In a flash of black and gray, Brittany darted across the beach, sand flying, and drew Clarita out of the way. The ball dropped to the ground and rolled to a halt, wheezing slightly.

Wheezing? Mouse leaned in.

Instead of cotton or woven material, a patched-together bird-bat creature, large stitches between the bird and bat pieces, rolled over onto its back. It struggled to stubby feet and deflated, then flapped back over toward a makeshift net, bobbling back and forth on mismatched wings, one trailing feathers, the other dropping bits of fur.

“Wanna join us?” Brittany offered, grinning.

Clarita extricated herself. “Is that thing… alive?”

“No. Like me,” Brittany replied.

“Does it feel pain?” Clarita asked, horrified.

“No! No. Well… yes. But he likes it!”

Clarita’s eyes widened. She glanced at Mouse.

Mouse tried to smile, but could only manage gritted teeth. “Uh… what if we use a normal ball?”

“Achlys said this was normal,” Brittany said, confused.

“Achlys?”

Brittany nodded at her black-and-white-haired attendant.

Mouse took a deep breath and massaged his temples. “Normal… for undead, maybe. Uh… Spar!”

“Milady,” he whispered in Mouse’s ear.

He slapped a hand to his ear and narrowed his eyes at Spar. “Can you run back to the castle, see if there are any… normal balls there?”

“There’s some normal balls right--”

Mouse smacked him.

Spar grinned. “Be right back.”

Bright light flashed, as blinding as ever. When Mouse’s eyes finally cleared, Spar was a white smudge in the distance, galloping toward the palace.

“I still can’t get used to it. The idea of the unicorn being…” Clarita trailed off, brows furrowed. She shook her head. “Amazing how much of our world there is to discover, even when we live in such a small space within the boundaries of our Barrier.”

I never thought of it like that before, but Clarita’s right. There’s so much more outside the Barrier. What’s inside is a mere fraction of our world. Mouse put a hand to his chin, thoughtful. I wonder if there’s other communities out there. Other Alliances, with their own Barriers, or other civilizations, hidden amidst the savagery of the darklands.

He sighed aloud. There’s no point to wondering. No one who’s left the Barrier on a journey has ever returned. The blight is too vicious to survive for long.

“You know, when I was a child… I wanted to journey the world. Not just within the Barrier, but outside it as well,” Clarita said, chuckling.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You must have been an adventurous child,” Mouse said.

Clarita nodded. “I was, I was. My father never let me join the army or adventure along the border… probably because he was afraid I might try to cross. But he did encourage me to explore the countries within the Barrier. Actually, it was on my journeys through the Barrier Alliance that I met…”

Clartia’s face fell. She let the sentence dwindle to silence.

“I bet there’s a story there,” Mouse prompted gently. If I know more about her and Brittany from when Brittany was alive, I can help Clarita unwind whatever it is that keeps her from moving on. Even if she doesn't end up with Brittany, it's worth it to help her through this.

“A story. Is there ever,” Clarita murmured to herself.

Mouse waited in silence, watching her face with a small smile on his.

She took a deep breath, then turned and paced down the beach. Mouse hesitated, then followed, padding after her through damp sand. She glanced out at the sea and caught sight of him. Ever so slightly, she smiled.

“It was a beautiful day…”

--

Five years ago.

The caravan pulled tighter, wagons a firm wall against the outside world. Overhead, apple blossoms dipped on bright spring trees, swaying with the wind. Clarita gripped a scone tight, then looked at it and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing nervously. Why did I grab a scone? What a thing to do.

Across the orchard, a picnic blanket laid, abandoned. Her bodyguards stood at the gaps in the caravan, aiming with their bows. Hackles raised and warblood rising, they growled at the bandits.

“Give it up! The law will arrive soon!” her captain shouted, his short, tawny mountain lion fur as tall as it got.

“Give it up? I think you ought to. Give up your gold, that is. Before we set you, your wagons, and your precious princess on fire,” the human bandit taunted back from behind a tree.

A dozen arrows slammed into the tree’s bark. Apple blossoms rained down.

“For parching forests and time without rain! Fire!” a human female shouted. A bolt of fire splattered against the side of a carriage. Instantly, it whipped into a vicious flame. Her guards jumped back. One slapped a picnic blanket against the flame, beating it out.

“Fire burning, tiger bright! Flame!” a man shouted from the other side. This time, a wheel lit aflame. The horse reared, startled. Clarita ran to it and soothed it while the blanket-bearing guard rushed over to beat this flame out, too.

“We can put it out for you! All for the low, low price of all of your gold. Come on, beast-scum. I know you’re all Body-elemental. Not a single real mage among you. You can’t put these fires out faster than we can set them!”

“For when the rains seek out the wind, and the winds the rain. When the thunder rages and lightning flashes, and the ocean strikes its foam. Storm!”

Black clouds condensed overhead, casting the sunny orchard in instant twilight. Rain lashed down, extinguishing the fire and soaking the caravan. Clarita blinked up against the rain, searching out the culprit. Another bandit?

Lightning flashed. A woman stood atop the caravan in tight blue pants and a close-fitting red double-breasted jacket, striking a pose, one leg out, hand in the air, dark hair billowing. She grinned wide, ruby lips parting around pearly teeth. Apple blossoms lashed down around her, more beautiful than the driving rain that somehow seemed to dodge only her.

“Fair beastfolk! Know that not all humans are slime like these! I, Brittany Brightwing, bringer of justice, stand on the side of good!”

“Shoot her!” the bandit screamed.

All around the caravan, screams rang out. Clarita craned her neck. Other men and women, dressed in the same blue and red, attacked the bandits from behind. One after another, the black-clad bandits fell to the ground.

“Attack!” the captain shouted. Her bodyguards joined the fray, leaping over the caravan to rush at the bandits.

Clarita stared up at Brittany, eyes wide. After a moment, she shut her mouth and found her voice. “Th--thank you.”

Brittany hopped down and sauntered over, swinging her hips the whole way. “Well, hello there.”

An arrow swooshed at her head.

“Watch out!” Clarita shouted, horrified.

The arrow slowed as it approached, wind fighting it. She turned and caught it out of the air casually, as if it had never posed a threat to her at all. Reaching Clarita, she pushed Clarita’s hair back from her face and drew the princess into her arms.

“Fancy meeting a beauty like you here,” she murmured, gorgeous green eyes shimmering like emeralds. The hand at Clarita’s waist tugged her a little closer, and Brittany grinned. “I don’t suppose I could get a kiss as thanks?”