The big day.

  The day I promised would come.

  The day I fly up and out of the Abyss, assess the situation up there, and come back down.

  And gods I’m so fucking nervous.

  Visibly nervous, apparently, as one of the barmaids asked if I needed a drink with my breakfast to help calm me down. I told her no, thank you, and that I probably shouldn’t drink and fly.

  As I stand below the cliffs before the Crystalfall, I’m reconsidering that offer. Six hundred metres is a long way up.

  It’s a long way down, too.

  The excited hustle and bustle of the tavern’s breakfast rush was doing little to soothe my nerves, so I had the bright idea of coming here, since the only source of clean, clear water in all of the Abyss normally does wonders to help me ground myself in times of stress.

  But now, looking up at it, as its crystal clear waters come crashing down from unknown heights…

  There’s really no getting away from my nerves. Even my wings have been restless since I woke up. It’s not the fear of flying, per say, it’s the fear of falling. Especially given… I’ve received no clear answer on what’ll happen to me if I do fall. Which, again. Six hundred metres. It’s difficult to even fathom that height.

  Let’s say I can fly up two metres with every flap of my wings. That’s still 300 flaps. If I can fly 3 metres up with every wing flap, that’s still 200 flaps. It’s a lot of flapping, which is a lot of work for my wings. My job is making sure we stay upright, and go up in a straight line. Do I measure each wing flap, or just focus entirely on going up and up and up until I’m out?

  … What’s really waiting for me when I get out?

  Will the crane be there? Will people be there? Will anything be there? We know there’s a whole world up there, but… it’s been a hundred years, and no one’s thought to check on us since. Was the plan to get people out of the Abyss just abandoned whenever what happened to the crane to make it stop coming down happened?

  So many questions. Every possible answer just leads to more questions, with no end in sight. The only way to know anything for certain is to see for myself.

  Which means flying up there. Six hundred metres up there. I’m back on that gods-damned number again, my brain is just going in circles-

  “See, told you lot we’d find Feathers down ‘ere.” Johnny chuckles to himself, slapping me on the shoulder and freaking me the hell out.

  “Gyaahh?!” I yelp, having utterly failed to notice that the entire Expedition Team had walked up behind me. My wings even failed to notice the entire Expedition Team had walked up behind me, and noticing things I don’t is half their job. Yes, you heard me wings, stop freaking out and do your job. I get maybe not noticing someone like Einar or Arshiya, but Rann and Rob? They both move like elephants through town!

  “No one said she wouldn’t be here, Johnny. She is taking off in a couple hours.” Arshak sighs audibly, as the group fan out around me.

  “Why are all of you here so early, then…?” I ask, trying to recollect myself.

  “You’re part of Haven’s Expedition Team, Marina.” Is Rann’s noncommittal answer.

  “Okay, and…?”

  “You’re going off beyond Haven’s walls, one way or another. Normally, we don’t send people off on their own, but in this case we’ve decided to make an exception.” Rann explains after being prodded to.

  “Who is “we” in this case?”

  “All of us.” Arshak grins smugly. “Your superiors, rookie.”

  “I’ve been on enough expeditions to no longer be called a rookie!”

  “Nope.” Rann shoots me down. “You’ve been on four. Need to do at least five.”

  “What?! There’s a number of expeditions I have to do?”

  “Won’t this be her fifth, though.” Rob points out in a way that almost sounded like a question.

  “... Will it?”

  Rann just sighs.

  “Ah, don’t worry about it, Feathers. Flyin’ outta the Abyss is more than enough to call yourself a veteran of the expeditionary team.” Johnny pats me on the shoulder reassuringly rather than slapping me again.

  “... If she makes it.” Arshak mutters, before getting prodded by his sister. “Oi! What was that for?!”

  “She’ll make it.” Arshiya asserts, pouting.

  “Think anything will come from this, Rann?” Einar asks, crossing his arms and staring up at the looming cliffs.

  “We’ll get a few answers. I’m not expecting much more than that.” Rann sighs to himself, glancing upwards.

  “Ya know…” Johnny glances around. It’s just myself and the Expeditionary Team here. “Err, can I be honest, Rann?”

  “When are you not honest, Johnny?” Rann shrugs, giving him permission.

  “Point taken. Anyway, I’ve been thinkin’ about it, and really… there’s no way in this stinkin, mud-soaked hell that there is anythin’ left up there. Nothin’. Been a hundred years, and nothin’s happened about it. No one’s come down lookin’ for us. That crane or whatever it was ain’t there. We’re all kinda bein’ set up for disappointment. But the Chief promised us, promised us she’d find us a way outta here. So, assumin’ there’s nothing’ up there. What do we do? Send Feathers to get help? How else are we gonna get out?” Johnny voices his honest concerns, echoing many of my own worries. Everyone’s eyes turn to Rann, waiting for his answer.

  All he can do is sigh, visibly sinking in resignation.

  “We’ll think of something. Don’t have much of a choice on that.” He finally speaks. “The Chief is right, though. We need to find a way out, one way or another.”

  A word pops into my head. Something that was mentioned a while ago, but quickly dismissed out of hand. But, if there is nothing waiting for me up there…

  “What about the Gauntlet?” I speak up.

  “You mean the myth that got the last Chief killed searching for it, girl?” Einar scowls across at me.

  “Myth or not, what is it? People had to get out of the Abyss somehow for their names and deeds to be recorded in the books in our own library. Is it a pathway? A path out of the Abyss?”

  “It doesn’t exist-” Einar starts, but Rann stops him with a hand on his chest.

  “It is a pathway, according to the stories.” Rann explains. “But not just a straight walk out. Nothing as easy as that.”

  “I don’t expect anything down here to be easy…”

  “If you go with the idea that this is the War God’s corpse we’re standing on, the stories about the Gauntlet start to add up. It’s a challenge. A tourney run, a fight, whatever you want to call it. Battling whatever the Abyss throws at you on a long upwards path out of here. But that’s all we know. It’s a fight to get out of here. As for where it is…” Rann lowers his gaze. “That part, the stories don’t cover.”

  “It’d have to be somewhere along the cliffs, right? To be a path out of here?”

  “You’d think that. People have searched every inch of these cliffs, for hundreds of miles of them. They all turned up nothing.” Rann shoots my point down.

  “But, it does have to be somewhere, right? How… how else would anyone have gotten out of the Abyss? Did anyone else grow wings like Marina?” Arshak ponders out loud.

  “The search for it has taken enough lives.” Einar cuts in. “We don’t need to lose any more over it.”

  “Alright, We get it Einar, for Falian’s sake... Ya don’t like this Gauntlet idea. You’re always the one who shoots it down when it’s brought up, seriously. Why do ya always get so pissy over it?” Johnny sighs annoyedly, trying to get Einar to back off.

  “Because Einar’s the one who told the last Chief about the Gauntlet in the first place.” Rann answers.

  For the first time in over a year since I’ve known him, Einar’s scowl drops as his eyes widen, and a look of regret flashes across his face.

  “... You kiddin’ us, Rann?” Johnny blinks in disbelief.

  “He isn’t.” Einar takes a deep breath, staring up at the Crystalfall. “I was the stupid boy who put that idea in his head. The stupid boy who couldn’t shut up about the Gauntlet.”

  “Wait, then… how did you know about it, Einar?”

  “Same way every other stupid boy knows about it. I heard the story of it.” Einar stares at… or rather, through me.

  Rann pats Einar on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Einar. It’s in the past. He wasn’t the first, nor the last to fall prey to the Abyss.”

  Einar just shrugs off Rann’s hand, turning to head plodding back up the path towards Haven, only to stop in his tracks as he, along with the rest of us, see the current Chief and Tiff heading down towards us.

  “I was wondering where all of you had gone… Why are you all here already? It’s not noon yet.” The Chief calls, standing with her hands on her hips.

  “Marina’s about to graduate from being the rookie of the Expedition Team. We’re giving her the proper send-off.” Rann answers.

  “There’s no need for a send-off. She’ll be right up, and right back. Right, Marina?” The Chief brushes Rann’s comment off.

  “R-Right, Chief.”

  “Are you feeling ready for this, Marina?” Tiff asks, a little concerned.

  “... Have you figured out how to catch me if I come falling back down?”

  “... Have we?” Rann asks with such genuine concern it’s reinvigorated my worries.

  “Don’t worry, if it comes to that, I’ll catch her. Chains might hurt, but it’ll hurt less than hitting the ground.” The Chief sighs, brushing another comment off when she’s not the one who might end up falling 600 metres down.

  “I’ll do my best not to fall. I’ve got a pretty good track record of not falling, and I don’t intend to break it.”

  “Like your track record of losing hide-and-seek to the kids?” Arshiya asks in her usual somewhat blunt, innocent manner, but I know she’s trying to tease me.

  “No, that is a record I intend to break. And will. They’ll run out of hiding spots sooner or later.”

  “Eh, dunno about that one, Feathers. Still plenty of places they could hide that they haven’t.” Johnny comments. I’ll ignore that.

  “Putting all of that aside…” The Chief looks directly at me, a hint of concern in her eyes. “Are you ready for this, Marina?”

  I take a deep breath before giving my honest answer. “As ready as I can be. Honestly, the sooner I get it over with, the better. The only thing that’ll calm my nerves over this is getting it done with.”

  “Well then. Come along, we have an early lunch, and afterwards it’ll be time for you to graduate as a proper member of the Expedition Team, Marina.” The Chief smiles, turning to head back towards Haven, with the rest of us following.

  …

  I know this is a big deal, but I was kind of hoping that the entire population of Haven wouldn’t be here to watch this. This is not helping my nerves one bit. Even my wings are jittery, but I don’t know if that’s from nerves or excitement. We’ve never flown so far before, so it’s a new experience for them, too.

  Actually, wings. Tap my left shoulder if you’re nervous, and my right shoulder if you’re excited—

  Repeated, almost aggressive but still soft thwaps against my right shoulder gives me an answer. Alright, wings, I get it, you’re excited. Alright. Alright! You can stop now!

  Well, at least one of us is looking forward to this. My wings have the harder job, I suppose, it’s just up to me to keep us balanced and flying in the right direction. We’ll take off, head up, and keep going up and up until we’re… out of here. Hopefully, we won’t get jumped by anything, but I doubt that’ll happen.

  The mood of the crowd is buzzing, but mixed. The children are all excited to hear what’s outside the Abyss, while the adults quietly voice their doubts out of earshot of the Chief. Some are hopeful, others are resigned, but either way, knowing what’s actually up there will, hopefully, help in planning how to get out of here.

  I just worry about disappointing the Chief.

  I think part of her knows there may well be nothing left up there. But, she has the opportunity to put this question to rest, so she’s seized upon it with all she can.

  It’s up to me to bring her those answers, though.

  I take off my cloak, handing it to Tiff and letting my wings stretch out to their full length, drawing a few murmurs of awe from behind me. They do look impressive, resting at their full wingspan, with their black feathers sparkling from the mist kicked up by the Crystalfall.

  “Ready, Marina?” The Chief puts her hand on my shoulder, giving me a gentle squeeze. With my wings hiding her face from the crowd, she gives me a slightly concerned look. She knows as well as I do that this is all on me.

  “Ready.”

  With a nod, the Chief steps back, going to join the crowd at its head, giving me space to take off.

  This is our moment, wings. I’ll count us down.

  Three…

  Two…

  One.

  With a flap so mighty it kicks up a cloud of dust at my feet, we rocket up into the air, already a dozen metres off the ground before a second flap takes us even higher, and by the fifth, we’ve pierced into the clouds above.

  I stop counting past the fifth. I trust my wings to get us up out of here, they trust me to keep us stable. Counting doesn’t keep us stable. Keeping my eyes up and my core steady does. The Crystalfall is my only reference for how far up we are, as the sound of its water crashing into the ground below gets further and further away. Even amidst the black smoky clouds above, the water is still crystal clear.

  Still going up. It’s been a couple minutes I think, and I’m still keeping the Crystalfall in sight, but every time I glance to the sides, it’s as if…

  It’s as if the cliffs are getting further away, even though we’re the same distance from the Crystalfall.

  Hang on. Let’s stop here for a moment, wings.

  They oblige, keeping me more or less hovering in place in front of the Crystalfall. There’s no point looking behind me; I can barely see a few metres through the black clouds that seem to have grown thicker. It’s a miracle we get any sunlight at all down here. We are almost exactly the same distance from it as when we started, but…

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “But I can barely see the cliffs now…”

  Are they…

  Let’s keep going, wings.

  After another few minutes of flight, I’m convinced now.

  At least at the Crystalfall, the cliffs surrounding the Abyss are concave.

  That… makes climbing out of here far harder than if the cliffs were straight, but no. They’re concave. Another means of trapping us down here.

  But concave cliffs are nothing when you have wings. Onwards and upwards we go.

  Another couple minutes. Keeping my breathing steady, my body stable, my wings flapping… I’ve been trying not to think about it, but this is thankfully easier than I expected it to be. Training paid off, as did not trying to attempt to fly up this high until the big day. Past a certain point, the cliff face has started drawing closer again, so I must be nearing the top. Just keep the Crystalfall in sight, all the way to the top-

  … Unless, of course, it doesn’t go all the way to the top.

  I nearly lose my balance as the Crystalfall abruptly stops, vanishing into the thick clouds below me. I have to squint to realise that, against the black cliff face, there’s a tall, narrow cave opening, from which the clear blue waters of the Crystalfall flow, and Arezza’s words come to mind.

  The Crystalfall is most likely where the waters of the river known as Anisphia’s Sorrow, a river sacred to the Azorii, ends up. It starts far in the west, running to the east down to a stream, then a creek, and then… as far as Arezza knew, it disappeared.

  No wonder no one seemed to know where it ended up. The waters vanish underground, and burst out the cliff wall here to provide Haven below with water. Which just makes me wonder… someone who founded Haven from above must have known there was clean water here, right? They must have known that Anisphia’s Sorrow ended up here, and that the water was safe to drink… even if that’s sacrilegious.

  Okay, I need to stop hovering here, hovering is more exhausting than flying up. Let’s keep going wings.

  Keep going.

  Keep… I thought this was near the top, and exhaustion is starting to creep in… I’m getting the weirdest muscle cramps across my chest in muscles I’m really not used to having. The clouds still haven't let up, and the slight sulfurous stink is starting to get to me. I’m almost out of here, right?

  Right?

  I’m starting to get unsteady. Please. Please almost be—out?!

  The black clouds, and the looming cliff suddenly vanish beneath me. I’m no longer buried in the clouds, they’re hundreds of metres above me, and look more like normal grey rain clouds. We’re out.

  We’re out, but we need to land right now before my wings give out, there’s ground over there, let’s just get… over… there…!

  With one last exhausted flap, I flump onto the ground at the top of the cliffs, landing face-first in the grass.

  Grass.

  Green, slightly damp, long, soft grass.

  I’d almost forgotten it. The feel, the smell, the… taste! Pleh! It’s in my mouth!

  I push myself up, spitting out the grass I’d taken a bite out of when I landed, and just sit back and look around.

  Grassy fields. Overcast skies, with the occasional bit of sun shining through, showing the blue sky above. I didn’t… I didn’t think this place even had a blue sky, but there it is. I can take a deep breath, and smell the air, and the grass, and not have to subconsciously filter out everything that stinks down in the Abyss. There’s mountains in the distance, to the north I think, with some… glowing barriers at their base, but besides that there’s just… grass. As far as the eye can see.

  Grass.

  And no crane.

  Right, shit, I’m supposed to be looking for a crane, or anything that’ll help up here, but all there is is just… grass. Mountains in the distance, sure, but otherwise it’s just grass. Grass doesn’t get us out of here. I start pacing around, but there’s nothing. There’s just grass. There has to be something—ow! The hells did I just whack my toe… on?

  What did I whack my toe on… there’s something under the grass. A slight rise, near the cliff’s edge, with small white flowers growing around it. It’s… a wooden platform. It’s the crane. The crane!

  Or…

  What’s left of it.

  All that’s here is a large wooden platform, almost completely swallowed by the grass. The crane was here. It’s just…

  This is all that’s left of it. An empty platform. I saw the blueprints myself, and the crane was huge, with a big wheel and an arm reaching out over the Abyss. This can’t be all that’s left of it, right? There has to be something more around here.

  But no matter how much I search through the thick grass, there’s nothing there. Just the occasional bit of old, knotted fibres almost resembling rope, half-buried in the dirt with grass growing through them. No wooden beams, no nails, nothing. All my searching has given me are grass-stained hands and knees.

  I… forgot that grass can actually stain your clothes.

  I look up at the sky, as a break in the clouds lets the sun shine down on me. It’s warm.

  Not the dry, uncomfortable heat that permeates every part of the Abyss that you can never quite escape from, or the humid red mud that clings to everything and seals in the heat, or the cloying, iron-rich stench in the air. A pleasant day’s warmth, and the smell of a cool summer’s breeze rolling over the hills.

  It reminds me of home.

  But being reminded of home doesn’t help, either. Not when everyone’s still stuck down… there.

  That gaping pit of black and red, gashed across the earth’s surface. An open wound that’s never healed. The Wound in the World, is an epithet in one of the Chief’s many books on the subjects of the Sumps. And I thought the Seeping Wound was a bit too on-the-nose, hah. There’s no other way to describe the Abyss than a wound. The grassy fields just abruptly cease at the cliffs’ edge, giving way to the smoky depths of the Abyss. It’s an unpleasant sight, which might explain why I can’t see even a hint of civilisation anywhere near here.

  But what do I do now? I just… return empty-handed?

  Do I go back with nothing?

  Do I… do I go look for help? I’ve recovered a bit after the flight, and I’ll cover ground faster in the air. There must be someone near here I could ask for help. Do I just…

  “... Go?” I ask myself. Without realising, I’ve taken several paces away from the Abyss.

  I thought I’d go and ask for help, but… that’s not what I was really meaning. There’s blue skies up here. There’s grass up here. I’m probably the first person to make it out of the Abyss in the last century. Not since the crane stopped or was destroyed or whatever happened to it. And I got out myself on my own power, and…

  Where are these thoughts even coming from? Why is all the selfishness coming out now, when I’m finally out of the Abyss?

  But…

  They’re not.

  They’re all still down there. Waiting for me to come back.

  For those kinds of thoughts to cross my mind… that wretched place still has me in its grasp, and it’d won't let go of me, no matter how far I run.

  I have promises to keep, after all.

  The flowers up here, for once, aren’t red.

  I pluck a handful, grab a bit of rope as proof of the crane’s current state, and stand on the edge of the Abyss.

  Six hundred metres back down.

  We don’t need them to catch us, right, wings?

  A flap against my back says we’ll be fine.

  Alright. Back down we go. I guess I’ll just step off and head down…

  Just have to keep in mind everything I know about landing on my feet.

  …

  At least, going down is a lot quicker than going up, as before long the clouds vanish beneath me and the ground comes hurtling towards me, for my wings to spread out wide and slow us down, coming to a gentle land at the base of the Crystalfall, with dozens of hopeful eyes looking upon me; the Chief at their head.

  No one says a word as I slowly approach the crowd, my eyes set on someone in particular.

  “Marina…?” Irie asks, looking up at me with a worried expression.

  I smile, kneeling down and handing her the flowers I picked. Her smile lights up as, for the first time since awakening in the Abyss, she’s seeing white flowers with her own eyes.

  “They’re really… look! Adri! Mei!! White flowers!!” She beams, holding up the flowers to her two friends as I approach the Chief.

  “So.” The Chief speaks, her arms crossed. I can tell she’s doing her best to hide her emotional turmoil. “What did you find?”

  I hand her the tattered rope, matted with grass and dirt as she looks down at it in bewilderment.

  “What…” She starts, confusedly taking the rope.

  “The crane. All that’s left of it.”

  “But, what about—”

  “There’s nothing else up there, Chief.” I cut her off. “Nothing.”

  It kills me to see someone normally so proud and certain about everything in life look so unsure and crestfallen, but it’s the only news I have for her.

  I quietly step aside, heading up the road back to Haven as the crowd silently parts around me. I look back just before the corner; only to see the Chief still clutching the rope I gave her, staring down at it.

  I’m just going to my room and resting. I barely made it through the door before I flopped face-first onto the bed, my wings splayed out behind me.

  I forgot to grab my cloak…

  …

  Surprisingly, the face I see when my door just opens without so much as a knock is Ingrid’s.

  “... Ingrid?” I blink, as she just enters my room like she owns the place.

  “The crane.” She starts, standing in front of my bed. “What was the state of it?”

  “It was an old wooden platform that the grass had all but swallowed, with a few bits of rope scattered around its base. Nothing else.”

  Ingrid blinks in disbelief. “Nothing?”

  “Yes, nothing. If I didn’t stub my toe on it, I probably would have never found it.”

  “There was nothing else up there?” She repeats.

  “Yes, Ingrid. There was nothing.” I sigh. “The crane isn’t our way out.”

  “So it was dismantled.” Ingrid concludes, somehow.

  “... How do you even know that?” I sit up, furrowing my brow.

  “There weren’t pieces of it all over the place, were there?”

  “... Not that I could see, no. It was… just the platform and small bits of rope. Nothing else. Nothing… else?” Hang on.

  If it just fell into disrepair or was destroyed, there would be pieces of it scattered around, or the actual crane’s main body would still be there. Not just… an empty platform.

  “So, you’re saying it was dismantled or something like that? It wasn’t smashed or just fell into disrepair?”

  “I saw the blueprints. If it’s an empty platform, we can rebuild it from scratch. We know how to.” Ingrid nods to herself.

  “... How? I just managed to fly up there and come back in one piece, I can’t bring any more than myself up there.”

  “Could you fly up with a rope?” She pushes.

  “That would have to be a six hundred me- tal long rope. That would be incredibly heavy. Taking it in sections wouldn’t work either.”

  “It’s doable, so long as you can tie ropes properly. We can set up a simple pulley, and-” She starts, before someone else enters the doorway.

  “Marin-ah.” The Chief’s dour expression turns to a scowl the moment she sees Ingrid. “What are you doing here?”

  “Trying to fix your crane problem.” Ingrid answers bluntly.

  “YOU.” The Chief shouts, slamming her hand against the doorjamb, before taking a breath to calm herself. “Have other things to fix. Go.”

  “What exactly do I have to-” Ingrid starts, but the Chief cuts her off.

  “Ingrid.” She growls.

  Ingrid gets the point, shrugging lightly and leaving the room. The Chief closes the door to my room behind her, so it’s just her and I, with her back to me.

  “... Chief?”

  “Marina.” The Chief says, her voice betraying a slight tremble before she turns, her face full of rage as she throws the bit of rope I gave her at my lap. “What the HELL am I supposed to do with this?!”

  “It’s proof of what I saw, Chief. There’s nothing left up there but the empty platform and a few loose bits of rope. Not a trace more.”

  “And you saw fit to hand me evidence of my failure in front of everyone? In front of the entire town?!” She yells, but I do my best to keep cool and calm her down.

  “It’s not your failure, Chief. A lot thought the crane either wouldn’t be functional, or that there wouldn’t even be anything left of it.” I sigh, softening my voice. “You knew this was the most likely outcome, Mia.”

  “You will call me Chief, Marina Retali-” She hisses, arcing up at me again.

  “Mia.” I repeat. She stops herself.

  She takes a deep breath, rubbing her forehead as she stares up at the ceiling before continuing. “Was there anything else up there?”

  I pull a blade of green grass lodged in between a knot in the rope, holding it up. “There’s green.”

  “And?” She presses.

  “There were mountains in the distance, to the north. They had some… something glowing around their base, I don’t know what, but it didn’t look natural. Otherwise, there was nothing else. The sky was blue, though. That’s good to know.”

  “So, no hint of civilisation? No towns, roads, anything?”

  I shake my head in response. There was nothing.

  … Nothing. This has been repeating in my head, but there really was nothing. The wooden platform, a few stray pieces of rope that you might not even notice unless you were looking for them. Ingrid pointed out that, if it was destroyed or fell into disrepair, there’d be pieces of it around the place. There’s no nearby settlements in sight that’d take bits of scrap from it. The fact that there was practically nothing left of it, it’s almost like…

  It was purposely dismantled.

  The Chief quietly sits on the bed beside me, staring down at her clasped hands in her lap. I swing my legs over the side of the bed to give her space.

  “So… what’s the plan now?”

  “There will be a town meeting tomorrow. Everyone will be there, you included. People want to know exactly what you saw. As for what we’ll do next…” She trails off, her eyes fixed on her lap.

  “You know… while I was up there, I had this… let’s say an intrusive thought, that-”

  “That you could just, go?” She finished for me. I know she can read emotions, but it’s like she just read my mind.

  “... Yes.”

  “Well, you didn’t, so don’t worry about it. You came back down to us.” She pats my leg, before furrowing her brow and rubbing the green stain on my knee.

  “You’re not worried I might just fly up out of here again and never come back?” I blink. If that thought crossed my mind once, it could happen again. I know I can make it out of here.

  “Marina… What is this stain on your knee?” She looks at the green mark on her hand she was rubbing my knee with.

  “A grass stain, Mia. The grass up there was wet, and I forgot that grass makes stains when you’re rifling around in it.”

  “Grass… stains?” The Chief blinks at me, before her eyes go wide as she realises, jumping to her feet. “Grass stains! It’s been so long since I saw grass that I forgot… I completely forgot it did that! It’s been so long since I—I remember that summer at the hillside villa, spending all day roaming the hills and coming back with my white dress stained green from the grass, it infuriated my mother to no end... How could I have forgotten that it did that! It’s been so long, that…”

  She turns back and gives me a worried look. “Do you know how to wash out grass stains?”

  “No, no I don’t. I was hoping Tiff would.”

  “Well, besides that, about how I know you won’t just fly up out of here again, Marina.” The Chief locks eyes with me, standing in front of me. It’s been a while since I’ve sat quietly in a room with her, with her silver-gold eyes fixed on mine. She narrows her eyes, leaning closer. She’s close. A bit too close. Why is she still leaning closer-

  “Pff…” She chuckles, leaning back. That sounded like a Tiff laugh, not a Chief laugh.

  “W-what?”

  “You’re not going anywhere. You care about the people here too much to just abandon them.” She smiles with genuine warmth.

  “Well, yeah, it’s just… when I was up there, those thoughts didn’t feel like they were my own. Like someone or something… put them there.”

  “That’s why we have to get out of here together. All of us.” She nods to herself. “It’s the only way to truly break free of this place.”

  “... Right, the other thing I had to tell you. As I was flying up. Well, two things, really. First, the river feeding the Crystalfall has a subterranean mouth. It opens part way up the cliffs, maybe three quarters of the way up. Second, and more important about the cliffs themselves, is that they’re… they’re concave.”

  “They’re… concave?” The Chief furrows her brow at me.

  “Yes, they bend inwards-”

  “I know what concave means, Marina. But that does pose a problem…” She ponders, bringing her hand to her chin.

  “Either way… I know what word we’ll probably hear in the town meeting tomorrow.”

  “The Gauntlet.” She answers, without turning her head.

  “Do you think that’s an option worth exploring?”

  “No. Not right now, at least. Getting out of here was always the long-term goal. For the short term, our goal is making sure everyone is fed, healthy, and as happy as can be. We’ll have more Wolf Pups coming soon, too. There’ll be plenty to keep us busy.” She stands up, brushing herself off and heading for the door.

  “Mia?”

  “Yes, Marina?” She stops in the doorway to look across at me.

  “Are you ready for tomorrow? You’re going to get grilled by all of Haven with questions…”

  “Are you ready? You’re the one with the answers. It was you who flew out of here, not me.” She shrugs back. “Which, I do thank you for. I’d have done it myself, but Rann is far too concerned with my own safety to allow me to.”

  “You’d—What? You’d have done it yourself? How??”

  “Marina.” She preens, puffing her chest out. “I am a Sage of the Order of the Golden Light. The youngest ever to legitimately attain such a rank. Do you really think a little flight spell is beyond me? Rann’s just too fussy to let me try.”

  “What?? Then why did—”

  “You’re not the Chief, Marina. When it comes to the running of Haven, I’m a little more vital than you are. If something were to happen to you, that would be less disastrous than if it happened to me, as you’re more… how to put it…”

  “Expendable?”

  “You said it, not me.” She brushes off my exasperation, waving me as she leaves my room. “Oh, by the way, Tiff still has your cloak. You might want to get that back!” She calls from the front door.

  I…

  She could fly… this whole time…?

  Without busting her ass by exercising for months and eating mud countless times?!

  Gods.

  Magic’s so damn unfair.