The longer Nerluce looked at her, the more he noticed about her.

Her skin was the color of the earth, brown and warm. Her hair was a cluster of black curls around her shoulders. She was a couple of years older than Nerluce and had the body to prove it. She was curved and well-muscled. Powerful. Nerluce could feel it in the marrow of his bones. He saw it in the way she moved, burning and bleeding and staining the pages of Nerluce's mind just by being.

The light of the fire gave more definition to her features. It wasn't as if she was perfect. Nerluce saw every pore and imperfection on her. She wasn't skinny - not in the way the women back home so desperately craved to be. The only way that Nerluce could describe her was beautifully and wonderfully human.

Her dress - her white dress - was lacey and layered but cheap and stained. It had been torn at its ends. The forest nipped even at her heels. Her feet were dirty and her hands were callused. Every one of her human features just enhanced her beauty. Nerluce found that he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Here you are," she said, offering him a cup of tea. "May I have your name?"

"Oh- uh. I'm Nerluce," Nerluce stuttered out, trying to focus on the cup in front of him. He was never this flustered around other girls. Why did she make him so nervous?

She smiled, her teeth slightly crooked. "Rieka. Rieka Accalia."

Rieka. The name was so simple that Nerluce couldn't help but feel as though it suited her. She wasn't a woman who needed a complex name. She was just... Rieka and so Nerluce thought of her as such, even though she was older than him and probably deserving of more formality than that.

"So..." Rieka said, sitting down next to Nerluce on the furs, her hands wrapped around her own teacup. "What brought you here?"

"Oh, I'm..." Nerluce trailed off, trying to figure out the best way to phrase what he was doing here. He then decided that it wasn't worth it. "I got separated from the rest of my group. They were going too fast." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I climbed a tree in the hope I'd be able to see where they went and then... my horse ran off on me."

Rieka nodded, solemnly. "Don't be ashamed," she said. Which was easy for her. She didn't look like a woman who had ever felt shame a single day in her life. "It happens more commonly than one would think."

"Really?" Nerluce asked.

Once again Rieka nodded, but this time a smile graced her lips. "Yes," she said. "Horses are easily spooked in these woods. The high concentration of spirits is to blame."

"Oh... I haven't seen very many spirits," Nerluce said.

Rieka paused for a moment, wrinkling her nose. "Of course," she said, shaking her head. "Pardon me, there used to be many more spirits here before those two trouble makers showed up." She clicked her tongue. "There's a code between those who live here. Don't make a nuisance of yourself. We're all hiding from something."

"Even... even you?" Nerluce asked.

"Especially me," Rieka said, her eyes twinkling.

Nerluce stared at her, shocked. His mind started to race through the possibilities of what she could possibly be hiding from. Was she... was she a bad person? Perhaps just as dangerous if not more so than the air and water magicians that Taayir and Aristide were hunting. However, as Nerluce dissolved into a panic, Rieka let out a low and charming laugh.

"Pardon, I didn't mean to startle you," Rieka said, giggling a little more as she pulled out a fan from one of the layers in her dress. "I suppose you'd like me to elaborate?"

"Um, only- only if you're okay with it." Nerluce looked away as she started to fan her face.

She let out another laugh. "Alright," she said. "My home was destroyed. Preinill claims to be neutral territory but..." She shook her head. "I'm hiding here. Hiding from the war. Hiding until the day the Chosen Light is born."

So... she had been here for a while.

Nerluce didn't say anything, just nodded. The birth of the Chosen Light had surely spread throughout the world by now. Nothing that important could be kept secret for very long. Nerluce figured that it might take years, decades even, for any information to reach the people in this forest. Should... should Nerluce tell her?

However, Nerluce didn't get the chance. Rieka smiled and changed the subject. "What are you hiding from?" she asked.

"Hiding?" Nerluce asked. "I'm not- I'm not hiding."

Rieka laughed. Her laugh wasn't malicious. The opposite in fact. It was warm and inviting and Nerluce almost wanted to laugh with her, even though it was at his expense. "No one who isn't hiding comes to this forest and has tea with a resident."

"Well..." Nerluce tried. "You're certainly not just... a resident." He tried giving her a flirtatious look but the intensity behind her eyes made it feel weak. "Uh, you're- you're much more beautiful than- um- anyone else. Here." And there went any claim to eloquence that Nerluce had ever possessed.

Thankfully, Rieka laughed again. Hard. She nearly fell over laughing.

"It's true!" Nerluce proclaimed.

"I am certain you believe it," Rieka said, wiping a tear from her eye. "You are certainly one of the most interesting people I've met in a very long time."

"Such a high compliment," Nerluce said, clearing his throat, and proceeding despite the tightness of his voice, "considering how many visitors you get."

"Oh, you do have some bite, it seems," Rieka said, spreading her fan before closing it and reaching into the folds of her dress once more to retrieve another fan. She opened it quickly before she tossed it to Nerluce. "Here you are. Consider it a gift from the most beautiful woman in the Ever Forest."

Nerluce opened the fan and found that it was of astonishing quality. The silk was a rich, navy blue that seemed to match the color of the night sky and it was dotted by impossibly accurate replications of the constellations. Nerluce stared, slack-jawed, at the fan and then at the woman who had just... given it to him.

"Are- are you certain?" he asked.

"Of course," Rieka said, waving him off with the fan in her hand. "I have dozens of them and nothing to do with them but I keep making them regardless."

"You- you made this?" Nerluce asked.

It should have been obvious. Rieka was an extremely beautiful woman and all extremely beautiful women seemed to be impossibly good at at least one thing. This combination usually made them unbearably arrogant but... Rieka didn't seem the least bit bothered by her beauty. It was almost as if she hadn't even recognized it.

Another warm laugh left her lips. "I'm glad that you like it." She looked down at the one in her own hands. "That happens to be the first time I've ever given one of my fans to someone. Do you think I should do so more frequently?"

"Anyone would love them!" Nerluce said, continuing to turn the fan over in his hands.

He knew he shouldn't think about it, but he couldn't help but wonder how much this fan was worth. Any merchant would be able to tell it was of high quality, something suited for Kings and Empresses, not Nerluce. He had... he had never been given a gift this fine in quality before. Or really... any gifts at all.

Was that what made Nerluce treasure the fan so? He folded it carefully and tucked it into an inner pocket of his cloak and turned to Rieka, ready to thank her again - and perhaps a hundred more times - but her head had turned as if she was listening intensely to the depths of the forest. Nerluce strained his ears as well but all he heard was the crackle of the fire and the howl of the wind. No... not the wind... those were... wolves.

All of a sudden Rieka jumped to her feet and Nerluce was quick to follow. Was that what had chased Eden off? Was he okay? Nerluce's mind started to race. He needed... he needed to find Eden. He needed to make sure he was okay. Nerluce didn't know when, but he'd begun to hold Eden very close to his heart.

And... and he needed to help his horse! He needed to-

From the bushes, an icy sword sliced the ground open. Right... right where Rieka had been standing. But... but now she was several paces back. When had she moved? Nerluce hadn't seen her move. Nerluce wasn't thinking straight. He needed to focus. He needed to find himself. He needed to-

Aristide came from the brush. Rieka muttered a curse under her breath as the sword rose from the ground and returned itself to Aristide's hand. Taayir burst out behind, a whip of flame extended from the palm of her hand. Nerluce looked between the two of them, in shock. What... what were they doing here? Had they heard the wolf howls too?

"Nerluce," Taayir said, her tone thick with a warning.

"I- Eden ran off-" Nerluce tried to explain. "The wolves might've-"

"The wolves aren't hunting your horse," Taayir said, rolling her shoulder. "They belong to her. The Wolf Woman."

She pointed directly at Rieka.