Jade Fern Grove you don’t want no beef, boy

He said he didn't want to go west and Bat merely nodded. "Seq and I actually spent some time to the north and east. It was pretty interesting, though not too different from stuff around here. I bet if we'd gone further, things would've gotten more different." She probed her cheek with her tongue thoughtfully. One day, maybe she would find out for sure. Maybe Tristan would even come along too.

"No," she replied right away, blinking curiously at him. It had taken some time to get used to his new name, though by now she only called him by his old name once, maybe twice a day. Bat was actually more surprised by the thought of him dropping the Blackthorn surname. "I know you said everybody left and that's why you changed. Does 'everybody' include your mom and dad?" she asked in a soft voice, thinking of her own late mothers.