The boy talked. Really, he babbled practically any thought that came to his head in an attempt to get out from under Nine Claws’ persistent and authoritative glare. That was how we learned his name was Tike and he had Klus since the crocodile hatched from his egg and whole bunch of other irrelevant information that I let go in one ear and out the other while I recovered from the climb up the cliff.

It didn’t help that Prevna had opted to rest my head in her lap. Supposedly so she could grab me at a second’s notice if the cliff really did start to crumble, but then she had picked a leaf out of my hair. I wasn’t sure how it had gotten there since there hadn’t been any trees nearby but she showed it to me with a wry smile before letting it flutter off to the side. After that I let her undo my braid and now she seemed to be twisting my hair this way and that in a style that wouldn’t require me to sit up for her to finish it properly.

The others did what they could to rest up and recover from the past few days of constant travel in a disturbing landscape while we all eavesdropped on what Tike was saying.

He was from the mysterious band though they hadn’t given themselves a name to unify under. Tike got extra shifty at that point and muttered something about not wanting to draw attention. Given that it sounded like a tribe full of men living a valley created the goddess’s sister and not Her proper territory I couldn’t blame him. Perhaps the valley did have some way to help keep them from the goddess’s attention as long as they didn’t go around flaunting their presence. Or maybe the goddess didn’t care.

It was impossible to truly determine which might be true or what might happen if the goddess’s mood did change so Tike’s band had opted to keep as secluded as possible. They had some other reasons for that too. Namely, that some other band might try to break them up or wipe them out since the band had no women and would take none—and that kind of imbalance of concentrated life could easily be seen as just as bad or worse than what a healer had to contend with.

My ears did perk up a bit at that fact. Few would dare to openly go against the goddess’s preference even if they were quiet about it. A tribe of only men? The thought was unthinkable.

It was even more unthinkable to hear that the mysterious band had been around for as long as Tike could remember. The goddess hadn’t done anything to punish them for living in the inner valleys as far as he knew or for challenging Her power through the sheer abundance of life they had likely accumulated even if Tike insisted they did things to help maintain a balance.

Nine Claws continued to grill him about the inner valleys and their secrets and difficulties when Prevna pulled my attention back to her. She smiled impishly down at me before saying, “I heard someone muttering under their breath not too long ago about supplies and terrible trees and how we were all going to die if the heat or fog didn’t get to us first…”

She raised her eyebrows and gave me a leading look.

I gave her a half-hearted glare back. “You were worried too.”

Her smile stretched wider. “About you getting caught up in your thoughts? Always.”

My glare switched to a scowl in a heartbeat. “We’re still running low on everything.”

“Mmhmm.” Prevna did something with my hair that I couldn’t see. “And we’ll make it work. You’re surrounded by Pickers—we know how to get by when things are scarce.”

“We should have planned better,” I grumbled.

She nodded. “We won’t forget next time.” Then she did one last thing to my hair and patted my shoulder. “All done.”

I sat up and immediately knew something had gone wrong when she couldn’t even last a second before cackling. I reached up and tried to figure out what she had done to my hair by feel. I felt lots of lumps. It didn’t take long for my gaze to catch on the leaf she had pulled out of my hair. It was a long, knobby thing with points sticking out every which way. Utterly unlike the sleek brilliance of the goddess’s pine trees.

“You didn’t.”

Prevna cackled again, only managing to partially block her wide grin behind her hand while she gestured with her other hand to the first valley we entered. “You’d fit right in.”

I vowed right then to get her back some way, somehow. No matter how long it took to find something as ridiculous as this to balance out the scales. In the meantime though I had something else I could use as leverage.

I poked at a lump. “Maybe I won’t let you do my hair again.”

The mirth on her face fell as her smile wavered and my stomach dropped in response. If she had been anyone else…well, if she had been anyone else they wouldn’t have gotten access to make such a mess of my hair but, as it was, I couldn’t stand the uncertainty in her gaze. The knowledge that she couldn’t tell if I was joking or cutting her down.

So I leaned closer, much closer than I normally ever would have, to whisper in her ear while my free hand palmed the leaf she had pulled from my hair. “I was joking.” Then I stuck the leaf in her hair so it pointed straight out over her head. “Now we match.”

I pulled back slightly, expecting her to grin and chuckle or gasp in fake outrage. But that wasn’t what I saw at all. Her eyebrows were drawn together slightly and her eyes looked wide. Her mouth had an odd tilt to it that seemed like it could have been exasperation or frustration.

I didn’t like not being able to tell exactly what her expression meant. I opened my mouth to ask but Malady cut in.

“Girls! Settle down.”

I cut my gaze over to where she was glaring at us. Which was when it became clear that our antics had started to interrupt Nine Claws’ interrogation. Klus hissed at us. I held up a defensive, acknowledging hand to Malady who turned away with a tight expression.

Prevna blinked slowly and then smiled at me once she opened her eyes. It wasn’t quite one of her usual smiles but I knew as soon as I saw it that I had lost my chance to press her about what had happened and get an honest answer.

She held her hands up. “Let me take it out?”

Insanely, part of me wanted to leave my hair exactly as it was. At least until I got to the bottom of what had gone wrong between her misunderstanding me and me teasing her back. Then I heard Colm giggle about my hair before Kuma could shush him and my pride forced me to give in.

Prevna untied my hair from all the lumps she had made piece by careful piece. Then she ran her fingers through it to get out any errant snarls before weaving my hair into its normal simple braid. Finally, not seeming to be able to help herself, she plucked the leaf from her hair and stuck it back in mine, just over my ear. “Perfect.”

I gave it about five minutes and waited until she was distracted before plucking the leaf out myself. Still, the ugly, unnatural thing made it into my poisoner’s pouch without anyone being the wiser.

- -

Another guard came to relieve Tike only to find him surrounded by a whisper woman, two Sprouts, a firestarter, and Pickers who weren’t supposed to be able to be there. Normally, the fog was enough to keep everyone outside their band at bay but we sat there like we were breathing normal air just like they did.

In the end Nine Claws was able to reach an agreement with him, though that shouldn’t have been a surprise given the sheer amount of information she had wrung out of Tike. The new guard was significantly older, more experienced, and unfazed than his younger counterpart after he got over his initial shock. Nine Claws seemed to appreciate his steady attitude and Tike was clearly appreciative of his reprieve from Nine Claws’ glare.

It was decided that we’d stay here or shortly down the mountain, if we didn’t want to stay in the fog, while Tike kept an eye on us and the new guard returned to their hidden band to inform their leaders of the situation. They would decide if we all got to visit or if just Colm and Gard would be taken into the band. Either way Kuma and Jika wouldn’t be allowed to join, no matter their circumstances, so they had to decide what they’d do next. We would take the time to recover supplies from the mountainside—while keeping a careful lookout for any death bringers—and then go from there.

Nine Claws decided that we’d camp a little further from the cliff’s edge but still within the fog’s reach while we had resistance to its effects. Better that bit of security and respite from whatever chaos the purge was causing while we could make use of it. We didn’t make a fire in case it drew unwanted attention and to save what supplies we had, but it was still a decent time from sunset so she and Malady immediately set out to hunt and gather what they could. They had the strength and proof to save themselves from overzealous Peacekeepers too. Prevna and I also likely could have gone with our black lips, but we were told to recover and protect the camp if it came down to it.

So more waiting.

I sat back and tended to the spear Prevna and I were sharing while determinedly putting whatever had happened at end of the little situation with the leaf and my hair out of my mind. Prevna was acting normal now and while my curiosity burned at the back of my throat I didn’t want to ruin the dynamic. This was how it should be. And she had never pressed me when I was sure she had seen something on my face I didn’t want her to.

Still, part of me was very inclined to glare at where she was laughing with Jika, so once I finished checking over the spear I turned my attention to the stone Esie had given me. I ran my finger over the spiral carved into it and carefully looked over every inch, but as far as I could tell it was just a decorative stone. Nothing to indicate why it or the mysterious friend might be worth one of the Lady of Calm Waters’ favors, why it might be special. Nothing to even indicate where I was supposed to look in the valleys for the friend unless she lived in some place marked by a spiral.

I doubted it’d be so easy.

But since I didn’t have any better leads I resolved to keep my eyes out for spirals or other odd shapes that didn’t always show up naturally. At the very least that’d be better than walking around blindly hoping I ran into whoever I was looking for. And when I found her I’d do everything I could to learn more about her connection with my patron, just like Nine Claws had done with Tike.