Tiria's eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was relief washing over Chum's features.

"Thank Danna, you're awake."

Tiria looked down at her body to see it was covered in bandages. Many of them looked like true medical supplies while others were obviously rags made from old clothes left by the humans.

Tiria slowly sat up. While there wasn't any pain, there was a hollow weakness to her. Memories of the horde in the Eldritch forest almost made her shiver, but then she remembered something even more important.

Her head swiveled as she took in the inn. Nori was laid out much as she was covered in bandages, but the goblin Progenitor was still unconscious. Glom fussed over her like a mother hen.

Poe snoozed on a table nearby and just under a line of the windows was the doll. It's lifeless eyes stared directly into hers, but it didn't move or even flinch.

"We really did it," Chum said, obviously following her gaze.

"Half of it, but yes." Her eyes flicked back to Nori and then to Glom. She leaned in towards Chum. "Did you tell him about..."

"I know about Tama," Glom said. Either Tiria wasn't as good at whispering as she thought or their former stalker had better ears than she expected.

Glom stood, eyes lingering on Nori's unconscious form, before turning to face them. To her shock, he knelt on the floor and bowed to them in the lowest manner possible. The movement was awkward and clearly unpracticed but definitely a sign of respect.

"Thank you both for putting Tama to rest and bringing Nori back alive. It was Nori and Tama who liberated us from the demons and helped us stay one foot ahead. There's not a goblin in this camp that wouldn't tear out their own heart for either of them. They were our heroes."

"You don't have to bow to us," Chum muttered and Tiria agreed. Having the asshole show such deference made her very uncomfortable.

"No, I do. You weren't there with us in the beginning so you don't understand. Like many of us, Nori has always been rough and crass, but Tama was gentle for a goblin. The two of them weren't truly of the same clan, but fate saw their bond and forged the link between Progenitor and Subgenitor."

Chum walked over to him placing a hand on Glom's outstretched arm. "We'd love to hear more, but please get up."

Glom set his jaw and continued speaking without moving. "As we ran, we had to raid the demon's villages to find the Crystals needed to level and we had to assault their temples for access to the Dungeon. After all the running, fighting, and dying that we did, Tama's corpse fell out of the final Dungeon burned to a crisp.

"In that Dungeon, none of us could be there for him and not knowing what happened ate at all of us. To hear that he'd been twisted by the forest somehow even in death? I can't explain how much that twists my soul in knots."

Tiria knew intellectually about the path Nori and the goblins had taken to reach her and it was perhaps just as intense as their own, but Glom was right she hadn't understood what that meant.

Even now, it wasn't Glom's explanation that helped her understand. It was the memory of Nori's pain upon seeing Tama. It was the rage she felt at his desecration and the beastial response that had wiped out all strategy.

Another piece clicked for her as well, Glom's desire to be Nori's second and her stout refusal. No one could replace Tama for them and even Glom had never asked to be Subgenitor only her "number two."

The two of them had been doing a small dance of grief the entire time she'd known them and she never noticed.

"You talk too fucking much." Nori's voice startled her out of her thoughts. Unlike Tiria who was relatively fine if weak, Nori sounded like she'd gargled razor blades and even that brief speech had elicited a groan of pain.

Glom scrambled to his feet. "I'm sorry, boss. I just-"

"Shut up," Nori said.

Glom sputtered as he tried to explain while also shutting up. Despite the pain, the only eye that Tiria could see of Nori's was crystal clear. The goblin tried to clear some of the phlegm from her throat.

"Thanks for helping me put Tama to rest."

"Of course."

"And that's the last I'm gonna say about that."

"Nothing more needs to be said," Tiria assured her.

Nori let out a sigh. The heaviness of her unhealed wounds of both heart and body were in that sigh, but Tiria wouldn't delve further - nor would Nori.

"What will you do now?"

Tiria got to her feet while Chum hovered nearby ready to swoop in and help her if she stumbled. Her legs seemed to wobble like a newborn deer, but she could stand fine. She took a few steps over to where Poe lay asleep on one of the tables and plucked the compass from beside him.

Before the forest, it had a shaded point that they'd followed to Tama while its lit point lay still. Now, it seemed to thrum with a dark energy and its light pointed unnervingly west.

"The last step is for the doll to consume Gi's mirror, but since he already completed the Dungeon, I have no idea who it could be. We were told a new link would be made as that was part of the process of this world, but I have little idea what to expect."

"Well," Nori said, taking a moment to clear her throat so she was understandable, "You know they are human at least, right?"

"I... think so. Humans mirror monsters and the only other doll we've seen used followed that same pattern. Honestly, there was one human that I thought might be his new mirror. A noble that we fought both times in the Dungeon and who led an army against Igna as soon as the Surge happened."

"But you don't think it's him? Why?"

"The compass points almost due west. Igna and the Noble's kingdom are far to the south. Unless he's come to the mainland for some reason?"

They all quieted, trying to decide what that might mean, but it eventually came back to the fact that they just didn't know. Anything they discussed would be little more than a guess.

"So what will you do?," Nori eventually asked again.

Tiria glanced towards Chum, a little hesitant to lay out the plan that had come to mind, but he'd have to hear it eventually.

"I'll follow the compass. Whoever it is, humans tend to stick together so stealth will probably serve me better than a straight assault. Poe can ensure I get there fast and can get out fast if necessary."

Chum crossed his arms. "Poe can only carry one of us."

"Yes."

The two of them stared each other down. Chum clearly didn't want to let this drop. Feeling a little foolish in front of Nori and Glom, she took Chum's paw in hers.

"Once Gi is back, everything will be okay. He was strong enough to take down the Queen. He, himself, can fly so we will be able to escape. I don't know what human stronghold his mirror will be in, but the smaller and faster the group, the more successful we will be."

"I don't like it," Chum said, squeezing her paw. For such a sweet Otter, he could be surprisingly stubborn.

Nori cut in. "You don't have to like it. She's your Subgenitor. You just have to obey."

"Nori-," Tiria started but Chum cut her off with a wave of his paw.

"No, she's right. Your plan is the best we can do with the knowledge we have. I trust you and your ability implicitly. I'm just scared and being selfish."

"Sometimes, it's okay to be selfish."

"But not this time," he said.

She nodded reluctantly. "You will be very displeased to learn that I'll be leaving as soon as I eat and wake Poe."

"But you're still recovering!"

"My body is healed. I just need a little rest which if Poe flies me then I should get easily. Before you argue," Tiria tapped her paw against her chest. "I need to leave soon. I can feel it. It's subtle so I can't tell if it's just my own urgency, but I think it's Danna pushing me towards a better timeline."

Startled at the sudden voice in her mind, Tiria looked towards the web in the corner of the room and was surprised to be find Orchid there. She'd been so quiet since Tiria woke up.

Spiders weren't the easiest to read, but Orchid was quite expressive for her kind.

She was sulking. Tiria's confusion lasted a moment, but then it clicked. Her mind hadn't been strong enough in the forest and she'd been forced to wait here. Seeing your clan mates come back on the verge of death while you were too weak to help must have been frustrating.

"You are quite light. If Poe can carry both of us, I'd be honored to have the leader of the Hidden Spiders by my side."

She pulled herself up, quickly regaining her mood with the new goal in mind, and Tiria had to bite back a chuckle. Orchid was like Poe in some ways. Both them had a singular focus and were rarely concerned with the complex.

There was a little more dialogue especially as Chum fussed over her, but she ate and stocked up, giving Poe as much time to sleep as he needed. Even dallying as long as she could, the subtle urgency pressed at her and it wasn't even an hour after she woke up that she, Poe, and Orchid were in the air.

They flew for an entire day, heading west. They corrected their course some, but it became apparent that their quarry was moving quickly to the south. It took her several hours, but she eventually figured out their pace and a direction that would allow them to intercept.

She wasn't the only one that had increased their stats during their time apart as Poe had become both stronger and faster than he'd been before. A journey that might have taken her two weeks overland would be handled in a handful of days.

Tiria slept as they flew, her strength recovering, but Poe leaned on his Vitality and pushed through his weariness with an excitement to finally see Gi again. It was an excitement she shared, but she knew there was one more trial between them and his resurrection.

Hopefully, a trial they were strong enough to overcome.

As night fell on the third day, it became apparent that Gi's mirror had finally stopped moving and she could see the lights of a small oceanside town in the distance.

Knowing Gi's importance, she'd expected some nobility or great knight. This sleepy fishing village was vastly at odds with her expectations. With the cover of darkness, Poe was able to land them close to the outside wall.

They'd seen some light drifting from various houses, but that would only improve the shadows and worsen the humans' night vision. Tiria and Orchid crept to the bottom of the wall and listened for any humans atop it.

Nothing.

Tucking the doll into her robe, Tiria jumped catching her paws on the side of the wall and pulling herself up just enough to peak over. It appeared there were some humans still stationed near the front gate, but from this close it became apparent that there was a lot of activity tonight.

She pulled herself up and then quietly dropped down to the other side of the wall. [One with Shadows] helped her blend from shadow to shadow as she followed the compass through the human camp. Orchid for her part crept along the tops of houses, easily avoiding any light or human.

There were a few close calls where some human would run past yelling urgently as they gathered their belongings or seemed to call on their neighbors to wake. The first time, Tiria thought she'd been caught, but these humans were panicked about something else.

The doll seemed to squirm as they got closer and Tiria placed one hand on it to ensure it didn't ruin their approach before they arrived.

It all went very smoothly. The ease they had in the beginning of the Eldritch forest came to mind and the horde that had almost swallowed her after.

Uneasily, she crept towards a door to one of the squat wooden houses. She shifted the compass back and forth, but it was obvious that Gi's mirror was inside. She stowed the compass in her [Expanded Pocket] and pushed open the door.

The house was made of mostly one room and a giant of a man sat at one table. Off to the side toward the only door in the house, a woman stood in its doorway. Both of their eyes locked on her as she entered.

But they weren't alarmed.

The man stood and even though he didn't step closer, he still towered over her. His size was comparable to that of Samba and frankly she was surprised he fit into this house at all.

"What's going on?" To Tiria's surprise, she understood him. The man had an accent, but he was undeniably speaking the monster tongue. She barely had time to register that fact.

The doll lunged.