It was early the next morning the cool air was warming quickly in the unhindered sun. Pine Rest was busy clearing the fallen branches from last night's storm, sweeping hail from their doorsteps, clearing snow from the alleys, and planning repairs for many of the roofs and chimnies around town.

Tolan lifted another bundle of branches onto the pile, Vir close behind, grumbling as always.

"Damn storm, every time we go somewhere, there's a storm, or Rain, or Hail, or sometimes all three at once," he muttered throwing the armload of pine onto the heap.

"If I had the same luck with women as We do with bad weather, I'd have a hundred brides by now!" he declared. Tolan scoffed

"And then we would pray for rain instead, brother. But I am glad you cling to happiness, perhaps something will come of it in the future," he said with feigned reassurance

Vir ignored him and kept working, throwing another bundle of scraps and timbers onto the pile.

"Why must the world be so against me? Do the Birds have some sin against me?" Tolan gave a bemoaned expression, but Vir continued "Do they not have enough of their troubles? Why add to mine? Tolan, what say you?"

Tolan sighed "You talk too much, hand me that stick over there." he pointed to a branch that had escaped them earlier. Vir sighed and went to grab it. He looked and squinted at something rising from amid the townhouses.

"Tolan?' his brother's eye's raised towards what Vir was looking at. "Is that-"

"I think it is."

They had both spotted a small dark cloud, staining the clear sky, drifting lazily from the sea of timber houses into the sky. A bell began to ring, loud and clamorous. The Alarm bell.

"FIRE!" the distant cry rang out.

Both men dropped their bundles and leaped into a sprint. As they ran, the urgency grew with the number of people running with them, cries and bells the whole way. Turning the corner, they had arrived at to fire, half the town had been roused and the fire department with them.

At least three houses were up in flames along the main street, a fire line was being built, passing buckets to and from a nearby well. Where there was no water, men disrobed and physically beat back the flames with their coats or thick blankets. Tolan and Vir alike both threw off their coats and joined the fight, diving headlong into the fire's heat and flames trying to stomp them out with brute force.

A voice, full of desperation "My Daughter, MY Children are Still in there!"

They looked at each other, and dove headlong into the flames.

They were joined by two others as they each battled and strained against the flames, having to clear the cinders and burning logs to stifle and strangle the flames. the cries of those trapped by the walls of fire reached out to them, guiding them in. They'd picked a bad spot for their entry, the flames were hottest here and several fallen walls block the path.

Tolan threw his back into unblocking a door that had been barred by a falling beam. Vir threw a blanket over it like a rope and pulled it aside, The other two did much the same, One worked with Tolan to clear the path ahead, While Vir paired off with the other to secure their retreat.

"In Here!"Tolan cried out to the others. Entering the room, they found a woman and child.

The child was barely a few years old, sitting on the ground bawling himself to tears. Tolan grabbed him and Vir scooped up the woman with help from his companion, before beating a hasty retreat. Sparks and hot ash rained on them the whole time, while smoke threatened to confuse and choke them. As if this were all a cleverly laid trap to sacrifice as many souls to the fire before the village could snuff it out for good.

The Two men that joined them in the inferno, raced alongside them down the path they'd cleared, Rushing towards the shouting and eager arms of the fire teams outside. Heat and exertion tried to block them as the flames continued to choke the clean air from their lungs, the intensity forming a barrier that only the fearless would brave. But they rushed on, barreling headlong with the task of escorting these lives and their own to safety, clearing a fallen timber that made the last pitfall of the fires rage. They burst forth into the clear air and handed off their charges to the crying and relieved parents, calling out their thanks to the heavens.

After catching their breaths a moment, and take in gulps of water. Tolan threw handfuls of melting snow over himself and the rest of their team followed suit, drenching themselves in the cold white ice to soothe any burns left by the falling embers and to relieve the pressure of the heat from their bodies.

When refreshed, They turned again and sprang back into the fire. Plunging into the inferno and soot, they and other men, sought out and snuffed out as many flames as they could. Sometimes with their coats, other times with buckets of water. There was hardly any time to think or to speak. Simply lifesaving work to be done, and not enough time to do it.

When it was over, Three houses had been burnt, one collapsed.

Tolan sat on the ground, wiping the greasy mix of sweat and ash from his body. Vir was lying flat on his back, chest heaving. "I-I knew it!" he gasped.

Tolan shifted to look down at him.

"I-I'm Cursed. We're both Cursed!" he weakly cried.

Tolan sighed "No, brother. Cursed would be Our house burning down. This was a stray branch in a chimney."

Vir groaned. "Not the fire you fool, The only time a girl would ever let me call on her, is when I'm risking my neck pulling her from a fire!"

Tolan paused a moment, and they both simply started to laugh. The smoke clearing their lungs took offense to their merriment but was cleared out after a brief coughing fit.

"Maybe, maybe there is something wrong with us." Tolan mused, Vir waved it off.

"Tolan." Vir sighed

"Yes, brother?"

He coughed up the remaining soot and finished "Let's go home."

Tolan nodded to that suggestion. "Alright Brother. Let us go." He stood and Teir threw out his hand as Tolan caught it, hoisting him up, and they stumbled off together into the afternoon sun.

It was late afternoon, by the time they stumbled home. Nana waiting for them.

"I see you've been playing at Chimney sweep again." she sniffed the air "You smell like Rats, tubs outback it's already full. get going, or it's gonna get even colder." ducking back into the house, tutting to herself.

They clumsily raced for the large half barrel that made up the tub, but they were so tired they mostly fell over each other in the lopsided dash. Tolan reached it first, but Vir managed to climb up his back and splash down into the water. Tolan gagged at the water up to his nose, wiping the spray from his mouth.

Vir sank into the water as best he could and started scrubbing himself inside his clothes, smiling in victory. Tolan sensed Vir would've laughed if he had any strength left

"Don't use all of it, you weasel!" Tolan grunted, Vir did laugh at this,

"Oh, don't worry brother, I'll leave you this much"Vir called as he splashed at Tolan again. He retaliated by throwing a wadded rag at Vir's face, Vir kept laughing as he cleaned himself of the black soot and ash. Tolan ground his molars together for a moment and then did something brash.

Vir wasn't laughing when Tolan jumped in with him. They wrestled in the wash for a while, turning the water black as they did, dueling each other amidst crests and waves inside the half-barrel sea.

Hela was unamused, hanging up their sopping wet clothes while they sat at the table, stripped down to their skins, She tutted over a hole in Tolan's pants, Groggy had been forced outside while she worked her needlecraft, punishment for trying to eat her thread.

"Well, Are you happy now?" she demanded "Swallows above, what have you been doing in those woods? These pants look like you were beating each other with thorns, oh, and that shirt, when did this happen? I thought I taught you to patch a couple of holes at least!" scolding them waving the shirt around in her clenched hand.

She threw something from the bench to Vir

"Here, put this on. Can't have you running about like savages." Vir forced the shirt off his head while she tossed a pair of pants towards Tolan.

"I understand you'll be leaving tomorrow?" she asked, Tolan, nodded

"Yes Nana, we'll need to keep the town going with firewood through winter at least, that and rumor has it that Thresher Country is building new Grain storage. They'll be placing orders for lumber in the spring," He spoke with some urgency, while still shivering from the ill-fated bath.

"Lots of work to do, I suppose you'll want to be getting a start on it. Though Winter work is always rough." she huffed "Well, it's better than no work at all. I'll see you off in the morning. Try not to bring one down on your heads., I expect Tolan to at least try and make a proposal to that Tamia girl at some point, I'll beat you if I half to do it myself. Vir, I suppose we'll just have to hold out hope for yet."

Tolan, who was about to start his argument, was cut off by Nana's pointed finger "I expect you to at least try, instead of running away like you did the last time." then huffed "By the birds, why is this so difficult for you two? everyone else has gone through their paces already, why are you so stubborn?." she didn't need to look to see Vir's face opening-up.

"I know what your problem is boy, I'm asking this bashful flower." she spat, Vir tried to hide a smug expression behind acceptance. Tolan thought it looked weird.

"Well, Tolan. What is it?" the old woman demanded, Tolan still couldn't answer her and just stared at the ceiling blankly for a moment. After not getting an answer from Tolan, Nana threw her hands up and stormed out on the two, And Tolan started reaching for the dried fruit jar. It would be a long night ahead.

True to her word, Nana saw them off at the gate, wiping the last crumbs of breakfast off Tolan's tired face before letting him leave. They waved to Frow in the guardhouse, or whoever was keeping watch at the time as they passed through the gates.

Tolan and Vir said their goodbyes and started walking. It had been somewhat of a struggle to get out of the house that morning, but they didn't wait for Hela to rouse them. They left with just as little as they came with, save for an extra set of clothes on them, draping the other set over their backs as they walked.

They made good time as they traveled, taking in the road and reflecting on the Festival and the figures that about by the magic of that time. As they talked and debated the older stories, came upon a sight even stranger than the ones they'd so recently seen.

They had just come to the edge of the forest, where their grassy plain ended when they stumbled into a twisted pine that had broken and fallen across the path, the bark smelled faintly of charr and thunder. Indeed, a gash burned along one side where lightning had struck it, and toppled the trunk of the misshapen wood.

Tolan sighed and looked back by the way they'd come, not a far distance, perhaps a few hours at most. Vir gave the fallen tree a scornful look and mouthed the worst to a silent and foul oath.

"I suppose you'll want it moved?" he asked of Tolan. Tolan was still, he was studying the fallen object, discerning where its shape would give the best footholds and leverage for lifting. He raised his head at the sound of Vir's voice. He stood from his kneeling position and responded.

"Well, I don't have any rope or irons on me, but if we grab hold and give it some grit, we can move it aside. About all, we can do without axes or sleds for now," he stated. Vir threw his hands in the air and vexation.

Tolan clapped his shoulder. "Come brother, I will require your strength for this." He pointed to where he wanted him and counted off to lift in unison. With a groan and a strain in their backs, they lifted and rolled the massive tree aside by a small measure. They panted for a moment, then Tolan counted again and they heaved once more, shifting the tangled mass of branches to the side once more.

Turning the great mass to the side as it pivoted on the broken and splintered stub of its crudely severed mass, they tore at the ground with their feet as they dragged it into the brush. While they rested from the task Vir raised his head and asked a plain question, though it seemed fantastic,

"Tolan," he started, his brother grunted and turned to face his brother. " Could you look behind you for a moment?"

"What is it Vir? If it's a trick I won't fall for it," he stated flatly. Vir shook his head as if to shake a vision from his mind. "Tolan, I swear, behind you there's a girl, a pale white girl, sleeping by that tree stump," he said quietly.

Tolan laughed making light of what he thought was a harmless jest, but Vir remained fixed to whatever had entered his vision. Tolan was still chuckling to himself.

"I don't suppose they've started growing on trees now? Do you think we should introduce ourselves, or will you just marry now and plant a few more when the season comes? " Tolan gaffed, Vir gave a brief unamused smile before saying.

"Ask for yourself, stone head," he said pointing behind Tolan's back. He turned leisurely as if expecting some childish prank only to be struck silent by the same sight as his brother.

There, by the charred stump of the tree, slumped against the wood and bark of the former pine was a face and a body. The face was pale like the mountain snow with soft but rugged features, like a stone that had been carefully smoothed by constantly flowing water or harsh winds. Her exposed hands were long and slender, the willowy measure of a seamstress or spinster, colored pale pinkish hues, like marble turning to the flesh beneath the nails.

The woman was dressed in a tattered cloak, with red and blue-green colors, shaped like flowers, decorating the hem of it. A thick leather smock covered her body, sewn with the same blue-green thread in a flowering pattern, and stitched in an unfamiliar style.

Thick and padded, yet colored in patterns of embossed shapes and threaded beads of white, red, black, and yellow. Arranged into depictions of a large red salmon and cresting waves decorating the spaces in between with turquoise blue coming to life as the roaring waters.

The midday sun gave the bush concealing her a fiery quality, they both gazed on in a stupor at the sight of the bizarre fae creature, like an old story come to life before them. Tolan shook himself and hurried over to her, crouching down he moved to gently wake her.

Vir called for him to wait, Tolan looked at him puzzled.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, not sure why he felt the need to whisper.

Tolan shrugged."I thought we might become acquainted, why?"

"What if it's a trick? A trap of some kind?" he started looking about the trees as he'd become keenly aware of some invisible enemy hiding within the trees around them. Tolan chuckled under his breath and replied mockingly

"Then It would appear that our trickster has a better sense of humor than you brother, Or at the least, Finer Bait. " He smiled, Vir did not return it.

"Let us find out then. Oh Miss, Miss. Wake up Miss." he began to gently shake the woman trying to wake her from her slumber. He looked up at Vir when he failed to rouse a response,

Tolan gave a harder nudge. A brief flicker of movement disturbed the sleeping image before lazily opening her eyes, Tolan eased back a bit fast.

Her eyes were a terrible piercing blue, like a mountain stream or glacial caps. She rose to her feet, murmuring in a strange windfallen tone, like a canyon wind or the whistling air at the top of a mountain.

The graceful creature put a hand to her face, rubbing the sleep away with the back of her hand, still muttering in that strange hollow flute-like voice, words they didn't know. Her back was to Tolan, so when he touched her on the arm She gasped in visible surprise, being surrounded by the two men.

Her hand fell reaching into her clothes, Vir saw the motion and called for Tolan to back away, he heard him pause too late as the shining blade, long and thin, suddenly cleaved the air.

Tolan leaped back in surprise, back-peddling away from the once beautiful girl turned into a ranting beast, standing her frenzied ground, brandishing the long evil stiletto knife like the claws of a frightened animal, forcing Tolan to give ground to her frantic sliding motions.

Vir made a move, catching her attention. All he saw was a flash of movement as the same grace from before now propelled the silver gleam of the blade, Vir briefly suspected he may die here as the blade cut his shirt open with a faint whispering edge, deep enough to draw a slight beaded line of crimson.

Tolan grabbed her from behind jerking her back towards his arms, sparring Vir from the knife's returning edge. While Vir sighed in relief, Tolan wrestled with the woman, reaching around to stifle her wrists from swinging as she struggled.

He started making soft cooing noises like he was luring a squirrel or turkey to him. Putting as much gentle and tender emotion into his voice as possible, pressing his charms as far as they would go.

It wasn't noticeable at first, but it did have an effect. Vir made a move to help, but Tolan shot him a hard look that made him halt his steps. Tolan softened once more, gushing and cooing till she stopped the fight and lowered the blade to her side.

Struggling less, he slowly released her hands and slowly spun her around till they could see each other. It was an effort not to lunge of flitch or to move at all. Vir had lured many animals while hunting before, and he knew that Tolan was the better at it.

Confused, the mysterious figure, dropped the blade and eyed Tolan warily, before she began to tremble. The life seemed to drain from her already pale face as she faltered, a low quirksome growl emanated from somewhere, loud and desperate.

Tolan sighed in relief and reached for his pocket, Vir snickered at what he brought out. A piece of dried fruit from Nana Hela's house. He offered it to her, just as quietly and with as much reassurance as before/

She took the piece gingerly and it vanished as quickly as it had been offered. Tolan sighed and undid the small pouch on his belt, he dug through it for a moment before calling to Teir.

"I'm out, do you have anything?" he asked, careful not to be too loud. Vir was about to say something when he saw her collapse into a heap. Tolan caught her in his arms, she was too weak but he could still feel her clinging to his chest with the last bare strength left in her fingers.

"What should we do?" Vir asked, Tolan looked up to him

"Back to Pine Rest, If we hurry, we'll get there before dark," he said in a hurry. Throwing his arm under her legs in a single sweeping motion. "Quickly, we don't have much time." Vir glanced at the sight of him and snickered. "You practiced that for Tamia, didn't you?"

Tolan shot him a withering look of disapproval, Vir choked it down. Now maybe wasn't the best of times. Vir fell in line as they reversed course, the lost girl clinging to Tolan's shirt like he was the only tree in a terrible flood.

It was much longer than they'd thought it would be. Vir bemoaned not making a sled when they had a chance. It was night by the time they reached the Gates. Tolan had to almost scream to get any attention from the Gatehouse, but they were finally let in by a grizzled old man, who'd heard them crying at the gate and let them in after summoning another to help him.

They spent the night in the Guardhouse, being questioned by the guards on duty and the Militia chief that was there, they had laid the strange ethereal lady down on a simple cost in the barracks. It had been a long and strange night. Tolan didn't mind sleeping there as well, but now that things had settled, Vir found he was disturbed by something.

Unconsciously, he'd kept something from the scene, he hadn't noticed until a guard had tried to take it from him. As for some reason, he'd appeared with a drawn knife. It was the woman's blade, the one she'd dropped at the scene in the woods. He'd retrieved it without thinking. But that wasn't the only thing strange about it.

All his life, he'd been told that copper and bronze were sacred metals, the only ones fit for laborers such as himself and his brother, living in the Fifth Circle. All his life, Iron was a metal of war, and thus only soldiers held Steel, it was the Right of the Warrior, the Third Circle. So then came the question.

Who was this strange girl to bear a Steel dagger? And why would was she left to starve in the wild? A sense of dread filled him that night, strange things were happening. And knowing his luck, they were not yet done with these strange affairs.