From this close, Kaldalis’s eyes adjusted, and he could see through the glowing crystal shell of the Lataxinan colony. It was like standing on a snow globe. Inside, he could see that there were squat and square Lataxinan buildings, with figures scurrying about their business. Some of them looked like homes and businesses, but in the center there was one building larger than the rest. It looked just like the library he’d found at the bottom of the first dungeon, where he had learned Kaia’s Flicker all those weeks ago.

Around the rim of the colony was a thin strip of farmland. It was divided into quarters. On the far side, Kaldalis could see that it was an orchard full of neat rows of trees. Around the rest of the ring of farms were rows of crops that Kaldalis couldn’t identify from here. Directly below him were more rows of stubbier-looking gnarled trees that Kaldalis could identify as olive trees.

More directly beneath him, though, was a Lataxinan. They were standing on the crystal dome just beneath Kaldalis, like a tiny oily-furred reflection. Though their feet had a purple-blue energy radiating around them. It must have been another of their techniques to let them cling to the wall.

The creature itself was less cute than the had expected from their artwork and sculptures. Kaldalis found it a lot easier to take the creature seriously as a civilized scholarly race, seeing one in person rather than in the cartoonish style of their artistic depictions, even if this one specifically was only about four feet tall. Their build was thick and almost burly, covered in short brown fur. The fur looked naturally oily, as was befitting for a creature suited to a semi aquatic lifestyle. Their snout was blunt, with a black nose, and the thick white whiskers that came out of their upper lip were nearly a foot long.

They were dressed simply in what looked like a toga, a thin cloth sheet that was artfully tied, sewn, and cinched to make it into a garment, with the loose fabric bunching in a way that produced slimming vertical lines. Fortunately, whatever technique they were using to walk up the wall was also holding the hanging garment in the same way, so that it didn’t flip up over their head.

The creature gave Kaldalis a friendly wave with its webbed hand. They didn’t smile, though from what Kaldalis knew of otters, that made sense to him. Their mouth was likely full of threatening-looking teeth that would take the kindness out of the expression. The Lataxinan only gestured down and to the left with one hand before turning and walking along the wall in that direction.

Kaldalis followed, though he found it increasingly difficult. Without the technique that let the Lataxinan apparently control gravity, it was at the mercy of the gravity that was somehow being generated within the dome, and the surface he was trying to traverse grew steeper and steeper. The Lataxinan on the interior seemed to understand the challenge, though, and slowed down to allow Kaldalis to take his time.

In the end, Kaldalis had to go into a slide down the remainder of the crystal, but only after he saw where he was going. There was a platform on the outside of the vessel, where there was a door onto a landing on the inside. Using that, he would be able to enter the dome and finally meet with a Lataxinan - becoming the first outsider to reach them in hundreds of years.

The doors were metal, and fit together completely flush. Immediately inside there was a small chamber - like an airlock. The Lataxinan began to gesture, but Kaldalis was familiar enough to know what was expected of him. He entered the chamber and closed the exterior doors behind him, waiting patiently for the Lataxinan to open the doors on the other side.

Kaldalis’s ears popped. Painfully hard. It was strange to him, since they never popped during Kaia’s Flicker. Then again, he supposed that must have been part of the technique. Because going through this twice for every Flicker would have had him seriously considering just taking the damage and dying horribly instead.

The Lataxinan opened the door, patiently waiting for Kaldalis to recover from the sudden change in air pressure. There was a clear sense of expectation in his beady black eyes.

Kaldalis thought he could read that expression.

This person had been waiting for this for a long time, and was excited to deliver their prepared speech.

Kaldalis felt a little self-conscious. He didn’t have anything prepared. All his plans had been devoted to getting here. He had spent so much time considering his course of action if he failed that he hadn’t planned on his next steps in case he actually succeeded.

As soon as he could hear properly, Kaldalis stepped out of the airlock and onto the landing. They were about fifteen feet up from the farmland below, and Kaldalis could see a few furry figures walking the rows of crops. From inside the protective shell, he could see the town more clearly. It was almost like an idyllic frontier town enclosed in a gently glowing crystal dome. He could also see into the other dome from here. It wasn’t a second town, it was entirely filled with water. There were a few structures there, but mostly it was a kelp forest, filled with fish. Presumably, that was also a farm, though for aquatic livestock instead of crops.

“Welcome, Kaldalis,” the Lataxinan said, “to New Uzra.”

“What?” Kaldalis was shocked so badly he forgot to come up with something dramatic to say. “How do you know my name?”

“You are expected,” the Lataxinan said, its mouth quirking into a smirk. “Though I suspect it will please you to know that you were not expected so soon.”

The creature’s voice was not as high-pitched as Kaldalis expected, but he knew better than to rely on expectations informed by cartoons. This was not a talking animal, with a specific design philosophy behind its aesthetics. This was a person. A real person. Their appearance, habits, and voice was determined by their cultural heritage, not by some writer pulling bullshit out of the air and slapping it together for a gag.

“I suppose you don’t need me to tell you that I come in peace, then?” Kaldalis ventured.

“We know why you’re here,” the Lataxinan said with a laugh. “And we know where you’re from. Where you’re really from. We hold no ill will towards you for the actions of your countrymen, so long as you maintain your course in helping us.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Kaldalis said, suddenly realizing that they’d skipped over something important. “How do you know me?”

“Walk this way,” the Lataxinan said with a gesture, turning towards a narrow ramp that went down along the interior of the dome to ground level. “I can explain on the way.”

Kaldalis wanted to try and match the otter-like humanoid’s waddling gait, but there wasn’t anyone here to appreciate the joke, so he followed behind more normally. The ramp was a little steep for him, but the counterbalance of his tail let him keep his footing, just as the Lataxinan’s lower center of gravity meant that they had no trouble either.

“I am called Grent,” the Lataxinan began. “And I would love to fill you in on all the details of our story that you are missing. But it isn’t my place to do so. Even if I overstepped, the council would tell you it all again anyway.”

Grent laughed and Kaldalis immediately knew why. At the mention of a council, a grimace crossed his face. The idea of having to do Panbu all over again - or worse, Baimer - put a foul enough taste in his mouth that he couldn’t hide it if he wanted to.

“Don’t worry,” Grent said, “I assure you, no one on our council is going to give you as hard a time as Cerh and his ilk.”

“You have to tell me,” Kaldalis said, “how do you know me? This is getting kind of creepy.”

“In time, in time,” Grent reassured him.

They reached the bottom of the ramp, and things went from weird to worse. There was a small crowd gathered. Lataxinans of all ages were mobbing the bottom of the ramp, looking up in awe. Some wore workers’ leathers, some in the same togalike robe of Grent, and some in even finer garments, wearing glittering pearl jewelry. Kaldalis didn’t think it was odd that he’d become a spectacle - he was an extremely tall, extremely blue visitor - but what was odd was their expressions. It wasn’t just awe or curiosity.

It was recognition.

Admiration, even.

From the whispers of gossip among them, he heard his name again.

“You really gotta tell me what’s going on,” Kaldalis said firmly. “Now, while I’ve still got a wall to put my back to. I’m not taking another step into this.”

“Alright. I understand how this looks,” Grent said. “But please, this isn’t really the place.”

“Just tell him,” one of the other Lataxinans cut in. “You know how he gets when he sets his mind to something.”

“Yeah, unless you’re gonna let him go fishing for an hour first,” another added.

“I hope you understand how this looks,” Kaldalis said. “I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to react defensively to this.”

This was starting to feel like a more extreme version of Ara and her prophecy. And applying the term “extreme version” to anything that had anything to do with Ara was extremely alarming. He tried to covertly switch his weapon from his fishing rod to his spear. Unfortunately, he didn’t have access to his inventory here. It seemed if this was going to keep going in an eerie direction, he would have to defend himself with a length of unbreakable fiberglass.

“You know that we escaped here when your people induced the Calamity,” Grent said quickly, trying to wave off the crowd. “And you also know that you are sending signals back to them after you were sent through. We found a way to intercept those signals.”

Kaldalis relaxed. It all made sense now. The Lataxinans were watching the streams. They had been watching over his shoulder this whole time. This wasn’t some creepy prophecy cult thing. This was normal run-of-the-mill parasocial relationships with a stranger on the internet.

“Okay, I understand now,” Kaldalis said, “that was all you needed to tell me.”

“Thank you,” Grent said. They’d cleared a path through the crowd now, and gestured for Kaldalis to follow again. “I hope you don’t mind if I say that my kid is a big fan of yours. Though I’d appreciate if you could remember to turn your stream off for privacy when you’re with Heluna? He’s only eight and I’m not ready to have that talk with him yet.”