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Shandi moved confidently through the jungle. She knew where she was going, almost exactly. The trail was different than before, thanks to the ever morphing jungle, but the girl had an excellent sense of direction.

It was a half-day's journey to the coast and Hijil's hideaway – at the very least. A bit more if you weren't as fast as Shandi – who was pretty quick even for a Shifter. More so, of course, if there was someone else along.

Leading Bhima through the jungle and stopping to eat and drink took up more time, which turned the half day into a bit longer, so the morning it had been was early sunset by the time they reached the coast, and dusk by the time Shandi had navigated Bhima among the rocks and twisted paths that led to Hijil's hidden clearing. “Well!” she whispered, pointing to the treeline and to the obviously constructed small cabin within the branches of an outlying tree. It was difficult to see if you weren't looking – the cooking pit, drying racks, and stores were all cloaked by brush and nets. But it was a place, and someone lived here.... recently, by the curling smoke from the fire pit. “Here we are!”

Hijil was asleep or, rather, nearing the end of her sleep. Nighttime was when she felt the most comfortable travelling. As her skin shifted to white, she stirred in her thin blanket, her head pillowed on her thick arm. Even mostly asleep she was nervous, her dreams unsteady, uncertain, and of ill portent. She had to find Bhima before she lost her nerve (again), so tonight she would set off for Andile, or whatever that settlement was just to the North of her home. She was ready to go, completely ready.

All she needed to do was wake up.

“Yes, yes! I'm sure it's her!” whispered Shandi, bouncing excitedly, “I've met her, you know!” she said, not for the first time, “And she was talking about you, so!” She bit her lip, “So, so... uh...” she looked around the camp. “And she was here, like, recently...” she hesitated, “Maybe I should...” Check...

Hijil swore she heard voices, and she stirred further, blinking at the dimming light. But it could not be voices, for the Alkidike families in the area did not come this far along the coast. A coming storm, perhaps? She stared up at the thatched leaf ceiling and thought about the night ahead. She feared it, and the changes it would bring, to present and memory. But she knew that she could delay no longer.

Though.

Perhaps a few more minutes in her makeshift bed...?

Hijil's name roused her from her procrastinatory slumber as if it had been a splash of ice water. Her heart raced as she took a hasty battle stance on the creaking wood of her floor.

That had been her name. Who knew her name?! She ran through all the options in a panic, and it did not take long.

She had not told Sauron, or the people in Neued, which left Yaholo, Xilarn, and... had she told that shifter man from long ago? That one that had taught her how to trap and hunt and use a knife? She couldn't remember if she had, nor could she remember his name.

But they were men, or boys in Xilarn's case, and this was a female voice. One of Yaholo's Alkidike sisters, perhaps? Would he have told? Or bothered telling? It was too old to be Aeseara or even Shandi. But maybe Aeseara had told someone? But who knew where Hijil's home was?

Only Shandi knew, though Hijil had pointed it's direction to Xilarn should he need her, not that she was certain that the boy would ever be able to make it that far into the deep jungle on his own. Did Shandi tell someone?

Hijil found it hard to believe, even for the talkative young girl. Chandraki, for all her spunky energy, could keep a secret when she had to, at least that was the impression that Hijil, with her difficulty in reading people, had gotten. After all, the girl's father knew nothing about Hijil, even when Shandi had been obsessed enough to follow Hijil to the coast and grill her about Bhima.

Bhima.

It could not be Bhima. Hijil dismissed the idea immediately. She was going to find Bhima. Bhima might not even remember if she existed. Bhima had other friends and another life. It could not be her.

Which left someone from Ast.

Fear gripped Hijil, and she felt that odd illusion of chill in the hot jungle air that came with that fear.

Had someone recognized her in Neued? Someone who knew what she had done, all those years ago in that argument with her mother? She had worried, when she had met Shandi, that someone would seek justice for her crime, and that worry returned.

Had her past come to destroy her? Finally? After the years of wishing she could just die in the unforgiving jungle? Hijil did not want that any more – not now, when she was seeking something different in her past, something good.

Shandi pouted. She had imagined a very different way that this would go. Heck, she'd planned it all out in her head on the way over! How she had wanted it to go was she'd hide Bhima somewhere, lure Hijil out of the house, and then show them to each other and watch the wonderful emotions unfold.

But noooo, the alkidike had to call out and ruin all of that. Well fine. She could tell it her way later when entertaining customers. In the meantime, she kept her mouth shut and stood away from Bhima, anxious to see how it all would unfold...


Hijil crept towards the opening of the hut on the balls of her toes, cautious and quiet as ever. Her intent was to look out and see if she could get some idea of who had called her name and whether she was in danger. The voice had come from her clearing, which she did not have a good, hidden view of anymore – a storm had, apparently, stolen her camouflage during her absense and she had not bothered to put it back up.

Carefully, she peered over the edge, trying to reveal as little as possible of her night-shifted self.

She froze.

No... she thought, It couldn't be. she'd ruled her out. Completely. Stars and moon, what is this...?

It could not be her, because she was supposed to be finding her. But it was, undeniably, her: from the shorn hair to the markings to the way she carried herself.

“Bhima...” she whispered, drawing back slightly from the edge in shock...

The big woman's breath came in quick, subtle bursts, to the point where she didn't even know if she actually breathed at all, her attention focused on the woman below.

Hijil could barely believe it. How could this be? It was this night, even, that she was to head out into the jungles of the Alkidike lands and seek Bhima out. And, now, just before she would have left, the alkidike had come to her. What were the chances? How could she have been so lucky, when the world had seen fit to give her such mixed blessings?

Hijil had been unprepared for this moment, counting on miles of jungle and at least a month of focused searching to give her the oppurtunity to know what she would feel, what she would do when she finally found her friend, her love, again. Now, though, there were so many thoughts and feelings searing through her mind all at once that they canceled each other out and left behind a stunned emptiness, soon filled with intense and pure and exquisite concern as Bhima began to cry.

That shook her from her stasis.

She came, quickly, down the ladder, and landed nimbly on the ground. ”Bhima?” the word felt foreign and reverent, unworthy in her mouth as if it was holy and forbidden and yet she was saying it. ”Are you...” she started to approach and then stopped, hand arrested in a gesture of comfort, ”Are you all right?”

Hijil had seen Bhima annoyed. She had seen her angry, ferocious, even. Happy, too, and, on those nights as they had huddled together and watched the starts, contemplative. She had seen Bhima as many things, but never in tears.

”Ah!” she exclaimed, startled by the sudden closeness of their bodies. It only took her a moment, though, for her muscles to remember what to do to return the hug.

She held Bhima, pressing her to her bosom, gently encircling the woman with her arms. She wanted to hug tightly and firmly (and never let go), but Hijil had, over the years, become cautious about her own strength – she had so much of it, enough to be able to kill another person with her bare hands.

It was her weapon, and she trained herself to be careful - so much so that, even with the tide of emotions that surged, then pulsed, through her, she was able to not hug her dearest, best, and – for so long – only friend with all of that strength.

But she wanted to.

Hijil hadn't been this close to someone – Bhima or anyone – in a very long time. The last time she had hugged someone, it had been Bhima then, as well, on that fateful night just before...

Just before everything had fallen apart...

Bhima's tears chilled Hijil's cheek, and Hijil – who rarely, even when alone and friendless in the unforgiving jungle, had cried – and hadn't shown much in the way of emotion for several years – felt tears begin to sting in her own eyes. ”Oh Bhima......” she said, her voice breaking with tears...

She had. Of course she had. The thought stung Hijil deeply. What else would she have thought? That Hijil had abandoned her? Hijil didn't know which assumption hurt more.

I've done a terrible thing... she thought, feeling her face wetten with sorrow and joy: sorrow for having put Bhima through this for all these years and joy at finally, finally, being this close again

”I'm sorry Bhima...” she murmured, feeling a sob, itself painful and unfamiliar, rumble through her, ”I'm sorry I let you think that...” she closed her eyes. ”I'm so sorry...”

Hijil touched the hand on her cheek gently, a strange and foolish smile growing on her face like a late-blooming flower. ”And I'm glad you found me...” she said, ”I missed you.”

A very Hijil-like understatement. No night or restless day could go by without at least one thought of Bhima piercing like sunlight through the web of survival that had become Hijil's daily routine. How could she not have thought about the girl – now woman – who had been her only friend for so long? Sometimes, the thoughts had been happy, other times painful, but they had always been there.

She smiled. ”I'm... I'm glad you liked them...” she said, awkardly running her fingers under her necklace to bring it into view. It was much the same gesture.

I'm still wearing it, from long ago. I took it off only to keep it safe in my pocket, and then I put it on again. I still remember you, I still love you.

Reflexively, her fingers manipulated the necklace until they found the one stone with the slight flaw and rubbed it – the worry stone. The words could have been said, but the completely natural awkward openness of Hijil's smile, and the reverent way she treated the beads – the string obviously carefully repaired over the years – said it far more eloquently than she ever could.

Squealing? Shandi had gone past that point and was now at the gleeful nail-biting stage. It wasn't exactly what she had imagined, but it was still going perfectly and she found herself wondering when they would get to the good part... the kissing. Surely they would kiss.

Aaaaah, this was the best day ever!

~~~~

Hijil smiled, her chest feeling as though it would, alternatively, collapse or burst from the feelings welling up inside it. Words were hard to say, choked as tears lingered in the corners of her eyes as she took in just the sight of Bhima. There. Present. In front of her.

She wanted to say the words, those words that they had said together long ago, the words she had whispered over Bhima's unconscious form during the tournament, the words that had driven her to seek her out.

But before – just before – she could say them again, the candies – regrettably – distracted her. ”Caramels...?” she said, surprised, her voice warbley from the emotions trapped within. Tentatively, she reached out for one, ”For me?” she hadn't thought that Bhima knew of her weakness for sweets. She took one and, almost shyly, ate it.

It was delicious, melting in her mouth in a wave of sweetness.

”Thank you.” she said, about to reach for another when she realized that the sweetness was familiar. Very familiar. A pale shape lurking beyond Bhima, at the edge of the clearing, caught her eye.

Though the girl was taller now, she was easily recognizable. Hijil's eyes widened and she looked from her to Bhima and back.

”You... I...” she said, confused, her face an odd expression of surprise, concern, amusement, and nervousness, turning again to Shandi, ”What are you doing here?”

And then, she realized. ”You led her...” she turned back to Bhima, ”She showed you here...”