Alene returned to visit her mother’s island woods, as she had promised, greeted by the Csialeide’s ebullient joy.

‘I saw you in one of my visions, Mother, you used to receive sacrifice from the city?’ she inquired. The memory was from early in the city's history, back from when she hadn’t visited the mainland. She had seen a procession as a very young child, when she hadn’t yet lost her downy baby hair. She had been hiding in the island’s woods behind a thick mushroom stalk, had seen people approaching the island’s gates, clothed in brine soaked garments, delivering a sacrifice. The man was wrapped in an opaque white shroud, delicate white lilies blooming in his hair, tears running down his face as he continued onward through the gate. He walked down the path to her mother’s pool, feet burning from the toxicity of the forest with each step as his skin melted, being absorbed into the woods. Bloody footsteps followed in his wake, dyeing the rim of his garment a vicious scarlet, his pained gasps the only sounds besides the constant heavy hum, taking on a sinister tone, more oppressive than usual.

Her mother hummed an affirmative, the sound echoing around them in the glade. ‘They would bring me tribute, humans they would offer as sacrifice and recompense for settling so close to my shores. ‘But Mother,’ Alene inquired, ‘why wouldn’t you save the city from the annihilation if they were devoted to you as their god?’ The snail hummed again, ‘oh daughter, they were not my devotees, but yours. After you went to the mainland you took them as your followers, they built churches and shrines worshiping you.’ Her mother sighed, a fond, exacerbated tone, ‘and eventually you chose to walk among them, wearing your human form to experience their ways.’

A slew of images entered her mind’s eye, projections from her mother’s perspective. Her increasing visits to the city, her excitement telling her mother about the things she saw, her curiosity about the beings who wore the same form as her.

Alene sighed, frustrated. It was so maddening only being able to learn things about herself second hand, though she did appreciate the insight into Una’s psyche. Her visions thus far had been primarily visual things, though she could hear a faint echo of what might have been said if she concentrated hard enough.

‘Do you think you could try oscillating my brain waves again, Mother? I want to try it while I’m asleep this time.’ The snail hummed, conveying her concern at the thought. ‘What of last time, loveling, you phased right out of existence. I couldn’t bear to lose you, not when I just got you back.’ Alene reached out, laying a comforting hand against her mother’s thick shell. ‘I’ve been thinking about what happened last time, and I talked it over a little with Sym. She thinks it may have been too high an intensity, and that we should try a longer wavelength, she said to try theta, that you’d know what that means?’ Her mother hummed, contemplative, mulling over the idea. ‘Alright, but if you start to phase out I’m going to stop, and you will have to try another method, understand?’ Her mother said, her voice firm.

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Alene was having a very nice dream, flying amongst fluffy cumulus clouds, catching warm thermals to lift herself high, soaring over a shining city, the sunset glinting off the glass steepled buildings, turning them glittering gold and silvery white, reflective against the dark ocher of a setting sun. A voice was whispering in her ear, a soft sort of thrumming whisper that she couldn’t quite make out as she cocked a bird ear. It occurred to her that it was a strange thing for something to whisper to her at this altitude. She turned her head over her shoulder to tell them as much, when she realized she was no longer in the sky at all, but in a church, much like the one where she had first met her cat, all shadowed pews and colored glass. Her bird form was larger than the one she had been in way up in the sky, but small enough to fit through the church’s elaborately carved double doors, birds amongst a magnolia tree, blossoms blooming, their petals the sole painted images on the dark wood. The detail was exquisite, she could almost smell it. A human in a long flowing robe embroidered with a falling feather pattern was presenting her with a massive bronze plate of delicacies. ‘We thank you for your blessings, great one.’ The human bowed low, prostrating themselves amongst the other worshipers gathered, prompting a wave of kneeling by their congregates.

The scene moved, shifting away from the dark wood and stained glass of the church, colors whirling to reconfigure into a white sanded beach on the shores of the city, speckled with sea rounded sea glass pebbles and bleached driftwood, Alene drawing a line in the soft sand with her wing tips, making a deep furrow, all the way down to bedrock, the heavy wind from off her back repelling a giant tidal wave from sweeping the city away to the relieved cheers of the gathered citizens watching in an anxious crowd. ‘Praise Avis!’ rang in her ears as the scene shifted again. A feast laid out before her, a being in the same style of embroidered robe from her previous vision raising a toast, ‘...by the grace of our great god, Avis we have overcome this plague, she breathed new life into those afflicted…’ The city grew as her visions progressed, becoming a more advanced metropolis, hovercraft and airships overtaking wheeled vehicles on the streets, paved paths and parks more articulated.

She came to with a gasp, sitting up right from her supine position on the mossy shore of the pond. It had worked! The theta brain waves had successfully stimulated her memory and she had recovered some of her time as Una.

Una had been adored, she realized, the people of the city had not just worshiped her, but also loved her, she could see it in their eyes, in their voices, in their devotion. What could have prompted Una to destroy the city, Alene wondered. Perhaps she should rethink her hypothesis, maybe Sym was right and the swamp had more to do with the city’s destruction than Una’s skeleton. Perhaps gods that took devotees died when their worshipers did?

‘How are you feeling loveling?’ Her mother asked, concern lacing her voice. Her antennae touched her daughter gently, running over her face, checking that she was still whole, that hadn’t phased out of this plane. ‘It worked, Mother!’ Alene said, unable to contain her elation. ‘I saw Una’s devotees,’ she paused, sharply, she hadn’t communicated her resistance to the idea that she and Una were the same being to her mother, and wasn’t sure how she would take it. Her mother paused slightly, her antenna stilling for a fraction of a moment, but made no other indication that she had heard Alene’s slip. ‘I saw their worship,’ she finished.

‘Do you think we could try again? I mostly saw the city earlier in time, none of when I walked as a human.’ Alene was careful to speak about Una in the first person, she didn’t want to hurt her mother’s feelings, wanted to respect the name her mother had chosen for her. ‘Why don’t we wait a little loveling, let your mind rest. The memories aren't going anywhere.’ Her mother said gently. Alene was reluctant to put off gaining her memories, eager to keep going while something was finally working, but agreed. She sensed it was her mother who needed a break, but there was no way of performing the procedure without her mother’s contribution, so she would just have to wait.