The town gave way fairly quickly to woods that were easily as dense as those in the outlands back on the fire continent, but here the actual plants were all different. Orenda had read about the sort of trees she was seeing, had seen them depicted in images, but she had never actually seen them in person. They were beautiful. She understood the reason nature did things the way it did, knew that she was looking at the beauty of shedding, of culling certain parts of yourself, parts you didn’t need, to preserve the whole, to prevent death.

These trees were preparing for a long, cold winter- the kind Orenda could not imagine- and their pain was beautiful, in hues of red and oranges. She wondered if Urillians had some sort of saying for it, some kind of cultural connotation for this pruning to preserve life.

“The autumn is beautiful here,” Anilla said as she looked out the back of the wagon, “In the frozen north, the trees don’t really do this. They’re green all year round. And they have needles rather than the flat leaves.”

“We got them too,” Barbra Allen said, “We just got other kinds. I reckon there ain’t nowhere else with the variety of plants we got around here. I don’t really like the cold much myself. I like the spring and fall best. The time of the year where you don’t gotta worry about sweatin or freezin.”

“Do you know Xaxac?” Orenda asked. She didn’t feel the need to give everything away all at once, to tell this woman her complicated relationship with Xac, all the things she hoped he could tell her.

“Nope,” Barbra Allen said, “Don’t know him- just heard the stories. There’s all kinds of stories. I hear he’s a shifter, hear he used to be a cage fighter, hear there’s something special about him that keeps him out of trouble. The folks who have seen him say he’s worth seeing. They say he’s gorgeous but if we’re talking outta turn, just between you, me and Thesis, I ain’t never really seen a man worth lookin at.”

“How nice,” Gareth huffed.

“She’s not wrong,” Falsie argued, “Most men aren’t worth looking at. Present company included.”

“You look nice, Falsie,” Anilla said.

“Eh,” he said dismissively.

“It does seem strange,” Anilla said, “That everyone is frightened of a rabbit. They aren’t exactly known for intimidation. There were bunnies back home- people would hunt them for their fur and meat.”

“We might have different kinds here,” Barbra Allen said, “Here they’re right pests. Them little fuckers’ll eat anything. They get in your garden- chew right through the fence, don’t care what it’s made of, there ain’t a kind of wood them little shit’s won’t chew through. They’re fast, too- anybody that can shoot a rabbit is somebody who earned the right to brag. They’ll dig up your whole field if you ain’t careful. You don’t wanna corner um- they pack a whallop with them teeth and that sound they make is godawful. Plus they ain’t really worth eatin- they ain’t no fat on um. It’s all muscle, all gamey dark meet.”

“This is where Xac would crack a joke that doubled as an innuendo,” Gareth said, “About how he had a rabbit you could eat- but I don’t have his wit. I wasn’t raised in an environment where my survival hinged on my ability to present a cute, sexy facade so I never had to cultivate it. So those of us who know him can just imagine that I said something equally charming.”

“I’ve got some rabbit meat you might like,” Bella said, and despite himself, Gareth laughed behind his mask.

“The trees are so dense here,” Orenda said, because she had been staring out at the forest and only half paying attention, “And those fallen leaves look so dry… one spark could probably take out the whole forest.”

“Yeah, we been pretty dry this year,” Barbra Allen said, “That’s usually a bad sign. Means it’s gonna be a hard winter. We have to keep supplies topped up and plan for snow.”

“I’ve never seen snow,” Orenda said.

“Oh, Rendy, you’d love it!” Anilla said, “You can do so many things! You can go sledding and build sculptures and have snowball fights and make snow fairies! I would love to show you snow!”

“I find it disagreeable,” Gareth said, “Rendy probably would too. It’s frozen water- the worst of both worlds. Our people weren’t really bred for long-term cold, and I don’t think she’s overly fond of water.”

“Yes,” Orenda reluctantly agreed, “But it would be interesting, if nothing else, for the novelty of it.”

“I don’t like snow,” Gareth said, as if he had more to say, but didn’t say it, and Orenda thought of what Felearn had said about the eruption, about how he could not figure out, in that chaos and darkness, why there had been snow. She imagined snow had to look like falling ash.

Bella looked up at the sky, at the moons drifting through the void, both almost round.

“I should tell you,” She said, and parted the burlap at the front to get Sarya’s attention, “Both of you… I need to be at the Burrow by the time the moons are full. I need to be in BasilGlen by tomorrow night.”

“The moons?” Sarya asked, “Wait, are you kin to Xaxac? Are you a rabbit too?”

“I’m not a lapin,” Bella sighed, “But I am a shifter. And I can’t control it like Xac does… he’s… he’s special. I don’t trust myself when it happens. I need to be somewhere safe.”

“If you ain’t a rabbit, what are you?” Sarya asked, as if she believed Bella instantly and needed no further convincing.

“I… I’m a…” Bella seemed to come to the conclusion that the best way to tell something was to tell it. “I’m a wolf, a lycan.”

“Well now I do just love dogs,” Sarya said, “I used to have one, had him thirteen years. He could howl right along with the music. Name ‘a ‘Lucky’ that feller. Never really met a dog I didn’t like.”

Bella was obviously insulted at this comparison, and Orenda understood why, but she said nothing, and Orenda understood that as well. Now was not the time, and it was impossible to call out every insensitive thing one said or you would be doing it constantly. It was beneficial to learn to pick your battles.

“Are you the sort of person,” Gareth asked, “Who goes up to a mountain lion and says, ‘Here kitty kitty kitty! Who’s a good kitty? Kitty kitty!’?”

“I take your meaning,” Sarya said, “But I tell ya, mam, ya just don’t look like the kind of person we’d have to worry about. Sorry if I said somethin worth takin offense to.”

“It’s fine,” Bella said. “I just… I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I ain’t afraid of no wolves,” Sarya said, “Or bunnies. Takes a lot to put the fear of god in me. Two ladies out travelin alone learn to get by without fear.”

“A certain amount of fear is healthy,” Gareth said, then to Falsie as if he was insulted, “Are you asleep?”

Falsie was lying on the floor with his head on Gareth’s thigh, and Gareth shook him.

“What now?” Falsie asked.

“Are you asleep?” Gareth asked again.

“Yeah, Gary, look at the moons,” Falsie said grumpily, “It’s two past midnight if it’s anything. We all need to sleep. If we’re masquerading as a supply run we’ll be traveling mostly during the day, right?”

“I suppose that’s a fair point,” Gareth conceded, “But there isn’t enough room for us all to lie down.”

“Well now, that’ll only be an issue for tonight,” Barbra Allen said, “We’ll camp tomorrow and by the next day we ought be in Basilglen.”

“We could sleep in shifts,” Orenda said, “I’m actually quite awake, for my part. I feel better than I have in a while. That ocean really takes a toll on me. I don’t know how you do it, Gareth.”

“You’ll be amazed at what you can do when you have death staring you in the face,” Gareth said quietly, climbing down to sit in the floor next to Falsie so he could lean his back against the box. He pulled one knee up to his chest and spread the other leg out in the small space between where Bella was sitting and the burlap of the cart’s covering leading to the driver’s seat.

Orenda stared up at the stars and wondered how her friends were doing. She thought of Tolith upon the sea, and of Bubbider and Ali back at the mansion of the late Lady Glenlen. She thought of Krothy and the other dwarves, who were convinced she was some sort of messiah. She thought of the fire elves in the AlIinsanian army, and how she desperately wanted to return and talk to each and every one of them. Their stories needed to be chronicled, to be recorded for the future. She needed some sort of proof, something to announce, “We are still here. We live. You could not wipe us out.”

“It really is one big forest,” Orenda said when she awoke. She did not remember falling asleep, but she must have, because now the sun shone down on them through the cracks and the thin fabric, and through the slit in the back she saw nothing but the endless sea of browns, yellows, oranges and reds. The entire continent had to be one neverending forest.

“More or less,” Gareth said, “be quiet. It’s… what time is it?”

“Noon thirty,” Anilla said, parting the curtains a little to check the sky.

“Yes,” Gareth said, “It’s noon thirty. Some of us are trying to sleep.”

Master, we draw closer to the artifact, I can sense it. The man with the soul that is not his own is not here, not protecting it, but the woman with the wrong magic has sealed it well. But you are strong. I do not doubt you. It lies along this road, in the heart of a castle. We must retrieve it.

“When I speak to you,” Orenda told the staff, “I sound crazy.”

“You talkin to your package?” Barbra Allen asked, “Lots of folks do crazy things, hon. You can get away with it. You’re an elf.”

“Be that as it may, I know it’s off putting,” Orenda said, because that was not the reaction she was expecting.

“She’s the Chosen Child of Thesis,” Falsie explained, stretching his arms to get the sleep from them in such a way that Gareth had to contort to avoid them. “That’s the sacred weapon of a god. She hears the voice of a god.”

“She hears something,” Gareth said.

“I really wish we could go all the way with y’all,” Barbra said, “I’d love to meet the White Rabbit!”

“You aren’t missing as much as the legends would have you believe,” Gareth said, “He’s a good man, I’m not denying that- but he isn’t legendary. He’s actually quite annoying. He has an issue with addiction and a chronic inability to keep his dick in his pants. How many children does he have now?”

“I think Sharon was pregnant in the last letter he sent,” Bella said, “And she always has at least twins, so god knows by this point. It was up to… not counting the ones who didn’t make it… 16 I think?” She seemed to be counting in her head, mouthing off names, and Orenda realized the extent of their friendship, that she should have been trying to peel information from Bella rather than Gareth, “17. 17 not counting the babies that should be here by now.”

“Thesis’s glowing eyes,” Gareth said, “That’s ridiculous. You know that’s ridiculous! He can’t even impregnate everyone he sleeps with! I know old habits die hard but how does he have the stamina?”

“Some of them were from before,” Bella said, “When he didn’t have a choice.”

That shut Gareth up. He had no response to that and seemed to realize how badly he had messed up by speaking so freely. He pulled both his legs to his chest and scooted up to open the box behind him. He pulled out something wrapped in a cloth and tried to change the subject, as if he had not been a monumental miscreant.

“Pemmican?” he offered the group