Idunnir spent a long time examining Caius’ sleeping form. It really wasn’t wise to fall asleep in the middle of a forest where they had just encountered a lethally dangerous enemy. But she had felt his absolute confidence that she would protect or wake him if anything went wrong.

  Since she had first seen him, he had reminded her of a prince. Good looking enough, but soft and used to easy living. Quite literally soft, with the fat and hands that hadn’t felt a hard day’s work in a long time, if ever.

  But then there were the things that didn’t fit. Like how his endurance was… not good, but much better than she would have guessed by the look of him. And how he thanked people for every little thing.

  Not to mention the insights her… talent… gave her. Seemingly at random he would feel these flashes of amusement, like he remembered a joke. She could feel his brief urge to share whatever it was, then him suppressing it.

  Back in Threpin, she had watched him interacting with the villagers. He’d been quite charming, listening attentively to every word. With an easy smile and never hesitating to throw in a slightly self-deprecating joke. Even grumpy Halli the butcher seemed to like Caius.

  Meanwhile, Caius had spent the entire time panicking internally. Eyes darting around frantically, glancing between faces and hands and mouths and postures. She knew exactly what it reminded her of.

  That was how everyone acted in their first life-or-death fight. Training warring with panic, somehow forgetting everything you learned. Except it couldn’t possibly have been Caius’ first time talking to people.

  Idunnir had to conclude that meant… he felt like that every time. Except when he was talking to her. He trusted her, even though she could feel him being afraid of trusting her.

  Realizing that she had spent far too long watching Caius sleep, Idunnir bent down and shook him gently by the shoulder to wake him.

  He got up muzzily, but like always he paused to thank her earnestly for setting up camp while he was asleep. Idunnir didn’t mind doing the extra work, the fight had clearly cost him more.

  Idunnir still felt ready to climb a mountain before dinner. She stopped to examine the amulet they had made for her. Ever since he used his power on the small piece of wood, she had been filled with energy. Not as powerful as the rush after blue tea, but it just stayed there.

  It was nice to look at too, the wood was a rich red-brown and felt as smooth as a still pond.

  Dinner was excellent. She had cooked the bird’s meat very thoroughly, but it still managed to be juicy. Flavor-wise it wasn’t anything special, but eating it felt good the same way as those flowers by the burning tree did.

  She guessed it was full of… what was that odd name Caius gave it… Numen? Maybe that why the bird had been so big and dangerous. Maybe Caius could figure out where its nest was with that power of his. No one needed it hatching eggs full of more lethal falcons.

  Caius went off to bathe, of course, and Idunnir took that time while he was absent to take care of some other needs. Her libido had always been high, especially when she was full of blue tea. Marcus… Idunnir ignored the rush of feelings that came with remembering him. He’d certainly appreciated her sex drive often enough.

  She took her turn washing up by the pleasantly warm stream. Caius never said a word, but she could feel that slight irritation he felt when she didn’t keep her face clean. Irritation was a strong word, he actually felt an urge to wipe her face clean for her.

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  Nothing interesting happened that night. Maybe the falcon really had driven everything else away? Or killed everything else, she supposed.

  “Caius, do you think you could find that bird’s nest?”

  He guessed why she was asking. “You want to make sure it doesn’t have a mate or chicks for us to worry about? Let me try something…” He did wait until the two of them had packed everything up to

  Taking one of the beautiful feathers she had set aside, he whispered to it. “Can you please take us to the nest?”

  Caius was always tried to be polite to the things he used his power on, despite them being objects. Idunnir found it endearing. Actually… could he use it on living things? She certainly hadn’t seen him try it. A thought for another time.

  The feather rose up from Caius’ outstretched palm and drifted away through the air.

  Like a gust of wind had caught it, except its flight was perfectly smooth and it hung still in midair every time they fell too far behind.

  It took them hours of walking to find the falcon’s nest. It was nestled in the fork of a massive tree, invisible from the ground. If the feather hadn’t flown straight up the tree and hovered there, they would never have found the nest.

  “Idunnir, please climb up and take a look?” Caius asked.

  She smiled at him, hidden behind her helmet. It wasn’t necessary for him to ask, he was physically unable to climb the tree. But he did it anyway, so she wouldn’t feel taken for granted.

  Climbing the tree was fun. She knew she was strong, of course. But being able to hold up her armored body with only three fingers dug into a knothole? That made her truly feel strong.

  Reaching the fork in the tree, as high off the ground as five men standing on each other’s shoulders, Idunnir found a nest. Nothing interesting, just some cast-off feathers and a little sticks. Judging by the size, there was only room for the bird itself. No mate, most likely.

  That was what she had expected, but knowing there probably weren’t more of those birds around was a relief.

  Before climbing back down, Idunnir settled down to admire the view. The falcon had chosen its home well, she could see the beauty of the forest spread out before her. Caius was on the ground below, watching her watching the view. He was just barely close enough for her to still feel his emotions, and he was definitely admiring her.

  It felt nice, that admiration. It made her want to show off.

  She chuckled to herself. After all these years, she was exactly like those hormonal young men she had trained alongside. They had always been trying to impress everyone, desperate for validation.

  Well, she certainly felt like a new woman. Maybe she had earned a bit of foolishness.

  Remembering exactly where the handholds were from the climb up, Idunnir leaned forward and let herself tip over and fall off the tree. Before she could pick up too much speed, she shot out a hand and grabbed a branch.

  From there she swung across the tree and let herself fall some more, grabbing that knothole from earlier to stop again. Then she just let herself drop to the ground, landing with a roll and hopping to her feet. She remembered one of her fellow trainees breaking an arm attempting a similar stunt.

  Caius was certainly impressed, his eyebrows climbing well towards his hairline. Then he turned the tables on her. She could see his mouth split into a grin as he had an idea.

  He covered his mouth with a hand, exactly like some of the servant girls Idunnir remembered the boys trying to impress. “Tee hee hee” he said in his normal, slightly monotone speaking voice.

  Idunnir couldn’t help it, especially because she could feel his amusement as well as her own. She doubled over laughing, at least as far as her leather breastplate allowed her to bend over.

  After a moment, Caius started laughing with her.

  She’d heard him faking laughter before and he was very good at it, she only knew it was fake because she could feel his lack of amusement. When he truly laughed, it was a booming and slightly too loud belly laugh. Idunnir thought it was perfect.

  They didn’t make too much progress that day. In fact they only ended up an hour’s walk downstream from their previous campsite. But Idunnir didn’t mind.

  She was beginning to think that Caius’ plan was working, and she wouldn’t need any blue tea as long as she was taking in his Numen through the amulet. Which meant that for the first time in half a decade, Idunnir’s life wasn’t a fire that needed to be fed constantly or burn out.

  After dinner, they sat staring at the fire. For the first time in years, Idunnir thought further into the future than a week. She dimly remembered a bakery in one of the towns near the coast. They had absolutely mouthwatering cherry pies, at least they did when she had been there the previous year.

  Back then, she hadn’t been able to truly appreciate it.

  She would have to go back there. Caius would probably love it. The town was only a day or two from a village the two had already been planning to visit.