After the ceremony, the others had gone to bed. Sure, Uké’el didn’t sleep, but she still found the quiet hours a good time to engage in her rituals to refresh herself, and then to relax.

Which meant I was left alone. I could have tried to sleep, but I was too distracted by the strings. Trying to open my mind to what they could mean, there was nothing I could pick up from them. It seemed they were indeed only a sign of a connection. There was nothing else to be found there.

That was reassuring.

While I wanted to stay to help the Puffin Folks with repairs, Uké’el pointed out that the longer we lingered the more likely another attack was. Reluctantly, I accepted her argument and focused on helping everyone to prepare for departure towards Aelvus. 

The others had gathered around a map to discuss what they saw as the most likely places for the final holdouts to be. There was fierce debate, but they’d eventually agreed we should try a city called Lanara, sitting on a rocky peninsula near one of the southern tips of the large continent. Lacking any reason to disagree, I simply nodded along and said the idea sounded reasonable. Then it was a case of charting the best way to island hop their way over. It was a less straight route than any of us might have liked, but it was that or risk crashing into the ocean when the float-carpet burnt through its magicka reserves.

We gathered to say one last goodbye to the priest’s small urn. I apologised for bringing war to his island, even if the apologies were more for my own good. 

And then we took our leave.

It was on the second night of travelling that I remembered I could try to contact my parents. Aara was happy to help with running the drums again, and I soon found myself in a familiarly foggy realm.

This one, though, seemed oddly empty. There were vague shapes about. Things that seemed like faint memories of a neighbourhood, but it was so pale and washed out that I had little ability to place myself.

As I walked, exploring the half formed street, I eventually spotted my mother. She was sitting on a porch, the only thing present that seemed reasonably solid. The porch, I realised, was one of the homes I’d grown up in. Back when we’d lived in London (Ontario). It was the first home where I was old enough to do sleepovers.

Which, somehow, felt relevant.

I didn’t know why, but I felt certain that she was waiting for me to come home from one.

So, I walked forward, trying to wear a reassuring smile before I waved. “Hey, mum.”

She blinked, turning to me. Then she stared, giving me a slow once over. “… Emily?”

“Yep,” I said, reaching the foot of the stairs up to the porch. “I know I look a bit odd, but… it’s me. It’s really me.”

“The wings… but the horns… what happened to you?”

I shrugged, and then I explained. I felt terrible about how long I’d waited, and how much there was to tell her. Guilt washed over me once more when I admitted that I’d visited Krys and Lena first. But I’d wanted to tell the truth. Even if it wasn’t flattering.

My mother had been quiet towards the end, taking a few moments after I finished to nod to herself. “I think I understand… I… I wish you’d remembered to say something sooner, but I understand that romance ends far more easily than a parent’s love.”

“I really didn’t think I’d be stuck here this long, either,” I said, sitting down on the steps. “And… and I think I’m going to have to stay.”

She got up and sat down beside me, placing a reassuring hand on mine. “Kids grow up and they move away… if you can find a way to visit for a few holidays, then I don’t think I have too much grounds to complain. Especially not when you have such important work… a goddess of justice.”

She shook her head. “Having you grow up to be a lovely young woman was surprising enough, but to find out you have something like that on your plate…”

“It was a surprise for me too… nice and gender affirming, though?” I replied.

Nodding, she then leaned over and pulled me into a hug. “Good luck, Emily. And remember I love you.”

When she broke the hug, the dream began to fade. She promised that she’d tell my dad before the connection broke completely, though.

Returning to the waking world myself, I ended up a sobbing mess once again. The pain of missing my family slamming into unfinished mourning and heaeps of guilt. 

In the morning, I found a moment to be alone with Sukura, taking her hand and leading her down the beach a little. To a more private part of the small island we’d taken shelter on.

“How are you holding up?” I asked.

She put on a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It still hurts and I still miss him, but… I think it’s probably about where I should expect it to be.”

“If you need to talk… I probably should have offered more earlier, but I want to offer again,” I said.

“I appreciate it. And I understand that you’ve been rather busy with having the fate of an entire world placed on your shoulders,” she replied. “When this is all over, and I have time to stop and think about something other than how I will help you defeat the forces of darkness… I’ll probably need to talk about things then. Right now I have a distraction, though.”

Sukura kept up the empty smile when she finished. Her lip, however, began to quiver, and I stepped forward. She buried her face into my shoulder, mumbling apologies between the tears. 

“If I’m allowed to cry then you’re allowed to cry,” I replied, holding her. “You’ve got more reason to than I do.”

She nodded, lifting up from my shoulder. “Thank you.”

At long last, the great continent of Aelvus loomed on the horizon. Or, rather, the clouds above it loomed. Uké’el explained that forces of Discord came from the edge of existence, and thus far from the light of the sun. That meant their magic was stronger when free from the influence of its light. As such, they often summoned cloud cover to turn the day nearly as dark as night.

“Not that I’ll complain about the clouds,” Ne’avo said, when the explanation was over. “Moon Elves adapted to darkness to help them fight the forces of Discord during the Long Occupation.” 

“See, I always heard it was because the Earth Mother hid us deep in her caves, and that adapting to the darkness making them better able to fight was merely a happy coincidence,” Uké’el replied.

“I had heard similarly,” Aara added.

Ne’avo crossed her arms and pouted, but gave no argument.

We soon arrived along the beaches, following the desolate coast from what seemed a safe distance. We were fairly certain we were a few leagues east of our target, and headed west to hope to find it.

As we flew, though, it became hard to ignore the desolation. The darkness of the clouds looked to have killed off much of the plant life. There were also farms and villages visible, even at this distance. Yet the fields around sat barren, and many of the buildings had clearly been destroyed. It seemed that scorched earth had been the tactic of the day.

Our attention was taken away from the land after perhaps an hour, though. The clouds spread out over the sea ahead of us. Straining my eyes (as I managed to pull that telescopic focus once again) I spotted what had to be Lanara in the middle of the spreading clouds. I could not, however, tell if it had fallen. 

“It looks like we’ll have to enter the clouds,” Sukura said, patting the pegasus to keep it calm as we circled.

“It’s just clouds… right?” I asked.

Ne’avo shrugged while Uké’el looked to slide deep into thought.

“There is dust in it you don’t normally get in a cloud,” Aara replied, her eyes closed. “There is also a barrier as part of it, though… it’s pushed the natural spirits away. I can feel great numbers of them here at the edge, longing to return.”

“So… we can’t go in?” Ne’avo replied.

Aara shook her head. “No, we can. We are physical. But there are spirits of Discord on the other side. They will know when we cross. There will be trouble.”

“I’ll go first, then,” I said, with a small nod. “They won’t be ready for me, and I can serve as a pretty good distraction.”

“You’re not really a distraction,” Uké’el muttered, but she didn’t argue any of the other points.

“Be careful,” Sukura said.

I gave my best attempt at a confident smile before diving ahead.

While it was true that the barrier was merely enough to block spirits that didn’t do anything to make crossing it feel less wrong. A shiver shot down my spine as I entered the darkness beneath the clouds, and the hairs on the back of my neck now seemed permanently on end. Continuing to soar towards the city, I began to wonder if there was anything around to serve as a response when two mummified dragons burst up from the dead forest below, bellowing green flames from their mouths.

I dodged, swerving between them and peppering the massive creatures with an assortment of offensive spells I’d learned in the past week. I was far from mastering any of them, but made up for sloppy form by simply pouring more magicka into either of them. The initial attack did not seem to do much damage to the dragons, however.

It did, at least, seem to keep their attention on me. Which was the goal. It also drew them out over the water, which felt safer to me. Who knew what else was hiding in those woods.

Deciding to try a slightly different approach, I poured as much magical energy as possible into a magicka blade, taking advantage of the fact I was airborne to not have to worry about the practicality of wielding it. In the end, the blade I produced was nearly as long as my total wingspan, which meant it was at least three, maybe even four times my height. 

There was enough magical inertia to make my muscles strain as I swung it, but it sliced through the closer dragon with barely a hint of resistance, the undead drake crumbling to dust. 

The inertia of the blade, however, made flying difficult. The other dragon swerved around me, before releasing a blast of fire. I let the blade collapse and tried to raise a shield, but was slow enough to still feel a bite of impossibly icy heat from the blast. I winced in pain and struggled to keep up the shield as the dragon continued to blast my position with unnatural fire.

The shield was holding, but seemed slightly vulnerable to the attack, pain reaching through into my hands and arms. I was starting to need another plan when the attack abruptly ended.

The float-carpet had arrived, Uké’el releasing a barrage of magical attacks with a greater force than I had seen her manage before. I also swore there was a golden energy added to her magic, and felt a slight tug on my finger from the string that connected us. 

How she was able to draw so much power from me, when I was so much less effective directly, I couldn’t say. But I was glad it worked, however it was that it did.

I took advantage of the dragon’s distraction to dash towards it, slamming into its chest before summoning another magicka blade, flushed into existence directly into the bulk of the mummified beast. The blade flashed with its formation and the undead dragon crumbled to dust.

“That felt… easier,” I said, half to myself.

Did I gain something from acquiring divine champions? Or was I just getting more familiar with using magic?

“I think Lanara is still under siege,” Ne’avo called out, having removed her nightglasses and leaned forward as if that would improve her view. “Those look like towers and forts all around it.”

“Well, let’s go tell them help has arrived,” I said.