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Faunus was nowhere to be found, like he’d gone into the forest to put as much space between Emerie and himself.

“I’m Delora,” the woman, with hair such a dark colour of brown it almost looked black, said with a smile. She raised a hand like a student would when being called on.

“Reia,” the pale woman said, nodding her chin upwards in greeting.

“I’m Emerie,” she sighed out with her shoulders falling. “And, like I said, I’m hungry.Pleasetell me you have real food.”

If she had to eat another berry, she hoped she choked on it.

“Sure, I’ll get you some food,” Delora said while patting her knee. Finally, some true kindness! She rose to her feet, but instead of running off, she pointed between Mayumi and Reia with her brown eyes narrowing into a fierce glare. It didn’t match her sweet face. “You two, behave while I’m gone.”

Reia threw her hands up like she was surrendering, while Mayumi lifted her gaze to the sky while whistling like a deviant.

“I mean it!” she yelled. “And while I’m gone, can one of you wash her back so we don’t attract a swarm of Demons with her blood. I don’t want to have to hear them howling all night.” She visibly shuddered. “It’s fucking creepy.”

Then she was gone, heading to the green painted door behind them to go inside. Emerie still couldn’t believe she was sitting on the steps of a log cabin home belonging to a human who lived within the Veil.

I didn’t think people could live here.

She wondered if it was the green glittering ward surrounding them like a dome.

“She’s scary when she’s serious,” Mayumi admitted on a laugh.

Emerie turned back to the two women standing before her.

Mayumi pushed back a few of the many black strands that had fallen from her high ponytail, like she had a choppy fringe she’d haphazardly cut with a dagger.

“Here, I’ll wash your back,” she offered.

She came around, knelt behind her, and wiped at her back. She occasionally dipped the cloth into a bucket of water Emerie hadn’t known was behind her.

“I don’t see the point,” Reia stated. “Her clothes are soaked with blood. When everything settles down, I’ll give you some new clothes to wear. What size shoe are you? If you’re a nine, you’re out of luck, because that’s my size.”

“Yeah, and I stole all her sixes,” Mayumi mumbled. “And I’m not giving them up to no one.”

“I don’t care,” Emerie stated, puzzled about why the hell they were talking about shoes. Yet, the... normality of it was easing her anxiety, and she wondered if that’s why they’d started it. She eventually shrugged and played along. “An eight, I guess.”

“Long week?” Mayumi mused behind her, yet her voice was soft in comparison to before.

She let out a deep, exasperated expire. “The longest.”

Coming out of a bloodlust frenzy could either be startling or bring on a wave of grogginess.

For Ingram, who was terribly injured, his reawakening was slow. An elbow jutting into one of the wounds on his side caused a quiet whine to escape his chest. There was pressure all over him.

His red vision morphed to white from pain and confusion at his surroundings. He also didn’t like that there were two Mavka around him, one standing over him imposingly, while the other lay upon him to keep him pinned.

His rapid breaths began calming. He slipped his head one way and then the other across the ground, trying to make sense of his surroundings.

The sun was bright, but it was descending over the horizon – although the forest would make that feel like it was happening sooner than it actually was.

To his right was a fenced garden, and a little behind him was a human dwelling connected to it. To his left were trees that were obviously thinned out by someone cutting them down. The grass beneath him was soft, and the freshly cut swaying stalks tickled the underside of his skull.

Once he observed his environment, it didn’t take him long to figure out where he was. The green, glowing dome above filled him with relief at the safety of being in another of his kind’s protective ward.

“He appears to have calmed,” the fox-skulled Mavka lying on him stated. He gingerly lifted off him, but it was obvious he was ready to shove his weight back down if Ingram suddenly attacked.

“He has,” the wolf-skulled Mavka answered with a nod of his head, stepping back to give them room.