“Let’s keep walking. We’ll either find the end of the forest or run into them. Either way, we’ll get our bearings back.” Kire was glad there was still some water left in the skein she brought, and she drank the rest of it. Gods, she was parched. Eventually, they came to the middle of the forest, where the trees seemed to grow closest together. She could sense Ruli and Ysaryn’s signatures a little more clearly now, and she surmised that if they continued along this way, she’d spot the two. Daryll kept quiet, his expression disturbed. “You alright?”
Daryll huffed. “I—I don’t know. Let’s talk about it later when we’ve met up with the others.” 
“Hang on—look.” Kire pointed ahead of them. A man and child were cowering nearby, near the ruins of their home, where a tree had punched through. When the father and son saw their approach, they started to back away, till Kire came forward, hands raised. “[i] We mean you no harm,[/i]” she said. “[i]We’ll get you out of here.[/i]” 

The man kept his son behind him, shielding him, unsure if he was seeing some other illusion or if they were real people, indeed. But when it seemed that Kire and Daryll weren’t going anywhere, the man took a few tentative steps forward—and recognized Kire. Fear crossed his face and he stumbled into a bow, pulling his son down with him. “H-he didn’t mean nothin’, Your Grace,” the man said, stammering, head still bowed even as he hugged his son tight. 
	“It’s alright,” Kire assured, bending down on one knee, laying a hand on the man’s shoulder and another on the boy’s head. “We’ll get you out of here, and you can tell us more about what happened. You won’t be blamed for this.” 
	The man looked up at her touch, then spoke softly to his boy, coaxing him to show the Empress what it was he had found. “He was playin’ in the hills outside town an’ found somethin’ in the dirt. Go on, lad, show it to the Empress,” the man urged again. 
	The boy meekly stepped forward from his father’s arms and fished something from his pocket. It looked old. A well-worn statuette. Kire took it from him, examined the smooth stone. Time and the elements had smoothed out many of its features, but she could tell that it was a woman’s shape. Traces of rust—or perhaps, red paint—clung to what looked like the woman’s clothes. On her back, where her shoulder blades should be, looked like nubs where wings used to be. “Alright. How about you tell me the story of how you found this, and what happened after, when we’re out of here,” Kire said, smiling at the boy. “Deal?” 
	The boy nodded, then clung to his father again. 


	“Oyyy!” 
	Kire heard Myka’s voice calling as she jogged over towards them. “Stars above, I thought I was going crazy!” the pirate captain declared. “You two alright? Where’re the other two?” 
	Kire turned her head. The sickly-sweet aroma was letting up now. “That way.” 

Hearing Ruli call for them confirmed it. “Here!” She called back, waving when they finally caught sight of them. “I think we better head back to camp before we run into any more surprises,” she said, looking the other two over. They didn’t look injured, just—dazed. “And then we could talk about what the fuck we just saw—sorry,” she said, clamping her hand over her mouth, remembering they had a kid along with them. “Are you two okay?” she asked softly.