//------------------------------//
// Preparations 
// Story: The Immortal Dream 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Leaving.

So many emotions connected with the possibility flew through my head that they were impossible to make sense of. Fear, left over from Aldebaran. Excitement, incubated over many years by my dream. A stunned surrealness, from something that had existed only on paper suddenly becoming a possibility... and so quickly, at that. Had I made the right choice? Was there a wrong one? If there was, could I ever learn to avoid it without the wisdom that came from living?

Maybe I would live to regret this, or maybe I would be grateful for my decision. Or, if Gerardo's advice held any water, I would do both. As much as the Aldebaran ordeal had ground me down, I could easily imagine a place in the near future where I would be glad for the experience. Even now, I might not know how to weigh what I was choosing, but I certainly knew it was important to try.

All these thoughts and more swirled through my head as Mother chewed her bubblegum, taking her customary several seconds between being asked a question and giving an answer.

"...Huh," she eventually said. "Figured you would've flown the coop ages ago. Why now?"

"Maybe I'm just ready," I replied with a shrug. "But also because Elise and Graygarden say it's a better time than usual. There's a griffon called Gerardo who flew into town. An old friend of Elise's. He gave them some intel, and might be persuadable to give me and Corsica and Ansel a ride out."

"He's still alive?" Mother raised an eyebrow, chewing. "Gerardo Guillaume?"

I tilted my head. "You know him? From the Empire?"

"Friend of a friend of a friend." Mother sat swaddled in her bathrobe on our new couch, the poofy trim wrapped like a mane around her neck. "Didn't see him much. Always thought he was a buffoon. Must have wizened up since those days if he's not kicked it yet."

"A buffoon?" I frowned. "Does that mean you don't want me going with him?"

"It's your life, kid. Not mine." Mother sank deeper into the plush cushions of the couch. "All I do is give advice. And if he's still around, he's probably a lot more competent than he used to be. Could be a good sign."

"So..." I hesitated, lifting a hoof. "I have your blessing, then? Or, me and Ansel do? To leave?"

Mother blew a bubble and popped it. "Would that be a good thing?"

I stared at her. "Why wouldn't it? You have more experience on what could happen than anyone!"

"Sure," Mother said. "Which means I'm jaded. Unless something happens, I'm sitting here for the rest of my days. Don't make your decisions by pretending to be me."

"But I value your experience!" I protested. "I kind of figured you'd just shrug and say sure, but this means a lot to me. Mom, could you... I need an honest opinion on this. Not in terms of what you'd do, but what I should do. You know Gerardo, and the world. Is this a good idea? Is this what's best for me?"

For a long moment, Mother was silent, chewing.

"Well?" I held my breath.

"You know," she eventually said, "I think that's the first time you've asked me for help in a good ten years."

I blinked. "I mean... You gave so much just getting us to Icereach so I could live in the first place, so I-"

"Became a model daughter who's completely self-reliant an doesn't need me at all," Mother finished, cutting me off. "Did me proud, kid. And probably for the best, seeing what shape I'm in." She trailed off, leaving the air laden with implication.

"Mom..." I said slowly. "You want me to pester you more often?"

"Don't go there," Mother dryly warned. "Or else I'll debase myself by complaining to make you stop."

So I remained quiet, a completely new picture painting itself in my mind over the burned-out shell of a mare who had given all she had to give. I remembered back to the Aldebaran incident, when Mother had seemed to regain her spark while trying to steal an airship and spirit me away from the city, and I remembered my hazy, infant dreams where I saw her fighting in the collapsing Griffon Empire. Maybe she wasn't like a jar that had gone empty, but a brick of charcoal that could only burn by... well, burning?

That metaphor didn't make sense, and as soon as I tried to fix it, I lost my train of thought. Think, Halcyon! Do your thing where you casually and effortlessly extract every facet of someone's life from the way they fold their napkin at dinner...

"And stop staring," Mother added. "Makes me think I've got peanut butter on my chin."

I shook my head to clear it. "Listen, Mother," I declared. "I dunno if you're passively venting your frustration at being unable to have a relationship with me where I rely on you more, or what, but right now, I might be leaving. If my friends and I go through with this and everything works out, we might not see each other again for... Well, a pretty long time. Months, maybe. So, if there's ever a time to do something you've thought about doing but never gone and done before, this is it." For a moment, I left my words hanging, and then added, "Like giving me some serious advice."

Something changed in Mother's demeanor.

"This is it, huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "End of the beginning? Fancy yourself doing something out in the world?"

"I always have," I told her. "Just, now it's not just a hypothetical."

Mother took a deep breath, then stood up and started limping towards the door. "Well, let's get a move on. Who knows how late those yak friends of yours will stay out..."

"The yaks?" I followed after her, confused. "What do you wanna see them for?"

"To see if they have a training dummy that'll fit a skeleton like me," Mother replied. "No point in wasting away here if you're not safe as can be. I'm too young to be acting twice my age anyway."

"A training dummy? For you?" I aggressively tilted my head. "What?"

"Keep repeating everything I say, and I'll worry your ears aren't working," Mother dryly told me. "I gave sitting back a chance last time, with Aldebaran. Figured you'd just kill them all if there was a problem. Didn't expect you to be so nice, or for that windigo to get involved."

My jaw dropped. "What do you mean, being so nice!? We were at their mercy the whole time!"

Mother pointed at my bracelet.

"What's this gonna do?" I took a step back, my heart beating out of control from surprise after surprise. "Burn me to a crisp? Ignite their entire airship and roast all of us in the sky? Overwhelm the ventilation in that cave with smoke? The whole point of us living in Icereach is because you wanted me to have a better life than... I dunno, going out like that!"

Mother raised a skeptical eyebrow at me. "You really forgot how that old bracelet of mine works?"

Suddenly, I felt extremely self-conscious. Also, forgot? I had a great memory. When I wasn't tampering with it, that was...

"I... kind of only use it as a flashlight," I told her. "Didn't want to risk overusing it. Besides, I don't need scary magic powers every day."

Mother shrugged. "If you push yourself hard enough to wind up like this, it wouldn't happen by accident. Light it."

"What?" I blinked at her like she was crazy. "Here and now? You want me to burn down our house? Sorry, but I like having my flesh at a normal temperature."

"Then give it here," Mother requested, tapping the coffee table with her good wing.

Baffled, I sat down, removed my boot and slid the bracelet off - Mother was one of the few ponies who knew about my colored hooves, obviously, and thus it was safe for her to see. And if there was something she knew about this power that I, in turn, could find out without the risk of trial and error...

"Here," I said, pushing it to her.

Mother stared at the black band for a moment, then sat on her haunches and slid it carefully onto her good leg. For a moment, she focused, and then it began to glow with green. Her face grimaced in concentration and possibly pain. It looked a lot harder than when I did it.

Then, it happened: bands and currents of green flame began to manifest, arcing and crawling across her coat, visible over the top of her bathrobe. She held them there for about three seconds, before the bracelet went dim and she let out a breath, immediately taking it off and putting it back on the table. Her wrist was smoking slightly where the metal had made contact.

"There," she said. "Now, what did you see?"

"You used it," I pointed out. "I mean, I can do that much. Are you alright?"

"Bah. I'll be fine." She blew on her hoof and shook it out. "See any regular red flames? Any soot on my robe? Scorch marks? Did I burn the house down?"

I leaned in to examine her more closely, though it wasn't really necessary. "Nope. Completely clean."

She nodded, showing her bad side. "Those flames don't set things on fire. If they did, you wouldn't be able to turn it off once it's burning. And the scars aren't burn marks. They're more like a... price. And not one you can pay by accident."

I didn't know what to think. All I knew for sure was that I didn't know nearly as much about this bracelet as I was probably supposed to.

...Well, and that I already knew what she had just said. Both previous times I had turned the bracelet high enough for flames to appear, I hadn't been left with scorch marks, the things I had been touching hadn't had them either, and the flames went away on their own when the bracelet turned off. I just... never connected that as a rule in my mind before.

"Keep it," Mother said, gesturing at the bracelet with her face. "Won't do much good in my hooves anymore. My body's had far too much of that thing already. Besides, you'd have to be a fool to go out in the world unarmed." She shook her head. "If I knew you didn't know how to use it, I might not have sent you out with Aldebaran. Always thought you left them alive on purpose after they crossed you."

"Well..." I searched for anything I could say in response to that. "I mean, I know I need a weapon. That's why I've been working on this one with the inertial stabilizer rotor..."

"Good on you," Mother replied. "But the more the better, and this one is easy to carry around."

I tilted my head. "So what's it do, anyway, if not light things on fire? I know it glows. And it sometimes makes me stronger, or more resistant to cold? I think. I haven't really... ever tested it."

"It's just power," Mother replied, noncommittal. "It does what you need. Strength. Stamina. Hurting things you attack. Blunting things that hurt you. Usually all at once. I could never focus it well. Felt like a beast struggling at its chains. I'm surprised you don't know this, wearing it every minute of every day. You already control it well enough to use it for light. Shouldn't need me to explain all this."

I stared at the bracelet. Describing it as a chained beast didn't exactly make me more comfortable about using it, but... how many secrets did this thing have for me to unlock? And if I did find them, would it turn out to be safer than I imagined, or more dangerous? Given Mother's reaction to me not knowing, I had a bad feeling I actually did know, and that knowledge was just buried under my mask.

But... why then would maskless me let me go around wearing this? If it was dangerous, better for me to either know the dangers or leave it behind. Right? This just didn't make sense.

"Where did you get it?" I asked, figuring that question would be safe enough.

"Stole it," Mother replied. "Sometimes you have to do what it takes to stay alive. Other times, you have to do what it takes to live with yourself after you survive. This was the latter. Either way, it's yours now."

"From who?" I pressed, curious.

Mother just shook her head and snorted. "Let's go see those yaks. How long have I got until we leave?"

I stopped in my tracks, remembering what she had said earlier. "Wait, we leave? You're coming with us?"

"Am I not invited?" Mother raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." I fidgeted. On the one hoof, having someone along that I knew would keep my best interests in mind would be a relief, to say the least. On the other, having someone I'd need to look out for wouldn't. Although Mother could be very competent when she needed to be! But...

I just hadn't remotely considered the possibility of inviting her along. I hadn't thought through this at all.

"Well, we were going to ask Gerardo if we could maybe hitch a ride on his ship," I decided, nodding. "Which might be today or tomorrow..."

Mother swore. "Not a lot of time to rehab. Whatever. Might as well go see if he's changed over the years instead..."





"Ah," Gerardo said, "it's you."

We stood on the dock Gerardo's ship was moored at, meeting the griffon outside so as to minimize time the door was left open. I could see Slipstream watching us through a window, Gerardo looking unbothered by the cold and Mother still wrapped in her fluffy bathrobe.

"Yep," she replied. "Me. Going by Nehaly these days, if Elise hasn't drilled it into your head."

"Going by?" I tilted my head. "Wait, you mean that's not...?"

Mother shrugged. "Make enough enemies, and you'll have hundreds of aliases before you know it." She turned back to Gerardo. "I've heard you're interested in taking my daughter and her friends off on an adventure."

Gerardo bowed. "On the contrary, this griffon adventurer extraordinaire's adventures are not meant for the meek of skill. I specifically recall telling Halcyon here I wasn't interested in an understudy for my cross-continental gallivanting." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"We're not interested in gallivanting. Just hear me out," I explained, kneeling slightly. "Elise told me and Corsica and Ansel that we might have a research trip opportunity in Ironridge. We've already got a destination and lodgings lined up and everything. You said you're going there next anyway. She thought maybe you could offer us a very safe ride."

Gerardo raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Did Elise mention anything about what happened the last time I offered a ride into Ironridge to some young hopefuls while also carrying important cargo?"

I blinked. "No. Why?"

"It involved copious amounts of fraud, swashbuckling and explosions," Gerardo explained. "Plus at least once instance of witnessing someone get a melon thrown at their head. She really recommended me as an ideal courier?"

"No, it was romantic!" Slipstream shouted through the glass window. "Don't forget that was when you met me, Gerardo Guillaume!"

"Hush," Gerardo replied. "I'm trying to check someone's commitment to a life-changing and bad yet inevitable decision."

Mother gave them a look. "Romantic?"

Gerardo returned it with a level gaze. "If you can honestly chastise me in the name of the Night Mother, you... have a right to do so, I suppose. But, I'd advise saving your energy. Unlike her, there's nothing you can do about it."

"Wasn't thinking of her," Mother snorted. "Just whether you two would be a perfect influence on these kids."

Gerardo chuckled and drummed his talons against the floor. "I think that was a foregone conclusion before you even brought this up. You do realize I'm a professional adventurer. None but those with a death wish would be sane to follow in my footsteps."

I stepped forward, butting back into the conversation. "Yeah, but how sane are we gonna be, staying in Icereach until the end of time? Maybe we can be comfy, but limited horizons are boring. I'd like to take my chances with the unknown again. Trying to be safe, sure, but there's gotta be a balance between mortal peril and nothing ever happening. Just because they're opposite extremes doesn't mean you've got to choose one or the other."

"Is that so?" Gerardo regarded me.

I nodded. "Look, how many ponies live in Ironridge right now? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? A million? How many of them go about normal day-to-day lives without getting kidnapped? And how many of them are locked in boxes where they can't learn anything they don't already know? There's gotta be a reasonable way to do this. And if you're so experienced with danger, you should know how to avoid it for one little flight while we tag along. A flight through the safest skies in the world, at that."

Gerardo shrugged at Mother. "I suppose she does have a point. Yakyakistan and Ironridge control the airspace between them with great fervor. It is the world's last safe aerial trading route, after all. If we really did make a direct run of it..."

Mother shrugged back. "What are you looking at me for? You're the one that needs convincing."

Gerardo glanced across at the mid-afternoon sun. "Well, I was planning to weigh anchor around sundown. And, it'll be a cramped voyage. About two weeks, at this ship's speed. Anyone who's coming would need to sleep in the main cabin. You won't get a lot of privacy, and you'll have to deal with us being up at all hours. One of us has to pilot, after all. One suitcase plus saddlebags each; the hold is full and I'm strapped for space. Once we get there, I'd escort you for one day to make sure you get where you're going, and that would be it. No return tickets, and no bailing out halfway if it gets cramped. Sound like a deal you can take?"

I hesitated. No privacy... That might be rough. And it was definitely a much smaller ship than the Aldebaran... But it was an offer.

"Can I go run this by my friends?" I turned to leave, looking back expectantly. "I'm pretty sure we can be ready by then."

"Go do it," Mother commanded, waving me on with her good wing. "I've got a few more things to run by this lout while I have his ear."





An elevator shaft slid by around me, my body feeling weightless from the descent. Finding Ansel and Corsica had been harder than convincing them, and that part was easy, considering they were both in the lab. Aside from the luggage limit, his conditions were ones both of them had already been expecting.

It sounded like they had the science packing under control, and Corsica's cosmetics were her own problem. I would need to pack too, but first, it was time to say goodbye.

The elevator slowed to a halt, opening and letting me into the chapel. The ether pump hadn't been running recently; the rocket fuel projects were the main ones that used it, and they wrapped up the bulk of their experimentation shortly after the Aldebaran incident. Now, except for weekly maintenance cycles, the chapel was quiet.

Crystals glittered in the light of my bracelet, spiky clusters and smooth facets crusting the edges of the chapel where it broke off toward the ether river and caking the cave beyond. Twisting, organic spires of crystal occasionally connected the glassy river to the cavern roof, but my bracelet could only illuminate so far. There had to be some boundaries to this cave, for the world above it not to simply collapse. But I was confined to this small box of a room, and could only look out and wonder how far they were.

I wandered to the edge of the crystal plinth sticking out into the abyss, my wings itching. "Hello?" I called.

If my theories were right, about the crystals here being able to remember events that happened on the other side of the world, maybe this place really was boundless. Maybe the world above was held up not by walls, but by magic. Of course, trying to detect that would be a study all of its own.

Either way, I imagined my voice echoing to the ends of the earth and back. But nothing answered.

A short ways back, across the chapel from the rack of silent ether processing machines, was an experiment Corsica and I had set up within the past six months. Trying to automatically detect and monitor new waves using crystal sampling was all but impossible, but this device was much simpler: an accurate and long-lasting clock, tied to a light detector and a recording device.

If any bright events took place here, such as me turning on my bracelet, it would know, and record their time and duration. The wave I had witnessed two and a half years ago had been nothing if not bright. If that happened again while we were gone, we would be able to learn its timing down to the second next time we were back in Icereach.

I checked the machine to make sure it was recording my own light, now. Success. It seemed everything was in operation.

"So, err..." I got up from my invention and stepped back toward the plinth. "It's been a while, right? Of me coming down here and... hanging out."

No reaction.

"Try not to get too lonely while I'm gone, yeah?" I asked the chapel. "I know not many others come down here, and none do it the way I do. But, err... I'm looking for the thing you were made for. And the light spirit. Maybe they're one and the same. Either way, when I find out, you can be sure I'll let everyone remember. Maybe then, I won't be the only one who comes down here."

Silence.

"I won't forget what you did for me," I said, shaking my head. "I needed a place, and... I got so much more. You gave me my friends back. Gave me my life back, after the avalanche. Actually, you gave me a new life that was way better than the one I had before. I... know someone's looking out for me, and I believe it's you, light spirit. I haven't forgotten all those miracles when Aldebaran came to town."

Or maybe, said a voice in my head, it's that Writ of Harmonic Sanction you used. No one would value a spell that much if it doesn't do anything.

I brushed it away. "Either way, I won't forget you." And then I stepped over to the hidden door to say farewell to the mural as well.

No one had made me return the key I had stolen, even though I was all but certain Elise and Graygarden knew I had it. I wasn't sure if I would take it with me when I left. Not like I needed to waste space bringing an inert rock, but not like it would do any good left behind either. And it was a memento, of sorts. Maybe I would bring it.

The door slid open, and I paced through the long cave to the mural room. To this day, I had never found out what had been written in Icebeard's journal. Saving me from that shrapnel had been too much for the book to take. The doctors made it sound like there wasn't even anything left to give me.

But the mural, though... That was still there. It loomed down at me, all three layers, an alicorn holding a star and standing on a world held by a bigger equinoid, that one in a world of its own held by something draconine and unknowable. This mural, the thing the Composer had been so interested in, had been the closer subject of my studies for the past six months.

I hadn't exactly learned a lot over that time. Still, it felt like the eerie mural had kept me company, and what I had accomplished were a series of accurate drawings that more or less captured the spirit of the thing. It was large enough to take up half a cafeteria wall, and yet detailed enough that even a microscope couldn't make out its finest features. A few of my drawings captured close-ups, most focused on the important details, and one more held the author's signature, scrawled in a corner in an unreadable language the library held no reference to. That signature had been the Composer's main goal. If I someday wanted to solve the mystery of why my home had been invaded, this was one of the most valuable clues I had.

"You," I said to the mural, and its depiction of three gods and unknowable signature. "You, I'm going to figure out."

Unlike the rest of the chapel, which was holy to me, this room was a challenge. And having given it a challenge of my own, I left, resolving that I would return with the knowledge to figure it out.





"I'm home," I announced, letting myself into my apartment to the sounds of an argument in progress. "What's going on?"

It was Ansel and Corsica.

"Ah! Hallie!" Ansel perked up, standing over an open suitcase in the middle of the living room. He pointed a hoof at me. "Just the mare I wanted to see. I'm trying to teach wing-ears how to pack light. Mind giving me some backup?"

Corsica raised an eyebrow, giving me a look that said Can you believe this guy?

"Alright," I volunteered, wandering over to inspect the suitcase. "What have you got?"

It was a small suitcase, and nearly empty at that. A sock filled with money, a toothbrush, a light novel and a bag of dried cashews were all it had.

I tilted my head at him, aware that once I picked a side, there might be no going back. "Is that it? Where's the rest of your stuff?"

"All in the bag," Ansel proudly replied. "We've got entertainment, sustenance, and hygiene, plus cash to buy whatever I need on the other side."

"You think that's gonna last you for two weeks?" I arched my brow in concern.

"See?" Corsica butted in. "Fillies just take more space. We have more material attachments."

"Well, I'm still only using one suitcase," I pointed out. "Just don't ask for any of my stuff if you run out."

Ansel gave me a flat stare. "She was at four bags when I started helping her winnow them down, and now she's up to five."

Corsica flung a foreleg over my back. "I'm just packing for all of us. Though I might only share with Halcyon, since she's the one who gets me."

"Alright," I sighed, slipping out from her embrace. "But Gerardo's probably gonna say no, so let's see what you've got..."





"You sure you wanna go without that soap?" Corsica warned as I put yet another cosmetic product in the stay pile. "Ansel's going to smell like an alligator without it."

"I will not!" Ansel protested. "Case in point, I've never used it before!"

"Then I rest my case," Corsica said smugly. "Right, Hallie?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You know, didn't you swipe most of these from your stepmom's collection in the first place? She's probably gonna have more of them than you can shake a stick at in Ironridge. I think we safely can leave these behind."

"Just Graygarden's mistress," Corsica replied. "Different from a stepmom. And he barely even counts as my dad in the first place."

"Same difference," Ansel cut in. "Look, if I break my back stuffing your alligator perfume in my own bag, can we call it a truce and say you only pack stuff for yourself from now on?"

"Sure." Corsica shrugged. "But if that one alone breaks your back, you need to work out more. Ah! I just realized I forgot-"

"Nope." I blocked her with a wing. "Didn't forget anything. I'm a hundred percent certain these six are literally all you need."

"But-"

"You realize Gerardo's ship probably doesn't have a shower?" I told her frankly. "We literally won't even get a chance to use ninety percent of these!"

Corsica huffed. "I'll stand outside in a storm to get clean if I have to. As long as my bags smell nice enough to cover up for the rest of you."

"Says you," I retorted, "who would have gone to see Elise as a total shag bag this morning if I hadn't fixed you up myself."

"You don't know that." Corsica stuck her tongue out. "I would have done it myself if you were a killjoy."

"Mhmmmmm..."

To the side, Ansel chuckled. "You know," he pointed out, "I'm pretty sure if we can keep up good spirits like this, it's not going to matter who brings what. We've got all we need for a good time right here."

I nodded. No one wanted to say it, but given how much the Aldebaran incident had hit us... It was almost a miracle that we were going into this laughing rather than cowering and scared.

But I hadn't doubted myself once since we all signed on. Even tempting those thoughts like this didn't quite seem to do it. Maybe, for once, optimism was going to win the day.

The door banged open behind us, and Mother limped in.

"Oh! Good evening, O venerable one," Ansel greeted, standing up and faking a bow. "We're absolutely not planning on leaving this mess, yes I know it's horrific but-"

"Halcyon, come talk to me before you leave," Mother grunted, shuffling into her room and closing the door behind her.

Everyone looked at each other.

"I... probably... should see what this is about," I announced quietly, getting to my hooves. "See, uh... See if you can get the luggage straightened out on your own."

Corsica nodded, and I left to follow Mother.

Mother didn't speak when I let myself into her room, closing the door again after me. She was on her bed, holding something small in her hooves. The corners of her eyes were glistening.

"Um..." I wasn't sure how to approach.

"I have a favor to ask," Mother said stiffly.

I took a step closer.

Mother held out what she was holding. It was a small locket, one I suddenly remembered her contemplating six months ago. Inside, I knew, was a photo of three batponies: herself, twenty years ago, along with Leitmotif and another mare.

"That's you and your old friends from the Sarosian Underground," I said. "Back in the Empire."

Mother nodded. "Myself. Leitmotif. One other mare. All of us should have been dead."

I stood still.

"But, I wasn't. She wasn't." Mother didn't look at me. "If it turns out all three of us survived, and you ever happen to run into the third... Give her this for me."

The locket sat there, waiting for me to pick it up.

"Not gonna give me any names, huh?" I weakly raised an eyebrow. "Running into an individual should-be-dead pony and recognizing them solely from a faded picture that's older than I am isn't unlikely enough?"

"You talk about miracles," Mother just said, hiding her face. "Just taking a page out of your book. I wouldn't want it to happen unless it was meant to happen."

I watched the locket, feeling as though I was a bystander to an event of immense significance, none of which I knew.

One of my wings stretched out, taking and opening the locket all on its own. There was that photo. A young Mother, probably my age. Was this before or after I was born? Probably before, but not by more than two or three years.

Leitmotif was with her, looking almost exactly the way I remembered her, only as a batpony instead of a pegasus. And then there was the third mare: heavyset, middle-aged, with a charismatic, beautiful face and a styled, wavy mane.

Across from the picture, under the lid of the locket, were the initials F+S+L, listed over a date nearly forty years ago. I didn't recognize the date, neither from ether crystal fault planes nor from my research trying to tie them to events. But, if I couldn't get a name, at least this was a starting point.

"Alright," I decided, closing it and tucking it into a pocket. "You've got yourself a deal."

"Knock 'em dead, kiddo," Mother drawled back. "Try not to get in too much trouble. And once I've got my muscle mass back, I'll be right behind you."

"Reassuring." I smiled, then leaned over and hugged her. "But we'll look out for ourselves too. See ya around."





Myself, Corsica and Ansel approached Gerardo's airship, Ansel's bags light and mine and Corsica's heavy. Science equipment made up the bulk of our cargo, followed by rarer cosmetics like my disguise kit and spare coat - I wore my new one, but wanted both just in case. Farewells had been said. The sun touched the horizon. We were ready.

"I've been down to speak with Elise," Gerardo greeted as we drew near. "Apparently, this is indeed her plan. She was even generous enough to pay me. Most of the time, bumming it and calling in favors is the way I see friends go."

"You ready?" I asked, years of yak training keeping my back strong under the weight of all my luggage.

"More ready than you," Gerardo replied. "We'll be flying fast. Elise also compensated me for the higher fuel costs of getting you there a day or two early. I have an address and letter of introduction for your destination, and all preparations are done. Once we start, there will be no turning back. Are you sure you are ready?"

"I can't say I was born ready," Ansel told him, "but I've had quite enough time to prepare."

"See ya, Icereach," Corsica echoed.

"Yeah." I nodded, feeling the weight of Mother's locket in my coat. Had something Gerardo told her brought this about? Maybe I would find out about that, too.

Below, the yaks were wrapping up their drills for the night. Icereach's covered rocket silo hatches held as little activity as usual, though beneath the ground I knew that scientists were working tirelessly on new patents and technology. Growing up, before I knew how slowly things moved, I had found it inspiring. To hear Elise tell it, it was just their way of existing.

I wanted more.

We were ready.