Chap­ter 17 of Bran­thor begins with the pro­tag­o­nist in a state of grow­ing dis­tress as Teal goes miss­ing. After search­ing unsuc­cess­ful­ly at the homes of their friends Nova, Hol­ly, and Maren, Branthor’s pan­ic esca­lates. His mind races back to their ear­li­er argu­ment, where he real­izes that his self­ish­ness pushed Teal away, a mis­take that now leaves him feel­ing guilty and pow­er­less. The last clue about her where­abouts points to the moun­tains out­side Moss­dale, a dan­ger­ous area that Teal, in her agi­tat­ed state, might have cho­sen for some soli­tude. As Bran­thor sets off in search of her, his thoughts are cloud­ed with fear for Teal’s safe­ty, know­ing that time is run­ning out.

As he trav­els deep­er into the wilder­ness, Bran­thor begins to notice sub­tle signs indi­cat­ing Teal’s path—broken twigs and shoe imprints on the ground. These clues guide him fur­ther, but his anx­i­ety grows when he dis­cov­ers evi­dence of a struggle—flattened grass and larg­er foot­prints, signs that some­thing vio­lent might have occurred. The small imprint of Teal’s shoe is unmis­tak­able, sug­gest­ing that she may have encoun­tered two human males. Real­iz­ing that she might have been tak­en, Branthor’s dread ampli­fies, and he quick­ens his pace, fear­ing the worst for Teal and des­per­ate to catch up with who­ev­er has tak­en her before it’s too late.

His search reach­es a crit­i­cal point when Bran­thor hears voic­es and spots the two men—uniformed Peacemakers—who are abus­ing Teal. The sight fuels his anger and pro­tec­tive instincts, and despite being shot at by the men, Bran­thor remains unde­terred. As he con­fronts them, they claim to be Teal’s broth­ers, but Branthor’s rage only inten­si­fies. Teal, trem­bling but res­olute, calls out the truth—they’ve always been abu­sive, and their claim of fam­i­ly is noth­ing more than a facade. This rev­e­la­tion ignites a deep­er fury in Bran­thor, but it’s Teal’s dec­la­ra­tion that he is her true fam­i­ly that empow­ers him to stand his ground. With Teal’s sup­port, Bran­thor finds the strength to con­front the broth­ers and warn them to stay away from her and their com­mu­ni­ty.

After the con­fronta­tion, the broth­ers leave, humil­i­at­ed and retreat­ing into the wilder­ness. Despite Branthor’s injuries from the alter­ca­tion, the moment they share after­ward is ten­der and filled with the qui­et com­fort of know­ing they are stronger togeth­er. The phys­i­cal strug­gle they endured marks a turn­ing point in their rela­tion­ship, solid­i­fy­ing the deep emo­tion­al bond that has formed between them. As they make their way back to safe­ty, they both under­stand that the chal­lenges they’ve faced have only strength­ened their con­nec­tion. For Teal, being back in Branthor’s pres­ence pro­vides a sense of secu­ri­ty, and togeth­er, they reflect on how far they have come and the deep love they share.

This chap­ter under­scores the themes of loy­al­ty, love, and the pow­er of cho­sen fam­i­ly. Teal’s deci­sion to claim Bran­thor as her true fam­i­ly despite the abus­es she suf­fered at the hands of her bio­log­i­cal rel­a­tives demon­strates the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of trust and devo­tion. Branthor’s unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to Teal, despite his own pain and fear, reveals his deep love for her and his will­ing­ness to pro­tect her at all costs. Their bond has become a source of strength, and through their shared strug­gles, they have formed a fam­i­ly built on mutu­al respect, trust, and love. This chap­ter illus­trates the com­plex­i­ty of rela­tion­ships forged through adver­si­ty, show­ing how trau­ma and hard­ship can either destroy or deep­en the con­nec­tions we share with those we care about most.

As Bran­thor and Teal con­tin­ue their jour­ney togeth­er, the emo­tion­al weight of their expe­ri­ences binds them clos­er. The shared tri­al of over­com­ing dan­ger and the rev­e­la­tion of Teal’s past has led to a deep­er under­stand­ing of one anoth­er. The chal­lenges of the chap­ter empha­size the impor­tance of stand­ing by each oth­er in times of cri­sis, and how those moments can shape the future of their rela­tion­ship. Through these strug­gles, Teal and Bran­thor find solace in each other’s pres­ence, real­iz­ing that their bond is one that can with­stand the tri­als of the world around them. The love they share, solid­i­fied in the face of dan­ger, marks a new chap­ter in their lives, one that promis­es both hope and strength as they move for­ward togeth­er.