A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've had unbelievable writer's block on this story. I finally had some inspiration and voila! Here is chapter 9!

As dawn arrived, Fai, Yuui, Corwin, and the pipe fox prepared to leave.

"Safe travelling," Watanuki bid them farewell as a small black creature that looked like the white one Yuuko had given the travelers so many years ago waved from his shoulder and Fai wondered where the white one was now. Fai concentrated on the city he could vaguely remember and transported them.

When they arrived, they were immediately hit with a rush of cold air. Yuui and Corwin immediately drew closer, searching for body heat as their breath huffed out in clouds in front of them.

"Let's find a place to stay," Fai said and looked around. There wasn't snow on the ground yet, which meant it was very early winter and would only get colder the longer they stayed.

They decided to stay along one of the main streets and look for a building that looked like lodging for travelers or visitors. Anyone they passed would stop and stare at them and it was understandable. Their clothes were nothing like what anyone else was wearing. As they approached a building with a couple floors, Yuui saw a woman standing out front, facing them, as if she were waiting for them.

Sure enough, when they got closer, she bowed politely.

"Welcome, travelers," she said. "My name is Arashi. I've been expecting you." Yuui could sense some sort of power coming from this woman. She wasn't trained enough in magic to know what kind of power she had, but it was like she had known they were coming. Maybe she could see the future.

"You'll need a place to stay, right?" said a man who was approaching from inside the building. "The name's Sorata. I see you've already met my wife, Arashi. She got up so early, and I was wondering why. It seems today was the day you guys were coming. We have a couple open rooms waiting for you."

"Why are you helping us?" Corwin asked, slowly catching on that they had known of their arrival in advance.

Sorata and Arashi shared a glance.

"Yuuko was an old friend," Arashi said.

"Watanuki informed us of your situation, so I understand why you are hesitant," Sorata said. "We provided lodging for you on your first journey," he said to Fai. "It's a shame that you can't remember it yet. They were such a nice group of people. Especially the boy. He was as determined as they come."

Because he was a clone with a purpose programmed into him, Fai thought almost bitterly before brushing it aside slightly. It was all in the past, even if it was waiting for him in his future. Obviously whatever happened with the clone had been over and done with for eighteen years. He would find out eventually how it ended.

He put on a smile he hoped was charming.

"Thank you very much," he said. "We would certainly like to get in out of the cold." He sounded more than a little amused, Yuui thought. He was standing there in just as much clothing as Yuui and Corwin and yet he wasn't shivering like they were. They couldn't get inside soon enough.

Arashi took Yuui into her room as Sorata showed Corwin and Fai to another right next to it. First matter of business was finding them normal clothes.

"Hm, you're a bit taller than me, but these should fit," Sorata said, handing them outfits. "If you need any help figuring them out, I'll be right outside the door."

Meanwhile, Arashi was holding up a number of dresses for Yuui to choose from. For whatever reason, Yuui didn't like any of them. Arashi abandoned the dresses and held up shirts and pants. These were more to Yuui's liking. Arashi helped Yuui figure out how to use a bra and told her what clothes went on first and things like that.

"We'll go shopping at some point and get you things that are actually your size," Arashi said. "You're a bit bigger than I am in places, not to mention taller."

"Thanks, Arashi," Yuui said, examining herself in the mirror. She wore a dark blue, long-sleeved shirt and jeans that were nearly black. They were both snug and her midriff showed a little (a lot if she raised her arms) but it looked nice with her complexion.

"This is for when you go outside," Arashi said, holding up a long coat. Yuui took it and tried it on to see how it looked.

"Ooh, it's really warm," she said, surprised. It didn't look like it would be, but the lining was really soft and warm while the outside was a leather-like material. It was dark brown and contrasted well with the blue of her outfit.

When Yuui walked into the hallway to meet with the others, she took a moment to examine their outfits as well.

Corwin was in a black turtle neck shirt and blue jeans with a brown coat, and Fai had a light blue cable knit turtle neck and khaki pants with a jacket that matched his shirt. He also had a scarf around his neck, though Yuui didn't know that was what it was called. They all wore the shoes they'd been wearing when they'd left Kana.

"Before you go looking for the feather, we wanted to give you a crash course on this world," Sorata said and Arashi rolled her eyes as he grabbed his puppet. As he went into excited detail about the language and customs of Hansin, as they had soon learned was the name of this country, they all noticed just how different this world was. The writing made no sense at all to any of them, Yuui and Corwin only being fluent in Kanian, and Fai's knowledge limited to Kanian, Celesian, and Valerian, all of which were similar to each other, but very different than these strange symbols Sorata was writing on a white board.

When Corwin brought it up, asking how they spoke the same language audibly when the writing was so different, Sorata sat back and scratched his head.

"To be honest, we aren't speaking the same language, if I understood it correctly the last time you were here," he said. "If I'm not mistaken, the Mokona acted as a translator of sorts, just by being around it. It automatically translated the languages in the individuals' heads. So when you guys speak, Arashi and I hear our language, and when we speak to you, you hear yours."

"I see," Yuui said.

"What's a Mokona?" Corwin asked.

"It was a small creature the Dimensional Witch, Yuuko, gave to us on our first journey," Fai said. "Do you remember the small, black creature at Watanuki's shop?" Corwin nodded. "There was a white one with a red jewel on its forehead that she gave to us. I could tell that it was a magic-made creature. Translation was probably one of its magical abilities, along with travelling through dimensions at random. I'm sure it had more, but I can't remember." He frowned. He hated his memories being incomplete. It made him feel mentally unstable.

"So what's translating now?" Yuui asked. "We don't have a Mokona." She looked at the pipe fox, which had fallen asleep draped around Corwin's shoulders, in interest.

"It's your necklace," Fai said simply. "Surely you feel the magic contained within it."

"I guess I've never really thought about it," Yuui said, lifting the charm to inspect it. "It's always been around my neck. I have always known that magic was holding the jewel suspended in the middle of it."

"It has several magical properties, but none as extensive as the Mokona," Fai said. "It translates very similarly to how the Mokona did, but it also helps with your judgment. Have you ever had a really bad feeling about a person or a situation? The pendant can sense people's ill intentions and in turn gives off a negative feeling to the wearer. It's almost like a conscience." Yuui blinked a few times.

"You can tell all of that just from its wavelengths?" Yuui asked in awe. She continued without giving Fai time to answer. "Then what did the other pendant do? The one that Watanuki took."

"That wasn't a pendant," Fai said, ignoring her first statement. "It was a key. And it was as ordinary as they come, I'm afraid. I couldn't sense anything from it. It simply unlocked a box that contained the feathers."

"I see," said Yuui, a little bit crestfallen, but still surprisingly proud of her pendant and the key she no longer possessed. She started a little when Fai chuckled beside her and knit her brows together when she saw the giddy smile on his face. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Fai lied. Throughout their conversation, he had been trying to see if he could get the language he heard to switch between the three he knew and had amused himself in switching between them as he talked as well.

You're such an idiot.

Fai gasped and swung his head around the room, searching for the source of the voice he had heard. There was no one else. And now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember if it was a man's voice or a woman's, or even if he had heard it or if he had merely thought it. But he did know without a shadow of a doubt that it wasn't an accusation. It was an endearment. And for some odd reason, hearing (or thinking) it made his heart race, and not in a bad way.

"What is it?" Yuui asked. Fai looked back at them and came back to his surroundings, practically forgetting the voice altogether. He blinked once.

"Nothing," he said, feeling a little confused himself, but letting it pass for now. Things were going to be strange for a while, he knew. He had to get his feathers back, just like the clone Syaoran had to find Sakura's. He knew he was forging on the same path that he had before, only he felt like he was beginning two long, excruciating journeys at the same time.

He hoped at least one of them had a happy ending.