Where Kiara lay felt oddly gentle, making her waking mind wonder where she was. It certainly wasn't the hard floor she had fallen upon, with the crackle and pop of fire lulling her to sleep. It didn't feel like a bed either though, for while she rested in soft comfort, a few slight moves made her perch sway. It felt like it could sway far, drifting up and down as if to rock her back into a steady dream. She kept her eyes shut, lest she saw the truth and lose her peace, but an unfortunate and familiar voice made them peel open.

"So you are still alive?" Doltess asked, and Kiara sat up, finding herself in a nest. A great expanse of land spread out beneath her, making her head swim when she looked over the side. She shook away the daze, turning back to the strange man. He wore the same outfit as their last meeting, that same blue robe with the covering over his eyes.

"Doltess…" She murmured, certain this was a dream. The man stood on air like it was the ground but it felt wrong, even for the magical world. "Where am I?" She gestured at the branch and the land below.

“Still on Magdalea, though within the depths of a spell that allows us two to meet. It is fortunate you are still alive, I did not know what tides your journey would toss you into.”

“Try threads.” She replied. “I met the dragon, Morduunal, and he told me that I was tangled in threads of fate. I can’t go home because it might endanger both worlds.”

Silence dragged on for a moment. She wasn't trying to accuse him of anything, but she did expect some sort of comment. If he was telling the truth he should have been surprised but the silence didn't speak of disbelief. What could she say this feeling was instead? Mournful? Contemplative? Maybe there was a wistful part to it.

Doltess shook his head and spoke at last. "I am sorry, Kiara Million. Though I do not think you could have escaped danger."

She nodded, figuring the same. Sure, she had won against Feline, but how many more like her would follow? Maybe coming to Magdalea was for the best. Her magic felt like a curse at home, but here it felt like her sword. Stopping Cucumber wasn’t just about protecting a person, it was about protecting the future of the world. Fighting Feline was the same, except she didn’t feel like staying at home would let her win a rematch. There was no destiny to this matter, right? Well, she still felt like the journey was one she had to take. The Kiara she was before hadn’t survived the fight with Cucumber. That Kiara might not have even survived the trip to another world.

“Will I ever be able to go home?” She asked still, not quite done with the life she had. She wanted to see her family again, and her friends. She wanted them all to know what she had seen so far.

“As sure as there was a way to that world, there is a way you can come back. Do not feel that you are forever trapped. There are always doors to open.”

“What should I do next?” As she asked she felt the branch bob.

“Trust yourself to answer that question, Kiara Million. And let that answer guide you forward. If threads of fate entangle both worlds, then it is only a matter of time before one leads you to a door.”

“We can only talk in moments like this, right?”

“Yes. I fear this will be the last time we talk for a while.”

“Then thank you!”

“For what?”

“For giving me the chance to live and see a strange new place.”

“Do not thank me yet then, Kiara Million. Thank me next time our paths meet.”

At that, the branch shook wildly, and Kiara awoke. The light feeling departed before she opened her eyes, giving its place to the familiar solidity of a bed. She sat up slowly, surprised her body didn't ache, but couldn't move far as she found someone's head resting on her leg. Pialla leaned forward in a chair, eyes closed in deep sleep, making the girl wonder if her charge had healed her. Or...she supposed former charge. The fight with Cucumber was over. The two of them were normal girls now. She rocked Pialla awake, and as sleep was blinked from citrine eyes, the girl blushed.

“I’m sorry! I did not mean to disturb you. I must have fallen asleep while treating you this morning. I suppose even I can get magic fatigue.”

Kiara shook her head. “I don’t mind. I was actually hoping to see you. You said you could understand magic, right?” Pialla nodded. “Could you tell me how mine feels about me?”

“Joyful!” She beamed. “It feels like you and your magic have come together. It doesn’t feel like you fear it anymore.”

Kiara smiled. "I think that's right. I feel different. So much was running through my mind when I fought Cucumber that I kinda forgot to be afraid. Going back doesn’t seem right.” Even if it could be destructive. She didn’t forget Cammie, but Cucumber was entirely different. If she fought again she wouldn’t be quick to kill, but wouldn’t rule it out as an option. That was a somewhat scary thought, but her heart didn’t skip as she swallowed it. She was a different Kiara, and this new thought was a part of her.

“That’s good! I can only imagine how scary it was to fight him, but you were amazing from what I heard. What happened to your hair almost looks like it was intentional.”

Kiara scrunched her face. “My hair?”

Pialla pulled a mirror from a side table. As Kiara gazed into it, her jaw dropped. Her hair was still the same tight curls as before, but now it was two colors—dark with scarlet ends. She turned her eyes to Pialla who nodded back. There was a question in them: Did this happen by itself? And Pialla gave the truth. Kiara ran her hands through her hair then looked at the girl again.

"Do you guys have something that can braid it?" She had a new look in mind. Pialla shook her head, but her smile remained.

“Not something, but someone! When you have a moment you should join us downstairs!” Pialla stood and left the room with that. Kiara had a few more questions, but she supposed they could wait till after her shower.

After taking as much time as she deserved, she found a new outfit waiting on the bed. It was the same style as the one Morduunal had given her—a short-hooded cape, a blouse, and pleated skirt, but this time around the colors was different, and the cape had an extra level of design. Still, she put it on and took a look at her reflection. Staring back was Kiara Million for sure, dressed in a black cape with a blue underside, a scarlet shirt, and a black skirt. She twirled around and looked at herself again. She hadn't thought about it, but this outfit made her a part of this world. With a big grin to herself, she headed downstairs where the others awaited.

In the sitting room where they gathered before, Pialla gathered with Diana and the others, and a few faces Kiara hadn’t seen before. One was a thin man in bright silks, sitting next to Biavi. In an armchair close to the wall, a dark-skinned woman sat in a sleeveless orange gown, glittering with gold bracelets on her arm. Standing behind her loomed a dark-skinned man with a big and bountiful canopy of pale green hair. The room was active as she entered but quickly quieted as if she demanded their attention. It almost made her turn to see if someone entered the room with her, but a sharp scoff from Keigo kept her eyes facing forward.

“Did I do something wrong?” She looked at him. He shook his head.

“Not unless you count waking up as wrong.” His hand dropped into his bag. He pulled out several phens, counting them off as he put them in Diana’s hand. Danson sighed, as he did the same.

“Did you guys...bet if I would wake up or not?”

“Not if you’d wake up, but when.” Diana counted the money. “I gave you two days, but these two thought it’d take longer.”

“No offense though, Kiara, it’s just sort of a group tradition now.” Danson waved the look on her face away.

“Yeah. When we traveled with Diana before, we did the same thing. She's a troublemaker you know, always giving the group bad ideas." Keigo waved off the gleam in Diana's eyes.

“Excuse you!" Diana barked at him. "He's just mad he lost both times."

“Who did you guys bet on then?” Kiara asked.

“Danson.” Keigo smirked and the elf sharply looked away. The rest of the room chuckled, putting the girl at ease. Pialla’s eyes directed her to the unnamed woman though, as she came to pull Kiara over.

“This is Jacolee.” Pialla said. “I told her that you might want to get your hair done.”

Kiara looked at the woman. “Can you do it?”

“For the girl that helped Pialla? Absolutely. Fortunately, I keep myself prepared for these moments." A pocket stone hung from a bracelet and shined as she lined hair products on the floor beside her. Kiara sat down, and Pialla went on.

“Behind Jacolee is her husband, Tutagaat." The tall man dipped his head. "He helped me treat you.”

“It was an honor.” His voice was deep. “You took well to the Mother Tree’s magic.”

“Mother Tree?”

“You don’t know what I mean?”

“I’m not exactly from around...anywhere.”

Tutagaat chuckled. “Ah, so what the others said was true.”

Kiara turned to them and they dipped their heads apologetically.

“We weren’t quite sure if we should tell them you’re from another world, but the Tree Sage said something was off and he wasn’t sure he should heal you.” Diana spoke for them. Kiara found her mind lingering on that title more than anything. Tree Sage? Mother Tree? His pale green hair somehow made sense.

“What style would you like, Kiara?” Jacolee asked.

“Braided with the fluff.” This woman’s hair was braided and in a bun, but otherwise dark. Still, there was a golden ring around her dark irises. “If he’s a Tree Sage, are you one too?”

Jacolee shook her head with a smile. “No, I am what you’d call an Orunme woman. Go south from the Mother Tree past the Kingdom in her roots, and cross the Summer sea. When you land in bright Ruhanga, you will find people like me.”

The Summer Sea… and Unyo was in the Summer Wilds. Kiara was getting a picture of this world, and the place Pialla's entourage came from. Her eyes moved to the man beside Biavi and in his citrine eyes, she saw who he was. He had to be Osaza—Pialla's father. Through his trimmed beard, Kiara saw a kind face. What type of person was he, other than what his face said? What type of life had tied these people together? Her eyes went to Pialla, and a question must have been in them again.

“Jacolee and Tutagaat are friends of my mother and father. They traveled together when they were younger.”

“You all were adventurers!” She exclaimed.

Jacolee chuckled. "That's definitely one way to put it, though it didn't start that way at first. One of us was actually something of a problem." Kiara looked between them, but not one face gave it away. Ellio did with a wink, however, his eyes drawing hers to Biavi.

“But you’re so elegant!”

The room laughed.

“I feel like I should take that personally!” Diana said.

“We’ve been over this! You’re not elegant!” Keigo nudged her. She placed her hand on his face.

“Unfortunately," Biavi smiled. "Being elegant didn't erase my bad choices. Battle Enchanters can make a sizable amount of money selling their enchants to the violent. Even if they're weak, the power you give them makes them always come back for more."

“It was causing a problem in The Roots.” Tutagaat shook his head. “Jacolee acquired a branch of the Mother Tree, and I descended to help her stop the troubles. We met Osaza along the way.”

“It was a whole adventure.” Jacolee beamed. “By the end of it, the four of us were friends.”

“Do people adventure a lot on Magdalea?”

“You could probably say so. The world is big and there are so many places to see. If you decide to stay on this world, Kiara, I’d definitely tell you to do so yourself. We are all better after we travel.”

The room nodded. Kiara considered her situation. Before she could reply, however, Ellio jumped ahead.

“And I think you should stay!” He grinned. “I saw the way you were fighting Cucumber! You were something else. I feel like the world will be missing out if no one else gets to see you fight.”

“What happened after I passed out?”

“Well… a few things.”

“You might have saved my life.” Marco said. “Cosette was about to kill me, but these specters—I’m guessing Nina Blue—told her to pull it back. With Cucumber dead, they didn’t want to do anything to draw the Magic Council to town.”

“With Cucumber dead, the mercenaries scooped up their dead and living and quickly left.” Ellio added. “It’s like they were somehow drawn to him, and with him gone there was nothing keeping them here.”

Kiara thought about that strong presence. She wondered if it was another part of Nina Blue’s spell. They were a Bifold, right? That made them two people, but they operated as one. Her blood still boiled a bit, thinking about how they planned to use the dead man for their goals. The future wasn't a concern for Nina Blue, no further than the amount of time it'd take to get their hands on Pialla. Her jaw tightened, and she balled her fist. Those types of people had to be stopped.

“I’m getting shivers all over again.” Ellio laughed. She shook her head, giving him a strange look. “In the Summer Wilds we always know when a Magic Beast wants to kill us. There’s this sort of feeling in the air, and you were giving it off just now.”

“I can’t feel anything like that, but I am curious, Kiara. What happened to you in that room? According to Ellio you were an entirely different person.” Danson asked.

“I think I kind of started thinking about my world. On Nandaxia, Cucumber’s name would have been a lot bigger. Vanno, Kelaya, Tagothe, Mwamee; countries are named after figures that greatly changed them, and changing the legend behind them is bad. Vanno used to be a strong place, with people whose strength was supposed to be about protecting the weak from danger. As time went on though, Vanno leaders started becoming Warlords, terrorizing the people until eventually the country fell.”

“So you wanted to keep Cucumber from becoming like Vanno?”

“I’m guessing she’s thinking about the Expanse, and the Faceless Tribe.” Diana shook her head. “Cucumber’s name means a lot more for them than anyone else who’s heard it.” Kiara nodded.

“It’s probably silly, right?”

“It’s actually pretty smart!” Diana grinned. “I can just imagine how much worse things would be. The Expanse doesn’t need to be bloodthirsty like the rest of the Green Lands. My sister used to say that we should follow their lead.”

“I’m glad I stopped him then...but I wonder, if it wasn’t my destiny, does that mean someone else here could have?”

Jacolee whistled. “Have you learned anything about Ruhanga since you came to our world?” Kiara shook her head. “It is one part of the Sun Lands, the main part you might say. We people of Orunme are known as Sun Mages, for we use magic drawn from his power." She lowered her hand beside Kiara's face and sparked a ball of light. "Sunbeam Magic, on top of the Sun Struck magic that makes our bodies more powerful. However, in ancient times there was another type of Sun magic. Sunfire.” The ball burst into flames.

“So you’re a fire mage too!”

“Precisely!”

“But Cucumber wasn’t taken down by fire alone. Nina Blue tricked Osaza, they used another type of magic.”

“There is nothing to worry about.” Tutagaat smirked. “The Mother Tree has seen many kinds, with me by Jacolee’s side, there would have been no secret Nina Blue could hide for long.”

That made sense, and considering she was getting her hair done Kiara tried to stay still. Her mind stayed on the move, however, trying to understand why the thread was tangled if Jacolee and Tutagaat could have won the fight in her place. She scrunched her face, trying to decide, but the answer was far from her.

“You are curious about the threads, right?” Osaza looked over. “In the case of this one, it was time that tangled it. I only just returned with Jacolee and Tutagaat earlier today. By that time my daughter would be gone.”

“Which means that Ellio and the others would have died…”

“And so many other things.” Osaza scooped a cupful of sand from a bowl on the table. “You are tangled in many of these threads, would you like to know how to break them?” That was the only way to go home. She nodded; that knowledge would be useful.

Osaza crossed his legs and closed his eyes. Slowly, his body rose and darkness made a bubble around him. The cup fell away from the sand, and the grains came together to make a ball. He cupped the bottom of it softly and gazed within with glowing eyes.

“The Scarlet Star sets sail through the dark sea, leaving a toppled monument behind. Though she just departs, she longs to go home but finds red threads splayed out like a cage. To sail around them would leave her lost, so her course is set through them instead. It is there that ten monolithic hands reach to pluck the Scarlet Star and darken the sky. These hands hold the threads together, but when they fall the tangles shall come apart…”

“Monolithic, huh?” Marco looked at her. “The easy translation of his vision is that you have ten strong people to fight. Doesn’t sound like they’ll give you much choice when they meet you either.”

“On the plus side, there is no destiny.” Osaza returned to himself. “They are not the only way to free yourself from the threads of fate.”

“But the best, right?” Kiara asked.

“You can put it like this,” Ellio started. “When Osaza tells us a threat is coming for Unyo, we don’t have to answer it right away, but it’ll come one way or another. The best time to track it down is before it has an army that’ll give us a lot of trouble.”

She nodded. “Do you know who the monoliths are?”

Osaza shook his head. “Unfortunately, these threads stretch too far. I wish that I could offer you more than that.”

“Maybe you can.” A thought came to her. “If they’re people who’ll attack me when I meet them, then there’s a chance I know who they are already?”

“In a way, I suppose so.”

Kiara already had someone in mind. “Would a Bifold count as one hand or two?”

“One, I suspect. They share the same moment.”

“Hold on!” Danson held up his hand. “Are you thinking of challenging Nina Blue?”

“That won’t be an easy battle. While Nina Blue prefers not to get their hands dirty, they are still an immensely powerful mage.” Biavi met her eyes.

“I figured they might be, but I want to stop them. I’ll become as strong as it takes.”

Her traveling party smiled as they looked at each other. Keigo crossed his arms and leaned back.

“Sounds like you want to go to the Sea Festival then!”

“What’s that?”

“A place people go when they’re looking to get a lot more powerful.”

“You three are on your way there?”

“Yep, but we have room for one more!” Diana grinned.

Kiara turned to Pialla. “What are you going to do now?”

“We’re going to be leaving the Calm Lands soon. The Harmon Corporation is going to wonder what happened to their town guards and likely contact the Magic Brigade. My parents don’t think it’ll be the best to be around when someone comes to investigate.”

“But…" Biavi said. "The Sea Festival is in a few months. If you all truly go there, we can reconnect."

“Then I’ll do it! The next time you see me, Pialla, I’m going to be a lot stronger!”

Pialla beamed, and Jacolee let out a sigh.

“Well, you two aren’t parting ways just yet. You move around a lot girl, we’ll be working on your hair for a bit.”

The room laughed, and Kiara laughed with them. With the journey she saw ahead, there were more moments like this on the horizon…