It was another hour before Dasha heard from Fia's aunt again.

Sorry! Tired...

"Ya don't have to be sorry for that. Don't apologize, you're making me feel pretty badly."

Sorry- Oh.

Dasha sighed, shoving her growing pile of questions aside for the moment. People came first, after all.

"...Hey. How old did ya say you were?"

Age? Um... 

Dasha felt the mental equivalent of a shrug. She had an uncomfortable suspicion that being trapped on the other side for however many years past nineteen (and going by Fia and her mother, that was at least a decade) had not been healthy for Fia's aunt. 

Speaking of which...

"What's your name?"

Name?

"Yeah? What do I call ya?"

I do not have one anymore. 

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

It means- My sister she- 

It was quiet again.

"Hey, you don't have to answer. I'm sorry I asked!" 

Nothing.

"Helloooooo?"

Dasha let out a groan. She couldn't blame the other woman, but this was going to get annoying. 

Wait no, scratch that, it was already annoying.

"Hey, can ya hear me, even if you can't talk back?"

Yes. Only you.

"Only me?" Although come to think of it, Dasha hadn't been able to hear Noonin and Fia when she was over there either. "Is it because of that joined together thing you told me about before?"

Silence. Dasha shrugged, wincing as the off-balanced weight of her torn wing settled the wrong way.

Trying to ignore it, she kept talking. "How come you're trapped over there at all? Did your sister know anything? She seemed like a pretty powerful mage."

An intense feeling of bitterness filled Dasha, so strongly that she wanted to rinse out her mouth with cinnamon and sugar water. 

"Blegh! Okay, so strong feelings carry across too. Are ya okay?"

Change subject. Please.

"Okay, okay. So. The stuff that happened with the monsters and the weird sixth sense and the other world? Or is that going to be too complicated to explain like this?"

Out of curiosity, Dasha tried counting the seconds in her head. It was roughly two minutes before Fia's aunt could answer her again.

Tricky. Will try.

"Well, we do have the time for it, I guess. It's going to be a long walk. Unless ya feel up to finding Noonin and Fia? Can ya even do that?"

Will try. The other woman repeated. This time, Dasha felt a distinctive fade, like something she hadn't even known was there had gone away. 

She wondered if Fia's aunt had done that on purpose, or if Dasha herself was just getting better at noticing all these strange things that her mind had partially adapted to.

For example, her fight with the taru. Looking back on the adrenaline fueled blur, things weren't adding up properly. A taru's soft flesh was its weak spot, true, but prying off the scales to get to it was much more difficult, unless it was already injured in that area. And Dasha shouldn't have been able to tell if it was. But somehow, now that she thought about it, she was more certain than ever that the scale she had hacked away was already weak or damaged. 

Somehow, all of this was tied to the world of words beyond the veil, and to Fia's aunt, and her twin, and quite possibly Fia herself. How deep did these roots run? 

Dasha's heart thumped too quickly against her chest, uneasy as she tried to understand what all of this could mean. She suddenly felt very alone, walking down the open mountainside, grass rustling against her feet, not a soul in sight or sound. A prickling feeling started at the back of her neck, but try as she might, she could see no one watching her.

Paranoia. Loneliness. Worry. These had to be the cause.

Definitely not her newly forged connection to... Whatever that other place was. 

Dasha picked up the pace, grateful when she was beneath tree cover again, picking her way through gnarled old roots and spindly red branches.

Dasha was getting real used to walking. 

Also waking up in the middle of night thanks to nightmares. Or breaking down crying because her wings were broken and her friend was dead. All fun things to go through, for sure. 

But time wore on and wore out like a moth eaten garment. Over the next few days, Dasha managed to pull herself together, walking and healing, wary of any other Avar or monsters, all the while searching for signs of Noonin and Fia. 

She had not heard from Fia's aunt in some time. Hopefully, the older woman was all right. 

It was late evening, when the valley proper came into view. Off in the distance, she could see the tall metal spires of Gilgilum city, poking out of tendrils of mist. Depending on who you asked, it was the only proper city that the valley had. Again, depending on who you asked. 

The valley fog was dense, and tasted like metal and dew. Dasha drank it in, relishing the flavor. She may have been born a child of the mountains, but now she was truly back home. 

First things first, she had some calls to make. Station 301 was on the edge of the valley, the last long distance communication station before the mountains started. There were no stations up the mountains. The nomads were the only year-long inhabitants, and they weren't interested. Besides, monsters existed, so finding workers to operate the stations was difficult.  

Dasha would need to call Youna in the city, and let her know why her husband might be coming home with an arm missing. 

No. No, not might. Would come home. They had come too far for that to not be an option now. Her brain refused to allow it.

Then, she'd have to contact the company, and inform them that contract or no- 

Dasha needed to swallow back several biting insults that came to mind. Stupid, substandard, swindling, lying, sorrows strike them down to cinders, were all some of the nicer thoughts she'd had.

Sorrows. She would have to deal with the arrangements for Krell. Retrieving a body from the mountaintops was no small matter. 

What of Fia's mother, for that matter? Could the body even be retrieved? There was mage craft spillage everywhere, and she hadn't the faintest idea what it did. 

Dasha supposed she would have to ask Fia's aunt. She was the next of kin, after all. Although, Fia's aunt hadn't seemed too fond of her twin...

And hadn't she said she was trapped there? And sure, now she could only speak to Dasha, but what about before? Hadn't all this nonsense started when Dasha had contracted the mage gift from Fia's mother's strange inky tears?

Dasha's mouth went dry. She didn't like what this picture was adding up to, or what it said about Fia's mother as a person. She hugged her arms uneasily, damp air sticking to her skin, and looked around for a good place to sit and rest. She needed to think through some things.

Some hours later, when the moons' glow filtered orange through the cloudy night sky, and the stars sputtered and winked like candles doused in ink, Dasha was still thinking, lost in a half-asleep haze. She was curled up against a tipped over tree, its papery bark brushing against her wings every time she shifted. It was dark, and quiet, like being buried alive in a crypt full of blankets. 

Dasha found it oddly comforting. 

She couldn't go to the station yet, for the simple fact that she had no money on her. Noonin had some, but that hardly helped her now. She ought to be trying to figure out what to do, but she was simply too sleepy...

Dasha!

The weariness fell from Dasha as she forced herself up.

"Yes! You're back?"

Found them!

Dasha let out a triumphant trill that shattered the calm night. She winced as she realized how loud she was being. 

"Oops."

Yes yes, come!

Fair enough. Dasha stumbled onwards, following the faint pull of a woman she could neither see, nor name, back up the mountainside.

Her night vision more than made up for the gloom, and she could see flitbugs and fireflies fluttering through the field. Once, a fluffy moth the size of her head flapped by, close enough to reach out and graze her fingers against its delicate wings and fuzzy antennae. 

"Hey," She gasped, already panting from the speed they were going uphill at. "How far... away are... they?"

Don't know. 

"Wha- How?"

Telling time is difficult here.

Dasha paused, remembering her own time on the other side. 

"I hate how much sense that makes." She grumbled, as they continued onwards.

They continued for the rest of the night, and all of next morning. Dasha's head was buzzing slightly, and her ears pounded from motion, but she was unwilling to stop. Fia's aunt either didn't know how tired she was, or assumed that she knew what she was doing which...

Not that Dasha didn't appreciate the vote of confidence, but she really didn't. She was just desperate to see the others again.

Around midday though, when the sun was yellow in the sky, and black dots and iridescent halos pulsed through the atmosphere, Dasha had to call for a break. 

"Sorry," She huffed, slumping sprawled out on the grass, "But I just... can't..." 

Today's sky was not helping her headache, thank you very much.

It's okay. 

Dasha closed her eyes, feeling a sort of coziness wrap around her.

"That-" Huff. "-You?" Puff

Yes.

"Thanks." She mumbled, letting herself sink into the feeling. 

So... Sleepy...

Dasha blinked herself awake. She couldn't let herself fall asleep now! She didn't know if Fia's aunt could wake her. Still too sluggish to move, she tried talking.

"Hey... What do I call ya? Even if..." She yawned. "Even if ya don't got a name anymore, I can't keep thinking of you as Fia's aunt." 

It doesn't work like that.

"Well... How does it work?" 

Fia's aunt was quiet again, thoughtful.

She really should get going again... But she was so comfortable, and the smell of dandelions hung thick in the air. 

Nope!

Dasha jerked herself back upwards, forcing herself on her feet. She wasn't sure if the spots that she was seeing were from her blood rushing to her head, or from the sky's migraine-inducing pattern.

"I'm up! Let's go." 

She plucked a few sprigs of pepperweed to chew on as they walked. 

It was evening again, the sky subsiding into a rosy glow, when Dasha finally glimpsed two distant figures silhouetted against the bright horizon, sunset's rays burning around them like fire.

There!

"I see them! Hey! Noonin! Fia!" Dasha yelled at the top of her lungs, waving wildly. 

"Dasha!" Noonin yelled back, slightly muffled from the distance.

Dasha wanted to start running. She wanted to squeeze them both and never let go. 

Unfortunately, this was beyond her current, worn out capabilities. Still, filled with new energy, she briskly trudged onwards. Almost there now!

As she drew closer, she noticed more. Noonin's worried face. Fia limply walked beside him, pale and listless, clinging weakly to his hand.

Dasha's good spirits plummeted. It really wasn't healthy for Avar children to be without an adult Avar for too long. She didn't understand all the psychology behind it, but the phenomenon was very real.

The question was, had she ever told Noonin?

For that matter, had Noonin and Fia even seen another Avar on their trek? How long ago? Constant separations weren't healthy either. 

Oh. She had screwed up, hadn't she? With everything going on, this one thing had slipped her mind and it shouldn't have. 

Despite the warm weather, Dasha had gotten very cold. 

"How long was she like this?" She whispered, voice shaking.

Like what? What's wrong?

"You can't tell-? Nevermind, later."

Dasha was almost to the pair now.

"Dasha..." Noonin's scales were too dry, and cracked in several places. His yellow eyes were looking painfully white. "I think I messed up."

That wasn't encouraging.

"What happened?"