The forest is alive with noise and movement, little creatures scurrying around here and there as another beautiful day continues. Old trees tower high into the sky, their leaves interlocking together and forming a dense canopy that blocks the majority of the light.

  The lack of sunshine stifles the growth of any new foliage on the floor itself, making the old forest a surprisingly pleasant place to walk through. For the first few days, that fact alone lifted the spirits of the three humans enough to keep them motivated and cheerful.

  But surprisingly enough, it’s hard to keep spirits high after wandering through the deep forest for weeks.

  “Okay, okay…” Nora hisses, her face scrunched up as she grits her teeth against the pain. “I think this is all I can manage today.”

  Alastair helps her down to the ground with a sigh of relief, his left shoulder screaming in agony from the many hours of helping to support her weight as she hobbled along. He cracks his neck from side to side, massaging out a knot that’s been bothering him all day. “You lasted longer than yesterday. I’d call that a win.”

  “We didn’t fight a giant spider today.” she replies, as she tries to stretch her leg out, wincing as the pain steadily increases as she does so. But not, she notes, as much as it used to. “So it doesn’t count.”

  Emily walks up to the pair, her eyes scanning the foliage around them before her shoulders relax. She hurries over to Nora, crouching down next to her, checking on her leg and the makeshift brace that she tied against the limb. “How does it feel?” she asks, as she pokes and prods it, eliciting a sharp hiss from Nora.

  “Like some madwoman is poking at it!” she groans, as Emily pokes a particularly painful spot. “Are you trying to break it again?!”

  Emily pouts, as she pokes yet another spot. “Hey, I need to double check that we didn’t mess up setting it. We did a really bad job on my uncle’s leg, after he fell off of Winny, and he couldn’t feel a thing in it afterwards.”

  Alastair lifts an eyebrow at Emily, looking confused. “Winny? I didn’t know we used to have a horse.”

  Emily finishes poking the leg, giving it a satisfied nod. “It was way before you arrived. And he was a donkey. A very fluffy one.”

  She lifts up Nora’s leg, eliciting a pained groan from the owner. Sighting down the leg, Emily closes one eye, checking the straightness of it. “Hey, by any chance… Did you used to ride horses when you were a kid?”

  Nora takes a few deep breaths, trying not to scream at the sudden movements. Once she’s collected herself again, she shakes her head. “No, my dad hates them. Plus, horses aren’t exactly useful for hunting in the forest. Too many trees to snag against, too many roots to trip on.” She looks at Emily questioningly. "Why?"

  Emily’s eyes widen, as she double-checks the leg once again. “Oh, no.”

  Nora looks at her, a concerned look on her face. “What?”

  Emily ignores Nora, picking up her other leg as well and inspecting it. She looks between the two, from one to the next, before looking at Alastair with a concerned scrunch of her eyebrows.

  “We have to re-set it. It’s skew!”

  Nora stares at Emily, her mouth opening and closing in disbelief. “You… It’s… What?”

  Alastair glances at Emily, then looks down at Nora’s head. With a sigh, he stands up, cracking his neck and putting his hands on his hips. “Okay. How do we do this?”

  Emily looks to Nora, trying her hardest to convey her sympathies to her. “We’ll have to re-break it and set it straight again…”

  Nora glances between the two of them, her brain desperately trying to catch up to what she just heard. “What do you mean it’s skew?!”

  Alastair cracks his knuckles, looking down at Nora with pity. “It’s alright. We’ll get it right this time.”

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  Nora tries to get away, pulling her leg against Emily’s grasp. Emily holds on tight, though, causing a massive pulse of pain to run down her leg. Nora swoons, almost passing out from the pain, before forcefully dragging her consciousness back from the brink. “S-surely it’s not that bad?”

  Emily shakes her head vehemently. “No can do. If it’s skew, it’ll make it harder for you to move around. You’re a huntress, your whole thing is moving around.”

  Alastair moves closer, reaching for Nora’s legs. “I’ll do it quickly, okay? Just look away.”

  Nora gulps, her forehead beaded with sweat. Shutting her eyes tightly, she looks away. “O-okay. Just… Do it quickly.”

  “Wait!” Emily says, chuckling to herself. She gently lowers Nora’s legs once again, dusting her hands off and giving Alastair a reassuring smile. “Nevermind, her legs are just like that.”

  Nora opens her eyes, looking at Emily in disbelief. Alastair pauses mid-reach, looking between Nora and Emily, unsure of what to do. Silence returns to the deep forest as they all stare at one another, the birds in the canopy starting to cheep and chirp once again.

  Nora pulls her legs up, burying her head in them and hiding the deep blush that’s starting to creep up her neck, almost reaching her cheeks. “What do you mean, my legs are just like that?” she asks, her voice muffled. “What’s wrong with them?”

  Emily looks back at her, her head cocked to the side in confusion. “What? Nothing’s wrong with them.” She pokes her broken leg once again, eliciting another sharp hiss from Nora. “It’s just broken. But it looks like it’s healing really well.”

  Nora lifts her head and glares at Emily, as Emily ignores her and stands up once again, dusting off the dirt from her butt. She gives Nora a thumbs up, a cheerful smile on her face. “You’ll be up and running around in no time!”

  Emily ducks as Nora throws a stone at her head. “You nearly gave me a heart attack! It was bad enough breaking it the first time!”

  Emily rubs the back of her head, feeling embarrassed. “Sorry. It’s hard to remember all the things I saw my mom do.”

  Alastair places a hand reassuringly on Nora’s shoulder, Nora looking up to glare at him. “Hey, no harm done.”

  Nora wags a finger admonishingly at Alastair. “Don’t think I didn’t see how quickly you went for the break. I’ll remember that.”

  Alastair gulps, chuckling nervously to himself. He looks to Emily for assistance, finding her looking off into the forest, pretending not to notice the pair.

  “Are you guys hungry?” she asks hurriedly, sweeping the forest around them. “I’m hungry. How about I find us something to eat?”

  She holds her hand out to Nora, beckoning with it. “I’ll just take the bow and get us something to eat.”

  Nora stares at Emily’s outstretched hand, unimpressed, before looking back at her. “I told you the last time. Not happening.” She crosses her arms. “I’ve seen you use a bow before, remember.”

  Emily pouts, crossing her arms across her chest. “I was ten!”, she complains with a huff, “And it was my first time using one!”

  Nora raises an eyebrow at her. “So? You haven’t gotten any less clumsy since then, have you?”

  Alastair chuckles, shaking his head. “Less? Try more. She can barely touch a step without falling on it.” He crouches next to Nora, gesturing animatedly with his hands. “This one time, she tried to hop the pig pen like I normally do, and she fell right into the –”

  A blast of wind sails past his ear, whistling painfully as it narrowly misses hitting him. He pauses his retelling, a cold sweat dripping down his back. He turns his head slowly to look at Emily, as her hand glows dully, her other hand on her hip and an admonishing look on her face. “Go ahead, finish that sentence.”

  Alastair shakes his head. “Nevermind. Some food sounds lovely. Please and thank you.”

  “You two better not be making out when I get back.” She teases, as she turns around and looks into the forest, ignoring the embarrassed stutterings and adamant denials from her friends. She places her fingers to her lips, letting out a shrill whistle that echoes out far and wide into the forest. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  She starts walking off into the forest, a rapid “twip-twip-twip” rushing straight towards her. As Nora and Alastair watch her disappear, they spot a flash of mottled feathers catch up to her with excited chirrups and beak chatters, the ostrich already almost reaching Emily’s shoulder after only a few weeks. The pair disappear into the forest together, their forms blocked by the many trees surrounding them. For a moment, there’s nothing but silence once again, as Alastair and Nora feel the weight of their deadliest pair’s absence.

  “So…” Alastair says, as he turns to look at Nora. “Wanna make out?”

  Nora’s face turns bright red, her mouth opening and closing as she struggles to stutter out a response. She smacks Alastair in the shoulder, before turning away from the swordsman. “N-no!”

  Alastair chuckles to himself, as he gets up and starts setting up their tents. “Relax, I’m just teasing you.”

  The peace of the forest is broken, as the pained sounds of Alastair fills the air. Critters of all shapes and sizes turn to watch in amusement, as the archer pelts the swordsman with stone after stone, berating him the entire time while she does it. All the while, smaller creatures on the floor itself crawls into burrows and rushes into bushes, trying to hide against the four-foot tall, feathery monster in their midsts.