*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Crete knocked on the door of the small house.

The door opened a small crack, and a single eye could be seen. The pale red eye that could be seen looked exhausted, and it seemed somewhat disinterested at Crete and then at me.

Without another word, the door opened. A young woman with dark brown hair and pale red eyes stood before us. Her face was pale, and her eyes had thick rims.

"Come."

She made way for us, and Crete followed me past her. As I was just passing her, she looked at the sleeping Viczien.

“Huh? A distant relative."

I stopped at her words.

“Hey! Hey!"

She raised her arms into the air and wanted to signal to me that she didn't want to harm him.

"Where are the remaining sisters?"

Crete gripped Ishina's fascination with Viczien.

"Nyam and Myam are downstairs."

She pointed to a door in the corner of the room. Crete immediately went to it and tore it open. The stairs behind it led further underground.

"Mom!"

Viczien had woken up and was grasping my fur tightly.

"Mom?"

Ishina stared at me in surprise but said nothing. Instead, she turned to the door through which Crete disappeared. She followed her, and so did I.

Viczien was a little restless on my back and let go of me. He fell on his side but got up immediately. He held on to my shoulder and strolled next to me. I walked carefully on the stairs so that I could catch Viczien at any time.

Together we needed longer since Viczien was very slow when climbing the stairs, but for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised.

"...tell me everything."

I could hear Crete's voice from further back.

Viczien let go of me and ran. He ran in the direction that Crete's voice came from.

"Mom!"

He stopped and looked back at me. Only when I came to him did he enter the room where Crete, Ishina, and the dryads Nyam and Myam were apparently.

"Hey, Viczien."

Crete lifted the approaching Viczien in her arms. I stopped at the entrance and watched from a safe distance.

The dryads looked a little older than Myrani. Besides, they looked almost identical. The only difference between them was the flower color, one was a light purple, and the other was a dark purple.

“It was a fact-finding mission. Miss Ishina was on patrol at the Blackhole, so we left without her knowledge. The trees had warned us, but we ignored the warnings."

One of the two told.

"Did you find out something?"

The first one shook her head.

“The only seeable clues led to the blackhole. But there wasn't a piece of real information about the origin."

The second dryad replied that this one was also clearly calm than the other.

"So into the blackhole..."

Ishina shook her head.

"That won't go well, I can take the rabbit with me, but dryads are goods in the Blackhole."

"I know!"

Crete replied clumsily to Ishina's remark.

"And now?"

The first dryad asked Crete.

"Quiet Myam."

The other dryad tried to silence her.

"I summarize. You have investigated the origin of the skeletons on your own. Lyam was kidnapped, but by whom? And clues led you away from the blackhole, is that all? There is no more?"

Both nodded.

"Damn it, someone uses these skeletons, but why this man and why this carriage..."

Crete bit her thumb.

"Carriage?"

Ishina looked surprised.

“Yes, we met skeletons on the way here that attacked a carriage. It was a carriage from the head family of the moon whisperer's carriage."

Ishina hit the wall.

"F*ck!"

Everyone looked at her in surprise, and Viczien even began to cry.

"You know something?"

Crete looked at her thoughtfully.

“In fact, I just didn't expect that the two things belong together. Crete, please come with me. I want to show you something. Myam, Nyam, you will take care of the shorty and the furball."

Ishina left the room. Crete put Viczien down and also passed me.

What they will talk about...

I watched Nyam, the dryad with the dark purple bloom, approach Viczien, but Viczien blocked and pushed her hand away. Then he turned to me and came running to me.

"Mom."

He poked his face into the fur on my neck and rubbed it.

"What a sight."

Myam had a warm smile on her face as she watched Viczien's action.

 

=== POV Crete ===

 

"Check this out."

Ishina handed me some scraps of a torn document. Upon closer inspection, I could see the elven letters and the poisoner's symbol on the letter. The symbol was an arrowhead dipped in poison from which a drop fell. I leave the legible parts.

...threatened ...prepare ...contact in the blackhole...

Only a single sentence was utterly recognizable.

The Moon whisperer and Sun admirers have convened an official council of war, and our spies assume that this will be about us.

That assumption... and the connection to the blackhole.

“Ishina send Myam and Nyam to the Sun admirers. I will look for Lyam together with Viczien, or at least look for new leads. You go to the blackhole with Eris. If you have some spare time, teach Eris some magic. She may look like a normal rabbit, but she is something extraordinary."

I handed the document back to Ishina.

“I understand your train of thought, but why? Is there a reason to look for Lyam separately?”

I nodded to Ishina's question.

“In fact, it's obvious. The poisoners have no interest in simple dryads. Let's assume it was you. What do you want with her? No, if they saw them as a threat, none of these three would have returned.”

Ishina looked over the letter again.

"What do you think is behind this instead?"

I put my head to one side.

“Hmmm… the demons. Lately, information about suspicious activities of demons in the west has been coming in again and again. Lyam and her sister should have information, what they are interested in."

“Demons? Possible. But what do they want so far in the east?"

"I- we don't know yet, so I'm going to investigate."

“All right, then let's do it. I hope your thoughts are right."