Shortly after Dourin departed, Venick and Ellina set off on a trip of their own.
They rode south. The world was new, overflowing. The first night, they did not bother with a tent, but tamped down the earth and spread their bedrolls in the grass. Bournmay disappeared to chase mice through the brush, then returned, panting and bright-eyed. Overhead, the stars seemed endless.
Ellina murmured into the night. “I never answered your question.”
Venick turned to squint at her through the dark. “What question?”
“You asked what it would mean if you called mebournmay.”
“Ellina.” Venick chuckled. “That was ages ago.”
“Still. If a lover calls a loverbournmay,it is more than just an endearment. It is a promise.”
“A promise for what?”
“Forever.”
Venick shifted to lean on one elbow. “You’ve had that promise from me all along.”
She mirrored his position, propping herself up on one elbow. “And you have it from me.”
Venick’s tone turned mischievous. “So is that what you’re calling us now? Lovers?”
“Come here,” she said, “and I’ll show you.”
???
The following morning, sun soaked the meadow. They’d both woken at dawn but were slow to rise. The day was blue, breezy. Ellina lay on her back with her hands behind her head. She hummed a few notes, then allowed her voice to move higher, giving the song belly.
Venick rolled over. He tapped her nose with a blade of grass. “Beautiful.”
She shrugged. The music did not come as easily as it once had. There was an underlying huskiness, and a quiver she could not quite steady. “I know it is not what it used to be.”
“Ellina, no. Your voice is perfect.”
Ellina smiled and decided that yes, it was.
???
The next time they stopped to make camp, Ellina pulled the glass vial from her belongings. She walked to the campfire’s edge. When Venick saw what she held, his eyebrows went up. “Is that—?”
“The minceflesh, yes.”
“You kept it?”
Ellina had, because the world was full of monsters, and she had wanted the poison to make her safe. Now the war was over, but the world still had its monsters. Yet she would not be one of them.
We have no use for a weapon like that.
And they didn’t.
She unstoppered the vial, and poured the minceflesh into the fire.
???
They continued south. It was strange to travel this way, their pace meandering and easy, with no conflicts looming. They stopped here and there, bathing in bright streams, hunting for berries and fish, lounging with Eywen and even Bournmay, when the hound allowed it.
Still, as they neared their destination, Ellina noticed a quietness steal over Venick. His attention turned inward. When she smiled at him, he struggled to smile back. At last, she could ignore it no longer. “What is it?”
