But he wasn't a tamer. Tamers didn't transform into beasts, but took control of them. He was Atmana.

That didn't make Tuya feel at ease. Her mind sense detected his desire the same as every tamer that had looked at her in the last several seasons. He wanted more than to just stare at her wide-eyed. This boy craved to claim her body with mouth, hands, and breeder. She realized now that no matter how far she went from the Hollows, she'd never be able to escape these gazes.

Yaha had often said that her pretty face would help her in diplomacy but she'd trade that in a heartbeat if it meant never sensing what men wanted to do to her. After Darrakh, she never wanted to be looked at like this again, let alone touched.

Tuya glanced to the spear leaning against the tree by her mossy resting rock. She could grab that before he lunged. There was enough space between them that she could defend herself in empagong or go on the attack in lion.

Want me to turn him into fish food? Batu projected, sharing an image of him tearing the boy open and tossing his entrails piece by piece into the river.

Batu's eagerness for blood tempered Tuya's own fight instinct. She was no monster to come into another person's dark place and murder them just for looking at her. That was something a tamer would do. Instead of reaching for the spear or her companion's protection, Tuya covered herself with the wolf hides and watched to see what the Atmana would do.

The boy made wild gestures with his hands as he huffed like a wolf. Tuya had seen the captured Atmana women in her region of the Hollows do similar things, though never with the enthusiasm of this boy. That didn't mean she understood what he was trying to say. The gestures were no less foreign to her than when Yaha spoke Leverian to her for the first time.

The Atmana kept his eyes on her, barely noticing the gigantic bird in the river behind her. He produced wolfen whines and more huffs—noises that didn't sound threatening to Tuya. She kept her lightseer foresight focused, ready to react the instant he came forward.

But he made no aggressive movements. Just more of these wild gestures, as if he was saying dozens of words in the space of a few heartbeats. His mind radiated desire, but now that she was sensing with more of her attention and less surprise, with less of what she had expected to sense, Tuya felt too his wonder, his excitement, his joy. He was like a little girl discovering that there was more to life than foraging for food and keeping yourself small for the tamers.

He likes you, Batu shared. But what's not to like? As far as two-legs go, you're quite agreeable.

Tuya smiled, her silver eyes emitting light into the dim space between her and the wolf boy.

The Atmana stopped gesturing. His ears perked up, his eyes went wider, and his lips curled into a precious smile that transcended any language barrier.

He wasn't ugly. If Tuya permitted honesty, he was beautiful. But then again, she'd never seen a man as beautiful as Gurgaldai and Tuya herself was a deadly thing disguised in a pretty shell. How one looked to the eyes said little about whether they were a beautiful person. Besides, death was all she brought to a mate.

Darrakh's eyes silver for just a few moments. Her spear covered in the blood of her beloved. She couldn't let that happen again. Whether housing a good soul or not, Tuya would never let herself put logs on those flames again. Never again. She killed the idea of ever experiencing that type of love. Better to love oneself than let that pain carve another hole into her heart.

The beautiful boy made a much slower gesture, pointing from his heart then toward her eyes. He put his hands together, still smiling, and went down on all fours, his face pressed into the forest floor.

Two-legs are weird, Batu projected. When I found my mate, I let her know the right way that I was for her.

I am not mating this two-legs, Tuya projected back. And there are many right ways to express love.

And many wrong ways, Batu returned. Like beaking the land. I flew like the wind was my food that day, not like I belonged with dirt and stupid branches. This two-legs should be embarrassed.

Tuya didn't agree, but she wasn't going to get into a protracted argument about mating practices with a big bird. That was very agreeable of her, as far as Batu was concerned. If anything, she was the one who felt embarrassed standing naked in front of a boy that was prostrated on the ground like a line of tamers and wilders before the Ezen. She needed to find a way out of this.

But looking at him there, knowing what awaited this place, she couldn't just fly over the forest on her way to Isihla.

The Atmana kept his head on the ground, whimpering like a wolf. His eyes off her, she took the opportunity to slip into her furs. Already, they felt wrong, oppressing her in the damp heat of this strange forest where it seemed the Atmana went without fur or hides. But she could endure this physical discomfort to get rid of some social discomfort. It didn't help that the boy had his rear up in the air and his breeder dangling through his fur. She adjusted her gaze, eyes on the little scrapes, scratches, and bruises covering his reddish flesh. Tuya couldn't tell whether they were from battle, hunting, or just existing in the forest where boys didn't where clothes. She just knew she didn't want to add to them.

But what could she do when he acted like a wolf? He spoke in whines and huffs and hand motions instead of words. She couldn't understand him. Not without breaking her link to Batu. That wasn't an option. If she lapsed in her link, even for a moment, Gurg would sense her like the sun emerging from behind dark clouds. Even if she hid herself behind Batu's clouds, the tamers would turn this forest against her, starting with the wolf boy that she'd need to kill.

She wasn't asking Batu for advice, but the eagle usually had an opinion on everything and was ever eager to share. If you can talk to a big bird, you can talk to a two-leg boy that acts like a four-leg moonhowler. Throw your thoughts at him like Batu drops dung on two-legs in shiny rock feathers and their four-leg slaves. Batu shared the image just to be sure it translated. Armored Leverians riding on their horses looking up at Batu, seeing his cloud-colored poop plummeting toward them. Splat.

Tuya shook her head, warding off a smile. You pooped on that man!

If he didn't want that, he should stay inside his broken trees instead of ruining Batu's view of the flowers.

Tuya breathed, like Zaya taught her so many seasons ago. Even though Batu was a silly, territorial bird, his plan was wise. She could stay linked with Batu and push her thoughts out toward others. Her projection of thoughts would translate to ideas the whimpering wolf boy could comprehend, even if they didn't fully link. But Tuya wouldn't be able to hear the boy's thoughts without a full link. She'd be where she already was, reading his body language and sensing the color of his feelings.

Hello, Atmana wolf boy. I come in peace, and to make pain smaller in the Great Forest.

The boy shot to his feet, swiveling his head in every direction. His hands turned to paws, claws stretching through the fur where fingers had been. His teeth sharpened as he snarled in a complete circle, a tail growing out of his lower back and standing straight up. He didn't pulse with anger. Tuya knew the taste of fear, having grown up being inundated with it by the other wilders in the Hollows.

"It was me," she said, her native Celegan slipping out. I send you my thoughts, she projected. She pointed to herself. "Me."

He pointed to her. "Me?"

His throat didn't make the sounds right, lacking both the music of Yaha's accent and the throaty guttural dialect of the Celegan Peninsula where Tuya grew up. His voice was hoarse, still sounding wolfen. For one who may never have spoken a word in his life, it was impressive.

She nodded. "Tuya." She gestured to herself. "Tuya."

"Tuya?" His paws became hands, his teeth human, his tail receded. Wolf boy took a cautious step forward and sniffed.

Tuya nodded. My name is Tuya. What are you called, friend?

The wolf boy made a gesture that looked like one of his hands were climbing a high peak, then he went down on all fours and howled.

Climbing Wolf?

He snarled and shook his head then he smiled and nodded.

Two-legs and their lapses, Batu transmitted, sharing in Tuya's confusion. Acting like hatchlings forgetting the worm right in front of their little eyes then finding it again. Maybe these two-legs don't have names for themselves? Or he's been alone so long he forgot it?

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Tuya was too focused to be derailed by Batu's meanderings. You are Wolf? she asked the boy.

Nodding—Tuya grateful that it seemed shaking your head and bobbing it were universal signs of no and yes—the boy licked his lips. Then he huffed, his mind giving off a powerful eagerness.

Speaking aloud and projecting thoughts outward, Tuya pointed to herself. "Tuya." She opened her arm toward the boy. "Wolf."

More nods. Huffing, he pointed at her eyes, made a gesture toward the treetops while he closed his eyes, touched his heart, and then focused his gaze on her.

This was like when she first started learning words with Yaha. Eager to solve the mysteries of this unspoken language, hungry in a way no fish could ever sate, Tuya took a step toward Wolf.

My eyes are like the stars, she transmitted, while speaking the same. You like them.

Nods. Huffs. She'd yet to experience such intense joy emanating from him. He reared back then let out a gleeful howl.

Batu fluttered out of the river. Yippers and moonhowlers. Loud four-legs have no respect. And they don't even have the decency to taste good. If you're going to be annoying, at least serve a purpose. He squawked at Wolf.

Wolf, it seemed, had underestimated Batu's size or had been so centered on Tuya that he wasn't prepared for the giant bird yelling at him. He transformed, shifting from boy to wolf in a few rapid panicked heartbeats. He crouched, legs bent and tense, ears up, his tail tucked between his legs.

Tuya recognized this like a claimed woman in the Hollows preparing for the Tamer's word or worse. She didn't need to sense his fear to know he made himself small. He barked, a soft, submissive sound that said—

Leave me alone before I piss on my claws, Batu finished.

Batu, on the other claw, was supremely pleased. His unflappable confidence radiated out from him like light from the stars. Whatever humbling transpired during his descent through the canopy was as lost as a tamer's sense of compassion. Like with those tamers, Tuya didn't hold it against him for being who life made him. Unlike the Tamers, Batu had a profound number of redeeming qualities to make amends for taking self-important joy in scaring another creature.

Tuya projected her calm into the surrounding forest, letting it wash over Wolf like the little waves that made it to shore. His tail went slack before she spoke in the more soothing tongue of Yaha's people while projected the thoughts to Wolf. "Batu is my family." She stroked Batu's beak then nudged his head with hers. "He makes my pain smaller. I love him."

Batu relaxed, his will to intimidate two-legs, moonhowlers, and two-legs that were also moonhowlers suppressed as he nudged her head with his. Tuya glanced back at the wolf to find a boy once more, the last patches of fur receding into that tree-colored skin. He pointed to Tuya and Batu with the smallest fingers on his hand, then linked them together, before touching them to his heart.

Tuya nodded, believing that she understood. She pointed to him with her small fingers, intertwined them, and put them over her heart. "Do you have family, Wolf?"

Wolf bounced up and down, his tail emerged, and it shook in smooth arcs. He let out a joyous howl that made Batu lift off the ground, feathers ruffling.

Tuya laughed with a carefree heart as Wolf's glee spread to her, as contagious as any sorrow in the Hollows had ever been. She absently reached for Yaha's pearl. "I like your howl, Wolf."

He beamed at her as if his eyes were little stars. Instead of smiling, Tuya felt a sudden burst of sadness like a mighty kick to the gut. She saw Darrakh's lightseer eyes, the proud smile just before everything went wrong. She wasn't ready for smiling faces. Wasn't ready to care about people again. Not when they always died, a log or a spear in her hand. It didn't matter how many seasons passed—or that she personally destroyed the tamer's mind—Makhun's voice bubbled to the surface. You did this, khorota.

You must be you, Batu projected, with unusual somberness. Be yourself, sister. Be free.

I don't know who I am.

You are you, Batu thought, as if it were just a simple thing.

I'm the one who fails to protect, Tuya projected.

You are the one who cares. You are the one who makes pain smaller.

But everyone I care about gets hurt. Yaha. Sarnai. Darrakh. So many faces rushed through the link. Memories of those three and many, many more, including Atmana woman that didn't look too different from Wolf.

You saved my life.

You would be safer if you flew away from me.

If I did that, I wouldn't be me.

But you'd live.

No, Tuya, I'd die every day. Just like you will if you don't let yourself care, if you don't try to make pain smaller. These two-legs that sometimes have four need you. And, more important to me, I think you need them.

Tears in her eyes, Tuya looked away from Wolf. Batu's thoughts circled around her mind and she was unable to completely agree or shut them down. These people weren't the ones that could defeat chimaeras. She didn't need them. Yaha had planned on the Great Atmana Forest being a place they moved through to get to Isihla or Heiya.

Batu's disappointment spread through the link. But what will happen if you ignore them? If you ignore yourself, Tuya?

I must go on, she answered. Each day I waste is another day Masarga and the others are suffering, another day where the Tamers control thousands, where they destroy the people of this forest. I don't need the Atmana, and, Darrakh's face going still, his consciousness seeping out of him as his body became an empty shell, the last thing they need is me.

She didn't sense him stalking across the cluttered forest floor. Batu didn't warn her, a righteousness permeating his mind that was too loud to sense what his eyes saw and ears heard.

Wolf's rough hand touched her face as gently as any hand ever had. Tuya shot back, going into water stance to evade pursuit, and was beside her spear in a heartbeat. She paused, hand on the haft, knelt but not kneeling. The wolf boy's eyes were wide, his mouth open. He pointed to her eyes, wiped imaginary tears off his face, then hugged himself as he tilted his head to her. His own amber seers were moist.

Compassion flowed from him like a waterfall over a cliff's edge. Such feeling reminded her of herself when she saw people in pain. Despite knowing nothing about her, this wolf boy wanted to make her pain smaller. He intertwined his little fingers, pressed them to his heart, then stretched them toward her. He made a soft whining noise, tears now falling down his face.

Tuya had done the same thousands of times since the day Zaya left her, since the day Batu taught her what love meant.

Let him, Tuya. Batu projected an image of her hugging Wolf. Be yourself. Be free.

I'm not ready.

You don't need to mate, sister. But you need to talk to the other two-legs. You need to feel love again. Why not start with this moonhowler? He doesn't seem like a complete piece of poop. Besides, I think he's going to get stuck in your feathers whether you feel ready or not.

Wolf held his intertwined small fingers toward her, emitting those soft wolfen whines.

But Tuya couldn't look at Wolf without seeing Darrakh dying or Gurg taking control of him. She needed to run, before she got this compassionate soul with the pretty face killed.

I can't.

You won't, Batu challenged. Don't be a coward, Tuya.

Cowards don't breed conquerors, she thought, remembering that which Gurg had told her many times in their few encounters. I'd rather be a coward than the reason people die.

We all die. Isn't it better if we live before that time comes?

Not if I'm the reason people have less time.

But if you leave him, Gurg will get him.

Tuya let out a gasp of pain. "I can't!"

She turned from the whining Atmana boy, his pained whimpers making her tears fall faster. She left behind the fish, the fire, taking her feelings with her as she leapt into the river, sparing just enough time to run the spear through the loop on the back of her hides.

Tuya swam, season after season of training in the dark place's stream propelling her escape. The river was only about the length of the smaller brown trees in the Hollows. She soon emerged on the other end with soaked wolf furs. Tuya didn't let the extra weight slow her down.

Batu pulsed his frustration and disappointment. Another failure for Tuya.

The sound of the great eagle fluttering over the river competed only with the scared howls of Wolf. Tuya ignored them. She needed to get away from this boy before she got him killed. He may not know it, but she was saving his life. The pretty girl with the lightmaker eyes brought only darkness and death to this place full of life. This innocent wolf boy, one who wouldn't be able to fight Gurg or his chimaeras, was better off if he never saw her.

She crashed through the woods, not caring about noise or direction. Her eyes focused on her path, but her mind lingered on creating space as she felt Wolf's presence trailing her.

Batu was even louder than her. Poop on this pooping forest! He slammed through the brush, making himself small to trace her path. Slow down, sister!

Tuya, distracted as she was, sensed motion before she felt it with her overwhelmed mind sense. Seizing her spear, she went into empagong stance. A purple roaring creature pounced, bursting through the trees with claw and fang. Tuya stepped aside the ambush, swinging her spear toward where she had been. She nicked the beast's foreleg, spilling red onto the forest floor.

Two more purple-furs circled the dense wood around her, trying to surround and overwhelm her, as the wounded purple-fur let out a cry and fled behind a green-barked tree with fiery red leaves. Getting a closer look at one of the prowler's, she recognized it though she'd never seen one with her own eyes. The lions of the Mahogany Isles were present in many of Yaha's memories. These ones weren't golden, but they were the same size and shape. She reached out toward them, checking for signs of Mother Celegana's magic—an ethereal brown essence—like what she could see on Wolf.

Nothing. They're mind senses weren't particularly powerful, speaking of more bestial sentience. These weren't Atmana folk.

Batu?

I told you to slow down!

He was many, many heartbeats away from catching up to her, struggling to navigate forest that she'd dashed through unhindered.

The purple-fur lions growled, circling around her. Tuya read their minds, tasting their intentions like blood in one's mouth. She could've tried to soothe them with her wilding. But Tuya could only make something more of itself. They were predators. But she wasn't prey.

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