Sumira hugged her knees and kept close to the campfire.

Even knowing the fire would ward off most creatures, it made it paradoxically impossible to see anything beyond its light. The moons were bright and the sky was clear, but everything beyond their tiny camp seemed like undifferentiated darkness. They were wrapped in the sounds of the grassland, though. Crickets and cicadas sung their droning songs through the night, punctuated by the calls of night birds and owls on the wing. Yet it was a sound Sumira noticed that had her raise her head. A subtle but pervasive clicking, somehow felt as much as heard. It reminded her of the tunnels they'd travelled with Alal.

"Strom, is that you?"

The grub stirred against her chest and gave a sleepy trill. "Is what?"

"That sound."

They listened together for a moment.

"Not me," Strom answered. "Big bat."

At least the grub sounded wholly unconcerned by the idea as a large shadow passed in front of the moons.

Sumira heard a large flap and a rustle in the grass. Then a fairly tall, gracile figure stepped into the light of their campfire, looking at them with glinting eyes.

Enoch finally sat up in his bedroll, staring blearily at their visitor.

The bat lowered its head in a polite bow. When it approached, it walked on the wrists of its huge, folded wings. "Don't be frightened," he said in velvet voice, low and soft. "I saw your fire and came to see if you needed help. You're a long way from the highway."

"This route is shorter by a few days," Enoch answers, exchanging a glance with Sumira. It's difficult to say wether they should be on their guard.

"We're traveling ...discretely," Sumira adds. "We have business we cannot share with an entire caravan." She hugs herself and rubs her forearms, shivering as a breeze kicks up.

The "big bat" flicks an ear and tilts his head as he takes a step towards their campfire. "You're cold," he says, and stretches out a wing toward Sumira. "Please, allow me. Vega, by the way - my name. I'm a courier... en route from Kandehar, right now. Pardon my manners, this isn't the usual way I meet beautiful ladies."

Unfolded, that wing is positively vast, and yet also fine-boned and delicate in a way that belies its size. Cupped behind her, it shields Sumira from the breeze and holds the fire's warmth.

Enoch blinks sceptically but rolls himself in his blanket once more. Strom gives a small clicking chirp of approval. "Molos tribe," the grub says. "Cliff bats. They helped build the bridges and spires in Kandehar city. Mostly couriers, some scouts and rangers, some architects.... and some flirts."