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Chapter 3

Storm

Alice wakes first, or so she thinks. Looking around, the memory of were she is returning to her, she finds Twinkaleni once again wrapped in Danahlia's arms, legs, and a bit of her long tail, giving her a pleading look. It's an adorable sight, the lizard girl holding the little Murin like a beloved stuffed animal. Twinkaleni squirms, which only tightens the Liguna's grip as she mumbles softly in her sleep. A tiny furless hand extends toward Alice and she grasps it, grinning, to gently pull free the trapped Murin. Danahlia reluctantly lets her go, rolling to her belly with a disappointed sigh.

"Ugh, thank you. She rolled over on me during the night and refused to let go," Twinkaleni complains, straightening her fur.

Alice giggles, "Does that happen often?"

"Too often," the small mage assures.

Smiling, Alice looks out the window. The sky is still dark with the storm and it continues to rain, though not as heavily as it was the night before. The ever present winds have also become cooler with the abundant moisture.

"Looks like we're stayin' here for a while," says Alice, sticking her hand out to feel the rain only to retract it immediately when pain blooms in her elbow.

"If that is the case, we'll need to procure nourishment. How's your arm?" asks Twinkaleni, approaching to get a better look at it.

"It's alright," Alice lies.

"Mmm, perhaps you should rest. Danny and I will go look for something, perhaps the rain has-"

Danahlia's sneeze interrupts the mouse girl and the Liguna groans uncomfortably on the floor, "Ugh, guys?"

"We're here," Twinkaleni assures, the Tokala and Murin moving to check on the still prone girl.

"Can we get the fire goin'? It's freezin' in here," Danahlia moans, curling in on herself.

Alice and Twinkaleni share a look. True it was cool but hardly freezing. Twinkaleni kneels, placing a hand on Danahlia's forehead, "I don't feel a fever, but I suppose that isn't entirely irregular."

Danahlia sneezes again and then groans pitifully. Alice checks the ashes in the fireplace, the fire having died sometime during the night. They still have some warmth to them. With the persistent rains, any wood outside would be waterlogged by now so she looks around the small shack for anything that will burn. She spots a board hanging limply from the wall. In the past it may have served as a shelf but now she pries it off and tries to break it. She places the board against the wall at an angle and kicks down at it with a foot. After a few blows the board crackles into pieces.

Alice takes the smallest of these to the fireplace and blows at the ashes there. Her breath reveals a few glowing embers at the heart of the pile. She uses a splintered bit of wood to roll the embers into a tighter group and then sets some of the broken shelf over them. A few gentle breaths have the embers glowing bright as barely visible wisps of smoke begin to emerge from the wood. With a little more effort, she manages to get a small fire going and sits back to nurture it.

Meanwhile, Twinkaleni has been rummaging through their clothes only to come up with still damp garments. She takes those with the least moisture and gives them to Alice to dry, saying, "I'll go out to see if there is anything edible available in the immediate area."

"Not alone you're not, I'm go- ACHOO!" Danahlia sneezes, trying to rise.

Twinkaleni gently lays her back down, "No. You and Alice will stay here. Alice, look after her please."

"But I can-," Alice protests.

Twinkaleni interrupts with unusual sternness while dressing, "No. I need you to look after Danny. I won't be long."

"But," Alice starts again.

"I'll be fine. I'm not helpless you know," Twinkaleni says with a small smile as she dawns her backpack. The little mouse tries to open the door but it doesn't budge when she tugs at it. Alice leaves the fire to help. The wood of it must have soaked up some water because Alice has to put one foot on the wall and yank on the door knob with one hand as hard as she can before it swings open, the door nearly toppling over again. She catches it before it does and holds it open for the Murin.

Twinkaleni nods her thanks and then heads out into the rain. Alice watches her go, the mouse mage's large ears waving about as she immediately begins to search for anything useful. Another sneeze makes Alice jump.

"Why'd you let 'er go alone?" Danahlia groans weakly from where she stands hunched over behind the Tokala.

"She'll be fine, nothin's gonna to be out in this rain," Alice replies, looking after the mouse and hoping she's right. She closes the door most of the way, leaving it open just a bit in anticipation of Twinkaleni's return. Then, turning to the Liguna, she says, "You're sick and we need food."

Danahlia makes a feeble grunt, "I'm not-ACHOO!" The sneeze nearly topples the taller girl but Alice catches her as she groans, "It's just cold in here."

"You_are_, just rest for now," says Alice, noting the coolness of the Liguna's bare skin while leading her to the fire, setting her before it to warm up. Danahlia grumbles but doesn't move from where she's put.

Upon dressing and getting the fire to a respectable size, Alice busies herself by drying clothes, tossing the warmed garments over Danahlia, who has fallen back asleep. After perhaps half an hour, Alice checks out the window for any sign of Twinkaleni but doesn't spot the girl's gray fur anywhere. Sighing in worry she tests her hurt elbow, reminding herself that nothing dangerous should be about in the rain. Then she spots the window's shutter on the ground, weeds growing through the moldy old wood. Stomach on the sill and half hanging out in the rain, she picks it up, pulling off the other as well to set them over the fire. With the fire going already, she knows the shutters will dry and then burn too.

After settling back down to dry more clothes, Alice gets an idea. Just like when the rain started, she sets up her tent outside to capture water. Using the waterproof fabric along with a few sticks and rocks, she makes a little pool. Already wet, she decides to gather up some more fallen branches for the fire. She is doing this when she hears her name being called with some urgency. Immediately thinking of Twinkaleni, Alice searches the area, angling her ears to get a direction.

Spotting what appears to be the Murin's light coat some distance away among the darker browns and greens of local flora, Alice drops her bundle of sticks and starts to run, calling, "I see you! Hold on, I'm comin'!"

As she nears the mouse mage, she sees the Murin's steps are off like she's limping.

Alice doubles her pace shouting, "Are you alright?!"

Between haggard breaths, Twinkaleni says, "Fine. Just... fine."

Closer now, Alice can see the much smaller girl is working hard to drag something large and flat behind her. A few feet away now, Twinkaleni falls to her hands and knees in the mud trying desperately to catch her breath. Alice grabs her up in both arms, not caring at all about the cold, wet mud smearing onto her fur and clothes.

"I've been so worried. Are you ok? What happened?" she asks, looking over the little mouse to what may have been a feral once. It's mostly a rounded slab of gooey, red mush now.

"I'm fine, really. Just a bit winded is all," Twinkaleni assures, pushing lightly at the fox girl's embrace.

Alice squeezes the tiny Murin once more despite her resistance and then focuses on the mess behind her, "What was that?"

Twinkaleni takes in a deep breath before explaining, "Some sort of gargantuan amphibian. As I was foraging, this fellow began hopping after me. I ran for a time, but it just kept coming. Judging its intent to be ill, I threw a rock at it."

"A rock?" Alice asks, looking over the pulverized mass of soggy dirty flesh.

"A large rock," Twinkaleni replies defensively, "In any case, it perished. Thinking it a waste, I began trying to transport it back so we might gain some sustenance from its demise."

"Uh, ok," Alice says circling around the catch. Twinkaleni had been dragging it by two thickly muscled hind legs, though the rest, after being drawn through mud, leaves, sticks, and who knows what else, did not look appealing. "Let's head back, I'll get my sword and carve this guy up for us."

"Very well," Twinkaleni says in relief and the girls walk back toward the shack. As they do, Twinkaleni reveals that she's managed to find more of the chickenwood mushrooms and says there are even more among the trees.

Alice examines the cluster of fungi the Murin produces from her backpack, exclaiming, "Wow, good job! You slew a monster and got us food."

The little mouse beams at the compliment, using some of the water from the artificial pool to clean them off. Alice then enters the shack, shaking vigorously to dry off.

"Hey," Danahlia grumbles weakly, rising from under a pile of the girl's clothes while wiping drops of water from her face. Alice only grins, retrieving her sword, the Liguna wondering, "There anythin' to eat?"

"There will be, thanks to Twinkaleni," Alice replies happily, very proud of her tiny friend.

"She's back?"

"Mm-hm."

Danahlia sighs, "Good." This small exchange seems to use what little strength the lizard girl has, because she settles back down to the floor once more and closes her eyes.

Alice opens the door for the mouse mage, who asks, "How is she?"

"Better I think. She stopped sneezin' at least," replies the fox girl.

Twinkaleni slips by her, sets down her bundle of mushrooms, and then shakes much as Alice had, earning her a groan from Danahlia. Alice leaves the two, closing the door as much as the warped frame will allow, and heads off to where they left Twinkaleni's defeated foe. She finds it undisturbed and looks closely at it. Its skin would have served well to camouflage it among the trees and grasses, though it would get no benefit from it now, squished as it was. It may have looked very similarly to a frog or toad though much larger than any Alice had ever seen. It had similar legs anyhow. Deciding these where all that could be salvaged, Alice hacks them off near its hip to get the most out of its thick thighs. They're a good weight and assuming the legs are as meaty as they look, Alice figures they might last the trio a day or even two. Leaving the rest, the young fox carries these over her shoulder and back to her friends, trying to keep from straining her right elbow.

As Alice nears the shack, she hears Twinkaleni recounting her foraging adventure in length and uninterrupted, which makes her think Danahlia might be sleeping again. She cleans off the legs in the tent pool and finds the dark brown and green mottled skin peeling away rather easily. She strips both legs to find the muscle beneath is a healthy pink.

"Oh, it's Alice," Twinkaleni says, poking her head out the window.

Danahlia opens the door, "Mmm, those look good."

Alice grins, "You're up, feelin' better?"

"Eh, Twinkie's been going on and on about how she took out somethin' out there. Hard to rest with all that. Those legs?"

"Yeah. How'd you wanna cook'em?"

"Twinkie already has the pot going with the mushrooms, let's put 'em in there like yesterday."

Danahlia settles back down by the fire, wrapped in loose clothes, while Twinkaleni cleans off the small wooden table with some damp rags. Alice plops the legs down atop it and, with their giant ant mandibles, the girls separate the muscle from the bone. Once done, Alice uses her sword to cut a thigh into chunks to be placed into the crab shell bowl, already steaming with its contents of water and mushrooms.

She isn't worried about cleaning the weapon. Ever since the pixies of her home forest enchanted the simple broadsword, she hadn't had to. Whenever it got dirty now, the blade would glow with an intense but heatless green light which would turn whatever tarnished it into fine ash. This would then flake away, leaving the blade looking freshly polished. Jellybane does this now and no matter how many times she sees it, it is still an impressive display of magical power.

The two wash up and then let the dirty water from the tent drain to be replaced with more before joining Danahlia in waiting for their meal. Alice sees the fire is getting low, reminding her of the branches she was collecting earlier. Not entirely eager to get soaked again after just starting to get dry, she puts on Danahlia's cloak before heading back out. Twinkaleni offers to come but Alice insists she stay, knowing it will only take a minute.

She locates the pile of dropped sticks easily enough. Gathering them back up, she finds her right arm is feeling more able to contribute to the task. Encouraged by this, she wanders around picking up more bits of potential fire wood, the heavy rains and wind having knocked down plenty of branches. As she does, Alice is reminded of how the rain would be bringing out the jellies back in Toki village. On that thought, she wonders who would be dealing with them now. As always when reminded of home, the young Tokala's thoughts turn to her friend, Ashleigh, and her mother. She wonders how the Didels are doing and if they ever think of her. She amuses herself with the idea of Ashleigh taking up where Alice left off as the local monster hunter, battling jellies and collecting cores for her mother's shop, just like she always wanted.

Lost in these thoughts, Alice doesn't notice that the rain is getting steadily stronger until a loud rumble of thunder rolls overhead, snapping her back. She's wandered a little further than she meant to and hurries back to the shack. Twinkaleni is looking out the one window and disappears when she spots Alice. The fox jogs to the door with her load of sticks needing to keep her head down because the hood of the cloak has flown back. When she nears the door, it opens and she patters in.

Danahlia, Twinkaleni, and the scent of warm food greet her. The girls hadn't eaten all day and now, well into the afternoon, they are ravenous. Danahlia accepts the bundle of branches and drops them beside the fireplace. She then breaks a few pieces of the damp wood to place into the fire.

"How's the soup comin'?" Alice asks eagerly.

"Think it's done," Danahlia replies happily.

Alice uses the wet cloak to pull the hot crab shell bowl from the fire before taking it off. She takes in a deep breath through the nostrils, the soup smelling wonderfully of the mushrooms.

"The rain is becoming stronger again," Twinkaleni says dismally, once more by the window. As if to agree, the storm unleashes a flash of lightning followed closely by the rumble of thunder, causing the mouse mage to retreat to her companions around the steaming bowl of soup.

In between blows over their meal, Alice says, "No worries. We're safe in here. We'll just wait it out."

"Yeah," Danahlia agrees, patting a place on the ground beside her.

Twinkaleni sits with them musing, "I'm more concerned about our pursuer from the Order of Thermathrogi. The longer we linger in any one spot, the closer I fear they will become."

Hearing her say this makes Alice worry a bit too. The girls know next to nothing of the individual who hunts them now, other than they desire to take Twinkaleni back to that horrible school, or perhaps even kill her for escaping.

"Relax. They probably aren't even half way through the pixie forest yet," Danahlia assures.

Alice nods, "Plus, if the rain is slowin' us down, it's got to be doin' the same to them."

"I do hope you're right," says Twinkaleni, rubbing her tiny hands together nervously.

"How long are we gonna have 'em on our tail anyway? We're not gonna to be on the run forever are we?" asks Danahlia, touching the bowl and finding it still too hot to handle.

"No, no, not forever... I don't think," the little mage says uncertainly.

"Don't think?" Alice asks, her brows rising and ears perking up.

"Well, I don't possess any experience using tracking spells myself, but from what I've read, it seems very unlikely that such magic could last indefinitely."

"How unlikely?" wonders Danahlia.

Twinkaleni thinks for a moment, "Highly, almost entirely."

"Why is that?" inquires Alice before putting her face near the bowl to feel the heat radiating off from it.

"Mmm, that has to do with how tracking magic works," Twinkaleni starts, "As I've mentioned before, the only way they can be tracking me now is by using my tail. This is only possible because my tail was once a part of me."

Both larger girls look to the Murin curiously, Danahlia commenting, "So?"

"So," Twinkaleni continues, "My tail was part of me, one part of a whole. It belonged to me. Such a sense of belonging creates a connection. Such things can occur with almost anything that is cared for over time. This connection is especially strong since it was once a physical part of me, something I was born with and still feel a yearning for." She reaches behind herself to touch the little bare nub that's left before going on, "There are ways of tapping into such connections and following them to their source."

"But your tail will always belong to you. Doesn't that mean they'll just keep bein' able to use it to find us?" Alice asks, images of some menacing stranger holding up Twinkaleni's severed tail as it twitches in response to the mage's presence popping into the young fox's head.

"I don't believe so. Fortunately, we are living beings. As such, we change throughout our lives. We grow, we learn, and we adapt."

"How does that help?" Danahlia asks, in between blows over the soup.

"Well, when my tail was cut off, I was a bit younger, afraid, running for my life, uncertain of anything, and knew little of the world. That is the Twinkaleni the tail belonged to when it was removed. I've changed since then. I've grown..." she notices Alice grinning at her and amends, "... perhaps not significantly in stature, but I have adapted to the loss, gained new experiences, learned and tried new things-"

"Made new friends," Alice adds.

The little mage smiles, "Indeed, and all this has pushed me little by little from the Twinkaleni I once was. Slowly, as I continue to change and grow as an individual, the connection between my lost tail and I should weaken. Eventually, it will become too weak to be traced and then I will finally be free of the Order."

"About how long does that usually take?" Danahlia asks, picking out a floating bit of meat and popping it into her mouth.

"I'm not sure, changing who you are takes time. But my tail is undoubtedly changing as well, slowly decaying naturally. Though I suspect the agent sent after me would be slowing the process further with some preservation techniques," Twinkaleni finishes scornfully.

"So we just have to keep ahead of 'em until they can't use that connection to find you anymore," Alice announces.

"Sounds do-able," Danahlia nods and takes a sip from the bowl.

The girls then pass the bowl around, taking turns drinking from it. The mushrooms have flavored the soup well, and the warmth of it is a great comfort in their empty bellies. They quickly finish it off and then use their fingers to eat the bits of meat and mushroom left at the bottom. It's a nice meal anywhere, made all the better shared. The girls eat their fill as the storm outside rages on.

Flashes of lighting and crashes of thunder are becoming more frequent as the rain hammers the small shack's roof. Alice decides to cook the rest of the meat before the water pouring in through the chimney douses their fire. Danahlia curls back up under a blanket of clothes while Twinkaleni watches the storm strengthen. Several deafening cracks of thunder have the little mouse scurrying between Alice and Danahlia, holding her ears folded against her head as she trembles.

Danahlia sits up and takes the smaller girl in her arms, "Calm down, we're safe in here."

As if to challenge this, the shack creaks noisily under the relentless storm. The girls look up and around nervously, cool drops of rain blowing in through the window, while the roof leaks more readily. Alice refocuses on her efforts, having to put their crab shell bowl upside down over the fire to protect it from the intruding water trying to put it out. Setting the still mostly raw meat directly on the charred wood, Alice places a few more damp sticks about it, hoping what's left of the fire will help dry them.

The water dripping from the chimney begins to pool in the fireplace, threatening the heart of the small fire itself. Alice decides to change tactics and uses a branch to scoop up the burning bits of wood, with the still cooking meat, into the crab shell bowl. She carries the bowl over to where Twinkaleni and Danahlia are huddled together in a dry spot on the floor. She nearly drops it when another monstrous crash of thunder makes her jump, the ground shuddering under her feet. Twinkaleni hides her face in Danahlia side, the lizard girl raising an arm to Alice.

She joins them, setting the bowl beside her so she can nurture the struggling flame within. As she does, Danahlia starts to sing softly to the frightened mouse girl. Alice is surprised to hear that it's a song her mother used to sing, long ago.

Even on these nights, when we're faaar apaart.

I can feel you, in my heart.

In all my dreams, you're so veeery neear.

When I wake, you're not here.

Though the wind blows, and the raaain may faall.

I'll be waiting, through it all.

I know one day, you'll come baaack to mee.

Then together, again we'll be.

'til then I'll wait, I'll wait eeevery daay.

And every night, I will pray.

Good-bye feels like, like so looong agoo,

Count the days, so I know.

Seasons change, and the yeeears go byy.

So many nights, alone I cry.

After a few lyrics Alice joins in the sad little song and Danahlia gives her a squeeze with one arm. As the storm outside batters their little shack, water begins to pool under the door as puddles reach out from the fire place and other leaks. They sing other songs, getting louder with each crash of thunder, trying to drown out the worst of it. Twinkaleni seems comforted by what someone passing outside might only call rhythmic shouting, but it helps pass the time.

That night, Alice is sitting in her old house in Toki village. Cradling her head in both hands, elbows on the table, she watches the dancing flame of a candle set out to guide her father home. She listens to her mother's singing, though at the time she paid little attention to the words, only knowing they sounded beautiful coming from her. Alice doesn't look, but knows, as one does in their dreams, that her mother is sitting nearby, stitching up a hole in one of her old skirts.

"When's daddy comin' home?" Alice asks, as she often did then.

Her mother offers the reply she always would with a smile in her tone, "I don't know, little kit, maybe tonight. We just have to keep watching for 'im."

The dream changes then, and Alice is seeing her younger self staring into the candle by the window. They set one out every night with the hope that should her father arrive in the village late, he would easily find his way back to them. The little fox wags her tail while rocking her head slowly back and forth to her mother's tune, the flickering flame before her eyes. She had taken to sleeping on the floor beside the door, her blanket laid out just beside it, that way she'd know the instant he was back.

Alice knows her father won't be coming home but she watches the candle, letting her younger self hope for as long as she can.