~Bilana, in the forests in the south~

I woke up to low music filling my ears and sat up.

The sound stopped.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?”

I blinked where I sat and tried to orient myself—singing, I had caught Psetha singing to himself.

“No,” I replied, confused with sleep still hanging over me. “I mean, yes, you woke me up. But it’s okay.”

Smiling through the sleep I urged him to continue, “You can keep going.”

He smiled back tentatively, and I remembered we had fought before going to sleep. Still, I hoped he would continue—it had been a hauntingly beautiful song—but he shook his head.

“I’m done for now,” he said and stood up, dusting himself off with his hands. He turned to me when he was done. “Are you done sleeping?”

Giving up for now—but I would definitely make him sing sometime later— I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and nodded through a big yawn.” Yeah, I’m awake.”

“Then let us be on our way.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, we walked the day away and chatted about things like the animals and plants we saw.

We never went back to the topic of his before-name.

I had decided to give up on it. What did it have to do with me in the first place? We didn’t need to get to know each other. So it was okay, I told myself, even though I had hoped to become friends, and the rejection hurt.

I could take it.

~Psetha, in the forests in the south~

She was upset.

She was talking to me normally but I could tell—she was upset.

And why wouldn’t she be?

I had refused to tell her my name, something so simple, and gotten angry at her.

Oh, but it wasn’t simple.

My name symbolized my life before I became Psetha—the life that I had left behind after killing my şıphunahıj.

I couldn’t go back to it now.

Ever.

But I still owed her an apology.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted, cutting her off in the middle of a sentence, and she looked at me in surprise.

Then she narrowed her eyes. “Why are you apologizing?”

She wasn’t going to make this easy for me, was she?

I rubbed my hands together and talked as I watched them instead of looking at her, “I’m sorry for getting angry at you about my name.”

Silence.

I should look at her.

I raised my head and made myself make eye contact as I continued, “I left my name behind when I became Psetha. I don’t deserve to be called it after-”

After what I have done.

The words hung in the air between us, left unsaid. But, still, she recognized them, and her eyes grew warm.

She smiled mischievously. “I can forgive you but I have a condition.”

“What is it?”

She grinned, “You have to sing.”

I blinked.

“The song you woke me up with, you need to sing that one,” she said, her decision made. Then she pouted. “It’s been on my mind ever since I woke up. You need to take responsibility.”

I laughed, and she grinned wider.

I smiled. “Okay, then. I will sing.”

So I sang.

I sang of loss and grief as we walked on and she listened to me all the while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait.”

I stopped singing. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you hear that?”

Hear what, I almost asked because I couldn’t hear anything-oh.

“Exactly,” she whispered upon seeing the expression on my face. We looked around, on guard like the rest of the creatures in this endless forest.

The reason could be anything—a bear or the Watch with their predatory presence. I didn’t know which one I preferred, and I didn’t want to find out.

“Hello, great Psetha,” Ziramuk greeted me as he came out of hiding.

But the world didn’t seem to care for my opinion.

The Watch stood in a circle around us, ready to move at one word from him.

“We looked for you so hard, you know. Didn’t we, my friends?” Ziramuk said, playing with a bean in his hands; throwing it into the air and catching it over and over again.

The Watch members cringed as they nodded their affirmation.

“And what is this? You seem to have made a friend. May I ask your name?”

All eyes looked at Bilana guaşe.

She didn’t say anything.

Ziramuk cocked his head to the side. “Did you not hear me, perhaps?”

Up flew the bean.

“I asked for your name.”

Down dropped the bean.

Bilana guaşe narrowed her eyes. “Let us go.”

Ziramuk blinked. “Us?” Then he looked at me. “Since when do you have company, great Tha?”

I moved to shield her from his view.

“Oh, that hurts me. You know I’m here for your own good.”

I stayed silent, but the possibilities ran through my head vividly.

Me, a prisoner.

Or if I wasn’t restrained, me, a murderer.

Ziramuk nodded at whatever he saw in my eyes. “You understand. You have always understood, haven’t you?”

Yes, I had. I was being restrained so that I wouldn’t hurt anyone.

I didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“Come on now, your majesty. We need to go back.”

I took a step towards him—and a hand stopped me from going further.

Bilana guaşe.

“What are you doing?” she hissed and moved to shield me from Ziramuk. “He won’t be coming with you.”

Ziramuk caught the bean in one hand and cocked an eyebrow at her. “What did you say?”

“I said, he won’t be coming with you,” Bilana guaşe repeated confidently.

“Do you understand the threat he presents?”

“I do.”

“No, you don’t-” he started to say and then frowned at whatever he saw in her eyes. “Except, maybe you do. How long have you been dreaming of him?”

Her voice was strong, devoid of fear. “Three months.”

Three? It had already been that long?

“Three…” I whispered and felt myself shiver.

Ziramuk’s eyes grew a little wide. “And do you understand your role, then?”

Bilana guaşe nodded. “I am to kill him—but that’s when he goes mad. He is sane now.”

“And how do you know that?”

“He doesn’t look like he does in my dreams.”

Ziramuk laughed and then with a grin still on his lips he said, “Catch them.”

The circle of the Watch slowly started tightening around us, leaving no opening to escape through.

Bilana guaşe grabbed my hand and whispered, “When I say ‘three’, jump.”

“Wha-?”

She tightened her grip on my hand and said, “We’re going to fly,” all the while keeping her eyes on the circle.

I gulped and nodded, bending my knees, ready to jump. “One.”

We stood holding hands as the circle kept tightening. “Two.”

The Watch raised their hands—to do what, I did not wish to find out.

“Three!” she yelled, and we jumped high. We didn’t go back down to the ground, however—instead, we kept going higher and higher.

We were flying.

And Ziramuk was yelling orders to the Watch. “Catch them, damn it!”

We were going so fast, they quickly disappeared out of sight and hearing.

I grabbed tighter onto Bilana guaşe’s hand. “Thank you.”

She looked at me and nodded solemnly, her face strained with the effort of keeping us afloat—we couldn’t keep flying forever.

“This would really be a good time for a whirlpool to appear.” I joked humorlessly and then-

“There!” Bilana guaşe yelled, pointing with her empty hand at—at a whirlpool.

It was right there, among some trees.

Finally!

“Fly us into it!” I urged her as I covered us in a ball of air.

We flew right into it, and Bilana guaşe released her spell, breathing a sigh of relief. We sat in our ball and laughed. Then she hit me on the arm. “Don’t do that ever again.”

I nodded, grinning. “I won’t.”

You will be the one to kill me, not them.

Bilana guaşe blinked, and I flushed red.

The voices had started.