A shrill scream awoke Dust the next morning.

He knew that scream could come from no one else but Fidget, and quickly bolted upright out of sleep.

Fidget was backed against the pillow on her bed, feebly flapping her wings in a futile attempt to take flight. Tawny stood at her bedside, holding her hands up in the universal gesture of posing no threat.

"Wh-who are you?! Wh-where am I?! What is th-this?!" Fidget shrieked, cut off by a hideous spell of coughing.

"Fidget!" Dust said, turning toward her, "calm down, everything's okay!"

Fidget's panicked wings slowed, and went limp at her sides, "D-Dust…?" The nimbat rasped, tiredly leaning back against the bed as her actions had left her exhausted, "Dust...where are we…? What happened…?"

Dust shot a look at Tawny, who nodded at him and turned to the tool desk next to Fidget's bed, "It's okay, Fidget. We're in a village called Briar-"

"Stop moving so much…" Fidget grumbled, rubbing her eyes with two small paws, "please…"

Dust frowned, "Fidget, I wasn't moving. I'm trying to tell you that we were attacked last night by rancor blossoms, and-"

"Tell me when we get to Aurora…" Fidget interrupted sleepily again, going limp on the pillow, "I'm glad you're back, by the way..." Her eyes fell shut.

"Fidget…!" Dust murmured worriedly. Tawny appeared behind him, touching his arm gently,

"I think she's a bit delirious…" The rabbit doctor said quietly, "to be honest, I was surprised she awakened so quickly, but she's still suffering. I think we should let her sleep a bit more before trying to talk to her."

Dust's eyes lingered on Fidget's body, watching her resume her eerily motionless slumber, "I suppose…"

Tawny cleared her throat, pushing a strand of hair back, "Anyways, how do you feel this morning, Dust?"

The fox blinked, realizing his dizziness and fatigue seemed to have gone away. His body still felt a bit heavy, but it was nowhere near as bad as the previous night, much to his relief, "a lot better, Tawny."

Tawny put a hand to his forehead briefly, and nodded, "Yes, looks like you're about over it to me, though I wouldn't be surprised if your cough hasn't completely gone away just yet."

"Right…" Dust nodded, "Um, Tawny, mind if I look around the village a little bit? I've actually never heard of this place before."

Tawny returned to the desk, appearing to be making up another dose of medicine for Fidget. She smiled brightly and nodded, "Sure, and don't worry, we're...a teensy bit out of the way, so I guess that's why no one...knows about us." Her smile went a bit crooked as she spoke, as if she disagreed with her own words. The look was gone in a second though, as she painted a sunny expression back onto her face, "I wouldn't be too chatty though, just to let you know. A lot of people in the village have been...well, crabby as of late. Maybe it's just the shift in season." She shrugged absently.

Dust retrieved his satgat and Ahrah, "Oh, okay then…" he said quietly, "will you and Fidget be alright here?"

Tawny had her smallest finger against Fidget's neck, gently checking her pulse, "Oh, of course. It's a good sign she at least was awake, even if confused. I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle." She frowned slightly at the feel of the nimbat's pulse, and plucked the container of medicine she had just made from the desk, "Anyways, take it easy, Dust. Don't go messing with any weird plants or anything."

"Why would I do that?" Dust huffed, flattening his ears as Tawny chuckled. He crossed the floor to the front door, swinging it open, "I probably won't be gone long." he assured over his shoulder.

"Okay!" Tawny called in acknowledgement, beginning to prop Fidget up to take her medicine. Dust's gaze watched them for a moment before he let himself outside.

"Well, she's a bit odd." Dust remarked to himself under his breath, casting a look back at Tawny's house as he walked off her front step, "I mean...in a not-so-good way. Was it just me, or did she seem...I don't know...kind of secretive?"

"I cannot make any assumptions on Tawny's character, Dust." Ahrah hummed at his side, "but like I said last night, there is something a bit strange about this village. You might as well explore and see what it has to offer."

"Right…" Dust murmured, crossing one of the small bridges laid over one of the ponds. The bridge dipped a bit under his weight and creaked, as if it were on the verge of snapping then and there. Dust felt the fur along his spine bristle in alarm, and stepped back off the bridge, not much in the mood to risk plunging into a probably freezing pond. Perhaps he'd just go around.

"Ha! You're scared of a piece of wood?"

The icy blue canine spun around to see a short-statured figure peering at him from a narrow space between two houses. The figure was rather a very pale gray with black hair that stuck out in all directions and fell in his face, nearly concealing his two black, triangular ears.

The figure stepped out into view, wearing a very plain red shirt and denim shorts. It was a child.

"You're a newcomer, aren't you?" the kid called out to him, a wry smile stuck on his muzzle. His heavily furred tail whisked around his ankles behind him, almost playfully. Dust blinked,

"I suppose I am. We just arrived here last night." he replied primly, inwardly irked that the child had witnessed his uncertainty over crossing a bridge. He'd fought hordes of monsters and soldiers single-handedly not so long ago, and yet had a moment of apprehension about crossing a somewhat unsteady bridge. Dust huffed at the thought.

"Yeah, sure you did." the kid mewled, locking his arms behind his back and rocking on his heels, "They always come around and they always go to Miss Tawny's house and then they…" The kid trailed off, biting his lip and rolling his yellow eyes to the sky, "well, I dunno. Stuff."

"Okay…?" Dust murmured, not exactly sure what he meant. Maybe he's just bored. He thought with a small shrug. He hadn't seen any other children the evening before, and didn't hear any at present aside from the one talking to him. He coughed slightly and turned to walk away, "I have to go, if you don't need anything from me, that is."

"Yeah, you do that." The boy said somewhat strangely, but when Dust turned to look at him again, he was still wearing that smirk of his, "I'm Ignis, by the way."

Before Dust could reply to that, the boy named Ignis suddenly sped by at a shocking speed for his size, stopping abruptly in the middle of the bridge Dust had tried to cross earlier. With a toothy grin, the boy jumped up and down on the wood, giggling and sending large ripples across the pond.

"Hey, don't do that! You could fall in!" Dust warned, stepping forward and expecting any second to hear the sound of wood splintering and the splash of a body falling in. Ignis stopped jumping, and let out a hearty laugh,

"Nuh-uh! These bridges have been around for hundreds n' hundreds n' hundreds of years without even the tiniest break! Don't be such a baby!" The boy taunted, skipping off the other side of the bridge and darting out of sight.

"What's with that kid?" Dust huffed, "does he know how obnoxious he sounds?"

"Easy Dust...:" Ahrah soothed quietly, "children are children, not all are as polite as the ones you have met prior."

"I guess." The fox murmured, stepping back up to the start of the bridge again. Perhaps it only looked undurable, the kid certainly demonstrated it wasn't as uncertain as it looked. Dust looked around momentarily before starting across, ignoring the creaking, and made it about halfway before-

SNAP!

…

"Oh dear, looks like one of the bridges broke again…"

Dust gave a sideways look at an older man standing off to the side of a house, ears flat with annoyance and dampness. He was sopping wet and tracking puddles throughout the village, determinedly trying to ignore looks and snickers that came from the people around him. He was just glad it wasn't cold out today.

The older man looked genuinely sympathetic though, as if he'd seen this happen before, which wasn't unlikely. Dust wasn't sure if he should be annoyed with his pity or grateful he wasn't laughing like the others.

"Don't fret none about it, young'un. Happens to all our newcomers. It's like a curse or something." The old man gave a light chuckle, running a hand through his silvery beard, "I'll have to tell Angel we have another bridge down, she won't be very happy about it though."

"Angel?" Dust questioned, deciding to let the conversation take place, despite his mood being as dampened as his being.

"Yes, she's our village repairman...er...woman. It's interesting, in fact. She was the last to come here before you...ah! Here she is now!" The man turned and a rather heavy set female came lumbering by, a crate of wood, nails, and a hammer held by a strap in her gloved hand. She had a nick in both of her rounded ears, and short ruffled blonde hair, contrasting with her rather dusky body.

"Alright, I heard everyone laughing about the drenched cat or whatever trudging through town, where's the broken bridge at?" Angel growled in a gruff voice. Her dark eyes turned steely as she looked over Dust, "You. Show me the bridge you broke."

"Uhh…" Dust took a step back, trying to think of something appeasing to say. The girl was much taller than he was, and exuded a threatening and very irritated demeanor. From first glance, he knew it'd be wise to not get on her bad side. Dust cleared his throat and turned back in the direction he came, "It's uh...this way."

The laughing started up again as he headed back toward Tawny's house, and Dust flattened his ears in displeasure. Angel jerked her head sharply at one of the onlookers, and they all fell into an uneasy silence, "Annoying, the lot of these people."

"It wasn't bothering me much," Dust lied, continuing and trying to keep a brisk pace so Angel would not be annoyed at moving slow. Silence grew between them, and Dust absently gazed over some of the nearby houses, "So ah...I heard you were the last one to visit here before us…"

"Yep." Angel replied, "what of it?"

The fox turned his head to look at her again, head tipping back a bit as she loomed over him, "Well...isn't it weird this place doesn't seem to be very well known, even though it's right next to another village? Aurora, it's called."

"Aurora Village…" Angel echoed, almost dreamily. Dust blinked in surprise. Finally, someone who knew of the place!

"Yes, in fact my friend and I were trying to find it the other day, but we were in a part of The Glade we weren't so familiar with. We ended up detouring here after a run-in with some...not so friendly wildlife."

"The rancor blossoms." Angel huffed, "They oughta do something about those things."

"Excuse me but, who is 'they'?" Dust questioned, hoping Angel wouldn't mind his inquiries. Angel looked at him, frowning,

"You ask a lot of questions, kid." She rumbled. She didn't look necessarily angry or annoyed at this point, mostly questioning and confounded, as if she wasn't used to being asked about things.

"Am I prying? No one in this village seems to be very...informational about things around here." Dust murmured.

"Yeah, I know."

"So...why haven't I heard of this village before?"

"Is this the place?"

Dust frowned. They'd reached the spot where he had fallen through the sabotaged bridge all too soon, and he worried he'd lost Angel's attention, "...Yeah, right here."

Angel knelt down by the end of the bridge and pried off the splintered edges of the wood, tossing them to the side, "You really did a number on this thing, sheesh." she muttered, reaching into her crate for several planks of wood.

"Actually...I saw a boy jumping on the bridge before I crossed it. I thought it was more durable." Dust said, and tried not to jump as Angel snapped her hard gaze toward him,

"You calling my handiwork weak?" she hissed, and Dust held up his hands,

"No! No ma'am...I didn't mean it that way. It just didn't occur to me at the time the bridge could have been damaged…" He evaded, and relaxed as Angel accepted his words and went back to working.

"Who was this 'kid', anyways?" The bear asked, pulling a few nails from her tool crate.

Dust shrugged, "Well uh, he said his name was Ignis. After jumping on your bridge he ran off someplace." He paused, blinking in surprise as he saw Angel freeze, turning her head slowly to look at him.

"Ignis…?" her voice had dropped to a whisper, her eyes wide and scared. Dust nodded tentatively. Why would she look so shocked about a mere child? He wondered, and froze himself as Angel slowly drew herself back up to her feet, stepping toward him.

"Listen...listen here, whoever you are…" She hissed in a low voice, a mixture of fear and frustration and desperation.

"D-Dust…" Dust quietly offered, and Angel blew out an annoyed breath.

"Listen Dust. You go back to Tawny and just...just stay there for the rest of the day and night, will you? Don't come out for nothin'." Angel leaned in close, almost nose-to-nose with the fox, "Got it?"

"But why? What's wrong with Ignis?" Dust asked, instinctively tightening his grip on Ahrah, "and...how did you know I was staying with Tawny?"

"Don't...don't ask me right now. Just do what I said, alright? And don't ever...ever talk to Ignis...Understand?" When Dust hesitated, she pushed herself closer, almost knocking the smaller animal over, "Understand?"

"I really don't, can't you just-"

"Angel!"

Angel turned around toward a figure standing off in the distance. Dust saw her pupils shrink to pinpoints on the spot. He tried to lean over and look past Angel to see who it was, but they were indistinguishable in the distance.

"Go, Dust." She snarled in a lowered voice, with enough restrained ferocity to convince him. Dust quickly backed away, slipping into Tawny's house without a word. He left the door cracked open, and peered out to see Angel gathering her tools and supplies back up, walking off in the direction he had seen the figure standing.

When she was out of sight, Dust eased the door closed.

"Did something happen, Dust?"

Tawny.

He turned around to face her. She had changed into a darker gown that was plainer than her previous one, and appeared concerned for him, "Oh my, you're all wet! Did you fall in one of the ponds? Oh goodness, why didn't you come straight back? You could catch cold"

"I'm fine Tawny, one of the bridges just gave out." He huffed, leaning over to catch a glimpse of Fidget lying in the back. She still appeared to be asleep, but at least she wasn't so still this time.

"Oh my...did it? Our handywoman usually does such a good job at making them sturdy."

"You mean Angel?"

Tawny smiled, clasping her hands together, "Ah, you met her?"

Dust nodded, "Yeah uh...she's pretty tall." He muttered, and cleared his throat, "By any chance, does she...dislike children?"

The rabbit frowned, "Dislike children? Why would you think that?"

"Well it's just...I happened to mention this one kid's name that I'd spoken to earlier. She seemed to get really agitated about it." he replied. It's like she was scared of Ignis, or something.

Tawny's eyes darkened, "Oh my...perhaps she's just having a rough day and you misinterpreted it?"

"No, Tawny." Dust huffed. Ahrah had told him this place was disrupting its powers, and with Tawny and Angel's odd behavior, along with just how this place was simply unknown in general, it was time to find out what was really happening here.

Tawny blinked in bemusement at Dust's tone, "What?"

"There's something very off about this place, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Nobody except Angel has heard of Aurora Village, which should be close enough to be aware of. I nor anyone knew of this place before we'd come here on accident. Then you tell me not to look out of the window during the night and Angel appears afraid of some kid named Ignis." He growled, watching evenly as Tawny took a step back for each thing he listed.

"Not to mention…" Ahrah suddenly spoke up, "the disturbance I sense here. There is something unnatural here, something foreboding."

"Your sword...can speak…?" Tawny murmured within her shock and fear.

"We should leave…" Dust murmured, "there's something wrong with your village."

"Y-you can't leave!" Tawny cried, stuttering profusely, "your friend, the n-nimbat...she isn't recovered yet!"

"I can carry her, and we'll go back to finding Aurora Village." Dust growled, "as for the rancor blossoms, I'll destroy them beforehand."

"No…" Tawny whimpered, and Dust could see the tears welling in her eyes, "no, no please…"

"What is going on then, Tawny? I know you know something, and you're hiding it from us! What is wrong is this place?"

"You can't leave…" The rabbit whimpered, hugging her body in fear, "They know you came here, and they would have sealed the entrance by now. It always happens. Newcomers come in but they never leave…"

"Why not?" The fox hissed, "who are 'They'?"

A sob burst from Tawny's chest, and she covered her eyes as tears dripped off her fingers and dampened her fur, "They know everything...and everyone who comes in. They hold us here. And every few hundred years, They...They open the entrance for more. When the seven day period ends, the newcomers forget, forget….forget everything…"

Dust paused, still unsure of what this all was supposed to mean. He hesitated to speak, watching Tawny weep fearfully by herself, "...Tawny...are you all in trouble by something…?" he asked, lowering his voice.

Tawny was still except for the heaving of her chest, but she managed a nod.

"We can help you, Tawny…" She shook her head. "Yes, we can Tawny. You need to tell me what's happening. Why are we all trapped here? What...happened to you all…"

Tawny's sobs grew quieter, dying into tearful shudders. Dust waited.

"We…" when she spoke again, her voice was creaky with tears, "I...our village...it's cursed…" she drew in a shaky breath, stepping past Dust and fastening the deadbolt on her door. She cast a reproachful look at the window on the opposite wall, and grabbed Dust's arm, "C-come with me...I'll tell you...but no one can know I did…"