Maybe someone had spiked her drink at the bar? Or perhaps she was ambushed and knocked unconscious on her way back to her apartment.

These thoughts seem plausible to her as she tries to make sense of her current situation. Maybe she is dreaming and her subconscious is bringing her back to that horrific night months ago. She had wished for death many times since then and maybe now someone was answering her plea. That night, there was plenty of time for her to die after the attack. She remembers lying in the street, feeling the cold rain wash away the warm blood pooling from her wounds. The stars had been so bright that night, sometimes she can still see them when she closes her eyes. She can vividly recall thinking that her leg must have been detached from her body. The pain was overwhelming but the beauty of the stars kept her mesmerized. She had all the time in the world to die as she lay there in the winter storm, alone with her thoughts. If Ravi hadn't come looking for her, she may have actually died. But instead of being dead, Finnley covers her eyes and ears as a blinding white light fills the loft accompanied by an ear-splitting screech.

“Gods damn it!” A voice fills the air, soft yet strained and frustrated.

Ravi rushes towards the large empty wall in the loft, standing upright with an alertness that Finnley has never seen before on him. She watched as the countless drinks he had consumed over the past few hours evaporated from his body. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen him as sober as he suddenly was now. Ravi’s gaze is focused on a small ceramic box held by the man he referred to as Abilenne. But it's not Ravi's sudden change in demeanor that catches Finnley's attention, it's the woman projected onto the wall behind them. It's as if she is standing there in front of them, every detail clear and real. Her eyes are drawn to a silver substance covering a large portion of her bare neck, contrasting against the light blue corset-like garment on her body. Dark circles surround her gray eyes and a fading bruise is visible around her throat. Her face appears sickly and gaunt, with a fresh scratch running down one side. Her hair, once styled extravagantly, now hangs loosely in front of her face.

Finnley’s heart races as the woman who shares her face transforms before her as her victorious smile drains from her face and her shoulders tense as her expression turns cold. And just as quickly as she appeared, the look of triumph on the woman's face fades to dread.

“If you’re seeing this…”she lets out a small, humourless chuckle, “It means that our plan worked...just not enough.” The woman speaks with Finnley’s voice but the differences between them are stark in the way she moves and holds herself. Her hands flutter up to her neck and her head tilts ever so slightly, searching for her words.

“In a place much different than where you are now…” The woman laughs to herself again and somewhere off in the distance a deep chuckle follows her own. For the moment the woman’s gray eyes soften before turning their attention back to the watchers. “There was a Ruler, who had two daughters, both pawns in his games and of whom he seeked to use as weapons against his enemies. The Ruler's youngest daughter committed a grave sin in the name of her people, and now she needs to return.” The woman closes her eyes softly for a moment, seeking some kind of confidence to extrude. “Captain Abilenne job is to provide you with safe travels. To ensure that our path is without worry.”

The woman's graceful features give nothing away except for the glimmer of tears that slowly begin to fill her eyes. It’s the same expression that looks back at Finley in the mirror when she’s telling herself she’s fine. When she’s telling herself to make it through. It’s the same glimmer within those gray eyes that she saw the first time she looked in the mirror after waking up. The promise to herself that she would not break. That her memories would not break her. Finnley’s eyes flicker to the strange man in her apartment, his eyes still frozen to the woman on the wall.

Outside somewhere the echo of a firework carries past them and Finnley’s eyes flicker to the digital clock that flickers on her nightstand. Midnight. A New Year. The boom of fire works in the distance ring and light flickers through the windows.

It’s after minutes of heartbeats that the tears finally slide down the woman's face that jolt Finnley back to life. “What the fuck is this?” She growls to the two men but neither grace her with an answer, neither glance her way as they stay stuck in the trance of the crying woman.

The woman takes a deep inhale again, flicking away the tears and adjusts her shoulders. She wrings out her hands in front of herself, smoothing down the blue corset, her brows furrowing. She takes a step towards the camera, before her eyes look off into the distance once more, and she whispers. “The shadows will come for you soon. I am...I am so sorry that you couldn’t stay, I’m so sorry that you have to go back to that place but you must. I hope you have been able to find peace within yourself. Complete the prophecies Finnula, no matter what happens, it's the most important thing we'll ever do. It’s the only thing that will save our home.”

A sad smile graces her face, “And if the Captain is there with you now, then take care in knowing that you were right. Trust in yourself. I fear it's the only thing you can trust in.”

And just as quickly as she had appeared, the woman is gone.

The ceramic box’s lid slammed shut, taking the light and woman with it.

“Fuck.” The voice beside her causes Finnley to jump slightly; he had moved at some point while watching the video. When she looks up at him, his gaze is still on the wall, and as his eyes slowly look down at her, they’ve grown dark.

“I’m Captain Abeliene.” He introduces himself, as his large hand grasps her upper arm in a tight hold, when she yanks away he only grasps her tighter.

“Figured.” She growls and in return a large superior grin spreads across his face.

She glances back to the wall her face had just decorated and then glances down at the ceramic box that Abilenne still holds in his hands.

“What the fuck was that?” She questions again as all three pairs of eyes look at the small ceramic box.

“That was our commander and now we have a mission to complete.” Ravi’s exhausted voice echoes through the apartment but before she can ask and before the full lengths of her panic creep upon her, Abilenne moves fast and a hazy purple film fills her vision.

As though every obstacle she had run into over the past year had caught up with her, as though the car accident had happened all over again, she loses control of her limbs, and she feels everything she can no longer remember, all at once.

“Is that really necessary?” Ravi screeches while he dances around Finnley’s vision and she can’t feel her limbs, her face tingles and her eyelids are heavy as she teeters back on her feet.

“Careful with her!” Ravi growls, “We don’t know how her human body will react.”

A scoff tickles her ear, “It’s just valerian root.”

Pins and needles ravage her hands, and the pressure behind her knees from his grip. Soon she feels as though she’s spinning and her eyes are so heavy she’s not sure they will ever open again.

“Don’t worry Sparkly,” She hears him whisper to her, “My oath will not be broken.”

As her eyes flutter, and her body becomes weightless she sees the stars once more. Their dancing and flickering across the night sky in patterns she had never seen before. The glass of the loft window shattered into a million pieces around her as she stared up into the night sky. As though the stars were calling to her, as though they were whispering a lullaby only meant for her ears. Her name echoed again and again but she had never heard it this way. Never heard the pain behind it. She had always known pain but not the kind of pain that filled that voice. The voice of the stars as it sang her name again and again. Perhaps the star's lullaby had kept her from walking towards death that night. Perhaps it was the same voice she heard now.

----------------------------------------

Finnley had been on the cusp of death before, and the tingling livewires that run down her leg are similar now. Just like before her body felt too heavy, as though it was holding her mind down in that place that she could never see. The place deep within her mind that held who she was. Unfortunately, this was far too painful to be death, something far more.... cold.

Finnley’s fingers fidget in the powdered snow, digging in deep into the thick layer that covers the forest floor. She can barely feel her frozen fingers, she imagines they are turning blue but they grip the thick wet dirt beneath the snow as she imagines hauling herself to her feet, even before she fully opens her eyes. Her heartbeat pounds in her ears, as though she had been swallowed up by her own body. But as she fights with her heavy limbs, her left leg cries out in its upset. It feels as though a million long needles are buried into the side of her hip and down the length of her leg. As she lays there flat on her back, eyes still closed, it's a close fluttering noise that causes her eyes to spring open.

The canopy of giant pine trees above her allows for a small peek at the lavender-colored sky. Her eyes drift back and forth between the breaks in the canopy as she traces the stars that twinkle in the daylight. A hazy purple swirl of sun and stars reminds her of the hazy purple film that had covered her vision. Reminds her of the strange man and Ravi in her apartment. Reminds her of herself.

The fluttering sounds once more. Closer this time than before and her head whips around to follow the sound. Hot exhales make little clouds that flood her vision as she breathes through her clenched teeth. Her leg is in more pain than she can remember feeling in a long time. She gets her bearings and pulls her body up despite the ache, despite realizing that she feels…wrong. Her body feels different and not just the way that her chest feels heavy or her lungs feel chilled. It’s something deeper. Something within her that makes her blood feel too hot for her veins, there’s a tick after every heartbeat, and a buzz that illuminates somewhere within her, grinding against her bones as it floats through her body, singing a song that she cannot remember but it remembers her with each caress of it melody.

Her warm jacket is gone, replaced with thick tulle and silk runs down her legs and crawls up her arms. Light blue fabric flares out around her waist, ripped in places, a tight corset hugging her upper half, leaving her arms and neck bare. The same dress the woman who looked like her had been wearing in that video, that woman who shared her name and her voice. The hand that runs along her collarbone finds something unfamiliar there, healed ragged scarring runs along the left side of her prominent collarbone, and when she finds her shoulder and smooths a hand down her arm, she finds more. Scars, as white as the snow on the ground, carved into her skin.

Her hands are shaking almost as much as her legs are and when she’s finally able to win the fight with the tulle and get her feet underneath her, her toes prickle with a chill against the cold snow. That fluttering noise echoes again through the trees, and as she spins, getting caught in the fabric of the elaborate dress the snow-covered trees turn into giant, blurry monsters. But there, through a small patch of broken branches Finnley spots where the sound comes from. A tiny, bird-sized figure with wings fluttering so fast she looks like a hummingbird, except she is a woman. Finnley blinks, desperate to clear her vision. The small creature with purple hair that matches the tiny dress she wears, and translucent fluttering wings watches her from a distance. Her little legs swayed back and forth beneath her hovering body.

“Hello.” Finnley calls out to the creature with hesitation and confusion.

But before she can get the full word out of her mouth the little creature flutters faster than Finnley’s eyes can detect and she’s suddenly floating like something from a fairytale beside her head.

“I told him you would wake faster than anticipated!” Her voice is high pitched, like something Finnley would imagine dogs for miles can hear. “He went to collect his things. Perhaps he will have a cloak. I can’t imagine why you would wear this into the Orion mountains.” She flicks a tiny hand over her long narrow nose, her glowing purple orbs blinking at Finnley’s confused expression, waiting for some type of response from the girl. But instead, Finnley stares at her, at the fluttering wings behind her back. Mesmerized by the rainbow colors that illuminate them.

“It’s rude to stare!” The tiny lady snaps at her a few moments later, her wings tucking in close to her body and she is suddenly just levitating in the air.

“I...I’m sorry.” Finnley stutters. “Am I still dreaming?”

The tiny creature crosses her arms and raises her chin. “I might be someone that people dream about but you most certainly are not dreaming.”

“That’s what someone in my dreams would say.”

The tiny woman scowls, her large eyes ranking over Finnley’s person. “He wasn’t kidding, was he?”

“What?” Finnley questions, her eyes shifting back to the fluttering wings.

She scoffs, frowning and waving a hand at Finnley. “I am Classisa, of the protectors of the Orion forest.”

“Orion?”

A soft look covers Classisa's face as she flutters closer, and Finnley flinches as the tiny female reaches her warm hands forward, cupping her cheeks. “You have returned to the Equator, Finnula.”

“Where?”

Classia’s small hand falls away, and she flutters around Finnley’s body once, and then thrice, as though she’s looking for something. “I thought that he was simply telling a fib. Trying to get me to not be so invasive, but you truly have lost all memory of us. That’s not supposed to happen.” She tusks as she meets Finnley’s eyes again. “How will you save us if you can’t remember who you are?”

“Who am I?” It sounds like a ridiculous question coming out of her mouth but it slips out.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The little fairy, Classisa looks at her with a face of pity. Haunting and scared, like she’s just been told a friend has been sentenced to death. “Finnula-”

“Classisa!” The tiny female's name echoes through the thick woods, “ I told you to leave her alone!”

Captain Abilenne emerges from the thick treeline, and Finnley blinks twice to make sure she’s seeing correctly. The man from her loft looked every bit as confident as he had in the pub but the man that now marched towards them was not the same as the one that sat comfortably in her arm chair. Not in the obvious ways she was, but enough that as he approached she could pinpoint it. The sharp angles on his face that hadn’t been as prominent in her apartment. The pointed ear keeping a strand of hair out of his face. The glow that washed through his skin against the harsh white light of snow that surrounded them. The way he felt more dangerous then he had when he stood with a gun across from her. There was something that radiated from him now, something she hadn’t been able to see before. Something she could feel gravitate towards her as she looked upon him.

Clad in thick leather pants, and a white flowing tunic tucked beneath a thick, long fur winters jacket, a glimmering golden handle sits at his hip. His curly hair falling across his forehead, carrying a small bag slung across his back.

Finnley couldn’t help but think about how truly out of place he had looked when she had seen him before opposed to how he looked now. Emerging from the thick trees surrounded by snow, the Captain looked as though he belonged to this place, as elegant and otherworldly as the forest surrounding them.

Striding towards them, his dark glare set on Classisa who had fallen silent at his shouting.

“Did you drug me?” Finnley demands as he stops before them. “Am I hallucinating?” The darkness of his glare finds her then.

“Now I’m a hallucination to you? Because I refuse to be called fairy?” Classisa squeals, “Let me tell you, I was so excited that you had been found! I have heard great things, I couldn’t believe I would be on shift when the-” The Captain reaches out and grabs the small being by her wing, causing a small yelp to escape her sending a jolt through Finnley.

“I told you if you were going to be here you needed to keep your mouth shut, Classisa.” He grumbles as he places her on his shoulder, where she perches herself like a bird. She purses her lips out, pouting in a way, but says nothing. “And I didn’t drug you.” He spits in Finnley's direction.

Classia nods in confirmation from her place on his shoulder.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Clarissia lets out a loud, melodic laugh but the Captain’s serious eyes stay glued to her own.

His voice is low, and she can practically feel the heat of his breath from where she stands, “No.” The tone of his voice chills her to the bone, fill her veins with dread when he chuckles, and lowly mumbles, “Not today.”

“Where is Ravi?” She demands, for the first time since waking up realizing he had also been present in the apartment.

“Probably sleeping soundly in his bed with that large blond man he is so fond of.”

“Did you hurt him?”

“I wouldn’t hurt one of my own men.”

One of his own men? Ravi had known him, and had only seemed surprised by the stranger in her apartment for moments before a smile had taken over his face.

“How did I get here?”

His thick brows furrow, “I brought you here.”

Finnley frowns and opens her mouth but not before Classisa snaps out, “Under a sleep spell.”

"Excuse me?”

Slamming the duffle bag into the snow, he crouches down as he starts to search through it. “You don’t need to worry about the logistics. I did my job; you are safe and have returned through the portal.”

“So, you did drug me.”

“No, I did not. I don’t drug people.” He spits the denial.

“A sleep spell sounds like a drugging to me.” She barks back.

He grunts, tossing her a piece of thick brown fabric. “Yes, I suppose I did. There was no reason to fight you the whole way here.”

“Where is here?” She demands as she unrolls the thick brown coat. Finnley practically purrs at the newfound warmth that wraps around her as she pulls on the wool coat.

Classisa’s wings flutter as she gives Finnley a point look, “I already told you, Finnula, you are in the Orion mountains.”

The little creature’s wide eyes watch her as though she is searching for any kind of recognition for her words. “My name is Finnley. What does that mean exactly?”

Classisa looks towards the Captain, who keeps searching through the duffle but he makes no move to interrupt her despite his earlier disputes. The little creature takes another deep breath in as her wings start to flutter faster. “Elek brought you through the Mandr Portal from Midguard, to your true home.” The creature does a little spin, before her purple eyes meet Finnley’s again. “We are in the Orion Mountains of the Celestial Equator.”

“What does that mean? Portal? Orion?” The laugh that escapes her holds no humor, “Those are just words.”

“I brought you through a portal from the Earth realm, to this one, the Celestial Equator.” He stands, the long jacket flowing out around his legs. “You were not meant to be on Earth. I made a blood oath to return you home and your home is on the Celestial Equator in Noctarae.”

Finnley stares at him, blinking once, and then twice. Her mind sorting through all of the different ways she knows to wake herself up from sleep. Blinking, focusing on the freezing feeling of her toes, pinching the skin on her wrist but no matter how many times she blinked the male and the tiny female were still in front of her.

“What does the Celestial Equator mean?”

Classisa gives a small melodic giggle. “We don’t typically have visitors who don’t understand. When a being travels through the celestial realm it's typically someone who has knowledge of it.”

Captain Ablieene rolls his eyes so harshly that Finnley wonders if it hurts to do so, “We are in the Celestial Realm. A plane of existence outside the realm that Earth is on. Instead we are in the Celestial dimension, and the Celestial Equator is the realm that encompasses that of the Celestial World.”

A lump has found its home in her throat and it hurts as she tries to breath around it. “Are you saying we are in the stars?”

“I’m saying you are no longer on Earth; to be in the stars we would have to be on what Earth refers to as their galaxy. Which we are not.” The tone of his voice gives the impression the conversation was over but Finnley is flooded with questions. She has the feeling she won’t get any answers quickly from these two.

“Now if you don’t mind, we have a long haul to get you back home.” The captain flings a pair of thick wool socks and worn leather boots at her, “Put these on, I don’t want you catching your death.”

“I’m going insane…” She whispers to herself, gazing around the meadow.

A thick huff escapes the Captain, “Don’t consider yourself so lucky.”

“Don’t be rude, Elek!” Classisa snaps.

Finnley’s glare only meets the Captain’s rolling eyes. “Well what should I consider myself other than confused, cold and abducted?”

“You can consider yourself on your way home!” Classisa triumphantly smiles, “We are in the Orion mountains; your home is towards the south of the realm.” She throws her tiny hand out, pointing towards the sprawling forest. “The Star Valley is the great stretch before the end of the equator. Your home is there, in Noctarae.”

“And at this rate it will take us four cycles to get there.” Without a look at either of them the Captain throws the large bag across his back and starts towards the trees.

For a long moment she stares after him suddenly all too aware of how cold her feet are now that her upper half is tucked within the warm coat. Tugging on each sock and the oversized boots after another she lifts out a huff and despite herself, follows after him.

Finnley quickly follows along, Classisa fluttering beside her.

“Four cycles?” She glances up at the small woman fluttering at her side.

“Of the moon!” Classisa explains with a kind smile. “Time does not pass here the way it does in the Earth realm.”

“Right.” Classisa looks as though she has something to say but keeps her lips tightly together with a small smile.

As they rush forward, at his heels she questions,“Your name is Elek?”

He side-eyes her as she falls into an even pace beside him, her oversized boots crunching into the icy ground. “My name is Captain Abilenne.” He growls but Classisa’s musical giggle follows his harsh words.

“Captain Elek Abilenne.” She confirms tapping Finnley on her shoulder, wiggling her brows in a crude gesture as Elek growls her name in upset. “Some might say he is a man of many titles.”

“Did I invite you on this trek?” Elek snaps at the little fairy.

“I am a forest fairy…” Cocking her head to the side, Classisa grins before doing a little spin and raising a brow at him, “and this is my forest. Technically you are the intruder.”

“And yet you let me through.”

Classisa looks towards her with an explanation, “Who am I to deny someone who holds an oath to the heir of the Astrophel throne?”

Finnley follows the two of them as they banter back and forth about lines of rule, forest patrols and a dozen other things that Finnley cannot make sense of. Dragging her feet through the snow, her chest aches with the freeze in the air.

“So you just expect me to believe that I need to follow you,” How was she already so out of breath, “a strange man who broke into my home, kidnapped me, brought me into an unknown forest, feeding me a bunch of bullshit about a destined, secret, magical oath?”

Elek barks out a harsh laugh, and whips around to face her. “Did you not see a recording of yourself giving you those exact instructions?” His hot breaths send puffs of clouds into her face. “Did you not listen to a thing you’ve been told? Did you not wake up in a different dimension? Do you not see a flying fairy before you? Or notice the way your body has responded to this place? Or the way your guide is suddenly not as human-looking as I was before?”

Quirking her chin up, she stares him right in the eyes. “None of this is real.”

With no warning Elek harshly grasps her right arm, pulling the sleeve of her coat down and grips her forearm, so hard she cringes. “You are being called home.”

She follows his eyes to her arm where her once clean skin is now adorned with a brand of sorts. “What is this?”

His grip does not release from her arm. “Guardian’s are marked with their bonded land. You are being called to the land that is your destiny...”

Her opposite hand traces over the glowing symbol branded into her upper arm. Like some kind of tattoo, she analyses the glowing crimson tracing of a starburst that pulses against her pale skin. She would have been less worried if it looked raw, pulsing with the newness of pain but instead there on her arm was a mark that looked at home blended into her freckled and scarred skin. “You want to tell me how this isn’t real?” He huffs, shoving her sleeve back down arm, “Then do it while we walk, because you have a lot of work to do, Sparkles.”

He leaves little to no room for complaints as he grabs her by the front of her coat, and she’s suddenly warm once again. As though the coat had just been pulled from a warm dryer, like it had sat beside an open fire for hours. As though her body heat had never left her.

“And keep this tight, I don’t need to be returning you to death's door because you can’t properly find your way through some snow.” He doesn’t wait for her response as he starts to button the large wooden knobs down the front of her body, tucking all of the mysterious heat around her, his eyes keeping her gaze as he grumbles. “Listen to me, and we might get you there before it's too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“For the Fall of the Stars.” Classisa pipes in from her place behind Elek.

Elek’s eyes snap up to her, waiting for her reaction. “The what?”

“She truly remembers nothing.” Elek signs to Classisa, turning his back from Finnley again. “The sooner she returns, the better chance she has.”

Just like that he continues on his way, without another look towards either of them.

Classisa starts after him again, and Finnley takes one glance around her at the thick forest and starts after them. Dragging her numb left leg behind her as she tries to carefully step in the outlines of Elek’s boot prints in the snow. Stepping carefully in each spot he does, she trails after them in silence. They walk through the deep snow until Finnley’s lungs feel as though they are on fire from the cold air, like she can’t catch her breath. When she finally stops, gasping loudly Classisa stops and flutters over to her as she grasps her chest. Elek shows no signs of concern and doesn’t slow down, quickly disappears from her view.

“I told him this pass was not made for human bodies.” Classisa worries around her, “But he was adamant that your body would adapt back to its old ways but with that leg of yours, I knew it would take time. Just take deep breaths.”

Classisa doesn’t leave or rush her to continue on, she simply flutters in place beside her, reassuring her that once she catches her breath it will be easier.

Once Finney’s gaze meets Classisa’s once more, and her breathing has evened they start again, following Elek’s tracks. “The Fall of the Stars is spoken of in the prophecies given by the Gods to the Guardians.” Classist’s voice fills the quiet air around the crunching noises of snow beneath Finnley’s feet. “It is a predestined event in our time. We do not know when it will occur, only that it will and it will change every life on our world.”

“What is the Fall of the Stars?”

“It is the prophecy of our people.” Classisa begins, “The Gods told the original rulers that one day a child will descend upon our lands and bring with it power from the sky. The very magic that holds together our world will fall from the skies and the stars will flicker out. Bringing an unknown darkness to our world. An heir believed to be lost will take rule over the equator, and the King Destroyer will yield a blade lost in time. And in their time of peril the Gods will not hear the cries of the Guardians, and they will pay for their sins. It is then that those born in the heart of the realm will come to call…”

“And we will watch the stars, as old as the Gods blink out, making way for new life.” Elek finishes for her, his eyes locked on Finnley from where he had paused to listen to Classisa.

“The prophecies claim that the fall of the stars will be the beginning of the return to the order that was here before your people came.” He tells her.

“And what does that have to do with me?”

Classisa’ s wide eyes ahead to where The Captain treks on a few hundred feet ahead of them, ignoring her completely.

Classisa reaches out for her, “Finnula…”

Before Finnley realizes what she’s doing she snaps out, “My name is Finnley!”

A soft look passes over the fairies face, pity. “He has not told me everything. Very little actually. But I do know that his oath was to move into motion when it was believed that the time would come. For certain. I do not know how he knows, or how anyone could possibly know he would be able to do this but you did.” The tiny female's words pour out of her then, as though she’s unable to stop them, “You knew your fathers death marked the beginning of the prophecy. You knew that the attempted destruction of the Guardians was the start. But something has happened, a tide has turned somewhere in our world and Elek is certain that the stars will fall sooner than later, and war will be at our doorsteps once again.”

Beneath her, Finnley's feet crunched in the snow with each word. Like a clock ticking, and her heart began to beat faster with each tick.

“My father…?” She starts but looks up to see the fairy is no longer beside her.

Finnley glances towards the small fairy who suddenly halted in her flying. “I can no longer go any farther.”

“What?”

Classisa’s large glowing purple eyes meet Finnley’s. “My forest ends just ahead..” She glances ahead, where Elek stands at the base of the large mountain. “My boundary stops here but Finnley.” The female warns, “This war will force all of us to take a side. And hopefully you will be able to find your memories before you are forced to choose.”

“And what if I can’t find my memories?”

Classisa simply shrugs, “Only the Gods know, but I suspect whatever you knew was important enough that you made sure it could not be used against you in this war.”

“We will meet again Finnula,” Classisa declares, “ I am sure of this, as sure as I am that you will protect our lands from what’s to come.”

“And how can you be so sure of that?”

For the first time since she had appeared, Classisa lost the animated expression, and her brow furrowed for a long moment before she took a deep breath, glancing behind Finnley once. “Elek believes you are meant to right our world again and as long as he believes this, so will I.”

Before Finnley could respond or even blink, Classisa was gone. Zipping through the treeline eventually blending in with the snow that had started to fall.