It was a sound like the crack of thunder. It was a flash like lightning. There was the pain of ears ringing, of the world falling out from beneath her feet, and the tightness in her chest that made her heart feel like it would burst. It was the Old Nightmare, as she'd come to know it. And the fog it cast in her mind clouded the world, lengthened shadows and darkened the trees. The spinning, the endless spinning of the soil beneath her, faster and faster.

And then it stopped, and from the clutches of the Old Nightmare she awoke, gasping. Her chest heaving like every time before, she got unsteadily to her feet and wiped the tears that pooled in the corners of her eyes. She called out to the foggy world around her in a small voice, fearful and desperate.

This land was not familiar.

This nightmare was not hers.

Terrified, clutching her clawed paws close to her chest and shivering she stepped through the looming trees, her eyes searching without seeing. It was worse than blindness, it was unknown.

These were not her trees.

She stumbled forward, claws digging into the soil beneath her, and with a fear of reprisal she hacked through the underbrush. Anywhere but here was better. Anywhere but here, where the Old Nightmare still stirred.

The brush fell away and showed her naught but more brush. Again and again, she swung her claws through the vegetation, but the green did not end. Her swings became heavy, desperate, and her face collapsed into despair, tracks of tears staining her blue fur the color of midnight.

There it was, once again. The clearing. The shaft of light. There it was, where the Old Nightmare lay.

She collapsed in the shaft of light and looked to the sky. Her vision swam with tears and she cried to heavens, raising her arms and begging:

"Where am I?"

And from the brush came her answer.

"A rather dangerous forest, I'd say." The voice became the figure of a lucario. On his arm, a length of cloth tied into a knot. Snow and midnight. His eyes found her and filled with comprehension and compassion. "You're confused. Lost. It's fine, it happens. I can help you."

Her voice was like cracked glass. "H-help...me?"

"Yes." He nodded and approached, offering her a paw to help her up. "It... is a thing I do. My name is Outrider. And you are?"

The crack of thunder. The flash of lighting. The spinning, the falling, the breathless screams. Her body was struck with uncontrolled shivers and she sagged down as her legs lost their strength and she nearly dragged Outrider down with her.

"Are- are you alright? Are your legs hurt?" he asked, his face lined with worry.

The weavile looked down at her legs and traced her eyes up to her chest. "I don't... remember my name." She began to hyperventilate. "I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember..."

Outrider seized her shoulders and stood her up. "Calm down," he said directly to her tear-streaked face. "Breathe. Think. Slowly and carefully."

She saw white sand, blue skies, wet caves and murky waters. The sounds of the Old Nightmare filled her head. One sound dominated it.

"R-ran."

"Pardon?" asked Outrider.

"Ran. My name. My name is Ran."

She was half right.

She did not know him, had no reason to trust him, but still Ran found herself comforted by Outrider's leadership. Perhaps it was the freedom from the forest behind them that wound into itself endlessly, or perhaps it was the fact she was no longer alone – whatever it may have been, she had reached some kind of peace.

But that was shattered not more than a few hundred paces into their journey. Outrider raised an arm and tossed a single hushed command at her: "Stop."

The brush before them rustled, and the figure of a scrafty materialized from it. The cold glare it wore, its bared teeth, and the slight hunch in its posture made its hostile intentions clear. Outrider put himself between Ran and the scrafty, raised his paws and took a defensive stance. "Save your energy. I don't know how long you were in that forest, but I have the energy for a fight."

Ran couldn't control the shaking in her body. She felt sick. Her stomach twirled in place, and her vision began to narrow as her head filled with cotton. Her arms, her legs – everything burned. Her breathing became uneven, like her lungs had suddenly shrunk, and she dropped down on all fours almost instinctively.

Outrider had not noticed, and rushed the scrafty a moment later, bringing a rising knee up into the lizard's stomach and launching it skyward. The lucario jumped up after it, his fist reared back, but instead met an axe kick that connected with the crown of his head and sent him back down to the ground with a crash. The scrafty landed heavily a few paces away, clutching his stomach, alive with rage.

"Don't... get involved." Outrider rubbed his head and groaned as he struggled to get up. "I can deal with this." On his feet and swaying slightly, the lucario shook his head and readied himself for the now charging scrafty.

Something in Ran urged her forward. Commanded her forward. Her limbs were not her own anymore. She tore forward and put herself between Outrider and the scrafty in a flash, and met the lizard's flying punch with claws interlocked to form a shield. The force of the impact sent jolts of pain through her paws and up her arms. It was almost excruciating. As the two fell back to the ground, she unlocked her claws and deflected a spinning kick, then caught a follow up punch, her claws like razors biting into the scrafty's arms.

The pokemon snarled in pain and dove away from Ran, his eyes searching her up and down as he fell back into his slouch.

And then something yanked Ran's mouth into a smile.

She bounded towards the scrafty, each step like a feather falling onto water, and dove at him with a hideous screech. She saw a fist come up and strike her squarely in the cheek, but it was too late. Her claws found purchase in his shoulder, embedding themselves nearly down the digits, and the howl of pain from the stuck lizard sent something in her chest soaring.

She kicked into the scrafty, her clawed toes digging into his leg and stomach and the pokemon fell backwards, bellowing. There was something else in the faraway din of her quarry's screams. No matter. The claws fell upon him, filling her vision with red. The screams were fading, and the thrashing beneath her was too.

There was so much red.

A gasp of glee fell from Ran's mouth, drummed up from somewhere past her lungs, past her stomach. Somewhere far away. After the Old Nightmare, the neverending trees, the fear and hopelessness, after the blinding fear, she was soaked in joy.

Something collided with her head1 and her vision opened. The pinpricks that saw only a slack jaw and lifeless eyes became wide once more, and Ran saw the sky. Her chest heaved, her body ached, and the strings that made her weightless snapped. The last minute played in her head at top speed and horror filled her belly. She rolled over and gagged, retched, heaved but coughed up nothing more than spittle. She retched and coughed, clutching her stomach all the while, and then curled into a ball and sobbed into her paws.

She felt something kick her gently onto her back and peel the claws from her face. "By the graces of our forebears, what did you do?" Outrider filled her vision, his face distorted by her tears. Fear, confusion and concern lived side by side in his expression.

"I-I don't...I don't know." Ran looked away from him. "It just happened." She turned to look back at him. "Please believe me."

There was a pause, and then Outrider helped Ran up and gently dragged her over to the body of the scrafty. "Look."

"I don't want to." She stared determinedly up at the sky.

"Look."

"Please, I don't-"

"There is not one bloody creature where we are headed that has not looked the death of restraint in the eyes. Look or so help me I WILL MAKE YOU."

Her body seized with uncontrollable shivers, Ran slowly looked down at the dead scrafty. She turned away almost immediately and retched again. "I'm sorry."

"To me, or to this poor soul?" Outrider let go of her arm and sighed. "We have to make a stop somewhere, now. There is a small river not far from the path we were taking back to my village."

Ran chanced another glance at the scrafty and regretted it immediately as another dry heave gripped her. It was everywhere. She swung her vision past the corpse, directly at Outrider's retreating back. "Why a river?"

"You stink of blood and heat."

Ran sank into the water of the river and shivered. Pleasant though the temperature was, the sight of the water around her staining a deep red as the blood that had soaked onto her fur loosened and washed away made her feel uneasy.

"You don't talk much." She said this more to her wobbling, distorted knees beneath the rippling water than to Outrider, who stood a few feet away on the bank, washing his paws and face.

"Could say the same about you." He stood and shook the water as best as he could off his hands. "I was under the impression you weren't one to chat."

"What made you think that?" asked Ran, looking up at him.

"The silence."

"But you were..." Ran looked away and scratched her stomach. "I guess I should have been the one to talk, huh?"

"Doesn't matter, you were just scared. Silence is to be expected. That or being overly verbose I suppose." The sound of gently lapping water met Ran's ears as Outrider stepped into the river and walked over to her. "I wouldn't worry too much about what happened back there."

Ran stared back at Outrider, ashamed. "That doesn't help..."

"It happens to everyone at least once. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally."

"Really?"

"Yes. Whether it be from blind anger, poorly constrained strength, or even just naïve youth. To kill is unnecessary in all but the most dire of circumstances." Outrider studied Ran's face for a moment. "That was not a dire circumstance."

The weavile hung her head. "Did it happen to you?"

"Yes."

Ran felt the load in her stomach lighten. "What happened?"

Outrider turned from her and strode back out of the river. "I'd rather not discuss that."

The load dropped back down into the pit of her stomach. "Maybe, eventually?"

There was a pause. "Finish washing up."

The clearing was immense – far larger than the structures called for. Buildings made of roughly hewn planks of wood mismatched with whole logs, half logs and bits of dried mud. Roofs of thatched straw, criss-crossing grasses, and some of shaped soil and clay. They bore color, faded in places, vibrant in others. Greens, reds, the rare blue and purple. Sections of wall with splashes of orange, and every doorway rimmed with a brilliant yellow that stood in sharp contrast to the dull wood doors, all of which varied tremendously in build quality.

Ran took note of the rickety tower a few paces away, made of thick sticks and roughly cut logs, atop of which sat a bed of leaves. The mass rustled, and a farfetch'd emerged. Much like Outrider, it bore a cloth of snow and midnight, but it was wrapped around its head, covering one of its eyes.

"You alright there, Sentry?" Outrider came to a stop at the base of the tower and put his hands on his hips, looking skyward up at the duck.

A feminine voice called back, "Just making sure we're not under attack." She yawned and hopped down from the tower, spreading her wings wide to glide gently to the ground. "I was having such a nice dream too."

The mound of leaves atop the tower rustled again and a chespin emerged, rubbing his eyes and calling out, "Did something happen? Is it hero time?"

"No, go back to sleep, little one." called up Sentry. She turned to look at Outrider, but her gaze kept going and snapped to Ran and her expression changed to one of surprise. "And who is this?" She waddled over to the weavile and began to circle around her. Now and again she poked at Ran with her leek, once softly in the stomach, once to raise her chin up and once more in the small of her back. "She's sopping wet. You find her half-drowned?"

"No. She needed a wash." said Outrider. "She assisted me in a fight against a wild scrafty." He turned to look Ran in the eyes. She quailed immediately under his gaze. "She is...effective."

"Hmmm, I don't like the sound of that." Sentry tucked her leek under her wing and tilted her head. "How effective are we talking here?"

"I'm s-sorry." stammered Ran. "Really, I am. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She looked helplessly between the farfetch'd and lucario. "Please, I didn't-"

"That is quite enough." Sentry looked into the settlement and then back at Ran. "I believe you. Judging from your expression, I'd say you know we aren't really the type to spread a wildling across the forest floor in thin sheets of blood and sinew."

"That is a rather apt description of what she did, Sentry." said Outrider, smiling.

The farfetch'd pointed a long feather at her covered eye and laughed. "Well, show her around Nomad. I'm sure the others will be happy to know someone who can take care of themselves has stumbled into our little group." She flew up to her perch and wheeled the curious chespin staring down at Ran around.

"Let's get moving. You need to meet everyone so we can figure out what to do with you." said Outrider.

"Did she say this place is called Nomad?" asked Ran.

"Yes. Before you ask, it has that name because it stuck. We were originally much fewer in number, and intended to stop in this clearing only to rest. That, as you can see, did not happen." The two steadily approached a small structure made of wood and moss-covered stone bearing a straw roof alive with different blooms. On each end of the structure was a wall made of mismatched stone. It came up to just above Ran's head.

"Why not change the name?" Ran shifted her attention from Outrider as she said this to the roof. It was beautiful. "That's so pretty."

"The home of our farmers. Plow and Planter. Call the name 'Nomad' ironic. The death of original intent brought forth the contradictory spirit of our reality."

A sudowoodo stood up from behind the wall abruptly and turned to look at Outrider. "Boy, ain't no one here lookin' to send someone as dead useful as you out to a bigger village to speak pretty, so why do you keep on doin' it?"

"For the same reason no one is sending you, Plow, out to a village to tend plants - unless we're interested in having them accuse us of sabotage." shot back Outrider.

The sudowoodo stared hard back at the lucario for a moment and then burst into laughter. "Good to see it's you that's back and not some 'ark lookin' to raid us." Plow looked down at Ran and smiled. "And who might you be?"

"Ran. I'm...uh, new here." She fidgeted under his gaze.

"Well that much was already mighty obvious. Ain't ever had a weavile round these parts. Clime feelin' alright for ya?"

"Y-yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Yer kind the type to like snow and all that, innit?" Plow looked up to Outrider. "That is what they like, right?"

Outrider shrugged. "The few times I've seen her kind have been in other villages. One mentioned off hand they missed the mountains they used to live in but it wasn't worth it to struggle the way he had to for food and shelter."

"Well don't go meltin' on us, y'hear? Could do with a nice bowl of shaved ice and berry juice some time when the heat kicks up somethin' fierce." Plow gave her a toothy grin and then turned around. "Planter! Planter, come say hello! New friend gonna be stompin' around these parts!"

A lurantis appeared beside the sudowoodo shortly after, and waved to Outrider and then down at Ran. Her delicate speech originated from somewhere deep within her chest, and it hit Ran's ears like singing leaves. "It's wonderful to have you here." She turned to Plow and flicked one of her enormous, mantis-like arms at Plow in mock reprimand. "But you haven't told me this beautiful little weavile's name." Ran looked away in embarrassment as Outrider chuckled.

"Well break my legs and bury me in a river, Planter, you know I'm dimmer than a newborn chinchou."

The lurantis swept one of her arms around the sudowoodo and rubbed her forehead against the side of his head. "Don't go putting yourself down like that."

"My name is Ran."

Planter looked at the weavile and nodded. "Well Ran, I hope you like Nomad. Or are you living up to our namesake and just passing through?"

Ran gave a start and looked up at Outrider. "Everyone's been acting like I'm here to stay. I can't say I'm not grateful, I'm just surprised at how willing you were to take me in. It wasn't even really...discussed."

"Life's hard enough out there for little places like this to be especially picky about who comes rollin' in." offered Plow. "Long as yer not opposed to earnin' yer keep, things run mighty smooth. Of course, if ya feel like the woods and wildlings are more your callin'..."

Ran shook her head hard enough that the plumes on either side of her head ruffled. "No, no. I don't mean that, I'm just- I hardly remember anything about how I got into the forest Outrider found me in."

"Hmmm, keep that in mind when we speak with Oracle." Outrider nodded at the lurantis and sudowoodo in turn. "Planter. Plow. Thank you for receiving Ran so warmly. I've a few more of the villagers to introduce her to. Until later."

Planter waved and called after the two as they set off, "Don't be a stranger around the farm Ran! We could always do with some extra sharp claws!"

As the two set off towards a small home that appeared to be made entirely of stone, Ran noticed it bore two walls that led out away from it to small stone towers. They bore torches and a banner hung from each of the towers. Cut vertically down the center, the left and right side bore the white and midnight of the cloth tied to Outrider, but in the center was an enormous yellow circle, and within it was a shape like the home of Plow and Planter.

Ran pointed to the banners and asked, "What are those?"

"Our colors, if you will. Banners. Identifying marks to allow those that approach to know they have come upon Nomad." Outrider smiled and continued to stride up to the stone home, gesturing for Ran to follow. She did so, walking up to the lucario as he knocked several times on the door.

A curt voice from within called out, "Enter."

The door creaked open, revealing a spartan interior. A member of a Falinks sat on a wooden stool, contemplating the small, partially eaten apple before it. The horn jutting from its helmet looked unusual, as if it was in the process of growing. The remaining members were nowhere to be seen. The lone soldier turns its attention to Outrider and nodded, its entire body committing to the act. "Outrider. You're back. Good, was worried I'd be sending Tower or Trench out to find you." The lone Falinks looked past Outrider at the nervous weavile behind him and added, "And you've brought a new recruit along. She a fighter or a whittler? Claws like those, might come in handy with woodworking."

"Ran's probably more of a fighter than anything." Outrider gave Ran a sideways glance before continuing, "Found her lost in the forest. Took down a wildling alone." He paused. "Shredded the poor soul to pieces."

A dark, stubby limb seized hold of the partially eaten apple, but the Falinks did not eat it, and instead looked directly at Ran. "No fear about the kill then, hm? Good. Much as we avoid it, can't rightly say it doesn't need to sometimes be done."

Ran stared down at her paws. "I didn't want to kill him..."

"I expect you didn't. But you still did, and that takes guts."

Outrider cut in, "Watch, where are Tower and Trench?"

"Tower's polishing the shields. Trench is sleeping," supplied Watch at once.

Ran fell out of the conversation as the two made small talk, discussing Outrider's scouting report and the general quiet the village had been experiencing along its borders. She had become transfixed by the shields and armor that decorated the room. Being nearly bereft of furniture, it made the dulled brass bearing striking reds pop against the cold stone walls. The dim, cold light of the room made the shields that hung on the wall appear almost bronze, and then her eyes settled on the centerpiece of the room: a large helmet upon a wooden stand. It was cracked and chipped, and the large red horn it bore had broken near the tip. She reached out to touch the helmet, when a harsh voice cracked the air.

"Don't you go touchin' Bastion's helmet." Another lone Falinks had stepped into the room from a hallway, bearing several shields, each of them gleaming.

"Take it easy there, Tower. Not like Bastion would be bothered by it," said Watch.

"You're Bastion. And all due respect, you should be," said Tower. He handed Watch the two largest shields and then made off towards the other hallway out of the room. "Gonna wake Trench up to catch some food. Want anything, sir?"

"Got enough with my apple, Tower, thanks."

Ran watched the retreating Falinks, confused, and then said, "He called you Bastion?" She pointed at the helmet. "Is this yours...? You're already wearing-"

"Bastion's dead." Watch's eyes fell to his apple and stared at it for a long while, unblinking. As the silence stretched out, Ran felt increasingly uncomfortable and opened her mouth several times, struggling to think of what to say. "Don't need to say nothin'. You didn't know him, and it was long enough that it only kinda hurts now. That feeling of loss you get during those little moments. The day to day though, that's easy enough.

"Used to be six of us, Bastion at the lead. Biggest and meanest of us. Lost him the same day we lost Flank and Guard." He paused and then set his apple down. "Bastard just wouldn't let those two girls go. Made good on his promise to them."

Ran stared on, at a loss for words.

"So now it's the three of us. Gave me the name Bastion, after I braved going back for his helmet." He gestured with the same stubby little arm.

"Those...come off?" asked Ran.

Watch's eyes narrowed and his eyes fell to the floor. "No, kid. No, they don't." He continued to stare, as if searching for something, then turned to look at the two. "Gonna grab some food with those two idiots, I think. If you don't mind showing yourselves out?"

Outrider nodded and turned about. "Let's go Ran." He brought a paw to her back and swept her from the room.

As the lucario carried her gently, but insistently out, Ran twisted about and called back to Watch, "I'm- I'm sorry!" She caught sight of Watch turn to look at her, his eyes full of mourning, and then Outrider closed the door in her face.

Ran looked at the lucario, her face full of incomprehension and pity. "I- I didn't know, I didn't mean to-"

Outrider put a single digit to her lips and shushed her. "You did not offend Watch. You merely, in your innocence, reminded him." She gestured to the remaining two buildings they had yet to visit. One was another stone structure that appeared to have only a partially completed roof. Black smoke billowed out from it and as they approached, alongside a persistent clanging sound, and the odd hiss of steam.

"Our smithy. Home of Forge, Stone and Hammer." He smiled at Ran. "You'll know who is who very quickly." He threw the door open without knocking and called out, "I'm back! I hope my request is ready!" Ran followed after him, and found the reason for the partially completed roof.

One corner of the smithy bore piles of hay with indentations in them, cups and plates scattered on the floor nearby with bits of food. The rest of the interior was filled with tables bearing tools of different sizes and in different stages of wear, buckets short and tall filled with water. Dominating the corner opposite the beds, and spilling out along the walls on either side was an enormous stone forge. Ran's eyes found the conkeldurr first, the source of the persistent clanging. In one hand he bore a hammer, the other a set of crude tongs, and he brought the hammer down rhythmically onto a red hot piece of metal. Sweat dripped down his forehead, pooling in the bandana tied around his forehead, the white stained yellow and the midnight faded.

"Outrider! You already know that it'll be done when-" began the smith.

"When it is done, I know. I'm just giving you a hard time," said Outrider, smiling.

The conkeldurr smirked and then continued to hammer away at the metal. "Who's the weavile?"

"Ran." She stepped forward to look more closely at the metal he was hammering. "I'm Ran. And you must be Hammer?"

"What gave it away?" he asked, a feigned look of surprise on his face. He threw his head back and laughed and then moved the metal back into the forge. As he did he said to the floor, "Kick it up, Forge!"

A quilava stuck partially out from a small cutout in the stone, the rest of its body resting where the flames that fed the forge danced about. She sighed and stood, saying all the while in a scratchy voice, "Can we take a break to eat soon?"

"Yeah, yeah. You whine too much, Forge. I'm the one pounding metal all day."

"Just because you make a big show of making a racket all day and way too long into the night doesn't mean that my job is any easier. How'd you like to feed this thing for hours on end?" she replied, scowling. She glanced back into the chamber she sat partially in and added, "Speaking of, we're going to need more wood. Wake up Stone. And before I forget my manners, it's nice to meet you, Ran."

Ran nodded, her eyes still fixed on the flames that danced around the quilava. She laid there with an almost casual air, even as the fires on her back soared. "Nice to meet you too." She tore her eyes away to watch Outrider walk over to the piles of hay and noticed there were only two. Made sense, she reasoned, Forge would likely burn them. The lucario kicked a figure obscured by the hay awake, and a lycanroc sat up, stifling a yawn behind its enormous paw, and covered in bits of hay.

A feminine voice met Ran's ears as the lycanroc grumbled, "What'd you go wakin' me up for..." Her eyes drooped and she yawned again. "I was having such a nice dream." She stood and rubbed her eyes then looked at Outrider for a moment. She smirked and threw an arm around him. "Or maybe I'm still dreaming. How's it going, handsome?"

Outrider rolled his eyes. "Forge needs more wood."

The lycanroc scowled. "Figures. Wake me up and send me off to do shit half-groggy, huh?" She tugged on one of Outrider's ears playfully and giggled. "Wanna come along?"

The lucario shook his head. "I have to finish introducing Ran to everyone. Speaking of, this is Ran." He gestured to the weavile.

The lycanroc's smirk widened to an outright grin. She let go of Outrider and walked over to Ran, then picked her up and pulled her into a hug. "They are cool! Oh this is wonderful. Next time it's hot out, I'm tracking you down for some cuddles." cooed Stone.

Outrider laughed at the display "Careful there, Stone, she may be small but she's a ferocious fighter."

Ran squirmed in her arms, thoroughly uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. "Uh, could- could you put me down, please?"

Stone snickered and set her down. "Oh yeah, real big fighter, this one. Alright, alright, but only because you're such a cutie." She tapped Ran's nose for added effect and then swept herself out of the house. "I'll be back with your stupid wood in a bit."

Ran watched her go, and was surprised to see Outrider following shortly after. The lucario turned to wave at Hammer and Forget and then gestured for Ran to follow after him once more. She did so, and the two gave Stone a wave of farewell before Outrider pointed to the final home for them to visit. A wooden structure with a straw roof, it bore several more windows than the rest.

"Oracle's house. As well as Sentry's, the little one's, and my own." He gave the structure a soft smile and then looked at Ran. "We should be able to make some room for you as well, unless you'd rather sleep elsewhere."

Ran shuffled her feet awkwardly. "You don't have to do that..." she mumbled to the ground.

"Well, if you'd rather sleep outside-"

"N-no, I just don't want to impose."

"Well you've already imposed whether you like it or not." At the look on her face, he chuckled and added, "Don't look so guilty. I was more than happy to help, and you'll find the rest of the village is just as helpful. If not more so. I daresay there are some incredibly generous souls among us. We're fortunate to have them. But we'll worry about sleeping arrangements later, for now, let us see what Oracle is up to." He opened the door to his home and peered inside. "Oracle?" A pause. "Oracle?"

He closed the door again and pointed somewhere past Ran. "Not home, I suppose. Follow me, I'm fairly certain I know where she's gone off to." He set off towards a large stone wall that spanned the length of the natural clearing in the forest beyond it. Ran followed him, and hopped down on the other side in time to see Outrider heading towards the forest. When she caught up, she noticed they were following a trail of crushed underbrush through the trees.

"Is it dangerous to be out here?" asked Ran.

Outrider shook his head. "Not particularly. There's the off-chance that a wildling wandered into this part of the woods but they tend to avoid settlements. No real organization among the lonely sorts and the organized sort have their own little enclaves in places where they have no need to ever get close to a village. This trail is usually nothing more than a pleasant stroll to Sight's Falls."

"A waterfall?"

"Mm. You hear it, yes?" asked Outrider.

Ran did indeed hear the faint roar, growing steadily louder as they pushed further along the trail. When they broke free of the woods they found themselves standing before a large lake that fed into a river that wound its way westward. To the north were the falls themselves, crashing down into white foam and sending ripples across the otherwise glassy surface of the lake. "This is definitely worth the walk."

Outrider laughed. "It is, isn't it? And there's Oracle!" He pointed to a xatu standing at the end of a small peninsula that stuck into the lake. She was atop a rocky pillar of stone that jutted out of a larger, flat chunk of rock.

As the two approached, Ran felt a sense of unease settle in her stomach. She watched Oracle warily as the xatu wheeled around raised a wing in greeting. She did not bear the usual red eyes upon her chest like other xatu – instead, hers were green. "Outrider! Great to see you again! How did everything go? Anything unusual?"

Outrider shook his head. "Nothing strange other than finding her." He gestured to the weavile beside him. "This is Ran. I found her, alone and decidedly confused in the middle of the forest. She's had trouble remembering much of anything about where she came from or how she wound up in that forest. But, as I've said to everyone else in the village now, she can hold her own in a fight. Perhaps too well."

Ran dropped her gaze again for what felt like the fifteenth time in the last few hours.

Oracle swept her wings out and bent forward in a bow. "Ran, my dear, it is wonderful to meet you. As you may have heard, I am Oracle, and tasked with living up to my namesake in our little village of Nomad."

Ran awkwardly bowed back to Oracle, unsure if that was the correct response and asked, straightening back up, "So what does that mean?" Ran's eyes settled on green eyes on Oracle's chest and said after a moment, noticeably uncomfortable, "And why are they green?"

Oracle spread her wings wide and intoned, "Ah! The questions of the hour. You see, little lost kitten, I have been blessed with the clarity of the Pure Sight! Those beyond our understanding who gaze deep into the very essence of the what-will are said to have eyes that flash a sacred green when they happen upon genuine insights that shape our very essences. Through decades of perseverance and uncommon talent, my Sight has come to reflect that purity of vision. And now, into emerald pools do those that wish to know what may yet come to them gaze, longingly and searchingly, for insight."

Ran looked at Oracle with genuine astonishment. "Oooh, so could-"

Oracle cut Ran off with a laugh. "Ran, please, don't look at me like that, I feel guilty. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I was born with them."

The weavile's face fell into a pout. "That wasn't a very good joke."

"Maybe for you, I thought it was hilarious."

She continued to frown and asked, "So what do you do then?"

"Mostly, I just predict the weather." Oracle puffed her chest feathers out as she said this and bent her wings to her hips for added effect. "With an impressive degree of accuracy, I might add!"

"But not perfectly?" asked Ran.

"Sometimes the others think I give them false readings on purpose for my own mischievous little games." admitted Oracle. She began to laugh, a high throbbing laugh like birdsong that echoed all around Ran. "But you must understand, no one can see what will come to us perfectly." At this, her laughs quelled and she waddled over to Ran. Her eyes became tender as she raised her wings up to touch either side of Ran's face.

Ran could feel her gaze boring straight past her eyes, deep into her head, probably even into her very soul. It unnerved her on a profound level, and though her body screamed for her to pull away from the xatu, to scream in protest, she could not. She stared back, lost in the deep black of Oracle's pupils. She could feel a strange throbbing and rushing sensation in her chest, and out of the corners of her eyes she could see the world falling away, piece by piece.

There was the infinite black that spanned out all around her. And then there were the tears that fell from her eyes in fat gobs. They burned but still she did not blink, even as her face broke and she began to sob uncontrollably. Her body was giving out beneath her, but she didn't fall.

Her chest felt like it was going to cave in when she finally wriggled free from the xatu's grasp. She registered only vaguely that Oracle had not even truly held her face, only brought two long feathers to either side of hers. She slumped forward and clutched the xatu, sobbing harder, howling up to the sky as her lungs expelled lamentations she couldn't explain. She tried to speak, to say something, but nothing would form on her tongue but mush. Sounds playing at words.

When finally the boundless despair that threatened to crush her had abated somewhat, Ran pulled away from Oracle and said in a constricted voice, "I'm... s-sorry f-for th-that." She turned about and began to walk as fast as she could back towards Nomad. Or perhaps back into the forest to find a spot to lay down and die, she thought. She had no idea where the pain came from, but it was sickening and overwhelming.

She thought she heard someone shout after her, but when she finally turned to look over her shoulder to see who it was, there was nothing but the trees. She focused on the trail beneath her paws once again and eventually found the wall. As Ran stared it down, she realized she did not have the drive to climb it, and instead simply sat up against it to wait for Oracle and Outrider to return.

Outrider watched the entire ordeal with noticeable confusion that turned to shock when Ran broke down into hysterics. He frowned, his brow furrowed, at the weavile's retreating back as she disappeared into the wood, and then turned to Oracle. "What was that?"

Oracle took her time responding, opting first to turn about and resume her perch atop the stone pillar that watched Sight's Falls. "A touch of prying," she said at last.

"You should have told her. Asked her." Outrider crossed his arms. "You did the same to me once, and you know how much that offended me."

"And still you live in Nomad, and still you give an old crone the time of day." Oracle turned long enough to give him a single cheeky glance before turning to the waterfall again. "Nevertheless, she is a truly strange soul."

"What happened to her?" asked Outrider.

"I don't know." She raised her wings in an approximation of a shrug. "Whatever it was, I can assure you, it was horrible. So much so, she cannot remember it. Or perhaps she was made not to. I cannot say. But it was awful. I can assure you of that."

"You must have gotten someth-"

"There were screams. Groans. Howls. There was red. But all of it was so hazy, so insubstantial..." She raised her head up to the sky and continued, "Flashes. Lots of different lights. Smells. An awful spectrum of smells."

"Blood?" asked Outrider.

"Blood and-"

"Heat."

Oracle turned about and nodded. "Yes."

"When she killed that wildling nearby where I found her, that's where I first..." He trailed off. "Nevertheless, she is troubled."

"She is. Troubled, lost, and desperate for guidance. See to it that she gets the right kind, will you?" said Oracle. Outrider nodded and set off after Ran. The xatu let out a short string of musical, throbbing notes. "And Outrider?" she called out to him.

Outrider turned his head. "Yes?"

"Be patient with that little kitten. You, more than anyone, know what that echo of a demon can do." At this, Oracle turned about and resumed her contemplation of the falls.

With a frown, Outrider nodded and set off back into the woods. "An echo..." he murmured.