The village wasn't on any map.
Just a patch of cobbled stone and creaking wood, hidden between ridges and trees. Smoke rose from chimneys. Lanterns swayed on crooked posts. Chickens wandered like they owned the road.
Lucius walked in with a cloak over his shoulders and blood on his sleeves.
He didn't speak.
Didn't need to.
The locals stared, but they didn't ask.
Not when they saw the knights behind him. Not when they saw Rowan's drawn sword. And definitely not when they saw the silver cat peeking out from inside Lucius's cloak.
They called for the healer.
An old woman with hunched shoulders and sharp eyes.
She didn't ask questions either. Just motioned them into her hut and began to clean their wounds with hands that had seen war before.
"You got lucky," she muttered, pulling bark splinters from Lucius's arm. "Forestborn don't usually wander this close to the village."
"Lucky," Lucius repeated, voice dry.
She glanced at the cat curled in his lap. "And what about that one?"
Lucius's fingers idly brushed through the soft fur. "A stray."
"You're bleeding for a stray?"
He looked up. "That a problem?"
She grunted. "Not mine."
By evening, they'd rested.
The knights slept in the stable. Rowan sat with a mug of something too strong. Lucius sat beneath the old willow on the edge of the village — just him and the cat.
The stars were out.
The cat had shifted back.
A little girl now.
She sat beside him on the grass, barefoot, silver hair falling into her eyes. Her small hands were busy crushing petals and dirt together like she was making soup.
"You're not scared anymore," Lucius said.
She looked up. Shook her head.
"Good."
Silence fell again.
Then her voice — small, unsure.
"Do I get a name?"
Lucius raised a brow. "You don't have one?"
She shook her head.
He stared at her for a moment. Then turned his gaze to the silver streak of her hair. Her wide violet eyes. The way her ears twitched even now, alert.
"…Aira," he said finally.
The girl tilted her head. "What does it mean?"
Lucius leaned back on his hands. "A name I thought I'd never use."
That was all he said.
She nodded, satisfied.
"Aira," she repeated, softly. Carefully. Like she was testing how it felt in her mouth. "My name is Aira."
She smiled.
Lucius looked up at the stars.
One thing down.
Now for the fruit