My steps were firm and exhausting; being the body and not just a rider was more difficult than I thought.

  Crunch, crunch…

  …

  Crunch…

  Whether the monotony of my steps or the silence without it, both were getting unnerving. It was irrational, of course, there was no one else here but snow, trees, and me. And yet the air felt different, heavy.

  I pushed onward despite it. It was probably just magic.

  "Whenever you feel the air suddenly change, it's likely because there's a mage nearby." Reilya once said that it was when we barely knew each other, about a month after we first teamed up. She was trying to see if I had any magical affinity.

  She found none, none that she knew of course. Being a mimic, my body and blood are magic on their own right, and one might think that having mana be interwoven into your very being would make us mimic sensitive to it, but they would be wrong. Having mana woven into our very being meant we did not sense it at all.

  A mistake in our evolution or God's irony? It was something I always wondered.

  The air suddenly got heavier, so heavy that my foggy breath had sunk. My eyes quickly scanned the horizon, and I found them. A hooded figure, even taller than me, wearing heavy, dark brown clothing.

  "REILYA!" I yelled, and they looked in my direction. I was right, there was no other mage in these woods beside her. My pace quickened for some reason, but hers remained the same, a slow and steady march as he approached.

  The air grew thick as we got closer; she was probably mad that I left her without leaving a note. It's probably also why she's staying quiet.

  "Hey," I yelled again. It was probably not too late to apologize now. "I know, I know I messed up."

  She didn't answer, and the air grew even thicker; it was almost getting hard to breathe. Was she always this strong? Or was she really this mad at me? The latter seemed more likely.

  "I found it, you know, I-"

  "Why?" Her voice cut through the air, smooth like a blade cutting tallow. She stopped a few feet ahead of me, her face veiled by her hood's shadow.

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  "Why? What?" I asked, cautiously stopping in front of her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm back, aren't I?"

  A punch to the chest, it hit harder than I expected. "Ok." I managed, breathless. "I'm sorry."

  A knee to the gut, again harder than I expected.

  "Reilya, come on." I pleaded, my hand sliding up her shoulder and pulling her hood back. A blush of red around her eyes and frost-covered lashes, and for a moment, my words and thoughts left me. My hand fell to my side.

  "Idiot," I managed to catch her fist; it was shaky. "Why are you so stupid?"

  "Were partners!" Her voice did not rise, but the ire was thick. "You can't just go out and do your own thing! This isn't like in Frirng or Sosren, where you could just do things on your own. Where in Antirno for sanctuary's sake!"

  "But-"

  "No excuses, you shouldn't be the hero all the time," She sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. "You've already done enough, it's time for you to lean on me for once. I'm not helpless, and you know it, and staying still for once doesn't make you any less useful."

  "…I found it." I finally managed to speak. "The lord-"

  "Lord?" Reilya's eyes widen in recognition. "That's- Hallows what happened to you!?" Her hand quickly wiped her eyes before going to mine. Her hands were frantic yet gentle in their search for invisible wounds, and the air felt lighter as if a weight was lifted from my shoulders.

  "I'm fine-"

  "Your coat is in shambles, and, and… Whose blood is this?!" Mostly deer mixed in with a small amount of mine, but the latter was not important.

  I sighed and grabbed her shivering wrists off my coat. "Reilya," my voice was reassuring. "I'm fine. I really am. So just please listen to me."

  Her eyes reluctantly agreed, and she gave a small nod. I let go of her wrist.

  "I found the cabin, I know where it is, the lord showed me where to find it." Her eyes were skeptical, but she had yet to interject. "I know how it sounds but." I looked up, and the sun had just reached noon. "We can make it, it's not far from here."

  "Chester…" She sounded tired, and for a moment I thought she would stop me. "…at least wear your cloak." She said, unbuttoning her coat before pulling out my black fur cloak. "Well?"

  "Right," I said, taking my cloak and putting it on. "Did you always have that butterfly pendant?"

  "Oh, yeah." She replied casually, buttoning back her coat. "I bought it when we went back to resupply at the village." My memories of that time were hazy with plotting routes and doing odd jobs, but never have I seen her buy an accessory.

  "You were probably just too busy to notice." She said and sighed. It was probably true, highly likely true. But still, I should have noticed it by then.

  "Yeah, I guess so," I said, and adjusted the straps on my cloak. "Let's go, it shouldn't be far from here."

  Snap! Snap.

  My body shivered before I instinctively looked up. There was nothing, and my head turned to the sound. The horizon showed nothing.

  Snap, break…The sound of breaking branches was coming from opposite directions. "R,reliya?" I could not hold the waver of my voice as I glanced at her.

  She remained calm, her head turning from side to side as if she could see what we were up against. "Four juvenile smilers," Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You can still handle a pair, right?"

  No, I could not, not with my body's current state. That's what I wished to say.

  "Juveniles, I can handle that," I said to myself and pulled out my knives.