Chapter fourteen

It didn't take long for Audrey to settle into life at the top of the mountain. The beats of each day were a lot like her life back home. She began her mornings by dragging herself out from the comfort of Emandi's nest to clean herself in fire-warmed glacier water and enjoy an elaborate breakfast prepared by her host. It turned out that cooking was one of Emandi's favorite pastimes, and they were remarkably good at it for someone with paws for hands.

"Food is truly one of the greatest pleasures this life has to offer us," they explained to her once as she watched them prepare a restaurant-worthy meal of fish and foraged greens. "Trust me, I've been around long enough to know."

When Emandi was around, Audrey peppered them with questions. Unlike Welkin, who had always been cautious about what and how much they told her, Emandi was more than happy to indulge her curiosity. They especially enjoyed talking about themself, and would go on for hours about the many adventures and exploits they'd had throughout their exceptionally long life.

"Is it normal for an Emandi to live as long as you have?" she asked one afternoon as she helped tidy their living quarters. Emandi had just finished telling her about a volcanic eruption they'd witnessed several centuries ago that left her wondering. "Are you immortal?"

Emandi barked a laugh that echoed throughout the cavern. "If we were immortal I wouldn't be the last of my kind, would I? But, yes, it is normal for Emandi to live longer than most other creatures because we weren't born with the ability to procreate."

"Excuse me?" Audrey balked. "Are you saying none of you could have babies?"

"Correct. And what a shame! Our offspring would have been adorable." Emandi chuckled to themself. "Instead of bearing young, Emandi can regenerate and repair ourselves when necessary."

"With magic?"

"Not quite."

Audrey considered this new information for a moment. "So, what happened to the rest of the Emandi then?" she asked.

The great cat let out a heavy sigh. "They'd had their fill of this life. Gradually, as the centuries and millennia wore on, some grew weary, while others felt satisfied. Those who weren't lost to other means simply chose to let themselves pass on."

"But not you?"

"No," Emandi said, their magenta eyes glinting with something that looked like hunger. "I'm not even close to being finished with this one wild and precious life of mine."

The following day, Audrey experienced Emandi's talent for regeneration first hand. She lost her footing while walking along a slope of loose shale that led down to a river of ice melt. Her body hit the ground hard and skidded along the rock with alarming speed. Though she managed to avoid tumbling into the icy water, she didn't make it out of the ordeal unscathed: the skin of her right leg had been scraped raw on the sharp and jagged rocks. By the time she managed to hobble back to the cave, she had bled right through her jeans.

"This is why I don't take you hunting with me," Emandi tutted as they surveyed the damage.

"I thought you said it was because I can't keep up with you?" Audrey countered with a wince.

"That too." Emandi padded over to a water-filled pail that sat next to the low table where they prepared meals. They plucked out one of the shimmering silver fish they had caught earlier and carried its frantically flopping body back to her. Audrey leaned away, eyeing the fish warily.

"What's that for?"

"I can't have you bleeding all over the place," Emandi said instead of answering the question. "Can you tolerate a bit of pain?"

Audrey gestured at the mangled and oozing flesh of her leg. "Apparently."

"And do you trust me?"

This gave Audrey pause. She glanced at the fish. Its gills gaped fruitlessly, even as its tail continued to fight against its captor's grip. "Do I have a choice?"

Emandi tilted their head at the question. "You always have a choice, my dear."

"Okay." Audrey swallowed down her doubts and chose to put her faith in whatever this great cat was up to. After all, they hadn't steered her wrong so far. "I trust you."

"Good, because this is going to hurt, but it will be worth it."

Audrey watched with a mix of fascination and fear as Emandi bit down into the fish's soft underbelly. The creature, still alive, thrashed for a few more agonizing moments while Emandi lapped at its glistening viscera, before mercifully falling limp. Emandi set the corpse aside while their mouth worked, chewing the flesh and guts and blood of the fish into a sickening red slurry that painted their teeth and lips crimson. Then, without warning, Emandi dipped their head and dragged their tongue slowly up Audrey's shredded leg from ankle to thigh. The pain was excruciating — like rubbing sandpaper into her already ravaged skin. She screamed and tried to scramble away, but Emandi had a hold of her foot and didn't let go until they had finished their terrible business. Still, Audrey flailed, feeling an awful lot like the poor fish for all the good it did her.

And then, quite suddenly, the pain was over. Not only the pain of whatever Emandi had done to her, but the pain that had been there before too. Peering through her tears, Audrey examined her leg. She wiped at the blood and gore that streaked her skin and found... nothing. No scrapes, no cuts. Her wound was completely healed.

"I'm sorry, my sweet," Emandi said, still licking the blood from their teeth and lips. "It's awful, I know. But you can't argue with the results!"

Later that evening, as Emandi prepared the rest of the fish for their dinner, Audrey sat along the edge of the nest and examined her leg again. There was so much magic in the world, and she was just beginning to understand how very little she knew about it. She glanced surreptitiously up at Emandi, thinking about their determination to stay alive even as the Stars tried to write them out of the Plan. Something about their tenacity left her feeling brave, so she worked up the nerve to ask them the question that had haunted her since that first night on the mountain.

"Can I ask you something?"

Emandi smirked. "I believe you just did."

"Did you just Dad Joke me?"

"What can I say? I'm rather fond of the genre." Emandi looked over their shoulder at her. "But, yes, you may ask me anything."

Audrey licked her lips as she nervously fiddled with the drawstrings of her hoody. "Okay. Well, I've been thinking about the night I came here, and the conversation you and Welkin were having while I was warming up by the fire."

"The one you were eavesdropping on," Emandi said, turning back to the fish they were cleaning. Audrey couldn't help but blush.

"Yes, that one," she continued. "Anyway, you asked Welkin a question, but I didn't hear their answer."

She watched as Emandi paused, their sharp knife frozen mid-slice through the fish's glistening flesh. It took a moment before they said anything, and Audrey held her breath the whole time.

"Are you referring to when I asked if you're part of the Plan?"

"Yeah."

Slowly, Emandi put the knife down and turned around to face her. Their eyes narrowed as they looked her over. "Do you not know the answer yourself?"

Audrey shook her head. Worry was beginning to bubble up inside of her, so she directed it down to the palms of her hands and formed a tiny ball of glowing light just to give her nervous energy somewhere to go. She had been practicing, and it got a little easier every time. "Welkin doesn't tell me anything."

Emandi regarded the ball of light for a moment before flicking their gaze back up to meet hers. "Perhaps there's a reason for that."

"Except this isn't their secret to keep. This is my destiny we're talking about." The light in Audrey's hands flared outward before collapsing into a glittering wisp of nothingness. "Don't you think this is something I deserve to know?"

"Does it matter?" Emandi asked, the tip of their tail flicking to and fro at their feet. "It's not as if anyone else gets to know what their destiny is."

An overwhelming sense of vulnerability sent goosebumps racing across Audrey's skin as she forced herself to reply. "I don't want to know what my destiny is — I just want to know if I have one at all." She glanced away, embarrassed by her own need. "I'm not stupid: I know that the only reason I exist is because my mom wished for me. But if my only purpose in life was to be her dream come true, what does that mean for me now that she's gone?"

Emandi's eyes grew wide. Audrey was confused by the smile that stretched across their lips. "I believe that would mean that you're free, my dear."

Audrey scoffed. "How can you say that when you literally asked Welkin to make sure the Stars don't write you out of the Plan?"

"What the Stars are trying to do to me isn't the same as not being part of the Plan in the first place. It's a matter of denying me my own free will," Emandi said as they strode across the room. They sank to their haunches in front of Audrey and took her hands in theirs. "But if you were truly not part of the Plan to begin with, then you get to choose your own destiny. What a powerful thing!"

"It doesn't make me feel very powerful," Audrey said, unable to meet Emandi's excited gaze. "It makes me feel alone."

"That is something I understand all too well, my sweet."

"Is it hard?" Audrey asked. "Being the only one of your kind?"

Emandi squeezed her hands. "Sometimes. Like any sort of grief, the weight of it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing like the tide. But if you weren't part of the plan, you wouldn't have to worry about that."

"Why not?"

"Because you wouldn't be the only person on this planet without a destiny."

This took Audrey by complete surprise, which must have shown on her face, because Emandi took one look at her expression and laughed. "Let me guess: Welkin has told you nothing of the Wishes?"

"Unless you're talking about the one my mom made for me, then you guessed right." Audrey leaned in, curious and hopeful. "What are the Wishes?"

"Not what, but whom," Emandi said, rising back up to their full, majestic height. Excitement that felt like electricity raced beneath Audrey's skin as she gazed up at them, hanging on their every word. "And perhaps it's time you meet them for yourself.

Pack your things, dear one; we leave at first light."