I woke up to a familiar sensation. A weight on my chest, and a hard, sharp attack to my nose.

"Ouch!" I squeaked. My eyes opened to a fat black bird on me, begging for his breakfast.

"Alright," I mumbled. "I'm coming."

I rolled over, groaning as I reached into my pack for the last bit of dried cherries that I had held back for him.

"Here," I yawned, dropping the pieces onto the ground so he could gobble them up.

With a sigh, I sat up and pressed my fingers to my ribs. They were sore, for sure, but they were a lot better today than they were yesterday. If Purda's notes were correct, the potion just turned six weeks into two.

Rubbing my eyes, I looked around the barn. The fire was low, but it was still enough light to see by. I looked up, the thin trill of smoke was wafting out an upper window and into a gray morning sky.

Quietly, I brushed and braided my hair. It was a nice change to pull it all to the back of my head and out of my way. I smiled to myself, what would Thain think of it? I used to keep thick braids over my ears to hide them, and now I was fully happy with not hiding my features.

I stood when I was done, stretching, and walked out the barely open door.

The air was crisp and fresh, but warming quickly for the summer day ahead of us. I glanced around, quickly spotting Spaulder by the shores of the lake.

I walked to him slowly, taking in the scenery. My eyes picked at every tiny detail that had changed since I left this place. A building that no longer stood. The expanded forge in the blacksmith's house. The fishing boats that had all been pulled ashore, probably never to glide over the water again.

I sighed through my nose and took the last few steps to Spaulder's side.

"You are awake early, little one," Spaulder said, calmly watching over the slow motion of the water.

A small giggle escaped me as I looked up at the stoic but kind Spaulder. A literal dragon in disguise. "Puko is at fault. I guess he was hungry."

Spaulder's mouth crept up at the corners. "I see."

I leaned into him, resting my head against his arm. "Spaulder, is everything okay? You left to watch our surroundings pretty quick last night. I never really got to introduce you to Thain."

Spaulder moved the arm I had been resting on, he pulled me in close with it, embracing me as we watched the lake together. "I am sorry to have upset you. I truly wanted to keep watch. Those tree spirits that attacked us should not have gotten so close before I sensed them. My abilities have dulled terribly during my imprisonment."

I reached up with a hand to pat his arm. "I was worried you didn't care for Thain or the village or something."

"No, little one. With the tales of Thain you have already told me, I trust he is able to watch over you. I would not have left you and Schula alone with him if I did not care for him."

That made me smile. "That's good."

"Besides, he did come to speak with me once you had already fallen asleep."

I raised my eyebrows. "He did?"

"Mmm. Two warriors, coming to understand each other. He did not say much, but neither did I."

I giggled. "I can picture that, actually."

Spaulder grinned. "He did ask me one question."

"Oh?"

"He asked what I am," Spaulder mused. "And I did not tell him."

I choked down another laugh. "You don't want him to know?"

"No, I don't think I do," Spaulder answered. "I don't think I will tell anyone, for that matter."

I nodded. "I won't spill your secret then."

Spaulder grinned at that. "Thank you, little one. The longer I have to recover in this small, efficient form, the better. I need almost no food or sleep, and I feel stronger with each passing day."

"Good," I leaned into him, content. "I want to show you so many things about the world I know, and I can't do that if everyone is raising a fuss at you."

He hummed. "Are there truly no other dragons that I would be such a spectacle?"

"I'm afraid not," I said quietly. "Not that anyone I know has heard of, anyway."

"I see," he murmured, and cast his gaze across the gently rolling lake in silence.

I bit my lower lip, wanting to say something and not finding the words. There was little I could say that would make it any better for him. Maybe he truly was the last dragon in the world. Maybe any others were sleeping off the centuries as he had done. I had no way to know, and if he didn't either, than the knowledge was probably well and truly lost.

Spaulder tilted his head, catching my attention. "It sounds like the others are stirring. We should go to them."

I nodded and turned from the water to see the barn. "Alright."

We walked back together into the barn to see that everyone was indeed awake. Nassir was pulling together breakfast, Schula was packing, and Thain was breaking down the fire pit while Puko preened his feathers from the rafters.

"Good morning," Nassir said, turning to us with a smile. "Did you two sleep okay? Not too many bug bites?"

"No bug bites as far as I know," I answered. "Here, let me give you a hand."

I kneeled down to help him pull things from the packs of food, moving slowly so as not to strain my ribs. "I slept well enough. That's probably a good thing, since we have a lot of walking ahead of us."

"Hmm." Spaulder leaned down next to me and helped fasten a bag. "How far are we from these Wyldes? I will admit, I am very curious about them."

"We are at least a couple days away if we walk and take regular breaks," Nassir said.

"And a couple more if we choose to pass by the outpost," I added. "Though, it seems like there isn't a reason to bother with that anymore."

'There isn't," Thain said, putting out the last of the smoldering ashes in the fire. "But directly north is too close to Winter's territory for my liking. We'll pass by the outpost anyway."

"Sounds good to me," Schula said. "I want to use the bath."

I shivered. The bath.

"Definitely," I agreed.

"Alright then," Thain said, standing up and taking one of our packs from the ground. "Are we ready to go?"

"Come take some of this food first," Nassir added. "We can eat and walk."

"Thank you, Nassir," Schula said.

Spaulder took a torn crust of bread and a small wrapped cake of seeds and root vegetables from Nassir, then he opened the barn door.

"Caw!" Puko called, and he flew down from the upper reaches of the barn to land on Nassir's shoulder.

"Puko! Don't pick Nassir just because he has the food," I scolded.

But Nassir chuckled and waved my concerns away. "It is quite alright. I enjoy the company."

I sighed. "Well, if you're sure."

"Let's get going," Thain said. "We should be able to make it in less than three days if we push it."

"Alright," I said ,grabbing my bag and accepting something to eat from Nassir.

But Thain reached over and took my pack from me, slinging it over his shoulder.

"Hey!" I protested.

"You still have injuries. I can see it in the way you walk," Thain said.

"I took my medicine," I said. "And my ribs hurt, not my shoulders."

Thain looked at me with his blank expression that was so hard to read.

"Your witchcraft can only go so far, I don't want you to make your discomfort worse," he said, and began walking.

"Thain..." I said, but Schula came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Can't argue with that one, too stubborn," she said.

I sighed, still frowning.

"And, he's not wrong," Schula said, patting my cheek as she walked past me to follow Thain. "Take it easy for a while, I promise that big blue brute can carry a lot more than a pack of books."

Spaulder chuckled at the exchange, and Nassir wisely kept his opinions to himself, though he wasn't hiding his grin very well. I grumbled, but followed without my fair share of baggage.

Once we had all arranged ourselves with things to carry and with some form of breakfast, we began walking. The morning looked clear enough, but there were enough clouds in the distance that I sighed and hoped we wouldn't be running into rain later. Once we left the safety of the village by Silver lake, we wouldn't have any shelter's to hide under until the outpost.

None of the humans in the village were awake, or at least none were willing to show themselves as we left. Whatever silent agreement Thain had come to with them didn't mean much, but it was at least a promise of protection against the raiders, if they decided to come back.

I paused at the edge past the last house before the landscape turned to rocks and trees. Glancing back, I wasn't sure how to feel about it. I didn't particularly wish harm on anyone, but I wasn't about to go out of my way to keep them safe either. Not after the way they treated me as a child.

Still, some part of me would hate to see a place Bryn loved be destroyed again.

"What is it?" Schula asked.

"Hm. Probably nothing, but I want to leave a trinket for this place. Something Mila used to make," I said.

The others stopped walking and turned to face me. "What do you need?" Nassir asked.

"Hold on, I have it all in my bag," I said.

I walked over to Thain and reached in the pocket where most of my plants were kept. After a moment, I made a small wreath woven from holly twigs and sage leaves. I said a small blessing, then kissed it before hanging it on a branch of a nearby tree.

"May the Mother watch this place," I said.

"Caw!" Puko added.

I stared at him for a long moment. He still sat on Nassir's shoulder, but he looked at me and the charm with his blind eye.

"What are you seeing?" I murmured.

Puko flapped his wings a bit and re-settled on Nassir's shoulder. I shrugged, leaving it at that. He had been around far more witchcraft than me, and I had long since stopped questioning his strange behavior.

"Thank you for waiting," I said. "I'm done now."

Schula nodded. "Of course."

We began walking again, a comfortable quiet as we all listened to our surroundings. I noticed that Spaulder was still alert, ever watching. It must still bother him that we fell into that trap of dryads and tree sprites.

I frowned. A trap. That's exactly what it was, and it sat between all of us, the heavy and unspoken threat. DuVarick sent scouts after us, and set traps for our return. He would not let us go so easily.

I tilted my chin up. Even if he came for me again, I barely resemble the frightened girl that fled from him those months ago. I return knowing who I am, and this time the outcome would be very different.

"You kept it." The soft words barely registered, making me jump a bit as I turned to see that Thain had silently began walking next to me. I looked forward, Schula and Nassir were in the lead now, Spaulder following after them with Puko in the sky above.

I looked to Thain. "Kept it?"

A faint smile crossed his lips, but only for a moment. "Your hand."

I looked down and realized what he was talking about. The pendant he had given me before we left, I was holding it in my hand, playing with it absently as I often did on the road.

My cheeks flushed as I looked up at him sheepishly. "It helped me a great deal when I was away."

Thain nodded. "It seems you have done quite a lot in your travels. And here I've only been watching the borders and keeping out of Eberon's way. I fear you'll leave me behind on the battlefield."

I laughed. "Hardly. Schula still keeps at me to run and stretch and practice, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at it."

"That's a relief. If you were skilled in martial fighting on top of controlling your already impressive force of magic, I'm sure I would begin to feel useless for the coming challenges."

I laughed so hard that I had to smack my hand over my mouth so as not to disturb half the forest with the sound of it.

"You're far from useless, Thain," I said. "It's me I'm worried about. If they don't like me for being an elf, they certainly won't like me for being a witch."

Thain reached over and brushed his hand across my cheek. "Don't worry about what any of the fae think of you right now. They will have heard whatever rumors about you spreading through the Wyldes already. There is nothing we can do about that. But if you show them who you are, and remind those who've already met you that you are a kind and clever person, then you will win them to your side."

I sighed. "And if I don't?"

Thain shrugged. "Wren of the mountains. Half witch and half elf. Victor over Icehold. I believe that if you cannot find a place for yourself in the Wyldes, than you will make one."

My eyes widened as I stared at Thain. He was giving me more words than he typically used, and his blatant faith in me was too much to handle.

Thain patted my shoulder with his free hand. "We don't stop until we camp tonight, unless you need a break. Please let us know if your ribs begin to hurt."

And then he left, walking forward once more until he was at the front of the group.

I was left at the back, left with only myself and his words to contemplate.

A place for me in the Wyldes. That is certainly all I want once this mess is all over.

Repair the failing barriers around the Wyldes.

Bring to light DuVarick's corruption and clear my name from his court.

And find a home in the Wyldes.

I glanced between Thain, Schula, Spaulder, and Nassir.

Home.

A home for anyone in the Wyldes who needed it.

And I might just have to make it.