Dasha knelt before Fia as Noonin spoke. The girl's eyes were glassy, and they didn't follow any of her movements, merely staring without focus into the middle space.

"We were walking, right? And then, there's this massive jolt and we wake up elsewhere on the mountain. I don't know what or why or how-"

"That was me and..." Dasha trailed off, not sure how to explain Fia's aunt. "...Another person. It's a long and confusing story, we'll tell ya after."

She moved two fingers across Fia's field of vision. Nothing.

Noonin gave her an odd look at that remark, but he didn't question it. Enough strange things had already happened, and he trusted his friend.

"We met an Avar flock. When we woke up, I mean. Small group. Friendly. They wanted to take Fia though. They said it wasn't healthy, I think? Which- Okay, she did seem a whole lot better around them. But they got aggressive about it fast! And I was having trouble understanding them at all, I can't whistle Avar language, sorrows of the ancient, you know that I can barely understand it! And then we got attacked by monsters."

The sharp hiss that came from Noonin and Dasha was nearly simultaneous. He kept going, his words clipped and quick.

"And everyone scattered. Fia and me barely got away. But the thing is, the monsters didn't stop. It wasn't always the same ones, but wherever there was one nearby, it would find us. We barely made it so many times..."

The Mora could not sweat, but Noonin was getting dangerously close to hyperventilating as he recounted their tale. His yellow eyes had gone wide and glazed, and his mind was dragging him somewhere sewn out of the stuff of nightmares. 

Dasha stood, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. She winced as the forgotten shard of metal embedded in her hand was brushed the wrong way, and quickly switched hands.

"Noonin. Breathe. One. Two. Three. We're almost home. You'll be seeing Youna soon. Breathe. Can ya tell me five things that you see?"

Noonin didn't say anything in response, but Dasha knew him well enough that she could tell he was going through the exercise in his head. His eyes sharpened in focus, darting back and forth. 

Dasha was still unnerved. Normally, Noonin was the calm one, not her. Just how many monsters...?

Dasha fanned out her tattered wings, cradling Noonin and Fia as best she could without touching either one of them. She wanted to wrap the pair up in blankets and be safely at home with them already. She wanted to be able to take this burden from them, the dread weight of all that had occurred, and toss it so far away that it went beyond the moons. She wanted to tear apart every monster in the mountains with her bare hands.

She did not have the power to do such things, however. She could only wait, and listen, as Noonin calmed his gasping breaths, and as Fia continued to respond to nothing at all.

Finally, Noonin shook himself out, glanced over to check if Fia had changed at all (she hadn't), and continued. 

"I don't know when they stopped. We got far enough away, I expect. But it was like swarming moths, all after a candle flame. Never seen anything like it. I- I don't know when Fia got like this. She just cried less and got quieter until... I- I don't know how to- I mean, she's so little and- Dasha, how do I fix this? Tell me I can fix this." 

Dasha bit her lip so hard that it hurt. Glancing around, just in case someone was flying by, she double checked to make sure she wasn't dripping anything contagious, before scooping Fia up in her arms. She held the girl against her chest, making a soft rumbling sound that echoed from her core. 

Plague-wings weren't supposed to have children. It happened anyway, of course. It's why Dasha existed. 

Still, Dasha felt wholly unqualified to take care of one. But that didn't matter. This girl was her responsibility, no matter what anyone else said, until she saw her safely to wherever she belonged. Dasha wouldn't abandon her. She couldn't.

She just prayed Fia would respond soon. She couldn't stand the thought of losing anyone else.

Dasha tried to keep calm, so that the purring would stay soft and even. Please let her respond soon. Please don't let her be too far gone.

The silence was drawn so tightly that a puff of air would send it shattering to pieces. There was only her, and the child she was holding. Her whole world right now.

Faintly, gently, she felt a tiny rumble answering back from Fia. 

Dasha broke into a weak smile, voice soft and breathy. "She's okay! Well, not okay, but she will be!" 

Noonin let out a sigh of relief. 

"What was that?" He asked, as the three of them sat down on the prickly grass.

Dasha was still purring to Fia. She wrapped her right wing around her, covering the small girl like a blanket. Dasha lightly rested what was left of her other wing on Noonin's shoulders. Noonin leaned in slightly, gently stroking the torn skin.

"I never got a good look... Dasha, this is-"

"I know." And the two words fell from her mouth like stones striking the bottom of a deep and hollow well. 

Noonin shivered slightly, leaning in to give his friend a hug. 

"You'll get through this. Me and Youna, we'll do everything we can to help." 

"Your missing arm doesn't bother you?" 

"It won't kill me. It's cut too deep to grow out a new one though. Suppose we'll both have a lot of adjusting to do." 

Dasha let out a sympathetic cooing sound, before returning to his original question.

"This is called crooning. Avar mamas do it while their children are still really little, like before they can walk. It basically helps foster a connection between them. Fia's a little too old for it, since it looks like her wings are finally flight-worthy, but it's pretty good to anchor her again, since she hasn't been around any adults for a while- And sorry, as Mora, ya don't count."

Noonin nodded. "So... This'll get you in trouble with the other Avar?"

Dasha let out a loud groan, interrupting the purring and startling Fia awake. "Don't remind me-"

Noonin leapt to his feet. "Monster!"

"Oh come on!" 

Dasha got up, setting Fia on the ground. The girl latched onto her side, tiny claws digging in tightly. 

"Fia, sweetling, you need to let go." Dasha gently replied, trying to pry her hands away. 

Fia looked up at her with wide, watery eyes, and Dasha's resolve melted. She turned her attention to the direction Noonin had yelled in. 

Something with tentacles and too many eyes oozed toward them, cresting over the distant top of the hill, slowly blotting out the horizon. The massive lump dragged itself forward, casting spindly tendrils with hooks on the end ahead of it, gouging them into the earth and reeling itself forwards like a fishing line. 

Noonin blinked. 

"Huh. Well, I can't say I've seen that one before, but at least it's ridiculously slow. We could walk like turtles and be fine."

Dasha shook her head, face paling so greatly that her white speckles were invisible against the rest of her normally blotchy skin.

"No. No it's slow, but its hooks are fast and their reach is enormous. It'll spear us and drag us in, then dissolve us in its acidic jelly self."

Noonin allowed himself the luxury of a sigh. Then he looked at Dasha.

"This is going to be more running then?"

"Yep." 

Dasha turned to Fia. They had minutes, maybe even seconds, but she didn't want to damage the girl further. She wasn't even sure how much Fia could understand right now, Avar children tended to shut down under trauma.

"Sweetling, ya need to let go of me and take Noonin's hand now instead."

Fia shook her head.

"Sassana," Noonin gently added, "We need to run. If people see Dasha touching you, she'll get in a lot of trouble, and they'll take her away."

Fia's eyes widened, and she squeezed Dasha even harder for a few moments. Dasha forced the pained hiss forming in her throat to stay there. Fia finally let go, placing her small hand in Noonin's instead.

"Okay, ready?" Noonin asked.

 THUNK!

Something large and heavy hit the dirt behind them, barely a few feet away.

"Out of time, run!" Dasha shoved the pair forwards.

And with that, the three of them went sprinting down the mountainside.

"What was that?" 

"I told ya! Hooks!" 

Dasha heard Fia let out a frightened whimper. It was the first sound she'd made in a while. One one hand, Dasha was glad she was reacting to more things, but on the other...

THUNK!

Another hook materialized just a few feet ahead and to the side. Dasha threw a glance over her shoulder. The monster, the xanda, was still a large lump further up the mountainside. It reeled in its hooks, preparing for another strike. It wouldn't matter soon, running fast as they were downhill, they were practically out of range. They were fortunate to be so far away already, if the creature's striking accuracy was any indication. She had never seen a xanda get so large before.

Then it shot the ground directly in front of it.

Dasha blinked. That seemed counterproductive. Then again, these things weren't known for their intelligence.

As she watched, the house-sized gelatinous mass congealed into a rounder shape, using its hooks to tip itself over. 

And then, at a frightening speed, the monster started rolling down the mountainside. 

...Huh.

Maybe she'd need to retract that intelligence comment.

You know. If they all survived this.

"Uh, that's new!"

"What's new- Scrap!" Noonin looked behind and instantly regretted it. 

"Yep! Run!"

"We're already running!"

With no one else in sight yet, Dasha took Fia's other hand, as they ran, helping the small girl keep pace. 

She didn't need to look behind her to know that the monster was gaining. Fia simply wasn't fast enough, and neither of them could carry her and run.

"How good is her flying?" She asked Noonin.

Noonin caught on quickly. "She can. But she's not very strong."

"Good enough." It wasn’t. It wasn't, and they both knew it. But it would have to be. 

"Fia, sweetling, listen to me. You need to fly forward and up, as fast and as far as you can."

Fia shook her head, mumbling something that might have been a no. Her face was flushed and her eyes were wide. Her tiny claws dug into Dasha and Noonin's hands. 

The ground was rumbling now. The monster was almost upon them, its shadow dark and looming, heralding its approach.

Dasha could feel a humming in her mind. The world seemed to wobble around the edges. It was almost an invitation. One that she could step into or refuse. 

"Keep going!" She ordered the others, as she wrenched her hand free and turned around. She felt a stab of guilt as Fia cried out. If they were all about to die anyways, she didn't want her to be alone. 

Well Noonin was there, but it was different with Avar.

Dasha's eyes began to water. They were too hot and too cold, and something dark trickled out of the corner of her vision before blotting out again, leaving her with a clear view of this world and the one beside it.

On the ancient, but this place was pretty. Dasha was momentarily stunned by the cacophony of spiraling letters, multicolored and dancing in the air. They whirled around the monster as it sped towards her, now merely a few feet away.

What was she to do now?