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For the third time in a row, they entered the same chamber with the same bed of crystal flowers in the middle. Heleine's head felt like it could split open at any moment, all because of the terrible headache that had taken her briefly after Lirai had plunged into the darkness. Despite hearing him shout that he was fine after falling, she couldn't help but be worried for him, and she was sure the others felt the same. Now that the Beighal had stopped moving, their priority had shifted from finding a solution to that crisis to reuniting with their new fei friend. It had been a few notches since they got separated, at least.

The light of the crystal flowers seemed to pulse, and the pain in Heleine's head grew stronger with each pulse. Suspicious of the way their light had been flickering and changing colour, she had shut herself off from Shountu, fearing that whatever it was that caused their mystifying behaviour could affect her too if she didn't. This, of course, had meant that she had had to rely on her sense of smell to guide them through the galleries, avoiding their many dead ends by choosing the path that felt the least stale. But that headache made her almost nauseous, and it seriously messed with her ability to follow a scent trail.

A small, caring paw touched her on the shoulder. "It's okay, don't pressure yourself too hard," Nova tried to comfort her, "this place was obviously designed to be hard to navigate."

"Indeed," Gyvar confirmed, encouraging, "We'll all help you finding a way to the best of our abilities."

With his surprisingly juvenile voice, Sychrill stated, "Ye shuld rest. Did too much in too short time. Ye're not well, I see it."

She shot a suspicious glare to the crystal flowers not far from them. There was no doubt in her mind that their odd behaviour was in some way connected to the Beighal starting to move in the first place, perhaps even to Lirai's fall, but she hurt too badly to be able to reason or to move forward.

She nodded to Sychrill. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. I can't keep it up right now. Can any of you take the lead?"

"Honestly, sweetheart," began Gyvar, "I think you shouldn't worry about that. Just lay down and have a nap, while we try to find a solution. You guided us all the way down here, that was already really helpful from you, so we'll take it from here."

Heleine didn't intend to actually fall asleep, as suggested, but she did lay down on the cold rocky ground. Closing her eyes for a moment seemed to ease the excruciating pain in her head, at least a little. Her breathing slowed down, her muscles relaxed, the sound of the others softly discussing what to do next in a whisper seemed to become more and more distant.

She almost dozed off, but successfully managed to remain conscious. As much as she needed rest, she just refused to completely shut down and stop making herself useful in some way. The headache was still there, but now she found that she was actually able to think a bit more straight than before. She had been fighting that headache all that time, but she hadn't stopped long enough to actually analyse it and try to understand where it came from. But now, she could do just that, so she carefully tried to.

It almost felt as if something was pressing against her skull from the inside, right in the middle. She had thought it had just been fatigue and nothing more, but she had been through longer hunts with no trouble, so that couldn't be it. Allowing herself to completely feel any sensation from her body, she realised that, albeit a lot less intensely, that same pain ran down the entire length of her spine. That could not be a coincidence.

It wasn't very obvious, unless someone specifically paid attention to it, but from the top of her head to the tailhead, instead of regular fur, the shamans in her species had a line of small and soft epidermal growths not unlike feathers, that could glow a little, just like the tip of their whiskers, when using Shountu. The pain in her head was more intense where those "feathers" grew on her head, and all through her spine. She suspected there to be some kind of invasive force trying to get to her through her connection with the crystal flowers. She had never heard of anything like that ever happening, but she definitely didn't have any reason to think it was impossible, especially because she wasn't familiar with the innate abilities of all species outside of her native region. She decided to open herself just a little, in order to test her suspicion. She could almost immediately feel something trying to invade her mind, so she shut it off. Uh-huh, so that's how it was.

If any of the others looked at her, she knew they would see both her whiskers and the "feathers" on her back glowing, because she was preparing to go on the offensive. She activated her Shountu and didn't wait for that mysterious force to try once again to get inside of her head. She invaded it back instead.

Now that she was going at it full force, she could feel two distinct entities connected with the crystal flowers, aside from herself. One was now quiet, but it felt very similar to the one she had perceived originally when trying to see if the Beighal was alive; so, even after stopping, that was still there. The other, the one trying to assault her, retreated as soon as it realised she was going on the counter-offensive. She prepared for it to strike back, but, to her surprise, it didn't. In fact, it all but disappeared.

What happened next would be difficult to describe to someone who didn't have the ability to experience Shountu. It would be as if she had pushed her entire bodyweight forward, expecting a powerful gust of wind to come and getting ready to resist to it, only to lose balance because that gust didn't come. Something similar happened to her within the connection through Shountu, and she "fell" against the other consciousness, the one she associated with the Beighal.

***

A warm breeze caressed the rough surface of the massive stone bricks beneath her. Before even being able to acknowledge her surroundings, she realised she was inside of a memory. It wasn't the first time she had been able to enter the memories stored within the all-encompassing network of crystal flowers, so it was easy for her to understand that. However, on previous occasions, all the memories she had experienced came from creatures coming from her native land. The environment surrounding her now was completely different.

She had never seen anything like that. She was in some kind of huge stone complex, on top of a big platform in the middle of an impossibly large chamber, with pillars taller than two dozens of koul trees stacked on top of each other, perhaps even more. Only two sides of the locale she was in were closed by humongous walls; the rest was open, revealing more buildings, pillars, stairs, and platforms like the one she was in, as far as the eye could see. She could see the terrain, but only very far away from her, leading her to believe that the platform she was on was in a really high position. What terrain she could see was arid, a vast expanse of sand extending, together with the tremendously huge complex of stone buildings, all the way to the horizon. It was all completely desolated, as if nothing had lived there in who knows how long. For a moment, she thought she heard the distant sound of music, but, when her ears turned in the direction from which it seemed to come, she could no longer hear anything.

She turned around, trying to locate the origin of the memory. It couldn't be too far. As if on cue, she found, behind her, the indistinct shadow of some kind of living being. It was about her size, perhaps a tiny bit bigger. It didn't make any noise, but its shoulders shook as if it was crying. In the dark blur of the shadow, she could barely make up the shape of a pair of arms covering its head, where its eyes were supposed to be. Lying down next to the shadow, she could see a few building tools, like a hammer and a chisel, eroded by time.

She approached it. By touching a shadow inside a memory, she would be able to understand the feelings and thoughts it had experienced at the moment the memory had been recorded. Before she could touch it, however, it turned to face her and then, as if startled, it quickly recoiled. She stopped dead in her tracks. The shadow was not supposed to react to anything she did. A shadow was not a living being, it was nothing more than an after-image, a footprint of a moment in the past. She turned around to see if anything around her could, within the memory, cause that reaction, but it was still just the two of them in that impossible place.

"Um… don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." She tried to say in Valdheel.

It responded with an unexpectedly deep voice, but in a language she couldn't understand. A few notes of a distant music echoed again, but once more it disappeared when she tried to focus on it. The shadow did not appear to react to it.

"Do you understand the Language of Winter?" She tried asking in her mother tongue.

Again, it only answered in that language she didn't know. Oh well, worth a shot.

So, that clearly was not a memory. If it was, she shouldn't have been able to interact with anything within it: she couldn't rewrite or alter a memory, only read it, so to speak. But, if it wasn't a memory, then what was it?

Maybe, it came to her, that outlandish place was, in some way, some sort of dream-like state that represented the Beighal's mind. If that was the case, then that shadow had to be the consciousness at the core of the stone guardian. She looked around again, but nothing in the strange architecture around reminded her of anything she had seen in the galleries, but she shrugged it off because that alone didn't mean anything. Thinking about it, no stone structure of that size could actually exist in the physical world: nobody could build pillars that tall, or walls that vast; and, even if someone could, it would require an impossible amount of time, and it would all come crumbling down long before the work was even over. That wasn't a literal place in the real world, she deduced, it had to be some kind of symbolism that made sense for the shadow in front of her.

Very good, she had made some progress. What now? She had already established that she wasn't able to communicate with the shadow, so what else could she try to do? She could try to touch it again, but she didn't want to cause it to panic, because who knew what would happen in the waking world if the mind of the Beighal freaked out in there. Besides, she knew what would happen if she touched the shadow at the core of a memory, but this circumstance was entirely new to her, so she couldn't be sure that it would work the same way.

For a third time, she could hear music again, this time a little clearer. It finally occurred to her why it would disappear when she focused her attention on her surroundings: that music probably came from the real world, and, by focusing on her surroundings, she only heard the sounds within the dream. She almost slapped her own forehead at the realisation, because being able to recognise which sensations cam from the real world and which came from Shountu was among the basics. Now she finally could understand what was that music. It came from somewhere else, not from the same chamber from which she had connected, but not too far away either.

A flutter of happiness and relief crossed her chest as she recognised that music as Lirai's violin. It was a simple, somewhat slow tune, yet emotional and weirdly nostalgic. She wished that the shadow in front of her could hear it, because she was sure it would soothe it. Then she had an idea. As a shaman, she had been taught what's needed to preside to ceremonial and ritual functions, and, although she didn't think of it as her strongest skill, she was indeed capable of singing. The music was fairly simple and repetitive, so that would definitely make things easier.

She cleared her voice, took a deep breath, and started singing after Lirai's violin. It had been a while since the last time she had had to sing, so, to avoid voice-breaks, she eased into it and avoided jumping too high in her register right away. The shadow appeared suspicious at first, but then, as the song went on, it finally relaxed. Still singing, she slowly approached it, and this time it didn't react negatively.

She offered her hand, still singing, and it took it. When contact was made, a flood of feelings came from the shadow into her mind. He had been a builder, dedicated to a massive project started before his birth, and that he wouldn't live long enough to see completed. But, instead of finding peace, at the end of his life, something immensely powerful forced his shadow inside of a massive body, so heavy that each step was painful, so cold that he could hardly feel the warmth of the lumena in the sky. He had sensed a mountain on the horizon; he didn't quite understand how, but he knew that that mountain was home to a powerful prince, and something whispered to his ear that the prince was responsible for his imprisonment. So, enraged, he started walking towards it. Only a little while ago, long before he could reach the mountain, a powerful force stopped him, but he was still impotently inside of that enormous body and couldn't get out.

Heleine understood. She couldn't free him, since she didn't know how he had been imprisoned in the first place, but she could put him at ease and cause his shadow to fade asleep. So, singing the last notes, she did just that, and the dream around her started to slip away. Before closing her eyes, which would bring her back in the waking world, she felt a wave of gratitude coming from the shadow. She smiled as she closed her eyes.

***

When she re-opened her eyes, she found the rest of them still quietly discussing.

"Ah, there she is," commented Gyvar, as she took notice of Heleine being awake, "I gather that you're feeling better?"

Heleine nodded. "I'm completely fine now, thank you for waiting for me."

"That is wonderful, darling. While you were out, Leewa managed to locate the approximate position of our destination, so we should be ready to go as soon as you are."

"It's not going to be exact," Leewa clarified, "because there are still a lot of disturbances in the Flow, event though the construct itself stopped moving."

"That's great, but, before we go…" and the blue mikai described the headache she had been dealing with, the two consciousnesses she had perceived from the crystal flowers, and the dream-like experience she had just gone through, including Lirai's music.

Leewa nodded. "I see. So, my theory is that this shadow thing you told us about was probably used as a way to control the Beighal once the energy necessary to make it move was provided. In other words, it explains why and to what end the Beighal moves, but we still don't know how, nor who is behind all of it."

"And," added Gyvar, "it would appear that the target of this whole thing was the Prince himself."

Helein pondered, "But then why did it stop?"

Nova raised a hand. "Question. If Heleine heard Lirai play from somewhere, shouldn't we be able to hear it while approaching the place?"

The three who had been discussing up until then looked at each other, then Gyvar proclaimed, "You are absolutely right. We should get moving, before he grows tired of playing."

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Not wasting any more time, Leewa and Heleine joined efforts to move forward. It took them about a tenth of a notch to reach a point where they could finally hear Lirai's violin echoing in the galleries, and soon, following the sound, they found themselves in the chamber covered in glimmering writings and crystal flowers. Within the clearing in the middle, they spotted Lirai and the unconscious figure of a loghral.

The fei lifted his eyes to meet them and gave them an uncertain smile. "Thank you so much for coming", he tiredly stated.

Before any of them could respond, Leewa gasped, "Dheeli? What is she doing down here?"

Lirai looked down at the purple loghra, then back to them, with a hint of panic in his eyes. "I, um," he stumbled, "I honestly can't tell."

Hold on. Something was wrong with Lirai. Heleine decided to insist. "What do you mean you can't tell? Was she already here when you arrived?"

He hesitated a lot before answering. "She… no, she arrived shortly after I did."

Leewa quickly approached them to check on the purple loghra. "And? Why is she unconscious?"

Lirai shook his head. "I… I really can't tell."

Now that she was closer, Heleine couldn't help but notice the acrid smell of fear coming from the fei. He wasn't necessarily scared in that particular moment, but she was sure that he had been seriously terrified in the immediate past.

"Tell us what happened from the beginning, even if you don't understand it." Commanded Leewa, with an authoritative tone Heleine hadn't seen her use before.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Tell us now!" Barked Leewa, opening her wings.

His eyes widened as he recoiled in fear of her sudden display of aggression. "I can't! I just can't!"

Heleine put herself between the loghra and the frightened musician. "Stop it!" She yelled, rolling up her lips and showing her fangs, "Can't you see he's not alright? Something clearly happened here, but we won't figure it out by snapping on him like that!"

Leewa closed her wings and lowered her voice somewhat, but her brows remained harshly furrowed. "Listen, Dheeli might not be very amicable or pleasant, but she's a high official of the Princedom. I need to know what happened here. She was probably down here to try and solve the issue, just like us, so if Lirai used his magic to knock her unconscious that is a very grave action with serious consequences."

"Please, let's not fight!" begged Nova.

"Ahem," Gyvar cleared her throat. "Pardon me, dear, but I seriously doubt our meek friend here would attack anyone unprompted. There is a possibility that, if a confrontation did happen, she was the instigator."

Leewa rolled her eyes. "Of course, I know Dheeli and I know that I should always assume her to be the aggressor, I'm not mad at him for that. Why can't you all see that, even if that's the truth, Dheeli is very likely to spin the events in her favour? I need to know everything that actually happened to make sure that I can help him were she to accuse him of something, because if it's the word of a theophyte against the word of an unknown foreigner guess who loses."

Heleine didn't move from her defensive position. "Well, you don't have to be an absolute jerk about it!"

Gyvar calmly nodded. "Indeed. You should be more mindful of your manners, dear, otherwise others might misunderstand your intentions. Your concern is valid, but flying off the handle like that won't help getting it across or solving the issue."

That seemed to snap Leewa out of it. She visibly shrunk and half hid her face behind one of her wings. "I'm… sorry."

The pink dhelil shifted her focus from Leewa to Heleine and Lirai. "I do sincerely ask for your forgiveness on her behalf: she means no ill will, but, despite her rank, she has a lot to learn about dealing with social matters."

Heleine raised a brow. "You two know each other?"

Gyvar chuckled. "Hardly. I did meet her a few times before, but I wouldn't say I know her extremely well. Being a diplomat, I do need to be a good judge of character."

Everyone relaxed. Heleine was in awe of how Gyvar had, seemingly effortlessly, alleviated the tension and helped everyone calm down.

"Now," the dhelil queried without missing a beat, "would you mind telling us whatever you can, dear? We were all very worried about you and we really would like to understand what occurred."

Lirai sighed. "I'm really, really sorry, but I can't talk about it."

Leewa shifted about awkwardly, then she raised a finger. "Uh, could… could I get closer for a moment? I'd like to check something."

For a moment, Heleine didn't budge and stayed between her and Lirai, but seeing her change in demeanour she slowly made way, eventually. Leewa, doing what she could to appear smaller, approached the fei. She closed her eyes and slowly touched his forehead with the tip of her nose. Lirai awkwardly stood still, allowing her to do so.

After a moment of this contact, Leewa shuddered away. "He's been cursed."

Heleine blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I just checked for any magic effect on him, and I found some kind of curse. Pretty elaborate too."

"Well, can you do something about it?"

The loghra shook her head. "Not right here and right now. From what I've been able to see, it's not been made by an amateur, and it uses an architecture I'm not familiar with, so attempting to break it would be reckless. I can't be sure of what would be the consequences."

Heleine pressed on. "But you can eventually do it, right?"

The logrha looked away. "I can't make any promises, but if you give me enough time and I'm allowed to check him in a lab I might be able to do something about it. Or, at least, to tell you more about what the curse does exactly."

She paused, stroking her chin with her fingers. "Clearly, keeping silent on what happened here must be one of the conditions of the curse. Still, most of the victims of this kind of curse, when interrogated on the events, give a false statement, often instructed by the one who cast the curse in the first place on what to say exactly, so as not to cause suspicion. What I'm trying to say is that it kinda perplexes me that Lirai didn't have such a story to tell."

She then looked down on the unconscious loghra. "Also, I'm pretty sure Dheeli can't be the one to have placed the curse on him."

Heleine tilted her head. "Oh? How can you tell?"

"As I said," she explained, "this curse uses an architecture I'm unfamiliar with. Dheeli and I learned magic together, I know the way she does things. When it comes to spells and curses, she's a bit sloppy even with the kinds of architecture we've been taught, let alone one that she would have had to learn on her own in her spare time. She's really good at other things, but magic engineering is not her forte, so I seriously doubt she'd be able to pull off something as elaborate as what I've sensed on him."

"Then," inquired Gyvar, "who did place that curse?"

Leewa shrugged. "I have no idea."

Heleine examined the chamber around them. The crystal flowers were now behaving as normal, which is to say quietly emanating a soft glow. The writing on the walls was also still emanating a faint light. She put her nose on the ground and tried to piece together the events by smell.

The oldest and faintest of smells she found was that of an old loghra, with hints of tea and old paper. It didn't take a genius to figure out who that was, but Heleine did wonder why she hadn't found that scent while traversing the tunnels: it would have made finding that place much easier to begin with. After that, she found the anxious smell of a smaller creature, probably feathered and winged, with a fruity hint that reminded her of the rakshia back in her home land. It was probably a male, and he had been hanging out a lot in the proximity of the wall, and also… what was that?

"Hey, I found something." Announced the mikai.

She grabbed a tiny object lying on the ground, small enough to comfortably fit in her palm. It was some kind of crystal, the shape of a pyramid with four sides. When she did so, the writings on the wall finally went dark.

Leewa immediately took an interest in it and seized it from Heleine. "Fascinating. This uses the same kind of architecture as the curse we just discussed. I'm not entirely sure, I would need to examine it further in a lab, but I suspect this tiny thing is what created the Flow syphon that powered the Beighal."

"Such a small thing?" Inquired Gyvar.

The loghra nodded. "It probably didn't do it all on its own. It may be the case that it empowered the crystal flowers all over the body of the stone guardian to syphon the Flow inside of here, giving it the energy it needed to move. This might partially explain why the crystal flowers were behaving strangely."

While Leewa was busy speculating, Heleine went back to investigating the scene with her nose. At some point, the feathered fellow took his leave by flight. In every spot where she found his scent, the smells of anxiety and fear were almost overpowering. Then, she found the sophisticated but slightly threatening aroma of the purple loghra. It had unnerving undertones of amusement. At some point, the loghra had placed herself on the rock in the middle of the room, and she stayed there for quite a while. The scent of fresh wood, seaweed, and cereals that she had come to associate with Lirai could also be found near that rock. The two of them probably had a very long conversation in that spot, but she could tell that he had been seriously afraid on more than one occasion throughout that time. As much as she searched, she couldn't find any other smell in the room.

She explained her findings to the others.

"From your description of the other creature you identified," reasoned Gyvar, "It might have been a lansa. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that, albeit few, there are some lansa capable of this kind of advanced magic."

Leewa shook her head. "I categorically exclude that a lansa would be responsible for this curse. Even the few advanced magic users among them would never use that kind of architecture, they'd prefer using something more… how should I put it? Streamlined. Simple. Their magical essence doesn't allow for anything too unnecessarily elaborated. Conceivably, an expert could be able to handle something like that, but even if they had the ability they wouldn't choose to because it would feel inconvenient to them."

"Could a loghral handle it?" Questioned Heleine.

"Sure, but our body is specifically evolved to handle any kind of magic. Even though a loghral would easily be able to use it, this architecture doesn't feel like it was designed for loghral use to begin with."

The mikai nodded. "Got it. Still, I can't find evidence of anyone other than Lirai, Dheeli, and that lansa that flew away having been inside of here today before our arrival."

Leewa sighed. "Then I'm afraid we'll have to wait until I'm able to analyse his curse and, hopefully, break it, before we get to learn the events. For now, the best idea would be to finally get out of this place and go home."

Heleine replied, "It feels to me like the most obvious answer is that this Dheeli was behind all of it."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," derided Leewa, "why would she try to attack the Princedom? She's a theophyte, like me."

"I have to admit," intervened Gyvar, "it makes little sense. Theophytes have power, prestige, privilege, all because they are at the direct dependence of the Prince himself. And the successor to a Prince or Princess is always one of his or her theophytes. The simplest way for a theophyte to maintain their privileges and increase their power is to serve the Princedom, so I see no way for a theophyte to gain anything by attacking it."

"On the other hand," added Nova, "she is kinda mean and rude."

Leewa dismissed her, "I know her and yes, she absolutely is… rather unpleasant. However, she is loyal to the Princedom, almost to a fault. I absolutely cannot believe that she would willingly put it in danger."

During this last exchange, Heleine tried to keep an eye on Lirai, trying to see if his body language revealed something. He had been squirming uncomfortably every time someone had accused Dheeli of being the culprit. It felt like he wanted to say something to clear the purple loghra from the accusations but couldn't. Also, she could see that everyone was exhausted.

So, she decided, it was time to put an end to this discussion. "Well, we can't really tell right now, so maybe the best idea would be to get out of here and wait for Leewa to be able to examine the curse further. We're all tired, and it seems to me that we've all done whatever we could to solve the issue and, hey, we were successful at stopping the Beighal, right?"

"I agree," Leewa assented, "and by now there will definitely be rescue teams and investigators all around the area, so all we really need to do is get out of these caves and they'll take us from there." She glanced at the unconscious loghra on the ground. "We should also take her with us."

"Ah do it," Sychrill timidly offered. "Ah did do nothing to help, so ah help with this."

"Aw, it's not true that you didn't help," chimed Nova, "You made us all feel safer in those scary, dark caves, by knowing that a big and strong guy like you was with us!"

He whimpered a soft "Thanks" while glancing at his own feet. The rest of them, Heleine included, couldn't help but giggle at his display of shyness.

As they started to get going, Heleine noticed Lirai visibly limping, so she trotted to his side.

"Come on, lean on me." She offered with an encouraging smile.

"Oh, no, there's no need to…"

"I absolutely insist. Besides, I still need to thank you for helping me."

He furrowed his brows, puzzled. "What are you even talking about?"

After he gave up and leaned onto her with his arm, they all finally started on their way back, and she told him about the shadow within the dream, and how his music helped her put it to rest.

"Oh, that. After the loghra passed out, I didn't really know what to do next, so I started playing, hoping that you'd hear me and find me."

She gave him a huge smile. "That song you played was beautiful."

"Um, thank you." He looked away. "It was written by a friend of mine."

***

Helping the limping fei walk all the way back was seriously laborious for Heleine, but she didn't complain once and, eventually, they emerged from the caves. The lumena were still bright in the sky.

Leewa asked, "Someone remind me, how many notches was today supposed to last?"

"Fourteen!" Chirped Nova.

"Actually," corrected Gyvar, "you're getting confused with yesterday. We had a fourteen notches day yesterday, followed by a night only six notches long, and today it's supposed to be a thirty-one notches day."

"Oops, I think you're right." Admitted the small mava.

"I live and die by my schedule, sweetheart," explained the dhelil, "I know the almanac by heart."

A trio of loghral landed next to them, all wearing a dark blue scarf. Heleine took notice of the lightweight protective gear they were wearing and assumed they would be part of the Princedom's army. Aside from the leather and copper of their equipment, she smelled some kind of pungent odour that she had never experienced before.

"Halt, in the name of the Prince! Identify yourselves!"

Gyvar and Leewa stepped up in front of them. "I'm Gyvar, ambassador of Her Grace the Dutchess of Dhelar, and this is Leewa, theopyte under His Highness Prince Theras. We're all rather tired and would really appreciate a ride to the capital. Also, we have information regarding today's situation that we'd love to disclose to your superior."

They stiffened up. The one who had addressed them first spoke again. "Ah, of course, ma'am. We were looking for you, knowing that you were among the passengers on board of the vessel that crashed today. We… didn't expect to find you together."

Gyvar chuckled gracefully. "Well, here we are. We'll wait for our ride and for a telecrypt to provide our report."

"With all due respect, there will be no need for a telecrypt, ma'am." Responded the loghral. "His Lordship the Tribune of Dhelar is personally overseeing this rescue operation, so you'll shortly be able to report to him."

"Hah, even better. Is it alright if we wait here? As already established, we're all rather tired: we've had quite the eventful day."

The soldier bowed with his head. "Of course, ma'am. I'll personally protect you and your…" a hint of disdain surfaced on his face as he looked at the rest of the group, "ahem… friends… while my two subordinates go…"

"There will be no need for that, sarge." dryly interrupted Gyvar, her practised smile ever so sightly veering into a scowl. "As you can see, we have a mighty dorpatchi and a brave mikai huntress with us, so we feel quite secure."

"But…"

She brushed his mouth with the tuft at the end of her tail. "Hmm, were you about to respond me?"

He sighed, defeated. "N-no, ma'am."

She smirked. "I thought as much."

He slightly bowed with his head again, then gestured to the others to follow him as he took flight.

The pink dhelil shook her head. "I can't believe they still tolerate such appalling lack of manners in the army in this day and age."

"Weren't you a bit too harsh?" Asked Leewa.

"I honestly was way too civil." She replied, her calm demeanour failing to hide the sharpness of her tone.

Heleine whispered to Lirai, "Remind me to never tick her off."

He giggled and nodded. She smiled, happy to see him laugh: he had been extremely gloomy for the entirety of their way back. He didn't feel like he was the same as before. He didn't even quite smell the same as before. She couldn't help but frown a little; they had managed, somehow, to stop a crisis, but the state of the fei, as well as the mystery surrounding what happened in the time they had been apart, made her think that it wasn't over yet. She helped him down, so he could rest while they waited for someone to pick them all up.

She looked up to the sky, illuminated by the dozens of small, yet bright and warm, orbs that they called lumena. The space in between the celestial bodies was a bright shade of pale blue, as opposed to the grim purples she was used to see around her parts. She had run away from her family, hoping to find a freedom that would have been impossible with them, but. now started to wonder exactly in what kind of trouble she had managed to get herself into in doing so. Still, she wasn't one to regret her choices, no matter how hard, so she decided to close her eyes and enjoy the scent of the summer woods, a sensation so rare in her home land that she could recall only ever smelling it once.