Author's note: I'm going to try to update this story every Thursday night (/Friday morning). Hope you enjoy!

Thanks again to reviewers Graphospasm and Miyuki Jaganshi!

Also, I think I'll take this opportunity to mention that I welcome nit-picky reviews. If I have typos, grammar errors, or weird formatting, I'd rather know about it!

Oh, and I'd like to apologise for the last chapter: I messed up and accidentally posted an unedited version. I thought I'd fixed it, but it stayed up like that for a week! *ducks head in shame* Anyway, if you want to see the version I actually intended to post, it's up now.

Chapter 7: Questions

When Hina emerged from the tent, she was met by the grey-haired youth who had called Kirin away—and who she now recognized as the same one who had been with her when she woke.

"H-Hello, miss," said the boy. "Um…Kirin asked me to show you around." He paused for a moment, and then said, "Ah…pleased to meet you. My name is Koyuki, but everyone calls me Koyu."

Awkwardly, he stuck out his hand.

Hina hesitated, not because she was unfamiliar with the handshake—she had read about it, though the Koorime didn't use it—but, rather, because of memories of what she'd learned of outside biology rose to the front of her mind. It took most of her self control to suppress a shudder of revulsion at the thought of touching him. He was anathema to everything about her people! He was male!

Still…

Didn't she owe her life to these people?

Didn't she owe them common courtesy, at the very least?

She reached out and shook his hand.

"Hina," she said. "Pleased to meet you as well."

Koyu flashed her a lopsided grin, which didn't really set her more at ease. What did these people want with her? Why were they so…different?

"Come on," said Koyu, and she followed him toward the center of the camp.

There were about a dozen tents, arranged in a roughly circular pattern, the center of which appeared to be their destination. They were surprisingly colorful, with shades of red and blue and orange and purple, in stripes and solids and unpatterned mixes of color.

She caught glimpses of a few other people, but surely not enough. Where was everyone?

She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the great gates of the city—the same ones she had seen from the inside while she was still running for her life.

"Oh…" said Koyu, suddenly remembering something. "…did you have any questions? Kirin said to answer your questions, if you had any." He straightened up, looking eager.

Hina did, in spades.

Still, now that she had the opportunity to ask, she found it hard to put any of them to words.

Finally, she settled on a big one that she hadn't actually considered before.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You mean…after you fought the poison demon?"

Hina nodded. Did everything have to be said out here? Could he not have inferred that?

"Well…actually, I saw when they first attacked you. I went to get Kirin, because I thought he might be…interested." He ducked his head a little.

"And then…well, by the time I found him, you were almost to the gates, and he had already seen you anyway. The poison-guy was trying to poison the whole city, and Kirin really likes this city! So he burned away the poison."

Hina stopped walking.

"He…burned away the poison?"

Koyu stopped and looked back at her.

"Yeah…oh! Yeah, he can do that. He calls it 'foxfire'. He can do it to people too…only he wouldn't do it to you, because it burned you before." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not supposed to do that."

Hina's brow furrowed. It hadn't been a dream. She looked at the back of her hand, remembering the heat burning her skin.

"Is…something wrong?"

Hina looked up. "You said it burned me."

"Yes…it did. Pretty bad, too."

"Then…what happened?"

He rubbed the back of his head again. "I…fixed it."

Hina looked at him in surprise. This child…?

"You are a healer?"

He looked down.

"Not…exactly. I kinda…accidentally did it this one time, and we didn't have a healer, and so…" He shrugged.

Hina considered him more closely, this time extending her energy senses towards his aura…which had a distinctly familiar flavor to it.

Koyu shuffled his feet under her gaze, and she looked away again.

"All ice demons have that potential."

He looked at her in surprise. "Really? I…never knew that." He looked down sadly, and then up again hopefully.

"Does that mean…that you can teach me? Please say that you'll teach me!"

Hina almost had to step back from the intensity of his question. Teach? Did he think…?

"I…I am not a healer," she said, trying to regain control of her voice.

"But you knew! You have to know more than me!"

Hina shook her head. "I only know how to heal myself, and even then there is much that is beyond me."

"But you know that! I only know what I've been able to figure out!"

He took a deep breath.

"That's why I only helped your bruises and burns and that one cut on your arm. I don't even know what's wrong with your shoulder, and your ribs..." His face flushed. "I…didn't trust myself not to make things worse. I just got Shizuku to bandage them for me."

Hina couldn't figure out why he would need to call someone else to bandage her when he was clearly the camp's resident medical expert. Still he had a point: she could fix her broken ribs, once she regained enough energy, and probably her shoulder too. Besides, he had healed her, even if not completely. So what if she couldn't completely train him? It wasn't exactly what she's pictured when she'd thought about sharing techniques…though he was an ice demon.

"I…will see what I can do."

Koyu looked at her with gratitude nearly pouring down his face. Really, did these outsiders have no sense of reserve?

Glancing around to avoid looking at his face, she suddenly realized that it was a lot darker than it had been a few minutes ago.

"How long was I unconscious?" she asked, glancing around and finding the beginnings of a sunset off to her right.

"Almost eight hours," said Koyu, mostly distracted. "It took that long for your energy to restore your system after you were poisoned."

Longer than she'd expected, but at least it hadn't been days.

As she looked around the darkening camp, Hina realized it was brighter than it should be up ahead.

"What is that?" asked Hina, pointing to the bright light that glowed in the growing shadows just behind the last tent.

"Oh," said Koyu. "That's the bonfire. We should really be there by now. Come on!"

He broke into a run, only to slow down again when he remembered Hina's injured state. Nothing short of another bout with imminent death could force her to run again before she healed her ribs.

And there's your...cliffhanger? Huh.

Anyway, I feel like my writing's been shakier than it was the first few chapters...was I rambling here? I'd love to know what people think!