They arrived to Taora without any major problems - the biggest they encountered was having to stop a few times to clean the solar panels with all the dust their car was raising in its passing on the dry plains.

Rolan slowed down as he first noticed the thick smoke wafting to the sky and a bit later the gathering of people outside the town.

"What's happening?" Mrei tried to see past the front seats as they stopped.

"Something's burning," Kress replied.

"It's a funeral," Rolan explained, undid his seatbelt and opened the car door. "Let's go pay our respects too."

Mrei hurried after him. "What's that fire for?"

Rolan took her hand as she got to his side. "Have you ever been to a funeral?"

"My mommy's, but I was too young to remember much. Daddy showed me pictures, though. She was put in a very pretty box and the grave was covered with flowers."

"I see. Skyfall tribe burns the bodies of the dead. That way their souls can rise with the smoke to join the Sky spirits."

Mrei stopped. "Then where can the family go to visit?" she asked, puzzled.

Rolan smiled gently. "Anywhere we can see the sky."

As they got closer to the crowd, Mrei squeezed Rolan's hand a little harder. She didn't see anyone crying, but the whole atmosphere still felt so...sad. If only people didn't need to die.

Kress hesitated at first, not sure if an outsider would be very welcome, but Lucas decided for him and dragged him along. The other boy's hand was warm and his hold light, though. In the end Kress chose not to pull away.

It was actually quite beautiful. The fire didn't stink as bad as he would have thought - there must have been something sweet-scented mixed with the wood.

When the people gathered started singing, Lucas and Rolan joined in. Mrei tried to sing along in the chorus parts, but the song was so touching that she buried her face to Rolan's coat before the second one. The man wrapped one arm around the little girl to comfort her.

Eventually the ceremony ended and people started returning to their homes, only a handful remaining to tend to the funeral pyre.

Rolan approached one of them, a woman wearing clothes that were clearly ceremonial in nature. "You're Malen, keeper of Taora, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. What is it?" she replied.

"I'm Rolan, from Mereia. We met in a gathering five or six years ago."

"I remember you." She eyed his young entourage. "But I didn't know you had children."

"That's...a little complicated. Can we discuss this somewhere more private?"

Malen gave him a skeptical look, but nodded. "My house is this way."

~*~*~

"Lucas is my sister's son," Rolan explained once they were safely indoors.

"And these two?"

"We're not related, but I am looking after them at the moment. Kress here is the messenger. And the girl is his little sister." Just a little white lie to keep her out of radar.

Malen raised her hand slightly to stop him. "What did you say? This outsider is the messenger of the Sky spirits?"

"That's correct."

She crossed her arms and shook her head. "I don't believe it."

Kress took the piece formed out of his and Lucas's pendants from under his shirt and held it out to Malen without a word.

She studied it for a moment. "No. That doesn't prove anything."

"What are you talking about? The messenger is the only one who can unite the keys," Rolan argued.

"That's what the legends say. But what do we really know? That thing might just as well be a trick."

"It's not! Kress was recognized by the shrine of the spirits."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it?!"

Rolan was seriously starting to lose his temper. "He has the mark too. What else do you want?"

"Undeniable proof. I am not just going to hand over the key I've been entrusted with to some stranger without questions."

"What can we do to prove that Kress really is the messenger?" Lucas asked.

"Do you believe in him that much?"

Lucas nodded. "I do."

"I believe in him too," Mrei added.

"Tell me something," Kress interrupted the discussion. "If you really are a keeper, where is your pendant?"

"Hey, you can't just take it!" Lucas protested.

"I wasn't planning to. I'm only asking." He held his own on his palm. "They're supposed to react to each other in the hands of those blessed by the spirits, right? So why is nothing happening?" He turned his eyes to Malen. "Either you aren't 'blessed' or you don't have a pendant."

"It's in hiding," she stated simply. "And since you seem so confident in your own blessing, I think I just may have a suitable test for you."

"Go on, I'm listening." Really, this was stupid. For all he knew, she might be the one lying.

"There are old tunnels in those hills." She nodded towards the window, where the said hills were visible in the horizon. "There's a sacred site in one. Youth used to go there as a sort of ritual for passage to adulthood."

"Now wait a minute!" Rolan interrupted her. "Wasn't that stopped because some of the tunnels collapsed?"

"They did. But not completely. There's a good chance someone relatively small could maneuver past the cave-ins."

"That's crazy! The kid could be buried alive!"

"If the spirits really want him to gather the pendants, I figure they will show him the way."

"So get there and get back?" Kress asked. "Anything else?"

"You'll know once you get there."

"Alright. I'll do it."

Rolan didn't like the sound of that at all. "Hold on, Kress. You could die."

"I just have to take that chance." The truth still was that he would die soon enough anyway. It was easy to be brave with that knowledge.

"I'll go with you," Lucas said.

"Then I'll go too!" Mrei stated without thinking.

"No, no and no," Rolan told them. "I'm not letting you all risk your lives."

"He's right," Kress said. "I should do this alone. You'd just get in my way."

"No way. I'm coming along or you're not going." Lucas was looking at him with a very determined expression. "Besides...I'm from a mining town, and father said I can hear the voice of the earth. I really can help you."

Rolan sighed. Lucas really was of Romi's blood. "I can't stop you, can I?"

"Then I'll-" Mrei started, but stopped short as Rolan laid his hands on her shoulders.

"You're not going, lass."

"That's not fair! Why can they go and I can't?"

"I don't want them to go, but it looks like they have to. But I don't need to put also you to danger, so I won't. And..." His voice softened. "Don't you think that it's easier for them too if they don't have to worry about you?"

Mrei pouted. "But..."

"Both I and Kress would feel better knowing you're safe," Lucas said. "I promise we'll be back soon."

"I agree. I wouldn't want my 'little sister' to be in danger." Mrei shouldn't be able to counter that without blowing her cover. And she didn't strike him as that stupid.

She hated it. She didn't want to always be left behind. Why couldn't she just grow up faster? Then she could be the one doing stuff while others stayed behind. "You'd better come back soon! I'll never forgive you if you get hurt!"

~*~*~

Kress and Lucas got helmets and a small pickaxe / shovel tool from the local store before heading out. Kress also decided to leave his coat behind, as it might get stuck on something.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Rolan asked as they reached the entrance to the tunnels, blocked by a worn wooden door. Mrei had stayed with Malen in the town. If the tunnels would indeed collapse...he didn't want her here.

"Yeah," Lucas nodded. Father had just warned him not to trust the protection of the Sky spirits too blindly not too long ago, but he was still confident they could succeed.

"I don't see any other options," Kress commented.

Rolan reminded himself again that his task was to assist these kids the best he could. If this was the messenger's decision, he should not stop them. "Alright." He handed Kress a communicator device. "I don't know how well this works underground, but it's better than nothing. Let me know immediately if you're in any kind of danger."

Then he unlocked the door with the key Malen had given him and opened it. The hinges screeched in protest to the movement. It must have been years since this door had last been opened.

Kress turned on the flashlight he had and took a few cautious steps into the tunnel.

Lucas grabbed his arm to stop him. "Let me go first."

Kress just moved a little to let him pass.

"Maybe I should come with you?" Rolan suggested, pretty much at last minute.

"What would that help?" Kress asked, his tone not quite derisive, but not far from it either. "And didn't that woman say that someone your size can't traverse these tunnels?"

Well, that was true. His heavy build had served him well as a fisherman, where one needed to be strong to pull in the nets and carry heavy things, but in this situation it was a disadvantage.

Kress cast a brief look at Lucas. "I'll bring him back in one piece. I promise."

"Just make sure you also bring yourself back in one piece!"

"...I'll do my best."

"I'll look after him," Lucas said cheerfully. "We'll be back before you know it."