The soul is accustomed to being one half of a whole. Without an earthly body to cling to, it will seek out something else to fill that void. Some find peace in the wind, others lose themselves in the rush of the river, and still others find solace in the darkest of companions—storms.

—from the personal journal of spirit witch Avira Croixell

2

Kiran was used to being the first one up in the morning. It was part of his routine. He liked having that slightly different perspective on the world from everyone else. He learned a lot about people by seeing them first thing. And lately, with Roar sleeping in his tent, he had particularly enjoyed those soft moments of early-morning quiet, when everything was dark and calm, and he could watch the flicker of the skyfire storm upon her chest rage with silent beauty.

But this morning, she was not in the tent when he woke up. He felt a pang of longing that scared him more than any dark sky ever had. She was coming to mean so much to him, eclipsing anything and everything that had come before her. He had no feeling to compare this to, other than the simultaneous thrill he felt while hunting storms, and the unforgiving pain that sometimes came along with his choice of profession.

He dressed quickly and climbed out of the tent, finding Roar tending to a small fire near the Rock in the wooded area they had chosen as their camp. They had left a decent distance between themselves and the city, so their fire would not attract wanderers, and they had waded into the forest some to avoid the constant trickle of remnants that were still arriving via the road. Their horses were tied up nearby, grazing lazily in the early-morning light.

He sat down near Roar and asked, “How long have you been up?”

She shrugged. “Not long.”

From the way she had tossed and turned last night, and the smudges beneath her eyes, he feared she had slept hardly at all.

“Any better today?” he asked. They’d had a long conversation the night before about her experience in the remnant camp.

She took a drink of water, and then shrugged again. “Maybe. Maybe not. I suppose we will see when I go back to the camp today.”