The next morning dawned gray and cold. Eda had been examining the runestone all night and had

finally fallen asleep bundled under a nest of blankets.

"Weh?" King, who had been napping in Eda's hair tumbled out, holding one of Glimmer's stuffed animals.

"Eda! Eda! Wake up!" Luz and the Plantar kids were grinning down at her.

"You don't want to miss our first adventure exploring this magical new world" Luz said enthusiastically.

"Magical. Right." Eda said sardonically.

Polly rubbed her hands together. "So many chances to be a despotic ruler"

Sprig bounced up and down. "I want to hunt in the Whispering Woods!"

Anne gave him finger guns. "Hop Pop said no, so you should absolutely go hunting in the woods."

"Yay!"

Eda groaned. "Too many children too early. What's a witch gotta do for a cup of apple blood around

here?"

"No apple blood, but Bow gave me some coffee" Luz handed her a pink crystal cup. Ea took a long sip.

"Yuck. Humans drink this?" Eda asked, wiping the coffee off her tounge.

"Wanna go wake up Hop Pop?" Sprig asked.

Anne and Polly agreed heartily. "You'll love this Luz." she said "Hop Pop sleeps with his eyes open. It's so weird. It's great!"

They crowded into a bedroom where sure enough Hop Pop was snoring, eyes wide open.

"Awesome" Luz whispered, poking him.

Anne grinned and took a deep breath. "Wake up, Hop Pop!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Hop Pop jumped straight up. "What? Say what?" he smacked his lips and yawned. "I'm up, I'm up kids"

"We're going into town, Hop Pop!" Sprig bounced on the bed.

Their four hosts came into the room, Glimmer knocking on the door frame. Eda was behind them choking down the coffee.

"After breakfast we're going on a supply run to a town we know around here." Bow said. "We thought you could come along, get some stuff to make your stay comfortable. Plus, the general store has like a ton of second hand magical items from Mystacor. There could be something Luz and Eda could use."

"I still think I should buy property there" Catra smirked. Adora smacked her lightly on the arm and Catra laughed.

They all sat down to breakfast. Eda passed Hop Pop her cup of coffee and he drank thankfully.

"Frog save us from teenagers" he muttered.

"Amen to that, brother."

Bow put a doggie dish full of steak on the floor for King.

"I am not a dog!" King yelled, stomping his foot.

Bow's eyes sparkled and he practically squealed. "Such a cute dog!"

"Meh, whatever" King shrugged and dug in.

"Get used to that, King, he still squeals over my ears" Catra muttered.

"But they're so cute!"

"Shut up, Bow!"

Glimmer and Adora cracked up.

After they ate, Glimmer had them all stand in a circle.

"Are you sure you can do this with all of us?" Bow asked in a concerned look.

Glimmer kissed him sweetly, making him blush. "It'll be fine"

"What will?" Luz asked. Before anyone could blink Glimmer touched Bow's shoulders and suddenly

they were in a field across from a town.

They arrived at a town straight of of a European fairy tale except there were mushroom people bustling across the cobbled town square.

"Freaky, dude" Anne shuddered.

"Cool" Luz said, eyes wide and bright.

A bunch of people waved at them and some cheered.

"Finally, the recognition I deserve!" Polly cried, swelling with pride with an evil look.

"You said it! Bow to me, weird fungus people" King waved his arms, tied securely to Eda's in a baby sling.

"Cut it out" Eda drawled.

Adora waved back at the townsfolk. "Yeah, we liberated this town from the Horde a while ago, it was kinda a big deal" Adora said with just a hint of smugness. She rubbed at her nose.

"Except Glimmer" Bow said pointedly, crossing his arms and glaring at his girlfriend. "blew our cover"

"I said I was sorry" Glimmer grabbed him and gave him a noogie. Adora laughed.

"And Sparkles says we act like kids" Catra said lowly in Adora's ear, smirking.

"Yeah-uh! Shopping spree!" Anne cheered, noticing the general store. "Hop Pop can we please have more than three coppers this time?"

"No, Anne"

"Boo" Anne said. She grabbed Luz's hand and pulled her to the store. "Come on, Luz it's been forever since I went shopping with a girl my own age. Not since...well never mind, let's just go!"

They went inside, the bell announcing their arrival. Luz gasped and ran to a small book shelf. She picked up a book and blew off the dust. "I don't believe it! They have fantasy books here! I wonder what a fantasy book in a world that's already fantasy is like" she mused.

Anne put down a teapot and looked at the book in bemusement. "Man, I don't understand that stuff. You should meet my friend Marcy, she loves that stuff"

"My friend Amity does too. I miss her." Luz blushed. "And my friends Willow and Gus!"

Anne slid to the floor. "I miss Marcy. I just found her again. I wonder what she's doing right now." she said wistfully. "And Sasha." she paled. "Actually scratch that. Better not think about what Sasha is doing."

Luz moved to put her hand on Anne's when she stood rigid with shock.

"Is that...?" Luz whispered. She rushed over a bucket with a few canes and broken umbrellas. She pushed them aside and grabbed a broken staff. "No way...is there...I have to tell Eda!"

"What?" Anne asked.

Luz pulled Anne up and they ran to the town square where the others were haggling with a produce stand vendor.

Hop Pop had his arm rested casually on the stall. "Come on, from one vegetable vendor to another, can't you give us a discount?"

"No" she said flatly with a bored expression.

"Eda! Eda" Luz cried, waking the broken staff.

"What's going on?" Sprig asked as he bounced over. Polly rolled beside him.

"Dunno, I'm just here for the ride." Anne admitted.

Luz showed Eda the bottom of the staff where there was an elaborate groove patterned carved.

"That's an interlock." Eda said in a small voice, taking the staff and examining it. "This is a Palisman. This is from the Isles! But it's ancient."

Luz nodded. "Whatever happened to us, it happened before."

They were reeling from this development when Bow's tracker pad made a dinging sound.

Bow turned it on, distractedly.

"Go, Entrapa."

Entrapa's face appeared on the screen. She was grinning widely. There was a small, worrisome explosion from her computer in the background.

"You have to get to Dryl right now! I found something incredible!"