The trek through the forested hills was much harder on foot. Though Kre had always thought of himself as being in decent shape, most of that was muscle intended for farm work. Hiking up and down hills on irregular terrain and trying to keep out of sight of anyone using any of the usable trails was exceptionally taxing on the body.
“Hey Kit,” he called out for the umpteenth time that third morning, “I think that blister on my toe popped. It feels like my foot is on fire.”
“Kit?” she asked, sounding a bit puzzled. “Did you forget my name already?”
“Nah,” he said, pulling off his boot and grimacing in pain as he did so. “I just figured it’s shorter than saying Kitalia all the time. Plus, it sounds less formal.”
“And less formal is good?” By the tone of her voice, it was clear that she did not think so.
“Sometimes. Well, definitely when it’s between friends. Also, it’s… uh… good to use a nickname in case someone overhears us. That way they don’t catch your full name and can’t tell any Rangers asking about us who you are.”
She snorted. “That is as sorry an excuse as I have ever heard, but I suppose there is no harm in it. I hope that this name, at least, will be one that you can remember to use unlike when I asked you to call me Daisy.”
“You still haven’t told me about how you go by Daisy and Kitalia.”
“My memory on that differs. I told you, but likely not to your satisfaction. That, however, is not my problem to correct.”
“You know, you don’t have to be so secretive all the time. I think I’ve proven that you can trust me.”
“Is that so? Exactly how many seconds after meeting Red did you disclose my real name?”
“That was just an accident,” Kre mumbled.
“Pardon?”
“I said I was sorry,” he said, louder this time. “You’re right. You shouldn’t tell me stuff that I’ll just go and mess up first chance I get. I should be thankful that you’re at least sharing things with me when I need to know them, like with the Dalklyn. Good thing you told me all about that before I did something foolish in that situation. I wonder what ill tiding would have befallen me had we not discussed it ahead of time. Oh… wait a minute. We didn’t discuss it, did we? We don’t really discuss anything, do we?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Trying to guilt me is not something that will work well for you. How was I supposed to know that your people do not know the first rule of surviving in this world. The most cardinal rule.”
“What are you talking about? Rules?” Kre shook his head as if the very idea was completely foreign to him.
“Not rules. Rule. Just the one. It is the rule that has kept the Ylveryan alive and prosperous all this time, at least until your people showed up on our shores.”
Hoping to avoid another racial-based argument, Kre turned to focus his entire attention on Kitalia. “Please, enlighten me of this one great rule.”
“Everything will bring about your death.”