There was a sturdy and tall apple tree in the yard of Iyan’s cottage, which he shared with his parents. Xellie had taken a small axe and cut down a branch to roughly match the length of her short sword and passed the morning practising keeping her balance as she swung the branch through the air.

She hadn’t been able to put a time frame on how long she had been in Hiraeth, however, during her recovery Iyan had been by her side the entire time, as had his parents, who were very curious about life in Taode.

She had come to appreciate Iyan’s company as it had been a long time since she had been close to anyone. Iyan was different to her old friends and partners - being vulnerable was a new experience. One that she had struggled to come to terms with over the months. Iyan had shown a selfness nature, his irritating firmness toad her had eased up as her physical recovery progressed.

It had, Xellie supposed, came from a good place to encourage her to recover faster.

The rest of this small town were not quite as friendly when she first left the house to explore. Strangers would cross the street to avoid getting too close. Nobody would argue with her, given the hardline warrior type attitude that her homeland was reputed for, their behaviour toward her made an uncomfortable sense.

Every day she could feel herself getting stronger, although more agile manoeuvres were still considerably difficult. In each training session, she aimed to regain some mastery of her feet. This time Xellie wanted to try something she had been finding difficult for a while. She held her makeshift sword ahead of her, then spun around as if the enemy were behind her.

Iyan had taken enough tree branches to the face recently to know not to approach without warning.

“Hungry?” He called out, throwing a bread roll her way.

Halfway through her spin, Xellie saw the bread roll coming and released the tree branch from her hands, sending it flying into a flowerbed, crushing the delicate blooms.

“Oops.” She said, feeling pleased that she hadn’t tripped up and managed to catch the bread.

“Don’t sweat it,” Iyan said with a laugh. “That was about the only thing left in this area you hadn’t destroyed yet anyway.”

“I don’t intend it.”

“You’ve been working out hard today,” Iyan said, eyeing the sweat glistening on Xellie’s skin and hair. “Do you want me to prepare a bath for you?”

“I like smelling of hard work.” She stopped to give herself a sniff. “Yes please.”

“It’s got its appeal I suppose... How do you feel your recovery is going anyway?”

“I think I’m almost ready.” Xellie replied, “I’m keeping balance. I’m keeping food down, everything is good.”

“And the nightmares?” Iyan asked hesitantly, taking her hand into his. “Are they still happening?”

Xellie nodded.

“I still see those scenes of people dying. It feels like a real memory...I don’t think there’s any miasma left inside me, I think it’s just psychological. That stuff was...”

“You don’t need to relive it for me.” Iyan pulled her closer to put his arm around her shoulder. “I just hate hearing you scream in the night...”

“Oooh no, I’m all stinky!” She protested a bit, playfully pushing Iyan away.

“You have vomited on me, and worse, the warrior aroma is a nice change.” Iyan laughed, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close to him.

She lifted her head slightly so that her violet eyes met with Iyan’s green eyes.

“You’ve been so good to me.” She whispered, turning her head to rest on his shoulder. “I don’t know how I could have survived this without you.”

“I’m glad to have stepped in.” he answered softly, brushing her hair away from her face.

She looked up at him again, a slight flush creeping across her face, as her heart began to flutter and closed her eyes.

As his lips touched hers, her anticipation turned to guilt, then panic. She snapped her eyes open and pushed him away sharply.

“I... I can’t.” She said, looking away into the distance. “I’m sorry.”

Iyan sighed and gripped his hands together.

“This again? Why?” He asked, his laced with concern and the tiniest undertone of disappointment.

“You don’t know what you’re getting into.” She turned back to him, forcing a nervous smile to hide the tears forming in her eyes. “I really like you but... You don’t want my future.”

“I don’t get it.” Iyan’s exasperated tone grated on Xellie with every word. “You act like you want something to happen between us, then you do this. You don’t owe me in this way for saving your life. Just stop messing with me.”

“I told you I like you!” She blurted out at him.

“So stop this! This won’t work!”

The bread roll she’d been holding on to fell from the floor as she turned away from him.

“Tane was right about everything.” She said through a sniffle. “Just leave me alone.”

“About you being weirdly hot and cold?” Asked Iyan. “Because yeah, this won’t work.”

“He cared so much. So much that he wanted to wrap me up, keep me safe at home away from the world. He left because I want to be out there making a difference.” She turned to Iyan with watery eyes. “I won’t live long. I WILL die in combat and I WILL leave people behind. So no, I don’t want to pull anyone into that.”

Iyan closed his eyes and exhaled thoughtfully, lifting his face to the sky.

“You need someone that is okay with you dying,,,”

“You spent too long saving my life for it to be you.” Xellie said trying to find something to look at that wasn’t Iyan. “I... I’m not ungrateful, you are a wonderful person and I wish I could take you home with me and... could you really handle that?”

She began mentally begging him to say yes.

“No. I don’t think I could.” He told her with a sigh.

Iyan watched as she wiped her face fiercely with the back of her hand.

“Is this normal where you come from?” He asked, trying to shift her focus a little from what had obviously been a huge disappointment. “Are there many female fighters? I sort of assumed you all went into combat but this guy didn’t want you to?”

“Oh.” Xellie kicked at the ground with her boots, watching the grass get scuffed up. “No, they don’t like girls to fight.”

“Why not? You’re clearly very talented in combat.” Iyan asked.

“Someone has to make the babies I guess. Human ones, not demonic ones. The demons love to do that too.” Xellie lowered her voice and covered her mouth with her hand. “Demons get frisky too, it’s dangerous.”

“What the...”

“Female demon hunters are required to undergo a sterilisation surgery when they are over the age of twenty-one. They assume we will change our minds by then. It’s a good thing, imagine trying to fight while pregnant!”

"Are you sterilised?" Iyan cocked an eyebrow.

"Uhh... I'm not old enough... technically... Actually, well I'm supposed to this year but... they don't know I snuck into the academy three years early."

“So uhh...” Iyan sounded somewhat bewildered. “What do they do if a demon does uhh... you know...”

“Depends really... I think they should just kill the mother and spare her and the world all this awfulness, but... well sometimes they do. Other times they kill the baby demon and then force the girl to have multiple human babies to prove she’s clean.... It depends how much the family want to pay to keep the girl alive.”

“And you want to go back there...” Iyan’s disgust was betrayed in his tone of voice.

“You don’t get to judge us, you don’t live with demons like we do.” Xellie told him sharply. “It’s my home and we are keeping you and your happy, ignorant, peaceful lives safe! So what do you know?!”

“I deserved that. I'm Sorry. I’ll leave you to your practice.”

Xellie watched Iyan until he disappeared into the cottage door, waited to be sure he wasn’t coming back, and then buried her wet face in her hands.

Perhaps it was time to go home.

Shana and Niren, Iyan’s parents were an ageing couple with matching greying hair and faces. While Niren toiled on their small farm raising food to sell in the family restaurant, Shana had devoted a lot of time and attention to making Xellie feel welcome and comfortable, providing everything she could need from food to new clothes. If she had to guess, Xellie assumed ‌Shana wanted more children.

The smell of soup filled the house from Shana’s kitchen, so Xellie went to find her with the intention of discussing preparations to travel home.

“We have the first tooberoots from the season!” Shana exclaimed brightly, dipping a bowl into the large pot simmering away on the stovetop. “Please ‌try this. They are so much better when fresh!”

“Ah... uh thank you.” Xellie inhaled the aroma of the soup, closing her eyes. Food in this small town seemed so much more flavoursome than that of her home area. She took a moment to savour the earthy tones of the soup, glancing up at Shana with a wry smile. “Nothing tastes quite like this at home.” She said, passing the empty bowl back. “I... I am going to miss the food here.”

“You’re leaving us soon.” The drop in Shana’s mood was obvious as she turned back to the soup pot. “I suppose you have to at some point. It wouldn’t be allowed for you to stay out of the inner regions now, would it?”

“I could disappear into the wilderness and forage for tooberoots to survive if I really, really wanted to. And I would kind of like to... They’d never find me.”

“I see.” Shana handed over another, much bigger bowl of soup. “Then I must make sure you’re fed with all the delights of pure land before you leave. And maybe I’ll write down some recipes for you.”

“I’m sorry,” Xellie said with a sigh, slowly sipping on the soup. “You and your family have been so welcoming.”

“Your people keep us safe so we can live peaceful lives. If everyone in the inner regions fled, the demons would just walk all over the continent. I watched you train to fight every day, even here away from danger... So please don’t be sorry. Having you here is a blessing to us all.” Shana’s gentle face creased up in a smile. “Whatever your life is like in that place, please, please never forget how grateful everyone on the outside is.”

Xellie sighed and set the soup bowl on the table, leaning against the door frame.

“We fight or we die... I guess, though, I think... Well... uhmm....”

“Oh no.” Shana pulled a chair out from the table and guided Xellie to it. “Is the miasma confusing you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Staring out of the window over the field, Xellie searched her mind for the words she wanted to say to Shana. “Even though we grow up with demon attacks and suffering, every loss, every mother, child, non-fighter, market trader, tailor, fisherman, blacksmith, every defenceless person lost hurts, but after some time, the pain inside gets less and less for yourself and some say that they feel nothing at all. I find myself feeling angry about the pain of those left behind, not sad for the dead... I’ve only thought about how to protect those around us... I knew places like this existed, but I understand now how important our work is after meeting you. That’s why I have to go back, but also... my brother would be disappointed if I didn’t.”

“I don’t think you’re fully recovered though.” Shana put a hand on Xellie’s shoulder. “Stay a while longer if you’d like. There are plenty of fighters that aren’t you.”

“Alright. But you’ll have to tell the busybodies from the outposts that I’m still sick.”

“You’ve been too useful on the farm for me to say otherwise,” Shana said with a quiet laugh.

Even if there were some awkwardness between herself and Iyan, staying in Hiraeth a while longer didn’t seem so bad. Everything seemed better here. The food was fresher; the sun felt as though it gave life. The scent of everything from blossoms to the bare earth seemed more pungent and the issue of whether demons possessed wildlife and may try to kill passers-by was non-existent here.

Xellie went over to the window and leaned on the sill, pushing her head and upper body into the fresh air, and inhaled deeply. If there was a way to make her homeland so free and pleasant, she would do whatever it took.

A bitter acrid smell overcame that of the blossoms and hedges close to the window. A familiar smell that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

“Is something burning?” Shana asked, poking her head out of the window also.

Xellie shook her head and grabbed the largest knife from Shana’s knife block.

“Stay here.” She told Shana, holding the knife before her and stepping onto the cobbled street.

“What do you mean stay?!” Shana exclaimed, rushing to the door and watching Xellie sprint down the road toward the town.

Xellie stopped at the gate to Shana’s property and glanced up and down the street. She couldn’t tell where the smell was coming from. Looking up, the sky seemed to darken, although there were no clouds. Gripping the knife tightly, she listened carefully. No more bird song, no chatter in the town, nothing but a faint crackling and hissing sound.

A dark mist wound its way between the small houses in the direction of the town square. Glancing down at the kitchen knife in her hand, Xellie realised she was not prepared to fight any demon that was an actual threat. Luckily, there was a small chapel close by.

“Please, go back home and lock the doors!” She called to Shana over her shoulder, who was watching anxiously behind her.

This knife needed blessing to hurt a demon, so Xellie ran toward the house opposite, jumped the fence into their yard, then ran through to the fence behind and crawled under the hedgerow into the grounds of the chapel.

“I’m really sorry about this!” she called out to anyone who could hear as she dunked the knife into the font’s water. “You’ll need to replace the water!”

There was nobody in the chapel, but it seemed polite to say it, anyway.

A shrill whistle filled the air. It was the sound of magic, but where was it coming from? Where was it aimed? As the shrieking magic spell reached its crescendo, Xellie dived under a pew, taking care to not hit the knife on the floor on her way down, closed her eyes and covered her head with her arms.

Silence.

She waited.

The resultant explosion outside blew the chapel’s windows apart. As shards of glass tore through anything of fabric or paper, Xellie held her breath, feeling the hot air passing over her. Candelabras clattered to the ground, their flame extinguished by the choking hot air.

It fell silent.

Opening her eyes slowly, she carefully crawled out from beneath the wooden pew, brushing the glass aside so as not to accidentally put any weight on the shards.

She had a few minor scrapes from flying glass over her arm, which she considered lucky.

A tree had fallen across the door of the chapel to rest against the half-destroyed porch, charred and smouldering. It could burst into flames any second. Pulling her scarf over her face, she ducked under it and ran out into the street.

“Nononono...” She tightened her grip on the knife, scanning her violet eyes over the destroyed houses and burned trees. Somewhere, the offending party had to be among this debris.

The demon, a skeleton figure draped in black cloth holding a twisted tree branch emerged from the dust. Behind him followed a variety of farm animals and some small trees, alive with evil energy and under his control. The miasma wasn’t particularly strong. It made Xellie feel irritated with the situation, but she didn’t chalk that up to the miasma, but more due to the fact that demons had dared reach this peaceful town.

“Leave.” She told the demon firmly, pointing at him with the kitchen knife. “There’s nothing for you here.” One of the fundamental basics of confronting demons was to not display any negative emotions, especially fear. “Leave!”

The demon responded by holding its tree branch staff horizontally before him.

“No! You don’t!” She screamed, launching herself at the demon and tackling it to the ground. It evaded her knife by rolling out from underneath her, using the fact that he was merely bones with nothing to pin down to the ground.

She got to her feet as the bones collected themselves together as if to stand up.

“I SAID NO!” She yelled, kicking the demon’s head clean off and sending it rolling along the ground.

Unphased by the lack of a head, the demon pointed his tree staff at her, the end lit up in a lick of flame. A possessed ram charged at her from behind him, leaving her to yelp and jump aside to avoid both the ram and the incoming fireball.

The fireball exploded behind her.

Shana’s farm was in that direction!

This was no time to take her eyes off the demon and check.

“You better not have hurt anyone, asshole.” She muttered, pushing the knife home into the base of the ram’s neck, then flicking the blood to the floor turning her full attention to the cloaked figure.

She ran at him, sidestepping one more fireball and grabbing his cloak from behind. She slashed a few times into the cloak, which caused black steam to seep out. Next, she looked for the head and threw the knife as hard as she could at it.

The skull exploded on the knife’s impact. The black miasma evaporated slowly, taking the animals and possessed plants with it.

“Phew.” Xellie stopped and allowed herself to catch her breath. Compared to the ‌creatures that she and her brother would encounter in her homeland, this had been little more than a training exercise.

Pondering why there were demons on this side of the continent, Xellie prodded at the pile of bones with her toe, until she remembered the fireball that had flown toward the farm.

What remained of the farmhouse was little more than a smouldering pile of rubble.

“SHANA!” she cried out, running down the track to the farm. “IYAN?!”

She stopped before the remains of the front door and listened carefully.

A cough. It was hard to tell who it was.

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

Miraculously, Shana pushed her way out of the rubble. Bloodstained and dusty, but mostly unscathed.

“Is it over?” Shana asked nervously. “Please, is it safe?”

“It’s safe, I k...” The colour drained from Xellie’s face as she saw a charred and twisted leg sticking out from under the brickwork. “Go to the well and get clean water. You’ve had a shock.”

“But Iyan...” Shana pleaded.

“I will find him, please. You need to take care of yourself to take care of others.” Xellie walked around behind Shana to push her in the direction of the track to town, but also block the sight of Iyan’s foot. “Please go and bring some back for me.”

Reluctantly and dazed, Shana walked up the track. Xellie turned back to the rubble and started digging frantically.

With a lump in her throat, she pulled the last of the masonry away, letting out a small sob when she saw Iyan’s chest immediately rise as he gasped for air.

“Hold on in there.” She told him, unsure if he could hear, pulling him away from the house and laying him on the grass. “It looks like I’m going to be the one looking after you this time.”