She walked with her family toward where they had left Raisa and Sasha. Taigan had to climb back up on Nekana, he was clearly spent. There was silence among them, everyone was starting to feel the exhaustion. Rosalea worried a little for Miri and Nauru on their own with just Taj.

Except Rosalea. She felt more awake and alive than she had in months. The world was full of its layers of magical color. Though it is a little sad. So much of this forest has been burned and destroyed. There were calls among different mystics, lonely sounding. Looking for the connection to the Moryshin I got rid of, Rosalea suspected with some guilt.

She looked at the rune shape in the corner of her vision. The only thing there now was the Language of the Gods. The other one was gone, as if it had never been there at all. So, there is that looming prophecy about the One still, and … I wonder if I can do anything to avoid ending up as his liana. I… do not want to see the Uryans destroyed. But… she was not sure about Ieshan magic. That death magic she had been wielding felt like a cousin to it, and so did all the bonding magic she had been working with. Dragons used it to actually hoard people and territories…

I do not know when the child I saw would even be born. But, if I cannot avoid the bond, I wonder if there is enough time to go home to Lio. She fantasized a little, during the walk, about bringing Lio here, or to wherever her family was if they had to go somewhere else after what happened with the Moryshin…

But she did not let her hopes get too high. I think there is a high probability that I have infuriated at least the Chained God, if not both of them. I broke his blessing, and I set the mystics free by binding them to their elements instead of to a living thing.

She decided not to think about it. As they paused to rest a little, Rosalea would take time to meditate. She worried it would be hard, but it came back to her as easily as if she had just done it yesterday.

Her inner pool of magic was black again. Is it because I am missing a liana? She moved around, still imagining human hands because that was how she had learned and still associated with handling her magic. She slowly straightened everything out. The color remained, within her river, there was a dark strand of it flowing through her body. It was something new she would have to learn. The red in her Ieshan magic was greatly expanded, and so was the white healing magic… which she was surprised to see. I would have thought without Fen… She had not seen any mystics using healing. But, then again, she was a mystic herself, so Fen had only been there because she was meant to be a Moryshin and have her magic flowing everywhere. I guess I will have to wait and find out if that is still the case. She focused on the real world to leave behind her inner world.

They were waiting for her when she returned. “I feel really confident that I could heal Raisa and Sasha… I would have gotten them when I got to everyone else, but I could not find you in the Moryshin’s bonds.”

“We were outside the forest, we lost them. I think being with you was the only reason we were fine. We might still be connected to you. I knew right where you were and the distress you were under as soon as we were near Miron,” Nekana said, nuzzling her face.

“But… I might not be able to stay here, what will happen then?”

Nekana did not know, so she shrugged. “We will find out soon. For now, let us just get everyone together, do what healing we can, and rest. It will be easier to think our way through the situation once exhaustion leaves us and our heads clear.”

Rosalea nodded, and followed along. They found Raisa and Sasha first. They had been slowly walking toward them. So, Rosalea knelt next to the exhausted pup, “I am going to try and see if I can make this better. But it might take me a couple of tries.”

Sasha nodded, “Do anything you want; I do not think it can be worse.”

Rosalea placed her hands on Sasha’s head and looked with her healing magic. It reminds me of the madness disease, she thought almost immediately. There were swirls of dark energy, dotted with green, blue, and yellow. I have also seen something like this before, she thought as she studied it. It took her some time to place it, but when she finally remembered it, it was when she was with Kaylar, after being poisoned. She had a vague memory of using his Essa magic to burn it away.

This was not the same though. That one had been a yellow and blue mass without any of this green. She breathed out slowly and tried to pour some healing magic on it, but it did not work. So, she focused with her essa magic… and while she could not burn through it, she could… grasp it. I guess that is why it felt like I should pull these to my body from the ones that were still connected to the Moryshin.

She let go of Sasha and came back to reality. I do not know what will happen if I move these marks to my own body now. Sasha looked up at her. She was resting with her head on her paws next to Rosalea’s feet. Well, it did not hurt before. Let’s try it, maybe it can be changed?

“Thank you for being patient. I am going to try one more thing,” she reassured the little one.

Sasha nodded to her, and then leaned forward, touching her nose to Rosalea’s knee. Rosalea focused on magic and Sasha’s body. She gripped onto the twisting mark and pulled it to her with her imagined human magical hands. It slid off Sasha and onto herself. She held her breath, opening her eyes. There were marks on her skin and, dark blue, like bruises. Not in the yellow-green color.

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Sasha was sleeping. Rosalea could tell by how deep and regular the breaths were she was doing better, she usually had a slight whimper. She flexed with her magic, pushing around some of the air around them. Nothing happened with her marks and they did not hurt.

All right, well. I guess it is fine. Did not hurt when I moved them as the Moryshin either. She did not feel like she was in danger from them, so, she waved Raisa over, adjusting so that Raisa could lay down near Sasha.

“They do not look as expansive on you as they did on Sasha, are you sure you want to do it? Do you hurt at all?” asked the wolf that looked so achingly similar to Fen asked before she would lay down.

“It does not hurt. Currently, I cannot feel them. They did not expand that I could see when I moved the air… so it seems like if I take them, even if they are bad, I will have some more time to deal with them.”

Raisa shifted her weight back and forth a moment or two. “Very well, I will trust your judgment. As much as it pains me to do so.”

Rosalea smiled. “I almost feel that is uncalled for, you and I ended up agreeing on almost every point, lately.” Fen’s look alike just huffed stubbornly.

So, Rosalea repeated the same process with Raisa. When the marks flowed off of Raisa and onto Rosalea, they did not match where they had been on Raisa, and were not as expansive on her body. They seemed random. It also left Raisa sleeping.

Nekana moved to her and nuzzled her cheek. “You are so good, I am glad… more than you can know, for your return. I wish we had figured it out sooner.”

Rosalea pressed her body to her mother’s. My real mother. It had been too much to take before, but she felt intensely grateful for it now. She felt tired, but she knew Taj needed to be next, but he was not here yet.

Rosalea was anxious as she waited for them, but at last, they returned. Miri walked with Honor following her, Taj resting on her shoulders, and Nauru following alongside her. Nauru immediately looked away from Rosalea and sulked as soon as he saw her.

First Taj, so I can help Taigan, then Nauru. Also, whatever healing I have left, should go to Amalia or Bazil.

“Taigan, can you hold Taj?”

It was easier. He was not like a mystic, his resistance to the mark had always been reduced. It was also not his own, it had spread to him from some other mystic. It was greener than it was yellow. It appeared on her skin as a dense blotch.

Both he and Taigan were on the ground when she finished. Rosalea adjusted Taigan a bit with her nose. Let me find out if my earth storage is reachable? She tried summoning a blanket, and it settled over Taigan just as she was always used to. She was glad to have access to everything that was in the earth storage, from Ulric’s bowl to Lio’s stone, to her supplies.

Rosalea thought though, that Lio… must have seen something somehow, because… right now, she was a black wolf with blue stripes ringing her body and splatters of it. She had thought about the stone, looked at it, and held it many times in her travels before arriving here.

She felt the tingles of magical tiredness. It was a feeling that was just like she remembered, but felt almost nostalgic now after the months without it. It has only been months, but it feels like a lifetime.

She looked at Nauru, sitting with his back toward her in a rather pointed manner. She let him sulk as she moved passed him, and he huffed and moved away. She used the last of the magic she had to help Amalia and Bazil. Then, as she was dizzy and tired, she laid down just behind the pup. “Nauru.”

Nauru sulked at her. “You keep leaving me.”

Rosalea laid down, putting her paws out near him, but he huffed and scooted a little away from her. “Yes. That wasn’t… very nice.” She hesitated, but she felt free from pressure and Gods, so, she decided to do what her heart told her was right. “Well, how about, from now on, we just go everywhere we can together, as long as the Gods allow it?”

He gave a glance over his shoulder. “You do not look like you.”

Rosalea wagged her tail, “Well, I am me, and you are my Desired One, so, little pup? Come here?” she tried hard to be cheerful, talking to him like he was Lio. She hoped somewhere deep in her heart that Nauru and Lio could meet.

He melted, he came right to her and started kissing her face. “No more leaving me behind?”

“No more just leaving you. It was not a nice thing I did, so I will not do it again.”

It was a promise she knew she might not be able to keep perfectly, but she would keep it for as long as she could. There was no point in clarifying the technicalities of things with him, and until she had to do whatever it was with the child she saw in her vision, she was going to be good to Nauru.

She gave him nuzzles and kisses until he was calm. Then, she laid down with Taigan and Raisa, and the rest of the pack arranged themselves around her and everyone slept there beneath the shade of trees.

The night was quiet, mystics were seeking one another because there was a lack of Moryshin to feel connected to. Honestly, Rosalea thought that this was an improvement.

Everyone was exhausted. They slept well into the next day.

But when Rosalea woke up, it was to an elf, sitting on the ground beneath a tree. He felt weirdly familiar.

“The last time we saw each other,” he said, “I was a bird.”

She knew immediately which one. “What do you want? Another cryptic comment about poison?”

Since she asked her question at a normal tone and volume, it woke almost everyone around her.

Taigan sat up, “What?” Then he looked where Rosalea was looking. “Oh, hello. I did not expect to see you again?” he said with a confused yawn.

Rosalea gave the elf an intense stare, “What are you trying to do with us?”

He put up his hands as if to ask for peace. “I am an ally. Yes, I have been steering you together. I… I… am a God of Love. I can tell who should be together.”

Rosalea could not even look at Taigan she felt so much fluster go through her.

The God continued gently, “But I am here now, because the God of Many wants you dead, or at least punished. So, I’d like to make you a deal, that I hope you will consider. But… I am here to help. I… want to choose the side I think you are on.”

Everyone stared at him.

Rosalea tilted her head. “Can you please… explain more?”

He nodded. “Where to start?”