“It's almost worth it, to see the old country,” Hidon Fingers said, peering over the railing of the Cotton Tale.

“I was wondering about that,” Threadbare said, hopping up next to him and peering down at the rocky crests of peaks, and the deep, mist-filled valleys broken by the occasional volcanic lake or snow-dusted sweep of piney forests. “Weren't most of your homes under everything? Is there really much to see, from up here?”

“Ah... there is, if you're a dwarf,” Hidon said, waving a gloved hand at the range they were passing over. “As above, so below. Ever hear that saying?”

“A time or two,” Zuula said, putting down the axe cozy she was knitting, and wandering over. “But dat saying usually about daemons or t'ings. You talkin' about one of dose delved too deep critters?”

“What? No. No, everyone always talks about those things. They're far rarer than you'd think, otherwise there'd be no dwarfholds left at all. No, I'm talking about sacred geography.”

“Sacred geometry?” Threadbare asked.

“No, no, geography. You look down, and you see high hills, soaring peaks, and downright tasty looking boulder fields.”

“You got strange tastes,” Zuula told him.

Hidon ignored her and powered through. “You see that. I see how the land has been shaped. And knowing how it's shaped, I can predict how the underparts of it are shaped, too. I know where to go to find caves that touch the surface. I can take a good guess at where the lightless rivers run to the sunless seas, and how deep we'd have to delve to reach them. The land tells us all this. All we have to do is listen.”

“You a Shaman?” Zuula asked.

“Er... no.”

“Den you ain't listenin'. You lookin' at de land and goin' mmmm mmm, look at dem shale deposits, and wonderin' if dem foothills go all de way up.”

“You don't have to be a shaman to appreciate the land, and understand what it's trying to tell you!” Hidon glowered at her, and tugged on his hood.

“You half right,” Zuula said. “Appreciate it, sure, but you ain't gonna listen better den a Shaman.”

“I'll just leave you to it then,” Threadbare told them, but they barely took much notice. Zuula was on the railing shoving herself up into Hidon's face, and he was getting his glower on in a way only a dwarf could, beard and shaking finger and all.

It might have been alarming if it hadn't been the sixth time they'd argued about the land, or something similar.

There hadn't been much else to do on the trip than talk to each other. Which was normally fine by Threadbare. He enjoyed spending time with his friends. But when they didn't get along, it was a little jarring. For all his socialization over the last few years, and learning the little quirks and tics of breathing people, it was still a little difficult to tell the difference between arguments for the fun of it and arguments that ended up with everything on fire.

Add to the fact that Zuula's line between the two was more of a bell curve, and he thought it was rather justified to err on the side of caution.

Finding his way to the hatch down, he ran into Chase coming up.

“Are they still at it?” she said, peering at the duo who had escalated to light shoving.

“It's a new argument, I think. Or maybe a continuation of the one they had yesterday,” Threadbare said.

“Okay. Whatever keeps them happy and out of trouble,” Chase said, retreating below deck. “Where are you off to now?”

“I've got a bit of a nervous habit. When we know that trouble's not very far away, I like to go and check on my friends. It settles my mind a bit.”

“I suspect that it helps them, too,” Chase smiled. “Do you mind if I come with you? I've been stuck flipping cards for most of the night.”

“Oh, you would be welcome,” Threadbare nodded to her. “How is the fortune telling going?”

“Unproductively. Whatever's in that mountain, I can't get a read on it. Thomasi thinks that they've got wards up, or something similar. Something against divination.” She frowned. “Which is strange, because usually the cards can get around that. They deal more in possibilities, they can... ah, it's a little hard to explain. They can look past all that, to the point where things become visible again.”

“When is that point?” Threadbare asked as he descended the steps, hopping down one by one.

“It's different every time. Which tells me that there are too many outcomes possible. We don't have one clear path, this could go too many ways for divination to be useful.”

“At least we know we'll get there safely,” Threadbare said. “That helped immensely.”

Although to be honest, now that Cotton Tale had been fully repaired, that outcome had never been in doubt. The difference between the ship he'd been captive on that was forced to limp along on two engines and a prayer and the vessel they were currently inhabiting, was astounding. The airship screamed through the skies at a clip that few native aerial predators could match, let alone maintain, was astounding. With no need for stealth and a clear destination ahead of them thanks to Glub's Explorer skills, the danger was minimal.

“Thank you,” Chase said. “So who do you want to see first?” They'd come to the storage hold. Above them were the crew quarters, and below them the engine room. Every room on the ship was reachable from this point.

“How about your friends?” Threadbare decided. It was only polite, after all. And he didn't know them as well as the others on the ship, for the most part.

“We can do that,” Chase smiled.

They found Thomasi first, seated in the middle of the crew quarters, laughing and drinking and gambling with three of the off-duty crew. Threadbare noticed Chase's lips tighten against her face, as she squinted at the group. But she kept her cool, and by the time Thomasi glanced up and saw them, the halven girl had replaced her grimace of discomfort with a pleasant and vague expression. “Thom? Are you free?”

“Chase! Give me a second. Jenny, you can play my hand too, since you're losing so badly.”

A top-hatted rabbitkin with tiny skulls adorning her mismatched clothes stuck out her tongue at him, scooped up his cards, and immediately started betting wildly. The other two laughed and jeered at her, as the lanky human made his way over to the door.

“I'm quite sorry to interrupt,” Threadbare said. “Are you well?”

“Ah, more or less,” Thomasi said, doing up the top button on his shirt. “Did you need something?”

“Just... seeing how everyone is,” Chase said, looking away from the table.

“To be honest, feeling a bit anti-climactic. After all that fuss with the inquisition, after what they put me through because I'm a player... and then to come here, and not have it be a big deal... I'm in a strange mood. Been settling it with wine, women, and song, more or less.”

“Yes. I can see that.” Chase said.

“It's good that you've made more friends,” Threadbare said, tipping his hat to the obviously-eavesdropping crewbunnies, who laughed and 'awww'd' at him.

“It is good,” Thomasi said, turning somber eyes to Chase. “They're friends in a different way, of course, than you all. Not everyone can be everything to everyone. Nor should they.”

“Is this why you've been avoiding us, Thom?” Chase asked, and Threadbare put his paw on her hand, as her voice quavered.

“What? No. No, I... oh, let's talk in the engine room.”

The engine room was practically deserted, save for one crewbunny who took a look, then took a smoke break.

“There. They can't eavesdrop so easily with the engine noise,” Thomasi said, raising his voice just a bit above the constant drone of the magitech engines. “Chase. I think I know what this is about.”

“I doubt that,” she folded her arms.

He glanced over to Threadbare, then met Chase's eyes. “You're attracted to me.”

The halven's ears stood straight up in shock, and her blush could have fooled rose-hunting bees. “What? No, I... well... it... it's complicated.”

“Not really. Chase... I am flattered. But I cannot be the man you want me to be.” Thomasi removed his hat. “I'm married, in the— in my world. And monogamous. I have two children... had. I don't know what the time differential is. And when I find a way back, or get extracted from... this world... then I'll go back to them. I have to. I have to be a good husband. I have to be a good father.”

“That doesn't stop you from fuck— from fornicating with those lop-eared floozies up there!” Chase snapped. “How is that being money gameing, or whatever you said?”

“Monogamous, and it's different with them. They don't love me, Chase. They don't want more from me than physical affection. And I don't love THEM. What we've got is a passing fancy, and when it's done we'll move on with no regrets. But you. You.... you want more, don't you?”

Chase looked away. She was crying now, and Threadbare squeezed her hand. Then his world turned quickly, as she snatched him up and hugged him, tears falling onto his face. “It's not fair,” she whispered. “I DO want more. Thom... you've taught me so much... can't you teach me just a little more?”

Thomasi knelt down and embraced her, squishing Threadbare between them. “I can't. I'm sorry. You're like a daughter to me. And there are some things a father can NOT teach his daughter. You understand?”

Soft sobs were her only answer.

“Yeah. I know. It's not fair,” Thomasi said. “I'm sorry.”

They stayed that way a little while, before Chase cleared her throat. “Um. I'm sorry too. Threadbare. I need to go to the cabin now I think.”

She left him in Thomasi's arms, and fled.

Threadbare looked up at Thomasi.

Thomasi stared down at him. And his own eyes were reddened. “Well. I'm sorry you had to see that.”

“Why?” Threadbare asked. “I think I was right where I needed to be. Er... was Renny in her cabin?”

“I think he was, the last I saw him.”

“I'll hold back on visiting him, then. He's a toy golem. He'll know what to do.” And what to do in that case, Threadbare thought, was to cuddle Chase until she felt better. He was her fox, after all. He'd take care of it.

Thomasi coughed and cleared his throat, setting him to the ground. “Yes. Well. I'd best get back to the game before Jenny Bones gives away too much of my stake. That woman can't bluff for the life of her. Then I'll have to spend about an hour pretending to care about flirting and gambling before I can retire and think about my life choices.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Are you well, though? Will you be well?”

Thomasi bowed his head. Then he smiled. “I spent over a decade in a small cell, trying to plot out what I would need to do to get home, once I got free. And sooner than I thought, I've stumbled onto the trail of answers. Don't worry about me, mister bear. Like you, I'm right where I need to be, doing what I need to do.” He leaned over and patted Threadbare's shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Threadbare told him.

Then he went looking for his older friends.

Garon and Madeline were back up on deck, where he'd left them a few moments ago. “Hello,” he told them as he clambered up the steps to the steerage deck, waving to Harey Karey as he passed the wheel. The small doll haunter waved back. They'd gotten her a proper chair to stand on while she piloted Cotton Tale, he noted. One that looked to be nailed to the deck; very important when you had to turn fast.

“Hey 'bare,” Madeline nodded at him. “Gahd to see yah.”

“It is good to see you too,” he said, and it wasn't just pleasantries. The giant suit of bull-headed armor that was Garon was sitting on deck, legs out, and Madeline was draped over him, leather wings folded over him like a cloak. They were enjoying each other's company, and it made him happy to see it. She'd been away a very long time, first searching for missing RAGs members in a far-off land, and then shepherding Chase and her group back home to meet everyone.

“I'm sorry I missed your wedding,” he said, taking a seat next to Garon, and lifting an arm to rest it on Madeline's tail as she slid it around him, welcoming him to the cuddle puddle. “If I hadn't been kidnapped, I wouldn't have.”

“It's fahn. And we got an all-expenses paid cruise on an ahship, so ah can't ahgue too much,” Madeline said.

Threadbare felt Garon's gauntlets scratch his head, and he leaned into it. “Mom's having fun,” Garon said, and Threadbare looked up, then followed his gaze down to the deck, where Zuula and Hidon were circling each other, hands on knife hilts, arguing about the land. “This is the first time I've seen her satisfied since... well.”

“Well,” Threadbare agreed.

It had been a very sad time when Mordecai had passed on. Zuula's husband; Garon's father. And Threadbare's first mentor. The old Scout had led a long and storied life, and gone through some rough times near the end.

But Celia had told him to be happy for him; Mordecai had died surrounded by his loved ones, and they'd gotten to say goodbye to him.

He still remembered the old human's smile, that night when Threadbare had visited him for the last time. That smile only grew when Threadbare offered him a soulstone, and a new body.

“No,” Mordecai had said. “I've done well enough. This is a good place to go, I think.”

Then he'd ruffled Threadbare's head, like Garon was doing now, and suddenly the memory was painful, and he patted Garon's hand. The big doll haunter drew his gauntlet back, and Threadbare watched Zuula for a bit.

“Will she be all right, do you think?” he asked Garon, when he could speak again.

“Yeah. I was worried she was going to go to join him,” Garon said. “But now I think she won't. Not until this is over.”

“I'm naht so shah,” Madeline said, lowering her head and wrapping her wings around them to muffle her voice. “If she dahs in a good fight out heah, she maht decide to move ahn. So we bettah make shah she lives. Savvy?”

“Savvy. Look at you, picking up that pirate talk,” Garon said, gently nuzzling her with his muzzle.

Threadbare let them nuzzle for a bit, before he spoke up again. “Are you concerned about the what we're going into?”

“I always am,” Garon said. “But we've got multiple failsafes, here. Everyone's packing a waystone home, and everyone's got at least one soulstone. The airship's in good repair, and has a full bank of cannon if there's a problem to be solved by overwhelming firepower. And we've got enough competent people back in Cylvania to handle the war preparations without us. Which reminds me, Emmet sends his regards.”

“Emmet!” Threadbare sat up. “It's been a long time since I've spoken with him. How is he doing?”

Emmet was, in a manner of speaking, Threadbare's brother. He had been animated by Celia's biological grandfather, just as Threadbare had. Only Emmet had spent the majority of his existance as a lesser golem, and only achieved sentience during a complicated and violent time, shortly before his creator's demise.

After that, an insane tyrant had done his best to turn Emmet into a walking engine of destruction. He'd succeeded. Emmet was an armor golem, a powerful and physically imposing creature. And on top of that, every one of Emmet's jobs was built to make him a walking siege engine.

Fortunately he hadn't bothered to break Emmet's will, or keep his lies at a pace with Emmet's mind, which, left to its own devices, found a joy in reading books and imagining what kind of puppies Emmet could adopt after all this fuss was over. Emmet had failed to realize the tyrant's dream as an engine of destruction, and that was probably for the best all around. Heaven knew that his dogs were quite happy with the situation, and Threadbare thought that most situations where a person's dogs were happy were good situations.

A thought occurred to Threadbare. “Where was he, by the way? I was a bit surprised to hear he didn't do anything during the whole mess at the Capital.”

“He was out with the dwarves and giants, running training exercises. After the mess, he hooked up with the army as it came up from the south, and started heading west. He would have gotten there with the rest of the crew, and honestly, after seeing how meager that revolution was, he probably could have beaten them by himself.”

“Or gotten tahned by Copperfield,” Madeline said, her tone a bit cautioning. “That maht have been theah plan. Tahn ah people into theah people.”

“It's possible,” Garon tugged on one horn. “What a pain in the ass. You know we're banking on being able to resist that, and hoping that it's not an instantaneous thing? That's the only concern I've got for this mission.”

“I thought about that too,” Threadbare said. “But the thing I keep coming back to is that he didn't use that to mind control Chase. They needed to trick her into absorbing a bad condition before he started subverting her, and using it to give her commands. So that makes me hopeful, especially since she should be able to cure any mind control he manages to land on us.”

“Should,” Madeline cautioned. “SHOULD is the keywahd theah.”

“Yeah. Only one way to find out, though,” Garon said. “And he's the only one who has the answers we need to prevent a war right now. Maybe. If we're lucky,” Garon summed up. “When you come down to it, Thomasi's got a lot of good theories, but they're just theories. We need evidence. And a motive might be nice, too. Why mess with us this way? What's to gain? Mom thinks it's just one big game of Let's You and Him Fight, but why?”

“I don't know. But we'll find out together, and maybe this other player will have answers too,” Threadbare said, and though he hated to get up, he rose anyway. “I'm glad you're ready for this.”

“As we'll evah be,” Madeline said, stretching her wings out, keeping them tilted so the wind didn't catch her. “Oh, ya doing the thing, raht? Who's left to check on?”

“Just Glub,” Threadbare said, turning his mouth up as close to a smile as it could get.

“I think he's in the captain's cabin,” Garon said, readjusting his seated position. “So you shouldn't have far to go.”

A quick jaunt and a few raps on the door later, the door cracked open and a robed figure looked down on Threadbare.

“Ah, come in,” said Stormanorm III. The veiled figure opened the door, and let Threadbare step into the cabin. He was the captain of the ship, more or less. The dread pirate Anne Bunny had left him in charge temporarily, then turned it into a more permanent position due to a sudden-but-inevitable betrayal.

It had been some time since Threadbare had been inside the captain's cabin, and he looked around with curiosity. It was nice in here, with a proper bed, a well-carved oaken desk, and a few chests that were chained to the floor. And a globe, which Glub was busy manipulating. That globe seemed to be made of lacquered wood, hovering magically a foot above a pedestal. Tiny mountains poked up from it, and rippling seas of water flowed between the two great continents of the world... and what seemed to be a dozen or so smaller ones.

“I didn't know there was more land north of here,” Threadbare said, studying a mass that looked vaguely like a depressed dog's head.

“I didn't either, dude!” Glub said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his flippered feet. “But I'm totally gonna go check it out when I get a few years off!”

“That's supposed to be Pupperland,” Stormanorm said. “From what I hear it's mostly underwater now. Could make it hard to—” he shook his head. “Wait, no, nevermind.”

“Yeah man, you're totally threatening me with a good time,” Glub told him, as he furiously copied down the details from the globe.

“I'm glad to see you've found something that makes you happy,” Threadbare told him.

“Like, at this minute? Or in general?”

Threadbare considered the question. “Both, I suppose.”

“Yeah... been an interesting few years,” Glub said, putting the notebook down. “Won't deny. I was a mess when you found me, so losing my body was a small price to pay for getting out of that. And helping out against the demons and shit? Yeah, that was a pretty good thing to do, but that was more about you guys than me. Which is fine, I owed you big. But when the Oblivion came down? Man, that's when things CLICKED for me. I made the best choice of my life when I picked Explorer. Big ol' world you got here, and I'll see every part of it. Then I'll work on others.”

“Others?” Threadbare shared a look with Stormanorm. “Which others might those be?”

“Well, I'm from wherever my great one lives, so there's that one. Be good to get back and say hi to the fam. And there's wherever Thomasi's from, so there's at least one more, y'know? And I figure that if there's two I can point at and go yeah, those exist, then there's lots more out there just waiting for me to get my tourist on.”

“I hadn't even considered that,” Threadbare said.

“Oh it gets better, man. Where Thomasi's from, all the stars in the sky are like suns with their own worlds around them. They're just really far off.”

Threadbare blinked. He'd heard theories along those lines, and conflicting information from various priests, but still... “There are rather a lot of stars up there in the sky,” he said, slowly. “Are there fewer in Thomasi's world?”

“He says no. And I figure if it works the same way here as there, then there's lots and lots of worlds to explore without having to worry about hopping through magical portals. Just gotta figure out a way to swim fast and far up in that deep black...” Glub looked up, as if he could see through the ceiling of the cabin.

“That's a rather humbling dream,” Threadbare said, slowly turning from Glub to look at the globe. It seemed so large... but if what Glub was saying held true here, then it was a very small place in the grand scheme of things. “I haven't thought much farther beyond catching Copperfield and getting back home.”

“Yeah. I've been thinking about that,” Glub said. “Thing is... I think we don't have as much to worry about as we're afraid of. First thing the dude did when I waystoned after him, was he tried to talk to me. Yeah it was mind control or something, but it wasn't, like, straight-up murder.”

“Probably because you got out of there before he could move on to the murder,” Threadbare said. “I hope you're right, and we can talk this out. Without the mind control, I mean. We've actually done pretty well at avoiding murder while fixing all this, I'd like to keep that going.”

“Would be nice,” Glub said. Then he glanced up at something only he could see. “Also my magic map is telling me we're gonna get real near the part I teleported to in, oh, maybe half an hour. So we should probably start wrappin' it up, yeah?”

“Yes,” Threadbare agreed.

In the end, it took a bit more than half an hour. Stormanorm slowed the ship and used a ridgeline for cover, so they didn't make too much of an obvious target. There was no telling what kind of artillery Copperfield or the Wendigo Queen could bring to bear, so there was no point in getting cocky at the last minute.

But nothing shot at them, as they moved through the clouds, and towards a wide, low mountain that looked like it had been broken off a long time ago.

“Old volcano,” Zuula and Hidon confirmed simultaenously, then glared at each other before turning back to consider it. “Hasn't erupted in a long time. Won't for anodder long time,” Zuula continued.

“Then why is it smoking?” Stormanorm asked, studying it through a spyglass. “Not a lot of smoke, true, but still...”

“I'll go take a look,” Madeline offered. “If it's fah, then I'm fahproof. And if it's something else I'm a dragon.”

It was hard to argue with that, so they watched her launch from the deck, do a pass, then circle back around.

“It's a village,” she said, as she landed back on deck. “It's built into the slope of the cratah.”

“So there's no lava or anything?” Garon asked.

“Theah's a steaming lake, but no lava,” Madeline confirmed.

“I'll be puttin' us down on the slope before the crater,” Harey Karey decided. “Not goin' ta take the chance wi' thermals an' all.”

As they settled to the icy stone of the ancient volcano, Glub talked with Garon for a bit, then made his way over to Threadbare. “So the place I waystoned into is somewhere below us. Figure it's in the mountain somewhere. If you guys wanna go into town and be nice and distracting, I'll go and look for a way down.”

“We can do that,” Threadbare told him.

“Alright. Two parties, like we discussed,” Garon said. “Threadbare, Glub, Thomasi, and Zuula on the first team. I'll lead the second, and I'll take Madeline, Chase, and Hidon. Everyone else stays behind and minds the boat—”

“Ship,” Stormanorm corrected.

“—ship,” Garon agreed. “Any questions?”

There weren't. They'd had ample time during the trip to discuss this. And after gathering the gear they needed, and making sure the breathing members of their group were dressed warmly, the nine of them took the rope ladders off the ship, and started the hike up to the rim of the caldera. Threadbare slowed his steps until he was slightly behind the group, so he could watch everyone and make sure nobody came to harm. A quick, muttered, “Keen Eye,” helped with that, as his vision sharpened.

And then he noticed something rather alarming. But he couldn't be sure, so he kept it to himself.

PER+1

After about an hour of hiking, he saw Zuula glance back, do a double take, then fall back to him. She was walking just a bit too casually, he thought. The whistle and the hands in her pockets really didn't help much.

“Some'ting not right,” she whispered as she fell in next to him.

“You see it too?”

“Me. You. Garon. Madeline. Glub. Chase. Thomasi. Hidon. How many dat make?”

“Eight.”

“Den why are dere nine sets of tracks behind us?”

“Oh it's worse than that,” Threadbare murmured back. “Count them.”

“She just did.”

“No. Look forward and count them.”

Zuula tilted her head, then faced the front and did so, her lips moving.

“Seven,” she hissed.

“Seven,” Threadbare agreed. “I thought I noticed something when we were coming off the ladders.”

“We gots an imposter!” Zuula started to draw her spear.

Threadbare stopped her with a paw on her arm. “No. Name them.”

“What? Agh... Garon. Madeline. Glub. Chase. Thomasi. Hidon.”

“Who's the seventh?”

“It's...” Zuula squinted, then shook her head.

“It's a powerful trick,” Threadbare said. “And I might think it's a wendigo sort of thing to do, going by the legends Thomasi told us about. Except that it came down with us from the airship.”

Zuula grunted. Then she nodded. “For now, we wait. Yah?”

“For now,” Threadbare agreed as they crested the ridge, and looked down upon the tiny settlement below. “I have a feeling we won't be waiting long...”