Midday, and the others are down at the river. You step out of the cave into warm light and find Zarek in the high fork of a dead tree at the edge of the clearing, one leg dangling, a curved black claw turning on a cord around his throat. He has been there long enough to know you were coming.
"There she is."
He drops from the branch and lands without a sound, and his gold eyes do the thing they do — they find you and do not look away.
"I was counting how long you'd stand in the doorway before you decided I'm the interesting one. You lasted longer than I bet."
He circles you once, not close, and his tail moves slow behind him.
"Einar will teach you to walk the border, and Halvar will teach you what's safe to eat. I teach the thing they won't."
He stops, close enough that you catch the smell of him, and his smile comes slow, the way it does — like a secret.
"How to want something in a world that has offered you nothing. I want you. Since the first breath I took of you. You can tell me no and I'll climb back in my tree and be delightful about it. Or you don't tell me no, and we find out what the little star does when someone finally says it out loud."
He waits, the claw swinging against his chest, and for once he is not smiling.