I hand her a small smile and wonder
what part of this moment will survive?
Whether words and kind deeds
leave traces in the soil?

-From The Girl Who Became a Tree by Joseph Coelho

Stories vary,
throat to throat,
and heart to foolish heart
but mine belongs to me
as much as them
so here I am
I will begin again
I will remember

-From Nuin, from Savage Her Reply by Deidre Sullivan

Ani hadn't been back to the forest since that day in either of her shapes.

Most of the others had, she knew. Even the ones who chose to remain on the periphery of the 'core group' like Judas and Memora had come by at least once. Eve hadn't, but then again that was Eve and she wasn't sure under the circumstances that counted. But most of them visited Kawaakari Academy's old grounds (or Riverlight Museum and Gardens as it now was) at least on a semi-regular basis. Sasi, of course, had her regular routine of staying in the cave behind the waterfall. And then there was Jun and Robyn, who straight up lived there. Despite that, she'd never stepped foot in any part of the grounds, not even once.

And until tonight, she hadn't ever flown over, either.

She wasn't sure why it was she found herself flying in this direction when she'd started her second night-flight for this week, but when the scenery below her changed to those familiar clusters of trees, despite the memories that suddenly clouded over her mind she did not turn away. Instead, she slowed the flapping of her wings and went a little lower as she continued to fly over Aeternum. She could see where the World Trees were, their array of dazzling hues distinct even from this high up, but she did not go closer to that direction. Just looking at them made her think of the smell of burning, tickling her nose. Instead she circled around and around, thinking of the other times she had been in Aeternum. Not just that night when she had been on Night Patrol but before that, with her friends, when they'd been silly kids looking for adventure and had found it…even if it wasn't quite the adventure they'd been looking for.

Gods, she thought, what a time that was. I wonder, is that place still there? She remembered the colours of that strange little dwelling deep in the forest and was sure that those too would be easily detectible from above, especially in the dark of the night but as she strained her eyes she could see nothing, despite the clearness of the spring night. She frowned, and then figured that it was most likely to have been hidden in the trees themselves and so she made the impulsive decision to land. She searched the clusters of trees for a clearing, and then she dived down, her claws sinking into the grass. Folding her wings down while her tail swished, she looked around her briefly before realising she could smell fresh blood and she turned abruptly to see a black panther coming into the clearing from the opposite end, holding a couple of birds in its mouth. The blue markings on its face glowed as it regarded her quietly and once again, memories clouded over her mind. And although speech was just as easy in dragon form as it was in human form, it took Ani a moment to be able to swallow past the block that had formed in her throat. When she had, all she could say was:

"Kaguya-san."

The panther blinked at her, and then inclined its head somewhere behind her. Taking this to mean that she should follow, she decided to do just that. Kaguya slipped ahead of her easily and she followed him deeper into the forest, watching as the various creatures either peeked out from their nests and dens to look at her or fluttered and wriggled away frantically. She snorted at that-she could hunt well enough in this form, but no matter how strong the urge to be in her dragon shape got she rarely felt the need to hunt. So she ignored them for the most part and concentrated on following Kaguya to a shelter hollowed out of a large yew tree, with another shelter made from old branches beside it and a stone circle for a fire nearby. Kaguya promptly transformed into his human shape and began to skin and gut the birds. Fascinated, Ani couldn't help but watch even as she padded around trying to find the best place to settle without knocking everything over with her tail.

"If you wish, you can turn back into your human shape, but do you think you could do the fire for me first?"

Ani didn't particularly want to-turning into a dragon was kind of the point of these excursions after all-but she realised that with the tree, other shelter and the circle for the fire, this space was much too small for her to stay comfortably. And for some reason, she wanted to stay. So she transformed back and moved to sit in front of the stone circle. Kaguya looked up at her, a smile seeming to tug at his bright eyes even though his mouth remained in a thoughtful line, before he returned to cleaning the birds. She gathered the sticks and piled them up the way she remembered doing more than a few times back in her Kawaakari days. Even on that trip we had a campfire, didn't we, she wondered. We lit a fire and roasted the marshmallows that we somehow managed not to lose and we…

She briefly re-transformed to get the fire going and then sat back down in her human shape, propping her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands as Kaguya skewered the birds and set them to cook. After making sure everything was set there, he turned his attention to her and studied her and she did the same, returning his gaze with what she hoped was an equal intensity. She looked at him, at his tunic shirt and leather trousers, the blue markings against his gentle tanned face, the long plait. She wondered what parts of her he was cataloguing, what memories he compared them against.

"Ani."

She blinked, startled by his voice.

"You…you recognise me."

"I do," Kaguya nodded. "Many years have passed, but I do think that even if it had been longer, I still would have. At the core of it, you haven't changed."

Ani snorted at this. She was an adult now, with a slight limp and fingers that were slightly crooked despite the best medical efforts, and scars over all her limbs. She knew the angles of her face were sharper than they had been in her youth, a map of everything she had experienced. She'd definitely changed, as far as she was concerned.

"You haven't." Kaguya insisted, though gently enough.

Ani was about to reply that Kaguya hadn't changed either, but she didn't because she thought he had. There wasn't anything about him that she could point to and say yes, that's what's changed but nonetheless there it was. Then again, perhaps it was the length of time. This entire forest, everything about it, it was familiar and yet so strange.

But since she wasn't any closer to figuring it out, she just nodded. Kaguya nodded back and turned his attention to the roasting birds. They sat in silence for a little while as she watched the fire, the smell of the roasting meat getting stronger with every second. Her mouth watered at it. Despite what they had done, she'd never had a problem with the smell of meat afterwards. Admittedly, she didn't think any of the others had ever been permanently put off, but she knew that for a while barbeques had made some of them queasy but for her, it'd never been like that. And everyone assumed that it was because she was a dragon too, and perhaps that was part of it but that had never been the reason for her.

It was because for her, it hadn't smelt like that at all. High up in the air, watching them burn and slowly transform from person-shape to tree-shape, it hadn't smelt like that at all. Not so much flesh as it was something more like charcoal and cedar, with the scent of the ceremonial herbs beneath it. In some ways that was worse, because they had been human. Every single one of her professors, even the Headmaster, had been human at the very core of it. They had been human, and yet their deaths hadn't smelt anything like a human death.

It occurred to her that Kaguya was human too, though she didn't know if he was human at the core or if it was just a separate aspect of him. She didn't think it made much of a difference.

Sniffing the air, she determined that the birds were ready and reached to take one.

"Careful, it's hot."

She just gave him a look and accepted it carefully. Sure enough, it was rather hot but she was able to grab ahold of the stick it was on without too much trouble and she chewed at it. It was a little tough, but good enough. It would have tasted better in her dragon form though, that much she knew. As she ate, she found herself looking all around her, trying to find any signs of the things she had seen that day but all that she saw were the endless trees and bushes, scuff marks indicating the path she and Kaguya had taken.

"Why didn't you stay as a panther to eat?" she asked him. "There's space enough, isn't there?"

"I suppose it is good to occupy space in different forms, sometimes." Kaguya answered after swallowing his mouthful.

"Do you have other forms, apart from human and panther, I mean?" Ani asked, realising she didn't know this at all.

Kaguya simply shook his head and Ani returned to her food. Despite the gap between them of age and shape and time, the silence they sat in wasn't exactly uncomfortable. Indeed, she actually quite liked it and so she savoured the bird despite it not being special, drew out every bite until all she was left with was a pile of bones and messy hands. Kaguya had finished as well and he got up to show her where he disposed of the remains before then taking her to a small stream that clearly fed into the river that this place had once been known for, not too far from his clearing. The fire they'd lit could still be seen through the bushes and that reassured her.

She knelt by the side of the stream and leant over to wash her hands, and her face too and in the process dripped a lot of water all over her clothes. She was vaguely aware of splashing nearby but didn't initially pay attention until she leaned back to see that Kaguya had clambered into the stream and was washing his entire body and not just his hands. A part of her felt as if she should be embarrassed and as if she should look away but she watched just for a moment, just a moment as his hands ran through the hair that was now loose and as the moonlight that trickled through the trees made the warmth of his complexion glow, the blue markings that were on his back sparkle. But more than that, what struck her was the expression on his face. Up until now, and indeed in the scattered memories that she had his face had always been implacable. Gentle, yes, always so very gentle even when he should have rightly been pissed off beyond belief. But enigmatic and indecipherable all the same, always considering and scrutinising but never giving anything for the looked-at to understand in return.

There was something to understand here though. Here and now under the dark of the night and the bright of the moon, the shadows and angles of his face were all different, and even though his skin wasn't any more or less lined than it had been when she'd still been young now she could see the way that time pulled at him, how tired he was. There was pain there, in every inch of him and she recognised it for what it was because she saw the exact things almost every day when she looked in the mirror. Even as she'd morphed from teenager to young adult and all the way into her forties she'd seen it there, plainer than anything. She saw it every day as she got ready, and she saw it every day on the faces of her friends. They did not walk around consistently miserable, they had lives and loves and things to keep going for, things that kept them fulfilled. Nonetheless it was there, everything they'd done and everything they'd lost. It was there.

And now it was on Kaguya's face, too.

That's it, she thought to herself, that's what changed. Looking back on the memories she had of him she couldn't remember any grief like this. Even accounting for the fact the adventure she'd had with Ruby and Aerin and the others was made somewhat blurry by their questionable decision to eat those mushrooms, she was sure she'd have remembered something like that. But she hadn't seen it at all. It was a change that had resulted from the years that had gone by, the weight of being without people that…

She dipped her hands into the water again, suddenly all too aware of the way her fingers twitched with the urge to reach out to touch his skin. To turn his face towards her and…and what, exactly?

"Heaven on earth, Ani," she muttered to herself. "Your love life's not that non-existent, is it?"

It wasn't that sort of desire stirring her, though. It wasn't that, not exactly.

"Are you going to stay here tonight, or are you expected back?"

Ani startled and stared up at Kaguya, who had dried off and changed, though still shirtless and with his hair loose. His expression had returned to its usual state. She felt herself blush inexplicably and told herself she was being a complete idiot before she answered.

"When I spend time flying as a dragon it's usually overnight, since we live in the city and all."

Kaguya nodded, perfectly calm. She couldn't tell whether he hadn't noticed that she was in a stupid mood all of a sudden or if he was just ignoring it.

"If you wanted spare clothes for tonight, I do keep some in the tent."

"I…."

Ani blinked.

"I was thinking that I might sleep out here, since I'm starting to feel a bit twitchy."

This was true, though it wasn't just because she was still human when she wanted to be in dragon shape. But she wanted to accept the kindness, too.

"Though, it will probably still feel uncomfortable so….if you're sure."

"I am, yes."

"In that case, thank you."

She got up, wiping her soaked hands on her clothes (after all, if she was changing them anyway there wasn't much point in trying to ensure they weren't wetter than they already were) and heading back to the small clearing. She paused by the fire to hold her hands over them, shaking off the last droplets of water and as she did she idly wondered what of his she'd even be able to borrow. Perhaps a tunic or something, maybe a shawl.

And then she got to the tent and peered inside and her heart stopped.

It didn't seem to be a place to sleep so much as a place to store things, although there was a bed-like arrangement of blankets and pillows at the far end. But though there were clothes that clearly belonged to Kaguya, there were also a pile of folded up clothes that, despite being folded, she recognised straight away from their patterns and colours. Carefully, carefully, she stepped over and pulled it off the pile and shook it out, holding it out to contemplate the hood, the geometric patterns against the purple,

"C'mon, Ani, pick one-oh, that's a cute one!"

"Go Ani, go Ani, dress up in the mushroom clothes."

"You dress up!"

"Girl, I'm already dressed."

"I…how do mushrooms get human clothes anyway but…huh, I suppose this one is nice."

"Let's go, Ani, and knock 'em dead!"

Her hands trembled as more hazy memories came back in. The feel of the clothes against her skin, and how odd they'd seemed once she and the others had arrived back at school and she was in her dorm room changing into pyjamas. How out-of-place they seemed, the edges seeming to shimmer like a mirage. When she'd woken up with a pounding headache from the effect of the mushrooms and seen the clothes gone she'd assumed that they'd just been part of the hallucination. The others had assumed it too, and that's what they'd told Samu when he'd joined the school and become one of them.

And yet, she still remembered slipping the clothes on, surprised at how soft they felt against her skin. The way the skirts felt as they swished around her legs, how the clothes had made her human shape feel utterly divine. She'd remembered that, and a part of her had thought there had to be more to it than a dream but she hadn't really believed, had she? Even tonight when she'd been peering through the trees for glimpses of those bright spots that she held in her hazy recollections, she hadn't really believed she'd ever find it and yet here she was holding something real.

Sensing something approach, she turned to see Kaguya standing just out of the tent and peering in.

"Are you alright?"

Ani opened her mouth, but realised that she was going to cry. Instead, she just held the clothes out in his direction. Kaguya studied them for a moment and then he sighed softly and stepped in. He reached out as if to take the clothes and rested his hands against the cloth but did not grip it. Instead he kept his hands there, close to where her own were clenching the material tightly. Ani swallowed, watching as he lowered his head and his eyes traced the patterns on the cloth, emotion creeping into his expression before his eyes flickered up to meet hers.

"These belonged to my mistress."

The lack of preamble threw Ani off for a moment, enough that initially what he'd actually said didn't quite sink in.

"They…the Goddess wore these?"

"Yes," Kaguya smiled, very slightly, but it was not a straightforward smile. "She hadn't needed to wear them for a long, long time by the time you and your friends came along-"

"But you kept them. Kept them safe and we…"

"You did nothing wrong. Nobody did, but I suppose some of the nymphs were a little…over-excited by having visitors, especially ones in such good spirits as you were even if it was influenced."

"By mushrooms."

Kaguya nodded and he looked down at the garment again. Ani expected him to step away, move his hands from the cloth, anything but instead he remained where he was. Close enough that if she were to act on the thoughts that'd fleetingly crossed her mind at the stream then all she'd have to do was let go of the garment and reach out. It'd be so easy to do that and she knew she couldn't, for so many reasons.

Besides, that's not really what I'm looking for, is it?

"Did you love her? Goddess Kagami, I mean?"

"She was my mistress."

Ani rolled her eyes but waited, not quite trusting herself to say anything. But it didn't seem like he was going to say anything. She thought of the stories her nieces shared. The ones that they'd heard from Kaguya, not just about them specifically, but about everything. She thought of what Mist had said about when she'd gone into the forest to find the bodies of Frost's other victims and ended up rescuing the four from Otohime's pool instead. Was the face he showed her then similar to what I'm seeing now? She wondered.

"What about Otohime-san?"

Kaguya seemed to consider this.

"In a manner of speaking, we were the same age. And I have always regretted not being able to intervene in what happened to her."

"I can understand that," Ani said. "I can understand that. I…that day, when everything collapsed and we fell. I don't remember being pulled out, I must have been unconscious but later on I was lying there and we hadn't been rescued yet. And I could hear Aerin, asking for Samu over and over and her voice was just climbing up and up and then, suddenly, there'd be a 'sleep, now 'and it'd stop for a while and then it'd start again and I could hear it…"

Sleep, now. Sleep, now. Sleep, now. Cain's crushed-velvet voice over and over and the tendrils of enchantment just brushing at her edges but never quite reaching and how she'd wanted to be able to sleep, now too but she couldn't. She'd been awake through every crushing second of pain and somehow she'd known that most of them were gone. And when she'd learnt that she'd been right, that Aerin and Ruby had been the only ones left she'd clung so tightly to them. She had poured herself into helping Ruby build her empire and making sure Aerin didn't drown under her own personal guilt. And sure, it was mostly through that that she'd been able to put herself back together, but even so she'd still had them. But…

"You didn't have anyone, did you? All these years?" Ani murmured.

"I have seen your friends, and their children-your nieces, I think you refer to Ruby Reiko's children as, though I do not know if I have seen you."

"You wouldn't have. This is the first time I've been here since back then. But still, that's not the same, is it? It's not the same as having someone."

She'd had someone. She had two, and even though it was such a small remainder of what she'd once had she still had them, at least. She had them and she had others, she had other things. She didn't have the right to be wanting, and yet here she was standing here all of a sudden feeling the type of lonely that she wanted to kiss away, except not really, not really. Just thinking of it, even though it made her chest hot and hands tingle it also suddenly made the tent feel too small, her skin twitching the way it did when she needed to change shape and get away and yet she couldn't, because then if she did she'd be alone again, alone in this need to be a different shape.

And that's the thing, isn't it? The thing that I don't have. The others, even though they'd had full versions of their transformations, and used them periodically, none of them had ever felt the need to just exist in those forms from time to time. They existed happily with just their tails swishing out behind them as they conducted their daily business, their fangs and claws coming out when they meant business, scales decorating their faces like tattoos rather than simply being their skin. She did those things too, of course, but even then it hadn't quite been enough. As for after that day and the eternity spent lying there between wakefulness and unconsciousness, the impact of the concrete having shocked her back into human form and preventing her from transforming back again?

After that, it could never be enough again.

And they supported her. Ruby and Aerin, they supported her as they always did. Accepted her as she was, and she did the same for them, and they were her best friends still. Sisters by something more than blood or family line. Yet sometimes, she found herself feeling like this. Yet she'd always assumed that it would always be like that, and usually after flying around for a night in the zones she knew she wouldn't be mistaken for a pure dragon she'd be fine.

Not now, though. Not now.

The intimacy she had been thinking of wouldn't fix that, even if she did decide to just…make a move anyway. It wasn't that she needed, though and she knew it. She just wanted an understanding, a kindness that sat quietly beyond all things, something that didn't have a category but that would fill the gap in her, even if just for a moment. She let the garment fall, tried not to think of the memories attached to it becoming dirtied by the earth and she ran out of the tent and past the fire, back to the river and transformed again. She lifted her head and stared up at the stars and flapped her wings, readying herself to fly…but she did not fly. She flapped again, let out a breath (careful not to blow flames) and told herself she should just go, go and find somewhere else to sleep the night away before she made her way home.

But Ani, he doesn't have anyone.

Slowly, she turned around and saw that he'd come out again, in his panther shape this time, holding the garment carefully in his mouth. He padded over and dropped it by her feet and she stared at it for a moment before she transformed back and picked the clothes up. Kaguya then padded away and she quickly shrugged off her wet clothes and put on the garment. It felt exactly as she remembered it, but she didn't want to dwell on it, instead quickly transforming back to see that Kaguya had put out the fire by the tent and was putting together another one a short distance away, though still in his panther form. Gathering up sticks a mouthful at a time, he would then put them down and push them together with his paws. Ani watched quietly, and then when he had stepped aside she carefully blew a stream of fire on the finished arrangement, watching the flames flicker and dance. Kaguya then came to lie beside her, closer than she had expected. She held in a breath, but then he said:

"It was real."

Ani blinked, not immediately understanding.

"Perhaps it did not actually happen, as such. But you tell the stories, yes? All this time you told the stories, and I have told the stories and that's a truth in itself, don't you think?"

"I…"

"You were Storytellers, even then." Kaguya said gently. "You were all Storytellers-after all, that was how you ended things."

In response to that, Ani took in a deep breath, taking lungfuls of smoke in. This wood-smoke did not smell like that wood-smoke. Still, the scent made her eyes water and not just because of its prickling quality.

"Yes…I suppose that's true. I have that, at least. But…what about you? Who tells you the-no, actually. Would you like me to tell you stories?"

Kaguya tilted his head at her.

"I mean, you said it yourself, right? It's good to exist in a different shape, sometimes. But it's lonely, too, without someone to share that with. Let's…let's stay like this, tonight. And I'll tell you stories, all the stories I know."

When Kaguya just blinked at her, she couldn't hold back the tears in her voice, her eyes. She just couldn't.

"Please."

"Alright."

She wasn't sure if she imagined it, but Kaguya shuffled just a fraction closer to her than he had been. Still not touching, not even brushing against her scales. But closer, enough to feel his warmth as he curled up and rested his head against his paws, looking towards her and waiting. A few more tears fell, and then she took a gentle breath before starting:

"Listen here, listen now..."

The stories she told were ones she made up, right there and then, taking bits from things that had happened and things that existed only in her own imagination. She mixed rumours with facts, filled the gaps with ideas of her own inventions and made them come together in stories, wove them together as she spoke. In the telling, each of the stories took on a reality of their own, holding fast until one story finished and she launched into the next one. And the next one, and the next one, and the next one until her voice started to tire out and she sensed Kaguya's breath evening out into sleep.

Wrapping up the final story she gazed at him a moment, then closed her eyes. She could feel the stories that she had told lingering in the air around them and their effect was soothing, calming. Enough to calm her own breathing until it matched his. Still on the boundary between wakefulness and slumber she marvelled at it, at how their breathing was in sync while they lay there, side by side in their different shapes. Stories between them, bridging that understanding.

That understanding, that kindness. It lay there quietly, beyond all things.

It's this, she thought, it's this I was looking for tonight.

And now that she'd found it, she was able to go to sleep.

…

In the morning, they ate breakfast together before Ani left. Her clothes had dried, so she changed back from the purple gown from the story of her adventure back into those clothes but still felt a pang as she did so.

"You can keep those, if you want."

"No, it's okay. They're a memory for you, too, aren't they? Of your mistress."

Kaguya's face flickered briefly as he stared down at the material.

"And now, it'll also be a memory of me." Ani added.

When he looked up at that, she grinned at him and after a moment he smiled back and nodded. Carefully, he folded the garment but didn't make a move to put it away. He just held it, not quite hugging it but still keeping it close to him.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you."

She didn't see a need for a formalised goodbye beyond that, so she transformed back and flew away. She felt a weight lift off of her as she got further away from Aeternum and something else settle there instead. When she got home and climbed through the window that had been left open for her though, she stared back through it. She couldn't see any part of Riverlight from here but she found herself wondering if Kaguya was still standing there, looking at the spaces she had occupied.

"Aunty Ani!"

Ani turned around to see her thirteen-year-old niece Amarantha and the nine and six year olds, Lyra and Hoshi, peering around the door and grinning at her.

"Did you have fun flying, Aunty Ani?" Lyra asked.

Ani glanced out of the window one more time and then turned to face them fully.

"I did, yes. Would you like to hear about it?"

"YEAH!" all three girls cheered.

"Come on then, let's go and have breakfast."

…

A few weeks later, as Ani was catching up with some admin in one of the workrooms, another of her teenage nieces came fluttering in all panicked. Quite literally fluttering. The ends of Larkin's hair had turned to feathers and her wings were sprouting, which along with her rapidly fluttering hands were clear signs something had distressed her.

"I…..I….." she hiccupped.

"Come, come on," Ani quickly shepherded Larkin in. "What is it? Where's Ruby?"

"M-mum's w-with the li-little ones…."

Larkin sat down on a chair, dislodging a pile of half-made hats but barely noticing. Ani found a juice carton she'd bought up for her own purposes but forgotten to drink and passed that to Larkin, whose hand-shaking gradually subsided enough to grab it and take a few sips. Her wings folded back in and disappeared and that was when Ani knelt by the chair and gently asked again.

"What is it?"

Larkin looked at her with red-rimmed eyes and started to speak but then Ruby appeared by the door, with most of the other children with her.

"Ani," Ruby said without preamble. "Kaguya's dead."

Ani couldn't breathe, for a moment. Nothing was burning, but all she could smell all of a sudden was woodsmoke. Ceremonial fires. Ruby stared at her, and then told the eldest girl, Roxana, to take the other children away. Larkin also got up and left with them and once she had, Ruby went to sit in the same chair.

"Oh, oops," she said as she knocked more hats and some scarves down. "Never mind. Oh, Ani."

"Oh, Ani what?" Ani muttered, because it was all she could manage.

Ruby leant forward and grabbed Ani's hands. The woodsmoke smell started to subside, but it lingered.

"What…." Ani managed. "What happened?"

"Just faded away, that's all. Just faded away. His time must have come, that was all. We knew he was mortal after all, even if his life was a lot longer than ours will ever be. But that day…he became special to you, right?"

"You make it sound like I had an affair."

"Did you?"

"What? No!"

But Ani's cheeks reddened just a little, remembering how she'd thought of it, at least. Ruby chuckled sadly.

"Yeah, I didn't think so, you've more sense than that. But even so. He did, didn't he?"

"I…yeah…" Ani sighed. "What happens next, then?"

"Funeral rites are done already-they had to be done quickly, something about him being a deity."

"Robyn?"

"No, she didn't. She wanted to, but apparently there's a different set of rituals for powerful deities that only necromancers associated with the Imperial Law or Family can carry out. Even if she could have, though, I don't think Jun would have wanted her to. We'll do a thing when Crow Moon comes around and I'm going to organise something for the girls, and the other kids. Especially Kenna and Cari, since they probably knew him the best after our little munchkins but….do you want to do something?"

Ani blinked, not knowing how she could answer that question. Ruby gave her a smile and then reached behind her. It took Ani a moment to realise that Ruby was wearing a backpack and she just waited as Ruby took things out of them. Even before she did, though, she knew exactly what they would be. Her one, the purple one, was right at the top of the pile and she picked it up and held it out for a moment. Ruby shook the next one out-beige with bright zig-zags-and stroked the material.

"I almost didn't believe it, you know," Ruby said. "When you told us about these."

"You never said anything though?"

"No….I. Well, we can't be everything to you, after all."

"Ruby, that's-"

"No, it's not a bad thing, I'm not that sad about it," Ruby insisted. "I mean I am, a little, because you and Aerin, you're both mine and I'm yours and everyone else was too. Siblings by something more, that's what we were and still are even though it's only us three left. But even so, I know it's different for you, the way the magic flows through you compared to us. I know that despite everything that we are to each other and always are, we can't be everything to you because of that. We just can't. It's just how it is. So I'm glad, you know, that in the end you were able to get back to Aeternum and find this. I'm glad that Kaguya-san could be that person for you, even if it wasn't for long enough-"

"No, it was enough."

"It…it was?"

Ani nodded, because it was true. One night had been enough, because she'd always have it with her. She knew that he probably had had it too, and given that these weeks had been the final ones she was extra-glad of that, too. Ruby tilted her head for a minute, then reached for Ani's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"In that case, good. So, then, did you want to do anything to say goodbye?"

Ani considered this for a moment, and realised that there was one thing that would be fitting. After all, even though Ruby and Aerin couldn't be everything to her, they were still everything. Sisters by something more than blood or family line. And she'd always have them, too. So she nodded, and Ruby grinned.

"Come on, then. Let's go and tell Aerin."

…

It took them a couple of weeks to arrange everything, not least who would stay with all of the girls for the night (the answer to that turned out to be Michii, with help from Asuka). But once schedules were cleared and childcare was sorted, the three of them headed out towards Aeternum, clad in the garments that had made their silly adventures real. Robyn and Jun had heard that they were going and offered to put them up for the night, but Ani had refused and the others followed her lead. Instead, she transformed and flew Ruby and Aerin over and landed gracefully.

Kaguya's tent and belongings were long gone-with the exception of the clothes which had been given to them, everything had gone to the museum-but the clearing was almost exactly as she remembered it from that night. She transformed back to human to help build a fire, cook the food and set up tents for in case it got too cold, before they all transformed into their reptilian shapes.

And then, as they ate, they told each other stories.

The stories they told were ones they made up, right there and then, taking bits from things that had happened and things that existed only in each other's imaginations. She mixed rumours with facts, filled the gaps with ideas of her own inventions and made them come together in stories, wove them together as she spoke as Ruby and Aerin did the same. In the telling, each of the stories they told took on a reality of their own, holding fast until one story finished and the next person launched into the next one. And the next one, and the next one, and the next one until their voices started to tire and sleep started to tug at them.

Once she wrapped up the final story, she curled then closed her eyes. She could feel the stories that she had told lingering in the air around them and their effect was soothing, calming. Enough to calm her own breathing until it matched theirs. Still on the boundary between wakefulness and slumber she marvelled at it, at how their breathing was in sync while they lay there, side by side in their different shapes. Stories between them, reminding each other of everything they were and always would be. How, even though everything they'd lost and done would remain with them, so too would their sisterhood.

That understanding, the kindness of it. Though it was of a different type to what she'd found on that one spring night, this enduring solace was also something that sat there quietly, beyond all things.

And it was enough.