Violet

The question drew a round of genuine laughter from the nearby wolves.

"Coin is coin," the younger woman said, grinning. "Doesn’t matter where it’s from. Metal’s metal."

"And if your coin’s no good for some reason, we trade," the old wolf added. "Goods for goods. That’s how it works out here. No one goes hungry if they’ve got something to offer."

The broad-shouldered man finally looked up, interest lighting his eyes. "You said Silverwood? You wouldn’t happen to have anything from there, would you? Trinkets, crafts, anything like that?"

My stomach sank slightly. I had packed only necessities. Nothing extra. Especially nothing that could be traded for curiosity’s sake. I wished now that I had thought to bring something, anything, from the castle.

But Bei was already reaching into her pack.

"I might have a few things," she said.

She pulled out a small bundle wrapped in cloth and carefully unwrapped it. Inside were several items, some I recognized from that time we went out to the markets together. Amongst everything else was a carved wooden hair clip with delicate silver inlay, a small pouch embroidered with Silverwood’s distinctive white-barked tree pattern, and a polished stone pendant on a simple cord.

The wolves leaned in with obvious interest.

"Now that’s lovely," the younger woman said, reaching out to touch the embroidered pouch. "Look at the stitching on this."

"My sister made it," Bei said, and there was a note of genuine warmth in her voice. "She’s quite skilled."

"I’ll say." The woman looked up, eyes bright. "I’d trade well for this. What do you need?"

"Food, mainly. Dried meat, bread, anything that travels well. Water too, if you can spare it."

The broad-shouldered man was examining the wooden hair clip, turning it over in his calloused hands. "I’ve got rations to spare. Good quality too. This would make a fine gift for my daughter."

Within minutes, a small crowd had gathered around Bei, wolves examining her items and calling out offers. I stood slightly back, watching the exchange with a mixture of relief and quiet amazement. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Them being so strangely open and friendly was strange. And I hadn’t expected us to just easily be able to get food and water like this.

The old wolf appeared at my side, having risen from his crate. He offered me his waterskin.

"Drink," he said simply. "You look like you need it."

I hesitated, then accepted. The water was warm but clean, and I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until I started drinking.

"Thank you," I said, handing it back.

He waved off my gratitude. "Out here, we look after each other." He glanced at the gathering around Bei.

One of the younger wolves, a lanky man with an easy grin, broke away from the group and approached us.

"Your friend’s got some nice stuff," he said cheerfully. "Garek wants to show her his wagon. Says he’s also got supplies you both might want, and he’s willing to trade generously for that Silverwood craftsmanship."

He gestured for me to follow, and I fell into step behind him, making my way toward Bei.

She caught my eye as I approached, and I saw the same cautious relief in her gaze that I felt.

We had found food, along with a few other necessities.

This wasn’t bad.

[ - ]

We parted ways with the traveling group after restocking on supplies. They had been generous, and Bei’s Silverwood trinkets had fetched far more than I had expected.

By the time we left, our packs were stuffed with dried meat, hard bread, pouches of dried fruit, and several full waterskins.

How they had just parted with that amount of water was something that had baffled me, but I decided not to think much of it.

One of them had even thrown in a pouch of salted nuts, insisting it was a gift.

Everything was almost too much to carry.

"This is ridiculous," Bei muttered a few hours after we had left them, adjusting the straps of her pack for the fifth time. "I can barely walk straight."

I glanced at her, then at the bundle I had been carrying in my arms because it wouldn’t fit in my own pack.

She was right. This was slowing us down.

’I guess we have gone on for long enough without having to worry about those wolves watching us.’

My syzygy responded instantly, wrapping around the heavy bundle and lifting it from my hands. It rose smoothly into the air and hovered beside me, bobbing gently as we walked.

I nudged Bei’s bag off her back and her hands dropped to her sides as she stared at our floating items, staring.

"Amazing... You should do that more often," she said, a note of wonder in her voice.

"Sorry, I wasn’t sure why I didn’t think of it earlier."

She just smiled and rolled her shoulders before stretching her arms.

"Much better," she breathed.

I couldn’t help but smile. The floating packs drifted along beside us as we walked, and Bei kept glancing at them with a mixture of fascination and amusement.

"You really should use your abilities more," she said after a while. "Not just for carrying things. For everything. You hold back so much."

"Old habits," I murmured.

She did have a point, but there just weren’t a lot of opportunities for me to just blatantly use them like this.

Soon after, she shifted into her wolf form, and we rode till night fell, and it had been quite easy to have our load float along at the same speed.

A week passed, and the landscape shifted again, so gradually at first that I almost didn’t notice. The pale sand beneath our feet deepened in colour, taking on a faint rosy hue that grew richer with each passing day. By the time I truly registered the change, we were walking across dunes of soft pink sand that seemed to glow in the light of the setting sun.

It was beautiful.

The air had changed too. It was cooler here, less harsh. The constant grit that had plagued us for weeks was absent, and I could breathe without tasting sand on my tongue. A faint breeze carried something else, a mineral scent that was almost familiar.

But I couldn’t place where I knew it from.

One other thing I noticed was Bei’s demeanour had slightly changed as we had travelled deeper.

She didn’t have to bring out the map or even talk for me to know we had crossed into the unclaimed lands.