The last of the evening light lay in cherry-red bars between the buildings, casting Hawk's shadow tall and dark on the walls as he sprinted through them. The noise of the riots had faded, leaving Hawk to eerily empty side streets lined with garbage. Teige lay heavy and quiet on Hawk's back; the only sound was Hawk's shoes on the pavement, the gasp of breath in his lungs, and the soft hiss of strange noise in his head.

He risked a glance over his shoulder, over Teige's horned head, and saw the silhouette of the owl coasting well overhead--a small black cutout casting no shadow, framed by the dark plumes of smoke rising from the riots several blocks back.

"Teige?" Hawk said, looking ahead again, voice tight, "Stay awake, a'right?"

"Mm?" Teige mumbled, as if to show he was listening. His eyes were still open, but they were just glowing white slits.

"Talk t'me, Teige," Hawk encouraged. He skidded to a stop abruptly and dove into a dark alleyway--now the sun was at his back, and his shadow bolted ahead of him. "What're you gonna do? When you get to Enodia?"

His mind, rather than return anything helpful like a plan, brought him the memories of running this way before--gasping, mud-covered, through foamy puddles in a thick green wood shot through with yellow sunlight.

"Gonna meet m'mum an' sisters," Teige answered. Hawk swallowed, and when he opened his mouth to answer, a steady hiss of noise rolled softly out.

"Yeah?" he managed over it. "An'--an' then what?"

It'd been Liya he'd carried this way the last time, but rather than limp she'd had her arms wrapped firmly around Hawk's neck. His wings had been useless then, too--not because Liya was too heavy, but because his feathers were nothing but fluffy grey down and prickly pink shafts that hadn't grown in yet.

Teige responded in a quiet, wavering voice, as though he knew what Hawk was thinking. "An' then," he murmured, "we gotta look for your sister, yeah?"