They had traveled north all day but made little progress; the roughness of the terrain was unfathomable. After they left the central valley, they had to squeeze between trees and rocks, escalate cascades, jump over ravines, cross a lake, and again: trees, rocks, waterfalls, rock, cascade, trees, lake, trees, rocks, rocks, trees... It was the most excruciating hike they ever had and the most boring. The four-legged all-terrain vehicle driven by Khit’s was doing all the work, but they still tensed and moved their bodies left and right and forward and back at every move, instinctively, and their muscles were sour like they had walked on their own feet.

When the plateau's margin and the border between forest and high altitude grass were reached, night had already set. If they were to believe the picture from the screen, the blimp was only half a mile away. Vellantina ordered them to wait and went ahead, scouting, cutting short a proposition from Sirinn to come with her.

“Goodness, I feel broken!” said Fits as he got out of the vehicle. “Worse than if I’d had walked for real.”

“I agree, my friend,” approved Sem. “This is not an experience I would normally have wished for, at my age.”

The two had chatted together all the way; maybe the similar age and attitude made them easier to befriend each other.

To eat or not to eat, that was the question because the thought of recycled warbeast or wasp was appalling.

“O, Fortune, thank you!” cheered Ulius, finding the last sandwiches from d’Ornia in the baggage. The bread was moldy and the cheese stale, yet they’ve eaten every bit of them.

“I hope you kept some for me!”

Vella had appeared like a shadow from the shadows, unseen and unheard. They did keep some food for her, and she reported her findings as she ate.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not Alienor. It looks like a group of explorers, probably from the University. I sneaked until I was only fifty yards away and took a good look; there was quite a bit of light: the moons, torches, and a campfire. No trace of our beauhemian Nemesis. There was a tall, pretty lady who was lecturing her colleagues about the medicinal herbs growing around, a geographer talking about mapping the area from the blimp, he was sitting in a chaise longue with his back on me, and two big dudes who were certainly security. Then a cook appeared with a cake, and all sang Happy Birthday, Elisabeth to the lady. And then I returned. We’re separated by a ridge, else you’d heard them too. The big guys are for singing what my dad is for poetry. So, Estella, what should we do?”

“My sight is foggy again, sorry. This means I’m not connected to their probabilities yet. What do you think we should do?”

“Well, we could sleep here for a few hours. We’d scare them to death if we appear now, in daylight, people are less jumpy. I don’t think they’ll not leave so soon after the party, and there are tons of things to pack there: tables, chairs, tents, the whole expedition apparatus.”

“Please, let’s selp a lilt, sorry, sleep a little,” said Ulius. “I’m very, very tired…”

They were all tired indeed, so they agreed just by nodding, took some blankets, and tried to find some comfortable spots in the grass. Khit’s, though, even if he had driven all the way, was as fresh as new and took guard duty in the vehicle.

Ulius collapsed and began snoring immediately. Sem and Fits chatted for five minutes and fell asleep too. Estella went a little farther to look at the sky, on a little mound, her knees between her hands and her back turned to the others.

Vellantina waited until all those who were in her path had their attention elsewhere and went toward Sirinn, laid next to him, and pulled half of his blanket on herself.

“You are cold?” he asked, putting a hand over her. He thought she needed warmth and wanted to tuck together with a comrade.

“No,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m just curious about your seducer talents.”

She felt him stiffen, panicked, and she giggled.

“Don’t worry. Just curious. Why did you chase the skirts?”

He thought for a second to say it was his business, but he trusted Vellantina and was afraid that refuse would end in some painful kicks in sensitive parts.

“It was the hunt. That’s all. When… I was on the islands; I used to hunt a lot. To survive, you know. Had to eat anything…”

“Like rats?” she asked, curious. “People say that beggars hunt rats.”

“No, no rats. They are smart, dangerous, and fast. But small mice tied on a rope can be a fantastic bait for cats. And cats are not bad at all, let me tell you. They taste…”

“… like chicken?”

“mhh… not really. Like mudfish, only very stringy. I developed a taste for it. It was quite funny to catch them while they caught the mice. But this I did when I was four. At eleven, when Ernest found me, I was already after the big game. The feathers of the male Dhodho in heat bring a lot of money, and the meat is delicious. Don’t imagine things like in the fairytales, the hero fighting hand to hand with those monsters, no. It was about traps and waiting and a lot of cunning. I missed that in Ohst. And two years ago, at seventeen…”

“So you’re nineteen now?”

“That’s what seventeen plus two make, yes. At that age, I began showing interest in the opposite sex, which I was not willing to shut down anymore. Because I earned for the hunt, and this was as exciting as hunting, even more. Ernst has these books from the old world. I studied human mating habits like I’ve studied the dhodho, the deer, or the bear. It’s amazing how much fantasy humans can produce over the simple reproduction ritual, be it with or without a social contract. For me, it was like knowing the habits of the prey. And I’ve hunted, and I liked it. The hunt more than the score… because something was missing.”

“Of course,” she stated, sure of herself. “Love, relationship, respect… the things that matter.”

“Yes,” he sighed. “And I was not willing to go there, to search for love, so I raised the stakes of the hunt until I was caught. Like the cats I lured with the mice baits, the hunter was now prayed upon.”

“And do you want to hunt again, Sirinn? This matters a lot to me; please answer.”

“No.”

It was a simple word, but so serious it was no doubt it was meant from the bottom of his heart.

“Thank you, this is what I hoped to hear. Let me tell you a little story. When I was in my Trial, in that other reality, I found that my alter ego and yours’ were lovers. Interesting, isn’t it?”

He caressed her cheek.

“Vella, I do care for you deeply. And I think you’re stunning, in your own homicidal way. But it is too soon now. I’m not prepared to look for real love yet. I don’t want to hurt you. Maybe in a few years…”

“You lie very well, Sirinn,” she sighed. “Even to yourself. Because you did found real love, but you’re too afraid to admit it. Do it. Go, tell her. Or else, the moment will pass, and in some years, yes, we could become lovers, and she will hurt a lot. I saw the look in her eyes, in both hers and the other her eyes, in the other reality. Go, or you’ll lose her forever.”

“I cannot...,” he whispered. “She is the sun, the stars, and I’m a snail, a slime… When she learned the truth about me… she was so mad, so mad. She abhors me.”

“Of course, mate. Why do you think she was so mad? She had a crush on you and found you are just a horny beauhemian instead of a charming prince. It was a shock. She is so young, a child, and you are an old pervert…”

“Goodness, Vellantina! She’s fourteen, and between her father and her mothers is a bigger difference in age than we have. I could wait as many years as I’d have to, just to…”

“See?” she interrupted his rant. “You love her. Go confess your feelings, what do you have to lose?”

Only the crickets could be heard, for a moment, and Khit’s who had opened the window of the vehicle and was exercising his aim while doing the number one from a considerable height.

Sirinn laughed.

“You are right, Vella. I forgot who I am. A nobody who hasn’t anything to lose. Thank you.”

He rose, went to Estella, and kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in his own hands. Vella couldn't hear the words, but she saw the surprise in her body, her hands who first wanted to move away, then remained. And soon, happy smiles. Sirinn kissed her forehead and sat near her, his arm over her shoulders, looking both at the moons.

The satisfaction of accomplished duty fell suddenly on Vellantina, and the fatigue mixed with her joy. She fell asleep in Sirinn’s blanket and dreamt about a piece of theater in which she was a mighty princess saving some poor helpless prince from captivity.