The sun was high in the sky by the time Shane stopped in a gap between two rocky ridges and looked back at me tiredly.

"Do you think this is safe enough?"

He shrugged, at least as much as his current form could.

"I assume this is where we can set up camp for a while?"

When he nodded, I got off Milly and tethered her to a scraggly tree, feeling the strain of another long night and day in my muscles. At first, Shane seemed to be at a loss without dexterous hands, but soon figured out how to dig a fire pit with his front paws.

As I unsaddled Milly, he dragged one branch over for firewood in his jaws, but when he dropped it, he spent quite a few seconds trying to spit out pieces of bark. I suspected gathering firewood was going to be delegated to me. Not that I minded.

"I'm not sure if you're willing to carry a pail for water, but if you want to guide me, I can do it."

After shaking his fur briskly, he came over and gently took the pail from my hands.

"Thanks."

With a quiet huff, he trotted away, his footsteps almost dragging in exhaustion. While he was gone, I built a small campfire and dumped some water from my water skin into the pot. I sifted through my trail bars for the ones with the most meat and dropped several in.

I picked up my bedroll and examined the narrow space we were in. Other than the tree Milly was tied to, there were only shrubs and grasses. She wouldn't have much to graze on, but I hoped it was hidden well enough to keep our pursuers from locating us.

The sky was clear of clouds, but I still wedged my bedroll under the partial protection of the rocky cliff. As I walked back, I saw a rabbit dart past Milly. The small trail was packed down and seemed well traveled, so I found some thin cord and set up several snares.

As I returned the extra cord to the saddlebags, the crunching of leaves had me looking over sharply, but it was only Shane returning with water. He put the pail by the fire, glanced at my bedroll, and raised an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged and said, "I've slept rough before, so I don't need a lean-to if that's what you're wondering. You can sleep on Milly's saddle pad if you want. It isn't much, but it'll keep you off the ground."

He gave the dappled grey material a long look before shrugging and sitting by the fire. As I added some of the new water to the pot, he kept scraping his paw across the dirt in front of him and lifting it up, inspecting it, before repeating the process. I watched tiredly, unsure what he was trying to do. With an irritated huff, he met my gaze and huffed again.

"Sorry, but I'm not sure what you're trying to say."

He lifted a forepaw and wiped it across his head. At my uncomprehending expression, he repeated the motion. Alas, I was no wiser than before. I'd never played charades with a wolf before.

Getting to his feet, he came over. I blinked and sat up straighter as he came within arm's reach. Locking eyes with me, he slowly raised a paw larger than my entire hand and put it against my chest, pushing the pendant into my skin.

I finally clued in. His paw swiping had been his attempt to make his necklace appear. Since he'd been unsuccessful, he was focusing on the one he'd given me.

He wiped his paw over his head, this time going from his nose over his ears.

"You want me to put this on you?"

He nodded.

I pulled the warm necklace off my neck and examined it. "I'm not sure this is big enough to reach around your neck."

He huffed, which I had no trouble translating into "try". There was no clasp on it, so I leaned forward and slowly worked the silver chain over his head. It shouldn't have been able to fit over his ears, but the chain seemed to magically stretch to allow the attempt.

The silver chain slid into his fur, leaving just the pendant visible. He tried to look down, but the chain wasn't long enough for him to see it, so he gave me a questioning look.

I shrugged. "I don't think it's doing anything. Although it shouldn't have fit around your neck. Not when I could barely get it over my head."

He sighed in resignation, and after glancing at Milly, lowered his head in my direction.

"You want me to take it off?"

When he nodded, I eased the chain off his neck. Once it was off, I held it against the side of his neck, where it didn't even stretch a quarter of the way around. Shaking my head, I gingerly put it back on. The slightly warm metal rested against my skin as it had before.

Shane gazed at it for a long time before backing up a few steps and laying on the saddle blanket, shifting his focus to the soup. I stirred it and decided it was warm enough to eat.

After pouring some in a bowl for myself, I asked Shane, "Feel like eating out of the pot? Or do you want me to pour it into a bowl?"

His eyes fixated hungrily on the pot, so I set it in front of him as he sat up. It took him a few tries to learn how to lap up the soup, although I suspected a hungry stomach was good motivation. I was going to have to wash that pot really well tonight.

Sudden thrashing at the far side of the clearing and a high-pitched scream made both of us jump. Shane leapt over the small fire with far more coordination than he'd shown earlier and jammed his head under the edge of the shrub. With a hard shake of his head, he snapped the rabbit's neck.

He backed up and with another shake of his head, broke the branch the cord was tied to. He brought the rabbit over to me and dropped it, spitting fur and leaves out of his mouth.

"I'm pretty sure you don't eat raw meat, right?"

He wrinkled his nose, confirming my guess.

"I don't blame you. I don't think I could eat raw meat either."

I took the rabbit outside of our camp and cleaned it, burying the innards to discourage predators. After selecting several branches for roasting sticks, I returned to the campfire. I didn't have enough energy to cut the rabbit meat into strips, so I chopped it into larger sections and set them above the fire.

We watched the rabbit meat sizzle as we finished our soup. I was fine with "comfortable silences", but the way Shane's mouth occasionally opened, just for him to close it again, I suspected he wanted to speak, but couldn't.

"Do we want to set up watches while we sleep?" I asked.

It was a common thing on most journeys, especially with unwelcome company searching for us, but I'd slept every day so far without someone standing guard. As tired as we were, it wouldn't be easy for one of us to stay awake.

Shane furrowed his eyebrows but eventually shook his head. Getting to his feet, he went outside the crevice, where I heard branches rustling and breaking. Then silence. Shortly afterward, similar sounds came from the other opening, where I could see him arranging branches in such a way that anyone approaching would make noise.

It wasn't long before he returned and flopped down by the fire. I didn't recall ever seeing him this tired, but he'd also been forced to "sleep" the entire day, so it had been many years since he'd been able to stay awake past daybreak. Not to mention that he'd been shot right in the chest by a crossbow.

"That wound won't reappear once the sun sets, will it?"

He shook his head confidently.

"Do you think you'll be able to shift like normal after sunset?"

The confidence disappeared, and he stared at the fire, eventually shrugging.

"When that crossbolt hit you, did you know that your pendant was creating those weird orange and green lightning bolts? The one you were wearing, I mean."

His head turned to give me his complete focus. He huffed, watching me intently.

Assuming he wanted me to elaborate, I said, "It was kind of like the orange lightning that sparks across your skin when the sun rises, but these were smaller and came from your pendant. They also kept zapping the arrow."

He furrowed his eyebrows and tried talking again, although nothing comprehensible came out. He gritted his teeth at his inability to communicate.

I shrugged. "The first time I saw your, er, day shift, it only had orange lightning. With your last shift, it started the same, but green lightning also appeared. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with it or not."

His next attempt to speak evolved into a whole series of growls, barks, whines, semi-howls, and all sorts of other sounds as he tried to force his vocal cords to produce human speech.

I foresaw a lot of guessing games in the immediate future. Or, at the very least, an interrogation as soon as he could speak.