In contrast to his sister, Finn remained angry. He stalked ahead of us, with his shoulders raised and his muscles wound tight. I knew that he was ashamed of losing his temper, and that he needed time to think everything through. But Eater, I hated when he got like this. Finn had the slowest fuse of anyone I knew, but once he was mad, he turned stubborn beyond belief. Nothing I could say was going to make him see reason now. I could only give him space.

The landscape slowly came alive the further south we travelled. Small patches of muted green began to appear amongst the stony waste. High above, a flock of birds flew westwards, their cries drifting down on the breeze. With each step away from Aytrium, I saw more signs of animal life. A grey and yellow lizard sunned itself on a rock and watched us pass, its tongue flicking through the air. Fat locusts buzzed between straggly clumps of grass. Emergency protein, I thought with faint amusement. Maybe my work experience would come in handy, after all.

We followed the path until the sun sank behind Aytrium. The wind had chased the storm clouds across the sky, leaving only smeared orange streaks in the deepening blue. Pale stars appeared and grew steadily brighter as evening descended.

“We should stop,” said Osan.

The path widened at the base of a sheltered bluff, dry and out of the wind. My feet had been dragging for the last hour, and the temperature had dropped sharply with the sunset. I nodded and set down my bag.

“I think it’ll be another day, maybe two until we reach the mountains.” Osan cracked his shoulders and stretched. “Depends where the path runs.”

“And how fast we walk,” I said.

He snorted. “And how fast we walk.”

Finn, still grim-faced, moved off to collect tinder. Millie sighed and started unpacking her bag. When she caught my eye, she jerked her head toward her brother meaningfully. Talk to him. I gave a small shrug.

“There’s not much to burn around here, and it’s all pretty damp.” Finn carried a small stack of gnarled sticks to the edge of the path. He grimaced when he tried to move closer, and shook his head. “I can try seeing what lies up ahead; maybe there will be more vegetation.”

Millie took the sticks from him. “No, let me see what I can do with this first.”

He gave her a strained smile. “Make a lot of smoke, I suspect.”

She scoffed and crouched down beneath the overhang. I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.

“Finn, a word?” I said.

We followed the path as it curved around the bluff. Finn had his hands buried in his pockets, and he hunched a little, like he was trying to hide his height. The remains of another stone wall—perhaps there had been a building here, long ago—stood alongside the path. He sighed and sat on top of it.