The late fall air was surprisingly warm, the Haderon Forest still and quiet as evening fell over the Crimson Caster's cabin. The light of the flames across the hearth were barely flickering, the fire almost unwavering as Varian finally came in from outside. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, suddenly exhausted. He looked up and saw that Martin was dozing at the table, his head nodding as he tried to keep his dark eyes open.

The guard stirred as Varian sat down across from him, the chair legs scratching across the wood floor. "How's your horse?" Varian asked.

"Oh, she's…she's actually standing now," Martin muttered, smearing a hand across his unshaven face. "I guess the wit – I mean the girl, was right. Even if her cutlery did threaten me when I came inside again." He yawned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "How's your…whatever it is now?"

Varian barely had enough energy to respond. "He's fine. He ate almost twenty pounds of apples, then fell asleep again."

Martin smirked. "Didn't really think too much about the consequences, did you? There's no way you can hide him, he'll stick out like a sore thumb no matter where you go."

Varian nodded. "Yeah."

"He's really going to be that way forever, huh?"

"Yeah." In truth, Varian wasn't even sure how long 'forever' was going to be. The transformation might have affected Rudiger's lifespan one way or the other, but there was simply no way of telling. For now, he was alive and well, and that was all that mattered to him.

Martin mirrored Varian's head bob. "Well, at least you get an awesome mount."

Varian gave a single chuckle, then coughed uncomfortably. "Sorry about earlier. It's, uh…It's been a long week."

"I'm fine," Martin sniffed nonchalantly. "It's fine." They sat there in awkward silence for a moment. He sat up a little straighter and started tracing the table grain with a lazy finger. "So, you really meant what you said? All that stuff about moon spirits and Haderon's tomb and this Tan Ziri character?"

"Zhan Tiri."

"Whatever. Is it really all true?"

Varian leaned back in his seat and showed his empty hands. "Look at me. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried."

Martin ran a hand through his sandy hair, blowing out his lips. "Well, crap. I can honestly say, I never thought something like this would happen. I never thought magic would come back to this land. All I've ever cared about was serving Corona, making sure people like my father would never have to beg for scraps again." He curled his toes inside the boot that Shay had magically replicated for him, to replace the one he'd lost. "I guess we both have dads we can't afford to let down." He looked Varian in the eye. "The day you escaped, I swore I would bring you back and have you answer for it all."

Varian slowly felt the muscles in his shoulders tighten, and he pressed his feet firmly to the ground.

But Martin made a dismissive gesture. "Relax. I'm not going to do anything right now."

"What are you going to do, then? You can't just let me go."

"No," Martin shook his head. "No, I can't. But if what you say is true, that there's some demonic entity that's going to attack the kingdom I've sworn to protect, and you know how to stop it…well, I can't arrest you if you have no kingdom to answer to. And I can't just let you go on your own. I have no guarantee you'd come back, except your word. So…I guess I'll have to go with you."

Varian coughed. "I don't think so. It's bad enough that you know where this place is."

"So, I know too much. Isn't that all the more reason to keep me around?" Martin countered. "I mean, let's be honest, you don't want me to go back and report any of this as it is, anyway. What better way to keep me quiet than to keep an eye on me? This doesn't have to be a babysitting gig for me – it's a mutual arrangement. One that we've kind of already been doing. Besides, as much as you think you're a fighter with that bow of yours, there are things out there that you'll wish you had a trained soldier for."

Varian chewed the inside of his cheek. He was right. They were all stuck between a world-conquering demon and a hard place; if Varian was one of the chosen to put a stop to it, he was going to need all the help he could get. "Okay," he agreed. "Alright. But there are some ground rules we need to lay out. No treating me like a prisoner or like a kid."

"You mean we have to be friends?"

Varian held up his hands. "You said it, not me."

Martin shrugged. "Well, I do sort of owe you my life. If that doesn't make us friends, I guess I don't have a better word for it." He cracked a tired – but warm – smile and extended his hand.

Varian shook it with a smile of his own, his grip firm and sincere.

"Well," Martin yawned again, "now that that's settled, I guess I'll see what the girl has set up for us to sleep."

Varian frowned. "The girl has a name, you know."

Martin peered around the cabin with a squinted gaze. "Did she ever come in?"

"What do you mean? I thought she was upstairs."

"No," Martin shook his head. "She went outside a while ago. Unless there's another door I don't know about, or if she teleported or something."

Varian went to the back window and swept the curtain aside, his forehead creased as he searched. Then he crossed to the back door and stepped outside. The light from the house bled out from the window, spilling onto the blue snow in rosy hues. The cooler atmosphere was inviting, and Varian could see flecks of moonlight reaching down through the branches overhead. He took a deep, cleansing breath, then let it out, his breath misting in front of him as he made his way towards the garden gate.

Everything was still growing, untouched by the season's chill; even the temperature felt different as he picked his way slowly towards the rickety bench, where Shay sat underneath her mother's tree. She had tied her black hair out of her face, but the moonlight overhead cast a shadow, hiding her expression. She had a small bundle in her lap, a folded handkerchief filled with tender shoots from the lower branches. She sang a familiar tune under her breath, continuing her mother's song:

Where is your home, vagabond?

Searching on and on, always on the run

Searching on and on, always on the run

Killy jumped down from her side and bounded over to Varian as he approached, sniffing playfully at his feet. Varian reached down to stroke the hare's brown face, tapping his pink nose once before standing up to speak.

"You okay?" he asked.

Shay didn't answer at first. She picked purposefully at a corner of the handkerchief, her eyes closed as she felt the fabric between her fingers. "I've been thinking," she said quietly, almost a whisper. "About what you said. About the Celestial. About Zhan Tiri." She opened her eyes and stared up at him, her fingers still. "I'm beginning to wonder if I was wrong."

Varian knelt to her eye level and wet his lips. "About what?"

"Everything." Shay gazed into her lap, her voice monotone and lifeless. "You not being cursed. Not using Spellbane to free my mother. Going off to find Xavier." She focused her look somewhere to the right, deep into the dark of the forest. "This power you have, this task you've been given…Would you have it if you hadn't come here? If you hadn't left that prison?"

"Shay, don't –"

"What's the difference between having no choice but to travel halfway across the world to appease some otherworldly force…and being cursed?" She snapped her eyes to his, her jaw tighter than a vise. "Why do you have to do this? Why do you have to do any of it?"

"Shay –"

"It should be me," she cut him off, her hands fisting over her knees. "I should be the one to bear this burden, not you."

Varian made a desperate shake of his head. "I don't want you to have this," he hissed. "This isn't something you deserve. If it means I'm the one who gets threatened and hunted down –"

"Do you think I want that?" she begged. "Don't you understand –"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I don't understand! I'm the one who chose to come here. I chose to decipher your mother's journal."

Shay didn't budge. "I shouldn't have taken you to that door."

"And I shouldn't have touched it."

"I should have gone to Xavier alone."

"And I shouldn't have helped you." Varian suddenly felt a chuckle bubble up out of his chest, mirth creasing his freckled face. "We can do this all night, this back and forth, wondering how we can change the past. How things could have been different. But we can't." He frowned for a moment. "Right? We can't do that, can we? I mean, there's not a spell for it or anything?"

Shay sighed through her nose, and her face threatened to crack into a helpless smile. "If there was, don't you think I would have tried it by now?" She sobered, her back straightening. "If it's not my responsibility to find this…this Moonstone, then it's up to me to help you reach it."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You don't have to." Shay tied the handkerchief closed. "I've been waiting here in this place for so long. I didn't know what I was waiting for. Now I do. And I won't ignore it. Whatever you need, as much as I can offer." Her face scrunched into a pitiful pout. "Though it may not be much, I suppose."

"Well, I don't know about that. You are pretty. Pretty smuh-smart, I mean. And, you know, resourceful." He winced inwardly, waiting for her to tell him how dumb he sounded.

But she smirked instead, a shy turn of her mouth that Varian stared at for too long. "I don't know if that's really enough."

"Oh. Okay." Varian cleared his throat, his face glowing red as he realized he'd grabbed her hands. "You're, uh…you're thoughtful."

"No, I meant –"

"No, no, I'm not finished." He cleared his throat again. "And you're special. Oh! You're really good at cooking."

She squinted. "Liar."

He looked up into her face. "What? No, I'm serious, that bread was amazing!"

Finally, she laughed, a genuine giggle that sent fireworks up his spine.

"Okay, my turn," he said with false sobriety, trying to hide the sudden excitement in his chest. "Now you get to say something nice about me."

Shay's face went soft, her eyes searching for something in his expectant gaze. "I…I don't think I could put all of it into words."

Varian made a disappointed face. "Oh, come on."

"No, I mean…" She pulled her hands out from his and placed them on his shoulders. "I could say it, but…I don't think you would want me to."

Varian's eyebrows drew together. "Say what?"

Before he could stop it – or maybe because he chose not to care – she leaned into the space between them and placed a very long, very deep kiss on his cheek. It wasn't the uncomfortable kind of kiss a grandmother would bestow, nor was it the chaste kiss a sister might give. It was the kind of kiss that Varian wished he could return tenfold, the kind of kiss that made his arms ache, the kind that made him grateful he was already kneeling so that his legs didn't have the chance to give out from beneath him, the kind that made him wonder how it would have felt if she had aimed just an inch or two further to the left.

Immediately, Varian knew what the kiss meant. He also knew it meant that he was about to break her heart. The pure ecstasy he might have felt turned into pain as she pulled away; she already knew what he was going to do, and she hung her head in burning shame.

Varian didn't know what he was doing until he felt himself tug one of his gloves off, and he reached to lift her chin with his bare hand, forcing her to look at him. "I…" He stared at her, wishing with all his might that he could be someone else, anyone else, wishing that he'd never set eye on those wretched black rocks. He could tell that she saw it in him; he could feel the desperation rolling off her in waves, he could almost hear her screaming at him in his mind, begging him to make the choice he knew they both wanted.

But everything he wanted in that moment, he knew he couldn't have.

His hand fell away, his fingers freezing as they left her skin. He slowly stood, refusing to look her in the eyes; he couldn't bear to see the agony he knew was there. He didn't want her to see the tears blurring his own vision, so he turned and walked away. It felt like he was moving in place, like every step was through a field of molasses. He felt heavier than a ten-ton boulder as he quietly opened the back door and stepped inside the house.

Martin was at the window, his brown eyes darting towards Varian as he opened his mouth to speak. But any retort or accusation died in his throat when he took in the sight of him. He watched Varian pull out a blanket, drape it on the wood floor, and curl up into the tightest fetal position Martin had ever seen.

Pathetic was the word that came to mind. Martin was wise enough to not say it out loud. Instead, he sighed, closed the window curtain, and laid down again to sleep, the silence of the Crimson Caster's house sweeping over them like a shroud.

Dawn broke out in glimmering golden shimmers through the cabin windows, the silence still there as everyone got up and began to work. The boys didn't know when Shay had entered the house, but she came down the stairs, wearing the same dress she'd worn on the day Varian first came. She had fixed the large tear in the skirt, and she handed Martin a bundle of new clothes to change into. As they tidied themselves up and folded their blankets back into the trunk, she tied her plaid apron around her waist, set Killy down on the floor, and began to crack eggs into a skillet over the fire. The sound of each shell splitting in two made Varian's face twitch as he pulled his boots on and exited through the front door to visit Rudiger. Martin left through the back door to check on his mare, running his hands quickly through his blonde hair in a hasty effort to tame it out of his eyes.

The morning was warm, a promise that winter hadn't arrived quite just yet. The snow disappeared within an hour, and Varian's feet crunched across brown leaves and dry grass as he checked Rudiger's temperature and searched his permanent, hulking form for any injuries. Rudiger snuffled at him when he was done, trying to find treats that were now far too small to satisfy him.

"Sorry, buddy," Varian apologized, scratching behind the racoon's pan-sized ears. "I don't have anything for you. I'm sorry."

Rudiger sat back on his haunches; Varian estimated that Shay's spell had made the creature roughly 0.15% bigger than he normally would have transformed into. Still, he didn't appear to be harmed. He didn't even seem especially bothered by what had happened, almost as if he had been this way his entire life. Despite how he felt, Varian managed a small smile. If Rudiger could learn to be happy with the way things had turned out, maybe in time, so could he.

"Hey, kid! Breakfast is ready."

Varian jumped; he hadn't heard Martin approach from behind. He turned to see the guard standing there in his new outfit; linen trousers with a denim vest over a grey shirt. Varian wasn't sure where Shay had found them, but they fit the guard perfectly. "Looks good," Varian noted out loud. "Did she even measure you?"

Martin shrugged. "I hardly expect a suit of armor."

Varian watched Rudiger sniff curiously in Martin's direction. "She might have one somewhere. Her dad used to be…well, I probably shouldn't tell you. It's not important."

Martin snorted. "Usually when people say that, it actually turns out to be very important."

"You ask her, then," Varian scrambled up onto Rudiger's back, trying to grow accustomed to the feel once more. "Maybe she'll tell you. Yep, definitely 0.15%, maybe even 0.20%."

"She won't talk to me," Martin shook his head. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

Martin gave an involuntary shiver. "She won't stop staring at me."

Varian sighed. "She's just afraid of you."

"That's not fear. She hates me."

"Okay, fine, she hates you!" Varian exclaimed. "Are you happy now? Look, go easy on her."

Martin frowned. "Why should I 'go easy' on someone who has it out for me?"

"She's been on her own for the past seven years, remember? And she gave you new clothes. And she replaced your boot." They stood there in silence for a moment. "Besides," Varian added reluctantly, "I'm the one she probably hates right now."

Martin slowly approached the giant racoon; Rudiger sniffed at his new clothes as he carefully reached to touch the creature's wet nose. "What happened?"

"It's none of your business."

Martin raised an eyebrow.

"It's complicated," Varian supplied.

"How complicated can it be?" Martin folded his arms.

"We were childhood friends, but my memory was erased, so I don't remember."

Martin's shoulders reached his ears. "There, see? You told me in one sentence. Not that complicated." He started moving back towards the cabin. "Listen," he said with his back turned. "I don't know that much about women, but I do know this much." He turned around. "If she's really into you – and for some reason, she is – shutting her down isn't going to change that. It just makes you a jerk."

Varian simmered, fistfuls of grey fur bunching in his grip. His gaze threatened to burn a blue hole into the nearest tree.

"I mean," Martin clapped his hands to his sides, "unless you're not into her, in which case you're even more of a jerk for stringing her along –"

"That's not it," Varian cut him off with a hiss. "It's…I can't. I don't want her to be."

Martin donned the most bewildered expression Varian had ever seen. "Why not? She's not half-bad looking. She's not out to kill you. With you having a criminal record, she's probably as good as your going to get!"

"I told you, that's not it!" Varian insisted. "It's…where I'm going, there's no place for her. She'd be better off forgetting me, when all this is over." He deflated, slumping forward into a miserable hunch. "More than I probably am for not remembering her," he finished with a mumble.

"Wow," Martin blinked. "That was so dramatic, it actually tastes like my second cousin's house."

Varian opened his mouth to shout a scathing retort, but he stopped mid-word as he felt the muscles in Rudiger's back tense up like steel cables. A rumble vibrated through his body as the racoon began to growl menacingly. "What is it?" he asked, dread filling his chest until his heart began to ram inside his rib cage.

Martin reached for the hilt of his sword, scanning the meadow. It was deathly quiet; even the birds had gone silent. "Get inside," Martin ordered. When Varian didn't move, he reached for his arm and dragged him unceremoniously off the racoon's back. "I said get inside, now!"

They scrambled to the cabin, but Varian paused in the doorway. "Rudiger!" he exclaimed, turning around to go back. But Martin blocked the way, shoving him through the frame and closing the door with a slam.

Shay was at the table, her mismatched eyes wide with alarm. "What's going on?"

"You said something about a witch hunter working with the scouts?" Martin asked. "My guess is that he's led them here."

Shay went white as a sheet.

Varian clenched his fists. "We need to get out of here, now."

Martin made his way to the back window, peeking out past the garden. "I can't tell if we're surrounded or not. We might be able to get through if…oh, no."

Varian practically climbed over him to see what was going on. His face contorted in horror as they watched Caius emerge from the forest's shadows. He was alone, his scarred face set in stone, his grey hair floating in the fall breeze as he planted his feet firmly outside the garden and stopped with his arms at his sides. Martin's mare was tied to one of the garden gate posts; she stirred restlessly as Caius appeared, freezing anxiously as he stood there, waiting just outside the barrier Shay had made.

"Is –" Martin swallowed, "– is that him?"

Varian felt like he was going to be sick. "Mmhm."

"He's unarmed," Martin observed under his breath. "There's no way he's here alone, it's definitely a trap."

Varian saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and he lurched away from the window as Shay made a beeline for the back door. "Shay, don't!" He grabbed her before she could reach the handle. "What're you thinking? You can't go out there!"

"He's right," Martin agreed. "If any of us go out there, I can almost guarantee there'll be scouts with crossbows lined up to take you out."

Shay wrenched herself around Varian to glare viciously at Martin. "I don't trust a word you say," she spat at him. "For all I know, you're working with them." Flames bloomed from her fingertips, forcing Varian to leap back. A flicker of guilt shadowed Shay's features, but she didn't stop. "Corona was their place, but this place is mine. I will make them leave."

Varian felt his breath pick up as frustration threatened to overwhelm him. "Listen to me," he explained in a barely-controlled voice. "You can't go out there."

But his words only strengthened Shay's resolve. "I can, and I will," she declared.

"Crazy girl," Martin interjected. "We still have the advantage here. If you go out there, we lose it."

Something entered Varian's mind. "The spell," he snapped his fingers at Shay. "That spell you were talking about, the teleportation one. It was too far before, but if we could just get out of the forest –"

"– Then we'd have a head's start, at least," Martin finished.

Shay stood there, her entire frame stiff as a board. "Caius is here for one reason," she said. "He's here for my father's sword. If I hand over Spellbane, he'll leave us alone."

"Absolutely not," Varian insisted. "He'll go kill your mother and unleash Haderon's magic. Corona will be destroyed before Zhan Tiri can flick a finger."

"Wait!" Martin raised a hand. "Someone else is coming out. It's…" His face blanched with dread.

Varian made sure Shay wasn't going to do anything hasty before moving towards the window again. Outside, another figure had appeared, bearing Corona's crest on his pauldron and an epaulette signifying his rank as a lieutenant. "Martin, who is he?"

"It's Yaeger," Martin answered. He sounded ill. "The Captain's lead scout lieutenant. They say he's from Sapporia, but the Captain saved his life once."

"Is he good?"

Martin coughed. "I just said, he's from Sapporia. Of course, he's good!"

"It doesn't matter," Shay growled from behind. "I said I would make them leave, regardless of who they are."

Martin flung his finger almost through the window pane. "Listen to me! That guy alone could kill you thirty different ways from Tuesday. It doesn't matter whether you have magic or not, he will find a way to take you down!"

"Shh!" Varian crept towards the back door. "Listen, he's saying something."

As they quieted, they could hear the lieutenant shouting out across the meadow. "Quirinson! We know you're in there, and we mean you no harm. If you come out now, we can end this peacefully. No one has to get hurt."

"He's not a liar," Martin told him. "He won't hurt you, but he will attempt an arrest."

"No kidding," Varian hissed.

"We have reason to believe that one of our soldiers is with you," Yaeger continued. "If he is, I assume him to be your hostage."

A ray of hope shot across Martin's visage. "They don't think I'm an accomplice!"

"You are an accomplice," Shay sneered at him.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, little miss fussy pants, but so are you!"

"Shut up!" Varian told them. "He's saying more."

"We don't have to be enemies, Varian. You have something I want, and I can offer you something you need."

"Martin chewed his lip until it bled. "I think he's going to offer to negotiate a reduced sentence."

"I'm offering you a chance no one else is going to give you," Yaeger announced. "Give up my soldier, turn yourself in, and I will negotiate a reduced sentence for you. You have my word, on my honor as a servant of Corona."

"Give us the boy, little hawk." The blood in Varian's veins turned icy at the sound of Caius' husky voice. "You've had fun playing around, going on your adventure to the capitol. Don't you think it's time to stop pretending?"

The flames grew up Shay's arms at the sound of her uncle's voice. "No," she whispered. In a flash, she was at the door, and this time Varian was too late to stop her as she flung the door open and marched her way into the grass. "You're the one who's pretending!" she cried out, her tone escalating. "Pretending to be my friend! Pretending that you care about me! Pretending that you didn't kill my father!"

"I didn't kill your father," Caius said calmly; with the door open, it was easy to hear everything. "I set him free."

Shay shrieked through her teeth, red sparks shooting through her hair.

Caius took a step forward, almost across the barrier line. "You know your mother has kept secrets from you, little hawk."

"Stop calling me that!"

"You know what she went down into that tomb for."

Shay clapped her flaming hands to her head. "NO!"

Yaeger's arm shot out in front of Caius. "That's enough. We're only here for the boy!"

"You want me?!" Varian stood in the doorway, his chin level as his blue eyes burned. Ignoring Martin's protests, he stepped out into the meadow, his arms shaking at his sides. He could feel Shay staring at him in shock as he planted his feet a few yards away, jutting a thumb into his sternum. "You can have me!"