“This was unwise,” Quakfina said calmly as they all plummeted towards the ground. “Your desire to save your friend was more than commendable, but she was in no danger.”

The humans were mostly screaming, except for Betty, who was a stoic plummeting to the ground below as she was...pretty much every other time.

“Are none of you capable of flying under your own power?” Quakfina said.

“I do not believe so,” Betty said. “Though I do consider it likely Trevor will survive the fall, given what I've seen of his physical enhancements. Possibly Ammeline and Eric as well.”

“She's right!” Eric said, blinking. “Me and Trevor can definitely handle the fall!”

“Oh good for you!” Goldie shrieked. “But in case you forgot, I don't have any fucking powers!”

“Technically not true,” Betty pointed out. “You successfully conjured a magical effect just a short while ago.”

“Yes great!” Goldie snapped. “I'm sure my ability to conjure a crappy magical flashlight will get me out of this!”

“We'll cover you,” Trevor said. “Eric, grab Goldie. I'll take Betty and Ammeline. We'll try to break your fall as much as possible.”

“No one needs to grab me,” Ammeline said. “I believe I can break my own fall with my sword.”

“Okay good,” Trevor reached out to grab Betty as best he could in the air, cradling him to his chest.

“I am surprised you have not yet flown away of your own power,” Betty said to Quakfina. “You can certainly fly under your own power.”

“The magics required to conjure the tests cost a great deal,” Quakfina said. “I was more weakened than I appeared, and my magics were imbalanced. As the guardian of this place, I am more vulnerable to such things than a mortal would be, or than I would be otherwise.”

“Can you survive the fall?” Goldie asked, from where she clung to Eric.

“Oh no not at all,” Quakfina said. “My strengths are mystical, not physical. When I hit the ground I will die, unless something is done.”

“Come over here,” Trevor said. “I can probably carry you too....”

“I don't think that would work,” Quakfina said. “The chances of you cushioning the fall for one person are slim enough. No, I have two chances at survival. The first is for my powers to recover before we strike the ground, at which point I could save all of us. But that seems very, very unlikely.”

“What is your second option?” Betty asked.

“This,” Quakfina said. Her outline began to shimmer and blur until she was nothing more than mist, and then she faded away.

“Oh,” Eric said. “Yeah that's cool, you can just bounce. That's fine sure.”

“Where did she go?” Trevor wondered out loud.

“I dunno back to whatever freaking rubber duck dimension she came from,” Eric said. “The great soapy rubber bathtub in the sky. I'm pretty sure Tanya's entire family is drinking the water from there anyway.”

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“Now that you mention it,” Ammeline said, “where is Tanya?”

With a loud triumphant quack Corbin swooped down, catching the falling crowd a few feet above the ground. They slammed down on a soft bed of downy feathers, falling apart in a chaotic pile.

“Where's Quakfina?” Tanya asked.

“Back in her duck dimension,” Betty said.

“She doesn't actually have a duck dimension, she's an angel of the goddess...”

“She was an angel!?” Eric sputtered. “An actual angel!?”

“You already knew there were genies and demons,” Tanya pointed out. “Anyway, is everyone alright?”

“We're all okay,” Trevor said.

“Good,” Tanya said. “It's time to go see my father.”

In the training room beneath the cabin, Kyle was meditating again. He'd done an awful lot of that. The problem, at least according to Dr. Myrden, was that Kyle didn't really have much control of his power. Kyle thought he was probably right. But that meant they were doing a lot of training that was...

Well, frankly, boring. And he missed everybody else.

“Wait,” Dr. Myrden said.

“What?” Kyle asked, opening one eye.

“The guardian is gone. An angel I formed a pact with. She's supposed to keep intruders out of this land.”

“So someone's coming,” Kyle said, getting to his feet.

“Someone powerful enough to defeat a powerful being of the light,” Dr. Myrden said seriously. “Come on. And call your genie. Back me up, but if I tell you to run, you run. Understood?”

“Understood,” Kyle nodded, getting up to follow him out. He waved Jenny over, and the three of them walked out into the grassy field around the humble looking wooden cabin that hid the training rooms. They were greeted to the sight of a humongous glowing duck gliding in for a landing on the grass below.

“Wait,” Kyle said. “Isn't that...”

“That's not my familiar,” Dr. Myrden shook his head. “That's a different spectral duck I summoned and bound to a token. Who could possibly have that?”

The duck landed, and the whole crowd poured off his back.

“Hey!” Jenny said cheerfully. “It's everybody!”

“Hello!” Betty waved, walking to catch up with Kyle. The others came quickly behind her, all except for Tanya.

“What are you guys doing here?” Kyle asked.

“Theoretically we are here for advice on training,” Betty explained. “But I also believe we are caught up in the climax of some old family drama.”

“Yeah I picked up on that,” Kyle said, as Tanya stormed up to her father.

“What are you doing here?” Dr. Myrden demanded. “How did you banish Quakfina?”

“It was a group effort,” Tanya said. “I want to know what you're doing here.”

“I left you notes...”

“Screw your notes!” Tanya snapped. “You've been gone for over a year. And then you show up, don't even come visit me at home, grab one of my friends and fly off?”

“I know I'm away a lot,” Dr. Myrden said, “but my work is important.”

“Training Kyle is that important?”

“Yes,” Dr. Myrden said seriously. “I don't think anyone realizes just how powerful he is. Anyone. I have no idea what he wished for, but...he's become something incredible. Something ridiculous, Tanya.”

“Yeah but,” Tanya blushed a little. “He's not gonna abuse it. He's a good guy.”

“He doesn't have to abuse it to be dangerous,” Dr. Myrden told her. “If he doesn't know what he's doing, someday he's going to level a continent by accident. That's the scale of power we're talking about here.”

“You know something about that?” Tanya glared. “None of it freaking matters. Because you could have spent one night, dad. You could have taken one night to come and see your daughter. I know what you do is important. But you didn't think about me at all. And I know the world isn't ending right now, because if it was, you wouldn't be out here playing games with Kyle.”

Dr. Myrden stared at her.

“You might be right...”

“I know I am,” Tanya glared.

Dr. Myrden's stare continued, long and hard.

“You've never talked to me like that in your entire life,” he said.

“I figured it was time I started.”

“You're not wrong,” Dr. Myrden said. “Why'd you bring the others? Moral support?”

“No,” Tanya sighed. “They need training too. And you'd be better at running it than me. And if I don't train I'll fall behind. So I really do want you to train everybody. But for me it was mostly the other thing.”

“Yeah fair enough,” Dr. Myrden said, wrapping an arm around Tanya's shoulders and pulling her close. Her eyes went wide, but she leaned into her father's chest. “Alright everybody! In case any of you haven't figured it out yet, I'm Dr. Myrden, Tanya's father. And she's gone ahead and told me you all need serious training of your abilities. So lets have a little group meeting, and then I suppose we can get started.”