While dew still lingered on leaves and sparkling mist still filled the air, Iris quietly packed her things and blipped out of Ellie’s hut without waking her. The soft ground sunk beneath her feet like walking on pillows as she stepped up to the runway Ellie had prepared the day prior. Iris paused, closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the fresh morning air — it still very much smelled unpleasant, but she wanted to savor it regardless. One-by-one, she recounted the memories of her brief time in the swamp that she would most like to hang on to, taking in all the sounds and smells around her to accompany them. When she opened her eyes, Dala stood before her.

Iris rudely squinted her eyes and spoke in a curt, unfriendly tone, “how do you hide from my awareness ability?”

“The same way I hide from most, I’d imagine,” Dala replied.

Iris attempted an even ruder expression, “get out of my way.”

“The girls will be sad you left without saying goodbye. Especially Ellie, I think she’s starting to look up to you.”

“Well, she has you to blame.”

Dala smiled faintly and averted her eyes, “perhaps I was a bit aggressive with my teachings.”

“Perhaps?” Iris asked loudly, “you attacked my soul!”

“I didn’t—” the matron sighed, “the world is cruel, and not every lesson can be taught with kindness. Allow me a chance to make up for my deceptions.”

“No,” Iris answered indignantly, and agreeing roars came from the bottomless bag.

Dala withdrew a slip of paper from her pocket held it out towards her. When Iris didn’t reach for it, Dala released the paper and it briefly drifted towards her like a leaf carried on the wind. Iris angrily snatched it out of the air just before it floated into her face.

“This is the name and location of a friend of mine in Fale Nalore,” Dala said, “she can help you with your nightmare.”

“So now you want me to trust you?” Iris scoffed, “which is it, lady?”

“No, I want you to use your own judgment and discernment to decide if you trust her. I believe, however, that you will take a liking to her quite quickly.”

Iris shoved the note into her bag, “can you get out of my way now?”

The door to Ellie’s hut creaked open, “Iris? Are you leaving?” The young witch hurried down her steps without bothering to put on shoes, “you weren’t going to say goodbye?”

Guilt grew in Iris’s gut as she saw the genuine hurt in Ellie’s eyes, “sorry, I thought it best to get a head start this morning and didn’t want to wake any—”

Iris was cut off by a tight hug from Ellie that clenched her arms tight to her side.

“Uh— right, I’ll miss you too,” Iris said awkwardly.

Ellie quickly pulled away, “sorry! It’s just— we don’t get a lot of visitors out here, and you’re definitely the coolest we’ve had in a long time. I wish you could stay longer.”

Iris smiled sadly, before shooting a quick sideways glance at the matron, “me too, but my friends are out there waiting for me. I’m not done with this swamp though, I have a feeling it’s full of secrets I’d like to discover. One day — when I’m stronger — I’ll come back, and I’ll be sure to pay you all a visit when I do.”

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Ellie nodded, and Iris climbed onto her broom. The matron stepped aside to clear the way as Iris stuffed her hat into the bottomless bag and donned her goggles.

“Wait!” Ellie shouted, “before you go, I wanted to ask you something. I’ve never seen a witch use a sword before. I just— well, I guess you don’t have time to teach me anything now, but can you tell me where I should start?”

Iris blinked in surprise, “you mean start learning to use a great sword? I mean, my friend taught me the basics, but most of it I figured out by myself. It’s all about balancing the weight of the sword with your own, and finding creative ways to use it with your powers.”

Ellie nodded eagerly as if the basic advice was the words of a master, “as soon as I get my hands on a sword like yours, I’m going to start training!”

“Ellie, I really don’t think swords—” the matron started, but was interrupted by Iris.

“Abby, do we still have that old training sword?”

The bottomless bag opened up and a tentacle rose out of the void carrying a wooden great sword. Various dings and scratches marked its blade and hilt, the tip had been blunted, and there were distinctive gnaw marks from an unusually large rat she had once fought. Iris took the sword from Abby and held it out towards a wide-eyed Ellie.

“Here, this is the sword I trained with. I don’t need it anymore, so it’s all yours.”

“Really?” Ellie asked as she took the wooden sword into her hands.

“Yep,” Iris nodded, “consider thanks for all your help. Maybe we can spar when I visit again one day.”

Ellie smiled at the challenge, “absolutely!”

Iris laughed, “I need to get going. Tell the others I said goodbye.”

Before anything could keep her any longer, Iris kicked off the ground and launched into flight. Her take-off was wobbly and not quite straight, but she cleared the canopy with only her toes briefly dragging through some leaves. Ellie waved at her from below as the witches’ huts shrank away behind her and she rose above the mist to soar through the sky.

The crisp morning air bit at her skin as she gathered speed. Soon the trees below whizzed by, and she had to lean low and forward to stop the force of the wind from wrenching her off the broom. After some effort, she eventually found a somewhat steady stream of air that carried her over the swamp to the east.

About an hour into her journey, a translucent purple ghost rocketed past her. It was so fast she almost thought she imagined it, but then quickly pulled up on her broom and twisted around to slow her speed as she drifted in a wide arc through the sky. It was her first time attempting the maneuver at such speed and it didn’t quite go smoothly, but with nothing to crash into this high up she had plenty of room to recover.

Soon, the ghost had circled around as well, and flew up beside her, “Iris?!”

“Vic!”

“You’re flying!”

“Yeah! Isn’t it cool?”

Iris twisted around to reorient herself back towards the east and flew at a casual enough pace to sit upright on her broom and shout over the wind. Victoria followed beside her, her overlapping ghostly voices having no trouble overcoming the wind.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, I must have covered a hundred miles of swamp. How did you learn to fly? Is that your walking stick?”

“Yeah, turns out it’s a flying broom! A bunch of witches taught me how to use it! They even helped me kill the balrog.”

“This whole time we thought you were dead or dying in the swamp, and you were out here making friends?”

“Yep!” Iris, “thanks for worrying about me, though.”

Victoria shook her head, “Eli’s gonna be pissed.”

“Nah, he’ll just be glad I’m alive,” Iris didn’t believe herself for a second that he wouldn’t be angry, “how’s the ship?”

“Stuck in a tree and pretty beaten up, but it’ll fly again. We were worried it would leave before we found you.”

“You guys have to start having some faith in me,” Iris rolled her eyes.

Victoria laughed, “after this, I imagine we will. I’ll fly ahead and let everyone know you’re safe, you should check in with Eli in the crow’s nest when you get back. Keep flying this way and you’ll see the ship soon.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Iris said hurriedly, “what makes you think you’re faster then me?”

Victoria gave Iris a surprised glance, “are you challenging me?”

Iris smiled, “I’ll let everyone know you’re on the way.”

Mana siphoned from her hands and poured into the broom, launching her forward as if the speed she was already traveling had been a standstill. After a split second of a baffled stare, Victoria gave chase.