“What’d you do to upset my mom?” A concerned Remus asked as he walked up to Willow. The wide eyed boy had been hanging around the periphery of Rom and Yew so he hadn’t heard what had just been said that had quite clearly bothered his mother.

  Willow was secretly a bit pleased that the other boy still wasn’t feeling afraid in his presence anymore, but he himself was panicking a bit due in part to the uncomfortable encounter he had just had with his aunt.

  “Um…” He glanced at Aunt Jieun, but the tired woman clearly wanted her nephew to solve this particular problem on his own.

  If the weird wanderer woman wasn’t there then he would’ve probably defaulted to telling the wide-eyed boy the complete truth. He had been planning to tell him everything anyways the last time he saw him, before things went off track.

  Oh wait, Remy was moveable, unlike his mother.

  “C’mon, I’ll tell ya.”

  Willow startled the other boy by grabbing his hand and started dragging him away from the rest of the feastgoers. Most of the adults and both the boy’s siblings looked on in amusement as Remus was abducted.

  Once they were out of the communal building, Willow made sure that Scholar Mu wasn’t lurking anywhere around them using his senses. After confirming that they were alone, he turned around and faced the flustered boy.

  “Why’d you drag me away from everyone?” Remus asked, feeling all sorts of confused.

  “Cuz I wanna tell you some stuff, but I don’t want Scholar Mu to hear.”

  He blinked. “The wanderer? Why? She’s a good guy right?”

  “Yeah, but her emotions are all weird, and I don’t want her to be curious about me.”

  Remus thought for a moment. “I don’t think dragging me away in front of her would make her less curious.”

  “Shush, do you wanna know why your Ma’s upset with me or not?”

  He nodded, though it was a bit hesitant.

  “So she got upset because she found out I pretend I’m a boy sometimes.”

  His brow scrunched a bit, and his minimal qi swirled in confusion. “Why?”

  “Why do I pretend, or why did she get upset?”

  “Both?”

  Willow blew out a breath. “Aunt Jieun told me she wouldn’t like it, but I don’t really get why. Why I pretend though is super easy. I’m not pretending, I’m really a boy right now.”

  His confusion only grew as he stared at the boy in a dress.

  “Want me to prove it?” Willow grabbed the edge of his skirt in preparation. He knew he wasn’t supposed to show these bits to a boy, but it’s fine if they’re both boys right?

  Remus looked away, his face slightly flushed. “Nah, I’m good, it’s just… How?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I made friends with more spirits, and one of them lets me do this.”

  The other boy stood there in thought for a few moments. Eventually he shrugged. “That’s weird, but I don’t know why my mom would be upset about that. Maybe if you told her a spirit did it she’d be less mad?”

  Willow thought it over for a moment before shaking his head. “Not sure how that’d help, but I don’t wanna let Scholar Mu know I can do this. My spirits are supposed to be secret, and I don’t trust her yet, even if she’s a hero.”

  Remus stared at him in confusion. “But you trust me?”

  Willow looked at the ground, fidgeting a bit. “Yeah.”

  The boy experienced a cocktail of conflicting emotions, but since happiness was heavily in the mix Willow didn’t try to examine them too closely.

  A strange gurgling noise was heard by both boys, which elicited a snicker from Remy.

  Right, he’d been so busy keeping an eye and ear on Scholar Mu that he hadn’t eaten at all yet.

  “Wanna get some food?”

  Willow nodded, giving his friend a wide grin as he grabbed his hand again and dragged him back to the party, Remy trailing behind with a helpless sigh.

  The two of them raided the feast table, both showing off the endless hunger that was common in growing young boys. However Willow’s ears pricked up as he heard angry whispering coming from his aunt and uncle’s corner of the building. He scooted a little further down the table so he could better hear them.

  “...retty little girl pretend she’s a boy like that?! Knew I should’ve been a more active presence in her life, I’m sure Maple tried her best, but without a proper motherly figure around it results in oddballs like her.”

  Willow drew comfort from the presence of his friends. A part of him hoped that his aunt would change her mind about his situation if she learned the entirety of what had happened, but from her current behaviour he began to doubt that hope. Rejection from someone he had felt was like family hurt him deep.

  Surprisingly his uncle came to his defense with his quiet rumble of a voice. “Sarah, flame of my hearth, Willow just went through a rather harrowing experience with Jieun. You shouldn’t be giving the both of them further grief today of all days. Especially for something so minor as this.”

  “Minor?!” She quietly shrieked. “How’s she supposed to find a good husband if they all think she’s a boy herself?”

  “She’s only lived through eight winters, give her some time. Maybe it’s a phase she grows out of, maybe it’s not, but either way it’s not our place to judge or correct her behaviour, it’s Rowan’s.”

  “Well, he’s clearly not doing a good enough job.” His aunt continued to grump.

  Before the two of them could continue their conversation, Willow’s father stood to make an announcement, using his chair to help himself balance.

  “Alright. Now that everyone’s enjoyed some fine food.”

  He gestured and nodded to Scholar Mu.

  “And our guest of honor has hopefully enjoyed some finer company. Let’s fully discuss what must come next. As I’m pretty sure everyone knows by now, we’ll be packing up and leaving the Vale now that the Bloom is gone.”

  “What? Thought we were gonna let the beasts take us!” Mister Joaquin called out with faux outrage. “Even been washing myself with garlic and onions so I’d taste better for ‘em.”

  Rowan snorted. “Is that what that smell was, thought it was the dish you brought?”

  The lighthearted jab prompted some sparse chuckles from the group, and Joaquin grumbled good naturedly.

  Bringing the conversation back around to the matter at hand, Rowan held up a note. “Lin was kind enough to scout around Darabaille and send word back with Master Mu on places that’d be good for us to migrate to. The list’s pretty short, but he feels we have options.”

  That sent a wave of relief through the majority of the crowd. One of the downsides of being isolated from the outside world for so long was the lack of knowledge on how things’ve changed. Not that any of them knew much about how things were in Clan Durach’s territory to begin with.

  “Which brings me to one of the potential problems we have, how we get ourselves out of the Vale.”

  He looked to the woman smoking her pipe, who just smirked and rolled her eyes.

  “Of course I’m willin’ ta bring you all back to civilization.”

  She took a long drag and let out a cloud of smoke, making her appearance hazy.

  “But I do have a price.”