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“There you are,” she said. “I heard about Fenli. Baer won’t let me help, but someone said they saw her leaving the village and going east. We have a shelter out there, her and I. That’s where you should check.”

“Someone saw her?”

She nodded. “One of your friends. Thaas? He thought nothing of it until now.”

My stomach clenched. “Did he tell anyone?”

“We’re keeping it quiet. Only a few know, and they’re not talking. Roan—,” she forced me to look at her, “—bring her back, no matter what. Promise me.”

I sighed, silently cursed the skies I’d been born under, then finally nodded. “I promise.”

“Good.” She reached out a hand and squeezed my shoulder. “She’s stubborn and impossible, but she belongs with us. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Good luck convincing her.”

“Good luck finding her.”

Then she laid out the path for me in detail, giving me the kind of instructions that made me realize my sister knew these woods better than most. When she finished, she turned and headed back to the harbor while I set off to the east.

Her directions didn’t steer me wrong. By mid-day, I’d reached the cedar forest and soon found the shelter the two of them had tucked away there. Fenli wasn’t inside, but her tracks were clear enough. I followed them, running, until I caught sight of her up ahead.

“Fenli,” I called.

She flinched at the sound of her name, her shoulders pulling higher. Thank the gods she didn’t run. She slowed until she was still, her dogbefore her looking back, and after a well-heaved breath, she turned to face me.

I drew up in front of her, at a loss for words. Her eyes met mine with a challenge in them, and I was unsettled. Finally, I pointed in the direction she’d been heading.

“What’s that way?”

I expected her not to answer which was why I was doubly surprised when she said, “The Saik.”

I gawked.

Her eyes held mine for a moment, then she turned away, heading, apparently, for the Saik.

I scrambled after her.

“Why would you go there?”

This time she didn’t answer, instead leaving me to my guesses.

“Do you speak Saik?”

“No.”

“Have you ever even met any of them?”

“Yes.”

This was getting me nowhere.

“Fenli, I don’t want to tell you what to do but—”

She wheeled back on me, and I nearly plowed right into her.

“Then d…” She heaved a breath. “Don’t.”

Everything about her was daring me to cross her. The set of her jaw, the line of her mouth, the cut of her brows. For a moment, I forgot myself. My reason for chasing her down, my argument—it all died on my tongue.