Heading Up Stream (6)

A few days had passed since the battle.

The forest still breathed danger with every breeze, but the tension in the air had thinned. The trio moved easier now, no longer staggering with every step. Kaela's posture had returned to that same upright sharpness Warren had first noticed when they met. Vin still kept to himself mostly, but even he looked less like a soldier clinging to the edge of collapse.

The group sat around the low-burning fire, the morning mist curling around their feet.

"So," Kaela said, idly turning a stick in her hand, "we're back to talking about heading upstream?"

Vin nodded, brushing a hand over his healing arm. "A few more days' walk, then we're back."

Warren looked toward the river in the distance. The soft sound of flowing water had become strangely comforting.

"...One more day of rest couldn't hurt," he said.

Vin raised a brow. Kaela smiled.

"Agreed."

***

They wandered toward the water.

For once, they weren't dressed in torn leather or soaked in blood. Both Kaela and Vin wore light, casual clothing. The battle-worn armor they had worn days ago had vanished into flickers of soft blue light the moment they left camp.

Warren blinked. "Alright, I have to ask. Where does all that stuff go when it disappears like that?"

Kaela stepped into the shallows, her boots splashing gently against the stones. She looked back over her shoulder, lips curling in amusement.

"When you defeat a beast, there's a chance it drops something—armor, weapons, items. If you infuse it with your spirit, it binds to you. That means you can summon or dismiss it whenever you want."

"So... even your outfits are made from monster parts?"

"Not exactly. In the settlement, some people craft equipment from beast remains. Our suits came from there. Every scout gets a base set when they're assigned, and elites like me and Vin... well, we get the better stuff."

Warren scratched his head. "You wouldn't happen to have anything unbound, would you?"

"Sorry," she said with a small laugh, "everything we have is bound."

"Can't blame a guy for trying."

Kaela waded deeper, letting the sunlight reflect off her arms. Her hair clung to her shoulders, glistening with water droplets.

Warren looked down at his own clothes—still torn from the wolf attack, bloodstained and frayed at the edges.

"So when those suits get shredded like last time... they just... fix themselves?"

Vin, now limping toward the water behind them, answered without looking up. "Bound items regenerate. It takes time, but yeah. They go back to how they were once your energy stabilizes."

"Must be nice," Warren muttered, tugging at a sleeve barely holding together.

Vin neared the edge of the water.

His steps were stiff. Warren watched him closely. There was still something off about the way Vin moved. His arm was better, but the limp hadn't vanished yet.

"Do you—uh, need help?"

Vin shook his head.

"I'm fine."

But after a few sluggish steps into the water, Vin's foot slipped on a slick stone.

He fell.

Hard.

Face first.

There was a moment of stillness. Bubbles rose to the surface.

Then Vin's head broke above the water, drenched, soaked hair clinging to his face, expression caught somewhere between shock and disgust.

Warren couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of him.

Kaela snorted. Then she laughed too, warm and unrestrained.

Even Vin, after a long moment, let out a quiet chuckle under his breath.

Just a little one.

Warren couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like that.

Not in the Outskirts.

Not anywhere.

Not ever.

The water sparkled under the sun. Kaela playfully splashed some at him when he tried to sneak up behind her. Vin smirked faintly from where he floated near the rocks, arms crossed, letting the current carry him lazily.

For a little while, it didn't feel like they were trapped in a place ruled by monsters where danger lurked at every turn.

It just felt... normal.

Warren stood ankle-deep in the water, looking around at the two people who'd started to feel less like strangers and more like something else.

'I'm having so much fun.'

He blinked.

'Is this what it's like to have friends?'

He'd seen it before—other kids, laughing in groups, watching from the alleys of the Outskirts, never able to join.

But now...

Now he wasn't just watching.

They returned to camp with soaked boots and aching legs.

The fire had dimmed to embers, but no one seemed to mind. They sat around it, letting the fading sunlight warm their faces. Kaela leaned back against her pack, humming a tune too quiet to recognize. Vin closed his eyes and tilted his head back, lips barely moving.

Warren glanced between them, hands resting near the flickering light.

"So…" he said quietly, unsure if he was interrupting something sacred, "what now?"

Kaela opened one eye, the corners of her mouth tugging up.

"We sleep. We wake. We walk. We try not to die."

Vin snorted softly. "Poetic."

"You're just bitter I said it first," she shot back.

Warren chuckled, but the laugh died quickly. He looked into the fire.

"I'm serious though. When this is over—if we make it to the settlement… what then?"

Neither answered immediately.

Kaela sat up a bit, pulling her legs close.

"I don't think that far ahead anymore," she said. "You start imagining a future in a place like this and the world makes a joke out of it."

Warren studied her expression. She didn't seem sad. Just tired. Honest.

"But you've been here two years," he said. "You've lasted this long. Doesn't that mean something?"

She smiled faintly. "I guess. But lasting isn't the same as living."

Vin opened his eyes.

"People survive every day," he said. "That doesn't mean they're alive."

Warren stared into the embers.

"...I used to think if I just got out, if I left the Outskirts, things would make sense. That everything wrong with the world would… stop."

He looked up.

"But it just followed me here. The ranks. The fear. The being less."

Kaela looked at him, her voice gentle. "You're not less, Warren."

He stared at her. "You don't know that."

"I don't need to," she said full of confidence. "You carried a weapon you didn't know how to use. You stood between a dying man and a monster. You didn't run."

"Only because I knew I'd die either way."

"Still counts," Vin said, surprising both of them.

Warren looked over, caught off guard.

Vin glanced at him, then back at the woods.

"You were useless when we met," he said flatly.

Warren gave him a black look. "...Thanks."

"But less so now."

Kaela laughed.

"That's Vin's version of a compliment. Treasure it."

Vin gave her a dry look but didn't deny it.

There was a lull in conversation after that. The flames crackled softly, painting flickers of orange across their faces. Kaela reached into her bag and pulled out a thin strip of cloth, running it through her fingers absently.

Warren broke the silence again.

"Can I ask you both something?"

"Sure," Kaela said.

Vin shrugged.

"Why stay here? Not just because you can't go back. I mean… why not just survive in the woods forever? Why become a scout? Why keep pushing?"

Kaela was quiet for a long moment.

"...Because if you stop moving, this place swallows you."

Vin's jaw clenched slightly.

"I saw it happen to someone once," she continued. "A boy from my old scout group. He gave up. Wouldn't walk anymore. Just sat down by a river and… waited. Like he thought the Veil owed him something for lasting this long."

Warren felt a pit open in his stomach.

"Did he die?"

"No," Vin said, his voice sharp. "He got lucky. I didn't let him."

Kaela looked over at Vin.

There was something tender in her eyes. But also something distant.

Warren watched them quietly.

'What is she looking at…?'

Kaela caught him staring and gave a little smile, tilting her head.

"What's with that face?"

"You two," Warren said, without thinking, "you've known each other a long time, huh?"

Kaela nodded. "We met during my first few weeks here."

Vin remained silent.

"And you've been partners ever since?"

"Scouts are assigned in pairs," she explained. "But Vin's the reason I'm still alive. He trained me, covered for me, kept me from getting killed."

She looked over at him again. Her eyes lingered.

Warren noticed.

He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "...You like him."

Kaela blinked.

"What?"

"You like him," Warren repeated, softer now.

Kaela didn't respond immediately. Instead, she looked back at the fire.

"...Maybe," she said.

Vin's head turned, just slightly. But he said nothing.

"I don't really know what that means in a place like this," Kaela added, voice quieter now. "Some days I think it's something. Other days, I just want someone nearby so I don't feel like I'm vanishing."

Warren didn't know what to say to that.

He just nodded slowly.

"I get it."

Kaela glanced at him, her expression warm now. She nudged his leg gently with her foot.

"And what about you? Anyone you left behind?"

"No one who'd miss me," he answered, too quickly.

Kaela frowned.

"That's not true," she said.

"You don't know that."

She leaned toward him just slightly.

"I'm starting to."

Warren's heart skipped a beat.

He looked away, cheeks flushing.

"Y-You shouldn't tease people like that."

"I'm not teasing."

Vin shifted again, standing slowly.

"I'll take first watch."

Warren stood up with him. "I'll take second."

They met eyes.

Vin looked at him for a long moment before nodding once.

"Good."

As he walked to the treeline, Warren sat back down beside Kaela.

She leaned closer, just enough that their shoulders brushed.

"You're different than I expected," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Warren hesitated, then smiled.

"You too."

They sat like that in the quiet, letting the sounds of the forest and the warmth of the fire hold them in place.

Warren stared up at the sky.

It was a perfect shade of gold—caught between afternoon and evening. The kind of sky that made you feel like the world wasn't such a terrible place after all.

'I wish this feeling would last forever.'

The thought came quietly.

But it rooted itself deep.

Warren didn't know what would come tomorrow. More monsters. More danger. More uncertainty.

But for today?

Today was enough.