When Wu returned, Dawn Star was making a very simple breakfast.

"I'm sorry for being so late." She was. Dawn Star did not need any more worries.

"That's okay." Dawn Star did not look at her when she asked, "Did you - did you sense anyone?"

"No." Running into misty and mad reminders of the past had been their greatest concern, but Wu felt nothing. The only phantoms here were the ones born of expectant memory.

"You should sleep after breakfast," Dawn Star advised. She stirred the pot and began to hum a tune that had been popular in the capital.

This was the first time she'd heard Dawn Star sing in a very long time. To know her friend's heart was light enough to enjoy music, even in the skeleton of their home, boded well. A part of Dawn Star was moving on.

Cauldrons in hand, Wu and Dawn Star plodded along the uneven and broken flagstone path that led to the well. The villagers of Tien's Landing had warned them that the slow-running river water was not safe to drink now, but Hou had to have clean dishes to use for dinner.

"Tell me. What do you think about what's going on?" Wu asked her friend.

"I think that the quality of the food has gone up, thanks to Hou," Dawn Star said.

"While the quality of air has lessened, thanks to the Black Whirlwind," Wu quipped back.

Dawn Star laughed and it did Wu good to hear it. Pilgrim's Rest Inn had been far from restful for them. The mad spirits and the corruption in the forest had affected Dawn Star, and Wu had only been given more questions from the Water Dragon.

Wu wondered if she was losing her harmony and, if at the end of her time in Tien's Landing, she would have to seek Jian's training and not Mistress Vo's guidance.

They were lucky; there was no line at the well. They had performed this chore many times in Two Rivers and they fell into their old rhythm quickly.

"You seem troubled," Dawn Star observed, as she helped pull the bucket the last few inches over the lip of the well.

"Don't worry."

"I do worry. I think that you carry too much on your own shoulders." Dawn Star poured the water into the cauldron and returned the bucket to Wu. "You are always speaking with the others, getting their advice, asking their opinion - but in the end, we make you make the choices. It seems unfair."

Wu began lowering the bucket back into the well. "This is our trouble, not theirs. I will take advantage of our friends' experiences, but I will not force them to make decisions on our behalf."

The first cauldron was full. Dawn Star picked it up and said she would return shortly.

As soon as her friend's back was turned, Wu felt her serene mask crack. Guilt was a heavy weight to carry and, unlike Hou's pots and pans, she would not share her burden with others - not even Dawn Star.

Even now, she was drawn back into the what-ifs and might-have-beens. Perhaps if she had been there when the Lotus Assasins has appeared, Master Li would have fought, knowing he had someone to rely on. Perhaps if she had fought, he could have escaped. Perhaps -

She broke out of her contemplations when she saw Zu coming in her friend's place. "Where's Dawn Star?"

"She's at the camp. I told her I would take over her chores. I needed a break." Zu said as he approached. "You're picking up followers like a dog picks up fleas - and they are just as annoying."

"I see." She looked at him carefully. "And Dawn Star is alright?"

He seemed amused at her questioning. "If she weren't, what would I gain from not telling you?"

"Nothing. But she has a way of telling people she is perfectly fine, when it is clear she is troubled."

"I noticed."

Zu noticed a lot about Dawn Star. Sometimes it bothered her, the way she saw Zu watching her friend. It was not entirely her fault; Two Rivers was isolated and strangers were always suspect. A person who chose to live alone in a marsh full of brigands instead of a pleasant, peaceful hamlet struck an odd chord with her upbringing.

It did not help that his arms were dyed crimson to the elbow; a constant reminder of the men and women who had taken that home away from her.

They worked in silence. Hou needed a lot of clean water; he had taken many kitchenwares from Pilgrim Rest and even though he insisted they had never been used for the cannibals, she and Dawn Star had insisted on boiling the water and cleaning the pots again - just in case.

"Have you decided what you will do at the dam?" Zu asked.

It was her last task in Tien's Landing. She only needed the amulet piece before she could continue on to the Imperial Capital. "I will know what to do when I'm there, standing before the controls."

"Silver is more substantial than feelings," Zu said, as he passed her the bucket to pour, while he put another one on the rope.

When Dawn Star had told the others about what had happened at Pilgrim's Rest, Zu had not said anything, but she could feel his disapproval that they had not taken the offer from the innkeeper. "For a hermit, you are quite concerned with our earnings."

"I've become accustomed to this decadent luxury we're living in," he said with dry humour . "I would hate to see it disappear for lack of coins."

She smiled. It had taken her some time to understand his sarcasm, but now she welcomed it. Only now she had a serious question to ask and this seemed like the only time to ask it.

"Zu, you are skilled at seeing a personal advantage in a situation, but I don't see what you gain by being involved with Dawn Star and I. Even with our decadent luxury."

He took the rope from her hands. "What are you saying?"

"You didn't know Master Li. It wasn't your home that was destroyed."

"No, it was not." His black eyes were inscrutable. She waited for more, but he lowered the bucket into the well, stained red hands sliding over the rope with smooth even motions. She watched the muscles move in his shoulders and under his skin, as he brought it back up.

Wu was sure he would never elaborate and so she stepped forward with the last cauldron, the smallest one.

She stood next to him and when Zu spoke, his voice was low, a murmur over the sloshing water. "I stay because you have shown me a path I previously thought closed."

Wu didn't know what to say to that, so she took the cauldron from him and they walked back to their campsite in silence.

Later that evening, while they praised Hou's cooking, Wu found that she could not forget those words. Her gaze flicked over to the ex-assassin in the corner. He'd separated himself from the others, but that was no surprise there. Shadows were his home.

She looked too long, and she saw his muscles tense and then relax when he looked up and saw it was her who was scrutinizing him.

She looked away. It was rude to stare and she knew better; her chagrin was evident from the way her cheeks burned.