Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 7: Downtime

Chapter 19

And night time again- perfect for crazy dreams and astral visits from powerful friends.

-Llox

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As Lykou, Kuna, and Gleam were getting settled into bed for the night, Kuna held the astral charm in his hand, contemplating it for a moment. After making sure Gleam was comfortable, Lykou noticed the sereva’s contemplative expression and reached over to rub his shoulder reassuringly. “Hey. Remember, they’re our friends. Don’t worry about it.”

Kuna glanced over at him, then sighed and smiled a little. “Yeah, I know. Just a little anxious. You know me, probably being a little over-paranoid.”

Lykou glanced back and forth between Kuna and Gleam for a moment, then grinned. “I know what we all need before bed,” he announced, then leaned over to pull the sereva into a hug. “Squirrel squish hug!”

Kuna beamed and returned the hug, causing Gleam to let out a slightly startled squeak as she was suddenly squished between them. Without a word, they both started to tickle her while she was trapped. “Pffhey!” she playfully complained, squirming and giggling. “No fair! Quit iiiiit!”

They relented after a moment, giggling as well. “Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Lykou said. “Always good to go to bed with a smile, you know.”

Gleam shot him a little glare and stuck her tongue out at him, then headbutted his chest playfully. A moment later she did the same to Kuna. “Jerks.”

“Sorry Gleam,” Kuna said, tussling her hair lightly. “He does have a point though.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the squirrel retorted, then wrapped her arms around both of them in a big hug. A moment later, she let out a big yawn, then flopped back down and snuggled under their shared blanket. “Goodnight, guys. Go talk to your dream-friends, Kuna.”

Kuna smiled as the three of them laid back down and got comfortable again. “Goodnight Gleam. And goodnight, Kou.”

“Goodnight Ku, goodnight Gleam,” the konuul replied, then yawned. “Sleep well.”

“You too,” Kuna said as he looked over the astral charm one more time before closing his hand around it and closing his eyes.

*****

The next thing Kuna knew, he was opening his eyes again to the now-familiar sight of a void filled with twinkling lights and shimmery discs floating in the air. He grunted slightly as he got to his feet and started slowly strolling down among the floating memories, dreams, and fantasies. “Well, time to wait for them to show up,” he thought out loud. “I’ll have to be careful not to fall into anything this time.”

He paused, then sighed and furrowed his brow as he realized his thoughts were vocalizing themselves again. After taking a few deep breaths, he focused on clearing his mind, like when he meditated. With that in mind, he shifted his focus to the soul energy all around him a moment later. “I guess I could always practice this until they get here.” He thought for a moment, then tried picturing various objects in his hand- an apple, a stick, a rock, and so on. At first, nothing really happened, but eventually, with enough focus, he was able to manifest his water jug. But when he went to take a celebratory sip, he was met with disappointment. “Right… didn’t think about the water inside,” he muttered to himself, then tossed the jug aside and looked around. Thinking for a moment, he tried conjuring up a comfortable seat for himself to sit in while he waited. After several attempts manifested botched, crooked looking masses of vines and overgrown flowers and mushrooms, he finally formed something reasonably comfortable and sturdy enough.

Satisfied, he turned and sat down- only to almost immediately fall over backward in surprise when he saw Daisy and Aelana already standing a couple yards away. Lana had her arms crossed and they both had a mildly amused, yet scrutinizing look. “Gah! D-Daisy, Lana!” he blurted out as he scrambled back up to his feet with a flustered look. “Y-you’re here already!” He furrowed his brow a bit. “H-how long were you standing behind me?”

“Since ye got up,” Lana replied calmly. “Didnae think ta look behind ye?”

Kuna blushed and shrugged, rubbing his arm self-consciously. “I… guess not.” He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. They were being unusually quiet and collected- even Daisy.

Aelana arched a brow. “Seems like yer a wee bit preoccupied, lad.”

“Uhhh… w-well, I hope I didn’t upset you guys by-”

“Snoopin’?” Daisy interjected, suddenly hopping over to loom over him. “Spyin’? Eavesdroppin’?”

“Oh aye,” Lana said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Someone was scryin’ oan us withoot permission. Why Daisy, are ye sayin’ it wis none other than our dear friend Kuna??”

“Aye, ah do believe so, Lana,” Daisy said, placing her paws on the increasingly uncomfortable sereva’s shoulders.

Kuna gulped. “Er, I-I didn’t-”

“Tsk-tsk-tsk. Fer shame, Kuna,” Lana said, walking over towards him with her hands on her hips. “Ye cannae go scryin’ on folk all willy-nilly, ye ken. There’s rules fer these things.”

“I’m s-sorry, I didn’t kn-!”

“Ah’m afraid ignorance tis no excuse, lad,” Lana said. “Ye’ll have to suffer the consequences. Daisy?”

The wolpertinger shifted her paws down, pinning the sereva’s arms at his sides. “Sorry lad. Ah’m nae wild aboot rules, but this is serious.”

Kuna squirmed and started to panic. “W-wait, what are you-?!”

Aelana raised her hands, which were now surrounded in a glimmering aura, and stepped closer to the sereva. “Time tae take yer punishment, lad. Cannae be helped.” Suddenly, small strands of light lept from her hands to the sereva’s sides… and started tickling him.

For a brief moment, Kuna was stunned. Then he burst into laughter and started squirming wildly. “W-what the-?! F-fucking… stop… dammit!”

Lana dismissed the magic as she and Daisy both chuckled. The wolpertinger quickly picked him up into a big bear hug, then set him back down, fairly disheveled. “Sorry tae scare ye lad. S’good tae see ya again.”

Kuna glowered at each of them for a moment and brushed his thoroughly messed-up hair out of his face, then crossed his arms, smirking in spite of himself. “Yeah I don’t have enough self-doubt issues as it is. Thanks for that,” he snarked. “I’d expect something like this from Daisy maybe, but I’m surprised you went for it, Lana.”

“Believe it or na, t’was her idea this time,” Daisy said, crossing her forepaws and grinning.

Kuna shot the lepne a surprised look. “Really?”

“Aye, ah’m sorry lad,” Lana said with a genuinely apologetic smile. After a moment, she leaned over and pulled him into a tight hug of her own. “Ah s’pose that was a bit much.”

Kuna rolled his eyes and hugged her back. “Whatever. Prank aside, it is good to see you two again, too,” he said, then grinned a little more. “Guess I can tell Gleam you avenged her in the morning.” He smiled sheepishly up at the wolpertinger. “And uh… in all seriousness, I am sorry for, um. Spying on you.”

Daisy reached down and tussled his hair again, much to his chagrin. “Dinnae fash yerself, Kuna. Yer obviously new tae scryin’ ‘n’ didnae ken what’s what.”

“Congratulations on that, by the way,” Lana said as she pulled back. “Big step, that.”

“Thanks, hehe,” Kuna replied, fidgeting a bit. “Was meditating and stuff, trying to figure out what else I could do with soul magic. Zyn suggested I practice with it more.”

“Aye, tis good advice,” Lana said, nodding.

“Fer a jarzin,” Daisy added wryly.

“Hey, he’s a good guy honestly,” Kuna pointed out. “He’s been really helpful lately.”

“Aye, Lykou told us,” Aelana replied, patting his shoulder. “S’good tae hear he’s a bit different.”

“Allegedly,” Daisy huffed, then leaned down, grinning at the sereva conspiratorially. “But enough o’ that. Ye mentioned an interestin’ name ah dinnae recognize a moment ago.”

“Thas right, ‘e did!” Lana agreed, grinning as well. “So ye want tae tell us aboot this interestin’ new companion you ‘n’ Lykou have all cozied up with ye?”

“Oh, right! Gl-” Kuna started to say, then paused and shot her a look. “Wait, how’d you know she was-?”

“Tis only fair,” Lana replied and poked his chest with a playful expression. “When Daisy got back frae her fly, ah scried ye back tae check in on ye.”

“Oh… right,” Kuna said sheepishly. “Well, that’s… kind of a big thing that just happened. Uh. I’m guessing Ink didn’t tell you much about where we are right now?”

“Havnae seen Ink sin’ we spoke ta Lykou,” Lana said with a nonplussed expression. “Ah dinnae ken how she always seems ta ken when ta slip away, but she must realize ah’ve got words fer her efter sending you both ta the Kryck.”

“Tha’s Ink fer ya,” Daisy grumbled. “Coward.”

Kuna frowned and sighed. “Who knows with her? Well anyway, Kou and I are in this real big, beautiful valley with a bunch of really interesting ruins, murals, and statues all over the place. In remarkably good condition, too,” he explained. “And uh… the things they show, combined with, uh, Gleam… kinda bring up some huge existential questions.”

“Oh?” Lana asked, tilting her head curiously. “How so?”

“Well, uh,” Kuna said, rubbing his neck. “To be perfectly blunt, the people that built the place had powerful magic and… turned animals into people.”

“...wot,” Daisy responded flatly.

“Aye, try that again?” Lana replied with an odd expression.

“Exactly what I said. There were these creatures in the valley that kind of look like sereva but more… animal-like. And there are pictures on the walls of this one building- a temple, I think- that showed animals changing into, uh, people,” the sereva continued. “Konuul, sereva, ursarans, and various others. As far as we know, no images of the people that actually built the place, though.”

Lana and Daisy exchanged a dubious look. “Thas… very interestin’ lad, ‘n’ ah’m sure them critters ye mentioned are odd, but you shouldnae jump tae conclusions,” Lana carefully replied. “Could just be artistic-”

“We did it,” Kuna interrupted. “The magic’s real.”

“Did wot?” Daisy asked.

“Gleam? She’s a squirrel,” Kuna answered. “Er, squirrel-person now. But she was just a normal wild critter when we first met her.”

Lana and Daisy stared at him silently for a moment. “...Kuna, ah like ye, but yer fulla shite,” Daisy commented after a moment, smirking. “Yer lies need work.”

“I’m serious! We were exploring a little, snacking on some nuts, and she kept trying to steal ‘em,” Kuna excitedly tried to explain. “Then Kou and I found this fancy altar thing on it with a bunch of symbols and… well, long story short, us being a bit overly curious and kinda dumb led to a couple well-timed accidents and uh… now Gleam’s a person.”

“Tha’s… a mighty interestin’ tale, Kuna,” Lana said delicately, crossing her arms again with a grin. “But-”

Kuna groaned and clutched his head. “I swear, I’m not making it up!” He looked around for a moment, then perked up and started searching around. “Ah! I know, I’ll show you! That memory’s gotta be in here somewhere, right?”

Again, his guests shared an amused look, then Lana shrugged. “Ah s’pose. Jest focus on yer… ‘memory’ while yer grasping that energy, ‘n’ it should lead ye to it.”

“Good!” Kuna said, then closed his eyes to focus for a moment. When he opened them again, he was mildly startled to see his entire body, not just his hand, lit up with the magical aura. “Woah…”

Daisy snickered. “Aye, it’ll do that in here.”

“Lead the way, Kuna,” Lana said in an amused tone. “Jest remember, we kin tell th’ difference between fantasies, dreams, ‘n’ memories.”

“Good, come on,” Kuna said as he led them on a meandering path among all the floating discs. He paused a few times and focused to try and feel for the subtle pull that was guiding him. It seemed like things moved around when he wasn’t looking, but he figured that was just the nature of the astral realm. Finally, he arrived at a particular disc that, when he took a closer look, clearly showed the ruins they’d been exploring the other day. The vision was of course from his perspective, and he caught occasional glimpses of Lykou chattering away next to him. Kuna grinned and turned to face Lana and Daisy with his arms crossed. “Well, here it is. Have a look.”

The playful smiles faded from their faces. “...Daisy. That’s a mem’ry.”

“Aye, Lana,” Daisy agreed. “T’is.”

Lana glanced between Kuna and the vision a few times, then straightened up and approached, summoning up a familiar sparkling aura around her hands again. “A’right, let’s see whatcha got in there.”

Kuna watched her somewhat anxiously. “W-wait, what are you-?”

“Relax,” Daisy assured him, gently placing a paw on his shoulder. “She’s jest takin’ a quick peek. We ‘av a way o’ seein’ these things real quick when we need ta.”

Slowly and carefully, Aelana placed her hand on the shimmering surface of the memory. Suddenly, a pulse of light flowed from it into her and her eyes glowed solid white for a moment. She stood stock still as energy coursed through her, making her hair stand on end slightly and her clothing ruffle like there was a wind blowing around her. After a minute or so like that, she pulled away and dismissed the magic, and everything returned to normal. When she turned back to Kuna, she was wide-eyed and gawking slightly.

Daisy stared at her. “...weel?”

After a moment, Lana snapped out of her stupor. “Aye, tis pure,” she said, then shot Kuna an apologetic look. “Ah’m sorry ah didnae believe ye lad. This is… quite a thing ye discovered ‘ere.”

“Yer serious?” Daisy asked incredulously. “Hauld on.” She clenched her eyes shut and focused. A magical aura surrounded her antlers. For a moment, Lana shuttered and twitched, then the magic was again dismissed. Daisy opened her eyes again and stared down at Kuna in shock. “That’s amazin’, Kuna!”

Aelana winced and rubbed her head, shooting the wolpertinger a look. “Could’a warned meh, ye bampot.”

Kuna glanced back and forth between them dubiously. “What was that?”

“Ah wis catchin’ up,” Daisy said with a shrug. “Norm’ly we experience the same things, but in here we’re more sep’rate, so sharin’ things takes effort sometimes.”

“Oh…” Kuna replied, scratching his head. “You two never cease to fascinate me with your, uh… situation. Er, sorry if that’s offensive...”

Daisy chuckled and Lana just smiled and shrugged. “Na, lad. People alwis have questions. We’re weird ‘n’ we know it. Souls splittin’ in two are nae common, efter all,” the lepne said, then crossed her arms again. “But then, neither’s what you’ve done. Gleam, aye? Cute name fer a bonny lass, ah’ll give ye that.”

“She iiiiiis!” Daisy suddenly gushed. “Lana we ‘av ta find a way ta meet her!”

“Ach, ye’d scare the poor thing oot of her mind,” Aelana replied, rolling her eyes, then turned her attention back to Kuna. “Tho ah’ll admit ah wouldnae mind meetin’ her either. Lookin’ at tha’ mem’ry, ah’d like tae check fer some things ‘n’ ask her some questions.”

“Ehehe… yeah she’s still pretty skittish,” Kuna said. “She’s been struggling with her instincts, and as Zyn put it, she’s still got a little ‘wild’ left in her. The magic gave her a starting point, but there’s a lot she doesn’t know or understand.”

“Like relationships and sexuality an-” his inner voice spoke aloud before he could shut it up with a quick smack across his own face. He blushed and rolled his eyes. “Dammit, this again…”

Lana covered her mouth and stifled a chuckle. “Nae worries, Kuna.”

“Oh ah have a feelin’ ye got some more fun mem’ries aroond here ah need tae see,” Daisy said, grinning.

“Noyoudon’t,” Kuna said in a warning tone, shooting her a look. “Anyway yeah, she’s got gaps in her knowledge. After talking with Zyn, our best guess is the whole… ‘ritual’ thing that altar was made for normally uses a few more people with more things like our medallions, and that’s why she’s missing things. Zyn said he’d go look into things more, just in case there’s anything we need to worry about.”

“Aye? She mibbie dangerous?” Lana asked curiously.

“Na, not her!” Daisy objected. “Surely not. Ye saw the lass, she’s precious!”

“Yeah I’m more worried about her well-being,” Kuna said, then smiled a bit. “Honestly, she is pretty sweet. Heh, if anything, Kou and I have sorta taken on older sibling roles for her in a way, apparently.”

“Awwwww!” Daisy gushed, then picked the sereva up into an enthusiastic hug. “Big brothers for the wee squirrel lass! That’s so sweet! Ah knew ye were guid lads!”

“Gck… air!” Kuna replied, desperately trying to pry himself out of her grasp. “Daisy… need… air!”

“Oh, right,” the wolpertinger said, then released him with an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

Lana just shook her head. “’n’ tha’s why ye’d scare the poor thing off,” she warned, then smiled at Kuna. “Ah have tae admit tho, she has a point. Guid fer you two, lookin’ efter her.”

“Well, it only seems right,” Kuna said, shrugging and blushing a bit. “We’re uh… mostly responsible for her situation, after all.”

“True, but ah ‘ave no doubt ye’d help her even if ye weren’t,” Lana said, poking his nose playfully.

Kuna smiled and rolled his eyes slightly. “...yeah probably. Honestly, it feels… surprisingly nice in a way I can’t quite describe. Never had any siblings of my own, and I kinda like teaching her things. Plus she’s starting to show a playful side that’s fun, now that she’s starting to adjust to things a bit.”

Daisy stared at him for a moment, then dramatically flopped, grabbed Lana, and started shaking her. “Pleeeeease kin we find a way ta meet her?!”

“Daisyyyy!” Lana griped, then stumbled around a bit after the wolpertinger stopped shaking her. “Ugh, you ‘n’ yer overexcited nonsense…”

“Sorry,” Daisy said somewhat insincerely. “But-”

“Lykou ‘n’ Kuna arnae aboot tae backtrack all th’ way ta Clovaria,” Lana interrupted, shooting her a look. “’n’ we’re nae aboot ta go wonderin’ so far from oor domain.”

“Yer jest nervous about losin’ power,” Daisy huffed.

“Wait what?” Kuna asked, trying to slip back into the conversation. “What about losing power?”

Aelana looked away and rubbed her arm, grinning sheepishly. “Aye… as powerful as we are in our domain, we lose a fair bit o’ that outside it.”

“Ach, shame ta nae be able ta twist the landscape to our whims,” Daisy admitted, shrugging. “But that jest makes it more excitin’! ‘sides, we’re still mighty powerful compared tae most mortal folk.”

“Answer’s still no, Daisy,” Aelana said. “Ye ken we cannae leave Clovaria that long.”

“Who knows how far we are now anyway?” Kuna pointed out. “Even if you were flying, it could take a long time without using the gates. And uh… I wouldn’t recommend going some of the places we’ve been. Especially the Kryck.”

Daisy shuddered. “Aye, no argument there.”

“Honestly do wish there was a way you could visit, though. It’d be nice to see you in person again. Plus I’d welcome any chance for someone to look her over for any potential lingering problems from that magic,” Kuna said. “She’s had a couple strange dreams that I think might be some kind of weird message from the people that built this place.”

“Ach, is that so?” Lana asked, immediately interested. “Now tha’s somethin’ ah’d be interested in lookin’ into.”

“Shame we don’t have a way of at least giving her one of these charms,” Kuna said, gesturing around vaguely. “They’re specific to Kou and I, right? Can’t let her use one?”

“Aye, unfortunately,” Daisy said.

Lana, however, narrowed her eyes and rubbed her chin. “...ah’m na so sure.”

Both Kuna and Daisy looked at her in surprise. “Wot?” Daisy asked.

A thoughtful smile slowly crept across Lana’s face. “Kuna. Ye said those medallions were involved in her transformation, aye? ‘n’ tha’s how she kin speak yer tongue?”

Kuna nodded. “Yeah…?”

Lana tilted her head. “Ah’m guessin’ ye had the charm on ye at the time too, aye?”

“Yes…?” Kuna said. After a moment, his eyes started to widen a little. “Wait, you think…?”

Daisy gasped. “Mibbie she got linked??”

“Tis a far shot,” Lana said. “But t’is a possibility.”

“Wow, so… wait, I don’t know if that’s a great idea right now though,” Kuna said. “Like I said, she’s still pretty jumpy and easily scared. The whole… astral-realm thing might be kind of overwhelming for her.”

“Aye, true,” Lana said, nodding. “Might wait a bit then.”

“Aww, we’d be extra careful with ‘er!” Daisy whined. “Ah’d make sure ta be gentle aroond her!”

“I’ll think about it,” Kuna said, smirking at her. “But I won’t pressure her. And there’s still no guarantee it’ll even work.” He turned back to Lana. “Right?”

The lepne nodded. “Right.” She grinned after a moment. “Ye ken, there mibbie ether ways ta introduce us, tho, once ye practice yer magic a bit more, Kuna.”

“Oh?” the sereva replied, perking up. “How so?”

“Ah’m guessin’ ye only figured oot inner scryin’ so far, aye?” Lana said, then gestured to one of the nearby memory discs. “Proper scryin’ kin pull up things like this, so ethers kin see, too.”

“Really?” Kuna asked excitedly. “How??”

“Ah’m afraid-”

“Let me guess,” Kuna interrupted, deflating a bit. “I’ll have to figure it out on my own?”

“Aye, ‘fraid so,” Lana said with a sympathetic grin. “Jest keep practicin’ ‘n’ experimentin’.” She playfully nudged him in the side. “Jest dinnae go scryin’ on folk withoot permission or special circumstances.”

“R-right, hehe,” Kuna said sheepishly. “Sorry again about that.”

“S’fine lad,” Daisy said. “Tell ye what, ye can practice on us in the evenin’. Ah’m usually out fer a fly a few hours efter sunset these days, so should be fine then.”

“Sure,” Kuna said, then looked over to Lana for confirmation. “As long as you’re both okay with that…?”

Aelana nodded and smiled. “Aye, tis fine lad. Happy ta help ye progress.”

The sereva smiled and rubbed his arm a bit. “Thanks.”

“In fact, as long as we’re in here, how’d ye like tae practice some dream-magic?” the lepne suggested. “Ah kin help guide ye a bit on that.”

Kuna perked up. “Oh yeah, that’d be nice actually. I keep forgetting to try that stuff, and uh… I never think of it in my regular dreams.”

“Aye, lucid dreamin’ in itself takes practice,” Lana said.

“He needs a root,” Daisy chimed in.

Kuna shot her a confused look. “A… root? What kind?”

“Na lad, not a root in th’ traditional sense,” Lana continued. “Tis somethin’ ta let ye ken when yer in a dream. Somethin’ ye kin hold in yer hand and test if things make sense.”

“Er, like what?” Kuna asked. “That’s kinda vague.”

“Fer example, a rock,” Lana said, manifesting one in her hand and holding it out to him. “In th’ physical world, what would happen if ah were ta let go o’ this?”

“Er, it’d fall,” the sereva replied. “Obviously.”

“Aye,” Lana replied, then let go of the rock. Suddenly, it fell… upwards, and out of sight. “Ye see?”

Kuna arched a brow and stared up the way the rock had fallen for a moment, then returned his attention to her. “Okay… so I just have to- wait,” he said, facepalming. “Wouldn’t I just know I’m in a dream if I can make things appear like that in the first place?”

“Weel, aye, but how often do ye remember yer magic in yer dreams, lad? Proper dreams, ah mean, na here,” Daisy pointed out. “S’pecially a certain nightmare.”

The sereva frowned. “Good point… but then I’m right back to the start, right?”

“That’s the trick lad. Ye’ll need ta pick something ye keep with ye reg’lar,” the lepne continued. “Something that’s likely ta be in yer dreams anyway, ‘cos o’ how ye always have it with ye.”

Kuna blinked a few times, then slowly reached a hand into his robe’s pocket and pulled out a certain sentimental stone. He looked it over with a faint smile. “Like… this?”

Lana smiled knowingly. “Aye lad. That’s perfect. Ye may want ta tie a string ‘round it somehow, but that’ll work very nicely.”

“Ah dinnae ken ye ever told us th’ full story aboot that thing,” Daisy said, giving him another gentle, playful nudge that nearly knocked him over. “Oop, sorry.”

“’n’ he dinnae have to,” Lana warned. “Dinnae pressure ‘im, Daisy.”

Kuna chuckled a bit and shrugged. “It’s fine, I don’t mind. When Kou and I first met, I was… you know, all paranoid and bitter and such. He kept trying to convince me he was friendly and wouldn’t hurt me, but I was just waiting for a break in the storm to run out of that cave, fully expecting him to attack me when I wasn’t looking. So to convince me, he did this weird little… blood-promise ritual thing. Cut his hand, gripped this rock in it, and promised that he’d never try to hurt me. Then he, uh… gave it to me. Told me as long as I held it, he could never break the promise or his soul would get trapped in it.” He snickered some more. “Probably total bullshit, but it worked on me at the time, even if I wouldn’t admit it and it kinda freaked me out at first. And so we’ve hung onto it ever since.”

“Awww, Kuna!” Daisy said, scooping him into another, thankfully much gentler and briefer hug. “Tha’s a perfect story, lad.”

“Ah must agree,” Lana said, smiling and patting the sereva’s back when he was released. “Tis nae wonder ah sensed magic potential in that thing.”

Kuna smiled and blushed a little. “Yeah, it’s kind of grown more sentimental over time. For both of us, even. Right at the end of the fight with Kerr, Kou was feeling a bit off when he realized how violent he’d gotten. Was afraid I’d think badly of him. So I used it to promise him I wasn’t gonna be scared off so easily and would have his back just like he’s always got mine. So for a while he hung onto it. It’s just kind of this thing we share now.”

Behind the sereva, Daisy looked ready to explode. She was practically vibrating, and her eye was twitching as she stared at Lana. They both knew full well what she wanted to say, but also knew that there were certain rules even she wouldn’t break, no matter how infuriating.

Lana shot her a warning look, then turned her attention back to Kuna. “Tha’s very sweet, lad. Tis obvious yer very claise friends.”

“Aye, friends, best o’ friends!” Daisy blurted out and rolled her eyes up, then fell over onto her back and groaned into her paws.

“Uhhh... you okay Daisy?” Kuna asked, concerned.

“Lovely, thanks!” Daisy replied, tugging on her ears in annoyance. “Never better!”

Kuna arched a brow and turned back to Lana, gesturing to the wolpertinger with his head. “What’s with her?”

Lana was eyeing her more dramatic half with an annoyed look and eventually just sighed and rolled her eyes. “She’s jest bein’ Daisy. Dinnae mind her. She’ll be fine,” she replied, then smiled back at the sereva and rubbed his shoulder. “Let’s practice that magic a wee bit, lad.”

*****

For the third time, Gleam found herself standing in a dark void. Although she was scared, she eventually remembered the previous encounter a bit more clearly this time around. As real as it felt, she knew she was in a dream. It was a strange feeling, and she wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Still, she knew what was coming.

And sure enough, a pair of hands began to manifest nearby eventually. The foggy blur in the air formed shortly after them. A few times, it seemed about to condense into something more coherent, but it kept failing and returning to its previous amorphous, vague appearance. This time, she stayed her ground and eyed it warily until it began speaking in its gibberish-language.

She sighed. “I-I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re saying,” she said. “I wish I could understand you, but I can’t.”

The entity paused and seemed to be contemplating things. After a moment, it clapped its hands together up in the air, causing a somewhat noisy shockwave that startled the squirrel and knocked her back. And she didn’t stop when she hit the invisible ground. Instead, she kept falling, much to her sudden terror, and the entity vanished into the darkness. But as she screamed and flailed around, she felt like the fall was gradually slowing, until eventually, it felt like she was floating in the air.

After she calmed down and tried to take stock of her surroundings, the darkness around her began to give way to a wide-open landscape that started to look somewhat familiar. She appeared to be floating in the air above the forested valley she’d known all her life. Specifically, it was near a cluster of buildings. Except instead of the beautiful and mysterious ruins she expected, some other run-down structures, much less marvelous in appearance, were in their place.

As she tried to peer at the buildings, she suddenly found herself drifting through the air towards them. She again flailed around in a panic in response. As a result, the movement stalled. It took her several cycles of panicking and drifting around to realize she could control where she was floating towards if she focused enough. “Okayyy… right, dream stuff,” she murmured to herself once she started getting the hang of it. “Weird…”

Once she got close enough, something nearly startled her out of her fur. A tall, bipedal creature walked past under her, carrying a large basket full of fruit in is hands- its lower hands, that is. It had an extra set of them attacked a bit below the ones hanging from its shoulders. That’s all she could make out though; other than barely being able to make out the number of limbs and its general bipedal shape, the whole thing was blurry and ambiguous, like the entity from before had been.

Another appeared a few moments later and the two began to converse. Again, much to her annoyance, Gleam couldn’t understand a word that was being said. She tried moving a bit closer, but suddenly jerked back when something flew through the air and wedged itself in one of the figures, causing it to drop its basket and fall over clutching at its chest. The other panicked and ran off.

Horrified, Gleam frantically backed further away as fast as the odd floating-movement would allow her to. More of the figures appeared, each attacking one another with more weapons. She could see what looked like dark blood of some kind splattering all over the place. Everywhere she went, there seemed to be more and more violence. Eventually, she found a tall tree to cower in the top branches of while things played out in front of her. Time seemed to speed up, as various villages were built up, torn or burned down, and rebuilt around her over and over again, with many different battles taking place. The way the sun and moon blurred by overhead was somewhat dizzying, so she tried not to focus on it too much.

Eventually, the battles became rarer. And over time, the villages lasted longer, until finally the one around her slowly built itself up without interference. The structures became more sophisticated and ornate. The strange blurry people seemed to have finally made peace with one another, and they’d started dabbling more and more in the arts, which fascinated Gleam. She was even more fascinated when they started wielding magic in ever more profound and grandiose ways.

Suddenly, the vision faded all around her, and was replaced with what looked like a moving mural. It depicted one of the blurry people walking through a large, empty field. It stopped occasionally and looked around, seemingly searching for something. Every now and then, it came across some sort of wild creature, which it admired. But every time, judging by its body language, it appeared to grow sad when the wild critters inevitably got spooked and ran off. It tried impressing the creatures with its magic, but it only scared them off even sooner.

A moment later, the scene changed again. A group of the blurry people were knelt in front of a collection of large, strange looking entities. One looked like a swirling orb of water with a pair of eyes glowing inside it. Another appeared to be an enormous flower with a face and numerous vines hanging off the architecture of the building they were in. Another looked like a tall bipedal being made of flame, with a robe made of smoke. The blurry people appeared to be asking what were presumably large spirits something. The spirits appeared to consider things, but eventually the flower-spirit shook its head with an apologetic expression, much to the disappointment of the gathered masses.

Again, things changed. One person was addressing another crowd from atop a wooden stand in the middle of their village. After giving what must have been some kind of grand speech, all of the people began dismantling some of the buildings. Time sped up once more, and Gleam hurriedly got out of the way as the former village was gradually transformed into a collection of much more familiar-looking buildings. The last to be added was the golden altar, which seemed to involve a lot of complex magic in its creation.

Gleam shied away from it, but then she paused and settled down on one of the pillars at the edge when she noticed a strange disturbance on the far side. She gasped quietly when she saw a strange creature being brought out, tied up and thrashing in the arms of a couple of the blurry people. It had brown fur and black bands along its tail. It had small, rounded ears on its head, and a black, almost mask-like band around its eyes. It looked quite agitated as it squirmed around in the peoples’ clutches.

The squirrel watched on with mixed feelings as the creature was brought to the top of the altar. Several other people approached as well, each manifesting soul magic auras around their indistinct hands. Gleam’s eyes went wide again as she watched the ritual being performed. A familiar looking symbol glowed on the chests of the five individuals surrounding the altar and the animal set atop it. A shimmering orb was brought over from the edge and placed on the creature’s chest. Both it and the animal began floating up into the air. It managed to break free of the bindings holding its limbs, but by that point it was useless- it just thrashed around wildly in the air as the orb glowed brighter and brighter. The two then merged, and Gleam self-consciously glanced down at her own chest and held a hand up to it.

A moment later, a brilliant flash filled the air. Gleam had to shield her eyes until the light faded. When she could look again, there was a brand new kind of person on the altar. The blurry people crowded around them but didn’t touch the individual. When he eventually woke up, he jerked up in a mild panic, but the strangers surrounding him quickly calmed and soothed him. They seemed to be talking to him, and eventually he began replying back. Gleam wished she could understand what they were saying. Despite his initial fear, he seemed to have quickly calmed down.

“What, does he not have instincts to deal with?” Gleam grumbled to herself in annoyance. “Guess it helps they had five…” She sighed and rubbed her arm a bit as she contemplated the scene unfolding in front of her. Sure, the newcomer was bewildered and confused, but with the friendly people all clustered around, talking to him, he seemed to have forgotten all fear completely. Before long, he was even smiling a bit.

“Lucky,” Gleam murmured. After a moment she furrowed her brow and smacked herself. “What am I saying? Okay, so I didn’t get an easy start, but Lykou and Kuna have been the sweetest guys. Not their fault they weren’t expecting any of this.” She stared into the distance and remembered about their fun in the stream earlier, and Kuna singing to her, and Lykou chatting with her and telling her stories. A smile spread across her face. “Yeah fuck that, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Suddenly, everything went dark again and she tensed up, looking around. Soon enough, the vague blurry being from before manifested in front of her again. This time it was a bit more solid- it was definitely one of the blurry people she’d been seeing before. The giant hands were gone, though, leaving behind its normal hands, blurry like the rest of its body. “S-so… you are the ones that made that thing,” she said quietly, staring up at the creature curiously. “So you could… make other kinds of people. Because you were… what, lonely?”

Though it was hard to be certain, she thought she could see the being nod. A moment later, it moved a little closer, then knelt down in front of her and stretched its arms out in an inviting gesture. She initially shied away a little, but soon she realized her normal wariness had melted away. The entity radiated friendliness and she felt unusually safe around it. After some hesitation, she smiled shyly and crawled forward, almost unable to stop herself.

The being pulled her into a warm embrace with all four of its arms. The feeling was strange- she couldn’t really make out whether she was touching skin, fur, scales, or something else entirely. There was a soft pressure and warmth, but the texture was strangely lacking. She also got a weird static feeling, making her fur stand on end slightly on contact. Still, she found herself enjoying being held, especially when the creature sat back and set her across its lap, then began gently stroking her belly and head with its upper arms, while its lower ones gently cradled her. She wasn’t really sure what to make of it all, but she couldn’t deny that it felt nice. She giggled a bit and curled her tail up so she could cling to it a bit. “Well… I still have a lot of questions,” she said eventually. “I wish we could talk normally. But this is… nice.”

The creature didn’t respond at first. Eventually, it tussled her hair and gently moved her tail out of the way. It placed a hand over her chest. She suddenly tensed up as her breath caught in her throat. She felt the warmth drain away from her, leaving her with a cold feeling throughout her torso. She was terrified as she saw a certain orb float out of her chest. She shivered and watched helplessly as it followed the creature’s hand up and away from her. She wanted to flee or fight, or at least demand what was going on, but she could hardly move aside from trembling on the spot.

But the creature continued stroking her head softly in a reassuring way. Once the orb was just half a foot above her, it brought another of its hands around, this time glowing with a shimmering silvery light. The energy flowed into the orb and its surface rippled for a moment before resuming its normal appearance. The creature slowly lowered the orb back into her chest and she gasped as the warmth returned to her body. She began breathing again and her shaking gradually stopped. She felt exhausted, as if she’d just finished a long, intense run from danger.

“W-what did y-you d-d-do?” she eventually asked, eyeing the being still cradling her anxiously.

She still couldn’t see a face, but she got the distinct impression the creature was giving her a sympathetic look as it gently pulled her into a warm embrace. It then traced a finger from her chest up to her head, which it then tapped lightly. Gleam felt a surge of something strange course through her body. The squirrel furrowed her brows and looked cross-eyed up at the long, blurry digit for a moment. Suddenly, she felt fatigue rapidly building again and she sighed once more as everything began to fade around her.

*****

Having left their astral-visit with Kuna, Aelana was busy spending some rare time in her little sanctuary, tucked away in one of the various rooms of the enormous tree-building at the center of Whitlan. She was rummaging through her collection of old scrolls, muttering various things aloud to herself.

“Ah hate that stupid rule sometimes!” Daisy complained from a nearby copper mirror hanging on a wall nearby. “Ah get why tis important, but… they’re RIGHT THERE fer fecksakes!”

Aelana rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Aye, tis frustratin’, but ye ken we cannae interfere. Takin’ one lad’s innermost secrets ta the other is the deepest betrayal, even if tis fer a nice cause.”

“Ah dinnae understand, Lana, tis fookin’ obvious even withoot astral shite,” Daisy continued, rubbing her head in frustration. “How is it anyone that’s around ‘em fer long enough sees it plain as day, but they’re so oblivious??”

“There’s no tellin’, Daisy. The heart’s funny sometimes,” Lana said, then sneezed and waved away some dust after pulling a particularly old scroll out to examine. “Ah’m sure they’ll figure it oot eventually.”

“Ah unnerstan’ being anxious, ‘n’ Lykou made some fair points the other night, even if misguided,” Daisy went on. “But somethin’ feels… off. Nabody kin be that dense. Ah peeked a few o’ their other mem’ries-”

Lana shot her a quick glare. “Really, Daisy. Ye-”

“Spare me, Lana,” the wolpertinger interrupted. “Tis nae jest bein’ nosy this time. Ah think there’s somethin’ skitchy goin’ oan.”

“Now yer the one bein’ paranoid,” the lepne said in an exasperated tone as she got back to studying the scroll. “With how fascinated ye were by that Gleam lass, ah’m surprised yer nae more interested in helpin’ me here.”

“This shite’s borin’,” the wolpertinger groused. “’sides, what am ah gonnae do, help hold th’ scrolls open? Wee bit hard frae here.”

“Ye kin read along with me ‘n’ see if ah overlook anythin’,” Lana suggested as she read along the old parchment.

“Ach, readin’,” Daisy groused. “Ah’d rather be bletherin’ with Ink.”

Lana frowned a bit. “Aye, wid be nice ta have a talk with her. Nat’rally tha’s why she’s nae here.”

Daisy rolled her eyes and crossed her paws. “Typical. Never aroond when tis convenient.”