Their ship was exactly where they'd left it, the wings covered in snow from the constant storm above. Too bad that wasn't the only unwelcome addition.

“Hey! Panther girl!”

She groaned, her whiskers twitching at the enormous welcome-back party. The army of scavengers had terrible timing.

GT was in recharge so she wouldn't be seeing it for a while. And Mr. Erin, though still conscious, had no reserves left to speak of. She felt the weasel shifting but stopped him with a flick of her ear. She could feel him trying to pull out his wand. No way she'd let him. Not in his state. She unsheathed her claws, ready to fight them all feral-style if needed. Worst-case scenario she got shot and Mr. Xan came out smashing everyone with his new hammer.

The man with goggles held up a hand.

“We come in peace,” he said. "No need for a fight here. After what we saw, I don't think we'd win anyway."

Sasha's claws slowly retracted. So it wasn't an ambush? She kept her guard up anyhow, if only to appear stronger. They didn't need to know how defenseless they were. Or how wounded. In fact, it was probably better they thought fighting giant monsters was something they could do without breaking a sweat.

The scavenger at the head lifted up his goggles, which struck Sasha for the briefest of moments. She'd never seen a human with eyes that shined purple before.

“You saved my life, Panther Girl,” he said. “For that, I owe you a debt.”

Sasha narrowed at the man. And the other scavengers, who, upon hearing the words, all simultaneously knelt down on their left knees, hands raised to their chest in. She didn't understand what it meant, but the way the goggles man looked at her made it clear it wasn't meant to be an insult. Or a threatening gesture. It reminded her of the salutations her liaisons gave to Mercury. A salute?

As the scavengers rose back up, the goggles man produced something out of his coat. What looked to be a badly worn-out notebook. Sasha looked to him for an explanation.

“A peace offering,” the man said. “We found this on the wreck. You were trying to scavenge there, correct?”

He extended the notebook out. Sasha was still cautious, but she approached, tentatively reaching out. The moment she touched it, a hand appeared over its cover.

Sasha's gaze rose, a mane of white huddled right next to her. Eyes the color of amber. Lips drawn back in a frown as she looked down at the page. Sasha smiled, the vision fading just as quickly as it came. But it was more than enough. Iris. She grabbed the notebook, nearly dropping Mr. Erin in the process. You little puffball, you did leave us something! Nice going, Sulky!

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She looked back to the man who was dipping his head and backing away.

"Hey!" she said. "What's your name, anyway?"

The man looked surprised, but he responded simply, "Bison."

"Oh. Well, Bison, you can count yourself up one friend, 'cause you just gave me a miracle."

Bison looked at her slightly confused, but she smiled back at him. She adjusted Mr. Erin so she could pull out her commpad, raising it in front of her.

"Here," she said. "I'm on a mission to find my friends. But I also don't wanna lose track of any new ones I make."

The scavenger only grew more confused. It had only occurred to her then that not every world had the level of tech. And considering Frostland was a frozen wasteland...She reflectively pulled back only to stop herself when she saw Bison taking out a commpad of his own.

"You are a strange one, Panther," he said.

She laughed. "So I've been told. I mean I do carry around a talking pole."

He looked up from his screen. "What?"

"Long story." She nodded to her commpad as the Bison hologram vanished. It reminded her she'd need to contact Cici. After everything on Frostum, they'd have a lot to talk about. But first things were first. "Anyway, try not to rob anyone important, and if those monsters come back, gimme a ring. Or if you just wanna chat. Excuse me. Coming through."

As she spoke she was slowly wading through the crowd of scavengers. They'd left enough room for the ramp to deploy, but it was still a bit of a hassle.

"Bison Land!"

There was a cry from behind her. She looked back to see the scavengers all giving the same salute as before, though this time Bison also took it up, kneeling to one knee. She sat Mr. Erin down at the top of the ramp.

"Sorry if this comes off wrong!" she called back, trying her best to mimic the gesture.

She'd been warned several times by her liaisons to be careful with unknown cultures. The last thing she needed was to accidentally give the Frostum equivalent of a middle finger on her departure. Thankfully, Bison smiled back at her salute.

They finally sprung open the hatch, the robots arriving to help her with Mr. Erin. The weasel had been drifting in and out of consciousness, but he'd finally fallen by the time they'd gotten back aboard. According to the robots, he was suffering from blowback. Given how bad Mr. Xan had been, Sasha was glad a second lava monster hadn't appeared. She shivered at the thought as their ship ascended.

The snowy landscapes became cotton and powder as everything drifted away, being replaced by the cold vacuum of space she'd come to know all too well.

But now wasn't the time to be sightseeing. She looked down at her new find. Her clue to getting in touch with Iris again. The notebook was dingy and torn, but the writing was still legible. By Iris's standards, anyway. She nodded to herself.

Right. Time to see what you got for us, Sulky.

She smiled, running off to her room.