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Rast stepped aside, but there wasn’t much space to step to. It was a pantry, its contents long gone, but the scent of cinnamon and cloves and pepper clung to the walls. Bedding was shoved beneath the lowest shelf on the right, and the other shelves held small cloudy bottles and lumps of sweaty cheese that immediately made Eavus’ stomach seize in hope.

“They live here?” Revni asked, judgment in her tone. She twisted to get in, and Eavus translated. The room was shaped like a pyramid, the floor space wider and coming to a point at the ceiling, so once they sat there was enough room for four.

“We sleep here,” Kena explained. “Rast keeps the key when I go out. This wasn’t our place, I just worked here, but I had the key. They’d cleared everything out before we thought of it, but it keeps us safe. Mostly. And there was still blankets, so we got lucky,” she said cheerily. “Hungry?”

Again, the mysterious they. Eavus wasn’t sure whether she meant the attackers or her employers, and he was almost afraid to ask. She broke off a hunk of cheese with her back molars and spit it out, handing it to Revni, who looked askance, but ate it anyway. Kena did the same for Eavus, and then for Rast and herself. Eavus’ jaw gave a twang when he tried to chew it. The girl leaped to her feet again, like her hostessing skills had been scolded. Revni gave the bottle she was offered a sniff, then her eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Aul.” She took a large drink and sighed with something like relief.

“That’s Isfolj stuff there. We’re too young to drink it. Well, I might not be, but it tastes terrible. And Rast is too young. I’m glad someone can use it. We found Aleterian vinegar, too. Do you want some?”

“Sure.” Eavus hated vinegar, actually—it tasted like long nights of marching, long days full of sweat and blood—but he was thirsty. As he took a polite sip, acid stinging his nose and eyes, the faint memory of dill and apple, Eavus was suddenly struck with a desperate missing of home.

Home. Was that what his camp was? What a terrifying thought. That home was a tent full of strangers.

“Why are you helping us?” He should have let it lie, shouldn’t have asked. His curiosity was always his curse. But also, he reasoned, he needed a solid night’s sleep. He wasn’t going to get that if he was up all night worrying about getting his throat slit.

The girl stared at him the way Revni often did, a blank expression like he’d spoken a language she didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?”

Eavus huffed. “I’m an Aleterian soldier. She’s Isfolj.”

“You shouldn’t have come here.” It was the first the little boy had spoken. “Parag killed all your friends.”

“Who’s Parag?”

“Eridi.”

That was all he was going to get out of him, it seemed. Rast crawled under the shelf and pulled a blanket over his lap, leaving his candle by Eavus’ knee.

“Parag was their leader,” Kena explained. “Eridi fighters. I don’t know what happened, but they came angry, ‘specially at Aleteria and Isfolj, but also anyone who lived here. They started by killing everyone they could, and then they dragged most of the rest away. I don’t know.” Her eyes, if it was possible, had gotten even bigger. “I didn’t think the Eridi kept slaves, but maybe they planned to ransom them. Do the Isfolj pay ransom?”

“I expect everyone pays ransom,” Eavus said, as gently as he could. What was she, eleven? Ten? Too young.

She nodded. “They didn’t like that clans had done business here. That people had traded. They said we had given in long enough, that we were weak, that Eridi were strong. But Eridi lived here, too.” Her eyes welled. “They didn’t ask what tribe anyone was from. They just started burning.”

Revni put a hand over the girl’s, and the girl gave her a weak smile. For a moment, Eavus was shocked that Revni understood Aleterian, but then he realized she hadn’t. Grief was its own language.

“Eridi started it,” the girl went on, “but then Aleteria and Isfolj started fighting, Eridi and each other and everyone else. Anyone Faenish, anyone who wasn’t them. Everyone ran. Or died.”

“Faenish?” That word again. Revni had used it, too. The realization that clicked into place was so obvious Eavus felt like the biggest fool in the world.

“From Faen,” Kena said, as Eavus nodded, cheeks flushing.

“We call your island Arnea.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea,” he admitted. He shifted his weight. The room was almost too hot with all the bodies. “So why are you helping us?” he repeated softly.

The girl swallowed, as if afraid her answer was the wrong one.

“You’re people.”

The simple statement hung in the air. Rast didn’t like it. He pulled himself tighter into the corner.

“Where is your family?”