Mara didn't know how long they stood there. Iya hadn't moved since her last words, and Mara didn't feel like breaking the stillness either. There was something about this meeting that didn't feel like chance. And yet, it hadn't gone anywhere. Not yet.
Eventually, Mara turned away. She didn't expect Iya to follow, but she heard the sound of her boots brushing against the grass as they left the stream behind.
"Do you live nearby?" Mara asked, her voice low. "Or do you just wait in empty places like that?"
Iya didn't answer right away. When she did, her tone was flat. "I live where I need to."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I can give."
They walked without direction, letting the uneven terrain lead them wherever it would. The wind had died down again. The grass no longer whispered around their knees. The silence between them stretched, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Not yet.
Mara glanced sideways. "You said I'm walking into danger. But it's already found me. So now what? You keep following? You watch me fall apart?"
"You're not falling apart," Iya said simply.
Mara stopped walking. "How would you know?"
Iya paused a few steps ahead. "Because people who are falling apart don't start asking the right questions. They stop asking anything."
Mara didn't respond. Not right away. She looked at the ground, then up at the trees ahead. She hadn't even realized they'd left the field.
She muttered aloud, more to herself than to Iya, "Maybe I should've stopped asking a long time ago."
The words felt heavier once they left her mouth. She hadn't meant to say them, but they had slipped out anyway. Still, she didn't take them back. In fact, something about speaking them made her feel clearer.
She let out a breath. "What are you, then? A guide? A spy? Something in between?"
"I told you my name," Iya said. "That's already more than most."
"And I should be grateful?"
"No. Just aware."
Mara rolled her eyes and kept walking. She could hear Iya following again, but she didn't bother to look. The girl was strange. Not threatening, not yet, but too calm. Too certain. It made her uneasy.
The path eventually curved toward a line of pine trees. Beyond them, Mara could just make out the shape of an old shed. She hesitated at the sight of it.
"I've seen that before," she said. "A long time ago."
"Did something happen here?"
Mara didn't answer. She walked closer to the shed and ran her fingers along its wooden slats. One corner had collapsed inward, eaten through by rot. She crouched down and peered inside. Dust, tools, fragments of old crates. Nothing strange. But the feeling in her chest had changed.
"This place feels like it remembers something," she whispered.
Iya stayed behind her, silent.
Mara straightened and looked back. "Have you been here before?"
"Not this exact spot."
"But you've wandered around the village?"
"Enough to know it's not just the ground that's shifting."
Mara crossed her arms. "Meaning?"
Iya took a step closer. "The symbols you've seen. The voices. The mark. They're not random. They're tied to something buried. Not just in the ruin. In the people. In the land."
"And I just happened to stumble into it?"
"No. You were chosen to."
Mara laughed, short and humorless. "Of course I was. Chosen by who? The crows?"
Iya didn't smile. "If I knew, I'd tell you."
Mara turned away. The shed loomed behind her, quiet and still. A bird shifted in the branches above them. She suddenly felt tired.
"I don't know what you want from me," she said, quieter now. "But if you're going to stay, you better be more helpful than just spitting riddles."
Iya nodded once. "Then ask the right questions. And I'll answer what I can."
Mara exhaled slowly. The charm in her pocket remained cold. No voices. No whispers.
"Fine," she muttered. "First question."
She turned to Iya again. "How do I know I can trust you?"
The sun had nearly vanished behind the trees. Shadows stretched across the ground.
"You don't," Iya said.
They stood in the quiet again. But this time, Mara didn't feel quite so alone.