The rest of the day was filled by resting from the effort she had made, and giving more explanations to her classmates. After a long and tired explanation all of them had finally agreed that they didn't want to serve as a target for weirdo creeps with alien weapons in their home world.

"So that means we're staying here for now?" Izabel asked Oranderra's ambassador, who was really just the girl usually who sat behind her in geography classes and forgot her colouring pens a little too often. “I mean, is that even possible?” she added.

“Why not, if you get used to it they have some pretty good food here, and they have really good sleeping bags.” replied Liana.

Ellen still stared a little like a deep-sea monster dredged up in a trawl. “Here, sleeping, in the open air?”

She winced as if she was asked to hug a monster.

Liana shrugged. “There are more sheltered places too, if necessary. Inaya has a separate room in a side dimension for when it rains, but all the water runs off an invisible roof anyway. No-one will get wet here. Think of it as an unexpected vacation. Nature is much more beautiful and alive here than anywhere else in our own world.” Ellen still looked horrified, but didn’t answer.

*

Now that Liana had arranged everything for her classmates to stay for the next few days, it was time to discuss plans with Marah, who had been out for a while ‘to connect with the forest’ before she would go back to combat mode. When Liana found her he was resting against a tree again, but she no longer looked like 'the soul of the forest' as she had changed back into the combat clothes she had worn in Kavanderra. Liana involuntarily shuddered at the negative memories associated with her outfit. It seemed almost like sacrilege to see Marah, the quiet birch dryad woman, in these aggressive clothes again.

“I’m ready,” she said. “We can leave whenever we want, the sooner the better.”

Liana stared at her, because this was too sudden.

“I need to rest a bit more after my dimension bending from earlier today with three passengers. I suggest we leave tomorrow then.”

Marah nodded in understanding but seemed a little disappointed.

“But that means you found them then? And you have a plan?” asked Liana.

Marah nodded. “The STC have a base on the North American continent, as you said. Their leader named John is with them. Akhina can prepare the gate for us whenever we want, so you don’t have to drain your energies just by getting there. Make sure you have eaten well and put on the clothes of the Onnobolda, and then we leave tomorrow after breakfast to explore the area. Akhina will let the portal arrive at the border of their facilities. The faster we do this the better!"

“ Last time I was thrown into the whole thing without knowing what we were doing, and now I want to be able to prepare mentally. So if that’s the plan I'm going to find Inaya and Izabe nol, because I have a few things to discuss with them."

Marah nodded and disappeared.

Liana walked back to Inaya’s house to look for Izabel and beckoned her.

“I want to speak to you and Inaya, alone!"

Then she telepathically searched for Inaya to get her in the conversation too. Izabel nodded and then followed her to talk outside,somewhere quiet in between the trees. They found that Inaya was already there when they got there, and Liana thought that she certainly could get used to a world where this was the normal form of communication. When all three of them were together, she immediately said what she had to say.

“Inaya, I'm going to my own world with Marah tomorrow, to investigate the people who attacked us; she has found the STC headquarters in America. I know you all here, and even the councils have a lot of confidence that I'm going to incapacitate them in some way with Marah, but I'm not completely sure of that myself. So I want to discuss what happens if I don't come back, just in case…."

Inaya nodded gravely and Izabel paused uncomfortably.

“Should I not survive the mission to the STC, my three classmates will become the responsibility of the council of councils. And you shall treat them well, got it!”

Inaya nodded.

“And Izabel here will be my successor as the Oranderran ambassador.. She doesn't have to be given all the responsibilities, but at least make sure that she can make her own decisions about herself!”

Inaya looked serious but nodded again.

"The rules say that the ambassador can choose her successor, we can't argue with that."

Then Liana turned to Izabel. “I don't feel like it, but like I said I'm going to confront the people who wanted to shoot us together with Marah tomorrow. I'm so sorry that you three got caught up in this strange story. I hope you can forgive me someday.” she said, but Izabel waved it off.

"Do not worry. Just seeing this forest has been worth everything. Getting fired at again with alien weapons is a good price to pay if that brings me here again. And I don't know why, but I suppose that the optimism of 'the council' is based on something. You've dragged us single-handedly through worlds and dimensions to save us, and apparently you've done the same before in a world that was about to explode with Inaya and Marah. If I'm to believe everything I’ve heard here you were the only one in that story who understood anything about your opponents, while all those big names had no idea what they were doing. And it’s clear that Marah knows what she's doing too…”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Liana glanced at the two girls in front of her and suddenly gave them both a hug.

“I have no idea what's going to happen. But something tells me we can talk about it someday.”

Izabel looked at her. "I'm an atheist, but I'll pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster to protect you."

Liana didn't have the heart to respond to that at a moment like that, but Inaya said very practically, "A conscious thought-form construct is not powerful enough to break the law of the impossibility of communication between the worlds I’m afraid."

Liana decided not to dwell on theological discussions but wanted to hear more about the second part.

“I've already heard of that I think, but what exactly does that law mean?”

Inaya looked at her as if she'd made a simple math mistake.

“Communication is only possible within the same world, within one universe. There is no way to communicate between worlds without making the journey from one place to another. Both magically and electronically, that law holds: our kah-yito doesn't work between the worlds, and neither does your Wi-Fi. Add to that the fact that creatures like you who can simply travel between worlds are extremely rare in all worlds, and among all species. I'm one of the few Nummerfa who’s good at that. But most of us need a gate, like Akhina's or that metal monster in Kavanderra that the STC built with alien technology. But even with such a portal you have to go from one world to another and then use your communication to communicate.” she explained.

“So the STC will never be able to do that either?” asked Liana.

“As far as I know, the law cannot be broken. To communicate with someone you have to stay within the same world. As you yourself said before when talking about sending electronic messages to their families.”

“That makes everything difficult, and easier… So when we are in dire need in America, the only solution is to come back, because messages are impossible.”

Inaya nodded. “And what about that in-between world? You felt my presence there.” asked Liana.

“It's not a separate world. That's too hard to explain, but it's designed to be easily accessible from both your world and this world. In theory, a very strong kah-yitoh user should be able to maintain communication with two worlds from there indeed. That’s a way to circumvent the law of communication between the worlds that I hadn’t thought of! If I were all better now I could do that with a lot of effort, but not in this state. I'm still too weak from that weapon. And I don't think we have anyone else who could. Andira was probably the only one we had, but she's gone."

Liana felt like the conversation had drifted away from what she wanted to say.

“Okay, back to what I wanted to say. Izabel, if I don't survive this tomorrow, I'll give you an assignment when you get back home."

Izabel saluted like a soldier but looked serious.

"Yes Boss." She said.

“I don't know what the news is going to say about the STC's attack on the school, but something tells me there's going to be a cover-up, don't ask me why. My parents may not believe anything but the official version, but I want you to try and tell them what happened to me. I understand if you can't, but I want you to try.”

She shifted in her chair.

“And then there is one person who needs to hear the real story in all the details, my best friend Joris.”

Isabel looked interested.

"Best friend?" she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Best friend-friend, not a boyfriend if that’s what it sounds like. But we've known each other since I was a kid. We lived next door to each other for years until my parents moved to Doodzout. And then we reconnected again via the internet. We usually see each other on an old IRC chat server.”

Izabel nodded understandingly.

“And how do I find that guy?”

Liana took a piece of paper from her book bag and wrote down a phone number.

“Here's his number. In the worst case scenario that I’m really not there anymore, and you would see him in real life, please give him a hug from me." she added.

Izabel looked at her seriously.

“Please don't assume you're dying already. That would be a bit too much. Almost getting shot and then suddenly being in another world is bad enough for one day… You walk here among those impressive magical forest women as one of them, they even see you as particularly powerful, and then you say you are going to die?”

Liana looked in her eyes for a moment.

“I have to leave that option open. Somehow I think everything will be okay, but I've already gone on such a mission once without some sort of arrangement of what would happen if I didn't come back. And that was a bad idea. I need some back-up in my homeworld too, and that might mean both you and Joris."

She glanced at her classmate, who seemed to be a better friend to her when it came down to it than she'd ever realised, despite all the differences between them.

“And one more thing, if you come across the Flying Spaghetti Monster and he asks you about me, tell him the whole story too.”

"That last one was a joke, wasn't it?" Liana looked a little dark.

"Maybe, maybe not. come; let's see if there's anything to eat here, I'm hungry!" And they got up.

“There are acorn cakes.” Inaya said.