It had all gone wrong…
The main problem was, they had dove headfirst into Amonkhet with no plan. Chandra Nalaar had been so intent on going, naturally, though she had paused when Jace Beleren pointed out that their quarry, a 25,000-year-old Elder Dragon Planeswalker was older, smarter, stronger, and overall more powerful than every member of the Gatewatch and all the Planeswalkers each of them knew put together. Except maybe Ugin, but none of them had thought of the Spirit Dragon at the time. Upon arrival, they had a few days to prepare, though Nissa Revane was constantly feeling weak and unsure. Gideon Jura felt that they could do it together. Liliana Vess had insisted on going, but only because of the Demon Razaketh. So, Bolas arrived and viciously attacked the Gatewatch. One. By. One.
Jace was first, his mind assaulted by Nicol Bolas's superior mind magic and then tossing him into the Blind Eternities like a rag. He turned to Liliana, intending to crush her, but she Planeswalked to Eternities knew where before he could lay a claw on her. Nissa came in, but Bolas snapped back, causing the Elf to scream in pain. That got Chandra back onto her feet and attacking Bolas head on. Bolas's attention had been shifted away from Nissa, allowing her to scurry off and hide among the ruins of Naktamun. Bolas then grabbed Chandra, holding her in the palm of his massive claw. He managed to extinguish her flames, leaving her smoking harmlessly.
"Fire? Is that your only trick, Chandra?" he asked, a deep chuckle emanating from his mouth.
Of course it was. Chandra wasn't good at much else aside from math, cooking, and painting, and none of those would help her here. Then Bolas closed his claw on her, beginning to squeeze. She gasped and felt him crushing her. Her armed began to dent from the force of Bolas's grip. She couldn't breathe! So, she Planeswalked away from Bolas's grasp, silently apologizing to Gideon for leaving him alone.
Now, Planeswalking when in danger or wounded was never the best idea. Chandra was left stumbling across the Blind Eternities, surrounded in angry reds, oranges, and golds, fire snapping at her like furious serpents. She stumbled through, coughing and gasping, feeling icy wind rip across her. She tumbled down nothing, trying to reach for something, anything! Until she saw a familiar presence. A stars entered her line of sight. Another Planeswalker?! She followed them, hoping it was someone she knew. They led her to a familiar plane. Kaladesh! Chandra slipped in, phasing into existence in a forest. Where was…?
Rain! It had taken her a moment to register that it was raining. She looked around for the other Planeswalker, hoping it was Saheeli Rai that led her here. Funny, it hadn't felt like her. Of course, Chandra hadn't gotten the chance to see the inventor Planeswalker before. Chandra walked, trying to think. It was familiar, but she didn't really know many Planeswalker outside the Gatewatch. Saheeli, Dovin Baan, that Tezzeret creep, Nicol Bolas, that looney Ramaz, that guy that turned into a Dragon, and…Oh, Star-Tail, a Kitsune from Kamigawa who studied at Keral Keep. Chandra looked up to see the tall, long-eared Kitsune taking shelter in what was once a house, now merely a skeleton with plants growing over it. Chandra looked around. There were similar structures. What was…?
Her senses were assaulted with burning flesh, the screams of people, and an inferno. This place was where the worst day of her life took place: Bunarat. Chandra's hand began to shake and collapsed to her knees in the mud, rocking back and forth. Star-Tail removed her obi to remove the long, white, pleated skirt. Under the skirt, she wore a gold, jumpsuit that was waterproof and fireproof. It hugged her lithe form, but thankfully did not leave her soft, sleek fur compressed once the suit was removed. She held the skirt over her head and went out to Chandra. She covered her red-headed friend and knelt down, careful that her three long tails avoided the mud. One snaked out and brushed across Chandra's face. She hugged the tail, burying her face in the soft fur. It smelt like cinnamon-sugar.
Star-Tail helped Chandra up and led her to the shelter she had been using. She built a fire after using a heating and drying spell to dry the wood she found. She hung up her skirt and Chandra's shawl to dry. They stayed there in silence until the rain passed the following morning. That's when Chandra finally spoke: "Thanks for getting me to a plane."
"Of course," Star-Tail responded, voice sounding like what cinnamon and sugar would sound like. She wrapped her skirt around her and secured it with the obi, which was orange with a gold flame pattern with a red belt. Chandra grabbed her shawl and wrapped it around her hips.
"Have you been here before?" she asked. Star-Tail had arrived at Keral Keep on Regatha a couple years before she did, her Spark igniting in a moment of elation and excitement when her tail split in two. She took to her lessons better than Chandra, being calmer and more relaxed than the younger girl. They studied together and had bounded over their spark, swapping stories of other planes. Star-Tail was calm and relaxed, and learned acrobatics, performing and entertaining folk across the Multiverse.
"No. First time here," Star-Tail answered.
"Good, because upon until a couple weeks ago, you would have hated it here," Chandra pointed out. "This is Kaladesh, my homeplane."
Now Star-Tail was curious. Chandra never spoke about her home due to bad memories. "So you know where we are?" she asked.
"This was a village once," Chandra answered. "My folks and I were staying here where some jerks hunting us burned it down. Thought I lost both of my parents that day. My mom is alive thankfully. She living really well now." As they made their way to the city of Ghiraphur, she told Star-Tail all that transpired over the last few months. The Kitsune listened to it all, and tried to comfort Chandra as best she could, usually with her tails. The journey took a few days, but they eventually arrived. The guards knew Chandra and took her and Star-Tail to a station to wait for someone to get her.
It was a man named Venkat Dasai who came and got them. He was thrown off by Star-Tail's appearance, but went to Chandra. "Hey Chandra," he greeted. Her mother, Pia Nalaar, had sent him to get Chandra and bring her to apartment.
"Hey Venkat," Chandra responded wearily.
"Your mother couldn't get out of meeting," Venkat explained.
"I guessed as much."
He took them to his vehicle, a chariot with the front being and automaton horse. His chariot was a rare and special piece, one Chandra remembered her parents and Mrs. Pashiri making for Venkat when she was a small child. Uncle Venkat had taken her on many rides with it, much to her delight. She and Star-Tail settled on the three-person bench behind the driver's seat and Venkat took them to an apartment complex in a wealthy neighborhood near the Aether Spire. Chandra knew this building had many fine, large apartments that house the members of the Consulate and their families.
Once inside Pia's apartment, she saw Pia had gone to great lengths to properly make it home with workbenches full of projects, a forge, private generators, and a basket of little tiles for when Chandra came home to help fix the portrait of Kiran in the alley, and the smell of burnt food mingling with oil and rose tea. Star-Tail patted her nose gently at the smell of the place. Chandra giggled. It smelt like home. The only things missing was her mom working on a thopter and her father drawing up blueprints for something grand. Chandra actually remembered what his last big project was: An automaton bird with glass feathers. She wondered where that blueprint was…
"Did Mom get everything from the old mineshaft?" she asked Venkat.
"As much as we could carrying," Venkat answered.
Chandra nodded. She got off her armor until it was just her trousers, shirt, and shawl and set the armor on a workbench to be fixed later. Right now, she was tired, sore, and wanted sleep. She laid on the sofa and Venkat put a blanket over her, letting her sleep. Pia entered a few hours later, checked on Chandra, and went to get methi thepla out. She spread on yogurt and laid out some pickled mango and a couple chilies before rolling them up. Next she made sweet lassi, adding ginger and mango puree. She knew her daughter. She set the plate and glass on the coffee table in front of Chandra before kissing her forehead. She rose and looked out onto the terrace where Star-Tail was, legs crossed and meditating.
"So, what do you think she is?" Venkat asked, following Pia's stare.
"Very, very, foreign," Pia answered.
"Like Ajani?"
"Yes." Pia had told him. He had taken very well, all things considered. Said it might explain some disappearances. Of course she had agreed with that sentiment.
Chandra groaned, waking. Her nose gave that cute bunny-twitch she when smelt something. She opened one eyes and saw her favorite sitting on the coffee table in front of her. She sat and dug in to the food, groaning in delight. Pia giggled. She had made a good choice in preparing the sweet and spicy methi thepla that her daughter so enjoyed. Chandra looked to her.
"Hi, Mom," she greeted, giving a smile.
Pia sat beside her and gave her a half-hug. "How was…Ah-mon-khet?" she asked. It was a strange word to her.
"Horrible," Chandra answered. "Sand everywhere, creepy because walking corpses-."
"What?" Venkat asked, taking a step back.
"Forgot you were still here; Mom, he kinda can't know about this stuff," she muttered.
"I already told him; took it well," Pia pointed out.
"O-okay then," Chandra muttered, a little fidgety about Venkat knowing. "Well, zombies are a legit thing. Guess they just exist in stories here on Kaladesh." She looked up at the ceiling. "On Amonkhet, they were everywhere. Outside like the only city in the entire world…" Chandra told them what happened, though she didn't really feel like repeating it again. Now that she had slept on it better, there were tears in her eyes. Baral had said, "Even a dog knows more tricks." And then Bolas had asked if fire was all she knew. It felt so degrading.
"You're not a one trick pony," Pia told her daughter.
"My only other skills won't help me against that stupid, bull-headed jerk!" Chandra cried, tears rolling down her freckled cheeks.
Pia hugged her tighter, running a hand over Chandra's frayed hair. She felt a breath of wind, and looked over to the workbench with the box of Kiran's old blueprints of unfinished projects. Maybe now that Chandra was older…She sighed and pulled Chandra up. "Maybe we can teach you inventing."
Chandra looked at her in shock. "But I'm no good at it."
"It's been twelve years since you last artifice," Pia pointed out, "and since then you've grown a lot." She brought Chandra over to the workbench and pulled out the blueprint for Kiran's last big project. "Your father was a Quicksmith master, so he naturally had dabbled in lifecrafting. He was working on a living statue of a legendary creature that hasn't been seen since before the Aether Boom: A Phoenix." She handed Chandra the blueprint. "Maybe you can finish what he started, and maybe make it more. You'll never know unless you try."
And with a deep breath, Chandra tried.