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"So youkill things? Anis?"

Perry closed his eyes Then he sat back and gave her a wide grin "If it ut it, skin it, and eat it"

She shook her head, her eyes dazed "I justI can’t believe you’re real"

Perry scowled at her "What else would I be, Mole?"

She kept quiet for a while after that Perry finished outlining her feet He cut the i with the tip of the blade, working as swiftly as he could This close, her Dweller scent washim sick

"My na "Don’t you think we should know each other’s na to be allies?" She arched a dark eyebrow, ht be allies, Mole, but we’re not friends" He laced the leather cord through the holes and then tied them around her ankles "Try those"

She stood and took a few steps, drawing up her pants so she could see her feet "They’re good," she said, surprised

He swept the leftover scraps of leather cord into his satchel The covers h but flexible Best use he’d ever seen for a book They’d last a few days Then he’d have to co

If she didn’t, he’d already decided he would take the eyepiece to Marron’s alone He’d find a way to send a signal to any Dweller who’d hear it He’d offer hie for his nephew

She lifted a foot and looked at the botto Did you choose this one on purpose, Outsider? I’m not sure this bodes well for our journey"

Perry snatched his satchel Took up his bow and quiver He didn’t have a clue what book he’d chosen He couldn’t read Had never learned no matter how many times Mila and Talon had tried to teach him He walked out of the cave before she could see that and call hi hills Perry had known all his life They were nearing the eastern edge of Vale’s territory, rolling land that climbed out of the Tide Valley Wherever he looked he saw memories The knoll where he and Roar had made their first bows The oak tree with the split trunk that Talon had climbed a hundred times The banks of the dry creek that first time with Brooke

His father had walked this land once Longer ago still, hisa place before having left it Unsettling to realize he had no loft to cli in the open And he alking with a Dweller That cast the day in an odd light as well Her presence made him shifty and irritated He knew she wasn’t the Mole who took Talon, but she was still one of the the first hours She walked too slow and made more noise than soun to put off a thick black terief had followed hiain with had suffered and lost and was hurting Perry did his best to keep upwind frooing, Savage?" she asked aroundahead held another advantage besides avoiding her scent He didn’t have to keep seeing the eyepiece on her face "I think I’ll call you that since I don’t know your name"

"I won’t answer"

"Well, Hunter? Where are we heading?"

He tipped his chin "That way"

"That’s helpful"

Perry glanced over his shoulder at her "We’re going to see a friend His name is Marron He’s that way" He pointed to Mount Arrow "Anything else?"

"Yes," she said, frustrated "What is snow like?"

That nearly stopped him in his tracks How could a person know about snoithout knowing it was pure and silent and whiter than bone? Without knowing how the chill of it stung your skin? "It’s cold"

"What about roses? Do they really sreat?"

"See ive a true answer From what he could tell, she’d never heard about Scires in her stories Perry wanted to keep it that way He didn’t trust her Knew she wasn’t planning to help hiure it out

"Do the clouds ever clear?" she asked

"Completely? No Never"

"What about the Aether? Does that ever go away?"

"Never, Mole The Aether never leaves"

She looked up "A world of nevers under a never sky"

She fit in well then, he thought A girl who never shut up

Her questions continued through the day She asked if dragonflies made a sound when they flew and if rainboereto herself as though it were a natural thing She talked about the warainst the blue cast of the Aether When the wind kicked up, she said the sound re at thea few She’d fallen into a deep silence once, when the sun appeared, and it was then he’d wondered ure out how a person could be grieving and still nored her as best he could He kept an eye on the Aether, relieved to see that it moved in pale drifts above They’d leave the Tides’ land soon so he paid close attention to the scents carrying on the wind He knew they’doutside tribe territories guaranteed it Hard enough to survive alone in the borderlands Perry wondered how he’d e it with a Mole

Late in the afternoon, he found a sheltered valley to lay ca The Dweller sat on an overturned tree exa the soles of her feet What healthy skin she’d had left thathad blistered

Perry found the salve he’d taken froht it to her She unscrewed the s forward as she peered at it Perry frowned What was she doing? Was her eyepiece solass?

"Don’t eat that, Dweller Spread it on your feet Here" He pushed a handful of dried fruit at her along with a cluster of thistle roots he’d dug up earlier They tasted like uncooked potatoes, but at least they wouldn’t starve "That you can eat"