The tail end of the dream she’d just awoken from kept playing on repeat in Sue’s head as she came to, the vision equally unnerving and aggravating. Not only did neither Night Father nor that “Justice” entity convey anything of importance to her, but now she was tangled in even more divine meddling, the sort she knew even less about than the lunar deities’ spat. 

It infuriated her the more she thought about it, leaving her with a scowl throughout the morning. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Willow to show up and perform a checkup on her leg. It included giving her limb a feel with their ear extension curl, finding the result satisfactory.

And with that done, it was time to move onto her plans for the day, under specified as they might have been.

A quick reassurance that she’d manage to get breakfast on her own got Willow to leave her be, and able to start her search. She looked around the village for either the tall vixen or the equally tall Forest Guardian, arriving nowhere.

Duckdammit, I'm too late, aren't I?

The realization forced her to stop and reevaluate. A pit stop on a nearby bench let her right arm recharge, preparing for what would likely be a lot of crutch wrangling today.

No way through but to ask someone, the awareness not helping her anxiety any with how few beings she even recognized. In absolute terms, Moonview’s headcount paled compared to even her local neighborhood. At the same time, it was much, much denser, complicating matters further. Just gotta find anyone she’d seen and preferably spoken to earlier, someone who wouldn’t be surprised at her stunts-

Sigh, not my first choice, but they’ll have to do.

A couple of eye-catching antics later, up to and including waving her crutch around, she’d caught the being’s attention. The cream and purple... badger was taken aback by her nonsense, but took the bait regardless. They slowly approached before giving her a bow, following it with soft growls and whines. Not unlike Willow’s speech, but with much more of a keening aspect to it, unnerving her plenty.

Left hand off to the side, focus on her psychics, maneuver it with her right hand, aaaand-

“Good morning, Root. Do you know where Sundance and Solstice went?”

The elder replied with a couple confused blinks as he paused, thoughts catching up to what had just happened. His brow furrowed, mouth opened as if to speak, a few more moments of thought- finally, a response:

“South and east, believe. Is ‘Mister’ Root. Name, Moon-chosen? Apology... farmhand intrusion.”

Mister Root, sure, whatever- wait, farmhand intrusion? Did he mean Lilly?

“Thank you. Could you point me there? And no, Lilly didn’t intrude at all.”

His eyes narrowed again, as if she’d misspoken in some critical way. In most other circumstances, she’d be at least a bit unnerved by that. At the moment, though, her ‘unnerved’ queue was already so full that she had to pass away reservation numbers for different thoughts.

‘Mister Flamey Badger was annoyed at her’ was firmly into three digits.

At least he gave her a direction afterward, even if the words that accompanied it were unamused at best-

“Grhhmmmm. Name, Moon-chosen? Can use true name. I Her guidance.”

...true name? No matter what it was, it didn’t matter. Time to get a move on and hopefully catch the two before they’re entirely done in there-

“Sue. Thanks again, but I gotta go.”

She wasted no time before hitting the leg & crutch, not paying the elder that threatened to erupt in purple flames behind her any mind. His guidance was understandably vague, but it got her somewhere, even if it was just over to the village’s edge. The buildings thinned out with every step until she was left only with an increasingly thickening canopy-

And a faint, but still present path.

The sight provided a well-needed surge of motivation, the once-human carefully following it while hoping she wasn’t incidentally being led astray. Which... felt more and more plausible with her not knowing where the night kin village even was. Suppose she was still close enough to circle back and ask someone for some sort of overview. Though, if even the brief mention of night kin made Willow visibly nervous a few days back, being so open with it couldn’t have been a good idea.

And, if the push came to shove, they’d find her out there, right?

Right?

Keeping the despair-inducing thoughts at bay, Sue focused on keeping her pace up. She’d gone from feeling like the crutch guided her wherever it wanted with every step, to actual control over the tool. The realization added a couple more pounds of kindling to the flames inside her. She was on a roll when it came to personal mobility. Here’s to seeing whether she could maintain that for however far away Newmoon was.

She’d manage or collapse trying.

With each step, a bit of focus veered further away from the uncertain path before her to her thoughts, the once human busy rehearsing her lines. That exercise was made much more challenging by the exact history between the two peoples’ remaining... largely unknown, aside from the few scant pieces she’d either been told or deduced. Distrust, slow acceptance, plague, and treachery on Moonview's side, including Solstice.

‘Why don’t we all just get along?’ spoken by the species most responsible for their ongoing oppression.

Not the best of ideas on second thought.

Maybe bring up and double down on what had happened to Pollux and how he and Spark had almost died? Really hammer in how their separation hurts the little ones and leave all the actually intelligent things to say to the other two. Suppose her shambling over unprompted would emphasize her determination and dedication towards improving things? Her presence would turn heads either way. Less so for party crashing and more so for showing up for what was, objectively, a sketchy reason considering her state.

But alas, she had to.

It was the only thing she could do, the only thing that would tangibly help her progress toward her goal of returning home. If this really had all been some sort of divinely preordained plan, then she was fulfilling it with annoying effectiveness-

Wait, where’s the... oh right, it’s there. Probably.

The faint path got fainter with each step, the difficulty in concretely determining what line to follow growing by the moment. It was still there, Sue saw it. She thought she could see it, at least. Or maybe it’s just a natural formation of worse dirt that resulted in less grass? She couldn’t see any signs of anyone having recently crossed through that area either, not helping one b-

*caw!*

Sue jumped at the sudden noise, head flailing around to determine its source. No blips on her radar from what she could make out-

But the suspect was there in the flesh, all the same, the realization cheering her up.

Not too different from some crows she’d seen back in her world, but still enough to look noticeably strange. Strange and somewhat familiar, though Sue didn't remember where she could've seen them before. Their black body looked almost segmented between their torso and a large, bushy tail, with the feathers immediately above their eye line spreading as outwards from their head as possible, looking like a disc. And their eyes. Those eyes were thinky, they were most definitely thinky and staring right at her.

The least she could do was return the greetings in whatever way she could.

“Hello! I know you can’t understand me, but I’m glad to see you.”

Predictably, her words had no immediate effect beyond further confusion. Still, they caught the crow’s interest, if nothing else. The night kin bird flapped from branch to branch until they were sitting on the lowest one around, coming close to being able to look at her straight on. A couple further caws were quieter, interspersed with different, clicky noises, all escaping understanding. Further stages of communication would be... difficult, if not impossible, but she had to try.

Let’s try... miming.

“Can you guide me over to Newmoon?”

Point at the bird, point at herself, point at the ground, make a walking gesture with two fingers, point at the bird again, point off in the direction she’d been heading towards-

Darkness.

A wall of ink-black nothing cut off the forest a few meters ahead, the dark barrier outright feeling like it was sucking the surrounding light in. The previous quiet turned to deafening silence, a quick look at the bird determining it to be just as surprised at the sight as she was, eyes wider as they stared and cawed a couple times-

And then, pinprick eyes began showing themselves from the blackness. Sometimes in pairs, sometimes on their own, saturating the void with their presence and Sue’s heart with fear. And then, growls and ferocious hisses, Sue’s blood freezing as she inched back, terror growing within her by the moment.

“H-h-hey, I-I mean no trouble, I-I was just walking t-towards-“

The darkness leaped at her.

Claws, paws, bodies, rushing, dashing, lunging, all right at her, without mercy, without hesitation. She didn’t even have the breath to scream. Her body felt like it took control on its own, forcibly overriding her freeze reaction into flight as fast and far away as she could.

It was no use.

The inky beasts followed in her wake, roars and growls forcing screams out of Sue as she hobbled forward. Her crutch constantly came precipitously close to tripping on the grass, her pathetic pace slowing down further with each near fall. For a brief moment, she thought she could outrace them, keep ahead for long enough to make it out of this hell and back to safety. She put her whole frail body into each step and each turn-

Closer growl, a flash of motion in her peripheral vision, a swipe of a shadowy paw, her side erupting with pain.

She wasn’t even graced with being able to shriek.

Her body impacted the dry forest floor moments later, the crutch rattling beside her. Her breath was stolen from her and taken over by further torment as a massive jaw crunched her hand, the bones splintering into untold agony.

She was gonna die, she was gonna die, she should’ve listened, she shouldn’t have gone alone-

I’m sorry, Sundance...

The fiends encircled her, growling and roaring coming from around her. She could only curl up, scream, and cry while awaiting the end. She would die and amount to little more than a meal for these nightmares. They were already gnawing at her flesh, she could feel them, the agony subsuming all thought-

Suddenly, a different bark in the distance. It cried out again and again, rushing right towards her. She had no brainpower left to figure out what it was, only able to pry one eye open-

And see Pollux leap in through the nightmares surrounding her, turn around, and start barking at the top of his lungs to drive them away. They briefly stopped, but dove in again moments later, on her, on him.

No, don’t touch him, LEAVE HIM ALONE!

Sue’s pained body cried out in sync with her innermost soul. The latter wanted to do anything to protect the vulnerable gray fox again, but this time she couldn’t. She was gonna die, they were gonna die, there was nothing either of them could do, they were dead they were dead they were dead.

In desperation, she reached with her bleeding arms and pulled him in. She held him close to her neck and chest above the spike, wanting to offer her body for defense even if nothing else was within her ability-

He didn’t fight, he didn’t thrash. Instead, Pollux howled at the top of his lungs, the warbling sound conveying something incomprehensible to someone unknown. The shapeshifter kit stalwartly continued to face the encroaching darkness-

And then, it all stopped.

The cries, the growls, the uncountable attacks, all vanishing as if a light switch had been turned off. Once Sue’d pried her eyes open, the formless black was gone too, shadowy beasts having entirely disappeared. It was for no use, she was bleeding, she would...

Sue looked down at the arm embracing Pollux, expecting to see half of it in chunks after that beast’s savage bite- nothing. No blood, no injuries, the pain growing steadily weaker, from incapacitating to mere aching. The lil’ night kin noticed her shock too, steadily calming himself down before facing her again, his expression distraught and apologetic. The woofs that followed were quiet and whimpering, interspersed by cuddling up to her front and peppering her cheeks with licks.

It made no more sense for Sue than the suddenly disappearing hell, but it was much, much more appreciated.

The Forest Guardian held him tight, tighter than ever before. Anguish at all the fear and pain she’d just been through waned as she clung to the fox, especially since he seemed to know what had just happened. Did something attack her? Why did it stop so suddenly? Why are her wounds gone now? Why-

Something else was here with them, so much more than a mere shadow.

The shaded grove she’d crashed in let little light in, only enough to make out the vague outline of the being that hovered over her. Outline, long claws, and its eyes, good Duck its eyes, their piercing blue glow chilling her soul. It made her curl up even tighter and hold the gray kit closer out of protective instinct. The clawed being responded with a growl that froze her blood, her entire body paralyzed in an utmost fear of death.

Only for Pollux to snap back at them.

He squirmed in her embrace, barking firmly and loudly at the monster for a moment. Each time the larger one spoke, or even tried to, Pollux would be there to cut them off, his interjections shutting them up. And then, he’d invariably turn back towards her, small body pressing into hers, apologetic mumbles continuing.

Soon after, the cawing from earlier returned. Sue could just barely make the black bird out on a nearby branch. Their vocalizations followed the fox’s, similarly hostile towards the intruder.

Eventually, nobody tried to talk anymore, the terrifying situation relaxing into uneasy silence. The larger one gradually backed off until they stood beside the nearby tree, staring her down from a distance. Their new position revealed more about them, and some facts soon clicked into place in a very uncomfortable way. Gray fur, black mane, elongated fox snout- just like Pollux’s. The only noticeable differences were the bipedal shape and the massive plume of blood-red hair. If Sundance was any indication, the former didn’t matter at all.

Was this... Pollux’s relative?

Why were the lil’ fox and that crow hostile to them? Did they have something to do with all that nightmarish blackness that had just attacked her? Did they attack her? What did she do-

More soft whines from the vulpine kiddo, more comfort. Incomprehensible as they were, it didn’t make them any less effective, especially once the bird joined in on the fun. Sure, they couldn’t do nearly as much, but they could still pet her with their wings.

And that’s what they did.

Did she accidentally go or do something taboo? Sue was so terribly sorry if she’d done so. Disrespecting their people was the last thing she wanted to do, but not even that made sense. She was just talking to that bird, and then... hell on earth, without warning or reason.

Before Sue’s thoughts in that direction could bring her more despair, Pollux caught her attention with a couple pats on the cheek. The woofs that followed were more upbeat, soothing her mind. With her focus on him, he scrambled over to bring the crutch back to her before backing off to give her space.

The larger one had finally grown mostly quiet by then, only quietly grumbling as they observed the entire exchange. With the fox giving her space, the small clearing turned to silence. The once-student was too confused and shell-shocked to immediately realize what was expected of her. Her gaze leaped between the two foxes in front of her, her body still locked up.

Was she to get up? That’s what it felt like, but... what if she’d do something wrong again? What if having inky nightmares sicced upon her was just a warning shot? What if one more mess-up would make that ferocious beast leap in to tear her to pieces personally, without Pollux being able to do much more than idly bark at them? Far from certainty, and she knew it, but that didn’t extend to her fear-soaked mind.

The deadlock continued without an end in sight.

Sue was too focused on what the massive fox was doing to even notice Pollux’s attempted reassurances. As minutes passed, its gaze continued to narrow on her, only making her shrink more and more. She wanted to plead, hide, to be anywhere but here- but these azure eyes saw it all.

I'm at their mercy, mercy which they don't look like they have.

Eventually, a scornful growl, her face withdrawing to the most childish of hiding spots- behind her hands. Anything to shield her from the terror of it all, to make the finishing blow that would no doubt follow hurt any less. Her silence gave way to hyperventilating, the entire aching body curling up further-

Suddenly, a wave of tingly static throughout her, like an aftershock of an explosion, but perceived only with her sixth sense-

“^What the hell is going on in here.^”

The voice was cold, sharper than a razor blade, feminine if only just. Simultaneously booming and a whisper, rattling Sue’s body as she dared to look outside her pretend cocoon towards its source. A source that, as far as her tingling sense could figure out, wasn’t one of the night kin. The opposite, if anything.

They towered over her.

The shade left few details visible despite their lighter coloration. Curved in spots, elongated in others, very, very tall. Their eyes were but white pinpricks, drilling into her soul the moment they locked with hers. And with that metaphorical sensation came a very literal one, one of her mind being touched and probed, more than just her current fears being read like a book to her displeasure. Soon after, more growls from the larger fox. The towering psychic beside her finally looked over at them, palpably growing more annoyed.

“^Of course this isn’t Solstice, you fool.^”

Wait... it couldn’t be. Did they try to attack Solstice and just mistook her for-

More woofs, responded to first by Pollux, then the bird, and finally by the living tower, much more biting in its delivery-

“^I will not deign that with a response. Either you swallow your cowardice and tell Ginger about this, or I will.^”

The fox stared daggers into the other psychic, eyes narrowing before abruptly shifting at Sue. They made her withdraw further into her curled-up pose-

And then, they turned around and took off into the distance. Pollux barked something pleading in their wake, but to no avail. The pinprick-eyed psychic didn’t react beyond their pose deflating a bit. No audible groan accompanied it, but the change in emotion was clear to sense. More annoyance, more exasperation, both trying to be pushed aside even if briefly, largely unsuccessfully.

“^Idiot... Now, you. Who are you, and what is a Forest Guardian doing here.^”

The focus once more returning to her made Sue jump a bit, but thankfully with nowhere near as much terror to it.

“I-I’m Sue. I... w-wanted to get t-to Newmoon...”

Long, uncomfortable pause, the once-human feeling too grilled to even look up at her interlocutor. Out of view, Pollux woofed something again, the gray fox scrambling over as something writhed inside her mind-

“-ur village?”

Sue stared at the source of the abrupt boyish voice as he got to nuzzling her. Sensation slowly returned to her hands, eventually enough to give the fox some well-deserved affection.

“^Repeat, Pollux.^”

“Oh, okay! Why were you walking to our village, Sue?”

“I-it’s... s-something important, very important.”

“Oooooh, I see! Why didn’t you follow the path? Did you wanna hide?”

Walking all the way over to Newmoon was one accomplishment, sneaking there with a crutch would’ve been an incomparably more impressive one. Probably not possible, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

“I... tried to f-follow the path. I got lost, didn’t I...”

“^Extremely so.^” - There was the slightest bit of amusement and much less annoyance in the tall one’s voice this time. That aside, it remained the same disinterested flatness as earlier.

“I’m sorry my dad attacked you...”

Pollux huddled up closer, the hurt and apology palpable in his woofs. She could make out a tear or two welling in the corner of his eyes as he continued the affection however he could.

So it was Pollux’s dad, and it was him attacking her instead of whatever ghost idea she might have had...

“Wh-why did he d-do that...”

“I don’t know! I’m sorry, Sue!”

The gray fox was about to break down into his own sobs. Sue’s maternal instinct made her sweep in and pull the kit into a tight hug, trying to console him. He greatly appreciated the pets that followed, them and the well-needed reprieve from his worries about his friend getting hurt. All the while, his very presence brought relief the other way around.

“D-don’t worry, Pollux, it’s not your fault.”

“I know, a-and I tried to make him stop, but I was too late and, and-“

“Shhhhhhh...”

A drawn out, firmer embrace, tingliness of the night kin’s fluff bringing further respite. Finally, her body unclenched from the panic attack she’d experienced minutes prior, the development sensed by the other psychic around.

“^You’re in no shape for walking the remainder of the way there.^”

That observation would’ve been true even without considering her recent crash. The aching and coldness that went through the far left side of her body every time she even thought about moving sure didn’t help either. Sue just acknowledged the observation with a nod, unsure what reaction to expect and hoping it wouldn’t end up being a blunt rejection-

“^I’ll Teleport us there. Someone needs to tell Ginger what happened anyway, sigh...^”

“That was so mean of him...”

“^Correct.^”

“Why did he do that, Mrs. Heather?”

“^I don’t know. Now, you... Sue. Are you capable of standing up on your own?^”

“I-I’m not s-sure- AH!”

Without even waiting for her to finish, the freshly named Heather had already taken things into her mind. Her eyes burned up with a flare as Sue was moved into the air. Heather’s psychics were much more forceful than how either Solstice or Sundance did it, the sheer acceleration sending a roll of nausea through Sue. The next few actions were less abrupt, though still very rough compared to what she’d experienced earlier. Let her lower a leg, get her hands in position, and move the crutch up to be useful at all-

Alright, she was up again, if much more roughly than she would’ve preferred.

There was the slightest bit of hesitation in the other psychic’s emotions. It soon faded as Sue finally got enough of a grip on herself to speak up once more-

“Th-thanks...”

“What is that thing you’re holding?” - The unfamiliar voice caught Sue off guard, the corvid cawing that overlapped it cluing the once human off to its source. Slightly croaky, but decidedly young aside from that, like a girl in her older teens with a very sore throat.

Sue wasn’t sure how to answer that even once her eyes connected with the crow’s once more, the question rather ambiguous. Did- did she mean the crutch?

“I-it’s just a crutch, lets me walk with an injured leg...”

“Oooooh, so that’s what that fabric on your leg meant! Who made-“

“^Your questions can wait, Rainfall.^”

The black bird didn’t argue with Heather’s assertion, much to Sue’s thinly veiled relief. She briefly noticed the other psychic’s eyes shifting over to stare into her again, probing in the same way as before. And then, refocusing on something else.

Something much, much flashier.

Before Sue knew it, she and everyone around her were surrounded by an intense, white sheen. Unlike the immobilizing one from earlier, her motions were not bound with an ironclad grip, even if the light was just as intense as before. And then, it grew stronger still, turning blinding soon after. It forced Sue to clench her eyes shut and await whatever would follow once more-

An instant of nonexistence, an epicenter of a tingly shockwave, a couple moments of finding her balance-

They were somewhere else altogether.

This stretch of the woods was... brighter, nowhere near as murky as the one they’d all just been in. Any and all questions to the vein of “how” and “why” were stashed deep inside her mind as Sue grabbed her bearings. A quick scan of the surrounding group revealed everyone to still be here, wherever “here” was- while also letting Sue finally get a better peek at the imposing psychic.

How come something this menacing had a coloration this... gentle.

Body like a chess piece. Legless white bottom, pink middle, blue top capped off with a hat-like growth that trailed off into a long arm. And inside that external shell, a white face with a blank expression, eyes all black aside from the pinpricks she’d seen pierce the darkness. Now that she got a better look at her, Heather looked very similar to-

“^Yes, I’m Thistle’s mother. Are you ready to walk the remainder of the way over?^”

The exasperation in her voice was thankfully far from anything that’d induce immediate panic, while still providing a firm rhetorical shove in one specific direction. One that the two little ones immediately started scrambling towards, Sue left playing catch-up.

“Who made this... ‘crutch’?”

As Sue got her rear back into gear, she noticed the night kin crow stick close to her. They were flying at a very relaxed, almost unsustainably slow pace, only narrowly avoiding crashing as they focused on her.

“Uhh, I-I don’t know. Willow gave it to me, but I don’t know who made it. M-Maybe Kantaro?”

“Nooo, he doesn’t do tools like that! It would have to be-“

“...how do you know that?”

The Forest Guardian’s question was enough to crash Rainfall’s train of thought completely while the group’s attention shifted over to her. Her drawn-out caws were translated into ‘uhhhhhh’s before she abruptly took off way ahead. She flew off before anyone could intervene, much to Pollux’s amusement.

“^Do you know something I don’t, Pollux?^”

And just like that, the lil’ fox was shut up as well, Sue giggling quietly at the unexpected turn of the conversation. Truthfully, she had no idea about anything that was just implied and teased, but... something told her that Pollux wasn’t the only one venturing over to the other village~.

“^Of course he isn’t.^”

Heather’s mental voice was much quieter, closer to a whisper while remaining imposing. A glance downwards revealed Pollux to have not noticed that one. Alright, telepathy.

Let’s try to respond in kind with just that link instead of speaking up loud, lest Pollux heard-

“^What is wrong with you?^”

Oh.

Heather’s flat voice sounded genuinely confused, its owner staring at her in the middle of her... method of locomotion. Sue couldn’t imagine many answers to the question of ‘how does a being shaped more like a tower than an animal move,’ but, levitation sure wasn’t on that short list. The faint, white glow surrounding Heather’s lower half even provided a concrete mechanical explanation for that feat. Or, at least, as close to an explanation as it got with mind powers.

Somehow she’d gone from ‘Why is that butterfly half her size? What is going on?’ to ‘Ah, I see, that pastel-colored being uses this specific magical ability for basic locomotion. With enough practice I could get there too, no doubt’ in a span of... six days.

“^I mean it. I can feel it, what is wrong with you, Sue?^”

The tiniest bit of genuine concern Sue sensed in the voice was unlike what she’d seen of Heather so far. Her pinprick eyes softened in a way Sue couldn’t exactly figure out.

Now, how to even answer something like that...

“It’s... complicated.”

Her untranslated response made Pollux look over his shoulder at them two, his confused ‘awoo?’ melting Sue’s heart.

“^I had scarcely imagined it was possible for someone your apparent age to be so inexperienced.^”

“I’ve heard that one before.”

No psychics were buying her current state or Solstice’s excuse for it, unnerving Sue greatly. All of them could immediately see through her despite her best efforts, the little they ever amounted to. Each time, she was left just playing dumb, hoping she wouldn’t inadvertently blurt the truth out-

“^...transformation.^”

...or worse yet, have someone breach her privacy and take that knowledge without asking.

Sue’s eyes went wide, cold dread shooting through her at her secret being so effortlessly revealed against her will. What would Heather do with that information? What would others do if they learned-

“^Outside of Solstice’s tribe, nothing. You overestimate how much most care.^”

“C-could you stay out of my thoughts!?”

*awoo?*

“^If I could, I would.^”

Her response was as straight-faced as it got, her tone perfectly flat. And yet, it answered nothing, annoying Sue further-

“Oh, I’m so sorry, it must be so hard not being able to respect people’s privacy-“

“^It is.^”

Heather’s voice was the most emotional Sue’d seen yet, a low grumble underlined by her eyes narrowing down. Beyond sheer intimidation that knocked Sue’s paleness up a notch, the response seemed genuine, somehow. The once-human didn’t know how to interpret it, steering her shambled path away from the other psychic, to the latter’s exasperation.

“^Transformation indeed. You can sense emotions, and so can I, incomparably stronger. Strong enough to extend to thoughts too, and not even just the most surface ones.^”

Sue had no idea how to react to the impromptu explanation, but it was appreciated all the same. Sue had a hard time imagining just how a sense this strong would feel-

“^Like people screaming directly into my ears.^”

The former human stayed quiet at that, left somewhere between intimidated, feeling sorry about how something like that must feel, and annoyed at her privacy getting breached in the first place. Thankfully, they wouldn’t have to linger on that heavy point for much longer.

With one more step, Sue stepped into a modest clearing, scarcely larger than the one from her dream. Fittingly, it even had an extinguished fire pit right at the center. Instead of just feeble little benches, though, it was surrounded by several buildings, most of them wooden huts. They formed a semicircle around the fire pit, its other side opening into a larger open area, one with several comforts installed all over.

A swing attached to the massive tree that towered over the clearing was the most immediately eye-catching one. Its radius easily cleared fifty or even sixty feet, making it simultaneously a dream come true for Sue, Human, age 5, and more than a little unnerving for Sue, Forest Guardian, age 22-ish.

Falling out of one of those things is how you turn from biology to physics as you splat on the ground.

Fortunately for her continued structural integrity, Heather did not navigate towards said swing. Instead, her attention shifted to the handful of hammocks strewn along the clearing’s edge. They were rather barebones, but looked plenty comfortable.

Assuming you didn’t have a pair of painfully sensitive spikes impaling your spine, that is.

So comfortable, in fact, that one of them was even occupied. The group’s focus was pulled towards the sleeping being as Heather reached in with her arm... tentacle... extremity, attempting to shake them awake.

Their appearance was much more stark than most other beings here, in a ‘technicolor multicolored’ way. Most of the core scale-covered body was yellow except for the black stomach and eyelids, but that contrast wasn’t even the most eye-catching part about them. That award went to the baggy, loose folds of green... skin. Not unlike Sue’s own, but much, much thicker and rugged-looking. They surrounded the creature’s lower half and neck, the latter with an extra amount of slack on the back. Capping it off was an orange mohawk-shaped crest of larger scales on top of their head.

The sum total of four very distinct shades clashed together with a force Sue hadn’t seen since she’d stopped frequenting DeviantArt back in the day.

Besides encompassing half a rainbow and then some, they turned out to be rather difficult to wake up. Their eyes remained closed even as Heather shook them and their hammock. The forcefulness escalated until the tower-shaped psychic had to resort to the nuclear option with a defeated telepathic grumble.

In a split second, the whole hammock was surrounded with white light and flipped one eighty degrees with enough force to launch the technicolor lizard out of it and onto the grassy forest floor below.

And even then, it took them a couple minutes to even start coming to.

They let out a drawn-out trill as they stretched in place, shifting just enough to turn onto their back and slide their hands under their head. Sue could palpably feel Heather’s exasperation grow in response, her arm slowly lifting into the air as if about to slam down-

“I’m here, I’m here. What’s the haps-“

The voice was calm, masculine, and sounded like the speaker was axiomatically incapable of perceiving urgency. A couple moments later, the lizard managed to pry his eyes open, a half-lidded look first focusing on Heather before jumping all the way over to Sue. Her appearance single-handedly finished the rest of his waking process, eyes briefly fully opening as they took her in.

“Oh.”

“^Correct.^”

Her presence provided enough jolt to his system to finally force the lizard to scramble onto his legs. He waddled over until stopping a couple meters away from her, some of the loose green skin dragging behind him. His orange crest ended up at around the same height as her chest-mounted letter opener.

“Hmmm... Solanum?”

“^Of course not.^”

The emphasis in Heather’s response and the unfamiliar name caught Sue off guard. Before she could think about it anymore, though, the other psychic continued-

“^Go on, introduce yourself.^”

“Uh- hi. My name is Sue.”

“Mighty pleasure to have you here, Sue. Name’s Ginger- yeah, I know, I know, I’ve already heard all the jokes.”

The follow-up had Sue blink confusedly for a couple moments before it was swept aside by Heather’s interjection-

“^Alastor attacked her while she was walking through the woods.^”

“What?”

Ginger turned to look up at the towering psychic first, then down at the hurt-looking Pollux, the kit having scrambled over to the Forest Guardian’s leg, and finally back at Sue. It took a couple moments for him to piece the “what” and “why” together. The grumble that followed resembled a drawn-out trill as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

“What a child... oh well, I’ll chew him out once he shows up here. Well, mighty apologies from me, Sue. Hardly a pleasant introduction to our little nook in the forest. So- what brings you here? Hailing over from Moonview...?”

The apologies were accompanied by an outstretched hand in her direction, its claws so stubby she only barely noticed them.

Despite having her mental radar for only a few days now, Sue had found her subconscious decision-making relying on it more and more. Enough so that its sudden absence left her unsure how to proceed here, even with Ginger’s voice being as laid back as it got.

Suppose nothing terrible would happen if she just shook his hand and told the truth...

Hopefully...

“Yeah, I c-came from there. I wanted to-“

Hold on.

Sue paused, eyes sweeping the clearing, searching for two specific figures, but not finding either. And someone with apparent importance was asleep when she got here, to boot.

She’d arrived ahead of the other two.

“^Ahead of who- what do you mean Solstice is on her way here.^”

Heather’s words plunged the already quiet clearing into a stone-cold silence. Pollux and Ginger looked at her in disbelief before refocusing on Sue. The Forest Guardian found herself half stepping backward at being suddenly put on this dire of a spot, words catching in her throat. Suppose she should just stick to her resolve and tell the truth, but Duckdammit, the initial reaction being this sudden didn’t help one bit.

“Y-yes. Her and S-Sundance are making their way over here. I-I wanted to follow them at first, but then... things happened.”

The once-human paid close attention to how the technicolor lizard reacted to the news, gauging how big of a mess she was in now. Ginger took his time responding, blinking at her flatly a couple times before... shrugging his shoulders.

“Uh-huh. Well, nothing stops them from visiting. Can’t say I’m not... curious as to the reason for their, and seemingly also your, presence here.”

No hostility, merely confusion- it was a good sign. It’d still be left to Sue to play the cards right, though, which... she had her doubts about.

Fingers crossed they’d see she was heartfelt enough.

“They... they wanted to discuss mending the rift between you all and Moonview.”

You could hear a pin drop from a mile away.

“Well, suppose that’s as good of a discussion topic with Solstice as it gets. Been a while.”

“^I doubt everyone will share your enthusiasm, Ginger.^”

“Probably not! Worth taking a moment to talk it all through then. Juniper’s off somewhere, but I think everyone else should be in earshot- *whiIIIIISTLE!*“

The piercing sound was accompanied by the bipedal lizard turning further into the clearing. Everyone but Sue knew what to expect, leaving the once-human shifting behind Ginger’s shorter stature as they awaited the arrival of other night kin-

She wouldn’t have to wait long.

“What’s happening, what’s happening?” - Rainfall’s squeaky caws made Sue’s head snap to a nearby branch, the black bird continuing to eye her crutch closely. And, if her opening and closing their beak a couple times in quick succession without making any sounds was any sign, she only barely kept herself from asking more questions.

“Big things, Rainfall. Aight, where’s the- here we go.”

Ginger drew Sue’s attention further into the clearing as another being made their way over. Sue’s immediate thought was an overly stretched scorpion the size of a motorcycle. Lavender and purple segments came together into a roughly arthropod body shape, except for a long, flexible neck. Their tail wasn’t any different from their pincers, which meant that either they weren’t poisonous in that way at all, or worse- that they all were.

Them being strong enough to carry half a tree log within each pair of pincers didn’t put Sue at any more ease either.

“Eyy Thorns, how’s clear-cutting going?”

“Fine enough. With whom do we have the... pleasure?” - The scorpion’s voice was harsh, low, clearly suspicious- but with no malice Sue could sense. It was also distinctly feminine, throwing Sue’s mind for a loop before Ginger’s response caught her attention again-

“I’ll get to it once everyone’s here. Where’s Jasper?”

“I was talking with him just now!” - The night kin bird’s interjection confounded the lizard, hand reaching up to stroke his chin as he thought through something.

As he did so, Sue kept looking around the clearing, spotting... something peeking their way from behind one of the buildings. Nearly all black aside from green feet and spots on what had to be their head. The distance made it difficult to know with certainty. Sue tried leaning in closer to get a better look. All that accomplished, though, was causing the being to withdraw entirely and slink behind the building, the reaction catching her off guard.

Why’d they-

“Hi!”

The happy greeting overlapped with a harsh bark, just different enough from Pollux’s to be discernible. It only took a glance down at the ground for the suspect to reveal themselves, their appearance feral, intimidating, but also... familiar. She wouldn’t have spared them a second look back in her own world if not for those oversized canines and piercing red eyes. The newcomer looked just like a wolf of some sort, their coloration split between silvery gray and near-black.

“Hiiii!”

And, if what was most likely Heather’s translation was any sign, they sounded at most five years old or so.

“Um, h-hello.”

Sue’s wave at the wolf pup was acknowledged with a couple untranslated woofs and a prodigious amount of tail wagging. Scary as their snouts’ contents might have been, it was hard to deny them being happy at the moment. It was all... oddly adorable.

“Howl! This is Sue, she’s... a friend!” - Pollux wasted no time introducing his impromptu guest. The other night kin quadruped acknowledged that fact in the most direct way. Namely, by first nuzzling his friend, and then Sue’s good leg.

“That’s cool! Polluuuux, can we play tag?”

“Sure, Howl, but not now. Something important is gonna be happening now!”

“Oooooo. What important?”

“Don’t worry about it, Howl.” - Ginger’s tone was reassuring. The colorful lizard walked over to the gray pup and dispensed some of his own affection, the lil’ one’s tail wags only intensifying. - “Now, who else is missing... Jasper, Alastor-“

“^Last I’ve seen of him, he stormed off in a huff. I doubt he’ll be showing up for this.^”

“Fair, fair. Daystar-“

“Present~.”

The keening voice made everyone but Heather jump. Their attention snapped onto a low branch a few feet behind Sue, the latter with a noticeable startle. As unnerved as the segmented scorpion’s spikes made her, the newcomer somehow topped them. Their bipedal body was elongated, almost human-shaped. The silver fur covering most of it and their harrowing weaponry immediately offset that fact. Similarly to her own, their arms’ proportions were off, thin upper arms giving way to much thicker forearms. Their left paw was capped off with three massive claws, each the size of a cleaver and curved at the end, shining red despite their dark purple coloration.

The sight on their right arm was noticeably different, looking almost... artificial. A good chunk of that forearm was replaced with a bulky contraption of wood and rope. It was secured to what had to be their actual arm and tipped off with a single metal hook.

Was this... a prosthesis?

“Alrighty, that just leaves Jasper.” - Ginger summed up quickly, one omission raising the newcomer’s eyebrow-

“And not Juniper~?”

Hearing some more of Daystar’s voice made her more firmly female, though with a fairly low pitch. It also made clear one other fact that Sue would’ve thought to be more self-evident- that of her not being a night kin. Suppose, with Heather in her vicinity, it was hard to even notice any weaker blips around her, huh.

“Nah, not Juniper, she’s away, and we’d be waiting for ages.”

“Perhaps for the best~.” - The silver biped’s attention honed in closer on the once-human. The golden... crystals on their forehead and chest occasionally gleamed as stray rays of sunshine struck them. Sue had no idea how to interpret that message, unable to do much but shake in place and feel increasingly uncomfortable.

“Seems Jasper isn’t gracing us with his presence, then. Let’s get everything else underway, at least. SO-!”

Ginger’s raised voice interrupted any murmured chitchatting that crept in, leaving the half-rainbow lizard as the sole focus of everyone present.

“From what I’ve been told, Solstice and Sundance are on their way over. They want to initiate talks about moving forward after what had happened between us and Moonview. Is that accurate... Sue?”

Her firm nod immediately set off tense discussion all around her. Before the gathered older voices could discuss too much, they were interrupted by a louder growl, its abruptness and unknown origin making Sue jump.

“Sigh, if you’re gonna contribute, Alastor, then it’d be mature of you to at least show yourself. Though, you raise a good point. Alright, Sue, how do we know their excursion is in goodwill? Not that I’d expect either of them to use that opportunity to backstab us, but we can’t ever be quite certain, can we?”

Sue’s gaze jumped around as she was suddenly put on the spot, only having a very limited idea about how to respond to Ginger’s question. All she had was the Cliff’s Notes version of this place’s tragedy and the few wits that hadn’t been shaken off by her anxiety. The pressure of even a single wrong answer making the job of the other two much harder didn’t help one bit...

Persuasion wasn’t her strong suit, but... maybe honesty could work.

“I-I don’t know what to say, e-exactly. It’s just them two, and a-as far as I know, n-nobody else around even knows of them being here-“

“It’s not even a unified effort?” - Thorns’ voice conveyed how much she didn’t approve of that fact, the scorpion’s low grumbling growing lower still.

“^Are they serious, or is it just Solstice trying to wash her conscience?^” - Heather’s interjection was similarly accusatory, Sue’s shallow breath coming closer to hyperventilating by the moment.

“Coming all the way over to beg for forgiveness and only then deign to bring it up with the rest of their council~?” - Daystar’s addition pushed the Forest Guardian over the edge, creeping panic finally forcing her to blurt out-

“I DON’T KNOW!”

As desperate as Sue’s response was, it made everyone else gathered pause, if briefly. She knew she didn’t have much of a rhetorical leg to stand on. The most she could feasibly do was push all the mess she’d built up over to the two responsible beings.

“I-I wasn’t supposed to be here, th-they asked me not to come with them, I-I wasn’t expecting to be the first one here...”

“Then why are you here?” - Thorns’ question was short and to the point, cutting through any surrounding fluff. It was one Sue’d been asking herself on a loop for half an hour or so.

Just why the hell was she here? Sundance was right. This wasn’t her conflict to settle, she’d done nothing except be caught in the crossfire. And yet... Fate left her no other way. It was this or idleness, merely waiting for the inevitable to be decided for her with her hands tied.

After being forced through that hell again and again with her dad, one chemotherapy session and surgery at a time, Sue knew she never wanted to experience it ever again, no matter what it took. She looked up and around the beings surrounding her, all with no doubt similar amounts of trauma in their pasts. Heather’s eyes went wide as they briefly locked with Sue’s.

Time to finally get something worthwhile out of her hauling her ass over through all the strain and assault.

“B-because the rift b-between h-here and there almost killed me.”

Sue tried to maintain as intense of an expression as possible while she reached to pat her crutch. The gesture drew attention to it and the bandages around her leg alike, making her presence here in the first place even more perplexing. Before anyone could sort out their confusion about her answer, though, several pairs of keen eyes noticed Howl trying to inch away.

A second Howl just a few feet away made that disguise much less effective.

“Hold on just now, Pollux.”

Ginger’s callout made the “Howl” trying to scamper away from the scene freeze in place. His expression was clearly anguished, leaving Sue feeling sorry as she picked up the slack again.

“H-him and Spark were playing together when... I believe they’re called a ‘deathweaver’, attacked them. I-if not for my presence there, they would’ve both died.”

The resulting silence was cut forth with a distraught growl and a piece of nearby shrubbery suddenly transforming into the massive black and red fox she’d seen earlier. Alastor still made her heart rate spike, even if his focus was clearly not on her for once. In one leap, the plume of scarlet hair closed the distance between himself and disguised Pollux. The lil’ fox soon reverted to his true appearance as he stared at the forest floor.

“I-I d-didn’t w-want to make you worry, d-dad... A-and you’d be mad at me for playing with Spark! I didn’t want you to be mad at me...”

Another growl from the older fox, wavering in its delivery, deflating the expressions of everyone nearby.

“But you would! Y-you said it s-so many times h-how I shouldn’t tr-trust them, a-a-and how Solstice is evil. And you even attacked Sue earlier because you thought it was Solstice! How can you tell me th-that you wouldn’t be mad at me! Why- WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME, DAD?!”

“We both know where that kind of grudge leads, Alastor.”

Daystar’s comment had Sue briefly glance at the silver creature sitting on a branch before looking back at the father fox being chewed out. Instead of him, she saw... something else. For just an instant, the dark and red beast that had assaulted her became death manifest, pale and bloodstained, golden eyes seething with hatred of all life-

And then, one blink later, it was gone, replaced with Alastor struggling to even look at her despite what he’d done earlier today. For a few tense moments, Sue’s eyes were locked with Pollux’s father, the latter’s actions catching up to him fast-

He could not bear it.

Alastor was gone before Sue could even consciously process what she was seeing. It was as if the environment had swallowed him whole, leaving nothing where he stood moments prior.

“Dad...”

“Goddammit, Alastor... oh well.”

Ginger had to take a moment to rub his temples, the resulting mess of a conversation accomplishing little beyond muddying the waters further. If there was one thing that was perfectly clear, though, it was that trying to discuss this further before the other Forest Guardian arrived would serve no purpose. Especially with how little this Sue person clearly knew.

Rushing headlong into all this would help nobody.

“Aight. How about this. We end this exchange here, it’s clearly not doing us any good. We all have time to think it through before Solstice and Sundance show up, consider where we all individually stand on it all. How’s that sound?”

The responses took their time to start rolling in, but they turned out largely affirmative. Only the purple scorpion had as much as a mumbled objection before she relented all the same-

“Fine, then. What about our guest?”

“What about Sue, indeed. It’d be a good idea for someone to look after her for a while considering what had happened between her and Alastor... any takers?”

Right as Ginger finished, Sue felt a tingly shockwave go through her system, only to look up and realize Heather was gone from the scene. Thorns hasn’t shown any more eagerness than her either, already busy carrying timber from where she’d come from. Which left either Ginger or...

The lizard’s words were somewhere between a warble and a quiet growl as his yellow hand pointed at the trees behind her; the vocalization responded to with a drawn-out hissy grumble. As hesitant as everyone else might have been, much to Sue’s building annoyance and sorrow, Daystar would finally pick up the slack. Before the Forest Guardian could even glance over her shoulder, she heard a light thump of something landing on grass, followed by a couple taps of cold metal on her arm.

As straightforward as Daystar’s gesture of pointing with her clawed arm was, the sudden absence of coherent communication threw more anxiety into Sue’s mind. She felt completely alone, most of those around giving her the cold shoulder, if even that. Understandable after what they’ve all been through, and not even her panicked mind was seriously accusing anyone present of wishing any physical harm on her-

Outside of Alastor...

-but it was still all deeply unnerving. Especially with her left unsure about whether she’d actually managed to accomplish anything in the end-

Meowed, hissy sounds nearby, Daystar’s emotions much clearer to sense with Heather gone. There was a bit of exasperation and uncertainty as she turned to stare at the newcomer. All the young uns but Pollux had already followed her further into the clearing. Sue wanted to say something, anything, push through the anxiety clouding her mind enough to establish a connection between herself and what felt like the only being here she was compatible with in that way-

Thankfully, Pollux intervened, the lil’ fox’s woofs seemingly explaining her apparent lack of understanding. The news was... more surprising for Daystar than Sue would’ve expected. Her expression narrowed, gaze jumping back and forth between Pollux and the Forest Guardian beside him. More utterances followed, short and baffled. The exchange between her temporary host and a portably sized friend didn’t last long before the silver one once more looked up to address her directly.

Daystar knew her words wouldn’t be understood and instead went for the second-best option. The clawed arm pointed at Sue, then at her mouth while she repeatedly opened and closed it all the way, followed by a firm head shake.

Correct. Sue didn’t know how to speak; the message acknowledged with a few rapid nods.

She felt understanding and deep thought creep into the biped’s mind. And then, a few moments later, a lightbulb went off.

Or this world’s closest equivalent- someone suddenly spewing flames out of their mouth, maybe?

Either way, Daystar just came up with something, going from hesitant to eager on what felt like a whim. Sue wouldn’t oppose that change, that’s for sure. Finally, she pushed herself from her spot, the crutch arm immediately complaining again after its unintentional break. With the borderline interrogation over, Sue could appreciate the small settlement further. The quaint place was really cozy the more she looked at it. Almost reminded her of a summer camp.

Summer camp with even more shared trauma than usual.

Let’s see what idea my host got all of a sudden.