Impressions, good or bad, tended to last much longer than the moments that created them. As the people she'd claimed as her own, she wanted the Trateri to start off on a good foot—especially with an unknown mythological who may or may not have been dangerous.
Making her decision, Eva withdrew the weaving from her pocket and held it out on the flat of her hand.
"For you," she said before she could change her mind.
The mythological plucked the weaving from her hand as his gaze caught hers, the rest of the world falling away.
Emotions that weren't hers, feelings and thoughts that came from a place outside of herself, swept through her. She caught gratitude and surprise. Pleasure and fascination.
Along with those emotions came the press of years. She knew in her bones that the mythological in front of her was old. As old as the valley she stood in, the more fanciful part of her wanted to claim.
For a mind as young as hers it was too much. Too heavy a weight to carry.
Beads of sweat popped up on her forehead as her hand trembled under the onslaught.
As abruptly as it had come, the pressure of the mythological's mind withdrew, the stress abating.
The last thing she caught was an apology and a welcome. Beneath it all was also a promise to live in peace with the humans as long as they respected the land.
Eva came back to herself, blinking in surprise at the solitary tree trunk. The mythological was gone.
Puzzled, she studied the ground, only to find the carcass of the wheezer gone. Not even a spot of blood to mark where it had been.
"What was that?" Eva asked in a soft voice.
She felt off balance. Uncertain whether she'd actually experienced what she thought she had. It felt fantastical. Like a dream, if not for the flower still clutched in her hand.
A crafty look slid across the fire fox's face before it was gone, leaving only innocence behind.
Eva narrowed her eyes, ignoring the clop of hooves from behind her. One thing she knew—the fire fox was almost never innocent.
"Did you accomplish what you wanted?" Eva asked him with a pointed look.
His only response was a foxy smile before he scampered away, his tails bouncing behind him as he disappeared amid the boulders.
Eva didn't have long to ponder what scheme the fox was involved in now as Caia and Jason started for her.
"What was that?" Jason asked, unknowingly echoing her question from before as he stared past the tree to the boulder field beyond.
Eva followed his gaze, her attention fastening on a moss-covered boulder she was sure hadn't been there before her encounter with the mythological.
Her eyes sharpened as the boulder shifted. Not much. Barely a foot, which from this distance was nearly imperceptible. Before, she would have thought she was imagining things. Her mind taking a flight of fancy inspired by the unbelievable tales she'd heard about this place.
"That's why," she whispered to herself.
She'd thought it strange no one had mentioned this being. If there had been even a whisper of his existence, there was no way the Trateri would have taken a chance and settled here.
It was because the mythological was nearly impossible to spot. His camouflage damn near perfect.
"We need to tell the others," Drake said, joining them. His gaze was direct as he focused on Eva. "Should we be worried?"
She shook her head. "I didn't get the sense that he was a danger."
She kept the rest of what she sensed to herself, not wanting to sound crazy.
After a lifetime of pretending to be normal, she wasn't quite used to people knowing about her strange gifts. She struggled to accept that they wouldn't turn on her once they knew the true extent of what she could do.
It was why she held part of herself back—even with those she'd come to call friends.
