you lost? One bride? Oh no, poor me, woe is the poor little sixteen year old who has three more years to find a wife." Heat rose to Wren's face and her fists clenched into hard balls. She hugged her arms tighter around her legs and resisted the urge to get up and slap him. She took a shuddering breath.

"I never told you how I know Ittra," he said, voice as level as ever, like he hadn't even noticed how angry she was. It just infuriated her even more. She wished he'd just go back to being afraid of her and stuttering any time she was near him.

"I don't care," she said.

Heat rose to Wren's face and her fists clenched into hard balls. She hugged her arms tighter around her legs and resisted the urge to get up and slap him. She took a shuddering breath.

"Michael and I were...not friends," he said.

Wren wanted to bite back her words, swallow them whole like they'd never even come out of her mouth.

Everything made sense now. How he'd looked at Michael in the wagon as she climbed aboard and they pulled away. Why he'd even come in the first place. Why Elyn was so desperate not to marry her, perhaps even more desperate than she was.

An entirely new sort of heat rose to her face. She'd always heard of people with a different persuasion, people who often strayed and kept their predilections in the dark where no one could see. Her father had called them sneaky, out for blood and liable to steal your money if they got the chance. But she'd never met one. She'd always expected they'd be less...soft. 

Of course, if he'd hidden it well who knew who else was hiding it. She'd heard the whispers and seen the pointing when it was obvious, but what about the times when it was not? She could have gone her whole life and never even guessed. And all those years she'd let her father poison her. Against many things, she supposed. She wondered how many of them were actually so wrong.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"I tried to tell you before," he said with a shrug. "I thought it would be easier to get you to go with Michael if you knew why.

"But why now?" She asked. He could have kept it hidden from her forever, if he wanted to. They didn't even need to interact, since they weren't getting married and the entire marketplace now shunned her. 

"Because you needed a friend," he said. Without warning he took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Wren willed herself not to cry anymore, there had already been way too many tears these last few weeks. She couldn't bring herself to crack a smile, either, but at least she didn't feel so bad.

"What happened to Michael?"

"They left," he replied, and his eyes got downcast and cloudy again and he let go of her hand and returned it to his lap. Wren's stomach sank as she felt yet another option flit away on the wind. 

"To where?"

"I don't know...Michael told me something before he left. He said something was going to happen. Something bad. He didn't know what but--I think we should all find a way to leave. We're close enough to the Agatine if we prepare."

Wren looked at him like he was crazy. They were still a week from the closest city, and possibly more than that. There were diggers and reavers and sand spiders and snakes and who knew what else out there. Maybe if they could both fly, sure, they stood a prayer of making it. But Elyn wasn't marked and Wren had no intention of learning.

"I trust him," Elyn said, as if it were supposed to clarify anything.

"You trust him because you care about him," Wren grumbled. She wasn't risking her life on the word of some stranger, even if he was kind enough to take her into his house and feed her and give her clothes when he so clearly had so little to spare himself.

"I still trust him," Elyn replied.They stared off into the horizon for a few more minutes, neither speaking to the other. Wren's muscles relaxed and she let her mouth turn up into a smile. Not a happy smile, or even really a contented one. But for a moment things didn't feel as bad as they could be. There was hope. Hope that maybe one day she'd find a choice she could live with.

 A noise far off in the distance yanked Wren out of the calm. A quiet bang wrenched through the air, followed by another, then another. They got louder and louder with every passing second. Wren wheeled around and scanned the sky. A dozen winged guardsmen flew in and touched down in the center of the marketplace, but there were too many tents in the way for her to see. She rose to her feet and swallowed hard as her stomach sank into her feet.

"Oh, no," Elyn breathed. There was another tremendous bang, this time close enough for them to feel. Screams carried on the wind toward their ears and traveled down Wren's spine like a trickle of ice. A plume of black smoke coiled upwards and disappeared into the sky.

"What's happening?" Wren asked as Elyn stared at her, wide-eyed, then turned toward the marketplace. Wren's hands shook. Her mother was in there, tending the market stalls and selling wares. She could be hurt, or worse, dead. She covered her mouth with her hand and ran, heartbeat loud in her ears.

She barreled through the throng of people pouring from the marketplace entrance like a great snake. People pushed and shoved her as she muscled her way through them, using her elbows for leverage. They crushed each other with their bodies. A man fell and screamed for mercy as hundreds of feet stepped on him and around him. Wren had to get to her mother. She had to get to her at all costs. She gave one final shove and pushed her way out of the other side of the crowd.

"Wren, wait!" Elyn shouted as he followed hot on her heels and the chaos swallowed them both whole.   

---

Elyn has done a lot to help Wren. If you were her, would you accept his offer of friendship? Should she run away with him? Let me know in the comments!