They sat by a half-dead fire.

  Her back was to the tree.

  His back to the bone key still wrapped in cloth.

  Neither spoke for a while.

  Selena pulled the wrap tighter around Rell’s ribs, eyes locked on the bandage, not his face.

  “You cracked it,” she muttered. “Twice.”

  He winced, nodded.

  **[SPEAKS]**

  “…Strong pull. Weak bone.”

  She huffed.

  Almost a laugh.

  But it didn’t last.

  Silence settled again.

  ---

  **[THOUGHTS]**

  Too close.

  He shifted.

  She didn’t notice — until he flinched.

  Not from pain. From her touch.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  She paused.

  Looked up.

  He scooted an inch away.

  **[SPEAKS]**

  “…Sorry. Close too much.”

  She blinked.

  Didn’t speak for a moment.

  Then leaned back and rested her hands in her lap.

  ---

  The quiet cracked first from Rell.

  He tapped his chest.

  Then his temple.

  Then pointed to the jungle.

  **[SPEAKS]**

  “…Not from here. Different sky. Different… people.”

  She tilted her head.

  Confused. But not dismissive.

  He drew in the dirt — two stick figures. One had a flame head. The other a normal circle. He tapped the flame one.

  **[SPEAKS]**

  “…This body. Not me.”

  Selena frowned.

  Looked from the drawings to his face.

  “Where were you from?”

  **[SPEAKS]**

  “…Place with streets. Lights. Big sound. Born… die… now here.”

  She studied him.

  Longer than usual.

  Then nodded once, like accepting a riddle she couldn’t solve but had to hold anyway.

  ---

  “My turn,” she said.

  She didn’t look at him when she spoke.

  “I was sold. My father racked up debt. Our name was dirt.”

  Her eyes traced the flickering fire.

  “They gave me to a noble family. Said I’d be a servant — help the heir grow up.”

  She rubbed her wrist. Slowly.

  “When the boy came of age, he tried to force me. Said I owed it. Said my silence was already bought.”

  Her voice didn’t break. It just dropped.

  “I said no. He got violent. I snapped.”

  She looked at her hands like they still remembered.

  “I killed him. Thought I could escape. Tried to pin it on a maid.”

  She exhaled.

  “I was eight. They caught me the same day.”

  Rell didn’t speak.

  Not right away.

  **[THOUGHTS]**

  She just like me.

  Alone.

  Punished.

  Changed.

  He looked at her. Eyes calm. Words slow.

  **[SPEAKS]**

  “…The day I find who did that — I bury them deep.”

  Selena flinched. Just slightly.

  Then gave him the smallest nod.

  And didn’t move away.

  ---

  The fire burned lower.

  But neither left.

  Something different sat between them now.

  Not trust.

  Not yet.

  But something like it.