[b]Alina![/b]

Your mother's hand is calloused. This isn't Rider's work, mind you; she's just had to do a lot with those hands. The two of you were apart for so long! She's had strange and wonderful and painful adventures without you, and hurt for them, too. Maybe she knows better than Halcyon what your life has been like ever since the day you poured water over a stranger's head with a joyful laugh and an invitation to come and dance. Your mother's hand is calloused, and it is holding yours so carefully that she might never let you go.

"Of course," she says, and gives you a reassuring squeeze, even as (your shoulders shuddering with the weight) Gold dissipates and returns to your crown once more. She stops to whip a gauzy tablecloth off an abandoned table, not even disturbing the curry bowls abandoned when the square cleared in a panic, and ties it around her shoulders. Not the most dignified look, but she pulls it off.

[King Isolde has joined your party, with the stat [b]Mysterious Wanderings![/b]]

And together, you leap up after your friends, your Red flaring powerfully, and Rita charges in alongside you. Into the depths of the Time Dragon's clock. Into Hyperborea's time, compressed and filtered and gone strange under the influence of Eupheria...

***

[b]Kazelia![/b]

"Tch. Worthless."

You drive your heel harder into the back of the sniveling elf under your boot. He deserves to be punished if his observatory doesn't have anything for Azora, your teacher and your superior. Let the others strive and scrape to try and surpass her in father's eyes: you know where your place is, you and your entire flight. Your soldiers rip books and hinges off walls, wherever Azora's eye falls, in an attempt to find anything of worth here.

But there isn't. And this elf has wasted your time.

How dare he?

***

[b]Adila![/b]

Time twists strange, pulling and stretching at itself. Even you cannot remain unmuddled as all of the time of Hyperborea runs through you like a sieve, and it is so much worse for you than it will have been for your friends, whose fates are entwined with yours, you see clearly for a moment, a flash in the torrent pouring through you.

Damage your Sense, then tell us: where you do find yourself, as your mind slips away into more familiar times to escape the crushing weight of history?

***

[b]Alina![/b]

When you wake up, Mommy is playing with your hair. Her fingers run through your violet locks slowly, carefully, the way you would stroke the fur of a cat if you wanted to make sure she wouldn't be disturbed from her nap. For a moment, you close your eyes and snuggle closer, trying to ignore the light beginning to shine through the windows.

You're in the headquarters of the Iluminan Resistance, in the biggest bed that could be found. None of the rooms in the castle felt right, even now; there is so much cleaning that still needs to be done. But Freesia knows how to make a house feel like home, and more important than having any of the beds at home is having this. It's been a very long time since you got to sleep over with Mommy; you've all been such big, grown-up girls, after all. But not even wild horses could have dragged you away, not now. Not now that she's back.

The blankets are warm, and heavy, and slightly fuzzy. Jessamine is draped awkwardly over Mommy's legs and, on the other side of her, Freesia is snoring. You are cuddled up so close, so warm. The moment opens up into forever. Then Mommy shifts, and cups her hand against the back of your head.

"Thank you, Lina," she says, so softly. She leans in and kisses the top of your head, so carefully. Ever since she was unthawed, she's moved like she was made of glass, trying not to stumble and break into pieces. But she has nothing to fear. You've buried the bed in pillows and stuffed animals and blankets, and there's nothing here that could possibly harm her. Not with her three brave girls here to protect her.

But you can't keep the moment, can you? Not forever. Eska's out there, with both Dandy and Adila in her clutches. After all you went through to be held one more time by your mother... it's almost time to say goodbye again.

But almost isn't hardly the same as is, is it? You have this. You have now. You have your Mommy. You have the soft light shining through the window, and her hand on your head, and her heartbeat going thump, thump thump, thump next to yours. You have this. You have now, this now, and nobody can take it from you.