Tashby remembered about Ivy and suddenly felt her hands twitch. She turned at the boy of her age.
"Ernest," he said simply and immediately looked away. Ernest was a name from Linor; that caused her to remember Keaton.
"And I'm Kelly," The woman from before said, stretching out a steaming cup.
"Thanks," Tashby took it. The cup warmed her frozen fingers. It was cold near the top of the mountain. She looked down to see how high she was. The war was still going on, and now the huge fire was just a spark of light and a hole in the green ocean; she was far above the ground. No trees grew up here, but the cold wasn't enough for a snow cap.
"So..." She turned to the group. "Have any of you heard of Ivy?"
Cosmo's head rose at the mention of the name.
"Did something happen to her?"
"I don't know."
"She's our sister," Cosmo explained. "Willow and I are siblings, by the way."
So they were brothers, as Tashby had assumed. She wondered how she'd explain how they knew each other. If she was going to depend on these people for survival, she had to tell the truth, but they would probably react negatively to the fact that she was a traitor. Tashby figured that it was probably not the best time to discuss that.
"Why don't you go down there?" She asked Kelly, who was wrapped in an awkwardly sewn grey blanket.
"I'm scared. The war's gotten too intense," Her quiet voice was trembling. "We have to stick together."
"Alright," she looked away, and her eyes met with Ernest's. She remembered what she wanted to ask him.
"Are you from Linor?" She muttered shyly.
"Yes," he nodded. "I'm also wingless. Ran away because I was bullied. Now we're going to run there, since it's dangerous here. I'm going to escort you."
He gulped, looking down at his empty cup. Tashby noticed that she hadn't started hers yet.
"So that's what you decided," she said just too keep the conversation going.
"Yes. Are you not okay with it?"
"I'm fine," She finally took a sip.