The night had gotten cold, even with the fire roaring strong.

  It’d been a few hours since we set up camp and gotten cleaned up. The little girl, Ginny, was sound asleep. I had bundled her up in the few blankets and clothes I had, since hers and her brother’s were still damp and drying off. The boy, Lujic, I had given my jacket and he sat near the fire. He was a little too close for my comfort, so I kept an eye on him just in case.

  “Uncle said it was going to go badly, but not like this,” the boy said with a defeated voice.

  He looked like his whole heart had broken. Yet… for as worried as he’s been about his sister, and as devastated his life was at the moment… the boy had yet to actually cry. A few tears had been shed, earlier, but nothing more.

  Lujic, although small and scrawny, was a proud boy. Almost too proud in my opinion.

  “Was he the one on that horse?” I asked worriedly. Maybe I should offer to go bury the body? We weren’t too far from there, but I’d worry about leaving these two alone in the night. The stink of those dead humans would undoubtedly draw forth larger predators from the deep of the forests. One would think they’d not bother with living humans when so many dead ones were so close, but I knew a large bear would not see any difference between these two small children and a dead corpse. They were equally nonthreatening.

  The boy shook his head. “That was one of his friends. Tried to help us escape,” he said.

  I see.

  I’d not really understood the whole story, since the boy had kind of given it halfheartedly, being dejected and depressed… but from what I understood the boy and girl had been living with their uncle. A man who had been employed to fight for some nearby lord or some such. And well…

  That fight had gone terribly. Not only had their group been defeated, but the camp where their wounded had been getting tendered to and resting at had gotten attacked. Thus their attempt to flee along the road. It hadn’t gone well.

  I wasn’t sure how a force capable of killing many dozens of men, some fully armored, had not been able to also kill two small children… but maybe they had simply not cared for them. Or maybe whoever had done the killing had not wanted to kill children. I know I’d struggle to do such a thing, if it was even possible for me.

  Lujic sniffed as I stepped away from the fire. I wasn’t dressed as fully as I usually was, since I had given the kids most of my clothing, but my tail was still hidden. My ears, however, weren’t. During the setup of the camp, when we had lit the fire and cleaned Ginny of the muck and checked her for wounds, my hat had slid off. The boy had of course noticed, and had stared oddly at me for a moment… but his concern for his sister had quickly overshadowed any worry he had of my non-human traits. Even now he was staring into the fire, almost absentmindedly… uncaring of me at all, almost.

  He had thanked me for helping them, but it still felt a little strange to me. I knew I looked like a young woman and all… but why wasn’t he more worried about me? Even if I didn’t have huge cat-like ears on the top of my head, I was still a stranger. He should have been more on guard, even under better circumstances.

  But it was fine. I was glad to not have to feel like I was walking on eggshells, at least for the moment.

  “Why don’t you get some sleep, Lujic? I’ll keep an eye on your sister,” I offered as I checked their clothes. I had strung them up near the fire on some sticks, and was glad to find that his clothes felt dry. Hers however were still damp enough that I knew better than to let him use them as pillows or blankets.

  “Mhm…” Lujic made a noise as I gathered up his dry clothes and stepped over to him. He seemed to ignore me for a moment, but then looked up at me.

  “Are you a forest dweller?” he asked.

  Forest dweller…? “I uh… like the forests, I guess? I suppose you could say I live in them,” I said, unsure of how else to answer such a question.

  He nodded as if my answer had made perfect sense, which was a good thing since I hadn’t comprehended it much myself.

  “I’ve heard about you, though usually you’re—” He started to say something but a sudden fit of coughing drew our attention.

  Lujic shot to his feet and ran over to Ginny as she rolled onto her side and coughed wildly. I hurried over as well, bundling up his clothes in my arms in case I needed to use them as a makeshift pillow for her.

  “Ginny!” the boy shouted in panic as his sister heaved and coughed with a strange seriousness. It was the type of cough that came after drinking or eating something and it getting stuck or…

  As I knelt down next to them, I watched as she spat something up. Something liquid. At first I thought she had just thrown up, maybe from the stress and pain, but the way the fire’s light danced and gleamed off the stuff made me frown.

  Reaching over, I brushed my fingers with the stuff, and didn’t like the dark blood that stained my fingers.

  Looking away from the blood on my fingers, I found Lujic’s eyes. He had a haunted look as he stared at me, having seen and realized what had just happened.

  She had coughed up blood. And not a small amount either.

  “Help her sit up a little,” I said as Lujic lifted his sister off her side. She seemed like she was still unconscious, which was very unnerving to me. She wasn’t coughing anymore, but I couldn’t imagine sleeping through such a fit as that. She must really be hurt…

  But how? I had cleaned her off myself. I hadn’t seen, or felt, any obvious wounds. She had a broken leg, I think, but I wasn’t sure how such a thing could have caused her to…

  “Hold her steady,” I ordered as I reached over to lift up the girl’s shirt. It was one of my spare ones, so it was huge on her and took a few moments to gather it up enough to reveal her stomach, and once I got it out of the way I felt my own stomach sink.

  The girl’s whole stomach, and what looked like her chest, was a myriad of dark colors. A huge bruise, centered just below her chest, was expanding outward.

  “Ginny…?” Lujic’s voice cracked, and the boy finally started to cry for real as he saw it too.

  “Had she been hit by anything?” I asked as I wondered if maybe the horse had broken more than her leg.

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  Lujic sniffed. “Yes! She was hit by a foot, kicked, by uh… well…” he began to stammer, and I winced at the information.

  Why hadn’t he said anything earlier? I had asked him, directly; as I cleaned her up and checked her if she had been hurt in any other way than the horse falling on her.

  No matter. It wasn’t like I could change what had happened… though…

  “Help me lay her down,” I asked the boy gently as I went to put his bundled up clothes beneath her head. They, added to the small pillow like thing I carried around for myself, would be enough to give her as much comfort as we’d possibly be able to give her at the moment.

  “What do we do? What can I do?” Lujic asked worriedly as he laid her down, a little too slowly.

  Once she was laid down I kneeled closer and put my ears close to her face. I listened intently to her breathing, and did my best to ignore the whining whimpers from the boy.

  She was breathing rather smoothly. I didn’t hear any wheezing, not enough to make me fear for her ability to breathe…

  So why had she coughed up blood?

  I moved a little, to angle my ears to her chest. I listened to her heartbeat and breathing, and once again couldn’t hear anything too amiss. She breathed as if she was in pain, but was not struggling or making any weird sounds.

  Whatever was broken was at least not stopping her from breathing.

  “What do we do Renn?” Lujic asked again as he watched me.

  Sitting up, I felt my ears flutter as I wondered that same question.

  Something was obviously wrong. She was hurt. But this wasn’t a broken arm or leg. How was I to treat it? It wasn’t like I could just wrap her chest and put ointments on it or something.

  I went over the times I had watched Witch treat and help such people. Usually she had used her powers, her magic, to heal them… but occasionally she had helped them in a more normal way. She too had listened to their breathing and heartbeats, but after that…

  “For now we just make sure she doesn’t suffocate. I’ll stay up and keep an eye on her,” I said as I decided the best course of action right now was that.

  “What…? That’s it?” Lujic asked worriedly.

  I nodded. “It’s all we can do.” At least, all I knew how to do.

  “Can’t you use your magic?” he asked.

  I blinked at him, and then realized something obvious. Something I should have noticed earlier.

  He had called me a forest dweller. He thought I was some kind of spirit.

  “I can’t use magic. I’m sorry,” I apologized.

  His face scrunched up, and I felt as if I had just received a blow as mighty as the girl had gotten. My chest hurt for some reason as I looked away from his sad glare, and I gestured to the girl.

  “Let her sleep. In the morning we’ll head towards the nearest village… maybe they’ll have someone who can know or help better than me,” I said.

  “There is no village anymore. It was burnt down!” Lujic said loudly.

  Oh.

  Right. War.

  “Um…” I hesitated, since he was now looking at me with something akin to disappointment. It wasn’t hard to understand the why, but it still hurt to be looked at like that.

  Yes. I know I was useless in moments such as these. I should have learned more from Witch. I should know better, and be better.

  But it wasn’t like I had many chances to learn such things. Other than Witch… and the few humans I’ve tricked and been around for short times, I’ve not had much chance to learn much.

  “I promise you Lujic… we’ll both do all we can. Right now her getting rest, and you getting some too, is the best thing we can do,” I said to him after a moment of enduring his glaring.

  His eyes softened, and then watered up as some new tears fell. He nodded weakly as he looked back down at his sister.

  I was glad he had found me convincing, since I hadn’t felt very much so.

  “Lie down and sleep Lujic. I promise I’ll wake you if she does,” I said.

  “Okay…” he grumbled an answer and went ahead and laid down where he sat. Right next to the girl.

  I didn’t offer him any other blankets or pillows, simply because we didn’t have any to offer. Not unless I was willing to take off the last layer of clothes I had on me.

  It was cold, but not so cold my light undergarments could make much a difference. So I decided to just let him be, and make sure the fire was fed through the night. And once her clothes were properly dried I’d lay them over him too.

  Why didn’t I have a blanket anyway? I had something of a pillow, and a large hooded jacket since it was useful to wear during storms and to hide my features when needed, but that was it.

  Maybe I was just not as bothered by the elements as humans were. Witch had always carried around such things when we had traveled. Or well, I had carried them. She had not only always carried extra sets of clothes but several blankets, and two whole rolled up pillows. They had been hard, but more comfortable than the ground at least.

  Odds are I’d been neglecting myself. And I was now paying the price.

  My ears fluttered as I stepped over to the fire and glanced around. To check our surroundings… and to try and distract myself.

  The boy was already snoring. Right alongside his sister.

  After a few moments of looking around my eyes wandered back to the children. They looked odd, covered in mismatched clothing and lying there together. From here they didn’t look too bothered, or hurt. I could see a few bruises on the boys arms and legs, since they were visible, but from here I saw none upon the girl. The two looked like they were fine as they slept, even the girl didn’t seem to have much pain on her face. Nor did I hear any change in her breathing either.

  Maybe, if lucky, that earlier cough of blood had just been a once off event. Maybe she had simply coughed up what she had swallowed from the event, maybe from a cut tongue or cheek.

  If not… well…

  My only hope would be to find other humans. Preferably ones who knew how to tender such wounds.

  Maybe I could even find someone like Witch. Someone able to use magic. Though she had told me how rare those like her were, there had to be more out there somewhere. Where there’s one there should be many.

  I blinked at that thought and smiled at myself.

  I was likely proof of such a thing being false. What with me having traveled so much and not seeing or hearing hide or tail of anyone like me.

  The boy had basically called me a forest spirit. An apparition. Some humans saw them as evil, needing to be slain on sight. Others saw them as mystical beings that could bring luck or misfortune depending on how you treated them. The humans had plenty of stories about them. Even Witch had told me a few.

  Yet…

  How many forests have I traveled through? How many have I spent entire seasons in?

  And not once have I ever encountered such spirits.

  Witch had tracked down, and killed, Elders before. What I’d likely consider to be the source of such tales and stories… and I was honestly glad I’ve never ran into any since then.

  Pulling my tail out from under my pants, I sighed in relief. It had been getting stiff, and not just from worry. If the boy hadn’t caused a scene over my ears, maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll not do so over my tail either.

  Sniffing a little, I kept a grumble of a complaint inside as I did my best to ignore the terrible stink in the air. It was terrible… enough so that I couldn’t comprehend how the two kids had fallen asleep so easily.

  Even if hurt and exhausted, the smell was so terrible that it was unbelievable.

  Sighing a little I found my eyes drifting to the kids again… and I felt my tail twitch as I studied them.

  Children. In my care.

  Human children.

  “What are you doing Renn?” I asked myself.

  Hopefully the right thing, at least.