Willow was alive, and so was his aunt. The Emerald Bloom was so thoroughly destroyed that not a bit of that wretched flower remained.

  He frankly had trouble believing it.

  It had all happened so quickly. One moment he was trapped and about to be killed by a demon. The next he was being saved by a stranger with a big snake.

  By a hero.

  He looked up at their rescuer as she sauntered over to the two of them after checking on her beast first. The great snake currently coiled up and digesting its meal in the center of the clearing filled with wilting flowers.

  She took a drag on her strange pipe before expelling more of that sweet smelling smoke, the spring concept now absent from it.

  “You two alright? Didn’t think I’d be cuttin’ it so close.”

  The boy nodded and looked down, not wanting to meet the stranger's eyes at the moment due to how inadequate he was feeling. Though he did sense quite a few peculiarities about them in the few moments he’d been near her. Not his place to comment on them.

  “We are fine, thank you master wanderer.” His aunt said quietly at his side, clearly still feeling a lot of negative emotions.

  The woman hummed, unconvinced.

  “Are you both up for moving? Don’ wanna be spending what’s left of the night out here if I can help it."

  At the pair's quiet agreement the three of them set out with the large hatted woman in the lead and guiding the two of them through the dark forest towards their home in the clearing. Willow didn’t need the help, and tried to help his aunt as well. Which prompted both scrutiny and curiosity from the wanderer woman.

  The boy tried to distract her by asking why they had left the big snake in the clearing.

  “Rotter acts like a big baby if I don’t let him rest after a big meal like that. Claims it’s bad for his digestion or somethin'.”

  Willow nodded along to the information as they went, because it was interesting to the boy, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was still thinking over the fact he had failed once more.

  His plan had failed.

  He had almost died.

  Again.

  A gloved hand rested atop his head.

  “Don’t be down, girly, you were proper brave just now. Most youngun’s I’ve saved holler and scream when they’re ‘bout to be ate.”

  Willow appreciated the sentiment, but felt the need to correct her about something.

  “I’mma boy.”

  He couldn’t see her expression, but sensed the wanderer’s light surprise.

  “Do boys often wear dresses in these parts?”

  “Nah, just me.”

  The stranger’s curiosity heightened.

  Willow felt them try to send a pulse of qi through the hand on his head. Probably just to check on the state of his body or something, but the boy denied them even that. He didn’t want the woman seeing the state of his core. She might have saved them, but she was still a complete stranger.

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  “That’s rude!” The boy said as he removed the stranger’s hand from his head. His aunt looked over in concern at the outburst, though she couldn’t actually see what was happening.

  “You’re right.” She said with a wince. “Apologies, boyo, let my curiosity get the better of me there. A bad habit, I know.”

  “What exactly did you just do to my nephew?!” Jieun asked their saviour, angry that she had apparently done something the boy would consider rude.

  “Just tried to examine them with me qi! Swear it wasn’t anything untoward. The boy even denied me that bit of peepin’, so no harm done.”

  Willow could almost see his aunt’s eyes narrow at that explanation.

  “And why exactly were you trying to “peep” on a young boy?”

  “Way to go, puttin’ your boot in your mouth again…” Willow heard the wanderer mutter to herself before responding.

  “I’m a curious person by nature. Some of the things about the boyo weren’t quite makin’ sense to me so I thought I could quietly get my answers with a quick scan.”

  “I make perfect sense.” Willow said with a slight pout that no one could see, causing the two adults to lightly chuckle in surprise, which made him smile a bit as the comment had the intended effect.

  “Still should’ve asked first.” The boy continued, uncomfortable that a stranger had tried that without any kind of warning or asking permission.

  “Yeah that’s fair.” She said as she rubbed the back of her head.

  The trio continued traversing the woods in silence for a few moments.

  “So can I scan you?” The wanderer asked the child.

  “No!” Both aunt and nephew refused in sync.

  Which just piqued the woman’s curiosity even further.

  “What if I say it’s so I can check and see if you got any of that rotten beasty’s qi left in you?”

  “Your spring smoke thing got it all.” Willow replied with confidence.

  The woman’s curiosity burned even brighter.

  “How’d you know what concept I used in that attack?”

  “Um,” The boy looked around a bit nervously. “It was obvious, wasn’t it?”

  “It really wasn’t, takes a lot of precision to use that technique the way I do cuz of how little energy I put into it.” The wanderer was staring at the child in the dark with a very intense expression, taking a long drag on her pipe in silence.

  “We’ve arrived.” Jieun interrupted the exchange, relief clear in her voice as their journey through darkness would soon be at an end.

  As they entered the moonlit clearing that was their home, they were surprised to see a small group of people gathered and preparing to head into the dark woods.

  At the front was Bough, with a tired looking Rowan on their back and an anxious Yew at their side. On the other side was Uncle Lucius, and most surprisingly Aunt Sarah.The husband and wife duo were gripping their impromptu weapons tight, in Lucius’ case his smithing hammer, and in Sarah’s her scissor spirit Snips.

  “Willow! Auntie! You’re all right!” Yew called out as he rushed the two of them, tackling them both into a hug. Willow noticed a fresh bruise on his cheek, likely from his tussle with their father, but his relief shined bright to the boy’s senses.

  “Well met, stranger!” Rowan addressed the newcomer from his spirit beast’s back. “I assume you’re the wanderer we requested aid from?”

  The wanderer looked at the large earth turtle with clear bafflement on her face. Her confusion switched to an almost manic glee as she moved quickly to the old beast’s side, startling both creature and rider.

  “Now I know I’m bad at names and faces, but I never forget a beasty! Especially not one as beautiful as this fella!” She started rubbing and scratching at the old turtle’s side in a manner it quite enjoyed, making rumbling noises of approval.

  She finally spared Rowan a glance. “And you must be the boyo from the tournament! My how you’ve grown! Those your crotch dumplings over there?” She gestures to the two children currently hugging each other and crying in relief.

  “Please don’t call them that, but yes.” He stared at the strange woman that he had met almost two decades ago. “So were you always a wanderer or is that something new?”

  “Actually got scooped up at that tournament by the bossman himself if you can believe it!” She said with apparent pride. “Apparently he had heard about some of my research, and wanted to grab me before one of the clans did.”

  Rowan hummed in acknowledgement of how impressive that sounded before asking a question he had wanted answered for a while. “Can I finally get the name of the person who’s now saved my family?”

  “Did I never mention it afore? Bah, threw my old one away a while ago anyway.”

  She tapped her pipe in her other hand for a moment before pointing it at him, a slightly manic grin on her face.

  “The name’s Scholar Mu. Researcher of rarities, and slayer of foul creatures, at your service!”