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"That expression is becoming annoying."

I had no idea which expression she meant. This face had fewer useful ones than my own.

She pushed one hand through the vines, then paused and looked down at the ground. Her inspection was slower this time, but not frantic. When she was satisfied, she crouched and followed me through.

The passage widened after several steps. Rock curved overhead, black and wet beneath curtains of moss, then opened around a pool so clear that the stones at the bottom looked close enough to touch. Water spilled down the far wall in several narrow streams, feeding the turquoise surface without disturbing it beyond rings of silver. A break in the stone roof let daylight pour through hanging vines, and the beam struck the center of the pool hard enough to make the water glow.

Small blue lights moved among the ferns.

Not insects. Flowers no larger than fingernails opened and closed along the bank, reacting whenever drops landed on their pale leaves. The air smelled of clean water, stone and growing things untouched by campfires or boot leather.

Jade remained at the end of the passage.

For several breaths she said nothing.

Then, very quietly, "This wasn't on the route map."

I moved to the pool and drank.

"That also isn't an answer."

She stepped fully into the grotto and turned in a slow circle. Wonder made her look younger than her twenty-one, though not because it softened her face. It stripped away the constant calculation behind her eyes. She wasn't deciding where she was allowed to stand, what she was expected to notice or whether the room contained somebody waiting to assess her. She was looking because the place was beautiful and she had never seen it before.

The light through the broken stone caught the damp strands at her temple and traced the line of her jaw before it reached the ground. Mud had dried along one cheekbone. Her shirt clung to her shoulders from the humidity, and none of it mattered enough to distract from the rest of her. She had spent her whole life being watched by people cataloguing what she could do. I doubted anyone had ever just looked at her instead.

Something chirruped from the far side of the pool.

Jade froze.

Three small heads appeared between the ferns.

The Kelvarin kits looked different without mud, wire and pain wrapped around them. Their bodies were long and compact, more like river otters than the heavier adults, with sleek fur that shifted from deep blue along their backs to near black at their paws and tails. Natural rounded ears sat close to their heads. Fine turquoise markings curved over their shoulders and flanks, glowing whenever they moved through shadow, while their pale muzzles and bright eyes made them look far too pleased with themselves.

One climbed onto a stone.

Another shoved it off.

The first disappeared into the pool with a splash. Jade made a sound that might have been a laugh if she had allowed it enough air.

The third kit noticed us and rose onto its hind legs, forepaws held against its chest. Its nose moved rapidly as it tested our scent.

Jade stayed still. "Can you smell the adult?"

I could.

She rested somewhere beyond the falling water, her heavier scent mixed with wet stone and river weed. A slow movement in the shadows revealed the glow of her markings and the curve of one dark flank. She was watching, but her body remained loose. No raised fur. No warning call. No weight shifting toward an attack.

I angled my head toward the waterfall.

Jade followed the gesture and found the adult. Her hand moved toward the knife at her thigh by habit, then stopped before touching it.

"She knows we're here."

I settled onto my stomach beside the pool.

The third kit dropped to all fours.

Jade glanced at me. "That seems confident."