It is several days later, and we are back on the mountains surrounding Tavenport, heading traillessly west. Lila leads us, followed by the dwarf Grunoc and the leopard Coco, with me and Kraig bringing up the rear. My father had wanted to join as well, but Lila had refused, insisting she be given the independence to administer my training as she saw fit, free of his parental interference. Plus, she noted, he had a town to run. He acquiesced, leaving me in the care of his former party members, and so here I am, hiking towards… I’m not exactly sure where.

Scanning my surroundings, I find the area wholly unfamiliar, having entered the mountains through a different avenue than the one I typically employed. The mountainside is large, the forests dense, and it is easy to get turned around since there are few landmarks with which to spot your position. Given this then, you can understand my surprise at the confidence with which Lila leads us. She doesn’t use a map, compass, or even the sun to guide her, yet her pace is steady and unwavering.

I turn to Kraig, whispering, “Does Miss Lila really know where she’s going, Kraig?”

“E-eep! M-me? A-are you a-asking me?”

“You’re the only Kraig here…”

“R-right, that’s very true,” he nods, all the while nervously chewing on a piece of beef jerky, “She’s very good, good with directions. S-Sam.”

“But I don’t see her using a map or a compass, or even the sun. Won’t she get lost in these mountains? I know I have, quite a few times in fact, and I’m pretty good with directions myself...”

“I’d get lost too. I, I’m shaking j-just thinking of it. But not Miss Lila, no siree. Mister Thomas once said, he said she grew up in these mountains. Knows it like the back of her hand. Plus, if she ever does get l-lost, she can just ask the animals for the way.”

“What, like an animal whisperer?”

“She doesn’t need to w-whisper. All rangers can form telepathic links with friendly creatures and share senses.”

“Wait, seriously? So she literally has spider sense.”

“S-s-spider? Eeep! W-why on Arcadia would anyone want to share senses with a spider?”

“It’s, ah, nevermind. So then what creature would you form a link with?”

“Usually a squirrel or a bird or something…”

“I suppose a hawk-eyed view would prevent getting lost,” I say. Suddenly, a thought hits me, and I ask, “Kraig, this link, how far does it extend? Can a ranger use it to track someone? Follow them, say, through a forest?”

Kraig raises an eyebrow, then dons on a pensive expression before finally replying, “I, I suppose, but there are far easier ways, if the goal is to track someone.”

“Like what?”

“Like tracking spells. Track Object, for example. They allow the caster to sense a specific target up to about fifty feet away.”

The distance is too short. “What if, hypothetically, someone wanted to track something, say, a few hundred feet away?”

“In that case, the target would have to be marked first somehow, usually by touch. Then depending on the spell and the ability of the caster, the range could theoretically be infinite.”

Touch? The memory of Lila embracing me in gratitude suddenly comes to mind, and I groan, facepalming, realizing that must be when she had ‘marked’ me. I turn to Kraig, seeking further answers. “And if hypothetically someone was ‘marked’, how would that person, hypothetically, find out about it… hypothetically?” I ask, figuring it’d be good to know of countermeasures, in case a similar situation ever arises in the future.

“That’s a lot of hypotheticals,” Kraig replies, raising an eyebrow before continuing, “Well, the marked person could use Detect Magic or have someone else perform it. That would probably reveal the mark unless it was specifically concealed somehow.”

“I see.”

“What’s with all the questions anyways, Sam? You being tracked or something?” Kraig asks, leaning down to rib me with his elbow, “Just kidding.”

“Ha, ha, right,” I say with a nervous laugh, which seems to draw Kraig’s further curiosity rather than deflect it. Fortunately, a second later and a sudden yell pulls his attention, and mine, away. It’s Grunoc. I lean in just a tad.

“I still can’t believe you forgave him, Ma’am, just like that! He did you worst out of all of us.”

“Grunoc, what’s done is done,” I hear Lila reply.

“I can’t believe me ears. Just what poisonous honey did he offer you a few nights ago when you went to see him?”

“Thomas has his reasons for doing what he did.”

“He told you that?”

“He didn’t have to. I could see it in his eyes.”

“With all due respect, Ma’am, yer telepathy or whatever only be working on small cuddly rabbits and their kin. It don’t work on snakes.”

Lila shrugs. “Like I said, Grunoc, what’s done is done. It’s been six years. I’ve made my peace, and if that does not satisfy you, well, I don’t know what else to say.”

Before Grunoc can reply, Coco jumps in, literally. She throws herself against Lila, wrapping the latter in her long, taut arms. “Well, if he hurts my Lila again, I’ll shred him to pieces.”

Lila nods, letting out a soft chuckle, running a hand across the leopard’s cheek. “I can always count on you, Coco.” Then, the three fall silent.

I look to Kraig, whispering, “You were there with my father back when he was an adventurer, right?”

“M-me? O-oh, you’re asking me. Y-yes, I was,” Kraig nods, adding, “We later served as royal guards under the king together too.”

“So then you would know, right? Tell me, Kraig, what happened? Between MIss Lila and my father.”

“Y-you don’t know? I mean, if you don’t know already, I-I don’t know if I should be the one to say…”

“Please, Kraig? Pretty please? We’re friends, remember? And friends tell each other secrets,” I say, putting on my best puppy eyes.

“F-f-friends,” Kraig repeats, his eyes growing wide. Then I see him glancing around, as if to check that the coast is clear, before he leans in towards me, “O-o-okay, but none of this came from me, got it? How much do you know already?”

“My father and Miss Lila were childhood friends, and then something happened and they had a falling out,” I whisper, shielding my mouth with a hand. It’s a safe enough assumption. Same age, from the same town, joining a party together. Chances are they were childhood friends. Kraig confirms this, but also adds a tidbit that causes me to jump in surprise.

He says, “Miss Lila and Mister Thomas were more than just friends. They were engaged.”

“W-what?!” I exclaim before quickly covering my mouth after I realize the loudness of my outburst. Then forcing a whisper, I ask, “She and my father-?”

Kraig nods. “B-but right before their wedding day, Mister Thomas, he vanished, and no one knew where to. We thought he had died with the others, b-beyond the G-G-Great F-Forest. But then rumors surfaced, about how he had returned to his hometown, wife and a child in tow and-”

“Ahem! Kraig, are you saying unnecessary things again?”

“N-N-No! N-No M-m-miss L-L-Lila!” the young wizard replies, jerking upright, and I see him fall silent, putting all his focus onto the piece of beef in his hand.

I turn my gaze, spotting Lila resume her idle chatter with Coco. She has a faint smile on her lips, blue eyes clear as the sky and warm like the sun. A paragon of virtue, if the townsfolk are to be believed. And yet, the image before me is overlaid with my memories of her, of ice and steel. And for the first time, I feel as though I’m starting to understand why. I am the living reminder to her, of what could have been. I think back to my father’s past ambivalence, and I can’t help but think it lies in the same. A somber mood overtakes me.

“Goddess,” I mumble silently to myself, “Just what did you do?”