Kyra studied the contours of the land, the long skinny peninsula jutting out into the ocean, so far that she could not see where it ended, disappearing in a cloud of mist. Kyra knew that somewhere out there, beyond the mist, lay her destination. Her uncle. Her quest. She looked down and saw one of the roads forking towards it, a road less traveled—and she felt her destiny calling her.

At her heels Leo whined, as if he sensed it, too.

Kyra turned to look at Dierdre, and for a moment, she felt a pang of sadness. Their journey together had come to an end. Kyra hadn’t realized how accustomed she had grown to Dierdre’s presence; she had become a true friend, like the sister she’d never had. And as she looked out at the faces of all these other girls, hope in their eyes, freedom before them, she felt reluctant to leave them, too. But she knew her calling awaited her, and it lay in the opposite direction.

“I shall miss you, my friend,” Kyra said.

She saw anxiety etched across Dierdre’s face, too.

“Shall we not see each other again?” Dierdre asked.

Kyra was wondering the same thing, but did not know the answer.

“When I finish my training,” Kyra replied, “I vowed to my father to return and help our people.”

“I shall help our people, too,” Dierdre replied. “I shall rally men, perhaps, do whatever I can to help the cause. When two people’s paths are meant to cross, nothing can keep them apart. I believe we shall meet again. Somewhere, somehow.”

“We shall.”

Dierdre reached out and they clasped arms, looking each other in the eye. Both of them had aged, both had grown stronger, since they had met.

Kyra dismounted, to everyone’s look of surprise, and handed the reins to Dierdre.

“You have many girls here to take care of,” Kyra said, seeing the girls tripled up on the horses. “You shall need this horse more than I.”

“Then how will you reach the tower?” one of the girls asked.

Kyra turned and looked.

“It is hardly a day’s hike,” she said. “And I have Leo. I would like to walk. I have my staff and my bow, and I fear nothing.”

Kyra saw the look of respect in all of their eyes, and the look of gratitude, as two girls, tripled up on a horse, dismounted and mounted hers.

“I never met anyone like you,” Dierdre said. “I had always thought that bravery was reserved for men. But now I see it can be for us, too. You have given me a greater gift than you can ever know—and for that I can’t thank you enough.”

Kyra’s eyes welled as she looked over these brave girls who had a second chance at life.