The man is still hunched over the water; thankfully, he didn’t hear it. I study Memi to glean some meaning of what she thinks is going on. Why he is on our side of the island. To drink from our river? He has servants that fetch things like that for him, I’m sure. He stands up, dusting off his pants. His skin’s as red as a kaeli berry when he stares at the tree line again. His mouth thins and he pulls a blade I hadn’t even noticed lying flat in the dirt beside him. It’s longer than his arm. I gulp and I swear he looks through the branches right at us.

I gasp. And Memi’s thick fingers clamp across my face. Blood pools in my ears. I summon magic to my fingertips and fire erupts in my palm. I squeeze my hand closed and the fireball shrinks. I can’t risk him seeing the light. I don’t want to fight this man. But I will…. I will defend myself, my people, if I have to. I think of Memi’s jade and gold armor that she’d left by her bed. Because why would she need to be armed picking berries with her daughter on the morning of her turning out?

The man still stares and tears sting my eyes, panic climbing like bile in my throat. Memi hasn’t moved, but terror is etched in her wrinkled expression. Her hand loosens over my mouth. He sees us. I just know it. He knows we’re here. The swollen bodies we buried just days ago flicker through my memory. I swallow hard, letting the fire in my hand swell. I’ve never fought anyone before. I haven’t even been fitted for armor. That doesn’t happen for three more years after turning out.

Memi mouths the word “stay.” I grip her wrist, my nails digging in. Wait, don’t leave me here, I want to scream, but a word right now could be a knife at both our throats. She unlooses the knot in her dress, and the bunch of berries, hours of labor, spill out like blood on the soil. I tug on my knot tighter, willing mine to stay put.

“I know you’re there,” the Gray says. He holds open his empty hand and stabs his blade in the dirt. “There. I’m friendly. See? Just needed a drink is all. Long day of walking.”

“You’ve broken the territory agreement,” Memi says, stepping out. “Why are you here?”

“A thirst is all.”

A thirst? But I don’t see a canteen.