The melody-Skills were interesting. She only had to carry a tune, even humming, to get a bit of water or a few sparks. But if she sang hard, she got more water or sparks, and she could even combine a melody with a song. So she could have [Song of Light] and [Melody of Droplets] active at once. They had made beautiful rainbows for the ghostly [Knight]…

Cara shook her head. Focus. Ser Dalius had pointed out her water was fake, but it still was nourishing.

“That’s fire and water if I can’t find a stream or if it doesn’t rain. It, uh—looks like it might.”

But that might be just how Afiele—or Noelictus—always looked. Still, that was a good two essentials taken care of. Food…well, Cara had an idea.

[One True Falsehood]. She remembered how she’d acquired scars just by lying about a fake animal attack. She hadn’t tested it out, more preoccupied with grilling Ser Dalius about his world and talking about hers. Besides, the [Knight] had been everything, including a Swiss-army knife. But what if…?

The [Actress] came to a complete stop in the forest and snapped a salute. She barked forwards, ignoring the rabbit who’d come back to stare.

“My name is 1st Lieutenant Cara Sullivan, of the Army Ranger Wing! I’ve been deployed to over three dozen missions and served for four years. Top of the class. I can survive anywhere. I’ve been dropped in the wilderness with a toothpick and half a roll of toilet paper and that was just for fun.”

Her eyes narrowed. Cara looked around, and the ash-rabbit backed up. She felt for a stone to hurl at it…

And realized she didn’t feel very competent. Cara blinked. She tried to recall some hither-to unknown survival tips. Or how to knife an opponent with a stick or something.

“No good. Shoot. Maybe it’s too big of a lie?”

Or maybe the ‘one truth’ she got was literally…one truth? Cara thought about it. She blinked down at the stone in her hand.

“…When I was a kid, I loved to throw rocks. I could nail a crow sitting on the barn’s roof at fifty paces.”

The little ash-rabbit saw the [Actress] toss the stone up and down. Perhaps—it sensed the sudden change in the way she caught the stone, the flicker in her eyes. It tensed, began to leap away—

The stone struck the rabbit in the head and Cara heard a smack of impact. She blinked. She’d hurled that rock as hard as she could, but part of her hadn’t expected the sudden confidence to pay off. She saw the rabbit tumble head-over-heels, hit the ground—

Its neck was broken. Cara stared at the rabbit’s open eyes. She gaped at the mouth, the blood running down the black fur. Her hands clapped over her mouth in horror.

“I’m so sorry.”