It was a few hours later they found themselves pulling off the road and into La Mancha. It was later than Lily expected to be arriving, but she and Star had needed some time to emotionally recover from their ordeal. Plus, it was nice to be around the house and able to talk to one another.

But, eventually duty called. Now that they had arrived, Lily had one major goal in mind. To set things up so that if she didn’t make it back, all these animals wouldn’t die starving in cages. 

Near the start of all this, Lily had forced herself to accept that she couldn’t be responsible for all the animals around the world. But, she’d taken an active interest in this little farm and it felt wrong to just not worry about such a thing.

Thankfully, she had what she thought was a solid idea for a dead man’s switch, and she was here to put it into action. As Lily and Star got out of the car, Donk trotted over. Sancho was riding on his back. It was a very silly sight.

“You two must actually be pretty good friends, huh?”

For a split second, she wondered if her translation spell would allow her to understand anything from these two, but the answer seemed to be no. It made sense that it had limits. Lily wondered if with some modification she could actually use it to communicate directly with normal animals. It seemed likely there was some way to make it happen. Although, they probably wouldn’t have much to say, and definitely nothing interesting.

Still, it might have helped her avoid conflict or diagnose that raccoon. Oh well, things to think about. Later. Star’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“They are partners.”

“Uhhh. In what sense?”

Lily looked suspiciously at the donkey and goose.

“They protect La Mancha. Donk takes care of large threats, and Sancho repels the small ones and pays more attention to the smaller animals.”

“Huh. Well they seem to do a good job. Hah, farm cops. Maybe Turner and Hooch would have been better names. Eh, nah. I like these.”

“Where do the names come from?”

“Oh, uh, TV shows. Like we’ve been watching. Well, Turner and Hooch are. Don Quixote and Sancho are from an old book. A really famous story.”

“What is a book?”

Lily frowned.

“Right. Okay, so. They’re these things made of paper that hold information. Sometimes stories, other times knowledge or whatever else. Like my notes, only with a story instead of magic stuff inside.”

“Oh. Then what does the story say?”

“It’s about a knight. A, uh… protector of sorts. Well, he’s not really a knight. Don Quixote is a man who gets very invested in stories. And after reading a bunch of books about famous adventures and protectors and good deeds, he gets inspired. Or goes crazy. It’s a little bit of both I think. He declares himself a knight too, like the characters in his stories, and goes around doing good things. Even though he’s a little crazy, he eventually makes friends and followers, like Sancho, because he’s just going around making things better and helping people. At least, that’s how I remember the story going.”

“Oh. So it’s a very noble name. The name of a great knight-protector. It’s very fitting.”

Lily smiled. She thought so too. Then it was time to get to work. She let Star go off and play with the knight and his squire. 

She had spent a good amount of time working out a plan that wouldn’t use any glyph she didn’t already understand the workings of. Lily was done taking magical risks if they could be avoided. The only exception was the basement. It was a bit of a leap of faith, but Entity B had saved her life a few times now. So, she was doing her best to trust despite her fears.

For now though, her work was simple. She created one central circle running the light spell. This circle was drawn in the dirt so the rain would wash it away. It had become her favorite mana sink when trying to just discharge excess. Then, on each of the locks to the animal cages she created a smaller circle with the heat to mana glyph, and a simple NOT gate that would make the circle fail if mana wasn’t getting used up by the light. 

The scars on her hands and presumably the rest of her body were still becoming opalescent and glowing whenever she cast spells, but the pain was becoming duller. She was still hopeful that the issue would go away, but it was looking less and less likely. So, she shrugged it off and continued her work.

From there, she got a bucket of water and just poured slowly over the lock, leaving it unlatched, until ice had formed to hold it shut. This ended up being the portion that took the most time, but she tried to be patient with it. When enough ice had formed that Lily could grab the door and jostle it as hard as she could without it coming open, she moved onto the next gate. And the next. And the next.

The process ended up taking close to three hours. But, at least it was simple, fairly risk free work. Lily would never have guessed that she’d enjoy being on a farm. Maybe she wouldn’t if she was taking a more active role. But she thought she’d kind of like to spend more time here in the future. Maybe learning how to actually run this place. 

By the time she was done, the sun was starting to set. It was hardly a mastery of magic, but it felt good to work for hours on spells and have everything just go right for once. She wasn’t sure her skills were worth the price she paid for them, but she was feeling proud about what she was able to accomplish now.

“Star! Let’s get going!”

The sound of paws running through the dirt approached rapidly, and he hopped into the car ready to go. Lily had to laugh. For a second, she felt like an upper class girl living on her farm, with a well trained dog excited to go on an adventure in the before times. When they were buckled in and on the road she spoke up.

“Alright, I think it’s time for some fun. Let’s have a good time tonight and tomorrow before we activate the spell, huh?”

---

 

“Ain’t no rule says a dog can’t play basketball!”

They were curled up in Lily’s car watching her choice of movie, Air Bud. Lily was starting to regret picking the film. It was sillier than she remembered. A lot sillier. But when she looked over at Star, he did seem to be enjoying herself. Finally, she paused for a minute because she had to ask.

“Hey, is this… like. Bad?”

“What? What could be bad?”

“The movie. Like, this is how all dogs were before everyone vanished you know.”

“They could all play basketball so well? Then what is the point of the movie?”

“No no, not like that. They weren’t as smart as you. None of them were. So, that’s why they’re treating Buddy like that. I just wondered if you knew or if it was maybe… offensive?”

“I don’t understand. I know not all of my kind are as smart as me. Why is this a problem?”

“Huh. Okay. Well, I just wanted to make sure. You know, he doesn’t have a lot of actual agency in the movie. I was worried I hadn’t thought it through.”

“He is a hero!”

“For playing basketball?”

“What? No! How do you not understand. The point of the movie! It has nothing to do with basketball!”

Lily gave Star a look.

“Humans sure thought it did, and they made it. What do you mean?”

“Buddy is limited by his intelligence, but he has a skill and a purpose! He has defied the odds in order to make a sad human puppy feel happy again. He is doing great things! He is a hero!”

“I guess I hadn’t looked at it that way.”

“It’s not perfect. The threat of the Snively man taking Buddy away because he can not speak for himself is sad, and a bit strange for me. But, it is a good movie. Buddy is a hero. I like heroes.”

“Well. Okay then. I guess I was worried for nothing. I have a feeling you’re going to like the next one even more though, in that case!”

She was right. Star enjoyed Balto a lot more. To the point that they had to watch the entire film a second time. Lily was more than happy to oblige, since she hadn’t seen him this excited since they became able to communicate.

---

 

When the movie was over, Star just wanted to run, so Lily climbed up onto the roof of her car and they played a game. It was time for fetch. They had a big open lot to themselves, and Lily got a nice tall vantage point.

“Okay Star, are you ready? Here’s the rules. The ball is gonna stay within the theater grounds. If it goes out of bounds, I lose the throw. If you catch it before it hits the ground at all, I lose the throw. If you catch it after a single bounce, we’re even. And if it bounces twice, I win and you lose. First one to get three points wins, okay?”

“Yes! Yes! Throw it. I’m going to win. I’m fast, like Balto! You can’t beat me!”

It was fun, hearing his voice, but also hearing his excited barks underneath it, and seeing his wagging tail and happy face.

“Okay, get ready! Here we go!”

Lily launched the ball as hard as she could. Her first trick was simple, she wanted to make it look like it was going to go out of bounds so Star would stop chasing it. But really, she was gonna bounce it off the movie screen!

He saw through it easily, and he was fast. Notably faster than before even. As he came trotting back to her triumphantly, Lily grinned at him.

“Geez, you really are tough to beat. How fast are you going to get anyway? I’m pretty sure you’re already faster than most dogs before magic was here.”

Star’s tail wagged harder, and he spoke with palpable excitement.

“I’ll always be just fast enough to outrun your throws, Master. So, please do your best for me.”

He dropped the ball looking just too smug. So, Lily picked it up with an evil grin.

“Oh yeah? I’ll have you know I’ve been holding back a trick. So you better get ready to really go all out this time.”

Star visibly braced himself. Lily held back her laugh. She wound up to throw, and as Star bolted away she simply dropped the ball softly in front of her. 

He saw the ball leave her hand and she could see the look of horror on his face as he realized what had happened. But that wasn’t all, Lily activated the spell and sent the ball plummeting straight down far harder than gravity could have made it.

It hit the ground before Star had even stopped skidding to a halt to turn around. But, Lily had made a mistake. It bounced. It shot upward, flying so high it was difficult to see, especially at night. Lily only knew where it was because she was still magically connected to it.

She could see Star searching for it. And just like that, he spotted it. He bolted, covering an insane distance in no time at all. Almost all the way across the lot. He had to dive to get it, but… a second later he was trotting back triumphantly with a ball in his mouth.

Lily couldn’t even be mad.

---

 

After exhausting themselves playing fetch, and a bleary ride home, the two had collapsed into bed and got a full night’s sleep. Now, Lily awoke slowly. She decided to remain in bed and allow herself to take her time. Light snores were emanating from the dog laid out on the bed next to her. Star could really take a lot of room when he tried, and Lily was thankful for the oversized mattress in the master bedroom. Although, the backseat of the car had a certain charm to it too. It was a comfort, being cuddled up with someone you trusted.

That wasn’t a feeling Lily had ever really expected to have. She wondered if it’d be the same with a romantic partner, or if those feelings would get in the way of enjoying this simple closeness. Not that it mattered now. She wasn’t going to find anyone, much less someone compatible.

But that was fine. She had Star to cuddle with. Her companion. She was glad for that too, because today was going to be one heck of a day. 

She planned to take the morning easy, and check off a few things she’d be sad if she didn’t get to do here. It wasn’t a bucket list! But if they teleported away and couldn’t get back easily… She didn’t want to miss a few things. Then, it would be time to gather the emeralds and set off her spell.

It was that simple. Just do it. Nevermind being scared out of her mind. Just go for it. What’s the worst that could happen? Casting a teleportation spell wrong and blasting every one of her component atoms across the universe like a magitech version of Osiris? 

At least it probably wouldn’t hurt…

Okay! This was an unproductive line of thoughts. Lily roused herself, and carefully got out of bed to avoid waking Star. She had a few things she could get done to facilitate today’s events without waking him.

So, she got out of bed and snuck into the main house. The sun was still pretty low in the sky, and outside everything had an early morning light to it, complete with some dew. Lily spent a short amount of time loading all the eggs from the car into the house, and then into the back yard. She had a plan for them, but that was for later.

She hated to admit it, but the Elk carcass would have to go after the spell. It had been keeping well enough as far as she could tell without doing a taste test, but the whole front half laid out and picked cleaner and cleaner every day was only getting more horrific to look at. She was done looking through the sliding glass door out at the sea and seeing a skinless face with dead eyes still locked in lidless sockets staring at her.

Star had seemed to enjoy it quite a bit though. She ought to spend some time teaching him about food safety so that in the future if he was willing to catch and cook things, he’d be able to do it safely. Then again, she didn’t know more than the basics either. Well, time for that later.

As she drank a morning bottle of water, Star came trotting out of the bedroom, looking a little bleary. She wasn’t sure she was truly feeling it, but she made sure to give him a big welcoming grin.

“Hey there, sleepy. I was just making plans for our last pre-spell morning. I got some ideas, wanna hear?”

Star perked up almost immediately.

“Ideas? Yes! Yes! Lady Flamewalker, tell me your ideas. Please. Please.”

It was always so funny to see him excited. He really was such a deep thinker, but the puppy part of him still rose to the surface when he was excited or happy, and it always brought a smile to Lily’s face.

“I was thinking we invite your friends over and have a feast. You can keep them under control, right? We have more eggs than we will ever be able to eat. I figured we could leave them a gift, and give you a chance to try barbeque on what’s left of that Stag. What do you say?”

“Yes! Yes! I will go get them right now, yes?”

“Go on then. I’ll see if I can find blankets and stuff for you all to sit on.”

Really that was more for Lily than anyone else. She was certain the dogs wouldn’t care about sitting directly on the ground, but watching them all have seats while Star fed them sounded incredible. Although, Lily had some ulterior motives too.

Star had been so wonderful to her, he really deserved a reward. Lily wasn’t sure what things were going to be like after today, so, she wanted him to have that time. Meanwhile, she was going to do some packing. A backpack full of essentials would be lovely. She wanted to have everything she might need when she got wherever she was going. No starting again from zero.

---

 

Just north of a little town on the ocean, a strange scene was unfolding. The idyllic little city was slowly getting overtaken by nature, and near everything was silent, except for at one very special house. A mansion really. And outside that mansion was a scene that would have only existed in a painting or on TV in all of human history until now. 

A dog was having a cookout for his dog friends. Although mostly they were gorging themselves on raw eggs, while a flustered dog tried to figure out the barbeque. Lily had helped him get it lit though, and while none of the tools or indeed even the barbeque itself were meant to be operated without thumbs, Star was slowly figuring out how to get things to work. He was doing his best to use tongs in his mouth when Lily went back inside to do some packing.

She was surprised. She had expected a pack of wild dogs to be pretty rowdy, but not only were they shockingly orderly, they had been downright polite to her. Well, for dogs. When they arrived, they had lined up and bowed. They’d been very careful not to look her in the eyes, and not to touch her or ruin anything. Although the translation spell didn’t really have much effect. Star had mentioned being able to understand the others slightly better though. 

She was beginning to wonder if most animals were getting more intelligent, or if it was because this pack was in close proximity to Star. She hoped it wasn’t all of them, or that there was an upper limit. Otherwise she was a little worried about some of the naturally more intelligent and aggressive animals in the world. Like, what was going to happen if she ever ran into chimps? She shuddered.

After only a little digging around in the garage she was able to find a nice backpack. It looked like the sort that had once been used for hiking or camping, which was perfect for Lily’s use. It even had a sleeping bag rolled up on top of it! She wasn’t totally sure how to roll that back up after using it, but if she ended up having to spend a night somewhere that would really come in handy. She had pretty limited space though, and had to figure that Entity B wouldn’t be sending her someplace to rough it. So, she wasn’t going to worry about a tent for now.

Instead, she packed up pain meds, bandaids, a few bottles of water, clean clothes, her spell chalk, her notebooks, her best laptop, her phone, some twinkies, a toothbrush, and the remainder of the duck feet. Finally, she secured Bay to the top of the backpack. 

“Can’t go anywhere without you, buddy.”

Just when she thought she was done, another thought struck her. She dug around in the master bedroom until she found a credit card. It was a longshot, but it was small, and if wherever she was going had electricity and anything automated it might come in handy. If not, it was still a hard plastic tool good for some manual work. In an extreme pinch, she might even be able to draw a spell circle on it or something.

With that, she was finally done. So she found her way to the backyard again. Star perked up immediately when she arrived.

“Master! You are back. Welcome back. I have been missing you. Where have you been? Will you eat some elk?”

“Uh… I’m good. I was just packing up and getting ready. I wanted to let you enjoy your time here before we went. You deserve some time to have fun with your friends.”

Star carefully approached Lily and nipped at her arm.

“Hey! What is it this time?”

“It is not a reward without you here to enjoy it with me.”

“...oh.”

Lily almost teared up at that. Instead, she pointed to the barbeque.

“Your meat’s gonna burn.”

Star looked alarmed and turned back to the cooking. Lily laughed. The girl felt like she’d been doing a lot more of that lately. A lot more even than before everything happened.

“Thanks, Star. You’re right. Let’s party for a while then!”

That morning, in that small backyard on the coast of California, a girl and her companion enjoyed their reward for making it so far. The girl introduced a pack of dogs to music, danced with animals, tried a very small bite of week old elk meat, and rewatched Balto.

All in all, it was the best morning she could remember ever having.