The door of the wagon slid open and it was Norrik that entered first. He glanced back at his two snow leopardkin companions and started to close the door behind him. "Give me a moment to talk with Helena alone." I could see the confusion in their eyes as Norrik shut the door on their face. His eyes glanced over at the Mousekin but he didn't seem to care that she was here. "Valkin wanted me to make sure there was... nothing to worry about concerning you. I feel like if you were going to kill us in our sleep you'd have done it by now, but he still asked me to make sure there was nothing to worry about between us."

  I raised an eyebrow and glanced at the young mousekin. "I'm not going to hurt any of you guys. I know my situation is a little frightening but I'm in full control of myself. There's nothing to worry about... assuming none of you tries to kill me or my friends in my sleep first."

  "W-what is this about?" Iris asked.

  "Don't worry about it," Norrik replied without even looking at her. "I'll take you on your word at that since I'm not convinced all of us together couldn't stop you if you tried anyway. Valkin and I probably would have died if you hadn't come with us, so I have no reason to distrust you. What you did in there... spooked Valkin though so be warned. He won't do anything but he might be a lot less friendly with you from now on."

  "The opposite seems true of you," I said curiously.

  He shrugged. "My opinion of you has improved every time I've seen you fight. In my book, you have gone from useless to dangerous in the span of days. Anyway, I'd better open the door back up before the sisters tear my throat out for making them wait in the cold." He turned around and opened the wagon door back up.

  Milana in particular looked annoyed when she climbed into the wagon. She glanced at me and the sleeping Luna before focusing back on Norrik. "What was that about? What was so important that you locked me and my sister in the cold?"

  Norrik grunted. "Valkin wanted me to ask her something important."

  "Ask her what?" Milana pressed.

  He shrugged. "Not important."

  Talia giggled at his response and Milana gritted her teeth. "You can't be serious Norrik."

  "Relax Milana, it's probably just a dumb guy thing. No need to get so irritated." Talia looked at me with a sly smile. "Valkin probably just has the hots for the big human that knocked him on his ass."

  She glared at her sister. "After these two have been kissing the entire trip? There's no wa—"

  "That probably just makes it better for him, you know how boys are. Remember when he was flirting with the two of us early on?" Talia asked.

  "Ugh, don't remind me." Milana turned back to Norrik. "I doubt that's what's going on but I'll drop it for now. I don't like kept secrets though," she glanced at me. "from my teammates or my travel companions." She slumped into the spot she usually sat in during the trip. She looked pretty tired.

  "I figured you would tell them," I told Norrik.

  He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You told us not to tell anyone."

  "I assumed you wouldn't keep this from your party members. I wouldn't," I replied.

  "Does that count as permission then?" he asked.

  "Permission?" Milana asked with hostility in her tone.

  "As long as they agree not to tell anyone too. I would prefer not to hear a bunch of rumors spreading about me the second we reach Ironcastle. The manager of the hunter's association in Fallow threatened to kill me if there were rumors of me hurting anyone floating around. I'd rather that not be an issue," I told him.

  Talia's eyes traveled back and forth between us. "This is that serious then? I figured whatever this was would be a big deal but..." she trailed off.

  "Should we be worried about you hurting anyone?" Milana asked me.

  "No," I replied instantly. "But after you hear what Valkin has to say I'm not convinced you'll see it the way I'd like based on how he's acting."

  Norrik sighed and rubbed his face. "You don't need to worry about her, Milana. Valkin is just being a chickenshit." His eyes glanced at Iris again before turning back to Milana. "The four of us can talk about it later in private. Trust me."

  Milana sighed in response and then the wagon went quiet. After a few awkward moments, I decided to ask what else was happening outside. "Where are Maxwell, Aria, and Piper?"

  "Piper is still looking over Korr'tak. Once she was sure he was going to be okay she fixed Norrik's arm, but she wanted to stay with Korr'tak for a while to make sure nothing changes. He's not awake yet, she said he's exhausted after being dragged off like that. She also said she might stay with him while we travel tonight too. Valkin, Aria, and Maxwell are patrolling until we get moving again. It shouldn't be too much longer," Talia replied.

  "Is the plan still to travel through the night?" I asked.

  She nodded. "Yeah, the other people in the caravan are scared, they want to get out of here as soon as possible.

  A few minutes later the door slid open and Valkin, Aria, and Maxwell climbed in. Valkin was still wary of me, I could see his eyes burrowing into me with his every move. Maxwell got comfortable quietly but Aria made a show of slumping down next to him.

  "I'm exhausted," Aria said. "They made me patrol after we got back. I'd like to have been sleeping like Luna there." I glanced down at Luna in the crook of my arm as she continued to quietly snooze. I was a little surprised at how worn out she was.

  Aria looked back and forth between the two groups. "Is everyone alright?"

  The two snow leopard sisters shared a look before Milana replied. "Everyone is still keeping us in the dark about what happened on your trip. It's starting to get under my skin."

  "Ah..." Aria looked around before her eyes landed on Iris. "Are we not talking openly about it because our runner is here?"

  The mousekin's ears went back. "I can't leave, I need to listen for the whistles..."

  Aria shrugged. "Why don't you just tell her Helena? She's not going to do anything about it and most people wouldn't even believe her."

  "I don't want rumors to spread about me. The manager at the hunter's association made things very clear about that," I replied.

  "I won't tell anyone! I promise," Iris said.

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  I raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't get me wrong, you're starting to grow on me, but we didn't exactly have the best first impression."

  She shrunk down a little bit. "That was different..."

  I sighed. "What do you think Maxwell?"

  "They found out about you?" he asked.

  "I had to do it in front of Valkin and Norrik to save Valkin's life," I replied.

  Milana sat up and turned to Valkin. "You came that close to dying?"

  Valkin's face soured a bit more. "...I did. It was close."

  Maxwell turned to the mousekin kid. "We talked about how lenient Helena had been with you, you wouldn't spit on that mercy and tell others about Helena's secrets would you?"

  "The runner did something to Helena?" Talia asked with concern.

  Iris shrunk down as the topic of her pickpocketing came back up. "I won't tell anyone any secrets, I swear!"

  I sighed and scratched the back of my head. "At this rate, paranoia will make whatever anyone's thinking even worse. Let me wake up Luna and then we can talk about it at length."

  Luna hadn't been too happy to be woken up but she took on a tone of seriousness when I explained what I was about to do. Everyone's attention was focused on me when I removed my blindfold and opened my eyes. Milana and Talia's eyes widened when they saw them. The wagon would be too cramped to completely shift in here so I only shifted one of my hands into a clawed arm. That got another round of gasps out of everyone.

  "I was nearly killed by an umber hound once. It did something to me after I barely managed to kill it. I now have the eyes of one of them, and I can shift my shape to look like an umber hound whenever I need to. It makes me faster and stronger, but for obvious reasons, I need to keep this a secret. Others would freak out if they see me like this, which is only more apparent after the way Valkin has acted since I saved his life." I let go of the partial transformation and looked over the group.

  Milana had an interesting look on her face that I couldn't place. Maybe curiosity? Talia looked interested and not at all worried by the news. Iris just looked confused, it looked like she didn't know what to make of it at all.

  Milana turned to Valkin. "She turned into an umber hound to save your life?" He nodded in reply. "Did she look like a normal umber hound? It looks more like swirling mana to me."

  Luna perked up and tapped me on the shoulder. ("She can see the mana too?")

  "Luna asked me if you can see the mana too," I relayed.

  Milana nodded. "Yes, only when you're manifesting the shift though. Interesting. May I get a closer look?"

  "Milana! Look at her eyes! She's a monster!" Valkin nearly shouted.

  The two snow leopardkin sisters' eyes snapped to me to see what I would do. I just shrugged. "I'm not surprised he feels that way. The transformation even messes with my head sometimes, but I've gotten better at controlling it. And even when I've been the most out of my mind, I still protected my friends."

  "You probably shouldn't have admitted that..." Aria commented.

  I shrugged. "I find that it's easier to deal with things out in the open. I've never been a fan of secrets and half-truths."

  Norrik nodded. "That I agree with."

  "You were human before then?" Talia asked. "You weren't an umber hound that now looks like a human?"

  I nodded. "I was a human before I was attacked, and I'd like to think that I'm still a human... despite that being difficult sometimes." I grabbed Luna's hand and squeezed it gently.

  "You left that part of the story out?" Iris asked.

  I turned to her and frowned when she flinched away. "I did. I wasn't really planning on telling everyone like this... but if I didn't at this point, I think it would just make things worse. At least the only one who seems to have a major problem with it is Valkin."

  "Will you tell us the pieces you left out?" Iris asked.

  Looking over the group, everyone seemed interested. "Sure."

  I retold the story from when I entered the cave, being more descriptive of how I could hear Korr'tak echoing through the hallways. The fight went more or less the same but the story diverged from the original retelling of it when I got to the part with the female umber hound. I told them about the moment I realized she had forced me into the position of choosing to transform and save Valkin or letting him die. Norrik had just been thrown off with a broken arm and I wouldn't have been able to do anything for him in my human form. Instead, I shifted and shoved him out of the way before she gutted him. I didn't have any time to hesitate, either I shifted or I let him die, those were the only options and I chose to save him, knowing it would bring me trouble.

  "That's how I remember it too," Norrik replied. "She was on the other side of the fire circle and I had just broken my arm. When I finished rolling the two umber hounds were wrestling. Or... whatever Helena is now. She didn't look precisely like the other one."

  "What do you mean?" Milana asked him curiously.

  "She looked... like a large beastkin. Upright like a person. The way some of those in the north can use magic to increase their size. She wasn't on all fours like the other umber hound."

  ("There are beastkin that can grow larger?") Luna asked. I relayed her question to the group.

  He nodded. "Valkin and I traveled with this bearkin northerner for a while before we met those two," he said gesturing to the snow leopardkin sisters. "He used it a couple times but said it made him so hungry that he could only do it if he had enough in his stomach. He only used it in emergencies because it cost him a lot of money in food." Norrik had gotten a wistful smile on his lips.

  "Shifting doesn't make me hungrier, but powering my regeneration makes me famished," I said.

  "That makes sense," Milana agreed. "Magic can have a toll on the body for mages as well, powering something like regeneration using your own internal magic needs to come from somewhere."

  "So that's it then?" Valkin asked. "We're going to pretend this is normal and not worry about her killing us in our sleep? Or doing something else?"

  Norrik shrugged and faced everyone else. "I've been telling him, if she wanted to kill us in our sleep she could have done it by now. Instead, she's more interested in making out with her fiancé there."

  Luna and I exchanged looks, both blushing.

  "I used to be afraid of her too," Maxwell said interjecting. "But she's saved our lives right from the moment I met her and many times since. Monster or not, she's on our side. Keep her secrets and she won't have any reason to hurt any of you. The rest doesn't matter."

  The conversation more or less died at that point. Not even Valkin tried to rebut that.

  Not too long after, we got the signal that we would be moving out. Piper was still with Korr'tak in the lead car. I didn't like our group to be separated like this but I understood that Piper was doing her best to make sure the guy we risked our lives to save, not to mention our employer, came out okay. I took the opportunity to get some sleep curled up with Luna while I still could. Our wagon once again roughly journeyed down the road.

  Hello! Helena is really bad at keeping secrets, isn't she?

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