Tuya reclined against the mossy rock, the heat from the fire drying off her damp furs hanging on a low branch above the flame. Beside her, seven plump fish unlike any she'd ever seen with their vibrant colors flopped around. Three others roasted over the fire, the scent testing Tuya's patience.

She wished she could make the flames cook faster, like the cognitive-affectomancers in Batu's homeland, for that would make this an even more savory experience.

Getting warmer, she projected, unable to refrain from letting her amusement seep into the mental link.

Batu was far less amused. The great eagle crashed through the canopy, smashing through smaller branches, spraying leaf, feather, and moisture into the air. A cluster of small colorful birds flew off in disarray, unleashing funny little caws. A pair of those cute little creatures with tails, though they weren't the same orange as the one Batu ate, made angry noises before swinging through the trees away from the great eagle. Tuya sensed mass distress among the millions of little insects in the area, their tiny minds creating one enormous hive of fear.

You have nothing to fear, Tuya pulsed, pushing Celegana's essence into the region. We come in peace. Be yourself. Be free.

Unless you are these ten fish, she thought more privately, watching her three slowly roast toward edibility.

The mass panic soothed, she reclined. Instead of staring at the fish, salivating and aware of her groaning belly, Tuya focused on the blessings of the river, her sated thirst, and the sweet sweetness of victory.

Batu descended through the canopy. Without her eyes guiding him, he struggled to find the river from above the tree tops. It wasn't until Tuya was already there that he was able to track her positioning through the link and use that as his guide. But he'd overestimated the value of his flight through this canopy. He kept getting turned around, disoriented, wings catching on branches and the dense growth up high in this new land. His wonderful powers of flight and his size weren't designed for this forest where the trees had no holes in the canopy.

She could feel his frustration, and took no pride in it. Need help, brother?

No, he said, retaining his pride, even if his arrogance was lost in the trees too. They don't have trees like this back home. Stupid branches everywhere, blocking out the sky like hard clouds.

Tuya shared strength with him anyway, letting some of her body's power flow to him. The water is cool, the fire is warm, the food is ready for you.

Batu broke through another layer of branches, sending twigs down to the already littered ground. If the treetops were different from the Hollows, the bottom might be even more so. Layers of leaf, twig, and lost life scattered the forest floor. Mushrooms grew in abundance on rotting logs, thousands of tiny bugs lurking beneath them. Moss covered everything: land, rock, and log. Little light made it through the canopy, but the saplings stretched toward the light, like little girls toward love in a land where it could only be found in the dark.

Life always found a way. Tuya loved that but if she could make it easier for others, she'd love that even more.

Batu finally burst through the bottom layer of the canopy, stabilizing his descent as he crashed through tiny branches. He plummeted into a dense patch of little green not-bushes with long, skinny leaves that looked like feathers. Tuya shared her sensation of irony.

Batu continued to be unamused. Hopping on his talons, he clomped through the feather plants, refused Tuya's fish pile, and fluttered into the river. He'd catch his own fish, like applying numbroot stem ointment for his wounded pride. A general dissatisfaction permeated his mind, even as the cool water soothed his body.

Tuya projected no thoughts of triumph. As Yaha used to say, 'don't salt the wound.' Tuya could be proud of herself without it being about defeating Batu or celebrating another's struggles. She'd descended the canopy and crossed the mile or so of undergrowth with great speed. The challenge of leaping from branches, rappelling down trees hanging onto vines, of rapidly plotting her course, and dashing through the dim forest was invigorating. It brought back memories of the dark place where she became herself, but this place was far, far more. In a different life, she could be happy here. Using her eyes and mind to make this place the best of itself while it did the same for her.

But this place was in danger. Gurg and his tamers already invaded the outskirts of the Great Atmana. Each season, more and more of the bark-skinned girls of this land were brought into the Hollows. Just because Tuya didn't see any tamer consciousnesses in the past several risings and settings of the lightmaker didn't mean the tamers weren't destroying this vast forest elsewhere. Worse, Gurg would never stop hunting for her. She could try to hide among the millions of millions of life forms, her mind sense hidden like the sun behind clouds while she linked with Batu, and Gurg would still press deeper into the forest, vanquishing every Atmana until he found her.

Yaha taught her about the Atmana people. They were wild, not unlike the Celegans, but lived amongst beasts and became them. They didn't have ezens, sultanas, kings, queens, or champions. Instead, they lived in little packs, like wolves, led by an alpha. They didn't speak language, like the throaty Gidiite-Celegan or Yaha's musical Leverian, but made animal noises and gestures with their bodies. Instead of one emperor and his vassal kings, the Atmana were separated into thousands of these tiny packs. Nor were the Atmana huge people with incredible physical prowess wielding devastating metal weapons like the Gidiites had been. If it took Gurg a few years to finish off the last of the Gidiites, it wouldn't take him long to claim the Great Atmana Forest.

Yaha told her she could be free to choose who she wanted to be and how to spend her life, but Tuya would never be free until Gurgaldai ezen Celegan was dead. This place may be the best soil for growing the flower she wanted to be, but that did little good if an evil man would soon stomp on the flower and reduce the soil to the same hell that the Hollows already was. She was the only one that could stop him, the only wilder alive that could contend with the power of his taming, but she couldn't face his chimaeras on her own.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The dragons and their knights in Volqor, the cognitive-affectomancers of Leveria, the lightseers and shadows from Isihla, the windjumpers and watterrunners of Yaha's Mahogany Isles, surviving Gidiites with their massive bodies and inhuman strength, and meladonite warriors from various regions of the world. She needed their help. But the thought of seeking them out was no less terrifying than facing Gurg. She needed Yaha.

These bursts of grief hit her every day. Her eyes dimmed, the forest darker even as first light poured in through the cracks in the canopy. Her stomach felt a different kind of empty, as it ached from absence of the person who'd made her who she was. She often looked up from her hiding places in the day, expecting to see Yaha leap through the air with her big smile, and to say, 'I am here, my little empagong.' Tuya touched the spear that Yaha taught her to use, wishing for one more lesson. She gripped the pearl resting between her breasts, hoping for just one more heartfelt conversation.

But Yaha was no more. Her teacher, her advisor, her mother, was gone. 'Until next time,' they'd said, but that next time would never come now that Yaha had returned to Celegana's earth.

Tuya reached for the fish skewer, hoping to swallow the sadness.

Batu, bless him, got over himself. We will defeat him, he promised, devouring a fish of his own as he splashed in the river.

How do I make friends with people? How do I get them to help us?

Squawk at them until they listen, Batu said. Two-legs are always cawing at each other before they fight in their shiny rocks. I've seen them do it.

Batu projected a memory of his homeland. He soared over a field of thousands of beautiful flowers, gliding beneath the shade of the enormous flower tree. Men with bark and leaves on their shiny rock armors howled in Leverian, the words distorted into comical nonsense as even though they could share their thoughts, Batu didn't know any human tongue. After some cawing and squawking, the leaders of those men sent their people forward with pointed metal weapons and wood that launched pointed wood at people who wore their own shiny rock armor with a silly picture of a man wrestling a bear scratched into it.

See, Batu projected. Be like the big squawkers and you get the other two-legs to fight for you.

I don't think it is that simple.

Why? You can squawk just as loud as any of those two-legs. You have a big voice, sister. They will listen to you.

It was easy to forget that Batu wasn't human sometimes, with the easy way he made conversation through the link. But Batu, for all his intelligence and wisdom, didn't understand human society. Tuya felt even more hopeless in her quest. She tried to mask the feeling to avoid hurting Batu.

Chewing on the succulent rainbow fish helped. Even the food in this place tasted like it had lived more life than the food in the Hollows.

Knowing it was wrong, Tuya wished the world was different. Wished she could've grown up in this place. Wished she didn't have to worry about Gurg and the tamers. Wished that she didn't have to find a way to make friends in faraway lands. Why was she born in the Hollows? Why was she Gurg's Chosen? Why did mother Celegana make her so strong with the wilder powers? Why did mother Norali bless her eyes? Why couldn't Yaha be here with her to tell her what to do and how to do it? So often Tuya had been upset with Yaha insisting that things were done her way. Now that she was gone, Tuya wished she could take all those feelings back and appreciated that she had someone telling her how to do things.

She did tell you what to do, Batu projected. Do two-legs forget so soon?

Tuya closed her eyes, breathing in deep, remembering. Flying far above the Hollows, Batu dodging unending bursts of lightning from Chimaera's ram head, a dark woman full of light spoke her final words.

I trust nobody more than you to decide what is best for you. No promises, my little empagong.

Trust yourself, sister, Batu said. That is what your two-leg mother wanted you to do. You have everything you need.

Tuya sighed. Yaha believed in her, even when Tuya couldn't see far enough into the distance, couldn't find the light in this darkness. Yaha believed in her to get where she was going and to force the light to shine.

Chewing on her third fish, Tuya beamed her eyes, flashing light into this gargantuan dark place, a cave beneath a canopy. She would start here. Spend a few days figuring herself out again, then she would make a real plan. Cleaning the bones, washing her hands in the river, splashing cool water on her face, she breathed.

Be yourself, she told herself. Be free.

Even without Yaha, she could still give herself love. Give herself the same thing she tried to give everything else whether plant or person or the puniest insect. Zaya, Sarnai, Masarga, Darrakh, and Yaha had taught her this, even if they weren't with her anymore.

I'm still here, Batu projected.

And I love that, Tuya returned. I love you, Batu.

I'm aware, the bird answered, that wonderful mischievous energy flowing from him when he got sassy.

Giggling, Tuya stood tall. Her wolf furs ought to be dry by now. Even if she felt more comfortable in this humid place without them weighing her down, she'd want them and their pockets if she had to make a quick escape. Living in the Hollows taught one to expect the worse and to be prepared for it. She didn't know if this new land would help her unlearn that, or if she even wanted to stop bringing this lesson from the Hollows with her.

Tuya stretched over the fire, fingers grasping at the dried wolf furs when her mind sense alerted her that a powerful sentience was coming. A huge wolf with night-dark hair stared at her with light brown eyes. If only she'd been reaching for her spear instead of wolf carcass, she may've felt less awkward.

Tuya of the Hollows felt no less awkward, dressed only in Yaha's pearl necklace, clutching wolf furs dangling from a branch, when the wolf changed. Muscles rippled beneath the fur, its legs lengthened, paws turning to hands, claws to fingers, forelegs to arms. The horizontal spine elongated and arched until it straightened out vertically. The dark wolfen snout flattened into a handsome human face, fur giving way to bark-tinted skin and unruly hair black as night. Everything changed but those dark amber eyes. They remained the same. Fixed on her.

He radiated desire, like a tamer about to make his claim.

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