When Kellen and Vex found Kiypu, he was sitting on a rock on the outskirts of the great camp, staring into the distant plains.

“What’s that for?” Kellen asked Kiypu, pointing to the pack slung over his back.

From her perch atop a rolled up blanket, Shakraa cawed. “Goodbye Kellen! Goodbye Vex!”

Kiypu swatted at her over his head. “I think I liked you better the less you said.” He looked at Kellen and Vex and his gemstone-studded teeth parted in a big smile. “I’m afraid she’s right. We must be on our way.”

“Wait—you can’t go!” Vex said. “You just got your memories back!”

Kellen tried to process what he was hearing. “Where are you going? Why?”

“There are still a few things rolling around loose in here, little brother,” Kiypu said, tapping the side of his head. “But enough to know I’ve got some work to do. That was the reason to preserve my soul all these many years.”

“And you’re just going to leave us hanging like that?” Vex asked.

Kiypu sighed—or in his case, more of a sad wheeze. “I’m afraid so. I’ve spoken with Coyote Lady. There is no other way.”

“It’s sure easy for her to keep secrets,” Vex muttered.

Kiypu gave a hoarse chuckle. “If it makes you feel better, there are things in this old head of mine that she doesn’t even know, I think. If she’d had a chance to get her hands on that memory stone the Storm Horse crafted for you, I have a suspicion she may have kept it for herself.”

“Who will teach us?” Kellen said. Yes, there was Nokom, though Guardian strength was the extent of her experience as a Beastcaller. The Goroshu Tribe had offered to instruct Shani and Kellen as thanks for their services and for saving Raiqo as well, though Kellen still thought it was open for debate how much they’d really done for the Chieftain Beastcallers. No one, however powerful, could take Kiypu’s place.

“Learn from all the Beastcallers you can,” Kiypu said. “It will prepare you for the journey ahead. And you still have some of my memories and knowledge, after all! Come, let me show you how to call how my presence without the need for a greater source of mana.”

After clearing a space in the snow with a wave of an earth mana working, Kiypu had Kellen sit in a cross-legged position on the ground and close his eyes. “This will feel similar to channeling mana through your body from your beast heart,” he said. “Instead, focus the mana to your mind, relax and let go of all thoughts.”

Kellen let out a long breath and cleared his mind, aware only of the sun mana as it spread throughout his body and finally, to his head, which sent a tingling sensation all over his scalp. When Kiypu’s cold finger pressed against his forehead, he almost lost it all but redoubled his focus and held the connection. A moment later, he opened his eyes and saw a second Kiypu, this one in late middle age and comprised entirely of faint blue mists of mana, standing beside the mummified original.

“The years have not been kind to my handsome features,” Kiypu said, smacking a bony hand to his leg and chuckling. “This is the manner the Scions of the Wild Mother have taught one another and passed on our knowledge throughout the centuries. All that is left of the memory spirit is available for your learning and growth. Use it well.”

The ghostly form of Kiypu faded.

“You may call on the memory ghost whenever you would like, for training or instruction,” Kiypu said. “Although I am sure it will not be as good as the real Kiypu.”

His words brought a small, sad smile to Kellen’s face. Despite the mummy’s unnerving appearance and quirky ways, Kellen realized how much he would miss Kiypu.

“Will you come back?” he asked his teacher.

Kiypu nodded. “That is my intent. There are other shrines such as mine, with other lost knowledge. I will seek them out, and return when I can, though I do not know how long this path I walk will be, little brother.”

“At least tell us what the heck a Scion is,” Vex said. “And how is it we drew on storm mana? Kellen’s got these questions and bits of info spinning around in his head and it’s going to drive me crazy as much as him!”

Kiypu gave a coughing laugh and sat down on his pack, Shakraa hopping away to peck at the dirt. “Very well. I suppose some answers are owed. The Scions of the Wild Mother are a branch of ancient Beastcallers who learned to wield multiple types of mana. Some say this art was taught to the first of our kind by the Wild Mother herself, though that was long before my time. In ancient times, I am told it was not uncommon for many Beastcallers, especially those with a mixed heritage, to learn a second type of mana.

“Over the years, however, the knowledge was lost. The Scions were driven into hiding, hunted by those who coveted their knowledge and feared their powers. I was one of the last. As you saw in my memory, I volunteered to undergo a ritual that withered my body and preserved my memories, allowing me to return. I can only guess that since a Scion did not return to restore me before you and Shani found me, that our order was wiped out and my tomb forgotten.”

“But Vex and I shouldn’t be able to learn this skill just because we had access to your memories and your presence,” Kellen said. “And Vex was attuned enough to storm mana to take a secondary form almost the moment we met.”

Kiypu nodded. “I have pondered that, both before my memories were restored and since. The only answer I can think of is that the Wild Mother gave you this gift when you brought you to our lands, though you or Vex did not know it. I would keep it a secret if I were you, though work when you can to strengthen your affinity with other types of mana than sun. My memory ghost will help you where it can until I return.”

Groaning, Kiypu pushed himself into a standing position and lifted his pack. “Now, I must be going. I had meant to sneak away unnoticed, but I owed you some explaining, little brother. Do me a favor and do not tell the others I have left. Tama and Nokom I do not worry about, but I fear the Storm Horse Elders would stop me from leaving if they knew about it. They do not understand me—they think they can use me as a weapon in the coming conflict with the Fire Bison.”

“How are you going to escape them?” Kellen asked, imagining the Storm Horse Elders flying across the open plains until they found Kiypu. There was no place to hide from airborne searchers who knew the lie of the land from a lifetime on the steppes.

“I have my ways,” Kiypu said. “And I will not tell you where I go, in case they question you. For now, this is goodbye, Kellen Lars. Safe travels and strong mana until we meet again.”

“So long!” Shakraa called. “Be careful!”

With that, the mummy hefted his pack and turned away, hobbling out into the open plains.

“Wait!” Kellen called out. “I’ve got more questions! Who is the Snake?”

“Someone else must answer that,” Kiypu hollered over his shoulder. “Goodbye!”

Vex and Kellen watched until the mummy and his skeletal bird disappeared over the rolling hills. A gust of wind stirred up a dusty of snow. Kellen pulled his poncho tighter around him. Night was falling fast on the plains, already covering them in cold, gray twilight.

“All this mystery is super annoying,” Vex said. “You’d think after all we did for Coyote Lady she could at least—”

“Share some of her secrets?”

Kellen and Vex spun around and saw Coyote Lady standing before them. Mischievous canine eyes glinted out from the shadows of her drawn hood.

“Before we get going, I know exactly what I want for my reward,” Vex said. “A pizza. And before you tell me now, I’m not buying that you can’t get me one. You’re a demigod with basically ultimate power, from what I’ve seen. I want you to make me a pizza and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Technically, the two of you failed,” Coyote Lady said. “Why should I reward you for letting the Snake Cult succeed?”

“The Frog Priest is dead,” Vex pointed out. “That should count for something.”

“Perhaps,” Coyote Lady admitted. “Though there are still others to contend with, not to mention the Snake herself, if he succeeded, as you say.”

“Who is she?” Kellen asked. “Another rogue primeval?”

“Much worse,” Coyote Lady said. “She was—or is—the eighth child of the Wild Mother. It is a long and tragic story, but suffice to say, the Wild Mother dealt her a terrible punishment after the other children deceived them both. In her wrath, the Wild Mother locked each of them in the Great Totems until the Fourth Noctun, when their reckoning would come.”

“So the Snake was framed?” Kellen said. “Why is she the enemy, then?”

“The Wild Mother’s curse bound the Snake in a place you might consider the underworld, a space between Oras and the Great Beyond. Not even the Wild Mother could retrieve the Snake once she learned of her mistake. Somehow, her followers survived and resurrected the children of the Snake, who were killed during the Wild Mother’s initial retribution. Now, the Frog Priest has used the heart of the Storm Horse to free the Snake, or at least weaken the bonds of her prison in the underworld.”

“And when the Snake gets out, she’s going to be ticked,” Vex said.

Coyote Lady nodded. “When the Fourth Noctun comes, it is foretold she will destroy the world.”

“Oh,” Vex replied.

“Oh,” Kellen agreed. A thought came to him. “Why can’t the Wild Mother make this right? Isn’t she the supreme goddess of Oras and all-powerful?”

For the first time in all of his interactions with her, Kellen thought he caught a glimpse of worry on Coyote Lady’s face. “Because she vanished. The Wild Mother has been gone since she sealed her children away in the totems ages ago.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Vex said. “How does a goddess disappear?”

“That is the question I have sought to answer for thousands of years,” Coyote Lady said. Before either could answer, she continued. “And that is all I have to share. In case you were wondering about Raccoon Boy, he was too furious at losing another bet to me to join us.”

She paused and gave them another sly smile.

“And that is certainly worth a reward.”

In a blink, Coyote Lady vanished. A hot, fresh-from-the-oven pepperoni pizza sat on a stump in her place.