***Tirnanog***

***Astra Frost***

I had no desire to spend the night outside if there was no pressing need, so I burst from the treetops and spread my filaments wide to create as much surface area as possible. The wind caught on and I was dragged at a moderate speed over the dense forest canopy. Kind of like a tumbleweed.

The thought made me smile.

When I didn't go in the direction I wanted, I bundled and angled my filaments slightly to imitate wings. Then I started to move them so that they created the necessary propulsion.

It looked a little like a starfish wiggling its way through the air. A dedicated flyer with real wings would have been faster, but it worked well enough for me. Countless hours of trial and error had gone into figuring out this much. Concentration and coordination were the limiting factors for me.

The treemonae from which I had gotten my main evolution achieved flight in a very similar way. Only very few people managed to watch them and live to tell the tale.

This form of travel wasn't the safest, since I had to be on constant alert so that nothing could snatch me from above or below. It was necessary to be high enough above the treetops to be able to avoid a predator that decided to jump off a branch, and low enough to dive back into the canopy should something airborne come after me.

But every decision on Tirnanog was one between possibilities of death. Spending the night outside was still considerably more dangerous than exposing myself during daytime. At least I would see an enemy coming from further away. That was more than I would get during the night when only my filaments provided me with a sense of my surroundings.

Through them, I was able to feel the tiniest air movements. Which was, in a way, a kind of seeing for me. Sadly, this sense was very limited in range and it wouldn't warn me of a creature that was holding still.

Thankfully, returning to the Old Camp went without further troubles and the sight of a cobbled-together village surrounded by a large wall greeted me about five hours later.

The Old Camp was located on a plateau that was elevated above the jungle. The site had been chosen by one of the last colonization expeditions that had inevitably failed.

Protecting the settlement's north was a large cliff that went over into a long mountain range. If I followed it, it would lead me back to my clan's lands.

Cutting out a large valley, a river created another of the plateau's boundaries to the west.

To the south, the plateau slowly lost its elevation until it turned into untraversable marshlands.

I pulled in a few of my filaments and drifted lower once I passed over the outer wall. The Old Camp's first defensive line was made out of interconnected treetrunks. It was crude, but it held out the larger predators. The smaller ones had to be taken care of by the guards.

The guardsmen took notice of my return but didn't challenge me. Once someone was recognized as a member of the clans, they were generally left alone.

Women, in particular, had a special standing in the Old Camp, whose main population consisted of rejects. Seeing a woman here meant that she was either from a clan and likely had a powerful evolution, or that she had been thrown out of a clan and therefore had to be avoided for the same reason.

I completely retracted my filaments and wound them tightly around me once I touched the ground of what could be called the Old Camp's central street. Doing so provided me with a form of reactive armour, but it wasn't as good as having a real carapace – which wasn't uncommon among some exiles.

The Jeng clan loved to hunt the iobeetles in their territory, which resulted in most of their members developing a fitting evolution. Their reinforced skin was tough enough to withstand all but armour-breaking bullets and most of their tribesmen were capable of bending steel with their bare hands.

My way back to the central building where I was staying led past numerous stalls that provided all kinds of goods.

Those who traded food could be found right next to a weapon's shop, followed by a vendor for miscellaneous items. People tried to make a living with things that many others regarded as trash.

When the man in the weapon's shop saw that I wasn't carrying anything, he increased his pitch, loudly praising his wares which ranged from medieval swords and maces to modern firearms.

I ignored him, seeing him for what he was. A charlatan who lived off the ignorance of newcomers.

Admittedly, having a rifle from Earth was nice, but it would do nothing against a creature like an omnieye unless you were an expert marksman and capable of hitting its weak spot. Even if a bullet penetrated its carapace, it would most likely only make the omnieye mad.

On the same account, bashing an omnieye with a sword or a mace was utterly ineffective if you didn't possess a strength-type evolution. And given that you had such an evolution, you would be capable of wielding a much heavier, more powerful weapon.

Certainly nothing like the toothpicks that the merchant sold. Those had been designed for baseline humans. Probably left behind by some failed colonists who had tried to turn to other methods once their technology was worn down. Having a few tank cannons was fine and good against Tirnanog's wildlife. Right up until your supplies dwindled without constant supply from Earth.

Whether intended or not, Earth's scientists had already turned our bodies into weapons.

So, an evolved exile's weapon had to be customized to a person's evolution. Someone like Roderick would probably work best with an oversized warhammer if he wasn't such a coward.

I chuckled at the thought of him still being chased through the jungle. At night. By a firehorn no less.

As I made my way further down the road, I observed the merchants packing up their stores to retreat for the night. Everyone would bunker down in safe shelters once night fell. Not even the guards would stay on their posts on the outer wall. They would retreat to the Old Camp's inner fortress, a large, star-shaped bunker at the centre of the settlement.

The next morning, they would head out and clean the streets of any creatures that had wandered into the settlement during the night. Afterwards, the general population would re-emerge.

The old bunker was pretty much the only building that remained from the time of the original settlers. The Old Camp's most powerful and its leaders had chosen it as their hideout.

I arrived at the central square, a large, open area in front of the bunker which merged with the arena to my left and the pond to my right.

The arena was essentially a fighting pit surrounded by a grove of trees that carried observation lounges. It was a place where newcomers could prove their worth to the clans.

The pond was a worn-down leftover of the original colony. Originally, it had likely been a part of a large fountain or cistern that the first settlers had created. Now, it was just a large body of deep water that softened the fall of the female newcomers.

Several clanswomen were arguing over there.

I recognized members of the Aerie, the Jeng, Thich, Vier, and Hochberg. Pretty much all of the high and mighty that were currently residing in the settlement.

There were more clans who had their territories close enough to the Old Camp for travel, but not all of them bothered to visit every year. Only the large groups maintained a permanent presence.

One of the arguing group was an Aerie clanswoman who I recognized as a friend of mine, Thalia. She noticed me and waved me over, probably to assist her in creating some political pressure with numbers instead of arguments.

I wondered whether I could pretend not to have seen her, but that likely wouldn't go over well with my reputation at home once I returned to clan lands.

Damn! She was a friend, so...

Drawing in a deep breath, I wandered over to the group and prepared myself for some social shenanigans. When the large and powerful people flexed their muscles to impress each other, stupidity was assured. At least that much we had managed to bring with us from Earth.

Sadly, it didn't matter whether the people in charge were men or women.

“Thalia,” I nodded at the older woman who had a pair of leathery wings draped around her shoulders like a cape. Then I extended the same courtesy to the other clan representatives. “What's the problem?”

“As usual, the Thich are being snobby bitches!” Thalia exclaimed unashamedly. “And the situation is fucked up. No matter what we do.”

“It's about the new arrivals,” the Jeng clanswoman who was present pointed one of the feelers on her head at a wet group of new female exiles who sat next to the pond. “They have sent us children this time. Children!”

I frowned and studied the six newcomers. Someone had given them blankets, but I knew well enough what it felt like to be talked about like you were some piece of meat.

At least they had it better than the men.

Three were your average exiles with ages from anything between twenty to fifty. It remained to be seen what reason they had been exiled for. In some cases, even women couldn't be trusted and had to be left to their fate at the Old Camp. But we would have time enough to judge them through conversation. The clans had gotten pretty good at filtering out undesirables over the years.

Another exile was a bedraggled-looking teenager who was eyeing us as if we were monsters.

She would have her own appearance issues soon enough if she wanted to survive.

The really fucked-up thing was the two crying kids who were no more than seven or eight years old. Curiously, both were redheads. From the way they were clinging to each other I also guessed that they were sisters.

“So?” I chewed on my inner cheek. “We know that those who are responsible for the deportations are fucked up in their heads, but there is nothing we can do about it. They sent me when I was thirteen.”

“Clan Thich wants them both! Plus, the blonde!” The woman from Hochberg accused the violet-skinned Thich. The Hochberg was standing at least two heads above me and I guessed her to be a strength type.

I couldn't make out what kind of evolution the Thich was. Her skin was violet, but otherwise the lucky bitch looked entirely human. Which made me envious.

Their names were Sarah for the Hochberg and Ivonne for the Thich if I remembered correctly. We had been introduced briefly at the beginning of the season.

“They already took more than they are due during the previous trials!” Thalia complained. “And now they want even more.”

Give them a finger and they will bite off your hand.

It was a well-known saying among the outcasts to describe the Thich.

Given how few women the people from Earth sent us each year, female exiles were pretty much the main reason why the clans would gather at the Old Camp aside from picking out the best men from all the rest.

Each year, there would be at least five batches of fifty men and two batches of ten women if we were lucky. That they had sent us only six with the first group probably meant that there wouldn't be any more this year. Which meant that any clan getting a few female recruits more or less was even more noticeable this year.

It was common practice for the clans to send female recruiters to fetch some new blood. Pretty much every woman who would increase the possibilities of partnering up with a clansman was welcome. This practice of unquestioningly adopting women and the high death rate among men often resulted in the clans having more women than men.

The clans were constantly existing at the edge and striving for more. A clan couldn't have too many skilled members.

If someone had to risk their life, then the guys had to risk theirs first.

And as fucked up as it was, each woman meant a new chance at viable offspring.

After all, a clan with a functioning breeding pair who had powerful evolutions had a future. No children meant no future.

Some of the exiles' evolutions may have resulted in the ability to survive on this world, but only a few were capable of actually breeding more humans. It didn't feel so great when your own offspring was more monster than sentient being.

My own clan had some failures in that regard. Which was one of the reasons why my parents had adopted me.

“I also remember the Thich taking more than they were due in the previous year,” I voiced my thoughts carefully.

Then added as an afterthought. “And in the year before that.”

Sarah looked triumphantly at Ivonne. “So, I am not the only one who remembers that.”

The four-handed clanswoman from the Vier also raised a hand. “I haven't been here as a recruiter before, but we are keeping track of such things. The Thich have indeed taken in more female exiles than any of the other large clans. General tradition is that any clan who visits the trials is to choose some new blood, so why don't they stand down for once if they are already ahead of their quota?”

Once it looked like the Aerie, Vier, and Hochberg would unite against the Thich, Ivonne deflated slightly and lowered her demands. “We may make do with just one of the little girls.”

“That's unacceptable!” the Jeng intervened. “They are obviously sisters! We can't separate them. That would make us no better than the monsters who stole them from their parents and sent them here.”

Ivonne raised an eyebrow and studied the Jeng. “So you take them?”

The woman with the bug-evolution shook her head. “We can only take someone who can contribute to the clan.” She left it unsaid that they wouldn't feed two useless mouths for years to come without actually knowing whether they would turn out to be a boon or a bane in the end.

I guessed from her behaviour that the Jeng had experienced harsher times than usual.

Before Ivonne could further change the narrative of this dispute, I intervened. “What about the Thich taking...” I looked over the new arrivals, then pointed randomly at one of the adult women who looked like a mean bitch. “That one.”

It wasn't the fairest method, but the only one I had available without interviewing them. I also didn't want to give Ivonne the teenager, since she had voiced her desire for that one earlier.

Everybody knew about our animosity towards each other, so I didn't bother to hide my intentions of foiling Ivonne's plans.

“And whoever can prove that they have the most resources to spare takes the twins,” I added as an afterthought. “It's the fairest solution that I can think of.”

A lot more haggling ensued, mainly concerning the point of how to prove that we had the resources we claimed to possess. I knew that the Thich were likely capable of contending with any of the clans, but I gambled on their well-known secrecy towards us. They wouldn't share information about their resources just to recruit two or three people who were nothing more than blank slates.

In the end, we managed a solution that nobody was happy with, not even Thalia. Which was a win-win situation in my book. In the future, she would think twice about calling for backup from me.

Ivonne and her Thich were left with the grumpy bitch that I had pointed out.

The teenager would go with Sarah to Hochberg.

And the other clans each took one of the remaining adult women.

Which left the Aerie with the crying and traumatized twins.

“That wasn't what I called you for,” Thalia whined while guiding the sniffling and inconsolable girls at her hands. We were walking towards our clan's private quarter inside the bunker. “I wanted the teenager. Her physique looked like she would turn out to be a good flyer.”

What was it with the Aerie's fixation on flying evolutions? I never understood that.

“Look, you called me over and I did the best I could,” I pointed out. “I am sure some childless pair will be happy with the two.”

“But I am the one who will have to look after them until we return.” Thalia didn't let go of the matter.

“Which is your job as a recruiter.” I refused to allow her to drag me into another argument after those exhausting negotiations. “Aren't you happy that the Thich didn't get what they wanted? And we managed it without a pit-fight and somebody being torn to pieces! All is good!”

“I suppose...” Thalia grumbled. “Has your excursion beyond the walls found you anything? Are there any sexy ones among the newcomers?”

“Ah... I didn't look out for that.” I groaned. “Roderick fucked up. I followed him, but I fear that the first batch will be useless. I have to look after the others myself.”

“I told you that paying him was a waste of effort,” Thalia exclaimed. “I hope you punished that waste of space.”

“I did,” I replied. “The firehorn that he tried to set on the newcomers is now hunting him through the forest. If he is smart, he will be running to the Old Camp as fast as he can and hope that the wall guards take it out.”

Thalia's mouth formed a silent 'o'. “You mean that he will be running through the night? With a firehorn on his ass? That's just mean. I would have killed him and be done with it. Also, for sure a kinder end.”

“I needed the firehorn to hunt something else than the remaining exiles.” I shrugged. “I did my best to save what could be saved, but I haven't high hopes. Maybe the next batch will have better chances.”

“I hope you do.” Thalia smirked. “If there is a nice one that fits, I may take one home with me too.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just so that you know, I have the first pick. I am the one who came here three years in a row to find someone that matches with my evolution.”

“Yeah, yeah...” Thalia waved me off. “You should have just chosen someone at the clan and be done with it.”

I shook my head. “I have no desire to fail my evolution by meshing it with something that backs me into a corner. No matter how much the clan elders may pressure us to try it. Just look at Jenny and Heinrich and their brood. The clan had to burn out their cave! It was like one of those horror movies that I remember from Earth.”

“You know that they tried it with each other because of love and not because the elders told them,” Thalia whispered somewhat downcast by the reminder.

I crossed my arms defensively in front of my chest. “That came out wrong. I am sorry. But they both had evolutions from highly aggressive species. Both can hardly control their abilities. Pair bad control with more bad control and what you get...” I waved a hand. “The statistics we keep in our library speak for themselves. Such a thing doesn't mesh well.”

“I know,” Thalia replied pensively. “Can we switch the topic? I had nightmares for weeks after that incident. What are you searching for among the newcomers?”

I thought about it and shrugged. “I honestly don't know. I already have control and power. The only issue is that I look far from human. I guess that what I am searching for is something, anything, that combines well with my filaments without messing with my control.”

“Don't say that. You are pretty! Like one of those body painters – with added light-show if you get emotional.” Thalia sounded genuinely offended on my behalf. “Don't allow those fools to get into your head. And besides...” She leaned over so that the kids couldn't hear. “Men fuck anything if it has boobs and legs to spread.”

I shoved Thalia slightly. “Thalia!”

“But it's true.”

We giggled and finally arrived at our quarters.

Using my filaments, I opened the heavy blast door that separated the area that belonged to clan Aerie from the rest of the facility. Aside from us, there was a contingent of twenty people permanently stationed here.

Most would switch rotations or return to the clan grounds once the trials ended. But about ten of us would stay during the winter. I always returned to the clan to meet up with my adoptive parents.

We brought the traumatized children to the medical facility which was currently staffed by an older gent who went by the name of Liam. He was apparently knowledgeable about such cases and waved us off.

I was thankful that I wasn't the one who had to deal with the kids.

The memories of my own arrival at a far too young age were still vivid in my mind.

For all I knew, I had lived a normal life with normal parents. Certainly nothing that could draw the government's attention. Honestly, what could a thirteen-year-old girl possibly have done to be exiled to Tirnanog?

I narrowed my eyes while I walked back to my room, trying to remember the faces of the men in expensive suits who had appeared in dark cars when I had left school. They had taken me to a facility where I had been injected with drugs.

Sadly, I was no longer certain that I would recognize any of them if I met them now. If I did recognize one, it would certainly not be a happy reunion.

A few hours later, I had been dropped through the portal right into the very same pond that the twins had climbed out of today.

My only luck was that my new parents from clan Aerie had been waiting there as recruiters. They had failed to have children of their own not too long ago and for some reason, they simply decided to adopt me on the spot.

Thankfully, they were good people.

I was lucky that things didn't turn out to be worse.

Finally, I arrived at the room that I had been using during the last three trials and stepped inside. Now enclosed in darkness, only my filaments provided an eerie, blue light.

“Home, sweet home,” I mumbled and immediately regretted the words. Thalia was right about me taking too long when I began to call a little, damp room in a contested outpost my home.

I really had to find someone suitable at this year's trials.