I quickly realized I didn’t know what I was looking for or where to look for it, except something strange in the ocean. Given how big the ocean was and how little I knew about it, that wasn’t very helpful criteria. But I also refused to immediately give up and run back to camp after skirting orders.

My protective coat kept me warm and Trish’s remedies would keep the pain in my side at bay for at least a few more hours, if she had any skill, which already put me steps ahead of what the situation had been in Flickermark. I wasn’t struggling to keep myself and Fellen alive this time; there was time to think rather than just react.

So I did. I climbed one of the tallest trees I could find on the edge of the forest and surveyed the coast spread out before me. Nothing new or unusual stood out from my earlier observations. I didn’t know entirely where the camp was actually located in relation to the rest of the goddess’s territory nor about the southwest region in general. I knew at least a handful of myths that were said to take place there, of course, but myths didn’t often take time to delve into the strategical importance of different geography.

I frowned as I watched the distant waves roll in. Why was the Lady Blue even attacking this region? It was hard to imagine a being so closely linked to the sister goddesses as stupid, but why would she bother attacking this region when the tree cutter’s folly drew a glut of whisper women here? If I was her, I would have attacked the shores that didn’t have such a concentration of whisper women. I pondered the puzzle as I climbed back down the tree before heading further east, away from the camp. If I was going to find anything notable it wasn’t going to be within line of sight of the whisper women’s base of power.

As I wove through the trees and thought, several possibilities worked their way to the forefront of my mind. The first one that presented itself was that perhaps the Lady Blue wanted the tribes people rather than the whisper women and she thought they would be easier targets without their fire. But if that was the case, then she was in for a rude awakening. They might be weakened from the lack of cooked food and warmth, but the huntresses could still fight without fire and Peacekeepers would still be around keeping an eye on the tribes’ tree planting progress. Not to mention the fact that, from what I understood, the planting was happening on the northern edge of the forest, far from the coast and the Lady Blue’s clutches. Sure, some of the tribes likely lived in the area between during the warm season, but it was the cold season and everyone gathered together for protection. Besides, if the tribes really were her goal, then it didn’t make sense that she didn’t attack them when they were spread out and there weren’t whisper women covering the area, and I hadn’t heard of a tribe disappearing into the ocean.

From what I understood, the Lady Blue had two primary goals: turn our goddess’s territory into her own by eroding the shore and possibly make the goddesses regret creating her or at least acknowledge her presence personally.

My next idea had more merit. Given how quickly the whisper women could travel through the shadows, perhaps the advantage of attacking elsewhere was rendered null. Instead, the goal was to divide and weaken the whisper women between two fronts: the shore and the tribes. With everyone’s focus split she could possibly get away with more and when the strain mounted on the whisper women she could…do something with a more devastating effect.

My third idea built on the second. If the Lady Blue was building to some grand plan, perhaps she wanted as many whisper women concentrated in an area possible, so she could take them out all at once. I wasn’t entirely sure what that might entail but my mind conjured the image of the large wave filled with fish monsters from Moorkin’s scroll and my gut soured. Nothing in my skill set could counteract a giant, moving wall of water.

Nor could I act on any of my ideas now other than scout and see if I stumbled on anything interesting. I followed the tree line to where it dipped closer to the shore before breaking away from the protection of the pines to walk by the water. The sand line was thinner here than on the beach where we had fought. Scrubby grass and bushes encroached nearly all the way to water.

I paused for a moment, glancing left and right to make sure there was no one near, and stuck a hand in the water. Bitter cold numbed my hand before I snatched it back out. Then, after double checking again that there was no one around, I touched a finger to my tongue only to recoil at how salty the taste was.

I had heard that the ocean was full of salty water, but it sounded more like a tall tale than something real. I stared at the miles of water stretching out before me, nearly blending in with the sky where they met at the horizon. All of it salt laden and untransversable. A small shudder shivered down my spine at the inhospitality of it. If the Lady Blue had her way nothing would survive but her warped creatures.

The shore didn’t change much as I continued on. Part of me couldn’t help but worry that I might run into Mishtaw and the others since I didn’t know where they had traveled to for their mission, but the rest of me couldn’t help but relish in the solitude. I hadn’t been able to be so truly alone since I made my way up the Root Mountains to discover the truth about their eastern side. It was freeing to be able to wander and nearly not have to worry about running into someone else, to do what I wanted to do.

Unfortunately, respite was the only thing I found as I scouted along the ocean’s shore for the next couple of hours. No Shore Eaters came into view nor did any fish so much as break the waves. Walking along the shore gave way to the temptation of digging my toes into the sand. It was surprisingly warm where the water didn’t reach. I knew I should keep searching and that I shouldn’t leave myself so exposed on the water’s edge, but I had been pushing myself for so long that it was difficult not to indulge in moment of quiet relaxation.

As I sat there, enjoying the feel of the sand and keeping an eye on the water, I shifted through the myths I knew that took place in the southwest region—I only knew one about the Lady Blue and while the tale was long, going over it again wasn’t the most helpful. The few things I knew about the Lady Blue I had already gleaned from the story and nothing new stood out to me as I recited it in my head. She was angry and wanted the goddesses to pay, enough said. Most of the myths I remembered about the southwest were just as unhelpful as they centered around the goddess’s great forest that was said to span most of the south. However, as I looked through the tales in my mental healer’s tent, two myths stood out to me.

One was about a brave huntress who dedicated her life to exploring a vast system of salt water caves and making sure the goddess’s presence was felt there. Surely, since there was a myth about the caves the whisper women knew to keep an eye on them, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t take a look of my own. In the other myth the Sisters, two major rivers that ran nearly parallel to each other, were featured. Naturally, they ran out to the ocean. I didn’t think the sea creatures could travel up them, given what Juniper’s water had done to that fish, unless that had been another feature of her mysterious pearl, but they could also be worth checking out, just in case.

Of course, scouting out the rivers or the caves both required knowledge of where to find them and the myths weren’t specific. I could keep walking along the shore as I would likely run into one or the other eventually, but I could very well end up going in the wrong direction and I didn’t have days or weeks to travel nearly aimlessly.

I knew the smart decision was to return to the camp and share my ideas and insights after checking if the whisper women were already aware of them. But I wasn’t ready to return yet. I wanted—needed—an accomplishment that I could proudly point to and prevent any further looks of annoyance and disappointment.

The trouble was accomplishing something more than digging my feet in the sand and keeping the bloody bits of the morning’s fight shoved into the back of my mind. I wasn’t squeamish, a childhood of healer’s training had prevented that particular trait from ever growing, but my stomach still turned a little at the thought I had killed for something other than food. The fish were the enemy, so it shouldn’t matter, but somehow it still did. The part I didn’t like focusing on the most, however, was the certainty in my belly that the morning’s fight wouldn’t be the last time. Not with a war cropping up all around me.

I brushed my feet off and tied my shoes back on before rising, still uncertain about which direction I should head in. Really, at that moment, I would’ve put up with Ulo for the rest of the morning if I could have had her water breathing blessing in exchange. Doubtless, what I wanted to find was hiding beneath the water’s surface. I considered swimming regardless and forcing myself to stay under the water, but I didn’t relish the thought of being helpless against the fish in their natural habitat while I felt like I was drowning. Besides, there was no guarantee I wouldn’t just black out once I forced myself past the point someone could normally survive.

In the end, I decided to head back to the forest’s edge for the cover while continuing to the east for another hour or two before doubling back the way I came. Trees, scrubland, snow, and ocean, unending. No cave entrances greeted me nor rivers blocked my path. The closest I came to that was a small stream I could cross with a running leap. I did find some berries to nibble on and practiced with my sling as I walked, but otherwise the journey was uneventful. Perhaps I shouldn’t have expected my first scouting mission after being in the war camp for less than a day to bear any significant results, but disappointment persisted. I was ready to prove my worth, but instead I was just proving myself a nuisance.

The return journey was just as quiet as the outbound one.

No one was waiting under the tree the squads had used to enter the shadow paths. I hadn’t really expected there to be, given Eliss’s attitude when she came to get me, but my stomach would have appreciated if there was. The berries had helped, but they didn’t replace a full midday meal. I swiped my foot through the message I had left in the snow and strode toward the camp.

I blinked as I came close to it. What I had thought were briars were actually large roots woven in and around each other in a lumpy, thick wall. Either the fish couldn’t climb very well or the whisper women were confident that they could protect the barrier. My side protested at the thought of climbing it, but observation and logic both indicated there was no other way for me to get in. Entrances would only be a liability when the whisper women could use the shadow paths for transport.

I reached up to grip the root closest to me, ignoring the ache already forming from the movement, but as soon as I tried to pull myself up I slipped off the smooth bark with a slightly oily feeling coating my palm. I tried more times than I was willing to count to get up onto the wall, but each attempt just ended up with my butt in the snow and my side protesting ever louder.

I wiped my hand through the snow after my latest attempt and glared at the stupid wall. My lips pressed together and my eyes felt gritty, but no tears rolled down my cheeks. I tried to will them to, just to lessen the bubbling frustration filling up my chest, but my eyes remained stubbornly dry.

Defeated by a stupid lumpy wall.

I refused to lower myself even further with the indignity of calling for help in the vain attempt that someone might hear through the tightly woven roots. They didn’t want me in the camp? Fine. I could find more things out here to do. I didn’t need warm food or a healing salve or anything else I might find in there.

Arms crossed, I stomped away from the wall and my failure.

“Done already?” A voice called from above.

I froze as embarrassment flushed my neck, ears, and cheeks red. Turning slowly, I looked up to see a woman sitting on the top of the wall. I could have sworn she hadn’t been there when I started my climbing attempts though the grin in her voice indicated she had witnessed the entire thing. Her silhouette disappeared behind the wall and then a few moments later she appeared about a dozen feet away from the wall’s shadow.

Strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a tail, thin and on the short side, the new whisper woman looked entirely amused by my antics as she strode up to me. “Let me guess, you got tired of the mob and ran free for a while only to realize you couldn’t get back in?”

My tone came out more defensive than I meant it to be. “I was scouting.”

“Mmhmm.” She glanced past me. “Find anything interesting?”

“…No.”

“Too bad.” She peered closer at me, though it was odd because it also felt like she wasn’t paying attention to me at all. “Do you want to?”

I hated feeling out of my depth. “Want to what?”

Her eyebrows rose. “See something interesting?”

Stay in the scrubland and wallow in my continual failure or see what the odd whisper woman had to offer. It wasn’t a difficult choice. “Sure.”

She grinned and grabbed my hand and I flinched at the unexpected contact. “Name’s Kaylan, little seedling.”

“How did—”

“No proper whisper woman would be caught dead clawing at the wall when there’s a perfectly good shadow to go through.”

She didn’t give me a moment of warning before the feeling of falling suddenly let me know we were entering the shadow paths. Inside the swirling gray and black place, she dragged me forward a couple feet before she reached up and made a pulling motion with her free hand while her heel thrust down through the oily looking ground.

Which was how I emerged into a basket of roots just behind the lip of the wall with a better view of the coast I had just transversed than I had thought possible. Kaylan gave me a smug grin, propped her feet up on the wall, and settled back into the roots.

She gestured vaguely to the ocean. “If you see any odd looking clouds or fish or even just a whole bunch of water moving unnaturally wake me up.”

Her eyes closed and I couldn’t help but feel like I had been tricked. I turned to look at the ocean. Still, this was better than facing Mishtaw, so I sat and stared at the ocean some more.