In a couple of hours I reap some fruit and herbs that will have to suffice until I find an animal I can kill. Nari insists on looking for a market, but I can’t risk allowing the public to know where she is and with whom she is. It’s still a tender time after the attack on the Capital. They’re going to suspect everyone, even Nari’s bodyguard, which is natural.

“This is all we’re eating?” She asks me.

I toss her an apple in addition to the one she already has. “You have two now. Grab more, and pack it with you in case you get hungry.”

She bites into it. “It’s sweet.”

I use my knife to peel the apple before eating mine.

“You don’t like the peel?”

I answer, “No.”

“Why?”

I throw the peels to her. It hits her shoulder before she catches them. “If you like them so much, you can have them.”

“I’m not going to eat the peel by itself.”

I shrug and bite into the apple. It’s a little sour, but the taste satisfies me.

I watch Nari walk past me with her two apples. She’s adapted to the situation faster than I expected. There is a careful confidence wrapped around her shoulders that gives me the desire to protect her less. Doing so would mean freeing myself of responsibility, and if I were to do that, then that would mean I am renouncing my loyalty to the Nights.

We had a deal. I cannot afford to become lost in my delusions.

“How long will we wander?” She stops for a moment to drop the peels I gave her and bury them beneath a pile of leaves. “Are we looking for something?”

“Just time.”

“Time?”

“That’s why we’re here, Nari. Because we need time.”

She glances down at her clothes, which are not only wrinkled from having dried by the sun, but are also stained by mud and grass. “You must have guarded a lot of people.”

I think of Ada and her mother. “Not too many.”

“But you know how to survive, how long to wait. Your training must have been incredible. Where did they say you were from?” She resumes walking. “Haw?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never been there. Is it nice?”

I wouldn’t know. “Some people would think so.”

“I guess the longer you live in a place, the less fascinating it becomes.” Having completed her apple, she raises her arm and chucks the core. We watch it fly until we can’t see it anymore. “That’s what the Capital is like for me.”

I have to be careful with how I phrase my words if I’m going to try to pull information from her. “It seems like it.”

She looks sharply back at me. “Seems like what?”

“That you’re unsatisfied.”

“I’m satisfied, but not accustomed.”

She doesn’t seem to have the ability to become used to a lot of things.

“I like you, Tao, I really do. But you’re my bodyguard. You have to understand that.”

She wouldn’t be telling me this if she weren’t having a problem with discerning the difference between the past and the present. She’s struggling with more than a change of scenario. She’s struggling with our social standing.

“I know.”

“I trust your instincts. But shouldn’t you be the protector, and not the leader?” She quizzes me. “I think we need to find a town. Let’s learn of some news and get supplies. We can’t live off of apples forever, can we?”

We could. “No.”

“Then let’s start looking right now.”

“Three days. Three days, and we’ll look for it.”

“Why three days?”

“You said you trusted my instincts,” I stare at her. “So trust them.”

She’s quiet before she replies, “All right.” She speeds up her gait and tries to lengthen the distance between us. I suppose she lied. She doesn’t like me.

Since I am her bodyguard, as she so blatantly reminded me, I take less notice of her and more notice of what is around her. As I eye any suspicious shadow and flicker of movement, my mind deviates to the Nights. They must be back at the base by now, and most likely with more concealed lookouts. They can’t risk a mishap after revealing themselves to the Capital. The Capital must be in a frenzy because they cannot predict what it is that the Nights wants. Even I don’t understand the entire motive behind Han’s actions. I simply follow him, because he carries with him a sense of confidence and leadership that I simply cannot deride.

I promised Nari three days, and so I give her three days. She counts down the hours by the number of apples she’s eaten. When she reaches six, she prompts me to find a familiar area once the sun rises.

“It’s been three days, Tao,” she says.

“I know.”

“Are we going to do as I requested?”

I hide my laughter from her and nod. “Follow me.”

Although I cannot grasp our location entirely, I do have an idea of where we are. There should be a small town about an hour east from here. If I can convince Nari that we need to stop for only a little while, we will be in and out of that town and back in the forest, where I can keep her in hiding until I know it’s safe for me to return to Han.

The hour passes quickly for Nari because of her excitement to reach a place of familiarity. Although she might not know the town personally, she is glad to be around buildings and food for which she doesn’t have to scavenge. Before she runs toward a market in her haste, however, I pull her back.

“What?” She shouts.

“I don’t think we should just walk in there.”

“Why not?”

I glance at her clothes, and she blushes. “You can demand all you want, but no one will believe who you claim to be.”

“Surely they’ve heard of me.”

“Heard of you, perhaps. As for seen, I highly doubt it. I lived in Haw, which is much farther from here, and I have never seen you until the day of the competition.”

For the first time, her shoulders slump. “What do I do?”

“Let me take care of this.” I scan the small houses around us. One house has a clothesline that holds a rather thin, brown blanket. I steal it and wrap it around Nari so that it covers her like a cloak. “I’ll get us food.”

“Do you have money?”

I lift her hand. She tries to pull back, but I squeeze it harder. “I’d like to borrow one of your rings.”

“This is gold.”

“I know,” I reply. “We can use it. You can have all your trinkets back once you return to the Capital.”

Reluctantly, she sacrifices one of her rings for a bit of comfort. Holding on to me tightly, she allows herself to be led into town. I whisper to her to bow her head so her face would remain hidden, and then I lead us toward the main street, where I can see rows of shops. Thankfully, it isn’t a busy afternoon, and because the air is thick with fog, nobody questions Nari’s strangely thick outfit.

I trade her ring for money, and then I use it to purchase resources we wouldn’t be able to find in the forest. Nari is eager to consume the supplies, but I tell her to wait until after we’ve left.

“What about staying here?” She asks. “Couldn’t we do that?”

“It’s risky.”

“For a night, even?”

I open my mouth to reject her again, but then the sky starts to pour rain on our heads, and because she’s been given a valid reason by the heavens to stay indoors, I have no choice but to find a cheap inn.

“Wash up,” I say as she sheds her mask of cloth and lies down on the bed. It’s uncomfortable by looks, but she seems content. “We’re leaving after the rain stops, so get what you can from this place.”

“I just want to sleep,” she groans into the pillow. After discovering its itchy texture, she pushes it aside. “All right. I’ll go.” She retreats into the bathroom. Before shutting the door, she says, “Watch the room.”

I sigh as she closes the door. I eye the possible escape routes in the room, and then I check for weapons or things that could harm either her or me. When she is finished, she lies in bed immediately. She’s quieted down a bit, and I believe her drowsiness is to blame for her chosen topics of conversation. I lean against the foot of the bed with my knees drawn up and my feet near my boots.

“Tao?”

I wait. I know she has something else to say.

“What do you think of me?”

I doubt she’s finished, but I reply, “I don’t.”

“Oh.” She coughs. “Well, if you were to think of me, what would you think?”

“That you need protecting.”

She sighs in impatience. “I don’t need protecting. I’m capable of more than you know.”

“I’m glad that you do.”

“Are you really?”

The tone in her voice pricks suspicion in my heart. I straighten my back. “If you were overly competent, you wouldn’t need me.”

“I need you in some areas, although certainly not all. I don’t want you to think I lived like this my whole life.”

“Then tell me that you didn’t.”

“I didn’t.”

I rub my eyes. I wish she’d sleep. “You should rest.”

“I will. But take into caution what I said.” I hear her adjust the blankets around her. “I appreciate everything you’ve done until this moment.”

I turn around, but of course all I see is darkness. Her words are making me nervous. I have to tighten my awareness if I am to succeed in this mission.

But my body must be tired, because the next thing I see is the morning – not a dark bedroom, or a sliver of moonlight, but a morning so bright that I know it’s too far past sunrise.

I hurry to my feet and pull the blankets from the bed. Nari has disappeared.