Author’s note: Logistics and Eirian promises Asha he’ll teach her to tell time. Cut from the manuscript.

---

“So, what happened with Laine last night?” Eirian asked, picking at his breakfast.

“Nothing happened with Laine.” Owen didn’t look up from his plate.

“Okay, okay… but you are into her, aren’t you?”

“Can we please just eat?”

Eirian pushed his food around his plate with his fork. “You know, she reminds me of—”

“Tully,” said Owen at once.

Eirian nodded, glancing down at his finger tracing the woodgrain of the table.

“Does every pretty girl remind you of your sister?”

Eirian looked up sharply. Before he could answer, a boisterous voice interrupted.

“Hullo, boys.” Asha slid neatly into the bench next to Eirian. She was dressed for traveling. Instead of her braided flower crown from the previous night, her hair was plaited into a practical single braid. She dropped her pack off her shoulders, and her staff clattered against the table as she settled in.

“Uh, good morning.”

“Don’t sound so excited, Owen.” She rolled her eyes. “Keep in mind, there’s no one else willing to serve as your guide.”

Owen pushed away his plate and leveled his gaze at her. “Alright then. Let’s talk about the plan.”

She smiled as she dropped her voice conspiratorially. “The Artifact is at Stoc Arach—’Sentinel Peak’ in the common tongue. It’s a dormant volcano seven days journey from here, assuming we walk during the day and sleep through the night. With three of us, we can get decent rest with three watch shifts per night.”

“Sounds like a dream,” said Eirian, no doubt reflecting on their limited rest until reaching Lios Greine. “Each shift will be four hours with eight hours for sleeping.”

“Roughly.”

Owen reached across the table and picked up Asha’s wrist. “You don’t wear a watch.”

She shrugged. He let go of her arm and took off his wristwatch, a Whitcroft Ranger. It had been a gift from his father on his sixteenth birthday. When he set it on the table in front of her, its white face caught the morning light filtering into the dining hall, making the black numerals stand out crisp and clear. The brown leather band already showed wear, but like all Whitcroft leather, it aged well.

“First watch from 8pm to midnight,” Owen said. “Middle watch to four. Last watch until 8am.”

She glanced up. “I don’t know how to read a clock.”

“Really?” asked Eirian, his eyebrows drawing toward his hairline.

Her eyes narrowed. “Why would I need clocks? I have the sun, the stars.”

Eirian cast a surprised glance at Owen before returning his attention to their guide. “Well, it’s quite easy to learn. I can teach you, if you want. The big hand represents the minute, and the little hand represents the hour.”

She wrinkled her face like she was being served a food she didn’t like. She picked up the watch and studied it. The case diameter was comically large in relation to the size of her hand.

“I’ll help you practice, don’t worry,” Eirian said.

“We’ll rotate forward each night,” Owen said. “That way no one’s stuck with middle watch too often.”

“I’ll take first tonight,” she responded. “Owen middle, Eirian last.”

Owen nodded, standing to stack their plates. “We should go.”

As he returned to their table, he saw Eirian had pulled out the songbird woodcarving and was examining it.

“I’m not sure what to do with this,” he was saying to Asha. “It seems silly to bring it, but I don’t want to leave it behind either.”

She took the mountain lion token out of her pocket and set it on the table in front of him.

“Just bring it,” she said. “It’s pretty light. I’m bringing mine.”

They glanced up as Owen neared. His impatience must have been clear on his face, because Asha added, “Owen’s mood is the heaviest thing any of us are carrying.”

With a half smile, Eirian stood to collect his pack, and they headed for the fort’s exit.