Lolo felt herself take a deep breath as the meditation continued and the scene shifted.

Deep in the woods, next to a large lake, Lolo, the Black Bear, the Golden Lion and the Red Phoenix joined a great council meeting to determine the fate of the humans. Around the circle, Lolo recognized the great Dragon King with scales of copper and white, the twin dragon princes, the large Horned Owl elder, and many other animals spanning many species. A great dome of swirling lights, similar to the ones Lolo created when she howled, floated over their heads and illuminated the meeting. Here in the circle, the animals could communicate with each other without the need to touch their heads together.

“We are here to discuss the humans,” the Horned Owl began. “We have arguments in favor of their extermination and arguments for cooperation. I will hear from the Black Dragon first.”

The Black Dragon stepped slightly forward to accept the floor. “The humans hunt too much and seek to destroy what they cannot understand. They are not like us. They cannot communicate with us, so we cannot cooperate. They are useless and weak, but with their growing numbers, they are a threat. We must keep them in check, utterly destroy them if we must.”

“What evidence do you have of their destructiveness?” the Horned Owl asked.

“They fell whole forests for their dwellings. They hunt more than their share, and they do not care which of us they hunt.” There was a general nod of consensus among many of the animals present.

“I understand that the Silver Wolf thinks differently,” the Horned Owl turned to Lolo.

Bowing her head slightly to the Dragon King before responding, Lolo chose her words carefully. “I do. I’ve worked with the humans, and you are right, Black Dragon. They are different from us, but they are more like us than they are different. Like all of us, they are seeking to survive, provide for their families. Their methods may be different from our own, but does that make them our enemy? Should they hate and fear us because we are different? I believe that we can work together, benefit and learn from each other.”

“What is your evidence?” the Horned Owl pressed.

“My own experiences with them. They have been good to me and my pack. We’ve worked together for mutual survival. As I’ve built relationships with them, I’ve come to understand them better.”

“Can anyone here corroborate the Silver Wolf’s testimony?”

The Black Bear stepped forward, her intimidating size making space for her low voice to be heard. “I have been observing the humans from a distance for quite some time now. While I do not interact with them, I can confirm that they are peaceful creatures. They hunt only what they need to feed their families. Granted, there are many of them, but they also supplement the hunt with vegetation that they labor to grow, and they raise prey to reduce the need to hunt. Yes, their dwellings require many resources, but their dwellings are also built to last for many generations, assuming they are not burned to the ground by dragon's breath prematurely," the Black Bear said quietly and glanced unmistakably in the Black Dragon's direction with a dark glare that could pierce one's very soul. "I do not see that they are, by nature, a threat.”

The Red Phoenix stepped forward. “Killing out of fear is wicked and unjust. Exterminating the humans without cause makes us the villains. While I do not have words for or against the humans, I do believe that they deserve the chance to prove themselves.”

“I agree,” the Blue Dragon stood up before his slighted brother could retort. “Killing without justifiable cause turns us into what we most fear.”

“Might I suggest a trial period?” the Golden Lion proposed in a tone that commanded more authority than was rightfully his. “Let us observe the humans for a while-- get to know them. Perhaps we will find that our fears are justified. Perhaps we will find the humans to be useful to us. And perhaps we will simply learn to exist in the world peacefully together. A hasty decision does none of us any favors.”

The Dragon King nodded to approve the lion’s plan. “Silver Wolf, since you already know the humans, you will serve to introduce them to other members of our council. We will watch them closely.”

Lolo came out of the meditation feeling strangely energized. She knew this place! Even just the bare stone bones were clearly a part of the village from the meditation. What’s more, she knew where they needed to go and felt compelled to get moving.

“Standig, what did you see?” she asked as she stood up.

He seemed to be struggling to piece his thoughts together. “I was a bear, here, in this town. We fought a dragon who was trying to destroy the village. All of us did. And then we had a meeting to discuss the fate of the humans that lived here.”

“We need to find the council circle, Standig.”

“I didn’t see where it was,” Standig shook his head. “Wait! I didn’t say anything about a council circle. You saw that too?”

“Yeah! Except, instead of being the Black Bear, I was the Silver Wolf!”

“What are you two talking about?” Lolo hadn’t seen Ulana, Jadu, or Fortus sitting patiently in the corner.

“Oh, hey! When did you get here?”

“A while ago. We were curious, but watching you meditate was kind of like watching grass grow,” Ulana laughed. “I may or may not have dozed off a couple of times while we waited, but I take it that you had some kind of breakthrough?”

“You could say that,” Lolo laughed. “I know where we need to look next.”

“Right. About that, Lolo,” Standig said as he rose to his feet, “I have no idea how to get there.”

She frowned. “Good point. I just remember a lake.”

Standig closed his eyes to try and remember any details at all about the location of the council circle. “A great lake at the foot of a mountain.”

“Fortus, do you have the map?” Lolo asked.

“Yeah,” he said, pulling it from his belt.

Lolo unrolled it and struggled to make out the details with little more than starlight to work with. “Here. There’s a lake here.” She pointed to the north edge of the map. Okhotnik hadn’t even mapped that region beyond indicating the presence of a lake.

“That’s what? Half a day’s distance?” Fortus estimated. “You don’t happen to know what side of the lake this supposed council circle is on, do you?”

“If the mountains look the same, I could probably tell you once we got closer,” Standig said, “assuming, of course, that this is the right lake in the first place.”

“Is anybody else feeling like a location from a vision in which you were both talking animals may be a little suspect?” Ulana asked. “No? Just me?”

“I mean, yeah,” Fortus conceded, “but it’s less than a day away, and I don’t have any better ideas, do you?”

Ulana shrugged. “I just feel like we are plunging ourselves ever deeper into the primordial animal spirits rabbit hole. And we are supposed to be looking for the Great Owl, not some circle thingy. This might be a monumental waste of time.”

Reinvigorated for having a plan despite Ulana’s skepticism, the group returned to camp to get some sleep.

***

“Yay! It’s a lake,” Ulana said sarcastically.

“Standig, do any of these mountains look familiar?” Lolo asked.

He looked around and shook his head.

“Great. It’s the wrong lake,” Ulana grouched.

“I’m not giving up just yet, Ulana,” Lolo climbed onto Choloo’s back. “I’m going to ride around the lake. You can come with me, or you can stay here and make camp while you wait.”

“We might as well just come with you, Lolo,” Fortus said. All three boys mounted their horses, and Ulana rolled her eyes.

“Fine. We’ll all go,” Ulana said, mounting Nisekh.

The lake wasn’t particularly big, but as they rode around it, it looked like, at one point, it might have covered most of the valley.

“Weird thought,” Lolo said as they stopped to water the horses, “but if the meditation showed us something from a really, really long time ago, and the lake has shrunk in the thousands of years between then and now, is it possible that maybe this is the right lake, we just aren’t seeing all of it?”

“What do you suggest, then?” Standig asked.

“See that big hill right there, “ Lolo said, pointing to the east, “I’m going to ride to the top. If I see anything interesting, I’ll wave down to you.”

“I’ll come with you, Lolo,” Standig said. “I might recognize something too.”

From the top of the hill, they could see another chain of mountains that had previously been obscured. Standig picked out one of the mountain peaks to the northeast almost immediately.

“You’re sure?”

“Positive,” Standig nodded.

“Where should the circle be relative to the lake and the peak?”

“The circle was across the lake from that mountain, so if we pretend that this whole valley is full of water, we should be heading that way,” Standig talked aloud, finally pointing almost due east of their position.

“Well, Ulana will be happy that we picked the east side of the lake to follow,” Lolo chuckled. She turned Choloo around to wave back down the hill. Fortus got the signal, and the rest of the group joined them.

“You see something?” Fortus asked.

“Standig recognized one of the mountains.”

“Have you ever been here before, Standig?” Ulana asked.

Standig shook his head.

“This is getting weird, guys. I mean, not that it wasn’t before,” Ulana said. “You actually recognize one of those mountains?”

“From the meditation yesterday,” Standig nodded.

“Lead on,” Ulana shrugged with a bewildered and somewhat resigned sigh.

They followed the beach of the lake until they’d passed it and then continued east. The terrain led them up a fairly gentle slope to a plateau covered in a thick, dark forest. If things were weird before, walking through the forest was even weirder.

“Does anyone else get the sense that they’ve been here before?” Fortus asked.

“Mn,” Jadu answered.

“Guys, I’m kind of freaking out,” Ulana said. “This place gives me the creeps.”

As though on cue, Choloo whinnied and started shaking her head in protest. She stepped back and threatened to kick onto her hind legs. She was not going any further into the trees.

“Whoa! Alright, girl, you win,” Lolo laughed and climbed down to tie her horse to the nearest tree. “The trees are too dense to ride comfortably anyway.” The group dismounted to tether their horses in silent agreement and continue forward on foot.

Everyone seemed drawn in the exact same direction, weaving through the forest in unspoken unison without the need for leadership or discussion. With the tree canopy so thick, what rays of sunlight actually managed to filter through did so in shocking pillars of white light that made their darkness-accustomed eyes squint and blink uncomfortably. There was a certain ominousness to the ambience of the forest, as though an ancient curse hung in the air, and yet, instead of being afraid, they were drawn to it, ever deeper into the forest.

“Guys, I think that’s the edge of the cliff,” Lolo whispered, observing a light ahead that grew as they got closer, much like the light at the end of a long tunnel.

They breached the edge of the forest, blinking hard as their eyes adjusted to the afternoon light. The edge of the plateau dropped off a steep cliff face into the valley below about thirty yards in front of them. Across the barren valley stood the snow-capped mountain that Standig recognized from the meditation.

“Well, that took you long enough.”