//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24: Kaelynn 
// Story: Forbidden Places 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Kaelynn was in no hurry to leave the water behind. For the first (and probably, only) time, her body felt like no disadvantage, but uniquely enabled her to enjoy the world she'd been placed in. But it was getting dark—by the time she had a clear view of the water's surface, she could see only darkness above.

So as much as she would've rather spent the time exploring Seaquestria, returning to her friends was more important. She couldn't just send a message back—they'd been caught by enough police in various countries to be skeptical of what they said. Yeah, sure she wasn't being harshly interrogated for endless hours. Without the receipts, any message would be meaningless.

After her visit to the palace, her naval officer escort was replaced with a royal servant of some kind—Kaelynn didn't exactly understand what Rotala's role was, other than knowing she frequently passed between the palace on the mountaintop and the one deep underwater. More importantly for Kaelynn's purposes, she had a magic necklace.

They didn't need to use the stairs in the intelligence building either—as it turned out, there were plenty of transition-spots just like it, with lockers and showers for those coming from sea to land. Granted, the hippogriffs changed more than she did—when the light faded, Rotala had feathers and fur. Kaelynn got two extra legs and some lungs, but otherwise didn't seem to change much.

"Incredible that every one of you can just do that whenever you want," Kaelynn muttered, climbing up the steps. This late in the evening there were few birds in here, and the lights glowed only dimly. "Back home, I didn't want to be stuck with just land or sea either. But getting access to the ocean was a constant hassle."

Rotala smiled politely. While she'd been helpful taking Kaelynn around Seaquestria when the royals were done with her, she wasn't as insightful or helpful as Rivulet had been. She seemed to view escorting Kaelynn no differently than folding sheets or delivering desserts around the palace. "Of course, miss. Wasn't that way for my parents, mind. But birds these days couldn't get along without it. Now come with me, we'll rinse that seawater off and get you back to your friends before the hour's up."

That was exactly what they did. The showers clearly weren't built as a place to relax—rather, they were more like a car-wash, a long tunnel of high-pressure nozzles that blasted soap and then water at her from all directions. But by the time they emerged from the end, the salty smell was gone. Probably for the best—saltwater could wreak havoc on anything not built for it.

"Will I see you again tomorrow?" she asked, as they left the building behind and walked out onto the docks. Walked, under Kaelynn's own power. It was almost as much of an adventure as the underwater world had been, though lots of dark buildings weren't nearly as interesting to look at. There were far fewer birds out than there were fish still awake below—but with so much bioluminescence, night was more of a suggestion down there. "My friends probably won't want to wait to try the portal."

What few were there stared openly at Kaelynn. A few fledglings were even brave enough to come up to her, asking if she was a seapony.

Rotala nodded. "I'll be at your disposal so long as you're at Mount Aris, young miss. Though if I might suggest?" She didn't actually wait for permission, which Kaelynn didn't mind. She wasn't royalty. "The place you're mentioning isn't widely known. I know the queen didn't ask you, but you'd be better off not speaking about it so openly."

Kaelynn nodded. "Sorry. I'll... yeah."

They reached one of the tallest buildings near the docks. Even in another universe, Kaelynn knew a hotel when she saw one, complete with decorative awning and wide windows. The lights remained bright within. Rotala said very little as they stepped inside, other than a brief conversation with the front desk. She obtained a few keys, then took them to the elevator. 

The style was as old as everything else—an actual operator sat inside, grinning at them as they entered.

"It is true," he said, adjusting his bright red cap. "Seaponies visit our humble mountain again. Welcome."

She nodded weakly. Being treated like a celebrity was getting old. "Thank you for your hospitality," she said. "But I've had so much of it lately, I think what I really need is a night's sleep."

"Of course." He took them up without another word, all the way to the top floor. A pair of bored-looking naval officers sat in the hallway, playing cards. These didn't even bother carrying spears like the soldiers she'd seen in the undersea castle—clearly they weren't expecting to do much fighting. 

The younger of the two sat up abruptly, scattering his cards all over the floor. He hurried over, standing almost to attention as they approached, though he didn't salute. "Oh, good! Our guests were getting restless waiting for you. Do we have new orders from the princess?"

Rotala produced a thick roll of something from her coat, thick enough that it had survived the transition from water to land and kept the words written on it intact. "Here you are."

They continued to the door, leaving the naval birds in the hallway. Rotala opened the door ahead of her, then gave Kaelynn the key. "The crown will provide your accommodations so long as you remain in the city," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow." Then she left, selecting one of the other nearby hotel-rooms and leaving Kaelynn in the doorway.

Her friends were all inside, scattered across the room. Ryan was the first to notice her, though she could see only a single holey leg waving at her from the kitchen. Evidently he didn't want to expose this "true" form to the birds. She stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. She really did feel exhausted. But the others needed to know.

"You're back," Blake said. "We started to wonder if they were ever going to let you see us again."

She nodded, slumping into the first cushion she could find. Other worlds still had sofas, even if there was no television to mindlessly watch mounted to the wall. Now that she looked, there wasn't even a radio. At least they had electric lights. "Yeah. It wasn't bad—they weren't interrogating me or anything." 

The others all gathered around, except for Galena. Kaelynn could hear only faint snoring from one of the attached bedrooms, the only sign that the griffon was still with them. But she was only a guest anyway, so she didn't feel the pressure to wake her up.

"Doesn't look like torture either," Jordan said, looking her over. "I guess that means it went well."

"That's a low bar," Ryan said, settling into the seat beside her. He still twitched slightly with anxiety, eyes never leaving her. "What happened, Kaelynn?"

She told them, though thanks to her exhaustion she didn't use nearly the same detail she had with the royals. Besides, it didn't take long to summarize the important parts. Yes, the Worldgate was here. Yes, they were allowed to use it. No, it probably wasn't a safe way home, though they didn't know why.

"And it's worse than just uncertain," she continued. "The Worldgate is under water. I didn't bring any of my equipment, but I'm guessing several hundred feet. Way too far to swim to normally. That means you'll have to change to get to it, and we don't know how the Worldgate will respond when that happens. Even if the danger is gone, or wouldn't be a threat to us, just getting down there will be its own kind of hell."

"We could test it," Ryan said flatly. "I've already gone through looking like you before. I still changed back into myself on the other side. Seeing an underwater city sounds awesome!"

His body vanished in a flash of bright green light, leaving her identical twin settled into the cushion beside her. And speaking with her voice, though Ryan didn't have the same rhythm she did. But would he sound normal underwater, or flat like everyone else? Kaelynn found herself instantly in support of his idea, if only to see how two voices would sound compared to one.

"I don't like it," Blake said. "Splitting up is always bad. What if you don't come back, like the hippogriff search party?"

"Then you know we died," Ryan supplied. "And the rest of you don't have to die too. You can find another way home in our honor."

"Don't be dramatic," Jordan said. "You probably won't die. The hippogriffs were in new bodies in a world they didn't understand. You won't, and you can bring survival gear."

"The alternative is waiting to sail somewhere else," Blake said. "We should hear back about the bounty tomorrow. We can use the gold to charter a hippogriff crew to take us to another Worldgate."

Ryan rose from the table, nearly tripping over his tail as he made his way over to their things. He shuffled with a suitcase, emerging with the map. He unrolled it on the table in front of them, annoyance creeping into his voice. "This should've been the first thing we checked."

Kaelynn leaned down, inspecting the map near Mount Aris. There was the usual pair of names. Unfortunately, this one was the least helpful label they'd seen so far. "Unknown mountain region."

"That's unhelpful," Ryan said, apparently reading the exact thing she had. "Whoever made the map didn't know where this Worldgate went. Just says it's in the mountains, which could mean anywhere."

"And worse to get back to," Blake continued. "Unless it's something as difficult as Everest, getting down shouldn't be hard. But finding our way back with a film crew..."

The hippogriffs probably won't be too happy about that. The queen had been more than helpful so far, but would that change once she turned Seaquestria into the center of a universe-crossing? Would everyone who crossed from Earth for the first time end up a seapony like her, or just drown?

"The more I think about this the worse it sounds," she said. "Worldgates must be hard to find on Earth, or they'd all be known already."

"Basically impossible," Jordan agreed. "But they're not safe on this side either. Deep underwater, a super shady town, out in the middle of the desert. Looks like a pattern to me. Always far from civilization."

Blake sighed. "If you two are willing, I guess you should scout it. Even if we keep looking for somewhere better, it would be good to know what resources we have. Best case, it's safer than we thought. If not, get the hell back as quick as you can. Jordan and I can work out what to do with the local currency, and scout out ships to charter."

"Sure we can trust them to do that?" Ryan asked. "They booked us on a pirate ship last time."

"That was so not our fault," Jordan said. "Okay, maybe a tiny bit our fault. But really, really tiny. Besides, we saved all those ponies from getting sent to the mines, so it worked out."

Kaelynn didn't have the energy to argue. She rose from the seat, shaking out her aching tail. Somehow, all the swimming she'd done still left her feeling sore, though she wasn't sure she even had the same muscles in this body. There'd be no cheesing the back-and-forth transformation Animorphs style.

"Girls on this side?" she asked, stopping in the bedroom door with Galena's snoring. "Or... wait, that doesn't make sense. We're already naked."

Jordan groaned. "I already set up on that side too, if..." He stood, wings opening and closing awkwardly. "The doublethink is getting hard for me. You missed it before, but I'm kinda planning to just roll with being a girl in this universe. But only this universe."

Kaelynn shrugged. "Fine by me. Just don't wake me up before noon."