Arlott POV:

When I woke up, I saw Breena and Istas beside me.

At first, I thought they were both asleep, but only Istas was. When Breena noticed I had woken up, she asked me to go out and talk for a moment. We both stood up from bed, making an effort not to wake Istas up. Yet, it seemed that, after all that happened yesterday, she would sleep some more time, with that adorable smile on her face.

As Breena and I went to the living room, she looked as if she was lost inside her own head. She poured some tea for both of us, and made some breakfast but she was clumsy, almost dropping everything she grabbed.

There was tension. And awkwardness I only learned to have this past month or so with Breena. I thought Istas had already lifted it, but it seems like it won’t be so easy.

After having something to eat, Breena checked on the room to see if Istas was awake. After making sure she was fast asleep, we left the hut. A white and gorgeous owl looked at us. Then, showing what was like a smile on a smileless bird, she went inside the hut to take care of my love.

We walked for a while with Breena. Deeper and deeper into the forest, until we got to a river that blocked our way.

“Why do we need to walk so far?” I asked Breena, but she only answered with her eyes looking at the floor. “Are you afraid of what we need to talk about?” Her face jumped to look at mine when I said that. “Do we need to talk about this?” The fear in her eyes was clear, but she still nodded without a doubt.

We sat on a boulder beside the river. Silence was all we could muster. Breena kept gazing at me, then back to her own feet. Opening her mouth to say something that never came out.

“I think we need to be on the same page about Istas,” Breena finally said after a while, with her eyes still locked on her feet. “I know you are scared of losing her, and I know you met her first.” Breena’s voice was shaky, and it took her some time to continue talking.

“Can you tell me what Istas means for you?” Breena got to ask, after a silence and one last look at my eyes.

“What do you mean by that?” My voice came out louder than I would like to, but I managed to control it before continuing. “You know what she means to me.”

“Yes, but I need to tell you what I have here,” she said, pointing at her heart. “But I’m too afraid, so can you help me?”

Breena’s small eyes kept looking directly at me. She was trembling, but I could feel her need to talk to me. So, I complied.

“Well, about Istas…” I was at a loss. I didn’t know what to say. But looking at Breena’s expecting eyes, I just spoke. “As you know, as you saw. I was alone.” My words were slow at first, but got a pace the more I talked. “Every day was a battle to get out of bed. Every night was a fight to not have nightmares again.” Then, I remember one nightmare that tormented me that I had told Breena about before.

“Do you remember the dream with the demon chasing me until I couldn’t run anymore?” I asked her. She nodded, with a frown. “Since Istas is in my life, it changed. Now the one in the dream is Istas. And I don’t wake up when she catches me.” I closed my eyes to remember it better. “Instead, when she does catch me, she embraces me with all her strength, and whispers to me that she will never let go.” I stopped talking for a bit. Now it was my turn to look down at my feet. But I couldn’t just leave it there.

“I think that is what Istas has done to my life.” My voice gained strength at last, so I kept going. “Every nightmare I was living, every time I lost my strength, I could feel her embrace and hear her whispering, ‘I’ll never let you go’.” I stopped once more, but now with a big smile. “Since then, I feel I can keep going on, no matter what.”

A new silence got to us. Though, this time it wasn’t an awkward one. Instead, it was a silence that allowed us both to think about Istas, and it seemed like something we both needed.

“And that is why I’m scared that you’ll take Istas away.” After pondering for a bit, and with a sad voice, I finished my soliloquy. “I don’t want to go back to that world of nightmares.”

Silence came over once again, but it was cut short by Breena’s now firmer voice.

“For me, it’s a tiny bit different,” she said. “I was alone too. My mother just sold me, and that guy just used me to get something I’m not sure what it was,  yet.” Breena spoke slowly, but her voice did not falter once. “I felt so lost, I just wanted someone to rescue me. Some sort of prince charming or whatever.” She focused on one point in the horizon, as if she were talking to herself more than to me at this point.

“So, when I heard you talking about Istas, I kinda got a crush on her.” Breena’s lips curled a little up while saying this. “But I knew it was just me looking at a girl I didn’t know through the eyes of her girlfriend.” She started playing with her fingers, visibly nervous. “You made her look like a real princess charming.”

“Although I fantasized a lot about her rescuing me, I knew it was only that; a fantasy. But it was one I could not let go.” Breena then began moving her feet too. “But then, I got trapped in the Sea of Wills. I felt a real despair. One I haven’t felt before, even after all that happened.” Her fingers and feet stopped moving, and she looked at me at last.

“And there I met Istas, at last. She looked a little disoriented and all, but she was just like you had told me. The princess charming was real.” Breena showed a really warm smile, but with so much melancholy behind it, that it hurt. “But I could see that it was just me being infatuated with my best friend’s girlfriend, so I just left it there.” She stopped to look down for a bit before looking at me.

“I’m so sorry about all this. When I told Istas, it was just because I thought that, if she said no to me, it would be the end of it.” Breena grabbed my hands and her tone dropped down to almost a whisper. “I never thought it would bring all this. That it would bring you so much pain.”

“So, is it just you being infatuated?” I tentatively asked Breena after looking at her in silence for a while.

“No. Not anymore.” Her voice gained some volume as she continued. ”After some time, I kept getting in trouble. And I have seen her doing everything to help you, Kiandra, me, and even Huitaca, although she had just met her.” A smile came back to her face. It made my heart warm listening to those words. “She was always there. Always with a smile. Always pushing on.”

“It was then that I noticed that it was more than just infatuation.” Breena admitted. “And when I asked her so she would say no, she took her time so I was not hurt. But it still hurt me a little as I saw all the trouble it had brought,” Her expression became really worried. “She is always caring. She is always nice. And I just fell for all that.” She paused for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

Breena was at the brink of crying. Her eyes were watering, but I could see she was forcing herself not to. Probably because she thought I was the one being harmed here.

“Don’t be sorry,” I told Breena. “There is nothing you could do. I know what you mean about Istas.” But even knowing I couldn’t blame her, I just couldn’t stop tears from falling, and we both cried for a while.

After that, we kept talking some more. I told her that it was all in Istas hands, but I wouldn’t stop trying to be with Istas, and I knew neither would Breena. Then, we made our way back.

But when we were halfway to the hut, Breena screamed all of a sudden. Her body became blurry, like when Istas got damaged as a spirit but to the whole thing, and she collapsed on the spot.

#

 Istas POV:

When I woke up, Arlott and Breena weren’t there. I went to the living room, and there I found a cute breakfast with a note. It had the handwriting I came to love from Arlott,

‘Breena and I will come in a bit.’

At last, a morning when I could relax. There were no classes, or stupid people that called themselves friends when they only harmed you. Just a morning waiting for my girlfriend and my cute friend that seems to want to be my girlfriend too. 

But as I came to learn really well, I should never celebrate, or I will be bitten on the butt for it.

As on cue, I heard a loud scream coming from the forest. I ran into the forest as a full cat girl, and found Arlott gasping, with  Breena in her arms. It looked as if she ran for a while.

“What happened?” I asked Arlott, who couldn’t answer from having recovered her breath. But after a bit, she started talking.

“I don’t know. She just screamed and almost vanished when we were coming back.” Tears were falling from her eyes. Her worries were almost tangible.

I picked Breena from the floor where Arlott had left her. Her breathing was almost non-existent, so I ran over to the hut. I put her on a bed, crying for Huitaca to come and help her.

Arlott got in a little later, with Huitaca right behind her.

Huitaca took us out of the room and closed the door. I never thought an owl would shoo me out, but here we are.

Some lights and sounds were heard from the room while Arlott and I held each other outside. I couldn’t stop thinking that we needed Kiandra. She was always there to help us. I missed her a lot.

“Breena’s bond with her body,“ Huitaca said as she opened the door. “Her bond is thinning out. If it breaks, she will be dead, for real.”

Arlott looked at me and I looked at Huitaca.

“What can we do?” I almost shouted at Huitaca.

“We need to open a portal to where Breena’s body is, and reunite them again before it becomes too late.” Huitaca looked almost as worried as Arlott.

I tried to think of how to get to the portal. I was unconscious when Kiandra got us here, and I didn’t have the bond with her anymore so I couldn’t really see where the portal was. Arlott also said that Kiandra never told her where it was, so we wouldn’t get there before it was needed. But now we needed it, and we couldn’t find it.

While I was thinking about all that, Arlott went to fetch the package Kiandra left us. The one I had forgotten about, but luckily, Arlott didn’t.

We opened it. Inside, there was that strange disc thing she used to show us the invisible bond between her and I, then again to show the one between Breena and her own body. Along the disk, there was a book without a title, and beside both things, there was a small note.

‘The disc to search for bonds is already configured with Breena’s bond, so you can use it. The book is to prepare against the guy that harmed our little Breena. I should be back soon, so I will take you back to confront that guy. Wait for me. This note will signal that you need me, and I’ll be back in a few days.’

‘-Kiandra’

We read it once and twice, but there were no instructions on how to go back.

Huitaca, frustrated, told us that a few days were too much, and that we needed to go find Breena’s body now.

Arlott, remembering one of her theoretical classes with Kiandra, remembered that a bond will always find the shortest way from one person to the other. So, the shortest route to where Breena’s body was should be through the portal.

Kissing her, I took the disc and went to Breena’s side to search for the portal. I tried using it in different places, until one of them got it to hover in place. Arlott moved me gently to the side, and began trying the disc.

She noticed that it could move without falling from the bond. So, I took Breena’s body to be able to pinpoint the portal. We carefully moved her from one place to another, until I could feel the portal. But it was closed shut.

I took Breena back to her bed so we could ponder how to open the portal. Then, Huitaca came to our help.

“Istas, you can break the lock that binds the portal using one of Cailleach’s bracelets.” Huitaca sat on my shoulder and grabbed the bracelet with her wings. “Since Kiandra is one of Cailleach’s worshipers, it should work.”

I smiled as brightly as I could as I thanked Huitaca, but Arlott wasn’t as happy.

“How will we keep it open to come back?” As Arlott said this, she began walking nervously from side to side.  “Neither of us  is powerful enough to open another one. Much less since we don’t even know where this is.” 

“If I pass you some of Cailleach's will from the bracelet, could you keep it open?” I asked Huitaca.

“Yes, it might work.” She replied. “But you are still anchored by those things. If something happens, we will lose you.” The almost yelling voice of Huitaca, along her clear worry about me, warmed my heart. But it was a risk we needed to take. 

Arlott looked at me with a sad expression, but didn’t say a thing. I was sure she knew by now that I wouldn’t change my mind. So, she might have thought that there was no other way either.

Arlott and I got ready. I turned myself into my most imposing cat girl form, while Arlott grabbed something Kiandra prepared for her. One of the things was a necklace that came with a ring. Kiandra told Arlott that she may only put the necklace once she became more powerful. Also, to pass me the ring, and that would help me in the time of need.

The sun was scorching hot, the animals and insects of the jungle were all silent, and we were ready to use the portal. I imbued Huitaca with a part of the will of Cailleach, since I used its power to open the portal. Arlott looked at me, and I looked back at her as we went through.

On the other side, it was pitch black. I felt as if inside a dense fluid. As I looked around us, I saw  a sea of ghouls, mannequins, wraiths and reapers surrounding us.

“I think it was a trap,” was all I could say to Arlott, as we both held each other’s hand.