"Well, there it is…," Kylan trailed off. Naia and Tavra stood beside him, looking up at the Castle from the edge of the moat in the cover of the trees of Dark Wood. The Castle towered haughtily over them, daring them to try breaching it.

"So... how are we going to get in?" Naia asked, side-glancing at the Vapran princess half expecting a flowery, self-important answer.

"I have only ever entered through the front gates." Tavra said coolly and plainly, keeping eyes on the castle. "I have never heard of alternative entrances. If any exist, they are likely secret. "

"I've heard songs about ways into the castle," Kylan piped up.

"Of course he has," Naia thought, more amused than exasperated. She questioned him with a raised brow. Tavra appraised him similarly.

His face flickered with self-consciousness, but it melted away as he straightened up like a student rehearsing a line in class and recited,

"Quenching the castle's stone bowels, underwater none saw

Drinking from the moat, a demon's maw."

"…translation." Tavra softly asked.

Kylan verbally stumbled. "Well, uh. It suggests there is an underwater entrance into the castle's basements through the moat."

Tavra left a quiet huff. "That may be fine for a Sogling, but what about you or I? How deep and far is this supposed entrance?"

"The song does not elaborate." Kylan said admittingly. He then blushed a bit and, side-glancing to Naia, added, "More songs say of how Drenchen can share their breath with other gelfling. Underwater, I mean."

Naia felt her face warm slightly, her eyes oscillating between Kylan and Tavra.

"How…?" Tavra said with a guessing frown. Her eyes also flickered to Naia.

Redder, Kylan muttered, "Mouth to mouth."

Naia fought to keep her face straight, and crossed her arms and tilted her chin back. "If snogging you two will save my brother, then pucker up."

Tavra's pale face betrayed only the slightest tinge of pink at the jest. Her eyes scanned the moat for a few intense seconds, then she walked off a couple paces and sat cross-legged under the trees' shade in obvious thought, fingers thrumming across in her knees. Kylan followed and sat near her. Naia looked over the water, which the castle stood in like it was a mere puddle, and then joined them, forming a triangle. Tavra then asked Kylan, "How sure are we of this entrance's existence?"

Redness fading, Kylan answered, "I'm not. We would have to check for it. If it's not there, other songs say of how there are deep cave systems under the castle and moat, branching far into parts under the Dark Wood, almost like a younger sister to the Breath of Thra. From one of those access points we may eventually find entrance into the castle."

"The catacombs," Tavra mused, holding her chin. "They are vast. Without experience navigating through them it would be too easy to get lost. Plus, sources say they have long been infested with arathim. I think we should consider it as a last resort; for getting in or out."

"Any other castle songs?" Naia asked. As she said it she felt a bit of guilt weigh on her for maybe pressing Kylan too hard.

Kylan sighed resignedly. "Not revolving about ways of getting in – well, besides a couple about entering through the front gates and the grandiose of the Lords."

Tavra was pensive again. From where she sat she studied the castle's high towers and then asked Naia, "How good a flier are you?" The dark tone of Naia's skin mitigated her blush - deeper than from the idea of pressing lips with either Kylan or Tavra.

Trying not to sound evasive – like soft talk – she said, "Not really a flier at all. Drenchen swim. And women can glide. If you're thinking we fly up there, you would be all by yourself." She neglected to add her wings had noyet t fully developed for even gliding despite her age, and gazed up to the tall towers and wondered with a tinge of envy if Vaprans really could fly that height.

"Before anyone asks, I'm not much of a climber," Kylan blathered out.

Naia chewed her lip. "What if Kylan and I use the moat entrance while you fly your way in, and then we regroup within the castle?"

"I don't like the idea of us splitting up before we need to." Kylan interjected. "If we're really going to help each other, we need to be doing it together." Looking at Tavra again, he asked, "Is there any authority as daughter of the All-Maudra that would grant you entrance? Claim you request an audience with the skeksis, and then steal away to the dungeons once inside the castle? Perhaps we could play as your royal attendants." Kylan gestured to himself and Naia, and then noticed Naia's nose wrinkle at the last bit. "OR… representatives of other clans." Kylan began straightening again like he was reciting for a story, his hands gesturing and miming. "You are reporting on Rian's evade of capture, and perhaps provide false leads to his whereabouts. Naia comes to appeal on her brother's behalf, in the stead of Maudra Laesid, and I volunteered to Maudra Fara to apologize on behalf of the Stonewood clan for Rian's crime, in hopes to maintain good relations with the Lords."

"But are you not Spriton?" Tavra asked, not impolitely.

Kylan's enthusiasm withered, hands falling to his sides. "I am half; Spriton mother, Stonewood father, though I am more recognizable through my mother's side."

Tavra seemed a little intrigued by this. "A gelfling of mixed parentage… Very little of that is seen outside the Sifan clan these days."

"You frequent to the Sifans?" Naia asked nonchalantly, and was a bit surprised to see a pink tinge return to Tavra's cheeks.

"I have been to every gelfling clan, save that of Drenchen and Grottan." Tavra jumped the conversation back a couple topics. "Kylan's idea of entering through the front door with pretense of report and representation is feasible, and were we to try it before Rian's accusation, it probably would have worked. But suspicions are high now; of everyone, and this endeavor risks not being able to shake off an escort to the skeksis, especially if the escort is skeksis. It weighs too much on chance and also gives away our presence from the beginning. We are best stealing in without trace." Tavra leaned back, pensive again. Kylan dipped his head in discouraged thought. Naia kind of wanted to find a counter to Tavra's reasoning, if just to defend Kylan. Or at least prove the princess wrong in something. Tavra surprised them both when she said, "If it exists, I think the moat entrance is our best chance. If Naia agrees, she will scout ahead to search for it. And if she finds it, she can return to us and we will all go together."

Kylan nodded contemplatively and then looked to Naia. She bit the inside of her cheek. She felt a little undignified being led by Tavra on Kylan's idea, but then raised to her feet and said, "I'll go ahead."

Kylan started a bit. "Right now?"

Naia clenched her fists. "My brother is waiting. I will not let him waste any longer in that pit." She marched off towards the moat then paused, a thought striking her. She rotated sternly to Tavra with a practiced demeanor her mother taught her in Maudra training. "Before we go any further together, I would like to know one thing: why do you volunteer to help us save my brother?"

Tavra betrayed no angst or annoyance at the inquiry, not even the slightest blush, and answered diplomatically, "Rian has shown that the skeksis are keeping secrets from us. Ordon is right that we must rise against them, possibly in full rebellion. We need to know what other secrets, perhaps weapons, they may have been harboring from us."

Naia cocked her head, her dreadlocks flicking. "That's it? Infiltration? Tactical knowledge for impending war?" She attempted an air of nonchalance, but felt her voice and eyes betray an iota of disappointment. "Any other reason?"

"You asked for one thing, and I gave one reason," Tavra said. Naia huffed through her nose.

"I would also like to ask you one thing," Kylan said to Tavra, a twinkle in his eye. Tavra hesitated with a guessing look, then gave him a nod of consent. Kylan raised a finger. "ONE MORE reason you are helping us." His eyes flickered to Naia and both felt the edges of their lips curl.

Tavra narrowed her eyes. She then let out a long, almost deflating breath, though her changed demeanor was not so much dispirited as softened. Tavra looked at her, and for a moment Naia saw the veil of ice behind the Silverling's eyes melt away. "You want to save your brother. If it were either of my sisters in your brother's place, I would do anything necessary to save them from torment and death." Something else slid into Tavra's eyes and voice. "Even storm the Crystal Castle." Naia recognized the intent in Tavra's face and voice – someone ready to spill blood for those they love. Dreamfasting for ascertainment was unnecessary. Naia nodded to her, for the first time with some respect, and then more cordially to Kylan, and strode down to the moat.

[POV]

[space]

The soldier and song teller waited within the cover of the trees for Naia's return. Kylan had taken out his tablet and was adding new notes and accounts on a scroll. He felt Tavra quietly watching him.

"I'm sorry if questioning your heritage was insensitive of me," Tavra said.

Kylan paused in his writing and resisted pulling in his knees into his chest. Keeping his gaze down he replied, "I am not ashamed of my parentage, or who my mother and father were. It's just… what happened to them." Tavra leaned forward, head tilted in attention, but ready to leave the topic if he wished. Kylan pressed his lips together. "The short story is I lost them at a young age. I lived with Maudra Mera ever since."

[In progress section]

[In progress section]

She allowed the topic to drop, especially in light of their dangerous endeavor. As they resumed waiting, Tavra rolled in her mind alternative ideas on how they would get in if the moat tunnel proved non-existent or unusable.

Alternatives were proved unneeded however as Naia returned, still dripping wet. She was on the border of mystified when she told them, "I found it… the underwater entrance. A demon's mouth."

[POV]

[Space]

They stood at the edge of the water, Naia standing in the middle. Tavra had tucked her leather helmet against a small travelling sack at her side, opposite where her sword hung.

The three grasped hands, and waded into the water. Kylan shivered at the water's touch before he was even waist deep. Naia herself found it much cooler than she was accustomed to in Sog, but was untroubled by the wetness. Tavra gave no indication of discomfort, even as the water soaked up her cloak and reached her shoulders. Kylan began to shudderingly gasp when the water reached his chest. Naia gave his hand a squeeze. The only indication he got it was a returning squeeze. The three stood as far as they could go without their feet leaving the submerged ground beneath them. "Take a deep breath," Naia said, "And stagger your turns for a breather!"

"Sure thing!" Kylan stuttered in a high voice.

"Thra protect us," Tavra said solemnly.

"And we protect Thra," Naia said. The three plunged down. While her wings were not yet developed for proper gliding, they still served Naia like flippers, which helped as both her hands were occupied by Tavra and Kylan. Glancing at each of them after submerging, she saw Tavra carrying herself competently through the water with experienced strokes. Kylan was obviously way beyond his comfort zone, more writhing and convulsing than swimming. She was tempted to offer him a chance to stay behind, but through their touch she felt his resolve: he would do all in his power to aid her, and follow her to the ends of Thra.

They descended down to where Naia had found the underwater entrance, at the submerged foot of the castle within the bottom of a small trench. As described in the song Kylan recited, the entrance was built in the likes of a wide-faced demon, it's gaping mouth complete with rock fangs and tusks, endless and eager to swallow any foolish enough to enter. In the depths the lighting was already dim, and the inside of the mouth-like entrance was pitch black. The three floating just outside it, Kylan gave an involuntary squirm. With a mental notice to Tavra, Naia unclasped hands momentarily to gently hold Kylan's head and lock eyes with him. His pupils were dilated in near terror already; his fear threatened to seep into her own resolve. She gave him his first allowance of Drenchen breath. "Breathe. Breathe," she soothed into his head, and focused on exhaling into his mouth with steady paced breaths. Kylan fidgeted at first, but slowly, she felt his heart calm from the respiration and reassurance she gave him, though it pained her heart to see his face was still scrunched in anxiety, his thin body curled nearly into a fetal position. She recalled Kylan's fear of the dark and enclosed spaces, and wondered if he was shedding tears underwater. What seemed like a full minute, he straightened out and nodded to her with a small spark of courage, then nodded again more urgently towards her shoulder. Looking over, Naia saw Tavra, though much calmer, was overdue for her first breath; clutching her throat with one hand, the other starting to flap anxiously. Keeping her first hand clasped in Kylan's, Naia reached out to Tavra's head and hastily pulled her into a mouth lock.

Tavra accepted the breath with less desperation than Kylan, but also notably with less ease. Naia found Tavra's lips much colder, and her breath was notably…fragrant, compared to Kylan's at least. She also noticed Tavra wrinkle her face and her body convulsed as if in rejection. Mouths parting, and retaking hands, Naia unexpectedly heard Tavra's voice in her head, sounding suspiciously like complaining: "When was the last time you brushed your teeth?" Naia let out a bubbling laugh despite herself. Kylan must have felt some of her mirth, as he exhaled a few bubbles in an involuntary chuckle. At least two of them enheartened; the three swam in. The stone throat was a tight fit, so Tavra and Kylan clung closely to Naia as she fluttered them in.

"Into the belly of the beast," Naia heard Kylan think to himself, or perhaps to her as well. Kylan tightened his grip as darkness quite literally swallowed them. Passing into somewhere pitch black but with more space, Naia felt Tavra unclasp from her, save by one hand. Kylan apparently had no intention of unwrapping his arms from around her. "Can you see anything?" he thought to her, his aura soaked in trepidation.

"No," she admitted, starting to feel foolish and at a loss.

Before she could muse on how they would navigate in the dark she heard Tavra's calm voice mentally say, "I got it." Silvery white light began to seep from Tavra's body, like sunlight through the gentle parting of grey clouds. Most of it came from her hands, but light was also shedding from her skin and though her clothes in pale luminescence, like she were a underwater moon. Naia gazed at Tavra in awe, at first wondering if the princess had snuck a bite of glowing moss when she couldn't see but then heard Kylan's mental acknowledgment:

"Vapran vliyaya: light bending." Now visible, he too stared in awe, a pocket of air escaping his open mouth.

Before any of them to take in their now illuminated surroundings, Naia got two simultaneous notifications of "I need another breath."

"Of course they do – at the same time," Naia thought to herself, clenching her jaw.

"Hey…," Kylan's voice uttered in Naia's head. He looked like he'd let out a huff. He was also beginning to fidget from want of air.

"I heard that too…" Tavra commented coldly. It was a bit freighting the way a pair of icy beams shone from her leering eyes. Levitating in the dark, her pale hair hovering behind her head, she really bore the appearance of some sort of moon spirit or ghost. Naia gave Kylan another breath, and then Tavra. She actually had to close her eyes when oxygenating Tavra this time, lest her eyes get sore from her brightness.

The tunnel they were currently in was about twice as wide and high as they were tall. It mostly appeared hollowed out from natural forces, but then, the demon's face certainly was not. With the princess acting as their living lantern, and Naia as their organic oxygen tank, the three began the challenge of navigating through the water-lodged tunnels. After a little way the tunnel bulged out and forked. The three halted, none the wiser on where to go. Tavra extended one of her illuminated hands towards the path nearer to her. By means that did not seem to obey natural laws, the tunnel alighted several yards down by an unapparent source. Only more tunnel and darkness lay beyond Tavra's illuminating reach. Casting light in the same fashion down the alternative, the second path curved to the left before darkness prevailed again.

"Any votes?" Naia thought.

"Turns and corners scare me," Kylan answered.

"Since when?" Naia retorted, twisting her head to him. Her dreadlocks drifted about her like seaweed.

"Since we came here and saw this one…."

"We can double back if we must," Tavra commented.

"My gut says to try the turn," Naia announced. Tavra offered no argument. Kylan internally groaned.

Before they drifted down the curved tunnel, Kylan thought, "Wait," and willed them to swim to the cave wall. Kylan then ran his thin fingers over a smoother part of the rock, as though feeling for something. When Kylan withdrew his hand a glowing sigil was left on the rock. "In case we need to retrace our steps. Or strokes," Kylan thought to Naia and Tavra. Pride welded in Naia's heart and she was tempted to give him a peck on the cheek. Instead, she rewarded him another breath of air, and felt his face warm.

The three wafted to the corner, Tavra's light illuminating around the rock in a matter that normal light should not be able to; like Tavra's light was incapable of casting shadows. More tunnel awaited them around the turn. Tavra took another breath from Naia, and then they moved on. When Kylan pulled them aside to make another mark, he asked them, "What's that?" Naia and Tavra twisted to where he gestured, on the cave wall a few paces from where he had been etching his tracing mark. Something glowed, not from Tavra's light, but from it's own purple radiance – small yet piercing. All three closed in on it. After another allowance of oxygen to Tavra and Kylan, Naia gave an extra close inspection. It was like some sort of crystalized vein in the rock. Something was familiar about it's colour.

Curiosity was quickly overcome by instinctive caution, and Naia thought to her companions, "I think we should leave it alone. It feels wrong."

"Alas, I think it also means we are on the right track," Tavra answered. Which recalled first, none of them knew, but all three then thought of the darkened Crystal of Truth they saw in Rian's memory. Kylan and Naia let out a bubbling shudder. Tavra let a small haunted sigh herself, in which her glow dimmed momentarily, and then patiently waited her turn after Kylan for another breath. Kylan peeped about anxiously at the inky blackness beyond Tavra's influence.

"You ok? How much longer can you keep it up?" Naia asked Tavra when noticing her glow was not restoring to full brightness.

"I can hold a little longer. At worst I'll need a short rest in the dark and then we can keep going," Tavra replied, her glowing eyes were half hooded by her lids, and her swim motions were becoming languid. Naia suspected Tavra's words would be coming in pants were they spoken through voice rather than thought.

Eager to leave the glowing vein behind, yet frightened to behold what may lie ahead, the three drifted on. Tavra's reduced light reached a wall of rock ahead. The tunnel seemed to abruptly end, but when Naia looked side to side, down and up, she recognized the perfectly flat, mirror-like roof above them. Not that of flattened or carved rock, but the under view of water's still surface.

"Tavra, dim your light." Tavra wordlessly cooperated. Naia let out a bubbling yip when Kylan hugged her again like a finger vine as darkness enclosed them. However, there was a new source, dim but assuring, from above. They ascended to it. Loosening herself from Kylan, Naia gave them each one more dose of air before breaking the surface, so that they may avoid loud coughs or gasps to give them away should patrolling ears be close. Naia broke the surface first with the practiced stealth she employed when hunting in Sog. At a mental all clear, Tavra and Kylan surfaced too. They were in a small cave area, with torch and lantern light coming from a single, large exit. Listening for the sound of any nearby footsteps, the three softly waded out of the water and onto the (for Kylan) blissfully dry ground. Trying to stifle a shiver, Kylan let out a tiny breath of relief in the castle's warmer indoor air. Sticking to the walls, the three stole to the edges of where the cave almost immediately gave way to castle corridors, and scanned for occupants. Momentarily pleased that no one was around, the three shared a collective sigh.

They had made it into the castle.

"How do we navigate from here?" Naia asked Tavra in a hushed voice.

She ghostly whispered back, "I expect we are close, if not already on the same level as the dungeons. Tavra gave herself a quick look-over and extended her wings in a stretching-like manner, and then gave them a quick, fluttering shake, liberating a small shower of water.

"Oi!" Kylan retorted quietly, getting caught in the small shower and stepping away from her towards Naia.

"We'll need to dry off some before we move on. Can't be leaving water trails in our wake," Tavra said, wringing water out of her long hair. She resumed fluttering her wings; hard enough to make a small draft about herself, but softly enough to minimize sound.

Naia saw the wisdom in this and gave her head of dreadlocks a shake like a wet fizzgig, sending another small sprinkle on Kylan. "Ah!" he exclaimed, indignant but still quiet, and now scampering away from her. With the draft from her wings, Tavra was drying surprisingly quickly, perhaps also from the design of her travel attire. Fixing her hair into place, she then pulled her leather helmet from her belt. Shaking it of some water and fanning it with her wings, she then donned it on her head.

Still damp but no longer leaving drips or footprints, the three stole through the corridors, Tavra in the lead. Despite her normally proud posture, Tavra was now stooped, like Naia and Kylan, and moving with a silent litheness. Naia herself was practiced in stealth and hunting, and knew she was observing no amateur. "Are you sure you have never done this before; sneaking through the castle?" she whispered, her tone mixed with hints of praise, humor, and suspicion.

"This is my first time going through the castle like this." Tavra whispered back, not looking back at her.

"How about other places?" Naia pressed. Tavra did not answer.

"I've heard that Vapra vliyaya not only can produce light, but manipulate it, and Vaprans can camouflage themselves and even turn invisible," Kylan pipped in.

Tavra kept focusing on the corridors ahead. "The latter is an advanced technique that even I still need practice in. I can camouflage in when it suits me *, but I am now rather spent from our excursion through the water tunnels. Enough talk for now. Speak only if necessary."

Tavra still ahead, Naia surreptitiously took Kylan's hand and asked him in dreamfast, "What do you think she would practice invisibility for?"

Trying not to look he was communicating should Tavra look back, Kylan replied, "Why wouldn't she if she can learn it? Whenever I embarrass myself, I sure wish I could turn invisible."

"But she doesn't get embarrassed. Much. Or angry. OR sad. She locks all her thoughts behind a wall of metal and ice."

"We all have different ways of dealing with emotions. You use hard talk, she uses silence and stern looks, I … either tell a song or embarrass myself."

Tavra gave pause in the long shadow of a buttress and the two caught up. They parted hands before Tavra turned to them, face grim. "I admit I am not anymore sure how to navigate us through here since we left the cave. I have tried memorizing where we have been but I cannot discern any pattern or landmark to guide us."

"What if we cannot find our way back, or the exit gets blocked off?" Kylan asked. "Or if we get separated? Naia and I have never been in the castle before. We could easily get as lost as if we were in the catacombs." Kylan despairingly turned his head this way and that, ears pivoting for possible signs of danger.

"Gurjin has served in here, and he admitted even he found the interior confusing at times," Naia added.

"We may be better off getting out through a different route," Tavra said. She appeared calmer than Kylan, but just as wary. "Getting in called for all secrecy and stealth. Once we free Gurjin, it will only be a matter of time, possibly moments, before the skeksis notice their prisoner is missing. Getting out may rely more on speed." The dangerous intent crept back into her eyes and voice. "And possibly conflict."

"What are you thinking?" Naia asked her. Despite her earlier pride of wanting to prove the princess wrong in something, she rather wanted her now as a safety net for backup plans.

"Should the tunnel be unreachable after finding Gurjin, or we get cut off from each other, we will escape the same way Rian did: through the upper windows and into the moat."

"You think that would work a second time?" Naia challenged.

"I can't imagine the skeksis plunging in after us in their robes, and the water would suit Gurjin better than most of other gelfling here." A hint of something like praise flavored her tone. "And you got us through the moat effectively."

Naia worked to keep pride seeping into her face and voice. "But what about for navigation till we find Gurjin though?" She pressed. "Could Kylan leave dreametch checkpoints to notify us if we are going in circles?" Naia asked. She immediately chastised herself before Tavra explained why not.

"We cannot leave marks that others will see."

They then noticed Kylan had broken off from the discussion and was holding up his hands to the air like he was trying to read it. "Perhaps we should follow the draft," he said.

Now that they stopped to give heed, Naia and Tavra felt it too: a warm, slight breeze drifting through the corridors. "What do we follow it for?" Tavra asked.

Kylan became apprehensive before answering. "There are songs, older ones, about the Crystal of Truth hanging above a shaft of air and fire... I think it's producing this draft and why the air has been so dry and warm as soon as we left the caves. I'm already dry from our dip."

Maybe it was the situation, maybe it was Kylan's story telling, but Naia felt his apprehension. And the dryness. Kylan's words repainted Rian's memory of the Crystal bathed in hot light too. "How do we know we will find Gurjin there?" Naia asked. The three paused to listen for any incoming patrols before Kylan answered.

"We don't. But if the skeksis are secretly imprisoning and draining gelfling, it's possible they are keeping Gurjin close to where they…," Kylan trailed off. Naia's lips trembled. Tavra rested a hand on Naia's shoulder.

"It's as good a plan as any. I am all for it," Tavra said.

"The heat and dryness would not do well for Gurjin," Naia cursed.

"He'll make it. If he is anything like you, he'll pull through," Kylan assured.

The three continued sneaking through the eerily vacant halls, now focused on following a small steady air current. They ascended a flight of stairs, coming to a floor with dim shafts of sunlight prodding into the dim corridors from the curved ceiling.

"Where are the guards? We have met no one in here yet," Kylan whispered.

"We may be in an area only the skeksis access, and would find gelfling guards on higher levels," Tavra answered. Her fingers flickered close to her sword hilt all the same. "There may be secrets down here…"

"And where are the skeksis?" Naia asked.

Tavra halted and raised a silencing arm. Naia and Kylan stilled and heard it too. Awfully, at last: footsteps accompanied by the jingle of beads and jewelry. "Here," Tavra hissed, and stole to one side of a corridor buttress, Naia and Kylan ducking behind the other.

The Emperor, alone and in seeming haste, prowled through a passage, almost right by their hiding place, and then turned down another path. Peering around the buttress, the three watched the Emperor walk away, down a hall with obvious purpose and familiarity in his destination. Seeing Kylan leaning out further than was safe, Tavra whispered across to him, "Get back!"

The Emperor leered behind himself, just too late to see the three withdraw behind the buttress. Kylan almost gave them away with a frightened gasp. Huffing lowly to himself, the Emperor dismissed whatever he may have heard with an impatient, "Meh!" and continued stalking away.

When they were sure he was out of hearing distance, Tavra sighed to herself and crossed the hall to Naia and Kylan. "You and Kylan find Gurjin and make for Ha'rar. My mother will grant you safe harbor."

Kylan leaned past Naia and glanced over to where the Emperor disappeared to, then looked back to Tavra. "What about you?" Naia recalled Tavra's first reason for joining them in this dangerous endeavor, and dared hope she was wrong to guess what Tavra would do now.

"I want to know what the skeksis are up to." Tavra clearly intended to part paths now. Whether it would be for short term or long, only Thra knew.

Strangely disappointed by her abrupt departure, Naia fell back on Drenchen hard talk. "Try not to get yourself killed, Vapran."

Tavra, surprisingly, almost smiled. "Until our paths meet again, Drenchen." There was more endearment than barbs in her voice. Kylan and Naia both felt their faces soften, and almost smiled themselves.

Tavra promptly left without another word, down to where the Emperor disappeared to. Kylan and Naia watched her off, then quietly continued to follow the air draft to where, hopefully, Gurjin awaited.

[Space]

Author's Notes:

* It was tempting to employ Aragorn's line, from Lord of the Rings: "I can avoid being seen when wished, but to disappear entirely, that is a rare gift." If you want, you can imagine that was what Tavra said.