Before you read this, I need to state that do not own Lyra, Will or any of the other characters in this story. His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass and all related characters, concepts, and commercial offspring are the property of Philip Pullman, Scholastic Books, Random House Inc, New Line Cinema and all other right-holders. This is not for profit and is not intended to infringe upon any commercial endeavours.

For several minutes they simply lay on the grass recovering from the shock of their narrow escape. Serafina sank down to half sit and half lie on the grass. Kaisa settled just in front of her.

Lyra was the first to regain her wits.

"Are you alright Will?"

Will nodded. He was a little scratched and bruised but otherwise unhurt. All of their heads were ringing from the explosions.

Lyra looked around. They were on a gentle slope with a stream a few hundred yards away. They had nothing to eat but at least they could drink and wash themselves. She marked the place where they had entered this world and led them down to the stream.

She helped Will to wash his cuts and scrapes. When she turned to him again, after washing herself, she found he had fallen asleep, exhausted by the journey north from Oxford and the action in the manor house. A few minutes later Lyra was also asleep.

Will woke up first. It was dusk and Serafina had managed to gather enough wood to start a small fire and was sat on the other side of it. They regarded each other through the wisps of smoke. Serafina was first to break their gaze.

"Did you manage to sleep at all?" he asked trying to keep the conversation neutral until Lyra woke up.

"I didn't sleep. I've slept enough recently, but I do feel much better for sitting in the sun in the clean air."

She looked at Lyra, smiling in her sleep.

"I don't think I've thanked you properly for rescuing me," she started and abruptly changed the subject. "I can do that when Lyra wakes up. Will, you are angry with me." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yes," he replied.

"Not just about my suggestion that you had not broken the knife. You have been angry with me for some time."

"Yes," he replied again, keeping his answers short to make her do the talking.

"You blame me for separating you from Lyra?" she asked.

"No," he said, but realized that he would have to expand his answer this time. "I blame Xaphania for not doing more to help us. I want to know what she meant when she said that the angels would deal with the spectres. Perhaps I'm just a teenager raging about the unfairness of life. I think that is what Mary thought. But looking back it seems strange that after all we had been through and all the impossible things we had done we just allowed ourselves to be convinced that we had to live separately and we went along with it." He paused. "I blame you for supporting Xaphania instead of supporting us."

He looked up and saw the witch was looking at Lyra.

"I spent the first few hours when you were asleep wondering how I was going to persuade you to go back to your own worlds," she said. "I was even thinking of how I might have to take the knife off you. Then Kaisa asked me why I wasn't trying to think of a way for you to be together. When I spoke to Xaphania everything she said seemed to make sense. Now I am not so sure."

They sat in silence for several minutes and then Lyra stirred and woke up. She smiled at Will and then at Serafina. She could sense a reduction in the tension between them and was relieved.

They talked into the night looking like three conspirators in the flickering firelight. Serafina told them all she remembered from her conversations with Xaphania and Will and Lyra did he same. The problem still came to the same thing time and again. They had to return to their own world on a regular basis and the windows between the worlds had to remain closed. But why couldn't they cut windows if the Angels could "deal" with the spectres?

Serafina raised the question of the republic of heaven and was quite shocked to see both Will and Lyra so dismissive about it and their possible role in creating it.

"It just isn't realistic," said Will. "Not without help. Yes I can do what I can to be kind and cheerful but in the world I live in that isn't going to make a great deal of difference. In Lyra and your world we have just escaped from people who intended to torture you and me to get Lyra to do what they wanted. Yes it may be their actions that are evil rather than the people themselves but being good and kind and gentle wasn't going to help us against them."

The other issue was the knife itself. Will insisted that he had broken the knife as he had said he would and when Serafina inspected it she could see the blade was different from the last time she had seen it. She agreed with the Master that it had been pattern welded.

"It would take great skill to reforge the blade. Iorek mended it piece by piece but to reforge a weapon like this in such a way would be incredibly difficult. As difficult as creating it in the first place with the added complication of the pattern welding."

"Do you know who could have done it?" asked Will.

"No," Serafina replied. "Have you asked the alethiometer?"

Lyra shook her head.

"I can't think how to phrase the question."

"We could try to narrow it down by asking simple questions," suggested Serafina. "Instead of asking who reforged it we could try to work out where the work was done. Was it in Will's world or Citagazze or our world?"

They narrowed the problem down but only by eliminating places. Will and Lyra had been sure that Citagazze would be the place but the alethiometer denied this and that the Guild of alchemists had been involved. They asked whether Iorek had done it but to Lyra's relief the response was negative. To the surprise of Lyra and Serafina, Will suggested Xaphania had something to do with it, but the answer was still no.

Lyra tried asking outright who had reforged the knife, but she could not make any sense of the answer.

"There is something else we could try," said Serafina thoughtfully. "I could try a combination of a finding spell and a returning spell which we could cast on the knife itself. That would then allow you to cut a door into the world where the knife was reforged."

Will and Lyra agreed that was a good idea, but she warned them that they would have to return to her own world to be able to cast the spell.

"I think we need to do that anyway," said Lyra. "We need to get back to the intention craft. Saeunn Leira might find it and discover what it can do. We can't let that happen."

"You're right," said Will. "But I don't think she could use it herself. You need to have a daemon to be able to use it and I don't think that she has one. I think she comes from my world, or at least not from yours. Pan said she talked about electricity but you don't use that word in your world."

Lyra looked astounded at the idea but Serafina was nodding.

"She is totally unlike any witch I have come across before. I think you could well be right."

"Alright," said Will. "We should go back soon while it's still dark and we need to be some distance from the barn in case they are still watching it. We should get back to the craft and get it away from Saeunn. Are you going to be able to fly?" he asked Serafina.

She nodded.

"Yes, as long as I can find a cloud pine branch and I don't think that should be a problem. When we get to somewhere safe I will work the spell, but then I need to get back to my clan to warn them. Wait for me to get back and we can carry on together."

Will shook his head.

"Lyra and I will proceed as soon as we have found out where the knife was reforged."

Lyra did not look happy but Serafina knew she would side with Will.

"You don't trust me anymore," she said.

"I do trust you. But I have confidence in Lyra and myself to do what we need to do. I think you need to sort out the problems of the witches. We can't do that but you can."

Lyra and Serafina both nodded their agreement.

They tried to estimate the position of the craft in the other world and walked to that spot.

"Is there anything else we need to do before I cut through?" asked Will.

"Wait for just a moment," said Serafina and she looked straight into his eyes. He held her gaze for a few moments and then she looked away. She looked into Lyra's eyes. Lyra smiled at her but although Serafina was able to look longer than she had with Will she still looked away first.

"What is it?" asked Lyra.

"I had thought that your destiny was fulfilled. That you had done what it was intended for you to do but I sense the power in both of you. That there is more to come. I am afraid for you and afraid for all the rest of us."

Will drew the knife and created a window back into Lyra's world.