The airship hums under her feet, the sounds of machinery whirring and clicking and clacking as Yara makes her way down one of the many carpeted halls of the Voyager.

It's quiet here - even quieter than it was a week ago - the carpet muffling her footsteps, the shadows stretching long and dark. Outside, the sun has set almost completely.

Shouting, from behind one of the doors. The study. Yara pauses, interest sparking in her eyes, then backs away into the shadows near the door and listens.

"- what do you mean - want to resign -"

"- apologies - people we're up against - too dangerous -"

Ah. Another one.

She can't hear the whole conversation as clearly as she'd like, but she gets the gist of it. Whenever one of the servants or guards find out what they're up against, most of them want to resign. And the more that resign, the more those who still don't know will wonder why, leaning to them finding out and resigning too.

And round and round it goes, until maybe there won't even be a dozen of them left on the airship.

Yara can't blame them, though - in the past three days alone, they had gotten into scuffles with two separate groups after Kaya and lost three people.

Well, she thinks, making to leave, if it's just the usual, I suppose I won't need to stick around and listen -

"- can't - needs help - what - she do -"

She pauses, frowns.

She?

Who?

"- sorry - final." The sound of footsteps, heading towards the door -

She steps back into the shadows just as the door flings open and a woman in her mid-thirties exits the room, heading down the corridor - thankfully away from Yara.

Her frown deepens as she watches the woman disappear around the corner.

She's never seen her before.

So why had Mrs. Rivyet sounded so distressed about losing her?

---------------------

The intercom rings as Yara makes her way back to her room, announcing that they've received new information and are headed to Zenshei before reminding the staff to prepare.

Zenshei.

That's the place Kaya and the others should have arrived in this morning.

They've picked up the lead again, huh?

She picks up her pace.

I'd better warn them.

---------------------

The door shuts behind her with a click, and she takes a look around her room before dimming the lamps and closing all of the blinds.

About five hours before they land in Zenshei, and considering that they don't trust her all that much anymore and there's not really anyone to attend to, it's unlikely people will come looking for her.

Good.

She has time.

She takes a seat on her bed, closing her eyes in the already near-complete darkness, the sound of her breathing and the faint hum of the airship the only things she can hear, and clears her mind, picturing Kaya's face.

Focus.

Breathe.

In, out, in, out.

Gradually, the sounds fade away, the hum of the airship changing to the chugging sounds of... a train? She feels warm sunlight on her skin, hears faint voices shaping themselves into words.

She reaches, grasps hold of that feeling, that space, those voices -

And yanks.

"- might be people at the station searching for us, so we'll need to be quick and careful -"

"She's picked up your trail again," Yara says from where she's suddenly sitting beside Kaya, right next to the window, scenery passing by in a blur.

Chia lets out a yelp, Kaya giving a start as Allioni and Tam both jump. The latter shoots Yara a dirty look. "Would you please stop doing that?"

Yara shrugs. "I can't. Realmwalking is the only way to keep in contact."

"Yeah, but do you have to be so -" he gestures.

She raises an eyebrow. "Would you like me to make a 'pop' sound every time I do it, then? Like... what do you call it... teleportation?"

"Question!" Chia raises her hand. "What's the difference between Realmwalking and teleportation anyway? Aren't they the same thing?"

A pause.

"Huh," Allioni says under his breath.

Yara frowns. "I suppose... Realmwalking requires more concentration. Darkness, silence, focus... these are the three main factors. And it isn't instant - rather, it's a gradual process where you slowly pull yourself into another place by visualization -"

"Wait, wait, wait," Tam says, making a time-out signal.

"What?"

"We've gone off track."

"Oh - you're right," Chia realizes.

"And you only just noticed it now?" Tam says. She sticks his tongue out at him - a childish gesture, but he returns it.

"Uh... guys?" Kaya pipes up. "Off track? Remember?"

Another pause.

"Right."

At least the two of them have the decency to look sheepish.

"Anyway, like I was saying, she's picked up your trail again," Yara says. "We're headed to Zenshei now, so you're going to have to be on especially high alert for the next few days or so - most likely every nearby town, village or city will be swarming with people looking for you."

"Oh, cheers," Tam says dryly.

"Yes, cheers," Yara replies, tone equally as flat. "But at any rate, you're probably gonna have to take a more roundabout route to get to Xanthyor."

"Yup!" Chia says, holding up her map. "I've already plotted it out. Once we stop at Elithia, we can take another train looping around the Feidyore mountains and stop at Kestramoore. From there, it's only another three-hour train ride to Xanthyor."

Yara leans forward, giving the map a once over, then nods. "Alright, then. Let's go with this. And, by the way - what did happen in Zenshei to cause such a fuss?"

"Oh, you know - the usual," Allioni says. "Groups of people, guns, threats, a scuffle -"

"I threw someone out a window!" Chia interjects happily.

"Of course you did," Tam sighs.

"Hmm," Yara muses. "And anything identifying about the people who went after you?"

"Now that I think about it..." Kaya frowns. "They were less... how do I put it... careful about capturing me, once we started resisting. Like they would prefer bringing me in alive, but would bring me in... dead if they had to."

"Dead or alive, huh?" Yara mutters. "It's possible the person after you doesn't want your wish... but then what? Elimination? For the sake of balance, so no one can get too much power?"

"That... is possible," Tam says. "There always have been people like that, going on about balance and who has the right to power and whatnot... mostly religious fanatics or cults, though. Anyway, any other information?"

"Not really. I did happen upon a conversation between a servant and our pursuer, but it was just the usual resignation request because of the danger. She did sound a lot more distressed than usual about losing her, so it's possible that servant is vital or at least important in some way, but... well, I'll have to do more digging. Though I do feel like there's something..."

"Petition to call our pursuer something other than 'she' or, well - our pursuer," Chia raises a hand.

"What else would we call her anyway?" Tam frowns.

"Lady Rivyet?"

"Nope, too weird."

"The Woman?"

"Sounds like a horror novel."

"What about -"

Yara raps a knuckle on the windowsill. "Off track," she says again, noticing how Kaya has gradually grown to look more uncomfortable as the discussion continues.

Kaya shoots her a grateful look.

"Picking up from where we left off - to summarize, I'm going to have to do more digging, and you four are going to head to Xanthyor via another route. And for the love of the Stars, please try your best to remain inconspicuous and as careful as possible this time."

"We're always careful," Chia says.

Yara raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, sometimes careful."

Her eyebrow goes higher still.

"Okay, rarely careful," Chia admits.

"Don't worry," Tam says. "At the very least, I can make sure the four of us don't die in the next few days."

"I hope so," Yara says. "I'll check in with you when I'm free. And, once again - at the very least, try not to do anything too reckless."

And then she closes her eyes, focuses, lets the conversation fade away -

And snaps back to where she's in the airship, hands folded on her lap, the room dark and lamps dimmed.

She lets out a sigh, then stands up and dusts off the invisible dust on her skirts.

"Right," she says to the empty room. "Better get back to work."

And yet, as she leaves the room, she can't help but feel something niggling at the back of her mind - though what, she isn't sure, exactly.

The servant leaving today, the fact that she's never seen her before, the fact that Mrs. Rivyet had seemed so distressed about losing her, the whole reason she's pursuing Kaya - it connects.

Or at least, it's supposed to.

But how, exactly?

A missing piece of the puzzle. Or maybe several missing pieces.

But she can mull over that later.

Before that, she's still got a lot of work to do.

---------------------

Whispers, words swirling through her head.

Adamus, Liliana, the Pact, the wish, the curse, Starmother -

HwaShiYuFengShu.

What? I don't understand.

Come to the Altar. All will be answered.

The whispers recede.

She wakes, but she does not remember.

---------------------

They keep moving, boarding train after train after train without stopping in hopes of throwing all of their pursuers off their trail. They nearly run into a swarm of agents when they arrive in Elithia, managing to avoid them just barely.

But that's the only people looking for them that they meet, and as they head further north, winding their way around the Feidyore mountains, they begin to gradually relax.

It's Tuesday morning - exactly two days after their escape from Zenshei - when they finally pull into Xanthyor with a final screech of the train's mechanisms, the first rays of sunlight peeking over the horizon, just managing to get through that tiny sliver between the curtains and reflect off the metal table to blind everyone in the compartment.

"Wake up. We're here." Kaya turns from where she was watching the sunrise outside the window (she had woken early from a dream, though what exactly it was about, she can't remember) to see Tam attempting to shove a sleeping Chia off his shoulder.

She turns to the other side with a mumble of "Five more minutes" and a yawn, then falls right back to sleep.

He sighs, shakes her shoulder. "Wake. Up. You're late for school."

She bolts up almost instantly, pure horror and panic on her face. "OhmigodI'mlateforschool -" A pause. She glances around. "Wait. I graduated last year. I don't have school."

"Was school really that scary?" Kaya asks as she stifles a laugh, reaching over to wake Allioni as well.

"Very," Chia nods seriously as Tam stands up and stretches beside her.

"Right - enough about school. We've got a job to do, remember?"

---------------------

Five minutes later, they're out the train and on the platform, a severely groggy Allioni lagging behind them.

"Ah... fresh air," Chia says in relief, taking a deep breath as she spreads her arms wide. A pause. She sneezes. "It's cold," she says.

"What did you expect?" Tam asks, amused. "We're up north, after all. It's supposed to be cold. We should just be glad it isn't snowing right now."

"It snows up here?" Kaya asks in surprise. "Isn't it supposed to be summer?"

"Yeah - almost year-round," Allioni says. "Xanthyor is situated somewhere in the mountains, plus it's really far north so the sun hardly reaches here."

"Which makes daylight hours a lot shorter," Tam reminds them. "So we should probably get moving - and preferably find shelter somewhere as well as some coats. We'll need them - looks like it might snow."

Kaya peers up into sky - he's right, the sun is barely visible, only a pale, watery circle of light, and the sky is full of heavy gray clouds. "Where are we supposed to go anyway?" she wonders.

"Don't know," Tam admits. "I suppose we'll have to wait for Yara to contact us. In the meantime... who's up for breakfast?"

---------------------

They end up in a coffee shop looking out on the town square, eating bagels and drinking hot chocolate as Tam rereads The Legends of Stars for what must be the hundredth time and Chia pores over her maps with a pencil in hand, leaving Allioni and Kaya to watch the snowfall outside.

It's quiet, no fights or chases or chaos for once. A rare moment of peace.

Peace.

She'd almost forgotten how that felt like.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Allioni asks beside her. "I'd like to draw this someday," he says, nodding towards the town square, people strolling back and forth as the snow slowly coats everything in a thin white layer, the mountains in the distance.

"You draw?" Kaya asks, surprised.

"Yeah. Haven't been doing it recently, considering - well, our current circumstances," he says with a wry smile, "but I do it in my free time."

"You should see his drawings!" Chia pipes up. "They're reaaaaaaally good!"

"I mean... they're not really that good -" Allioni begins.

"Just take the compliment," Tam says.

"All right, all right," Allioni raises his hands in mock surrender. "But speaking of stuff we want to do someday - what do you guys want to do when all of this is over?"

Tam raises an eyebrow. "Isn't it a bit too early to be making plans?"

"Ooh, I've got one!" Chia raises her hand. "How about the summer festival?" she turns towards Kaya. "You've never been, right?"

"No," Kaya shakes her head. "I've seen the fireworks from afar every time, but I've never gotten the chance to actually go, considering..." she trails off. "You know."

"Then we can go together next year!" Chia says. "There's a lot of stuff to do, so there's no way you could ever get bored!"

"That would be nice," Kaya smiles.

"Yes!" Chia cheers, pumping her fist. "Fireworks!"

Tam shakes his head at her, half amused and half exasperated. "You've already seen them lots of times, you know."

"But fireworks."

"Yeah, yeah," he waves her off. "But remember - focus on the current task at hand."

Chia frowns. "What is the task? Did Yara ever mention when she was contacting us? Or why she couldn't have just told us where to go and what or who to look for?"

"No, not really. I think her reason was, to quote: 'because, no offense, you're easier to read than a children's book and are most certainly going to mess up something this delicate'. More or less."

"Ouch. Why do people always say no offense when saying something offensive?" Allioni says.

"To make sure we don't harm your sensitive feelings and break your fragile heart, of course," Yara speaks up from where she's suddenly sitting in the fifth seat of their table. "You even reserved a seat for me. How touching," she notes.

They all collectively jump. "Stop doing that!" Tam hisses at her, to which she only responds with a shrug and a small smile.

"How did no one notice you?" Kaya asks, mystified as she glances around the crowded coffee shop.

Yara shrugs again. "Guide stuff. It's a secret. Now - I don't have a lot of time here, so we'd best hurry up," she says, hopping off her stool and heading for the door. "Let's take a walk."