The first thing James was aware of was something touching his lips. Breath entered his lungs, which, in that moment, felt like life itself entering his body. He opened his eyes and was met with two glowing eyes. Perfectly round and… green?

James pushed Tor off him and threw up a mouthful of water. A moment later he felt a pair of arms around him. He looked up, still coughing, to find Celeste looking down at him. The glow of the surrounding trees reflected off the streaks of tears that ran down her cheeks.

“Your such an idiot!” she said, burying her face into his shoulder. Even in his disoriented state, he could hear her sniffling. He patted her back weakly.

“I’m good. I’m fine. I’m… going to lay down,” he said, collapsing in exhaustion. It took him a few minutes to realize that a pair of glowing eyes—blue this time—were looking at him. He turned his head to find Kiri watching him, wet and unhappy. She turned her head to the side. James propped himself up on one arm to get a better view of her.

“Thank you for—”

“Rest up,” Kiri said, cutting him off. “We’ll be leaving soon.” And, with that, she stood up and walked further into the tree line, out of sight.

James looked at Celeste, who shrugged. “She’s been sitting over there all grumpy ever since she dragged you from the water.” She pursed her lips. “But that’s not important. What’s important is that you haven’t thanked your true savior.” James gave her a confused expression, to which she responded by gesturing to the side, as if presenting something brilliant. Tor sat on his back rolling back and forth, his feet kicking at the sky. He was dangerously close to the water, but James figured if he could cross those rocks in two jumps, then he could probably swim just fine.

“Thanks, Tor,” James said, laying back on the ground. Tor let out a gear grinding noise in response. James translated it to, No problem, man.

James rested for another fifteen minutes before he felt strong enough to walk. Celeste helped him to his feet and they strode off to find Kiri. It wasn’t hard. She hadn’t gone far. They found her sitting up against a tree roughly ten feet inside the tree line that paralleled the river. She stood up and turned her back towards James before he could say anything.

“Lead the way, Tor,” she said, her voice ridged.

Tor tilted his head and looked between Kiri and James before wiggling its body. James assumed that was his equivalent of a shrug. It stood on its hind legs again, breathing in the air around it, searching for the faint traces of Kiri’s people that still lingered in the air. Just like before, he collapsed back onto the ground after several breaths, then began lumbering forward.

Before James knew it, they had hit another incline. Any complaints that his legs sent his mind, he cut off at the mouth. Kiri was already mad at him, and he didn’t want to make it any worse. Any attempt at trying to talk to her was met with a glare or a change of topic. Eventually, James stopped trying and they walked in an awkward silence. Before long, the ground leveled out under their feet. Tor, who had been guiding them, stopped, looked around, then rolled onto his back. He started snoring within seconds.

“I guess we’re camping here,” Celeste said.

She didn’t know what time it was above the clouds, but she knew she was exhausted. They had, after all, been up all night trying to rescue Kiri, then up all day trying to get as far from Shamran as possible. Add the emotional stress of her brother almost dying, and she could probably fall asleep as fast as Tor. Kiri seemed to be the only one with any energy. She was walking about from tree to tree, kneeling in front of them, then peeling a small amount of bark from each one. She set them all down in a pile on the ground, shedding more light to their sleeping area, and was that… yes, it was giving off warmth. Celeste reached her hand out. It was nothing compared to what a fire would give off, but she suddenly realized how it could stay so warm beneath the clouds. Each tree was a small heat source. Alone they wouldn’t do anything, but together…

Celeste shook her head as she looked at the trees that surrounded them. She was beginning to see what made James so fascinated with the world beneath the clouds. For the first time in her life, she could roam around freely, run without fear of falling into the clouds, walk about without wind rushing into her ears. It felt almost infectious, like this world might sweep her away and not let go.

She watched as Kiri knelt down and cleared off a section of the ground, removing sticks and rocks to make it a flat surface. Rather than laying down, however, she simply sat, brooding and looking at the pile of glowing bark. Celeste looked at James, who wasn’t fairing much better. He had placed himself on a rock several dozen feet away from them, facing away from the pile and away from Kiri. It seemed he had given up on apologizing for the moment. She sighed, banished her need for sleep, and walked over to Kiri. She sat down with a crash, sending dirt into the air around them. Tor stirred from his sleep at the noise, beginning his rolling process. Celeste clasped her hands together, apologizing to the creature.

“He’s fine,” Kiri said, eyeing Tor.

“Did he tell you that?” Celeste asked.

“No, but I don’t feel any irritation from him.”

“I think you have enough of that for the both of you,” Celeste said.

Kiri gave her an unamused look. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

“I never even mentioned his name,” Celeste said, smiling.

Tor finally rolled to his feet and began wandering around the campsite looking for a more comfortable place to sleep.

“But, I would like to know why you’re so mad at him,” Celeste said.

“It’s simple. He’s an idiot.”

“I won’t disagree with you there,” Celeste said, thinking back to all the stunts he’d pulled. “I’ve lost count how many times he’s been caught going where he wasn’t supposed to or doing something idiotically dangerous. Some days I really hate being his sister.”

Celeste peered into Kiri’s eyes.

“So, you hate him because he’s an idiot?”

“I don’t hate him!” Kiri said, louder than she intended. She looked over at James, but it didn’t seem that he had noticed. “I just… think he’s an idiot for falling in the water.”

Celeste eyed her with narrow eyes, then widened them. “You’re not mad that you had to save him. Your mad that he put himself in danger. You care about him!” she said in an accusatory tone.

“Shut. Up,” Kiri said through a clenched jaw.

Celeste smiled at her, and then rose to her feet. “Well, good luck,” she said, brushing the dirt off her pants.

Kiri looked up at her, confused. “With what?”

Celeste’s smile grew mischievous. “With him.”

Kiri looked towards James, realizing that he was approaching them. She looked back at Celeste, but she had already walked briskly in a different direction.

I knew there was a reason I didn’t like her, Kiri thought with an internal growl.

James was tired, incredibly so, but he couldn’t stomach the idea of sleeping while Kiri was mad at him. It made his abdomen twist in ways he didn’t think was normal. Even worse, he thought he knew why she was mad, and he couldn’t really blame her.

“Can I sit?” he asked once he had reached her patch of smoothed out dirt. She turned her head away from him. “Stay silent if I can sit. Speak if I can’t.”

She said nothing, so James sat.

The first several moments were spent in silence, neither one knowing what to say.

“I get it,” James said.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“I know how it must make you feel having to save me—to have to save the person who failed to save your mother. I… I’m sorry. I really am. I wish… Listen, I understand why you’re mad, and from now on feel free to leave me to my peril. I’ll tell Celeste that I said so. You already saved me once, and that’s more than I deserve.”

James stood to leave but felt himself ripped back to the ground by a tug on his jacket.

“With Kodama as my witness, I’ll pick you up and throw you back in the river if you try to walk away after saying all that!” She hit him on the head, just as Celeste usually did, except a tad bit harder. “You’re such an idiot! I’m not mad because I had to save you!”

“Then why!?” James shouted, rubbing his temple.

“I’m mad because you put yourself in danger.” Her anger cracked slightly, revealing sadness. “I just—I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

James’s anger fled from his body, and, not knowing what to say, he simply nodded and continued to sit beside her. They stayed like that for a while, and, even though no words were exchanged, James felt warm inside. Before he knew it, the faint glow of the bark—with the help of his already present exhaustion—had lulled him to sleep.

He had only been out for a few hours when a twisting pain in his arm woke him up. He opened his eyes to find Kiri gripping his arm, digging her nails in so hard she drew blood. Her body was shaking, and her breath was ragged.

“Celeste,” James called.

“They’ve started,” Kiri said in a ragged voice.

“Started what?” James asked, pulling his arm free from her grasp.

“Burning.”

James whipped his head back the direction they had come. Through a gap in the trees, he could see that the clouds were lit up a faint orange. He cursed and stood up.

“Watch her,” he said to Celeste.

James didn’t wait for a response before climbing the nearest tree. As he got higher, the glow from down the mountain became more and more distinct. Eventually, through a gap in the trees, James was able to see the flames. They rose high into the air, consuming whole trees and turning them to ash. He watched as one of the trees glowing light was overtaken by the blaring orange of the fire. James squinted, noticing something unusual. He climbed up several branches higher to get a better view; he did not like what he saw.

When he got to the bottom, James found Kiri asleep—or, more likely, she had passed out from the trauma.

“Fire?” Celeste guessed, looking up at him.

James nodded. “We should move further up the mountain. I’ll carry Kiri.”

“Alright.” She stood up and dusted off her clothes. “Maybe we should have taken the time to cover our tracks back at the field of ash.”

“Wouldn’t have mattered,” James said flatly.

“Why?”

“They’re burning the forest in every direction.”

Celeste’s eyes widened, then she raised her fists, squeezing them. “If I ever get my hands on Shamran, I swear I’ll-”

“Come on. Let’s go,” James said, hoisting Kiri onto his back.

He felt bad for cutting Celeste off, but the mere mention of Shamran’s name was too much for him right now. He didn’t want to think, and he didn’t want to talk. He just wanted to carry Kiri in silence.

Tor was already leading the way. James was unsure when the creature had awoken, but he must have comprehended that they were leaving as he had already smelt the air and decided a direction. Or perhaps he was simply heading away from the fire. James didn’t care at the moment. He found himself staring at the ground, watching plant after plant pass beneath his feet, each one glowing faintly. It wasn’t long before they hit another incline. James’s legs groaned under Kiri’s weight, and eventually gave out, dropping him to one knee. He gritted his teeth, rising back to his feet. As he did so, he felt the weight lessen. He looked over to find Celeste taking one of Kiri’s arms and wrapping it around her shoulder.

“You know, not too long ago you were tackling this girl and hitting her,” he said, showing a faint smile.

“I’ll probably do so again in the future, but for right now I’ll settle for holding her arm in an awkward position, so it feels uncomfortable when she wakes up.”

She shot James a mock-sinister expression, then shifted Kiri so that she was on both of their backs, relieving some of the weight that James had been carrying. They continued on in silence, Tor leading the way.

After several hours of walking, Tor came to a halt. James and Celeste nearly ran into him due to his sudden stop. James watched as Tor sat back on his haunches and sniffed the air. He spun in a circle, and James felt a sense of confusion from him.

Any further thoughts were cut off by someone ripping Kiri from their back. James spun to see a tall man holding Kiri over his shoulder. James immediately reached for Kiri but was gripped from behind by another figure. To his right, he watched as Celeste was grabbed by someone else. He fought against the person holding him but felt his energy fade from him as he watched more and more people come out from behind the glowing trees. James was so panicked that it took him longer than he would have liked to realize that they were all wearing similar clothing to Kiri. James felt a wave of relief flow over him.

“I’m glad we found you. Kiri’s sick. She needs—”

His voice cut out as the person restraining him gripped the back of his neck and squeezed.

“Let go of him!” Celeste yelled, but was quickly gagged with a piece of cloth.

“Is she alright?” James heard the person saying from behind him. It was a woman’s voice, labored and accompanied by a tinge of satisfaction.

Several people had taken Kiri from the man’s shoulder and placed her on the ground.

“She’s breathing, but not conscious,” one of them said.

“It’s the fire. It—” James tried to explain but was cut off by another squeeze of the woman’s hand, sending pain through his neck and shoulders.

To the side, James could see Celeste fighting against the grip of her restrainer. Two more people had to come over to keep her from breaking free.

“What do we do with these two?” a man asked. James couldn’t tell which one.

“We could kill them… or perhaps use them as hostages,” the woman holding James said.

He shivered, hearing the excitement in her voice. He looked about and realized, with a sinking feeling, that no one was objecting.

“You will do neither of those things,” a female voice said through the crowd.

It wasn’t a loud voice, but it was a commanding one. James found an odd sense of familiarity towards the voice. He had heard it somewhere… somewhere recent. The crowd parted, and James watched as Kiri’s mother walked into view.

James’s legs nearly gave out. The only thing that kept him from hitting the ground was the woman’s hand around his neck. His body shook in its inability to process the cascade of emotion that poured through him. James blinked away tears as he met eyes with her. He didn’t know what to expect. Would she be disappointed in him? Would she be angry? He had, after all, left her to the fires and taken her daughter up to Vinci.

His worries seemed to evaporate—a weight that he didn’t know he was carrying lifting from his shoulders—as she gave him a fond smile. James opened his mouth to speak but found that he couldn’t, the words stuck to his throat, unable to reach his tongue. Kiri’s mother, however, turned to face the rest of the men and women that surrounded them.

“Is this what you all have become, people who would take children hostage, people who would kill? If so, then they truly have destroyed us. A village can be rebuilt, but morality, once lost, is much harder to get back.”

James could see some of the villagers looking at each other and dropping their heads in shame. Though, the grip around his neck only tightened in response to her words. Kiri’s mother turned back to them.

“Release them,” she said, somehow balancing both empathy and command in her voice.

The three holding Celeste looked at each other and nodded. Reluctantly, they released their grip on Celeste and undid the gag around her mouth. She slumped to the ground, exhausted from trying to break free.

Kiri’s mother directed her full attention on the woman behind James. Pain shot through his neck as she flexed her hand.

“I won’t do it, Kora” the woman said, pulling James backwards. “People died in those fires. Someone needs to pay!”

James tried to flail his arms but was made docile by a cool sensation on his throat. The woman had pressed a knife to it. James’s fear skyrocketed.

“I know every man and woman that was taken by the fires, and not a single one would want this child’s blood spilt. Release the child,” Kora said.

“Or what!?” the woman shouted, her voice shaking wickedly. “Will you force me to stop? Will you harm one of your own?”

Kora kept her expression level. “Me? No, I won’t do anything. But him…”

Just as she finished speaking, Tor emerged from the darkness behind James, rising high onto his hind legs and coming down onto the woman with a powerful thud. She and James were thrown to the ground, her blade discarded into the dirt. Before either could rise, the villagers rushed them, separating James from the woman. After a couple dozen seconds of chaos, James found himself looking up at Kora, Kiri’s mother.

“Are you alright, child?” she asked.

James felt a swirling of emotions that sent tears to his eyes. She was alive. She was alive.

“I’m sorry.” The tears fell quicker down his cheeks, and he gritted his teeth at the sense of shame he felt. “I’m sorry I left you in the fire. I’m a coward and I’m sorry.”

She knelt down, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Child, you are no coward. You saved my daughter’s life, making a decision that carried weight enough to crush ten men. You left only because you had to. I could see it in your eyes.”

Kora grabbed his chin, raising his head so that their eyes met.

“Child. Thank you for saving my daughter,” she said, eyes glistening with tears.

And with that, she brought him into a warm embrace.

Exhaustion and relief intertwined in his body, and he found himself asleep before the hug was finished.