"Good. Now, I must leave you." He stood, nodding once to Lise, then Isiea, and then to Ash. "Until we meet again."


Then he slipped into the grass, his bottlebrush tail held straight up, and disappeared.

She watched him leave.

Isiea looks away.

Ash offered that tiny, endearing smile, one of apology and encouragement, and a silent promise that he would not leave them.

Isiea ignores that. Seemingly. It's hard to tell sometimes.

Lise appreciates it. Even if he is still planning to take Isiea to his Queen.

A piskie spiraled down from the branches, hovering a few inches from their faces. Blue-skinned, with dandelion hair and gossamer wings, she stuck out her tongue at them and zipped to Ash, alighting on his shoulder. Ash cocked his head as the piskie whispered something in his ear. One corner of his mouth turned up; he glanced at the girls and shook his head. The piskie giggled and spun into the air again.

She stares at the tiny piskie.

Lise smiled faintly. It was...cute.

"This is Seedlit," Ash said as the piskie spiraled through the air like a drunken hummingbird. "She'll lead us to the wharfs, and then to the factory. Beyond that, were on our own." This was it, the last leg of the journey. At the end was Machina and Ethan, or death