I awoke in darkness.

Or... almost darkness. Light filtered through the grey walls, just enough that I could see. The room seemed familiar. I blinked. It hit me.

I was back on the Calamity again.

Only, how was I here? The last thing I remembered was the black dots multiplying across my vision. The last thing I remembered was the conversation with the deathbirds.

I sat up and pushed myself to my feet, crossing the room. The door swung open at my touch.

"I would let her rest a bit longer before you go in to wake her."

The voice was Sharla's, and it came from around a corner a little ways ahead of me. I hesitated but began to walk that way.

"We don't know what she even did that saved Brinley. The amount of magic it must have taken..."

"I know." Bran's voice. "I'm worried about her. What if she doesn't wake up?"

I rounded the corner. Bran, Lark, and Sharla stood huddled together in the middle of the hallway. Sharla's back faced me, but I could see Lark and Bran's faces, and they looked worried. Bran's eyes grew wide as he spotted me.

"Fyra! You're okay?"

Sharla whirled around and stared at me. There was a short, awkward silence.

"So..." I said, searching for something to say to break the oppressive quiet that had settled around us. "Is Brinley all right?"

"She's great," said Sharla, in a tone of disbelief. "Her wound is already almost healed. What did you do for her?"

"I asked the deathbirds to save her."

Lark frowned, and wrote, "Why would the deathbirds be able to save her?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"But," said Sharla, "obviously, they did. Maybe there's more to them than we think."

"They can sense death," I said. "Maybe that's because, somehow, they are Death. Or they're servants of Death. Assuming Death is a person, like in myth, which maybe he's not."

Sharla grinned. "Sounds complicated."

"Yeah," I agreed. "So, how long was I out?"

"A little over a day," said Bran. "We were terrified that you'd overused your power."

"Can that happen?"

Sharla nodded. "Sometimes it can send Blesseds into a coma. Most usually don't use their power enough to do that, though. Most have enough sense to know when to stop pushing their limits."

"Hey!" I frowned. "I've got sense!"

"Then why did you try to bring someone back from the brink of death using only willpower and the strength of your not-particularly-strong blessing?"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

"Oh, I said it."

"But I'm still going to pretend you didn't."

Sharla huffed. "Fine. Are you hungry?"

"Starving," I said. I'd been too confused and concerned to think about it until now, but my stomach was twisting and gurgling within me.

"I'm not surprised." Bran crossed his arms and turned, following Sharla, who'd begun to walk in the general direction of the dining hall. "You've missed about three meals. Four if you count breakfast, but it's about breakfast time right now, so I'm not counting it."

I sped up my pace so that I could walk beside Sharla. "Has Brinley said anything about what she felt when I... did whatever I did?"

Sharla shook her head. "I think she was unconscious for most of it."

"She was," confirmed Bran. "Honestly, it was a pain to have to carry you and Brinely and Dren—who'd passed out from transporting all of you at once—through the forest until we were a safe enough distance from the city to contact the Calamity and have them come pick us up."

I grimaced. "Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize!" Sharla exclaimed. "I'm sure they preferred three unconscious people to one unconscious person and one lifeless body."

"That's true," said Bran, a tad sheepishly. "The whole team is really thankful. They'll probably be excited to talk to you at breakfast."

Lark tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to watch her write, "If they begin to overcrowd you, and you feel claustrophobic, just tell us. We'll get you out of there, or tell them to back off."

My lips curled slightly upwards, and a warm feeling flowed through me. "I will. Thanks."

"No problem."

Lark's hand slipped into mine and gave it a quick squeeze.

The sound of the breakfast bell reverberated through the ship.

"Ah," said Sharla. "It's time. We're almost there."

I could see the door ahead of us. We were almost to the crowd of Blesseds filing through the opening. And then...

"Fyra! You're alive!"

I looked for the source of the voice and found Ista, making their way toward us through the crowd, struggling to squeeze between all the other Blesseds.

"I am," I said. "Alive and well."

"That's great," said Ista. "You're sure you're completely fine? What you did was... amazing." Ista turned, their head twisting as they searched the clump of Blesseds. "Brinley's around here somewhere. I bet she'll want to thank you." Ista jumped up and down and waved crazily. "Brinley! Come over here!"

A moment later, Brinely emerged from the crowd, eyes lighting up as she saw me. White bandage peeked out from beneath her shirt, but she looked otherwise fine.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," she said, trying to catch her breath. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you're okay."

She smiled shakily, then reached forward to pull me into a hug.

Into my ear, she whispered. "Thank you. Thank you so much for what you did. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you."

She pulled away.

"You don't need to repay me," I said. "I did it as part of the team. I'm just glad it worked out."

Something in the way the corner of Brinley's mouth quirked upward told me she felt relieved by my answer. I wondered if she'd thought I was going to try to make her do something. Perhaps she'd expected me to ask her to come with Lark and Bran and me, and help us fight the Magician.

"Fyra!"

This time, the exclamation came from Cass, who rushed through the crowd, seemingly unaware that she was barreling into and knocking over any and all Blesseds who were in her path.

She screeched to a stop in front of me, breathing hard.

"Thank... goodness you're... alive..." she wheezed. "No dying... on... my watch..."

Jaret, Everyn, and Dren were close behind her. They smiled at me, and Jaret mouthed, "You're okay!"

I smiled and nodded.

We all sat together for breakfast, and I answered their questions in between large mouthfuls of eggs and bacon and fruit and pancakes and a strange, delicious thing called a waffle.

"So," said Jaret after the team had run out of questions to ask me, "what are you three planning next. Are you going to stick around? Or are you still planning on fighting that Magician?"

Lark and Bran looked at me.

"Lark and I are planning to go," said Bran. "But, Fyra, if you don't want to come, we'll understand. You've done a lot. You've done plenty. If you'd prefer to stay and rest, that's absolutely fine."

"I'm coming," I said firmly.

Lark smiled and wrote, "Thank you."

"You're my team," I said. "Did you expect me to stay behind?"

Lark shrugged. Bran nodded.

I shook my head at them. "You'd be lost without me."

"We know," said Bran.

"When are we going to go?"

"Maybe after a day of rest?" Lark wrote.

"Sounds good to me," said Bran.

"Okay, then." I grinned. "In two days, we'll face the Magician. Until then, we rest and enjoy our time here."

Ooh, we're getting closer and closer to the fulfillment—or failure—of their quest! Vote if you're excited!

(P.S. Sorry if the quality of this chapter is slightly worse than usual. I'm posting this while I've got WiFi during traveling time, so it hasn't been as thoroughly edited as usual. Feel free to point out any typos!)