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“How do you know?” She laughed.

“The animals listen when you speak to them.” He smiled .

“I suppose they do. How did you get captured?”

He looked at her with his giant eyes, long pointed ears twitching.

“I went too far. I was exploring. My brothers always told me it was a bad idea. Hobgoblins are supposed to stay close to home. We don’t explore or care much for adventure.

Or we are not supposed to. But I like it.

’Tis fun. Seeing new things. Learning new things. I feel different than most other hobs.”

Ava smiled as she grabbed an apple for herself. “I know what it means to feel different.”

He surveyed her and tilted his head. “You say that like it’s bad. It is not bad to be different. It is bad to be same. ”

“I don’t know, Remy. I’ve been different my whole life and people didn’t like it. They thought I was weird. That I wasn’t normal.”

“Ha!” He laughed. “Normal? Why would you want to be normal? Normal is boring. Boring boring boring.”

She smiled. “You’re right. Normal is boring… So, you said you were exploring when you were captured?”

“Oh, yes. I was pretending I was an adventurer, climbing trees and watching the animals. It was much fun. But then they came. They had killed my parents, and I was too close to their camp. I didn’t know!

” He placed his head in his hands for a moment before lifting his head, his eyes wet with tears.

“They said I was a spy. They threw me in the cage as punishment. To sit there and die. But then you came. And you saved me.”

Ava smiled and reached over to grab his hand. “You saved me too. In more ways than you’ll ever know.” They smiled at each other before she let go and sat back. “When will you go home?” she asked.

“I must leave tomorrow. Sorry. So sorry. But I need to see my family,” he answered regretfully.

“I understand,” she said.

Home , she thought. Upon arriving here, something small had awakened within her. Minuscule and barely noticeable, she could feel that pull, subtly tugging her away from her old life and toward something else.

Something new.

“Where are you going?” he asked her.

Ava fidgeted with her tunic. “I guess I’m looking for the capital of Monterre.”

“It’s called Mosshaven. A lovely city.”

“How do I get there?” she asked.

“Isolde already told you.”

“The star?”

He nodded.

“Humans are smart, yes?” Remy asked.

She laughed. “Some of them are.”

“You are.”

Ava shrugged, looking at her friend. “I’d like to think so… but sometimes I make really bad choices.”

He regarded her curiously. “That doesn’t mean you are not smart. It means you have a heart. A big heart full of love. I can see it, yes I can. Yes yes yes.”

“Remy,” she whispered. “What do I do when I get there?”

Remy shook his head. “I don’t know. The high fae there are very welcoming… but I don’t think there has ever been a human here before. Nope nope nope. You must be careful. They are very protective of their kingdom.”

“Okay,” she said. “Thanks.”

She had no proof to give them she was truly fae, only her word.

And she didn’t think they would take it if they were as protective as Remy suggested.

She needed to be smart. Maybe she could get an audience with the king and try to explain her situation.

Perhaps he would take pity on her and she could go from there.

Her stomach growled, hunger unsatisfied by the apple.

She could have devoured the entire contents of her bag, but forced herself to resist, unsure when she would find her next meal.

She found the water skin hiding in the bottom of the bag and let Remy drink his fill before she finished it off, planning to refill it at the river before leaving.

Thirst quenched and hunger tampered for now, she drank a tonic, wincing at the bitter taste, and lay down upon the bedroll. Remy had already curled up on the floor and was fast asleep.

As she lay there, she mentally assessed her injuries, pain now coursing through her battered body. Adrenaline had kept her attention from it but now she was motionless, everything hurt.

The lacerations on her back were still raw and covered in bandages, nowhere close to being fully healed, and burned every time she moved.

Her fingers were sore where more nails had been pulled but were thankfully on the mend, and burns, cuts and bruises adorned her body in different states of healing providing a constant ache even as she lay still.

And her leg. That injury Andras had given her still hurt significantly and after running through the woods, it would not stop throbbing.

Though Isolde’s magic had healed it enough that it wasn’t an open wound anymore, the skin was still tender and raw under the wrappings she had used to cover it.

Torture. She had been tortured. Abused for weeks at the hands of her false boyfriend and his daemon queen. She wasn’t ready to look at that. It was a trauma she would shove into a box along with Eleanor’s death, and lock the key, never to be examined.

She knew if she let herself go there, let herself truly ponder over what had been done to her, the reality of her predicament would overcome her.

And she would fall apart.