What did Niralessa think of me, though? I still wasn't quite sure. The woman guarded her emotions so closely it was hard to tell. It shouldn't matter, since she was gone again, but it couldn't have been anything good. After all, she hadn't even bothered saying goodbye.

She cares about you, Nirrin. At first, I thought leaving without seeing you first was a cold thing to do, but then I caught it. Her sadness. It reminded her too much of the first time she left you here. Tessia looked down and plucked a piece of loose bark from the fallen tree. Like leaving behind a piece of herself. Corin took another piece when he died. I think maybe she's afraid of losing any more of herself.

She crumbled a bit off the old bark in her hands. Anyway, don't judge her too much. I may not like her methods, but she really does care. A lot. She looked up at me. And she's proud of you.

My head snapped back. "Proud of me? But . . . but she thinks I'm—" Naïve. Opinionated. Meddlesome. So many things came to mind.

A force of nature.

"What?" My eyebrows scrunched together.

I heard her think that once. That you were a force of nature. That was when she started respecting you.

"But why hasn't she told me any of this?" I threw my hands in the air. "I'd have a lot less resentment, you know?"

I know. Tessia fiddled with the chunk of bark. She's . . . complicated. Prideful. She stopped fiddling, as if realizing something. I think in her world, the strong persecute the weak, and she's determined not to be weak. Maybe she thinks admitting feelings is weak?

"That makes sense. I think." My mouth twisted. "It's still stupid, though." A grumbling noise from my stomach made us both smile. "Have you eaten yet? Want to join me?"

She hesitated. No, I'm going to stay around here for now. She continued shredding pieces of the bark in her hands.

I studied her. "Is something the matter?"

She shook her head, but didn't look at me.

I was tempted to pry, as was my custom, but I'd recently learned that people would talk when they were ready. And if she wasn't ready later today, then I would strongly hint that maybe she should be.

A snort escaped Tessia's throat, and when she finally looked at me, I was gratified to see that the haunted look in her eyes had fled.

Later today, she promised.

"Good." I gave her arm a quick squeeze, then headed for the commons.

I tilted my face up to the sun as I walked, enjoying the warmth that filtered through the forest canopy.

Why had I ever wanted to leave Foresthome? Adventure, I learned, was quite overrated. Especially with sporadic access to water deep enough to bathe in. Yesterday's bath had felt heavenly.

People waved at me when I walked past, and I waved back, surprised to find they seemed genuinely pleased that I'd returned. Even Jeribo gave me a grudging smile of sorts. Had these people actually missed me?

A squeal pulled me out of my musings. Two children darted across my path, followed by a playful growl from Resh, who was barreling down the path toward me at full speed.

His eyes lit up when he saw me. "Nirrin! Want to play? I'm a vicious swamp beast, and I like to eat people!" He gave another growl to demonstrate.

"Resh, where'd you go?" Kam's plaintive whine came from somewhere among the trees.

"You can't be a beast hunter if you can't find anything!" he yelled back.

A small girl popped out from some bushes, saw Resh, and grinned. "Can I be a swamp beast too?"

The odd-legged boy smiled triumphantly. "My first recruit!" He made claws of his hands and said to the girl, "Do this. Grawww!"

She imitated him.

"Perfect. Bye, Nirrin!" he tossed over his shoulder as he pranced away, new swamp beast in tow.

A warm feeling settled over me as Fen's words from earlier sank in. You've made a huge difference in all our lives. Then Tessia had told me how the Forestfolk became more accepting of the strange-looking outcasts once they saw how I treated them.

I thought about this as I watched more kids join the chasing. I was making a bigger ripple than I realized. Not just in Tessia's and Fen's lives, but with everyone around me. With all these children I taught every day. Maybe one day my new friends would even stop referring to themselves as Aberrations.

Pride lifted my spirit like an eagle on a warm draft. Even if my influence on the outside world was minimal, I was still making a big difference here. At home.

Where I belonged.

It's cliche to say this, but there really is no place like home, where you feel accepted and loved. And if you don't feel this way about your own home, then please accept this virtual hug. You are accepted for who you are here. Thank you for staying with this story to its end, and if you voted or commented, thank you for that too!

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