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“Oh…not this bottle.” She reached forward and uncorked the bottle. “I’ll take another one before I leave. You always bring back the best stuff from Wast.”

“Not this time.”

“Did you get anything?” She poured generous servings into both glasses before shoving the cork back into the bottle. “Gossip? Food?”

“Just a headache.”

Sley sighed and picked up a glass to hand to me.

I shook my head and glanced at the workbench. “Not yet. I want to get some arrows made before I crash.”

“And I want to drink while I watch you turn Gavin’s wood, Graham’s arrowheads and my twine into your fancy famous arrows.”

I turned toward the work awaiting me. “Just promise me this will be the only time we ever talk about Gavin’s wood.”

Sley giggled and sipped her wine.

Though we had currency in the form of gales, most commerce in Perga ran on trade. I paid Gavin three rabbits for a pile of wood lathed into arrow shafts and Graham a whole deer for a bucket of his finest arrowheads.

I reached for the mortar and added a concoction of flour, water and pale pink blossoms from a late-blooming flower found on the outskirts of the Danu Forest. I let my magic flow over me and the ingredients while I used the pestle to mix the materials into a sticky paste. I still didn’t know everything about my own powers—I didn’t know if adding my magic made a difference at all. My aim was perfect with or without my special arrows. But it felt right.

The paste shimmered, echoing my magic’s touch as I continued to smash and mix the paste to create a potent glue that I would use to bind wood and metal. Raindrops pattered along the roof while I worked and Sley drank.

I loved evenings like this.

Sley had moved to stand beside me, her glass in hand, her gaze sparkling with amusement. "You’ve made enough to supply an army.”

"I find it calming to make them,” I said. “Besides, I never know when I’m going to need more or when I’ll have another chance to make them. Better to be over prepared than face an empty quiver.”

Sley hummed in agreement before plucking one of my finished arrows from a basket beside the bench. She ran the tip of her finger along the edge of the fletching. "I wish we knew where these feathers came from. No one’s ever brought a bird back that matches them, but it must be spectacular.”

At first glance, the feathers appeared ordinary and white, like those found on winter geese or swans, but on closer inspection, these feathers weren’t just different, they were extraordinary. They glowed and sparkled under the moonlight and gave off whisps of magic that felt both familiar and foreign. Under sunlight, they shimmered with metallic colours of the rainbow.

"Me, too,” I said. “Since I find them in the Danu Forest, I like to think they’re a gift from one of the familiars I protect.” Like the wolf who protected me earlier tonight. “Does that sound weird?”

She shook her head. “You could never be anything other than awesome.”

“I’m sure some of the others in town would disagree with that statement.” I shrugged as if it didn’t bother me and for the most part, it didn’t. I had a job to do, and I did it well. I nodded at the twine Sley had brought. “The twine looks really nice. Thank you.”

Sley’s smile spread across her whole face. “It’s the strongest I’ve made to date and since I made it specifically with you in mind, I like to think the forest spirits knew and helped me.”

I swallowed and reached out to touch the twine. A faint ebb of magic slipped off the surface.

“So, no,” Sley continued. “I don’t think you’re weird. Like I said, I think you’re pretty phaaning awesome.”

I had the best of best friends. “I’m still not slobbering on you.”

Sley shrugged. “Nala will do it.”

She would, too. Instead of commenting, I reached for the first piece of Gavin’s wood and cut a small notch in the shaft, about a quarter of the total length.

“For someone who doesn’t like to talk about it, you’re certainly good at handling Gavin’s wood,” Sley noted.

I continued to cut. “Gross.”

“Still not interested?” She peered at me over the rim of her glass.

“Not in this lifetime. He might be big and beefy now, but I can’t forget how he treated me when we were younger. He was such an asshole.”