The next memory did not begin with another kingdom.
It began with the crater Lenora had left behind.
"I thought destroying it would make me feel safe," Lenora told Crysha. "For a few moments, I believed everyone inside those walls deserved what happened."
The scented vapor carried them back into the past.
The crimson storm was gone. The first kingdom had disappeared, and Lenora stood at the edge of the enormous crater with two blood-colored swords fading from her hands.
As her hair returned to brown, the people she had killed stopped being nameless shapes inside the storm.
They became people again.
Lenora thought about the king who had ruled the kingdom. She had never met him. She did not know whether he had approved of what happened beneath his streets or whether he had even known about it.
She thought about the children.
They had not guarded the gates. They had not drugged her drinks or placed chains around her wrists. They had not arranged for slave traders to purchase her.
She remembered the carrot-cake seller and the frightened message he had written.
I cannot accept your money without appearing to cheat you. They are watching me.
He had thrown tomatoes because he was afraid.
Lenora had killed him anyway.
She had killed people who hated her, people who feared her, and people who had never known she existed.
"I thought about everyone who had no part in what happened to me," Lenora said. "I wanted revenge against the people who hurt me, but I punished an entire kingdom."
She left the crater behind.
The guilt followed her.
Lenora wandered again, although she no longer travelled with the same innocence.
Whenever she entered a human town, she inspected everything she ate and drank. She smelled every cup before allowing it near her lips. If someone offered her food, she waited for them to take the first bite.
Most of the time, she avoided human kingdoms entirely.
A raised voice made her reach for her weapon.
A locked door made it difficult to breathe.
Kindness frightened her more than open hostility because John had smiled before poisoning her.
One evening, Lenora discovered a group gathered around a campfire.
She remained hidden among the trees and observed them.
There was a human man sitting beside an elf. Across from them sat a cat girl, a wolf woman, and a fox man. They ate from the same cooking pot and laughed together as though their different bloodlines did not matter.
Lenora told herself to leave.
The presence of the human made her chest tighten, but her curiosity held her in place. She had never seen so many different races sharing a fire without fear or judgment.
Eventually, the elf noticed her.
"Well," he called, "a rabbit girl."
Every conversation around the fire stopped.
"It is unusual to see one travelling without a protector," the elf continued. "Don't rabbits normally move in pairs?"
Lenora stepped from behind the trees with one hand resting near her weapon.
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
The elf examined her more closely.
"You are alone."
"I came from a village where I was not required to travel in a pair," Lenora answered. "You are thinking of one of my people's subspecies. I am completely capable of protecting myself."
The elf noticed the defensive position of her hand.
The human man rose.
"Easy, Arlo. There is no reason to provoke the young maiden."
Fair lady.
The words John had used returned first.
Then the pub.
The second drink.
The floor rushing toward her.
Lenora drew her blade.
She moved before anyone understood what had triggered her.
Her weapon struck the human's guard. He managed to block the attack, but the impact launched him away from the campfire and sent him crashing through the trees.
Everyone else drew their weapons.
The cat girl raised her claws. The wolf woman moved in front of the fire while Arlo and the fox man pointed their blades toward Lenora.
They were defending themselves.
Lenora could not see that.
For one terrible moment, the campfire disappeared. She saw the basement again. The drawn weapons became chains, and the strangers' faces became those of her captors.
Her breathing accelerated.
"I won't be tied in a basement again!"
Lenora turned and fled.
No one followed her.
She continued running anyway.
Hours passed before Lenora finally stopped.
She collapsed beside a tree, struggling for breath. Her body was far from the campfire, but her mind remained trapped beneath the first kingdom.
"Why me?" she whispered.
The tears came before she could stop them.
"Why?"
She wrapped her arms around herself.
"Why? Why? Why?"
The memories returned without permission.
The cup touching her lips.
The chain around her wrists.
Voices discussing what they had done while believing she could not hear them.
Hands belonging to people whose faces she could no longer remember.
Lenora screamed and summoned her blade.
Her hair turned crimson.
She was no longer looking at the forest. Every tree became a person standing over the bed. Every shadow became another hand reaching toward her.
Red slashes tore from her sword.
They ripped through the trees, the ground, and the night sky.
"I won't let anyone do that to me again!"
Another wave of crimson blades scattered in every direction.
"I'll kill them!"
Lenora's eyes had lost focus.
"I'll destroy anyone who gets in my way!"
The crest on her lower back began to burn.
A voice travelled through it.
"Little bunny girl, stop."
Lenora spun around, searching for its owner.
There was no one there.
"No one is trying to hurt you," the voice continued. "No one is trying to do anything to you."
Lenora's crimson blade trembled.
"It spoke to you."
The vapor froze in the air.
Crysha was already on her feet. The forest around the campsite came back in pieces — the log, the fire, the melting frost — while the memory hung half-finished between them.
"Auntie—"
"The crest spoke to you." Crysha's voice was very quiet, which was worse than shouting. "You let me argue with you for an hour about whether that mark should exist, and you did not think to mention that it talks."
Lenora's ears flattened.
"I didn't know how to say it."
"Try now."
Lenora looked at her hands.
"He talks to me," she said. "Not often. Not for years at a time. But when I lose myself — when the crimson comes and I can't find the ground — sometimes there's a voice, and it tells me to stop."
She rubbed her thumb across her knuckles.
"And I stop. Every time."
Crysha lowered herself back onto the log because her legs had made the decision for her.
"How long."
"Since the crater."
"Forty years?"
"Almost."
Crysha stared into the frozen vapor.
"You have been hearing the voice of an unborn god inside your own body for forty years," she said, "and you never told a single member of your family."
"Who would I have told?" Lenora's voice sharpened. "Mother? You? The aunt who just spent an hour explaining that everything that happened to me was impossible?"
Crysha did not answer that.
She could not.
"I thought I was going mad," Lenora admitted. "For the first ten years, I was certain of it. A dead rabbit hearing a voice out of a mark she got while she was dead." She let out a breath. "It was easier to be mad than to be claimed."
The fire cracked between them.
"And when you met him," Crysha said slowly. "In Whisperfen. When he landed on you."
Lenora's ears went red.
"I recognised him before he said a word."
Crysha closed her eyes.
"Continue the memory."
"Auntie—"
"Please continue the memory," Crysha said. "I need something to look at that is not your face right now."
Lenora placed her hand above the bottle.
The vapor moved again.
The basement slowly disappeared.
The forest returned.
She saw the destruction surrounding her. Trees had been split apart. Deep scorch marks crossed the ground, spreading far beyond the place where she stood.
Then Lenora noticed smoke rising in the distance.
A town stood beyond the forest.
Part of it was burning.
"No…"
Her blade disappeared.
Lenora ran toward the smoke.
The damage became worse as she approached.
Enormous crimson scorch marks cut through buildings and roads. One of her attacks had torn through the side of a home. Another had shattered part of the village square.
There were injured people everywhere — more than she could count, more than she could look at, spread across a square she had never set foot in until now.
Some cried out for missing relatives. Others attempted to lift pieces of broken buildings. Parents held frightened children while healers moved among those who could not stand.
Lenora stopped at the edge of the destruction.
She wanted to help.
She did not know where to place her hands.
Every injury she saw had come from a blade she had released while fighting people who were no longer there.
The villagers did not know her name.
They did not know why she had attacked them.
All they knew was that something had come from the forest and destroyed their homes.
Lenora stepped backward.
Then she fled.
Again.
The vapor thinned for a moment.
Crysha did not stop the memory this time. She only said, without any edge in it at all:
"That is the second time you have walked away from something you broke."
Lenora's eyes stayed on the fire.
"I know."
"Did you ever go back? To either of them?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Lenora thought about it longer than Crysha expected her to.
"Because if I went back, I would have had to be a person who did it," she said. "And if I kept walking, I could be a person that it happened to."
The vapor closed over them again.
The following five years passed through Lenora like a fever.
The flashbacks did not follow a pattern. Sometimes a particular word triggered them. Sometimes it was the smell of alcohol or the sound of a lock turning.
Occasionally, nothing happened at all.
Lenora would be walking beneath a clear sky when the basement suddenly returned.
Every episode exhausted her. Every surge of crimson power frightened her more than the last. She began sleeping far from settlements so that no one else would be injured if she lost control.
She no longer travelled to see the world.
She travelled because remaining in one place felt dangerous.
One day, worn down by sleepless nights and memories that would not release her, Lenora reached another human kingdom.
She almost turned away.
Her body felt too heavy to continue walking, and the sun was already descending. She needed somewhere safe enough to sleep.
A guard stood at the gate.
"Hello there," he greeted her.
Lenora stopped beyond the reach of his weapon.
"It is rare to see a beastfolk traveller here," the guard continued. "What brings you to our kingdom?"
Lenora studied his face.
There was no disgust in it.
That did not mean she trusted him.
"I would like somewhere to sleep," she said. "Can you recommend an inn?"
The guard smiled.
"My stepsister Lola owns a café and inn a couple of blocks inside. Tell her Garrett sent you, and she will rent you a room."
Lenora reached into her pouch and removed a gold coin for the visitor's toll.
Garrett accepted it, counted out the proper amount, and handed her a small bag.
"Your change, miss."
Lenora looked inside.
Ninety-five silver coins.
She counted them twice.
Garrett had not undervalued the gold. He had not increased the price after seeing her ears. He had taken the five-silver toll and returned everything else.
Lenora looked at him suspiciously.
"Is this a trick?"
Garrett blinked.
"No."
"You didn't charge me more."
"Why would I?"
"Because I am beastfolk."
Garrett glanced at her ears and then back at her face.
"No trick," he assured her. "Everyone is treated fairly here."
Lenora slowly accepted the bag.
"Thank you."
Garrett stepped aside and allowed her through the gate.
"I hope to see you again, miss."
Lenora looked back.
She expected the smile to disappear now that he thought she had stopped watching.
It remained.
Garrett raised one hand and waved.
No insults followed her.
No tomatoes were thrown.
Lenora continued toward the café more confused than when she had entered.
A bell chimed when Lenora opened the door.
The café was warm and quiet. Several empty tables filled the front room, while a counter separated the dining area from the entrance leading toward the inn.
A small rabbit girl stood near one of the walls, struggling to lift a box onto a high shelf.
Lenora watched her.
The rabbit girl stretched onto the tips of her feet, but the shelf remained just beyond her reach.
"Who is this girl?" Lenora wondered aloud.
The rabbit girl startled.
Her foot slipped.
The box tilted from her hands as she fell backward.
Lenora rushed forward.
She caught the rabbit girl before she struck the floor. The box landed beside them, spilling folded cloth across the ground.
The small rabbit looked up at Lenora.
Her face turned red.
Lenora carefully placed her on her feet.
"Hello. The guard at the gate told me there was an inn here."
The girl struggled to form her answer.
"Y-yes. This is a café and an inn."
She smoothed her clothing and tried again.
"My name is Lola. Garrett is my stepbrother. I help him run the café and inn while he is on guard duty."
Lola looked Lenora over.
Her eyes stopped on Lenora's long brown hair.
"Wow."
Lenora shifted uncomfortably.
"You're very pretty," Lola said. "May I touch your hair?"
The question surprised Lenora.
Lola had asked.
She had not reached for Lenora without permission. She stood waiting, prepared to accept either answer.
Lenora slowly nodded.
"You may."
Lola gently ran her fingers through one of the long brown strands.
The simple touch carried Lenora back to Carrot Field.
She remembered the young rabbit girls sitting together and examining one another's hair. They would braid it, undo it, and braid it again while discussing which flowers or ribbons looked best.
Those memories did not hurt.
Not all of Lenora's past had been taken from her.
"Would you like to braid mine?" Lenora asked. "I could braid yours in return."
Lola gasped.
"Really?"
Her excitement filled the empty café.
Lola had rarely interacted with another rabbit, but her mother had taught her about the braiding custom. She hurried to collect combs, ribbons, and everything else she thought they might need.
They sat together at one of the tables.
Hours passed.
Lola carefully divided Lenora's long hair and asked before pulling any strand too tightly. Lenora braided Lola's hair in the styles she remembered from Carrot Field.
They examined their work, undid it, and began again.
By the time the front door opened, night had fallen.
"Lola, I'm home," Garrett called. "Did we get any customers while I was on guard duty?"
He stopped when he saw the two rabbit women sitting together at the table.
Their hair was half braided, and several ribbons were scattered between them.
"Just one," Lola answered, pointing toward Lenora.
Lenora gathered the bag of silver Garrett had returned.
"I would like to rent a room for however long this will cover."
Garrett counted the coins.
"Approximately four weeks."
"Would that be acceptable?"
"Of course."
Lenora hesitated.
"May I have a room that locks?"
Garrett did not ask why.
Neither did Lola.
Lola retrieved a key and placed it in Lenora's hand.
"Your room is upstairs."
Lenora closed her fingers around the key.
"Good night, Lola. Good night, Garrett. I'll see you in the morning."
They wished her good night, and Lenora climbed the stairs.
Once inside the room, she locked the door.
The sound made her body tense.
Then she looked down at the key resting in her own hand.
This lock was not keeping Lenora inside.
It was keeping everyone else out.
For one brief moment, she felt as though she had returned home.
The following morning, Lenora awakened and found a plate waiting outside her door.
Fresh vegetables had been arranged across it. A small note rested beside them.
It isn't much, but I'm not sure what bunnies eat. —Garrett
Lenora carried the plate into her room.
She smelled every vegetable.
She inspected the cup beside them and searched for anything that might have been added. She checked the food again even after finding nothing suspicious.
Garrett's kindness frightened her.
Still, Lenora sat on the edge of the bed and ate.
When she finished, she carried the empty plate downstairs.
Lola and Garrett were seated at one of the tables. Lola noticed Lenora first and waved enthusiastically.
Lenora approached them.
"Good morning."
Garrett stood so quickly that his knee struck the underside of the table.
The cups jumped.
He stumbled, regained his balance, and attempted to look dignified.
"Good morning, cute maiden."
Lenora went still.
For an instant, she heard the human man beside the campfire.
Before him, she heard John.
Fair lady.
Her body prepared to defend itself.
Then Garrett nearly tripped over his own chair.
There was no calculation in his expression. No weapon hidden behind his back. No paralytic waiting in his hand.
Only a clumsy guard attempting to compliment her.
A small giggle escaped Lenora.
She had almost forgotten what that sound felt like.
"Thank you, kind knight who guards the kingdom of the little bunny girl's café."
The words left her before she noticed where she had found them.
Lola covered her mouth and giggled.
Garrett's face turned red.
Lenora looked toward the door.
"I'm going to search for something to read. Do either of you know any good books?"
Garrett scratched the back of his head.
"I don't know how to read very well."
"There's a bookshop nearby," Lola offered. "I don't know what kind of book you want, but they should have plenty."
"Thank you."
Lenora waved before leaving the café.
The memory began to fade.
"Wait."
Crysha's voice stopped it.
The campsite returned around them.
"Garrett was a guard in a human kingdom?"
"Yes," Lenora answered. "A low-ranking one. Most of his payment went toward the place where he lived with his stepsister."
"The café and inn."
Lenora nodded.
Crysha looked confused.
"That memory sounds peaceful. Garrett treated you fairly. Lola welcomed you into her home."
Lenora's ears flattened.
"Why would you want to forget any of that?"
For several seconds, Lenora said nothing.
Then she looked into the scented vapor.
"Because after two weeks, things became worse."