<<He almost drained you to death, my dear, knowing full well who you were. I could not let him go unpunished. It was not wildness that was his flaw, but a fractured conscience>>.

I paused my shoving, for Alexander believed me to be cross regarding the crumbling of the pyre, Milieu, and not regarding his showing up at the stables.

I began to pace in frustration, moving the stray stands of my hair out of my face. How to explain to Alexander how reckless he was becoming, and also how I had forgotten about Milieu and all the shattered pieces of the unfortunate pyre, though indeed his shattering was most unfortunate?

He caught me in my pacing and ran his hands down the backs of my arms, eliciting a wave of emotion I had not yet been made to endure within my young body. In ripples, I felt many moments of such a gesture. Of some loved one calming another, their hands sliding down arms to soothe a partner. And it made me question which of those stranger’s arms were mine and which of those soothing hands were Alexander’s.

<<I did not mean to upset you with my violence. Perhaps you should not have seen it>>.

I slapped his hands away, for he was misunderstanding me. Treating me as if I were some fragile fool who did not understand the simple ways of things. Treating me as if I were a man’s idea of a woman. And perhaps I was no pyre, and yes perhaps many of their ways were beyond me, but it was because I bore the struggles of womanhood that I could understand. Retribution was on display before me every day. I did not need to be hidden from its cold effects. If only Alexander understood that I wished to dole out some of my own. And that I could not do so if he was captured by Royce or Oeric or Isther.

I pointed my finger to the forest, for I wanted him to leave. He had to leave.

<<Come>>, he meant to me, taking my hand once again. <<Come with me, if I must go>>.

Now there was a sensible proposal. For June did indeed say I could flit about the boggy forest all night if I wished. And the moon looked delicious against the purple sky. The air around us hung fuschia and gold, and the leaves hummed from the treeline in the distance.

I could not tell which of us moved forward first, but we made our way hand-in-hand, each step in synchronicity.

<<I have something at once very new and very old to show you>>, Alexander meant. <<Would you like to see? I will warn you, it is quite dangerous. But it may be of great use to you, my dear>>.