As she drags herself onto the muddy shores of the river, her fingers digging painfully into the clay as she coughs and splutters for air, Emily reflects on the three interesting things that she's learned today:

  1: That Blue can float on the surface of the water, like a duck.

  2: That Blue really enjoys floating on the surface of the water, like a duck.

  3: It's really hard to get an ostrich out of the water if he doesn't want to.

  Emily turns on her side, her face squishing up against the clay and her hair getting caked in the stuff as she catches her breath. She looks around and spots the aforementioned baby standing on the shores, gazing wistfully at the waters.

  "Come on... Blue. We can't... Go back... Into the water."

  Blue lets out a wistful sigh, turning away from the water. Emily watches as he searches the night around them, his eyes glowing eerily in the darkness. They lock eyes for a moment, and Emily lets out a relieved sigh, glad to see that he's okay.

  "Can you come here for a second?" Emily asks nervously, as she reaches a hand out. "I think I could really use a hug."

  For a moment, Blue seems to look right through Emily, cocking his head in curiosity and thought. He seems to seriously assess her and consider her request, his head cocking this way and that. Emily's heart seems to freeze, not wanting to interrupt whatever is happening right now. A slight tingle wells up deep within her stomach, a trickle of mana slowly but surely stirring within her reservoir and snaking up towards her heart.

  Blue clacks his beak once and walks calmly towards Emily, his face placid and unconcerned. Hope wells within Emily's chest, her heart beating fast, her head racing with thoughts of her little guy finally, finally cuddling up to her with his soft, angelic down feathers, just like she imagined he would so many times already.

  Blue stops next to her, and Emily reaches out with her hand, holding back her excitement until the magical moment actually happens.

  Unconcerned with what the dramatic human might want, Blue shakes off all of the water currently trapped inside the gaps of his feathers, drenching Emily from head to toe once again. She holds a hand in front of her face and squints against the assault, scrunching her face in disgust.

  Once the ostrich is suitably fluffy and dry once again, he stops, looking down at Emily with what she believes is an unimpressed look. He scratches in the clay cleaning off his feet and kicking some chunks onto Emily herself, much to her protest. She cries out in indignation, as Blue lets out a satisfied cry and starts moving away from Emily.

  "Wait! Don't leave!" Emily cries, as she scrambles to get up on her feet and chase after the ornery baby. "We've got to stick together!"

  Seeing Emily chase after him, Blue lets out an excited chatter, speeding up and dodging to the side of her grab. He looks back at her in amusement, dodging out of the way of her second grab attempt before running off into the forest, picking up speed before he disappears into the darkness.

  "Blue..." Emily cries out, as she listens to his feet put-put-putting away from her, growing ever more distant. "You can't just leave me here..."

  She crosses her arms over her chest, hugging herself in an attempt to keep the cold, lonely and helpless feelings from overwhelming her. The night creatures chirp and chatter, as the sounds of her ostrich going off to do whatever he's doing fades and disappears.

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  For the first time in her life, Emily experiences what it's like to be completely and absolutely alone. No mom in the next room, ready to comfort her with the right words or a warm hug. No Alastair to do the fighting for her. No Nora to be the stoic rock to their group, even when her leg is aching and the lack of mobility gets to her sense of independence.

  No Blue to amuse her and to be her main striking force.

  She feels tears well up within her, threatening to spill out. For a moment, she indulges in the feeling, letting the stress and fear and hopelessness of the last few weeks build up until they're nearly at the breaking point. The forest seems to grow more oppressive, the darkness closing in on her and the noises growing more and more menacing. She pictures her mom, back at home on the farm, worried sick about her and Alastair while she manages the livestock all by herself. It'd be sheep shearing season, soon. And she'd be doing all of that work all by herself.

  "We could've been helping those who really needed our help... But no. The stupid king just had to start a war. And now I'm stuck in this dumb forest, lost and all by myself."

  She sniffs and allows a single tear to fall, before letting out a sigh and rubbing away any trace of it from her face.

  "That's enough, now. Not all hope is lost. Come on, Emily. Turn that frown upside down."

  She glances towards the river, looking up towards where her and Blue floated downstream.

  "Just follow the river until I see something I recognize. Alastair and Nora should be sitting there, waiting for me, right? I'm sure they are. We can't be that far away..."

  She lets out a sigh, feeling the aches and pains of the night pervade her body. She shakes out her legs, stretching her neck and getting herself ready for a night full of walking. "No time like the present. Now, where is that murder bird?"

  She lets out a shrill whistle, and waits to hear the tell-tale footsteps of Blue. After waiting a bit with no sign of the troublemaker, she whistles again, getting impatient. Nothing stirs within the forest, not a sound out of place and not a single shadow even remotely ostrich-shaped.

  "You're the reason we're even in this mess... The least you could do is come when I whistle."

  A shiver runs down her back, a feeling of premonition so primal and so instinctive that all thoughts not relating to 'MOVE NOW' erases from her mind. She ducks to the side, narrowly avoiding the chomp of a beak as it clacks past her shoulder. Her heart in her throat, she rolls back onto her feet, willing her mana to move to her will as fast as it could possibly go and almost blacking out from the pain of the red-hot torrent crashing into cells not quite ready to handle its immense power. Her hand starts to glow weakly as she finally sees her attacker, her draw dropping open in surprise.

  "Blue? What are you doing!?"

  The little guy chitters in excitement, as it skids back around and tries to chomp her again. Emily just manages to dodge out of the way, a cold sweat dripping down her forehead as she feels the wind of its beak slamming shut. She grabs his beak, forcing it shut and keeping him from pouncing on him again.

  Blue shakes his head from side to side, almost dislodging Emily from his grasp with how strong he's become. He tamps his feet, pulling against her and trying to bring his razor-sharp talons into play.

  "Stop!" Emily cries, as she tries to hold on as tight as she can to him, trying her hardest to keep that deadly beak of his shut. "What's gotten into you?!"

  Blue twists and almost gets out of her grasp, his fluffy hide brushing against her and pushing her away. Emily feels the strain of her arms stretching as far as they can go, while her fingers slowly lose their strength, the drain of the last few weeks catching up to her.

  "Fine! If you want to wrestle, let's wrestle!"

  Emily squeezes herself closer to the ornery ostrich, wrapping her one arm over his back. Without thinking, she hops up onto his back, bracing herself for when her weight drags him down so that she remains on top. Blue's clearly becoming territorial, and she's got to teach him who's on top of the pack now, while she still has the chance.

  This plan is entirely foiled, however, when Blue fails to collapse under their combined weight. It then proceeds to completely go to shit when Blue not only manages to handle their weight without seemingly any trouble, but unable to bring his mighty beak around to peck and bite at the irritating mass on his back, he does the only thing that he can think of.

  He runs.

  Emily grasps on to his neck as tightly as she can, screwing her eyes shut as the wind starts to whistle past her ears. Blue races off as fast as he can, taking them deeper and deeper into the forest, as Emily screams in fear and terror.