“Oh my dear!” , she woke up with a start and nearly bumped her head against a stalactite.

Wait a bloody moment… Stalactite? Since when were US hospitals equipped with those? What the… Her thoughts were cut short by the ultrasound squeal of a dozen bats that flew out of the depths of the cave, doubtless frightened by her rather loud awakening. Her ears rang, even though the noise made by the small flying mammals was at the very edge of her hearing range. This was definitely not a hospital. She felt her forehead wrinkle in thought and slowly she began to remember the strange dream she had just had.

The shining lights of a sports car and the sound of its horn, accompanied by the squeal of belatedly employed breaks. A loud crash. Complete darkness. Torn up images, as if taken by an old camera - nurses, strong smell of ammonia, needles, scalpels.

Silence.

Then the tunnel, her mysterious fall and the even more mysterious voices in the white light. “You’re definitely losing it, Linda Pearce”, she chided herself. “And now apparently, you also sleepwalk… Awesome!” She got up with a bit of effort and blinked a few times, to fight off the slight vertigo which took hold of her. Somewhere straight ahead she could feel a gentle breeze. At least she hadn’t managed to wander off too far away from the cave’s entrance.

She had barely managed a few steps in the direction of the supposed exit, when somewhere behind her a strong gust of almost hurricane level wind suddenly flared. She turned on her heels with wide eyes just in time to see the figure of a young woman fall down. She was wearing a simple work overall, a bit worn, but tight black tank top and something grayish, which might have been a cape, draped around her neck. Or at least it seemed like she was falling… Her face was completely serene, her lips were even curled into a semblance of a small smile. One of her legs was bent at the knee as though she were preparing to land, instead of smash against the floor, as was expected. And indeed, the moment her left foot touched the floor of the cave, Linda felt another rush of the strange, too strong wind and after blinking a few times to chase away the dust from her eyes, she saw that the woman had really landed better than a bird and was at this moment looking at her with a peculiar mix of bewilderment and mockery.

“Whatcha lookin at little one? Did ah scare ye?”

The strange woman’s voice was deep and strong. Linda had never heard a woman speak like that. Her accent was quite peculiar as well - it reminded her a bit of a Scottish boy she once knew, years ago. The woman’s dark hair was tied on a tight knot at the top of her head and her green eyes were so bright, it looked as if they almost glowed. Linda gave her another good once over and noticed a metallic gleam in the darkness. Something of a crossbreed between a short knife and a gun was hanging from her belt. A weapon? Oh, sh… “Say something, Linda, say something nonchalant, innocent, not provoking violence, if you can…” The strange had tilted her head slightly to the side, taking Linda in with her gaze in turn and made a few steps toward her. The girl made a startled step backward, but stumbled onto a rock of some kind and fell in the least graceful way possible. Still in shock after her fall, she heard a deep, powerful laugh. Bewildered, Linda raised her head, to make sure she wasn’t wrong. Indeed, the stranger had thrown her head back and was laughing out loud at her clumsiness. Well, at least that meant she wasn’t going to attack. Yet. The girl held her breath, not even daring to stand up and just waited for the woman’s shoulders to stop shaking. Still with a wide, amused grin on her face, the unknown woman spoke again:

“Easy there, little one! Ya look scared like a wee lad before his first time. Act with dignity - stand up, let us meet!”. The woman clenched her right hand in a fist and used it to hit her left shoulder, bowing her head slightly. “Tempayah Wint, one of da last remaining windstorms. May honor and glory shine upon our acquaintance!”

With that, she bowed down slightly and pulled Linda by her hand with such terrifying force, that the girl swung a bit on her feet, before finding her balance and finally standing upright of her own will. This woman was most likely insane and extremely dangerous. She needed to find a way to quickly slip her presence and find someone who might be able to help. But for the moment at least, she had to play to the strange woman’s tune.

“Linda Pearce… uuh… may honour and glory shine on us, indeed… uuum… Tempayah.”

“No need for formalities, girl”, the woman barked out a loud laugh and patted her a bit too strong on her shoulder, “ye can just call me Wint.”

“Wait, so Wind is your first name?”

“WinT, with a tara, not a deta”, the stranger stressed. “Aye, this be the name given to me by me ma.”

“And don’t you have a… pa?”

“Sure I do! Every child needs a ma to give ‘em birth and a pa to raise ‘em with love and kindness.”

Linda squinted a bit and thanked the cave’s darkness for not revealing her grimace to the stranger. How weird was this woman? She spoke like a medieval knight about honour and glory. Perhaps she considered herself some kind of warrior? And what in the bloody hell was a “tara” and a “deta”? This woman’s whole demeanor was so peculiar - the large gestures, the terrifying physical strength she apparently possessed and was not afraid to use… Her deep voice and her tone, which radiated pride and confidence. A small part of Linda felt slightly envious of all this and quietly wondered if it truly would be so bad to be as crazy as Tempayah Wint, one of the last wind torrents, or whatever it was she said.

“Oh well, what say ye we get ourselves outta this hole, little one?”, said Wint, while pinching her shoulder and turning her to the cave exit with no visible amount of effort at all. “ We can’t very well be sittin’ here all day talkin’ no-sense like men.”

Linda let the woman lead her to the exit without protest. Not that she could do anything to stop the stranger, mind you, especially considering the fact that her fingers were surely by now bruising her shoulder. That being said, Linda did stop suddenly when they reached the opening and her eyes adjusted to the light again. Wint stopped alongside her. The cave ended in a slightly protruding stone terrace, beneath which was nothing but a completely smooth mountain wall. There was no path visible neither to the left, nor the right, which could have potentially gotten them to the place they had found themselves in. How in the bloody hell did she manage to get all the way up here?

And incidentally, where exactly was this “here”? Linda had never seen a more spectacular sight than the valley which spread itself under their cave - the vibrant plant life was mostly greenish, but there were a few indigo spots, created by a group of rather tall trees she was sure she had never seen before. Or was that just because she was seeing them from too far away? Her throught process was interrupted by Wint’s powerful voice, as she slapped her shoulder almost hard enough to bring her to the ground:

“Com’ on, little one, jump or we’ll be stuck ‘ere till tomorrow.”

Linda instinctively turned her gaze to where she thought West might be and saw the sun, which was indeed beginning its decent behind the mountain peaks. Even it looked different to her - it was too large and too white to be the star she remembered. Where the hell was she? Wint was saying something to her, but she found she couldn’t concentrate on her words. A suffocating sense of panic had taken over her - from the height, from the fear of not knowing where she was, from all the weird memories which suddenly floated to her consciousness. The burning bright light, the mysterious quire of echoing voices and the feeling of falling down. Wait a second… She was feeling like she was falling down now too. What the...

“WINT!!!”, she heard herself scream, although the wind carried her voice up and away and she wasn’t entirely sure the woman had heard her.

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Still, Wint turned to her and gave her a wink. One of her hands was holding Linda around her waist as they were both falling to the rapidly approaching ground beneath them, with nothing more than the whistling air around to keep them company. Linda’s panicking brain however felt nothing of the calm look on Wint’s face and the only thing it could offer her, was the memory of some article she had read once which said that you die from a heart attack out of fear, long before you reach the ground when falling from great heights.

She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the inevitable collision with the hard, unyielding earth, and waited for the end.

Which never came.

Instead, a powerful gust of wind rose up from under her feet. It held herself and Wint for a moment above the grass. Almost playfully, it spun them around, swung them back and forth a little and with a final woosh, their feet touched the ground.

“What in the bloody hell?!”, Linda cried, as she tore herself from the woman by her side and took a few quick steps to put some safe distance between them. “We were going to crash, right? Gravitation - us. We have mass, gravitation pulls us - boom! Why was our “boom” a “woosh”?”

For a moment, Wint just kept looking at her, a harsh and admonishing look on her face. Was it just Linda’s imagination, or was the other woman actually disappointed? Before she had the time to analyse further, however, Tempayah’s powerful voice boomed against her:

“Where did ya fall from exactly, girly?”

“Right now - from the top of some huge-ass mountain!”, Linda barked in her direction, a bit surprised at her own bravery. Most likely, she was still in shock. “A better question would be - where did you fall from? And what the hell just happened?”

“I be askin’ questions round ‘ere, little one!”. The scary look, which twisted Wint’s face, along with the metallic note in her voice managed to drain completely the brief moment of confidence from the girl. “ Ye come to me cave and I accept ye as me sister - with trust and respect. Yet ye act like a spoiled little boy - ye scream and ye moan. Yer cowardly, yer not confident. What sort of woman are ye?”

Linda’s eyebrows furrowed at her forehead. “Normal”, went through her mind as a potential answer to the other woman’s question. Yet somehow, the stern grimace across Wint’s face told her it might not be prudent to say so out loud. She considered her options for a moment longer, and then finally went with:

“OK, listen, Wint, right? I have a confession to make - right now I have absolutely no clue where I am. Even worse - I have no idea how I got here. I need a bit of help - do you think you can give me a hand?”

The other woman’s expression was still harsh and inquisitive, but after a while one of her dark eyebrows lifted in question. Linda took this as a sign that the stranger is somehow willing to listen. The girl made a few steps on trembling feet to the nearest tree and crumbled next to it. She took in a deep breath, with her eyes closed as she was trying to order her frantic thoughts and all the questions which were still swirling inside her mind full force.

“Could you tell me where we are? I mean, here, where is here?”, she said finally, opening her eyes.

Wint made a few steps towards the same tree and sat down on the grass opposite Linda.

“Ye really have no clue where we be, do ye?”, she asked after a while. “But like, not even a wee bit?”

“Not even a wee bit”, Linda nodded.

“Alrightey, so what do ye remember last?”

The girl took in a deep breath and opened her mouth to respond, but almost instantly faltered and froze for a moment, jaw slightly agape against the other woman. What was she supposed to say? Where should she start? She wasn’t entirely sure herself what exactly had happened - what actually did and what was a dream or a fantasy. Wint however didn’t seem the sort to tolerate anymore wondering and lack of confidence which made it extremely unlikely to show empathy or understanding here. Still, wasn’t she going to get even more pissed, if she sensed she was being lied to?

“Alrightey there, I saw yer mind blocked again, so I won’t be torturin’ ye with more questions”, Wint cut off, apparently sensing the girl’s inner struggle. “Whatever happened to ye, looks like it shook ye up real bad, cuz ye don’t act normal at all. Let’s me orientate ye a wee bit and hope it passes. What d’ya wanna know?”

“Where are we right now?” Linda asked immediately, grasping the offered help like a drowner grasps at straws.

“The mountain we were in a bit ago is called Whirlwind. And we’re now in the Maya valley, part of the national park “Tarana”.

“A national park?”, Linda repeated carefully, trying hard to memorize the strange names Wint was effortlessly throwing at her. “Of which country?”

“AWA is no country, but a political and military alliance”, Wint corrected.

“AWA”, the girl’s brow furrowed.

“Well, ye really don’t seem to know anything, do ye?”, the woman shook her head. “It’s really as tho yer fallin’ from one of the moons.”

Moons… Plural. Linda’s brain suddenly kicked into high gear. The sound of tires and brakes screeching, her face on the pavement, the taste of blood in her mouth. The doctors, the hospital, the blinding light, the falling… And suddenly, it dawned on her.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what happened”, she muttered quietly. “Wint, I have a final mental question for you - what’s this planet we’re on called?”

“Well, it truly be mental, I tell ye that!”, the woman laughed. “Alaiah, of course.”

“Alaiah”, Linda echoed. “Wint, I know how this will sound, but this is not my planet. My planet is called Earth.”

Now it was the woman’s brows that furrowed at her forehead.

“Come ooon! Yer pullin’ me leg.”

“Trust me, I wish it were so”, Linda shook her head. “But this place, it’s definitely unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

She looked up and through the bluish leaves of the tree she was reclined against, she could see the darkening sky, and on it, three moons could be seen. The one which was directly overhead was the largest and was a pale blue. To the left on the horizon another one was rising, a smaller, reddish one. On the right was the smallest. It was pure white and its surface was covered in gaping craters. It looked like an exact copy of the Earth’s Moon. Linda felt once more her head spin and the terror threatening to overtake her again. Through sheer force of will, she managed to suppress her panic and hid the tremble in her voice as she turned to the woman in front of her once more:

“Wint… I think I died… Over there - on Earth. You asked me what was the last thing I remember, right?” , she added, when she saw the dark eyebrows rise once more above the woman’s sparkling green eyes. “I think I got hit by a car. I remember a hospital, doctors… And then there was a tunnel of sorts and a bright light. I was falling for a long time… And then I woke up here.”

Wint remained silent and kept staring at her intently. Not that Linda could blame her - she was herself wondering how she would feel or react if someone were standing in front of her on Earth, telling her they came from a different planet. No matter how hard she tried however, she couldn’t piece together a better explanation for what had happened. Why and how were the main questions she was yet to answer.

The other woman’s silence felt heavy, like a stone, tied around her neck. Her head hung low as though she couldn’t hold it up any longer and so she rested it on her hands. Her temples were pulsing with pressure and although she had her eyes closed, behind her eyelids was a veritable show of a million different coloured lights, pictures, memories, thoughts… Before she could help it, her shoulders trembled and she sobbed, but the tears never came - it was as if her body had suddenly forgotten how to make them. This was enough to distract her from her heavy thoughts and shook her out of her reverie long enough to feel Wint’s hand, which was awkwardly patting her shoulder. Slowly, as though coming out of water, Linda began hearing the woman’s voice. It sounded tense, as though she had no idea how to deal with these kinds of situations:

“Come on, little one, get up from ‘ere, there be no sense in thinking on it no more…”

“I-I can’t even cry… all of this”, Linda sobbed, but lifted her eyes from her hands to meet Wint’s sparkling green gaze. “And I can’t even…”

“Ah, come now enough o-this silliness, ye wanna cry, do ye? Alaian women don’t cry like wee boys.”

“Then what do Alaian women do when everything is too much?”, Linda asked, her voice a weird mixture of desperation and fragile hope.

Wint didn’t answer right away - for a time she just stared at her with her apparently typical harsh and unyielding stare. Behind it, a very faint shadow of concern could be detected. It was apparent that no one had never asked anything similar of her and Linda could understand why this was - Wint looked like the last person to talk about feelings, let alone pain and suffering. Finally, the woman clenched her teeth and confidence returned to her face with full force:

“What we always do when we fall down in the gutter - we get up, we dust off and we jump right back in the fightin’!”