It was well past midnight by the time Hat Kid had made it back to her ship, the child falling asleep no sooner had her head touched her pillow. Exhausted from the long day, she didn't wake up until the early afternoon. Nevertheless, it was with a vigor. She still couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding she had about the Horizon, but the curious part of her was eager to keep exploring it.

Besides, what was that saying? No rest for the weary? It didn't seem like she'd have much of a moment's rest if what Moonjumper said about the remaining Time Pieces was true: That all types of spirits had gotten their hands on them. She'd only caught a glimpse of the kind of power they could wield during her adventures in Subcon Forest, but they figured out how to use Time Pieces… Well, she didn't want to imagine another disaster similar to Mustache Girl's hostile takeover of the planet.

The minute she woke up, Hat Kid started packing. It wasn't the first time she'd had to stay down on the planet's surface. There were multiple times where her searches had led to dead ends or she'd simply crashed from overexertion—like in one of Subcon's ruined huts or when she and Mustache Girl scavenged through Mafia Town back when they were still a team. The young alien had even stayed in the fire spirit's domain for a couple weeks. She just wanted to be prepared for anything time. All of her hats and badges were a must. A few different sets of clothes, basic necessities, and toys followed after. She was glad her backpack practically acted as a bottomless pit, or there wouldn't even be enough room for the Time Pieces when she made her way back.

As it was—after she informed Cooking Cat of her long journey and beamed herself down to the Alpine Skylines—she had enough problems. It was just as she'd expected: Although Hat Kid had taken every precaution not to get caught once she'd make it back through the Twilight Bell, she could tell that the goats and nomads were suspicious of her. Even if no one had actually seen her, she'd been the only one prying about it. They didn't accuse her of anything, but it was clear that they were taking some precautions of their own now.

From the corner of her eye, Hat Kid spotted a yellow and white hood poking from around the edge of a nearby rock. It was one of the nomads watching her from afar, this one more obvious about it than most of the others. She acted like she didn't notice, stooping low to pretend to examine a nearby patch of flowers.

The second zipline along the twilight path was down and the goats kept an eye on her wherever she went. Because of this, she was forced to halt midway, searching for another means around. Unfortunately, the islands were pretty steep with little purchase along the sides of them. Eying the distant cliffs, she considered backtracking, but that would mean going all the way to the Skyline's entrance. Even then, there was no guarantee that there'd be another way around. Was there a horn nearby that could restore the zipline? That definitely would draw attention and she didn't want to fight the goats to get to it, but maybe she'd have no choice if it meant reaching the bell.

"Psst!" The alien looked up curiously, first back to the nomad—who quickly ducked out of sight—and then to the rest of her surroundings. "Over here, kid!" It couldn't be one of them, now that she thought about it. The accent wasn't right. The voice sounded young, like a girl in her teens, and had a pleasant softness to it.

At last, she caught sight of a slim, translucent form peering from behind a stone wall, a Dweller with a rich lavender body and a pink kitsune mask. Right: Moonjumper had offered to have someone waiting for her if she couldn't make it back on her own. Looking back over her shoulder a second time, Hat Kid ran over to their hiding spot before the nomad could peer after her once again. In her haste, she nearly shuffled off the narrow edge that met the wall. The Dweller swung something in her direction with her tail and she caught it with both hands to keep herself from falling.

"Whoa there! Not that you wouldn't be a welcomed neighbor, but let's try getting you to the Horizon in one piece," the Dweller whispered in a bout of nervous, dark humor. She helped the child regain her footing. Noticing the twin, dark red cords, Hat Kid's eyes followed them to the piece in her hands—an improvised swing made of thick fabric. She'd had to use it when she'd been carried to the Twilight Bell from the other side the previous night. It connected to a single ring that the ghost had looped around her tail.

Once she'd righted herself, her back pressed against the rock, Hat Kid took a small breath of relief, "Thank you."

"It's nothing," the Dweller replied, still somewhat nervously, "It's what I'm here for, so hop on and we can get moving."

The Dweller shuffled closer to the ledge so that Hat Kid could adjust herself in the swing with greater ease. It wasn't the more secure ride, but it was all they really had to work with. The girl just hoped that they wouldn't be spotted. It was still daylight and she couldn't exactly fade from view like a ghost could—although the idea of how the goats would react if they saw her floating across the air was hilarious. She wriggled in place, one hand gripping one of the cords tightly and the other hanging onto her hat.

As soon as she'd given the ok the Dweller hovered away from the ledge, dipping low to glide out of sight along the usual path. Hat Kid could still see it though, feeling an impish sort of glee as the nomad tiptoed out of his own hiding place and looked around in surprise when he couldn't find her. Weaving through the rocks, both ghost and girl steadily made their way over to the Twilight Bell, the sun darting in and out of the shadows as they moved.

Hat Kid looked down at the sea of clouds tracing her feet and bit her lip. She was used to scaling all types of insane heights by now, but it was also up to her own ability whether or not she made it. She wasn't sure how she felt about being carried, especially as the Dweller fell silent. It left her with nothing to focus on except the drop below them.

She had to start up some kind of conversation, "Hey, are you from Subcon Forest?"

The Dweller reacted with a low hum of surprise, glancing down briefly before returning their gaze on their flightpath, "Why do you think that?"

"You all wear those masks. I've only seen the ghosts in Subcon Forest have them."

"There are other groups of people in the world who have masks like ours," she answered, then paused in a moment's thought, "Well, not exactly like ours… Everyone's got their own designs, and it can depend on the kind of spirits around to base them off of too."

That part made sense. From what she already knew, the masks were primarily used as a way of confusing the spirits since some of them had a habit of attacking or kidnapping people. Although, in death, they wore them more-so in honor of the past and to keep a part of their old selves, the children of Subcon always wore them as a means of protection due to the woodland's high concentration of spiritual energy. She guessed people would tailor them with whatever spirits were attracted to their own areas in mind.

"I used to live in Subcon Forest though. A long time ago…" the Dweller admitted, surprising her. They passed under a low bridge. "My mother and I came to the Horizon because it was safer, and because of our prince. There was just no point in staying in Subcon any longer."

Hat Kid's mouth twisted into a confused frown. Prince? Snatcher was Subcon Forest's former prince: She'd learned that much from the 'storybook' she'd found there. She guessed that Moonjumper looked a little bit like him because of his clothes, but the similarities pretty much ended there. She didn't mention it though, out of respect for her contractual BFF. Apparently, he'd never told anyone his true identity and she wasn't going to spill his secret. He didn't even know that she knew the truth. She never asked him about it, and doubted that he'd give her a straight answer if she did.

Maybe the ghost girl was just talking about Moonjumper as the Horizon's ruler. The alien didn't take him for the type to lie about something like that anyway. She did, however, ask, "Don't you miss the forest or any of the people there though? There are still a lot of Dwellers in Subcon."

She shook her masked head. "Not all of my friends and family… stuck around…" she began with cautionary sadness, as though fighting off a bad memory, "Sometimes I miss the ones that did, but my mother says we can't go back. And I can't leave her alone: We're all we've got."

"Why can't you just visit?"

"It's too dangerous, what with the miasma, the spirits, that shadow guy… And after a while, Mother stopped acting quite like herself. I think it's because of everything we've been through, so I can't leave her by herself like that."

The Dweller faded into silence once again and this time Hat Kid didn't press her for more answers. She was only making the other upset—and besides, they were close enough to the Twilight Bell now. They paused for a minute mid-flight, double checking to make sure they wouldn't be seen before rising up to reach it. However, unless the previous times Hat Kid had made the journey, the Dweller didn't even touch the bell's clapper. Instead, she carried Hat Kid further up within its bowl and—with a bright, blurry flash of light similar to the warping colors the latter had witnessed the other two times—the two were warped back to the Horizon.

The ghost barely waited for her to collect her bearings when the spirit world can into view. The minute they entered, she dove anyway from the phantom goats' home among the 'stars' and down into the depths of the void. Her speed picked up enough to swing the girl back a bit, but she was still careful with her. A little more comfortable now, Hat Kid breathed another sigh and settled in to enjoy the ride. She looked back only once to watch the floating city disappear behind them, then focused her gaze at her travel companion so she wouldn't have to stare into the surrounding darkness as they continued their descent.

When the city came into view, they glided over its wall and through the thin edge of the luminous woods that wove around the stone structures. Unlike where the ghost goats lived, the buildings were fashioned out of brick than large slates of rocks, with grated, tracery windows and smaller columns fashioned more into the actual construction rather than as decoration. A warm, golden light filtered through some of the barred glass, a welcoming contrast to the cold stone and white and blue hues of the outside world. A few of the buildings had towers constructed into the sides of them, like smaller versions of the castle ahead.

The roads beneath them were a mix of cobblestone and dusty earth. They were also relatively empty. As they flew overhead, Hat Kid only spotted a few Dwellers wandering around, most of whom would either duck in surprise or stare as they passed by. The alien also couldn't help but feel that there was something familiar about the town, but maybe it was just the Dwellers themselves. She hadn't exactly gotten a warm reception when she first reached Subcon Village either—except for some of Snatcher's minions, who picked on her as the "newbie."

It was a short way to the castle through the town, although now it seemed a little bigger to Hat Kid than the first time, looking up at it from the steep side of the mountain. The Dweller dropped her off at the end of a small flight of stairs leading to its open entrance. "His Highness said that you could borrow a room in the palace," she explained, "I'm supposed to lead you to it… b-but he also wanted me to tell you that he's busy a lot, so you might need to go into town to get something to eat."

Hat Kid nodded. Although she wasn't feeling ill from the Horizon's ether right now, she didn't want to take any chances by waiting around for it to start affecting her. "Doesn't he have a cook though? Or I could just make something myself."

"No cooks," she shook her head, "Actually, the prince doesn't have any servants… Besides, it's not like we eat much: It's more of a… recreation, for us."

Hat Kid interrupted before she could finish explaining, "I thought you worked for him."

"Me? Oh no, I mean, not really. This is just a favor. He's our ruler, so of course most of us will help him out when we can. He does so much…" As they begun moving up the steps, the ghost continued, "Anyway, I don't think he'd want you in the kitchen alone either, since you're just a kid. Our town's got a baker though, and a few gardeners. You could visit them."

Hat Kid thought it over, a little puzzled. That meant she'd get the chance to explore the town a bit on her own—which she was looking forward to—but the fact that there was no one else in the castle besides Moonjumper was confusing. Well, Queen Vanessa technically lived by herself too, but she froze anyone that showed up and even then still had the headless statues under her command. She also remembered how empty the place felt before. The lack of people certainly wouldn't make it feel any comfier.

Well, this was her chance to stay in a castle, so she couldn't really complain. As creepy as he was, Moonjumper had been nothing but obliging to her too. Turning down the offer would be rude, especially given her search for the Time Pieces.

Servant or no, the Dweller seemed to know her way through the palace well. Other than pausing at a few corners to make sure she was going the right way, she led Hat Kid to the room with relative ease. After that, she gave the alien a meek goodbye and retreated back the way they came.

Like everything else the child had seen, the room—although somewhat big—was sparse. On the right, there was a large, wooden dresser painted a pure white. Ahead, a twin set of curtains that led out to an open balcony just big enough for one person to look out on. To the left was a cottage bed with a simple, blue comforter, although it looked like someone had dropped off a few extra blankets for her arrival. At the foot of it sat a cushioned bench and mason coffee table.

Someone had left a plate with some kind of tart and a glass of water waiting for her too. She wasn't sure what it was made from and it had a strong tang to it, but she pushed herself to eat every crumb of it nonetheless. Munching on the treat in silence, Hat Kid soon became all too aware of how empty the place was yet again. It reminded her of when she first began her journey out in space, before she built Rumbi—except this time she didn't have a TV or radio to drown out the quiet with. She wished she'd thought to have brought a book with her…

That in mind, her next objective quickly became to make the space feel more at home. She dug her dolls out of her backpack and placed them in groups on the bed and bench. Then, she grabbed two of the extra blankets and carefully covered them with each. Even toys got cold: Better that they wait for her in comfort while she worked.

She'd just stepped back to look over them all when she noticed something else on the tabletop, a note written with a precise, if old-fashioned hand:

I'm sorry I couldn't greet you myself. I hope you're comfortable here. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask the Dwellers or me. More importantly, don't forget to eat or drink regularly or if you begin to feel ill.

As for your Time Pieces, I'd recommend first checking the Magnetic Field. My watchman think they saw a few of the Lightning Sprites that live there carry one of them off. It's not very far from town, so you should find your way easily. Just be careful: The spites aren't too dangerous, but they can shock you.

Regards,
Moonjumper

Well, if that was true, then things were off to a good start. With little to work with and nothing else to do, Hat Kid figured she'd made herself comfortable enough. If she could go ahead and begin her search, then it was best to get going while the day was still young.